An Apple PC is something I’d really like to get, it’s just the prices putting me off, £399 for the most basic Mac Mini. Which is great and small, but I don’t necessarily want all that smallness, since it means having to upgrade the RAM (And avoid Apple’s ridiculous prices on it) would require me fiddling in places not necessarily meant to be fiddeled in.
The Mac Pro on the other hand, is a large machine, very powerful, and expensive. But most importantly big & upgradeable, like a PC.
Which brings me to my point. Why not make a low-end Mac Pro, identical specs to the Mac Mini, but a lot cheaper. To me this makes sense, as surely production cost’s would be lowered since Apple wouldn’t be so limited to space, and the end user would be at an advantage as they would have a nice upgradeable machine.
I’ve just looked at the parts required for a system with similar specs to the Mac Mini and the total price comes to about £230 without a case, bearing in mind thats just me looking at eBuyer, not taking into account the discounts apple are bound to get through volume purchasing. Admittedly that doesn’t look at the exact hardware they would use, but it must be an approximation.
If they released something like this, I would definately be considering buying it, since it still offers the upgradeability, without spending too much money.
Although would this mean the iMac would be replaced? It would kindof be an alternative to the Mac Mini, since it wouldn’t have a necessarily have a monitor, so it would maybe be a beefier Mac Mini for a similar price.
So between the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro we could have… the Mac. Short and simple. I like it. I doubt Apple will give up the iMac line though…