Apple Stuff...
I was just reading the comments over here and I have to day that I'm dismayed.
I don't know that their sources are but if they are reliable sources that are on the up and up I'm not happy with Apple's attitude and I'm also not happy with some peoples attitudes in general towards the Mac Mini. Back when the Mac Mini first came out and it was still on PowerPC it had a dedicated GPU and it even got up to 64MB dedicated VRAM in its last revision. Now that it's on intel it seems to be stuck on the intel integrated graphics. But here's the thing.. the Apple TV has dedicated Nvidia graphics chips. It's my opinion that the Mac Mini should at least get the same chip.
However some people there seem to say\think that Apple considers the Mac Mini in competition with the AppleTV so they need to keep it down so people would buy AppleTVs and whether or not the Mac Mini will be updated or even exist in the future will depend on people buying a lot of AppleTVs. To me that sounds like rubbish whether it's true or not. AppleTV is not a computer it's a media device for streaming from your computer.
But that brings me to another point. There are quite a few people who think that each computer is totally in competition with the other in Apple's lineup. They think that the only thing that differentiates the computers is specifications. So they think they need to cripple the models just to give them extreme separation. This may be true but I honestly wish it wouldn't be. You have to consider that even if they had more equal specs and I'm not saying they should but if they did there are still other factors that you would need to go by when choosing the computer that is right for you.
For example... a Mac Mini is good for when you want a simple box that hooks up to your current peripherals and or you want to be able to choose your monitor but don't want to have to buy a full tower or you simply like the idea of a small computer. iMac is an all in one computer and some people don't want to have to buy a seperate monitor or they don't have one and they want a computer that has everything all in one perhaps also to cut down on the amount of cords they have. The Macbooks are for when you want a portable computer. I don't see why they should be considered in competition with desktop computers like the Mac Mini or iMac. If someone really wants a notebook they probably wouldn't do a 180 and get a non portable.
Mac Pros should be for people who want lots of expandability but so far it hasn't worked out that way. But I don't know who exactly to blame for that. You see.. you can't upgrade the video card in the Mac Pro much because the Mac Pro uses different firmware called EFI instead of what PCs typically use called BIOS. This means the graphics cards need to use different firmware themselves to work on a Mac Pro. So you only get three choices for graphics cards on the Mac Pro all of them being previous gen offerings and one being a workstation card. But do I blame Apple for not providing more choices of graphics cards, do I blame the graphics card manufacturers for not making more cards with EFI compatibility? Do I blame Microsoft for not supporting EFI in Windows so it gives PC Manufacturers excuses to stick to BIOS and so the graphics card manufacturers cater to them. Or do I blame the PC Manufacturers for not going ahead and using EFI with BIOS emulation so that the video card manufacturers can then go ahead and support it.
Some people seem to think that when someone like me suggests that they put better GPUs in all the Macs that we are wanting for Apple to put monster Nvidia GeForce 8800's. But that's not true at least in my case. I want for them to put in more of a mid-range GeForce 8 card (like 8300-8500) in the iMacs.. in the Macbook pros perhaps an 8600 Mobile would be good if not an 8800 Mobile. The Mac Mini and Macbook pros should get perhaps the previous generation of cards that they used to use on the iMac and MBP. The Mac Pros should most definitely get the latest and greatest video cards though. When the next gen comes out I think the low end models should get the previous gen.... provided it's not too hot.
I wouldn't mind if they made it like that. The card they mention there is the ATI equivalent to the one that is in the AppleTV. I've seen other people make similar speculation and I agree with them. But alas it may just be a dream it almost seems like the Mac is going by the wayside in general. If they don't correct the GPU situation anytime this or next year this Mac I have is probably going to be my last one.
But if Apple really does have the same attitude as those people then I hate them for it. I'm not going to give up my current Mac Mini but it's probably going to end up being relagated to web surfing and things of that nature and I might end up getting a new PC instead of a new Mac later on especially for games. While there is going to be a lot more games for intel and you can also install Windows to access the rest if they keep up with the video card stagnation then it won't be worth it. Not to mentiont the fact that the operating systems themselves are getting more graphically intense especially Leopard and Vista.
But I won't be ready to join in with the bashers who feel threatened by Apple even then. There is a certain person over at PC Gamer who feels this way and thinks that Microsoft needs to make a comeback campaign to get back at Apple for their Get a Mac commercials. He even turned on a really friggin old apple switch parody during the latest PC Gamer podcast which elicited a groan from me. At one time when I didn't have a Mac I thought it was funny but now that I do it's not so funny especially since I know for a fact there is more than just one game on the Mac especially if you use emulation.
But why should anyone feel threatened by Apple? It's not like them winning over a few people is going to hurt Microsoft or PC users in any way. So Apple may get a slightly larger piece of the pie... Microsoft still has the rest. They are The Empire they don't need and probably don't want 100% they already had enough monopoly legislation problems as it is.
Another thing is the people over at PC Gamer have been less anti-console than they have been in the past with most of them playing both on PC and on Consoles. Them and the people at Games For Windows Magazine (formerly GGW) seem to think that people should not dislike consoles but they turn around and hate on Macs. So now that they can't hate consoles they must turn their hate towards Macs? Must they hate something?
I am rooting for Apple and probably always will but unless they bring out more compelling products and I don't mean iPods, iPhones and AppleTVs I probably won't support them with my wallet.
I don't know that their sources are but if they are reliable sources that are on the up and up I'm not happy with Apple's attitude and I'm also not happy with some peoples attitudes in general towards the Mac Mini. Back when the Mac Mini first came out and it was still on PowerPC it had a dedicated GPU and it even got up to 64MB dedicated VRAM in its last revision. Now that it's on intel it seems to be stuck on the intel integrated graphics. But here's the thing.. the Apple TV has dedicated Nvidia graphics chips. It's my opinion that the Mac Mini should at least get the same chip.
However some people there seem to say\think that Apple considers the Mac Mini in competition with the AppleTV so they need to keep it down so people would buy AppleTVs and whether or not the Mac Mini will be updated or even exist in the future will depend on people buying a lot of AppleTVs. To me that sounds like rubbish whether it's true or not. AppleTV is not a computer it's a media device for streaming from your computer.
But that brings me to another point. There are quite a few people who think that each computer is totally in competition with the other in Apple's lineup. They think that the only thing that differentiates the computers is specifications. So they think they need to cripple the models just to give them extreme separation. This may be true but I honestly wish it wouldn't be. You have to consider that even if they had more equal specs and I'm not saying they should but if they did there are still other factors that you would need to go by when choosing the computer that is right for you.
For example... a Mac Mini is good for when you want a simple box that hooks up to your current peripherals and or you want to be able to choose your monitor but don't want to have to buy a full tower or you simply like the idea of a small computer. iMac is an all in one computer and some people don't want to have to buy a seperate monitor or they don't have one and they want a computer that has everything all in one perhaps also to cut down on the amount of cords they have. The Macbooks are for when you want a portable computer. I don't see why they should be considered in competition with desktop computers like the Mac Mini or iMac. If someone really wants a notebook they probably wouldn't do a 180 and get a non portable.
Mac Pros should be for people who want lots of expandability but so far it hasn't worked out that way. But I don't know who exactly to blame for that. You see.. you can't upgrade the video card in the Mac Pro much because the Mac Pro uses different firmware called EFI instead of what PCs typically use called BIOS. This means the graphics cards need to use different firmware themselves to work on a Mac Pro. So you only get three choices for graphics cards on the Mac Pro all of them being previous gen offerings and one being a workstation card. But do I blame Apple for not providing more choices of graphics cards, do I blame the graphics card manufacturers for not making more cards with EFI compatibility? Do I blame Microsoft for not supporting EFI in Windows so it gives PC Manufacturers excuses to stick to BIOS and so the graphics card manufacturers cater to them. Or do I blame the PC Manufacturers for not going ahead and using EFI with BIOS emulation so that the video card manufacturers can then go ahead and support it.
Some people seem to think that when someone like me suggests that they put better GPUs in all the Macs that we are wanting for Apple to put monster Nvidia GeForce 8800's. But that's not true at least in my case. I want for them to put in more of a mid-range GeForce 8 card (like 8300-8500) in the iMacs.. in the Macbook pros perhaps an 8600 Mobile would be good if not an 8800 Mobile. The Mac Mini and Macbook pros should get perhaps the previous generation of cards that they used to use on the iMac and MBP. The Mac Pros should most definitely get the latest and greatest video cards though. When the next gen comes out I think the low end models should get the previous gen.... provided it's not too hot.
I wouldn't mind if they made it like that. The card they mention there is the ATI equivalent to the one that is in the AppleTV. I've seen other people make similar speculation and I agree with them. But alas it may just be a dream it almost seems like the Mac is going by the wayside in general. If they don't correct the GPU situation anytime this or next year this Mac I have is probably going to be my last one.
But if Apple really does have the same attitude as those people then I hate them for it. I'm not going to give up my current Mac Mini but it's probably going to end up being relagated to web surfing and things of that nature and I might end up getting a new PC instead of a new Mac later on especially for games. While there is going to be a lot more games for intel and you can also install Windows to access the rest if they keep up with the video card stagnation then it won't be worth it. Not to mentiont the fact that the operating systems themselves are getting more graphically intense especially Leopard and Vista.
But I won't be ready to join in with the bashers who feel threatened by Apple even then. There is a certain person over at PC Gamer who feels this way and thinks that Microsoft needs to make a comeback campaign to get back at Apple for their Get a Mac commercials. He even turned on a really friggin old apple switch parody during the latest PC Gamer podcast which elicited a groan from me. At one time when I didn't have a Mac I thought it was funny but now that I do it's not so funny especially since I know for a fact there is more than just one game on the Mac especially if you use emulation.
But why should anyone feel threatened by Apple? It's not like them winning over a few people is going to hurt Microsoft or PC users in any way. So Apple may get a slightly larger piece of the pie... Microsoft still has the rest. They are The Empire they don't need and probably don't want 100% they already had enough monopoly legislation problems as it is.
Another thing is the people over at PC Gamer have been less anti-console than they have been in the past with most of them playing both on PC and on Consoles. Them and the people at Games For Windows Magazine (formerly GGW) seem to think that people should not dislike consoles but they turn around and hate on Macs. So now that they can't hate consoles they must turn their hate towards Macs? Must they hate something?
I am rooting for Apple and probably always will but unless they bring out more compelling products and I don't mean iPods, iPhones and AppleTVs I probably won't support them with my wallet.