drhamad

Now try to add all that stuff to a mini-itx system in a 6.5x6.5x2 case. It's impossible. Literally, since the boards alone are bigger than that. Hence the "revolutionary" part of it. And the Mini-ITX boards do not hold processors like a 1.25 or 1.42 GHz G4.

Not sure about nano-itx. Don't know a whole lot about it.

Remember to figure in $100-$150 in Windows cost into your calculations as well. Not that anyone actually pays for Windows, probably.

rushnrockt

Yeah, talk about nano-itx... for some reason I don't see anything too fascinating coming out in that area, its in the same category as the infamous in-dash motorized vga monitor. And all the ITX variations are not exactly on the cheap side either. I am yet to find a mini-ITX mobo cheaper than a flex ATX, and that's just an inch difference in size.
I would also challenge you to find a PC equivalent to this new Mac, and yes, being stylish is also a requirement. Shuttles unfortunately don't quite fit either, too large (otherwise I would've stolen my roommate's by now).
So yeah, it is worth the buzz, may be not as much what it gets, but it deserves it, after all, besides the laptops, this is the first Mac that can potentially be used for carputer purposes.
I can never understand all the absolute statements such as "apple sucks" considering that even though its only 1-2% of the market, that is still millions of people using it, so may be (here is a novel idea) its a preference thing. Someone does want something simplifed and good looking, that might not be you, but that's no reason to flat out diss a product. That applies to your comments on ishuffle as well.

viguera

Well if you wanna get technical, the EPIA-M is just shy of 7"... so fine, it's HUGE. Nano boards are just over 4 1/2" or so...

And there are already companies selling single din car PCs... there are people reading this thread that have built boxes using cases that are just over 50mm high. This is no more revolutionary than the mp3 player... but when Apple comes up with one, all of the sudden it's the greatest thing since sliced bread.

But I digress... yes, it's good... it's a nice small form factor PC for whoever wants to get it. I still think it's overpriced at $499 without a monitor, keyboard, mouse, networking of any kind and with a BS 32MB video card, assy amount of RAM and small HD. But to each his own... that's the beauty of living in a free country...

noodles

drhamad is right about the mini-ITX thing. nano-ITX boards are under five inches though (which I have yet to see released).

"Revolutionary" or not, I still applaud Steve Jobs. He puts out a stylish peice of hardware for above-average pricing and people fall in love with it. He's a marketing genius. That's why Forbes rated him as the top CEO for seventeen consecutive months. I'm not all crazy about Apple. but their stuff is pretty neat.

viguera

Hey, you wanna find a stylish PC for your car, go right ahead. I consider that secondary to other things, but like I said before, everybody has his preference. Mine is that this is not worth it. Yours is obviously otherwise. Doesn't make no never mind to me.


Well good thing nobody's said "apple sucks" then, right?

I don't want this to degrade into a Mac Sucks PC Sucks thread (too late? ), but in reality people have preferences, and PR firms are hired to pimp stuff until they're blue in the face. I look at it from the standpoint of what's out there already, what other people have already done -- or have shown that's possible with off the shelf, highly upgradeable setups, versus the hype -- whether we're talking about TiVo or Microsoft MCE (no thanks, I rolled my own PVR ) or a "revolutionary" SFF PC or mp3 player.

Bugbyte

You got it right. For APPLE it's revolutionary and for us Mac users (okay, cult members), it's exciting because we've got an Apple box that can be used in the car for the first time.

As far as price and performance, my Epia-M10000 is a pretty slow PC box. I paid $167 for it plus $75 for 512mb of memory, $55 for the power supply, $100 for a 2.5" 60 gig drive, $200 for the Windows XP Pro and $85 for a DVD drive that doesn't work and play very well with the system. That's $682 so I don't see any substantial price premium.

Again, very exciting for us Mac fans. Probably a stifling yawn for the PC folks.

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drhamad

You didn't account for a case in there either But yeah. I'm not saying I'm gonna go with a Mac mini, but I do think it's pretty damn great.

Mxzylplyk

Dude, a Dell without a monitor also sells at the same price with 128Mb of RAM and let not talk about its "video card".

Quit *****in, this wasn't made as a "single din" Mac for cars, it a freakin desktop! Mac fans just made quite a fuss cause it the smallest mac to date and its form factor fits well into a "carpc".

RedGTiVR6

it's exciting period....those who say it's not apparently don't completely understand the manufacturing processes that are involved in going just an inch smaller, that takes a LOT to do that....even though it's just an inch

the only people making such a big deal about it aren't necessarially on here....most of hte big deal that I've seen are people that really don't know that much about computers, much less the mini-itx form factor....

just my take on it....

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Alric

Has anyone noticed how many VW/Mac users are posting? Funny. Must be an appreciation for form and function!

Cheers,

drhamad

I'm not sure if you're supporting the fact that it's a good computer or not, Red GTi You say that going an inch smaller is very tough, so that would make this something that is engineered very well, but then you say it's no big deal? I'm confused.

Anyway Mxzylplyk is right - it's a desktop. If it was designed specifically for a car application, maybe it wouldn't be quite as amazing (although I still haven't seen any car solutions that take less than the 85 cubic inches of space that this machine takes, with nearly as much in them). But as a full out desktop that happens to be so small, it is.

For the heck of it I went over to Logic Supply (logicsupply.com), one of the many carputer vendors out there, and tried to configure a similar system:

SystemC134 Logic Supply C134 mini-ITX System
- Power Supply Morex 80 Watt Power Supply
- Operating System Windows XP Professional - English
- Motherboard EPIA M10000 1GHz
- Memory 256MB Ultra Low Profile PC2100 RAM
- Hard Disk 2.5" 40GB Seagate 5400rpm
- Color Black
- CD / DVD Drive Panasonic CW-8123-B Slotloading CD-RW / DVD
- Build and test Build and test this system

That system totals at $790.00 and is 10.25x7x2.5 (180 cu in), while having a slower processor.

therussman2002

ehh i just bought a mini-itx board that im putting a 2.8 p4 on... and thats about a 1.42ghz g4 right?

but i think this thread should just be deleted wasted several minutes reading all 4 pages and I am no more knowledgeable about putting a mini-mac in my car

viguera

I think the issue is that some people just look at this and say "meh... about time... what's the big deal" -- and everyone else is apparently upset because we're not running around trying to buy every last one in the store. To me, it's not that big of a deal. If it is to other people, so what?

It's a small form factor Mac. It looks cool, but that's it. Apple has already done "out there" products before, they were cool and nobody else had them -- but they lacked expandability and were relatively expensive. Then they dropped them altogether (the Newton, the little Cube).

People will talk about this because it's small (which in itself has its cons) and because it's cheap for a Mac (which when you think about it, shouldn't be a big deal). So for $500 you get a small computer. Big deal. Seen it, done it, sold it to my cousin.

I think it's great that Apple is getting on the cheap bandwagon... now if they had made this a regular-looking case and added a monitor, keyboard/mouse and a network card -- and kept the price at $500, then you could color me impressed.

RedGTiVR6

for $500.....I'd honnestly complain/be worried about how low the quality would be to include all of that AND a bag of chips....

$500 isn't that bad.....

I've always been told that you can't simply compare the Mac processors to others when looking at speed.....that a 1.4 mac processor is more like a 2.8 intel for the fact that they run differently....I could go and look up all the correct terms and type out an entire listing of why, but I'm sure someone will come on here and correct me and explain in GREAT detail why it's that way.....

lesser performance in what way I have yet to see any proof of...just people comparing numbers as they have been printed....no actual tests or data to back anything up.....just *****ing....lol

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Alric

I have a few Macs and PCs at home and my 1 GHz Powerbook has always seemed as fast as a 2.8 GHz P4. For some video conversions the PC is faster, but not by much. The 1 GHz Powerbook is definitely much, much faster than my 1 GHz mini-itx.