Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Apple's Tim Cook gives the finger to mac mini customers

Apple has become even more contemptible in its pricing games under Tim Cook than it was under Steve Jobs. For example the just-introduced, $2500 iMac with the 5k display does not come with a stand. That's extra — 39 more dollars please.
     Correction: The iMac 5k retina display does come with a stand (though Apple's description is vague about the inclusion), as pointed out by a reader and confirmed by another web site. It's also (with or without an included stand) a genuine bargain considering its impressive specs, user-upgradeable memory (an endangered feature at Apple) and the fact that there is nothing out there which can match the display. Even the $250 graphics upgrade cost is cheap, considering that ATI's card version of that subsystem will run you over $900. The new Mac Minis remain a ripoff, however and we are grateful that we won't have to change the headline.
But the cruelest joke Apple played on its users was the introduction last week of 2014 Mac Minis, which, until the October 16th announcement, were the oldest Macs in Apple's line. Here's what ZDNET had to say about the minis, which can no longer be upgraded with more RAM and the top model of which is a dual CPU machine, slower than the quad-CPU 2012 mini it replaced:
     Lower performance, more expensive RAM, reduced storage capacity, worse repairability. Apple's product management has done everything short of cancelling the Mini to kill it.
     And there was no need. With the same form factor, they had plenty of room to use SODIMMs. They could have handled a quad-core i7 without thermal problems.

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3 comments:

  1. AnonymousOctober 25, 2014 at 12:44 AM

    Misinformed much? The standard 5K mac at the price you mention comes with a stand. The stand isn't $40 more, it is the built-in VESA wall mount bracket that is extra, which is always the case Apple or PC.

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  2. EnzoOctober 27, 2014 at 4:14 PM

    Then why does Apple's web site description say (as pictured and encircled above): "Stand not included." Sober up.

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  3. AnonymousOctober 28, 2014 at 9:00 PM

    Take another look at Apple's web site. I assume someone sent you a link to a page that most wouldn't normally go to. You know, the page that describes the iMac 5K with a VESA wall mount bracket instead of a stand. I understand some people are just (Apple) haters and can't help themselves. We know what that is like, eh?

    There are two pages describing the new hi-res iMac. The main one, that you reach if you click on "MAC > iMac with Retina 5K display" from the Apple home page is this:
    http://www.apple.com/imac-with-retina/
    It describes the standard iMac, at $2499, with a stand.
    It even has photos showing the stand.

    Scroll down that page a bit to find a couple of other links, one to lower resolution iMacs, and another for the "iMac with the VESA mount". The second is the page that contains the description you encircled that describes the iMac with a VESA wall mount instead of a stand. That one costs $2539, $40 extra, which is typical for VESA. The actual VESA wall bracket that connects the wall to the screen is also extra from another vendor. Again typical for any computer–Apple or PC. That page with the VESA bracket does indeed say "Stand not included." Why pay for a stand when you want a wall mounted screen?

    BTW I am quite sober, thank you very much. You?



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