The launch of the latest Mac Mini dispels long-held rumors that the diminutive desktop was about to be discontinued. But Apple’s shabby treatment of the device still leaves plenty of questions unanswered.
Namely, why did it take so long for Apple to make a relatively minor, incremental upgrade? Why are there no changes in the case’s overall appearance? Ultimately, why did Apple do the least it could’ve possibly done with this device?
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And the Mac Mini just gets weirder. There is no clear sense of who the target market is for the device, how the product is performing in sales, or why it still even exists.
I’ve had a similar thought for years. It is not that I don’t like the Mac mini - quite the opposite - I love the little box, but from an objective standpoint, it doesn’t make much sense. Most of the time when I come across a Mac mini it’s in a secondary role as a media center, a file server, a carputer or simply a spare machine.
The one exception is switchers. When Apple released the Mac mini, the slide above Steve’s head read “BYODKM: Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard and Mouse.” For the PC user, all they have to do to switch to the Mac is plug in the sandwich-shaped Mac mini and they’re off to the races. In fact, I’ve seen several Mac minis being used in tandem with a PC - via a KVM switch - as the user was slowly making the move to the Mac.
The Mac mini is bait for those Windows users who want to see what the Mac is like without spending $1000. And that’s why it won’t go away anytime soon, but at the same time, not get a whole lot of love from the boys and girls in Cupertino.