I don’t think so
So Apple launched its Mac mini today starting at $499 US or $649 Canadian which right off the bat is a ripoff because $499 US is currently only worth $606 CDN. But wait folks it doesn’t stop there, oh no. You see the Mac mini only has 256MB RAM and if you want to increase that to a more reasonable 1GB you have to pay an additional, you ready for this, $552 CDN. Now that’s what I call getting ripped off (it’s about $140 too much if they’re using 200pin). If Apple wants to be competitive they have to bring their hardware prices down to where PC prices are. That’s the real bottom line. Giving you a low upfront cost then screwing you on the upgrades is just another variation of the old bait and switch scam. Yes some PC makers do the same thing, but we’re talking here about a company that only has about 3% of the desktop market and if it wants to expand it has to be competitive. If it doesn’t expand at some point the board of directords is going to lower the boom and it will be bye bye to the Mac in all its variations because Apple is making money like its the US Mint off of Ipod and music downloads. When push comes to shove the bean counters will always win out in a publicly traded company.
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Comments
Comment from Doug Alder
Time: 1/12/2005, 11:57 am
I was under the impression that cracking the case would violate Apple’s warranty on many of their systems. That’s what one of the techs at work said and he’s an Apple fan.
Comment from mick
Time: 1/13/2005, 3:54 am
Apple doesn’t void any warranties for adding ram. Every computer they sell comes with instructions on how to do it. Apple buys their ram from Kensington; you could too, but any ram with a lifetime money-back guarantee will do.
Comment from Todd
Time: 1/13/2005, 9:59 am
I’ve seen a Mac with 256Mb run quite nicely, thanks very much. For the type of entry-level user that the machine is geared for (which isn’t you or me as a primary machine, Doug - we’re geeks!) this is a good balance. I’d say play with a Mac that has this amount of memory before writing it off. You may be surprised how well it performs.
Comment from keelan
Time: 1/14/2005, 6:55 pm
1. A comparison between a ‘low-end’ mac and a ‘low-end’ PC can’t be bade solely on the price, and its relation to the target market. Macs run a completely different OS, and the money lost on the hardware will be made up as soon as you go out and buy anti-virus and anti-spyware for your PC, and a drive to back up your data when you have to do a PC standard de-crap-my-computer-and-make-it-work-again re-install, which every PC user waxes romantic about.
2. Regarding the RAM-install/warranty voidation — cracking the case on a luxo iMac involves pulling the heat tube off of the CPU, which requires re-gooping upon re-assembly, and voidation of warranty. Fortunatley, Apple was nice enough to put a little door on the bottom of the computer that gains acccess to one of the memory slots (SO-DIMM). The other is buried inside.
Comment from Doug Alder
Time: 1/14/2005, 7:21 pm
Mein Gott im Himmel he’s reading my blog…aaaaaack 
I should know better than to take what you say at face value K-man LOL I shouldn’t say this as I’ll probably jinx myself but in all the years I’ve had wintel boxes I’ve only had to re-install twice and once was due to a truly egregious braindead accidental error on my part. I have hundreds of programs installed on 98SE and never have problems. But then I don’t keep 18 windows open with a gazillion procs running in the background like some people I could name LOL. Buy AV software? Why? The stuff you buy suckes system resources like crazy - I use AVG free edition, same for my software Firewall (Zone Alarm on one and TPF on another, Anti-Spyware? Ad-Aware personal, SpywareGuard, Spy Sweeper and SpyBot S&D are all good and all free for personal use - MickeySoft’s new spyware detector is supposed to be very good too. If the spyware scum aren’t making their stuff for Safari and Macs yet it’s only because you only represent 3% of the desktop market so why bother? But I’m sure they will anyway, same goes for the virus writers.
Comment from mick
Time: 1/16/2005, 3:01 am
I am wrong about the “adding ram” thing. My apology to you.
Comment from M. Douglas Wray
Time: 1/12/2005, 10:23 am
I never buy their memory upgrades - any fool can plug in RAM. Screamin deal for a good, solid little computer. My wife’s getting one shortly so that we can kiss her PC buhbye! We paid $500 for her mid-level PC two years ago and it’s been a running gunfight with fans failing one after another as well as power supplies and CD burners. Mac hardware is well worth the money - I have two machines that are 5 years old, run 24/7 and have never so much as hiccuped. You watch, these bad boys will FLY off the shelves.