Interesting Apple micro comp, £339 @ PCW

scattycat_3

Just over six inches wide with dvd rom/cd rewriter the smallest computer I have
seen



HERE

Scat <

---

is a Jason rolleyes smiley which I miss terribly Martin (edit)

alanrowell

It's designed to encourage people with an old Windows PC and it's buggy software / viruses / trojans / etc to move to Apple and as such you need to reyour current computer's monitor, keyboard & mouse (plus buy a £12 piece of equipment to make them work together).

You'll probably also have to replace any other peripherals - printer & scanner for example - if they don't use USB ports or there aren't any suitable OSX drivers.

Performance wise it's on the level of the cheapest high-street computers and in it's basic spec the memory & hard drive are too small.

You also are limited in the range of software available for the machine and will have to pay extra for the privilege of running OSX software. It also won't run any of the software you already have on your current PC.

It does what it says on the can - but it won't do anymore than that. Apple is good at "WYSIWYG" and this computer fits that description to a "T"

Think of it not as a computer but a cross between a marketing tool & throw-away computer that exists to persuade people to the "Dark Side" and ultimately buy another - ie more expensive - Apple.

If you want to buy one I'd wait until all the "it's Apple I must have it" brigade have had their fill & the price either drops or the specs go up.

raeble

Erm, this was launched at MacWorld expo thingie back in January. It's a new product but it isn't going to disappear anytime soon. It's exactly the same price as on the apple website

smokescreen

Beware, 256MB and Os X (the operating system on these units) will barely multitask 2 applications. Better off with 512MB or more.

As for comparing it with "high street PCs", the PCs will still win on overall responsiveness and gaming fronts. The little units come with notebook styled 2.5" HDD's - some of which are of the slower 4200RPM , some 5400RPM.

Either way, its going to be slowwww compared to a PC.

StevieDee_3

Hmmmm I have 10.3 running on an old clamshell iBook with 128 mb memory and a G3 iBook with 256 mb and it works very well for surfing the net word processing and office apps....

The memory is a bit stingy however and, it needs to be fitted by an Apple dealer supposedly. As for the processor it's considerably faster than the interactive designers in my office had until very recently and they were involved multimedia and web authoring, so I think it can handle basic home use...

As for software this machine will come with the iLife suite, iMovie, iDVD, Garageband free which are all awesome applications, I'm not sure whether iWork is free Pages for word processing and Keynote for presentations but I think it might.

I completely agree that its not for games though but it looks cool and its tiny.... By the way what is spyware?

A.Richardson_2

These things look nice and appear to be cheap, but they're not. You get nothing with them - no montior, keyboard, mouse or speakers. For the whole package from apple (with there smallest monitor - 20" for £699!!!!) it costs £1076.

If you are going to buy a computer from Apple, you may aswell go for the eMac for £549 or the new iMac for £899.

Finally, the Mac Mini was announced as a cheap computer. Well it is ... in the US. They pay £269, its £70 more here!

StevieDee_3

I think the Mac Mini is aimed for switchers people who already own monitors and keyboards etc But fancy trying the mac.

I doubt anyone would buy an Apple monitor to go with a Mac Mini, as Apple monitors are really pro kit and any monitor would work...

Surely anything purchased in the states with the current exchange rate is going to be considerably cheaper than the UK price.

The only problem I have is that any upgrades are meant to be carried out by an authorised dealer and that will be more expensive, than upgrading yourself, however,you can open them quite easily with a palette knife and save yourself a couple of quid.

scattycat_3

Sorry folks was unable to edit the title which should have said MAC G4.


This is a very powerful and tiny machine, but I wouldn't expect the PC/Billy G worshippers to agree. <

---

this is a Jason rolleyes smiley which I miss terribly Martin

Neat, another one for the design conscious.

WSL is what it says on the PCW site, and helps with divadodgin'

acupples

I've had one of these for a week, and I love it! This is my first Mac. They are definitely aimed at switchers - the price does mount up if you need to buy other bits and pieces. It's really easy to set up and use, without being underpowered, is extremely quiet (finally! a quiet computer out of the box) and is just plain fun to use. On the moneysaving side of things, if you're any way associated with education, you can get at least 20 quid off these, look for the relevant bits on the apple store website. PCW might also give discount, not sure.
Andrew

c_r_2

how is £339 a bargain? or even worth being posted here?
If you want it for cheaper, try the apple education store. the only catch is that you either need to be a student, or need to know a student who can purchase it for you. that way, the price only works out to £305.50 incl postage, which works out to just about 10% cheaper.
to get there, just go on https://www.apple.com/uk and then follow the education tab and then go to the higher education store for individuals.
though, as was stated, why would anyone want to use a mac? I built this pc, which is far more powerful for roughly what that thing would cost, and sure, its bigger, but stick linux on it, and its virus-free, stable and very very fast.

lenny6582

A.Richardson wrote:

(with there smallest monitor - 20" for £699!!!!) it costs £1076.

Just get a 19" tft from aria and don't use a high priced apple monitor. The point of the mini mac is to allow a PC and Mac to utilise the same monitor and peripheral devices. If you get a switch box can simply flick the switch to move between Mac and PC without having to touch any cables!