As Steve Jobs introduce the new $ 499 Mac miniskirt and the $ 99 iPod shuffle in his keynote at Macworld Conference & Expo in San Francisco , I half gestate a used - car commercial to break out onstage : Our prices are insane!But in realness , these prices make tremendous sense . As Jobs puts it , now people who have delayed switching to Apple production because they think those Cartesian product are too expensive “ have no more excuses . ”
Tiny Mac
Yet the Mac mini ’s $ 499 price — the low-toned ever for a Mac — is only the second most startling thing about the new machine . The most startling matter is its size : 6.5 inches satisfying and just 2 inches high . Its looks withdraw the ill - fated G4 Cube , but the Cube was nearly five times taller , not to mention nearly four times more expensive . Having already test their ability to cram a singular amount of stuff into a petite space with the iMac G5 , engineer at Apple have outdone themselves .
In the miniskirt ’s 85 three-dimensional inches , Apple fit a G4 C.P.U. ( 1.25GHz or 1.42GHz ) , an opthalmic movement ( Combo or SuperDrive ) , a 40 GB or 80 GB hard drive , the stock ports , and elbow room for the optional AirPort Extreme and Bluetooth . It ’s not a crippled Mac by any mean ; but if you start adding keyboards , mouse , wireless cards , and the like , you ’ll drop far more than $ 499 .
Will the Mac mini help Apple make inroads on Windows ’ marketplace share ? There ’s no way to know . But the iPod has introduced a whole raw audience to Apple ’s skill at creating excellent ware — the Mac mini ’s low price may get those same folks through the door of an Apple Store again .
The Mac miniskirt should also be of interest to those of us who are already in the Mac camp . For a few years , I ’ve had an erstwhile Power Mac , which I utilize as a Web and euphony server , in my office closet . Now I could replace that waiter with an unnoticeable ( and much more muscular ) Mac mini . It would also make a slap-up 2d machine — in the den or the Kid ’ room , for example .
Tinier iPod
In any other context of use , the Mac miniskirt would be the belle of the ball . But at Macworld Expo , it was upstaged by the lilliputian iPod shuffle , which cost as little as $ 99 and weighs less than an ounce .
I would n’t be surprised if there ’s a repercussion against the iPod shuffle from the common chorus of second - guesser ( the same folks who thought the iPod mini was designate to fail ) . After all , the iPod shuffle has no display and holds only a few hundred songs .
But conceive this : If you need a pretty port and a braggy appeal of euphony , Apple has a few other products you may have heard of — the iPod pic , the iPod , and the iPod mini . The iPod shuffle is a different beast , design for people who desire to have an ultrasmall , extremist - cheap player that lets them take along a respectable slice of their euphony assembling .
Realistically , how many birdsong do you play in an average iPod sitting ? For me , using Apple ’s assumption of four minutes per song ( no prog - rock epos for Steve Jobs ) , the number is 15 , because I usually listen to my iPod for about an time of day at a fourth dimension . The only clock time I ’ve listened to more than 100 song in one sitting was during averylong railway car misstep .
The great iPod lets you take your entire collection along for the ride and select your tunes to suit your fancy . But are there times when 300 call would be enough to get me through a bus drive or a pass to the grocery store ? Absolutely . And that ’s what the iPod shuffle is for .
I doubt the iPod shuffle will ever be as popular as the other member of the iPod folk . But , like the Mac miniskirt , it fills some important niches . It ’ll be great for people who ’ve been resisting the iPod because of its terms . And it could also be attractive to confirm iPod lovers who want an cheap , bantam , and stout complement to their live participant . I think the iPod shamble will be a hit in both camps .
The Best of Expo
In this month ’s issue , we ’ve get plenty of Macworld Expo news — the liberal Apple announcementsandmajor news from the rest of the Mac community . Mac Beathas details on a lot of production annunciation — include Apple ’s two novel software suite , iLife ’ 05 and iWork ’ 05 – which includes Pages and Keynote 2 . It also has our list of Best of Show succeeder — the hottest Cartesian product at Expo . And in our cover story , we ’ve got in - profundity first see at the Mac miniskirt and the iPod shuffle .
And be sure to check out our snapshots of all thingsExpo .
