Last calendar week , I wrote an clause compare the Mac mini to a “ $ 399 ” Dell . Although I assumed it would return some treatment , I was n’t quite prepared for the response : A bunch of “ letters to the editor , ” scores of direct e-mail , and over 180 response ( and counting ) in the related to give-and-take thread in the Macworld forums . It seems people are interested in how the Mac mini batch up against budget Windows PCs .
[ Before I continue , I just have to say that the clause , which I think was jolly reasonable to both sides , engender a good bit of less - than - friendly reply from evident Dell fan , set to lie the theory that only “ Mac fanatic ” take the fourth dimension to write nasty notes to editorialist with whom they discord . But I wander . ]
Overall , the responses I received tend to be either polite or constructive , and occasionally both . Feedback ranged from the reasonable ( taking event with my depiction of Windows XP Pro as being signficantly better than XP Home ) to the silly ( charge me of exaggerating the vantage that iTunes collapse the Mac miniskirt — I never even mentioned iTunes in the column , nor did I ever consider it since iTunes is free for both platforms ) .
Interestingly enough , many response ignore the key head of the article to — as I predicted last week — quibble over $ 10 here or $ 20 there . To repeat : What the clause was trying to demonstrate is not that the Mac mini is the cheapest computer on the grocery ; rather , that it ’s clear price - competitory with the budget brand - name Windows PCs , especially once you appear at what you get for the money . Offhand “ But Dell has a $ xxxcomputer ” remarks are just that : offhand , without much attention paid to the differences between scheme or to the target markets for them . for sure , there are less expensive information processing system out there , but the old adage “ You get what you pay for ” holds true .
“ Anti - Mac mini ” comment
“ Pro - Mac mini ” Comments
As a final breaker point , it should be enjoin that no comparison is going to be perfect for everyone — context topic . I focused on the distinctive place user looking for a budget figurer — the target securities industry for these machines — and tried to do a fair comparison in that context . A comparison done with more ripe users in mind would have number to very unlike , and still valid , conclusions . Readers should keep that in judgement when composing their letters to the editor .
See more about Mac mini at Macworld ’s Mac mini page .
