Apple Intros New iMacs, Mac Minis and MacBook Pro

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Apple has rolled out a bunch of updates to a number of its products including the iMac, Mac Mini, MacBook Pro, AirPort and Time Capsule. Head on over to AppleInsider for the complete rundown.

Flying under the radar of Tuesday's broad desktop overhaul were quiet updates to Apple's MacBook Pro notebook line, which now includes a faster 15-inch model, new high-end chip options, and larger solid-state drive (SSD) choices that are also offered alongside the company's 13-inch MacBooks.
 
The new 9400M-based Mini looks OK, except for the price. $600 for 1GB, 2GHz Core 2 and 120GB hard drive. Bleh. No wonder people build hackintoshes.
 
For me the biggest news here is the release of reasonably fast/modern video for the Mac Pro, 4870 even if only w/ 512meg. Hopefully the bios will be posted and will be flashable to other vendor's cards.
 
I was excited for the mini until I saw the price to spec ratio :( bummer. Also, I wish Apples would get off the Mini-DVI bus and stick to HDMI or someting of sorts, which would be great for everyone.
 
the 17 inch mac book pro... with anti-glare option (without the hideous black border lcd) .. stock processor ( not the 2.93 new one ) 4GB of memory... 128GB SSD ... is about 3,400...


erm... I'd take one of those sexy netbooks for 1/4 of the cost and invest the rest tyvm
 
good stuff indeed i was just at the apple store getting my air serviced when i noticed the new minis and whatnot..i was like when did these come out? ahah
 
In for an iMac, I think. Apple finally seems to have gotten their collective brain around the fact that decent GPUs are important.
 
I was excited for the mini until I saw the price to spec ratio :( bummer. Also, I wish Apples would get off the Mini-DVI bus and stick to HDMI or someting of sorts, which would be great for everyone.

But then how could they sell you the $500 mini-DVI to DVI or HDMI adapters? Same was why is it that when the rest of the world is going with DisplayPort does apple see the need to make up their own mini-DisplayPort standard to use instead of the open standard? 1 word Adapters.
 
But then how could they sell you the $500 mini-DVI to DVI or HDMI adapters? Same was why is it that when the rest of the world is going with DisplayPort does apple see the need to make up their own mini-DisplayPort standard to use instead of the open standard? 1 word Adapters.

Mini DP is a free standard. In fact, it's a better standard, because it does audio, video, and HDCP, all one in tiny port that fits very nicely on laptops. Who wants a big old DVI port on the side of their laptop anyway? I don't think my laptop is even thick enough to put a DVI port on it!
 
Prices on all the desktop refreshes are way too high. And you are not getting enough computer to spend $599 on a Mini.

Someone needs to inform Apple that there is a global economic crisis and that this new pricing is not going to help them with the "slumping desktop sales" they have been experiencing.

:rolleyes:
 
Mini DP is a free standard. In fact, it's a better standard, because it does audio, video, and HDCP, all one in tiny port that fits very nicely on laptops. Who wants a big old DVI port on the side of their laptop anyway? I don't think my laptop is even thick enough to put a DVI port on it!

..or use HDMI...?

Anyway, very disappointed across the board except for the Mac Pros.
 
i'm going to go kill myself now, it was only 3 weeks ago or so i bought my mini.

That sucks I purchased my Mac Mini, as soon as the new ones came out last time, it has been like 700 days since than, technically buying the 2007 Mac Mini in 2009 for the same price is unacceptable, Apple should have heavily discounted this (hah!, when has Apple ever done that?). From what I can tell, unless the new Mac Minis are using a new chip set for the Core2Duos, the only difference is Wi-fi N and the Nvidia 3d graphics chipset (much needed compared to the Intel one, ack!). And the new Mac Mini accepts up to 4 GB, maybe, a new motherboard, we will probably won't know until someone purchases it and opens the Mac Mini up, soon I hope.

You can try to sell it and pay for the difference, but please note Snow Leopard is not out yet, and Apple will probably refresh their computers again. (That's just a guess).
 
HDMI is a TV connector, not a monitor connector. DP and mini-DP are standardized computer monitor connectors that will be the ones used in all mainstream monitors in the foreseeable future.

I hate to break it to you, but many monitors have hdmi already. And very few have DP...
 
How are you supposed to get 7.1 audio and 1080p24 video over HDMI on the Mac Mini... is there an adapter? (because I know the 9400m chipset supports it) Also, where's the Blu-ray drive?
 
I was looking forward to the Mac-mini for a nice HTPC, but not for that price and specs. Shame on apple. :mad:
 
holy crap.. I just noticed the prices. :eek: That's utterly ridiculous. I built a mini-ITX system with a Blu-ray/HDDVD combo drive and higher specs than that for under $600.
 
Ridiculously high prices, and still no quad-core Macbook Pro.
 
I was looking forward to the Mac-mini for a nice HTPC, but not for that price and specs. Shame on apple. :mad:

Me too. I was going to use a newly-updated Mini for HTPC duty on my Sammy 46" LCDTV.

No Blu-Ray (was expecting that), but no HDMI?? Come on now. And TOOO expensive.

I need to find an alternate HTPC solution now that can be an adequate cough surrogate cough for the Mini. I'd like to build something on the cheap with connectivity to give me full HD and quality sound.
 
How are you supposed to get 7.1 audio and 1080p24 video over HDMI on the Mac Mini... is there an adapter? (because I know the 9400m chipset supports it) Also, where's the Blu-ray drive?

Why put a blu-ray drive in something that can't natively play them?
 
And only a headphone jack for audio. I mean really, would it have been that hard to throw an optical audio port? Cheap intel boards have had it for a while, why not the one in the mini?
 
Why put a blu-ray drive in something that can't natively play them?
Maybe because they should have included something to play them? This is the year 2009. We're not in the late 90's area of DVD's anymore.
 
Maybe because they should have included something to play them? This is the year 2009. We're not in the late 90's area of DVD's anymore.

That would require someone to develop it for the Mac. Quicktime doesn't support Blu-Ray yet that I'm aware of. I know some people are using bootcamp to load windows and playing the movies through windows.


I think this is more proof that Apple doesn't truely care what it's customers want, it's customers (for the most part) are blind and buy the products because they are stylish and hip.
 
Apple doesn't want to pay for Blu-ray licensing costs. That's really all that is.

I'm not sure why you guys are expecting a Blu-ray drive in a machine the size of a few CD cases anyway. No doubt if Apple had included one, even at the same price point it is now, many of you would still be complaining that it still isn't an ideal HTPC for one reason or another, whether that be due to a lack of an HDMI output (offered in precisely zero other Apple machines) or something else entirely.

The Mac mini has never been targeted to be a favorable HTPC solution. It likely never will be. Why is this such a huge issue?
 
Apple doesn't want to pay for Blu-ray licensing costs. That's really all that is.

I'm not sure why you guys are expecting a Blu-ray drive in a machine the size of a few CD cases anyway. No doubt if Apple had included one, even at the same price point it is now, many of you would still be complaining that it still isn't an ideal HTPC for one reason or another, whether that be due to a lack of an HDMI output (offered in precisely zero other Apple machines) or something else entirely.

The Mac mini has never been targeted to be a favorable HTPC solution. It likely never will be. Why is this such a huge issue?
Because we can already do it in a machine the size of a few CD's on a Windows system, and they aren't being conscious of what the market wants.
 
don't think so.

Here's a good question, Mavvok: Did you try to return it, or are you just assuming you can't return it? Apple generally has a 30 day return policy on everything. If you're willing to get the new one, they'll probably resell your current Mini as a clearance refurbished model. Having dealt with Apple as an educational reseller for years, they're pretty good with this sort of situation and I wouldn't write off the possibility of an exchange without trying first.
 
Apple doesn't want to pay for Blu-ray licensing costs. That's really all that is.

I'm not sure why you guys are expecting a Blu-ray drive in a machine the size of a few CD cases anyway. No doubt if Apple had included one, even at the same price point it is now, many of you would still be complaining that it still isn't an ideal HTPC for one reason or another, whether that be due to a lack of an HDMI output (offered in precisely zero other Apple machines) or something else entirely.

The Mac mini has never been targeted to be a favorable HTPC solution. It likely never will be. Why is this such a huge issue?

Why then do no Apple products come with it? Seriously If I can now buy blu-ray drives for $80-$100 why can't apple? I'm sure they can buy in bulk at $55-$65 a drive and turn around and charge $300 for the "premium upgrade" and Apple fans would buy it up in droves.

I'll stick to my $300 total cost Shuttle build to watch blu-ray on.
 
I was excited for the mini until I saw the price to spec ratio :( bummer. Also, I wish Apples would get off the Mini-DVI bus and stick to HDMI or someting of sorts, which would be great for everyone.

isnt Mini-DVI suposed to be pretty good for capability.
 
And only a headphone jack for audio. I mean really, would it have been that hard to throw an optical audio port? Cheap intel boards have had it for a while, why not the one in the mini?

I'm wondering if the audio port on the Mini is like that in the Macbook, Macbook Pro, and iMac's where the jack can also do optical via a 3.5mm adapter.
 
The Mac Pro 8 core Nehalem unit seems to be a soft launch. They are quoting a 6-8 week ship time on the website if you configure one.
I would be pissed if Apple managed to release an 8 core Nehalem unit before Dell ships their new PowerEdge models. Dell better have these out the door first, as a matter of pride.

As for Blue-Ray, Apple actually tries to make it as difficult as possible on the Mac. They are hoping that iTunes will eventually be the method used to deliver HD movies. BR competes directly with their future media empire plans.
Even if Sony gave the drives and license away for free, Apple wouldn’t do it.
 
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