Mac mini = iMac + no monitor
Duh. I should've realized this... um, hours ago.
Scenario 1: Nerd's mom needs a first computer
You buy her an iMac so she doesn't have to fiddle with the monitor and everything else. Plus, like the white earbud headphones, there's no cachet in having a Mac with a regular monitor.
No Mac mini sale.
Scenario 2: Nerd needs new flat panel monitor, Mom needs a computer
You buy yourself a killer flat panel monitor, and a Mac mini for your mom, giving her your old CRT. Recycling the CRT is more environmentally friendly than throwing it out, and there's really no space to keep it. Or at least, that's what your imaginary girlfriend tells you (you're a nerd remember, you don't have a girlfriend).
Besides, who needs the cachet of having an iMac? Certainly not your mom or she wouldn't have moved to Florida.
Buy: flat panel monitor & Mac mini.
Scenario 3: Nerd wants to try a Mac
Old way: Shell out for a G4 and get leg cramps because there's no more room under your desk. But at least you could use your own monitor.
or
Old way: Get an iMac and look like Mission Command with 6,000 monitors on your desk. What nerd wants a multi-monitor set up where you can't use both at once? Besides, all your friends will laugh at you.
New way: Buy a Mac mini and get an KVM switch. The Mac now fits on top of your existing tower. No more cramped legs, and that second monitor can be put to it's proper use: peripheral vision in Doom.
Buy: Mac mini & KVM switch. You use the Amazon.com box the KVM switch came in to hide the Mac mini so your friends don't laugh at you.
Scenario 4: Super nerd wants a Media PC
Old way: Buy a Shuttle, put a killer graphics card in it (like the ATI All In Wonder), and put it in your living room hooked up to your TV.
New way: Buy a Mac mini. It's just an appliance anyway, and you won't be using it for major stuff, just downloading new episodes of Battlerstar Galactica. And it's small enough to fit under the TV with the Playstation, Gamecube, and X-Box. Just... don't put it right next to the X-Box or it might eat it. Plus, you get to surf the web from your HDTV.
Note: The second to last sentance was left purposefully ambiguious. Which it ate which it when your read it? Why?
Okay, this doesn't really work because there's no video input on the Mac mini, so you can't use it to TiVo your favorite shows. That sucks. Plus there's only one little audio out, so without an external sound card, no surround sound. I mean really, didn't Apple think this through, or is the Mac mini media planned for next year?
Buy: Mac mini, but regret it later unless you find some cool external firewire video card that can can do video, but by then you've spent so much money you could have to Shuttle/TiVo devices, and besides, aren't the next generation game consoles supposed to do TiVo like stuff?
Conclusion
The Mac mini is an iMac + no monitor. It's the same size as the previous iMac (sans monitor), so all arguments pro & against the Mac mini are arguments for and against the iMac.
Except
You can use it without giving up the extra space on your desk, or even admitting to your friends that you've gone to the dark side, because you can just hide it away, even when it's fully plugged in.
The Mac mini is not meant to compete with Dell
You're always going to pay a premium for using a Mac. If you haven't figured this out, just remember that Apple is in the hardware business. They sell hardware with the software to run it, and OS updates are like firmware updates. They're not trying to "cut in" on Dell's market share, so stop saying you can buy a cheaper Dell, that's obvious.
All they're doing is giving PC users an easy migration path that doesn't involve abandoning their PC, or being laughed at by their friends. In other words, you don't have to give up your PC anymore, buying a Mac has become a low commitment deal. You no longer have to worry about migrating your life, you can do it piece by piece until one day you no longer turn your PC on anymore.
The End
page first created on Friday, January 14, 2005
© Mark Wieczorek