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Mac mini a "21st Century Trojan Horse"

updated 11:55 pm EST, Mon February 7, 2005

21st Century Trojan Horse


Although it "doesn't break any new ground in technology," is "a bitch to upgrade," and features pricing that is "not realistic," the Mac mini may be a "," says Peter Lewis of Fortune. "There are three exceptional and very important things about the Mac mini that render those gripes less significant: design, price, and software," writes Lewis, "the Mac mini is a Trojan horse ... a sneaky way for Apple to get its secret weapon—creative software—in front of all those Windows users ... For an investment of less than $600, Windows users can see for themselves what all the Mac fanatics have been raving about all these years."


by MacNN Staff

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  1. history1me

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    02/08, 12:47am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Trojan Horse?

    Can't they come up with original ways of describing this... like domino theory or Backdoor policy, or Moron Converter! Trojan Horse, might as well be... the Mac Mini is Paris' arrow that will slay the mighty widow using Achilles.

  1. history1me

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    02/08, 12:57am | report spam | Reply | delete

    Trojan Horse?

    Okay, I read the article. Quite balance, missing a few points, but quite balance.

  1. kw99

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    02/08, 02:03am | report spam | Reply |

    Re: Trojan Horse?

    The author must have just seen Troy on DVD.

    If you add all those options (mentioned in article) to a so-called bargain Wintel PC, you'll be over $800 too. And you'll still have an ugly "Soviet-designed" box with Windows XP "lite" and no equivalent to the iLife apps. Oh, and the privalege of dealing with all those viruses, malware, spyware, etc.

    The true Trojan Horse strategy here would be for Apple to make an educational version of Mac mini (the e-mini) with no optical drive (not even a slot), no modem, 256MB RAM, and the cheapest 2.5 inch hard drive available. You get 10 free with every purchase of 40 (already at a discounted price). Replace those space-hogging eyesore PCs! Add Airport and get rid of the wires! Or bundle "a dozen" for free (or at a discount) with every XServe.

    A long time ago, Apple gave away a huge number of Apple II's to schools. That led to decades of good will and the adoption of Apple technology by students and their teachers (and maybe even their parents). I'll bet some of those old IIe's are still in use out there. Apple could use the mini in the same way. Use some of that cash stashed "in the bank" to undercut Dell and essentially "give away" Mac mini's to schools. So give them a good deal on eMacs or iBooks (first), but if they are leaning toward "going to Dell," make them an offer with Mac mini's that's too good to pass up.

  1. todddixon

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    02/08, 04:49am | report spam | Reply |

    Trojan horse with a limp

    I agree in principle with the article. Apple has addressed a market positioning issue with the Mac mini. It's certainly not a Cube in price. Apple however needs to concentrate on getting cleaner software out instead of solving it one or two 10.x.x releases later. (lets not talk 10.3.7... So many of my customers were affected). It always amuses me how they quickly find a fix after a problem release. Wish they had gone one extra step in the program/OS testing.

    The key thing is not the specs but the interface. That is what will suck people in to our world.

  1. ecrelin

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    02/08, 08:22am | report spam | Reply |

    skewed vision…

    no appreciation for engineering. what a "b****" to upgrade! You need a damn putty knife, geeez, instead of a phillips screwdriver and forty little screws, and how many people actually will need to upgrade anything after they configure it the way they want? Not everyone needs to burn DVDs or needs wireless, neither of which come with your "charmin' cheapie" either. What computer in the last thirty years really had "new" technology? Everything mentioned that Apple puts in before everyone else was not "new" when deployed but years old. Henry Ford didn't use any "new" technology but we'll let history speak for him. This idea that you get more PC for less is c***, the dell everyone mentions is slow, needs more memory, has no CD burner and NO SOFTWARE. Your attempts to save a hundred dollars or so will cripple your computing experience for years, pennywise but dollar foolish, a very bad decision. The truth is is that the big box is yesterday's news. This is the new form factor for so many reasons. Cloners are going to have a serious problem emulating it, then we'll see how flippant this pedestrian use of "everyday" technology is.

  1. ibugv4

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    02/08, 08:46am | report spam | Reply |

    re: skewed vision

    ecrelin has a an interesting take on everything. While I don't like Ford, I don't see how you can state they used old technology in their cars when really the leader of "make a profit off s*** that's been sitting for 20 years" award would go to VW: their 1950s production cars, up to the 21st centruty (yes Beetles, aircooled, were made until 2002), was a 1930s design: 20 years old before it even hit the market. That aside, Mini is not the end all. While you know nothing but geeks, I have dated *countless* men who have NEVER upgraded their PC past adding another hard disk or perhaps buying another CD-RW (but not able to install it), running on a 5 to 6 year old PC with Windows 98 (not even SE) and 64MB RAM. Windows folks don't upgrade, period. Mac people, contrary to popular belief, upgrade with the season change like the f*** on q**** Eye (and I am g**, so I can say that... back off). Mini, when preconfigured and built to order, can and will survive for 3 years in it's condition so long as no parts break. The advantage is when that CD-RW dies, you can get a USB or FireWire one, and by the time it does die, you can get one the size of the computer itself. This system is not underpowered, and don't hand me that it is -- I have the eMac, same system spec for spec shy the video card. I'm doing a lot of high end tasks with it that most people wouldn't do, and it's not disappointed me yet.

    Just because you've gotta have the biggest and the best like every other yuppie american with an SUV, does not mean that the other 80% of the world follows you.

    I agree that the big box is yesterdays news, and everyone wants something small and sleek that you toss away into a closet or desk drawer when it's obsolete and buy a new one. iMac started this, and the trend is growing. PC makers are just now catching on/up to the idea, and that's a good thing. However, I disagree that being frugal with your money is bad. Like those who dissed eMac, and diss Mini, the systems are great but they obviously aren't chic enough for you -- that's fine, don't buy one. But don't piss on those who like the system, or piss on it and piss off a potential buyer... but then again, in a zealots forum i guess such a thing is OK, since no protential buyers will see it.

  1. Glasspusher

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    02/08, 09:20am | report spam | Reply |

    VW beetle

    They stopped making the "old" beetle in 2003. I am a proud owner of a 1999 old style one. It was designed by Ferdinand Porsche in the 1930s, true, but the prototypes were driven over a million miles- got more than the usual amount of kinks out. A damn good design, but yes, better stuff is now available. I'm doing fuel cell research myself. Death to the infernal combustion engine!

  1. beeble

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    02/08, 10:43am | report spam | Reply |

    Glasspusher

    It's not the internal combustion engines fault that the only fuel you can get for it at the gas station is the collective s**** ups of the refinery. When they try and make a batch of avgas or Jet-A or Kerosene or something else and it isn't within spec, they dump it into tank. When the tank is full, it's usually pretty close to one grade of car gas or another. A little tinkering, and you've c*** you can sell to the masses and make a huge profit on. That's why it's illegal to use car gas in an aircraft, even if you boost the octane to 100. It's just c*** and isn't safe. The fact that cars are able to be so reliable these days is a true credit to the engine design teams.

    It would be nice if we didn't need oil though. Ethanol works fine in Brazil. Most cars made in the last 20 years will work fine after changing the hoses and some plastic parts in the fuel system that were put there to prevent the adoption of ethanol. And the fact that you get almost the same power and mileage for one third the price isn't the best part. It burns a lot cooler which reduces wear and improves reliability. They're starting to experiment with it in aircraft for that reason. And of course, it's renewable and is made from carbon in the air not in the ground. Green all the way!!

  1. ecrelin

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    02/08, 11:56am | report spam | Reply |

    re: skewed again

    which box do you think I'm dissing? The Dell of course, being frugal is one thing but buying a bargain PC I say is short sighted, I think the mini is great and capable of nearly everything you want to do with it for years to come. The point about Ford was in response to the article where the guys says there's nothing new in it. There really isn't anything new in the mini but its the ingenious way it was used that is missed by the clown. I love the mini, BUY IT NOW just make sure you get 512 of RAM minimum. Fuel cells fuel cells fuels cells and solar and hydro, alternative energy GO GO GO!

  1. Glasspusher

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    02/08, 01:50pm | report spam | Reply |

    beeble

    It _is_ the infernal combustion engine's fault that it is horribly inefficient. 15%. That sucks. 85% of the energy of the gasoline goes out your tailpipe. Jet engines are about 35% efficient, fuel cells can push 70% (35% is common using reformed fuels).

    Of course, if we get more efficient engines/power sources in our cars, knowing human nature, that'll just be an excuse to drive an SUV twice as big :(

    How I would love it if the US were energy efficient enough to tell the Middle East "see ya!". Of course, with current attitudes of consumers and the administration in washington, that'll happen yeah right.

    BTW, fuel cells, coming to computers near you, much sooner than cars!

    Ethanol is a good thing, but we also have to cut down on consumption. Wonder what things will look like in 50 years...

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