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Portables (Apple) Businesses Hardware Apple

New Apples Next Week 402

Posted by Zonk from the that-would-be-neat dept.
Vicissidude writes "CNN/Money reports: 'Apple may be gearing up to unveil a new slate of mini-Macs and may also release updated versions of its popular iBook laptop computers as early as next Tuesday, according to unconfirmed reports on a Web site that tracks Apple.' The Web site Think Secret reported three new Mac mini and two new iBook part numbers have appeared in Apple's retail database, indicating that new models are imminent. Apple would neither confirm nor deny the reports. The new mini models will be priced at $499, $599 and $699, with new iBooks priced at $999 and $1,299, according to the original story at Think Secret."
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New Apples Next Week More

New Apples Next Week

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  • Check! (Score:5, Funny)

    by rylin ( 688457 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @07:26AM (#13148921)
    Increased memory, check.
    Slight CPU jump, check.
    Updated graphics card, check.

    Looking back at all the posts lamenting how everyone and their grandma would buy a Mini if only it had slightly higher specs, apple should be seeing a whole lot of purchases from the slashdot crowd.

    I've got my money ready. Do you?

    • Re:Check! (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Trurl's Machine ( 651488 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @08:04AM (#13149032) Journal
      I've got my money ready. Do you?

      As a matter of fact, I do. I lost interest in Apple desktops since discontinuation of iMac G3's. All Mac-branded desktops since then were just too loud for my taste (that included both iMac G4 and G5, they just changed from loud to even louder). Mac Mini again runs just whisper quiet, just as my G3 iBook. However, there's a rule of thumb that you should never purchase equipment that will be later described as "revision A" - so I keep on waiting for the first "rev. B" Mac Mini with my purchase. I just hope it will meet minimum requirements for Doom 3 (the original minis were just a bit too weak).
      • I believe the minimum requirements for Doom 3 on the mac are a g5 or dual g4s, so I doubt it.

        • official Doom3 requirements (Score:5, Informative)

          by caveat ( 26803 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @08:44AM (#13149182)
          from Aspyr:

          Minimum System Requirements

          Doom 3 runs on any iMac G5, or any Mac that meets the requirements below
          # Operating System: Mac OS X 10.3.8 or later
          # CPU Processor: PowerPC G4/G5 or later
          # CPU Speed: 1.5GHz or faster
          # Memory: 512 MB or higher
          # Hard Disk Space: 2.0GB free disk space
          # Video Card (ATI): Radeon 9600 or better
          # Video Card (NVidia): GeForce FX5200 or better
          # Video Memory (VRam): 64 MB
          # Media Required: DVD Drive

          Recommended System Requirements

          Doom 3 runs best on a Power Mac G5 2.0 GHz or faster
          # CPU Processor:PowerPC G5
          # CPU Speed:2.0GHz or faster
          # Video RAM:128MB

          Don't think a mini will be there anytime soon...
          • say yay for fact checking :)
          • Don't think a mini will be there anytime soon...

            Well, it can meet the "minimum" requirements - not the "recommended" ones. GPU is the main bottleneck here - I hope in Rev. B it will get the long expected 64 MB VRAM. CPU speed bump will obviously go further than 1.5 GHz (since even right now it's 1.42 GHz). I play D3 right now on '2005 12" powerbook G4 with exactly the minimum requirements (probably they were written with this machine in mind) and it's more than playable.
          • Don't think a mini will be there anytime soon...

            Depends what you mean by soon.

            From idsoftware.com:

            * Pentium®IV 1.5 GHz or Athlon® XP 1500+ processor or higher

            I joke, of course :-)

  • Correction: Mac-Minis (Score:4, Informative)

    by Imidazole ( 775082 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @07:28AM (#13148930) Homepage
    "to unveil a new slate of mini-Macs..."
    They're called a "Mac mini" not a "mini-mac".

  • Great , Free, Marketing (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Future Linux-Guru ( 34181 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @07:30AM (#13148938)
    It's modern marketing miracle.

    Apple updates it's retail databases, the news gets spread from one end of the web to the other.

    Dell and MS marketing execs probably spend many a sleepless night trying to figure out how they can come up with something with nearly the same cost to value ratio.

  • eSATA (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    If they're smart, they'll put eSATA ports on the new Mac Minis for attaching external storage. Yes, you can put attach external storage thru the usb2 and firewire ports but requiring usb and firewire bridgeboards on the external drives ups the cost of external storage considerably. What would be really cool is some kind of modular external storage device that the Mac Mini would connect directly to and get rid of the inboard disk drive and replace it with flash memory instead.
    • What would be really cool is some kind of modular external storage device that the Mac Mini would connect directly to and get rid of the inboard disk drive

      Now that Apple knows they won't be overthrown by angry mobs for putting slow HDs in the Mini, they could just tell you to use your iPod.

    • It would be a very nice addition.

      Of course, a lot of external Firewire to IDE devices also incorporate a Firewire hub. I assume the same is true for USB to IDE devices. I know there is a Mac Mini styled enclosure with both a Firewire Hub, USB2 Hub and space for a 3.5" hard drive (Firewire attached).

      What I'd prefer was a connector underneath the Mac Mini with Firewire, USB2 and Power pins on it (and SATA too), then any Mac Mini peripheral can go under the Mac Mini, connect seamlessly with the Mini and not

  • CNN is quoting Think Secret?? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mikeloader ( 590119 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @07:33AM (#13148942)
    Is what Fox-style journalism has done to the news world? CNN no longer does its own reporting and relies on rumors posted on the web site of a university student? Granted, Think Secret has been amazing accurate, so much so that Apple has sued them, but it is after all a rumor site run by a university student. CNN pays reporters to investigate stories, they shouldn't be reporting them from rumor sites without additional facts to corroborate them.
    • CNN's main goal is financial profit. Providing news, let alone news that is has any basis to it, is completely secondary. Of course they'll use an Internet rumor mill, such as Think Secret, as a reliable source of news. It gives them something to stick all of their ads around. And it's very cheap, too! No expensive reporters or investigators to pay.

    • Re:CNN is quoting Think Secret?? (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Shuh ( 13578 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @11:26AM (#13150080) Journal
      Is what Fox-style journalism has done to the news world? CNN no longer does its own reporting and relies on rumors...


      That "Fox-style journalism" has been spreading like wildfire lately. The CBS/Dan Rather fake National Guard documents and the Newsweek rumors of Korans going into the toilet were clearly brought on by a similar spate of discredited stories from Fox News that I can't seem to recall right now.

  • As Predicted! (Score:5, Informative)

    by intmainvoid ( 109559 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @07:36AM (#13148949)
    iBooks next week [macpredict.com]


    Mac Mini not far behind [macpredict.com]

  • .. since $500 for an annual developer subscription just to get the right to buy a $1000 intel mac is a bit steep. I'll make it back in sales by reassuring people about my games' upgrade path, but i love my mini and would just like the same thing with an Intel.

    Ball matching game for MacOS X: http://www.funpause.com/atlantis/ [funpause.com]

  • Many people are writing (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Exitar ( 809068 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @07:46AM (#13148974)
    that they won't buy a Mac now because next year Macs will have x86 CPU.
    Ok, but the x86 Mac + Rosetta will be able to run PPC software smothly?
    If no, the new Mac will have to wait a little to have their software base enlarged.

    Obviously, if Rosetta works very well...

    • Re:Many people are writing (Score:5, Insightful)

      by adamjaskie ( 310474 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @08:00AM (#13149016) Homepage
      Don't forget "Fat" binaries. PowerPC and x86 code in one package, so that either platform can run a particular app. Apple's development environment can create them automatically, so for many programs that use API stuff rather than doing too much specific to the arch stuff (embedded asm, anyone?) will need a couple tweaks and a recompile to be compatible with both systems.

      Intel Macs coming out won't obsolete PowerPC Macs. They will still be supported, and the great majority of software will run on both platforms for at least a couple of years, just like the Motarola 68k to PowerPC switch years ago.

      Rosetta is a temporary measure for the apps that aren't ported right away. This will probably mainly be large, commercial apps where the user doesn't want to pay for the new Intel version right away (maybe waiting until they can upgrade to a new version rather than just the new arch) and small freeware apps that have slow development.

  • CNN reports????? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Beebos ( 564067 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @07:50AM (#13148982)
    Since when is quoting rumor site reporting. It may well be true we'll see updates from Apple next week, since it has been a while since the last updates, but to call quoting Think Secret reporting shows how little CNN has to do with journalism. The other evidence of the death of journalism at CNN is seen in their cheeleading of Bush as he led America into the war crime that is the war in Iraq.
    • This rumor has been on ThinkSecret for a week.
      CNN quotes it and suddenly it's worth listening to?

  • apple need to bump up the entry level spec (Score:3, Insightful)

    by xirtam_work ( 560625 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @08:03AM (#13149028)
    OK, so i'm an apple fanboi, but one with some perspective i'd like to think. But, I'm fed up with Apple advertising machines with too little RAM as standard, combo drives instead of SuperDrives as standard, Wi-Fi & Bluetooth as extras, etc. I know it reduces the sticker price for their advertising, but once you add on these extras, which lets face it are pretty much standard on most portables these days, the price is a hell of a lot higher - almost double when looking at the Mac mini.

    Apple should be pushing the minimal spec upwards, not stripping everything off so that it can get it's headlines saying *Mac's are now affordable*

    The kind of people who are prepared to put down the cash for a Mac are prepared to pay that bit extra, but walking into a store thinking you're going to spend £350 to get a machine that does everything you've heard about and find out that it's actually closer to £500 or £600 (can't be arsed to check the exact prices atm), is disappointing. It makes me think of Dell and other company's tactics. If you know from the start you're looking at almost double that then you can budget for it easier.

    I took a friend and their kids to the Apple store and they came out wanting a Mac mini because they thought that it was under £350. Once I'd factored in the SuperDrive (for making DVD's), Airport (for using it in the bedroom upstairs) - because you can't fit it yourself and bluetooth because if you're having the Airport installed you might as well and all kids these days have Bluetooth capable phones and some extra RAM as 256 Mb just isn't enough, it was a *LOT* more. I opted for a good 3rd party TFT display from elsewhere (19" TFT for £179), as Apple seem to think that plonking down £550 for their entry level display is fine for everyone. I'm glad that they reduced the price of the keyboards after the mini came out. I had to buy one for my Powerbook for nearly £50, now they're about £20 i think.

    So, to wrap up my rant, up the minimum spec and put the price up *a bit* to make up for it. removing the need for build to order for simple and very popular options should have some benefits of scale to reduce the need to gouge everyone for a bit a ram, a modern optical drive and some wireless comms, or at least make it easier for people to actally install or swap out these components like most PC vendors do.

    • Re:apple need to bump up the entry level spec (Score:5, Insightful)

      by nathanh ( 1214 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @08:20AM (#13149093) Homepage
      OK, so i'm an apple fanboi, but one with some perspective i'd like to think. But, I'm fed up with Apple advertising machines with too little RAM as standard, combo drives instead of SuperDrives as standard,

      I chose the standard configuration; no extra RAM, no wifi, and the combo drive. The machine runs just fine with 256MB, I have no wireless network, and I have no need to burn DVDs.

      What's the point of my post? That what's best for you isn't necessarily what's best for the rest of us. Apple is doing the right thing by having bare-bone entry level computers for people like me and options for people like you.

      • Fair enough, you have a good point, that some people such as yourself do not need the extras i mentioned and do not want to have to pay for them. One of the points of my post was that if apple made at least some of these parts user installable or replacable on the Mac mini it wouldn't be such a big deal, because you could upgrade later. That, sadly, isn't the case with the Mac mini. Secondly, if Apple bumped up the low-end spec across the board it wouldn't need to cost the end users much more at all because
        • "In addition to my previous post I'd like to try to gett across another less indentified reason why I think Mac's are not being used by more businesses - the lack of expandability and re-configurability of their machines. You can replace the bits that break, but never upgrade them (apart from HDD and RAM)."

          Most upgrades can be achieved by USB/Firewire expansion today. Video capture, sound upgrades, optical drives, more HDD space... these can all be added to the Mac Mini on a plug-and-play basis.

          RAM?
      • I'm on a recent model G5 iMac and I bought 2gigs or RAM to slip into the poor beast because I never want to have a system that thrashes.

        Nothing is more detrimental to the health of my machine than suddenly going from running at RAM speed to crawling at disk speed.

        Seriously, Macs have always been under chipped in this respect.
    • Except, not everyone wants or needs all of the extras. I would rather they start with a stripped machine and let you add on what, if anything, you need rather than paying for something you don't want. For example, I'm typing this right now quite happily on a 256 MB machine without a DVD burner or bluetooth, which I have no use for. I *do* have use for wireless, so I added a wireless card - but not everyone does.
    • Apple should be pushing the minimal spec upwards, not stripping everything off so that it can get it's headlines saying *Mac's are now affordable*

      Why? To make the world a better place? To make you happy? Their current strategy *does* get them those headlines -- and apparently the correlating sales. Sure, it'd be, I dunno, nice if they had more real-world bottom-line prices, but I don't see any practical reason that they *should*.

    • Re:apple need to bump up the entry level spec (Score:5, Interesting)

      by amichalo ( 132545 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @08:26AM (#13149123)
      Apple should be pushing the minimal spec upwards, not stripping everything off so that it can get it's headlines saying *Mac's are now affordable*

      I would like to offer a descenting opinion. I feel that Apple does a great job of specing out systems with standard features that make them relevant years from now. Making a 512MB RAM standard across the line, except the mini, is one example. Standard USB 2, Firewire, Bluetooth, etc are others.

      But if every Mac came optioned up with Superdrives and the like, there would be no 'entry level' model. My iMac G5 has Bluetooth and Airport Express standard. I don't use those at all. but I paid for them. It also has a Superdrive I didn't need but have used twice for fun so I'm glad I have it. Still, it would have been nice to save $200, or nearly 15%, and not gotten those options.

      Just like people think Apple is the BMW of computers, BMW still has options for their luxury cars.

      Where Apple does falter in my opinion is in the video cards. If they are going to make eMacs, iMacs, and Mac minis (as well as iBooks and PBs) without upgradable video chipsets, then they need to put in something that is above par for he rest of the system. How sad to have otherwise snappy system performance slowed down by a poor graphics card. I would gladly trade the forementioned wireless access innards for a better graphics chipset.
      • Just like people think Apple is the BMW of computers, BMW still has options for their luxury cars.


        Do they ever. Up until very recently, even the stereo was an optional extra. Not an upgraded stereo with a CD changer. Any stereo at all. How many people are going to buy a BWM and not want a stereo? It's improved now, but there are still some options that almost everyone is going to buy.
    • I have different complaints. The bluetooth upgrades aren't readily available, the easiest way to upgrade a bluetooth capable Mac after it has shipped is to buy a USB dongle. I think this is unfortunate, given that there is a socket in the computer. I know there is a wireless upgrade kit for mini, getting such a kit for iMac and PowerMac seems impossible.

      I decided not to go the DVD writer route, I have other computers with a DVD writer and I don't use that feature very often.

      I do agree that Apple should

    • Ram, yes. (Score:3, Insightful)

      by argent ( 18001 )
      Once I'd factored in the SuperDrive (for making DVD's), Airport (for using it in the bedroom upstairs) - because you can't fit it yourself and bluetooth because if you're having the Airport installed you might as well and all kids these days have Bluetooth capable phones and some extra RAM as 256 Mb just isn't enough, it was a *LOT* more.

      I got an external DVD burner that was DL-capable for less than the superdrive upgrade. Wifi and Bluetooth are available USB, and you're still better off drilling a hole i

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
      Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • That's funny. The newly potent Apple "gears up". What was the term for Apple when it took them ten years to adopt a true demand-page VM and non-cooperative multitasking, which they were "geared up" to promise the whole while? And all those years they "geared up" to tell us that the first truly compelling Apple computer system would be Unix on Intel? The most powerful gears at Apple are the ones that power their reality-distortion fog machine. There's a scene in the Truman Show where Truman finally clue
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • You mean like the 12'' PB and iBook?
    • Most iBooks I've seen have been rather durable, and a great value for money. (Yes, I currently have a 12" iBook G4.)

      The Powerbook is smaller, and that's nice. But it tends to sustain more damage despite being more expensive.

    • No way. The smaller laptops get, the more expensive they get-- the iBook is the consumer line, so they can't be them at higher price points than they are now, and the new models' pricing has already been reported to remain the same as the current models. Sub-notebooks are also more fragile, and if the iBooks get that way, what portables will Apple have to sell to school districts?

      I've carried a 12" iBook around with me every day since the dual USB models were introduced in 2001, and I wouldn't trade the bu
  • Hopefully these mac minis will be a step up from the current offering... i would be interested in an available dual layer dvd+-rw. a bit more proc power, another 256megs of ram, and bigger hard disk would be nice upgrades too, but to me the dual layer drive is key. if i can configure a mac mini w/ the drive for under $600, a new mac owner i will soon be...
  • http://hardware.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/ 20/1750238&tid=180&tid=3 [slashdot.org]

    Making it come from CNN doesn't make it new (it references ThinkSecret).

    Zonk gets the title of most dupes. He should work for world of warcraft or something.

  • Tell me again now, why buy a PowerBook? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Nice2Cats ( 557310 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @09:49AM (#13149501)
    This all leaves me wondering, the same as I did when I bought my iBook, why exactly you should anybody buy a PowerBook? For the silver cover? For the DVI jack? For the line-in jack? Better iBooks will only mean that the spec differences between them and the PowerBook get even smaller, while the price difference stays the same.

    Apple doesn't need to upgrade the iBook line half as much as they need more powerful PowerBooks.

    • While I do agree that the powerbooks are more in need of an overall boost, there are some notable features that the iBooks lack. For instance, no line-in, no PCMCIA slot, less space for RAM upgrades, slower HDD.

      While things like wireless and DVD burning are options that will bring the price up for the ibooks, there still are distinct differences between the lines. It doesn't seem as obvious looking at the quick run-downs on Apple.com, but a good look at the tech specs for the individual lines does revea

  • American journalism is dead (Score:3, Insightful)

    by inkswamp ( 233692 ) on Sunday July 24, 2005 @01:18PM (#13150681)
    How sad a state is American journalism in when a CNN story consists of reports of what has been written up on two popular rumor sites and a sentence about Apple's "no comment?" That's just pathetic.

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