Fwd: How Apple makes more profit on their systems...

Sun Oct 4 13:12:58 EDT 2009

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jefferson Kirkland <numberwhun at gmail.com>
Date: Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 1:12 PM
Subject: Re: How Apple makes more profit on their systems...
To: Shawn O'Shea <shawn at eth0.net>

While I am sure the Mac Mini is a nice machine, I can still get more machine
for less.  Take a look at this
machine<http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?skuId=9170835&type=product&id=1218043607320>at
Best Buy.  As you can see, It has more of a procecssor, twice the ram,
a
slightly bigger hard drive and again, its less than half the price of a base
Mac Mini.  If the didn't charge so much for their proprietary hardware, they
might outsell the competition and beat them on price.

I agree with Joseph's comment that they should get out of the hardware
business and as a whole, concentrate on the OS and let people buy their own
machines.  We, as consumers would certainly save some serious $$$ that way.

Regards,

Jeff

On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 12:29 PM, Shawn O'Shea <shawn at eth0.net> wrote:

> A couple of notes about the Mac Mini. The general stance Apple has taken
> over the years is that the Mini only exists because customers insisted there
> be a model like it in it's price range. It is not Apple's "you're new to
> Mac, but this system." When Apple wants to sell a new-to-Mac user a machine,
> the iMac and Macbook are the target systems. (I'm not claiming any right or
> wrong here, just stating my experience and what I've read about Apple's
> albeit unofficial stance and policies)
>
> That aside, I do think the MIni is a good starter system, otherwise I
> wouldn't have bought one for my mom in June. However, I handled her switch,
> being very familiar with Apple hardware and OS. I verified all her hardware
> from her PC would work with OS X, and made sure she had all the right
> connections, and got her a MiniStack for backup with Time Machine.
>
> Two other specific notes for you with this person you are working with. I
> had a lot of problems getting the system to work with VGA. The VGA adapter
> just didn't work, even after applying a firmware update on a working Macbook
> Pro. I ended up having to connect it to DVI. I would highly recommend anyone
> with a VGA only monitor jump up to an LCD with at least DVI, if not
> DisplayPort these days, especially for a newer system. It will make a world
> of difference. I use the higher end Dell monitors at work all the time, and
> they are my preferred displays over Apple's displays (ie the 2408WFP is a
> 24"widescreen display. I have the previous model, the 2407WFP on my desk at
> work on a Macbook Pro and at home on a Mac Pro).
>
> Secondly, be aware that Apple is refreshing a bunch of models any day now,
> allegedly to include the Mini. This is a fairly common time of year for
> Apple to do this, so even though it is currently just rumor, things like
> stock shortages even at Apple stores point to an update. See this article
> for some more info:
> http://www.tuaw.com/2009/09/30/rumor-roundup-imac-and-mac-mini-due-to-refresh-before-october-9/
>
> -Shawn
>
> On Sun, Oct 4, 2009 at 9:12 AM, Alex Hewitt <hewitt_tech at comcast.net>wrote:
>
>> Yesterday some friends asked me to accompany them to the Apple store in
>> Salem to help them purchase a Mac. I had talked to them previously about
>> some of the advantages of the platform including decent reliability and
>> in their case the much lower amount of malware targeting the system.
>>
>> But before going I decided to check out the Apple web site. They were
>> planning on buying a Mac Mini which is probably Apple's best bargain for
>> their budget. Recently a customer had purchased the current (early 2009)
>> model and I already knew that if they were going to use their VGA CRT
>> type monitor they were going to need an adapter. The Mac Mini used to
>> have a full size DVI connector on the back capable of both Analog and
>> Digital connections. The new model has removed the DVI connector and
>> replaced it with two much smaller connectors. An included adapter
>> produces a DVI-D connection (single link, Digital only) and the other
>> connector requires a "miniDisplayPort to VGA" adapter. That has a
>> standard VGA connector (what they needed). The miniDisplayPort adapter
>> costs $29.95 (and probably costs $2.95 to manufacture in China). I
>> actually don't know the right combination of cables that would allow you
>> to connect most current digital flat panels. The Apple site doesn't
>> provide that information and they don't seem to offer the correct cable.
>> They definitely don't tell their customers that they won't be able to
>> connect their current monitor unless they are just plain lucky.
>>
>> I asked the sales guy (who was quite pleasant) why the Apple web site
>> doesn't provide enough information for a customer to properly connect
>> their new Mini to their existing monitor and he essentially said that
>> Apple wants these customers to buy one of their nice shiny "Cinema"
>> displays. Of course the Cinema display comes with precisely the correct
>> cable to hook up to the digital only DVI-D adapter and only costs $899
>> (which is $100 more than the higher end Mac Mini).
>>
>> My conclusion - Apple isn't in the business for their health. If an
>> unsuspecting customer walks through their door and all they needed was a
>> decent low end system to web surf, read their email, play their music
>> and view their photographs, they will walk out of the store about $2,000
>> to $2,500 lighter in the wallet. The Mac Mini is actually a pretty
>> decent value for a small form factor system. They have upgraded their
>> graphics from the sorry Intel video they previously used to a decent
>> nVidia 9400 based chip set. That's all to the good but taking big chunks
>> of cash from unsuspecting customers seems to be on the verge of bait and
>> switch.
>>
>> -Alex
>>
>> P.S. There are a lot of ways to spin this but for me it has a bad smell.
>>
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>
>
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