[X4U] Mac Mini!!!

[Stroller]

On Jan 13, 2005, at 5:40 am, Greg Chapel wrote:
>
> .... is that really the message Apple wants to send to potentially new
> users. I think Apple made a mistake here. They should be offering 
> 512mb as
> minimum config, and charging an extra $150.00 for the 1gb upgrade. They
> should also drop AppleCare price to 10% of machine cost ~$50.00.

Oh, come on! No-one else expects to sell computers at a loss! Whilst I 
agree that the price of factory-installed RAM for this machine is 
outrageous, a base of 512meg would increases the base cost of the 
machine. Since the miniMac should be placed to increase market share, 
there's no advantage to Apple to sell it with the kind of specification 
that enthusiasts like you & I would be happy with - it'll just hurt 
high-end sales.

I do "small-office / home-office" computer support for a living, and 
it's worth remembering that the folks who are shopping around the 
low-end of the market don't want to spend money. I actually find it 
really hard to remember this, because I think that a £450 2.4gHz Dell 
with Windows XP is a complete bargain, and I'm surprised when customers 
with a 3 year-old Windows 98 machine don't jump at the chance to 
upgrade.

In the UK Dell market their machines as starting at £349, but shipping 
& VAT add another £100 before you start. Since it is Dell that Apple 
are competing against with the miniMac, why should they price 
themselves up? Dell have a very similar pricing schedule to that we're 
complaining about here - adding a floppy drive to one of their machines 
costs £20, and a DVD-writer perhaps £80 or so. Considering that I can 
buy floppy drives & DVD-writers for £5 & £45 respectively, Dell must be 
able to buy them in volume for much less, so clearly this is where 
they're making their money. Again - why should Apple be any different?

Now, I haven't read all the details on this, but if Apple say that any 
Apple reseller is allowed to upgrade the RAM for you without voiding 
the warranty, then it's a relatively trivial task, and anyone can do do 
it. I suspect Apple may not even be tying you in to their own RAM - all 
the Apple resellers I know buy memory from Cruicial or Kingston, and 
none of them are Apple qualified service engineers.

The pricing of the miniMac is such that I can tell all my PC customers 
now - go out & buy a Mac. There's no cost disadvantage to doing so. 
Although this image <http://tinyurl.com/5dyqs> from the Apple website 
shows a unit plugged into a typical PC keyboard & monitor, I can see 
customers who are happy with the mini buying a "real" Mac with designer 
keyboard & monitor next time around.

Stroller.