If Apple really wanted to confront this market, a dedicated device at a much lower price would be more appropriate. Oh, how I wish the Airport Express had come with video-out on it.

The Apple home media server is still making its way to market – possibly in that same 6.5×6.5 form factor. Its waiting for HD in the form of H.264/AVC, nee Tiger. Same goes for the Airport HD Express. Oh, by the way, where’s that remote that Apple has been working on since July?!!!?

Note that iTunes will now convert higher rate AAC to 128Kbps AAC for the iPod shuffle. That’s what H.264 will do for video – provide instant conversion to whatever rate is supportable by the transport medium – whether that be wireless (WiFi, UWB (if it ever comes), 3G cellular), or wired (DVI, Firewire, etc). Can’t wait to see what happens in July.

These budget devices make me think that SJ has read The Innovator’s Dilemma. Don’t you think so?

the wifi option and quiet running are the 2 things which do it for me. and a cable in case i want to plug it in at the router and run it as a regular server.

comes preinstalled with apache and php.

I’m not in Apple’s intended audience for the Mini, but I think it does give dorks like me a nice little no-nonsense file/web/whatever server for the home network. However that could just be the beginning to a broader mainstream use.

COMMENT: AUTHOR: Yadong

Hmmmm… takes us back a few years. Wasn’t those boxes called ‘luggables’?

COMMENT: AUTHOR: Nerve Endings Firing Away

I don’t think Apple is going to get many switchers for the device is priced $100 too much.

Is $100 too much to not worry about malwares? For non-computer savvy folks, how much is annoyance, computer slow-downs and lost personal info worth? How much does it cost to get it fixed or how much annoyance do they cause to relatives who visit them only they get to be a personal technician? How much is not spending time together with them worth? For computer-savvy people, what’s peace of mind worth? Yeah, you may never get malwares but sometimes you spend lots of time tip-toeing around the web, email, etc.. How much is your time worth to keep testing and updating Windows?

Personally, even $150 is worth it for me to actually like my computer than to keep cursing at Windows.

COMMENT: AUTHOR: Mladen

“Personally, even $150 is worth it for me to actually like my computer than to keep cursing at Windows.”

I do not get it. Why continueing with Windows if you have problems? Is it the only OS for PC? No! So just make a choice, do not be stucked.

And about people that consider getting PC instead of Mac – do you prefer a car assembled from different vendors, and parts that “almost fit” if you are lucky. Or you prefer a car made in the same factory and tuned up. If you start to tune and select a “great” PC the price will get more or less the same. But you will have a noisy box, 2-3-4 fans (that will be “screaming” like real rock-concert fans and you will barely use the “great” but expensive performance.

Be rational, use your existing 19″ LCD, your favourite keyboard, lovely logitec mouse and get a comfortable quite box, that will please you, give you the necessary performance, save space, and one that you will be happy with.

Want more devices attached – USB/FireWire DVD burners are less that $100 nowadays, external drives also. And there are some with Network card integradet, so you can throw them in other room or put them on remote connection. The limitation is the imagination!

About the dock station – I am sure from Apple did not missed it accidentally. So stay tuned

COMMENT: AUTHOR: Jason Sares

Shameless Plug for my Mac mini blog.

I’ve got a deal listed for the mini, 17″ LCD, keyboard, mouse and printer for $670.

Plus links pics and video of the mini taken apart.

Clearly a cross between the Cube and the LC, but what are the good and the bad points of the first cheap headless Mac for over 5 years?