PC's too expensive, Intel copying

I wouldn't say Mac Mini is the least expensive machine out there... Dell is offering a PC for $299 that includes a lot more than the Mac Mini. But, I do agree that making a smaller PC kind of defeats the purpose of owning a PC, upgradability. Though it goes without saying the general population would rather buy a new computer than upgrade the thing, but I'm just speaking for myself. I'd rather upgrade than go out and buy a new mini PC. As soon as they release a new Mac Mini with more video memory, I'm left behind unless I buy a whole new machine. But, I'm very happy with my Mac Mini so I'll just take it as a tradeoff.
 
JonKemerer said:
I wouldn't say Mac Mini is the least expensive machine out there... Dell is offering a PC for $299 that includes a lot more than the Mac Mini. But, I do agree that making a smaller PC kind of defeats the purpose of owning a PC, upgradability. Though it goes without saying the general population would rather buy a new computer than upgrade the thing, but I'm just speaking for myself. I'd rather upgrade than go out and buy a new mini PC. As soon as they release a new Mac Mini with more video memory, I'm left behind unless I buy a whole new machine. But, I'm very happy with my Mac Mini so I'll just take it as a tradeoff.
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Shuttle PCs have been around for ages, although I think they may be slightly bigger than Mac Minis (never seen one in real life). But yeah, you're right - the general population aren't as devoted to computers as us and would rather have a machine that "does the job" at the present time whilst taking up as little space as possible.
 
I saw in Popular Science that people are doing pretty neat things with the Mini. Coolest one IMHO was an in-car computer, with the mini in the glove compartment, and a touch screen mounted on the dash.
 
There have been mini-ITX computers and other Shuttle - those are full-feature Pentium IV and AMD chipsets - that are small.

In fact, the Mac Mini could be charged of ripping off the year prior announced Nanode.

Apple was not the first with that type of look, size, nor functionality in that small of an area. I'd suggest doing some more research, but you guys probably wouldn't choose to believe it... even if it was dated from March 2004...
 
Even into January 2005, the mini-ITX was still a prototype. It needed several modifications to even fit inside a Mac mini case, partly due to the heatsink that was basically the size of the motherboard itself.

http://www.mini-itx.com/news/91875682/

Besides, they're not even available yet, and they're thinking of scrapping the whole project altogether.

http://www.mini-itx.com/news/nanode/
We regret that due to extended delays with VIA's Nano-ITX boards, and both a trademark dispute and quality issues with our previous contract case manufacturer, we have decided to take the time to rethink the Nanode, and perhaps come up with something better. We expect the Nano-ITX boards to be finally available sometime this year - and we'll have plenty of products on the store to support it!
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You can't possibly compare the Mac mini to something that isn't even publicly available -- and may not even see the light of day. Maybe someone else needs to do some more research.
 
Mini-ITX was not a prototype, Nano-ITX was.
After very positive responses at CeBIT 2002, on the 3rd April 2002 VIA introduced their "EPIA Mini-ITX Mainboards" featuring a choice of the VIA Eden ESP processor for fanless applications, or the C3 E-Series (Ezra) processor for more multimedia rich applications. The EPIA 5000 (fanless 533MHz Eden processor) and EPIA 800 (800MHz C3) motherboards were almost identical to the highly integrated VT6010 reference design. Due to their heritage, both had the advantage of low noise and power consumption.
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Just thought I'd clarify. Nanode/Nano-Itx was indeed a prototype. But shown before the Mac Mini.

Research the history.
You can't possibly compare the Mac mini to something that isn't even publicly available...
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Isn't that exactly what the starter of this thread just did!? Go buy an AOPen box just like that link... if you can.
 
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