Dells mac mini competitor

Hi

dell introduced this new pc

http://www.dell.com/content/product...o-hybrid?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~tab=designtab

its quite similar to mini, but looks better on the paper

what's different?
under 500$

up to 4gig RAM
HDMI
up to 320gig HDD
DVD writer (standard) or optional Blue ray
1000 ethernet
GMA x3100
core 2 duo up to 2.6 gHtz

looks nice although people have been complaining about the noise.

I'm not a Pc fan, but hope this will be a wake up call for apple and they finally upgrade mini.

On paper it isn't a Mac so how can it be better?

Well I can see a few reasons why it is not as good as it could be:

1. The site says it wants Vista. Can it run XP? If not it'll alienate a lot of users. As if I was in that market I'd only be using XP. Not Vista. And there are a lot of other users like this.

It says 5 USB 2.0 Ports. But from the picture of it's ports, it only has 3 USB ports I can see. And also there's no firewire as on the mini.

3. The standard config for the $499 variation is:

Any look bar the bamboo/wood veener - that is $130 extra
1.86Ghz standard. Up to 2.6 Ghz is up to $625 extra
Vista Home Basic. Ultimate is $150 more
1GB ram standard. $50 per GB extra to 4 GB.
Sound. If you want Integrated Sound Blaster® Audigy™ HD add $25
180GB 5400rpm standard. 250GB - $50 extra. 320GB - $100 extra.
Built-in Dell 1505 Wireless-N Networking - Extra $70 (Is N standard on the mini?)
The blue ray option is $250 extra
Microsoft Works 9.0 is included standard. But office is extra.
Plus there's no sound output. So some external speakers are needed. (I dunno if the mini is the same or not)
Bigger and heaver than the Mini. And looks? That'd debatable but I like the Mini more.


So if you get the best possible version of this machine as stated in the OP's article then the price is (without the wood veneer or any extra software or a monitor):

$1869. And for that I can get a 24 inch imac with all those (minus the blue ray) and much more. Not really such a good deal. But the $499 version does stand up not so badly compared the the $599 mac mini. If you can live with Vista home basic that is and limited wireless capabilities.

Those prices come from the dell site www.dell.com and then the Hybrid page.

Dell also says this about their new little computer:

75% less printed documentation by weight when compared to typical tower desktops.

What is that supposed to mean? A smaller instruction manual? I don't know.

MAC-simus said:

Hi

dell introduced this new pc

http://www.dell.com/content/product...o-hybrid?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs&~tab=designtab

its quite similar to mini, but looks better on the paper

what's different?
under 500$

up to 4gig RAM
HDMI
up to 320gig HDD
DVD writer (standard) or optional Blue ray
1000 ethernet
GMA x3100
core 2 duo up to 2.6 gHtz

looks nice although people have been complaining about the noise.

I'm not a Pc fan, but hope this will be a wake up call for apple and they finally upgrade mini.

Click to expand...

Looks good! but it has the curse of Vista!

The8thark, there are 3 USB ports in the back, and two on the front. Also, it does have firewire, its just the smaller 4-pin connector.

Dylan

Ah ok thanks. I didn't notice those. Silly me.

It does look quite cute as it happens, but it's amazing how the price shoots up just be adding a little. Having said that, if you get a Mini with 2GBs of RAM, 2ghz CPU, AppleCare and iWork, it's over $1100 also.

Shame the Dell with come pre-installed with about 40GBs worth of Crapware to clog it up.

Saw this on the main Dell page at work yestarday (while getting drivers for one of our ALL DELL pcs ) and i rather like it.

OK, it doesn't run OS X, it's not a Mac, but for a mainstream PC it does look awesome. Make a great HTPC too with a blu-ray drive - can any Mac's be specced with one of these yet - no.

IMO Apple are losing the edge on the latest technology front. Now they're basically just PCs in a fancy box they are sooo outdated compared to the competition - and that's going from the Mini to Pro.

I will be called a Mac FanBoy probably for this but to me it looks ugly. If I had to wake up to that every day I would leave my house and never come back. I do not like it and it's overpriced. People say the Mini is overpriced?

dtravis7 said:

I will be called a Mac FanBoy probably for this but to me it looks ugly. If I had to wake up to that every day I would leave my house and never come back. I do not like it and it's overpriced. People say the Mini is overpriced?

Click to expand...

Scurrilous cad! How DARE you insult the aesthetics of a machine, you MAC FANBOY?



Ahem, on a slightly less lulzy note, I think it's clear that the hardware outstrips the quality of the Mac Mini's by a significant margin, and I'm glad other companies are looking into this particular type of machine. I hope it wakes up Apple and prompts them to make the Mac Mini less of a rip-off. That said, you're not exactly getting maximal bang-for-buck with this machine either... but I think both companies are using the "cute" small form factor to justify it. Apple really needs to try to make a mid-range tower to draw more customers, though, I think... bring on the Core 2 Duo Cube!

chrisiw said:

Looks good! but it has the curse of Vista!

Click to expand...

Eeew! VISTA! You could always install GNU/Linux on it though. I'm sure Dell was nice enough to make it Ubuntu-compatible at the very least.

How you can compare a Dell with a Mac, it doesn't have OSX for a start! ;P

Also it looks horrible, who would have a wood affect pc!

ranjkennedy said:

I may just have a special mac mini, but mine has a firewire in it!

So I cant see how you can say it doesn't!

Also how you can compare a Dell with a Mac, it doesn't have OSX for a start! ;P

Click to expand...

Yes, from the first Power PC G4 1.25Ghz Mini to the latest C2D 2.0Ghz, all have a Firewire port.

Good point about OSX.

Dell = Microsoft OS
Microsoft = Crap
Looks like a nice machine but its Crap being it runs on crap.
Sorry blinded by years of painful us of 95, 97 and ME

Zoolook said:

It does look quite cute as it happens, but it's amazing how the price shoots up just be adding a little. Having said that, if you get a Mini with 2GBs of RAM, 2ghz CPU, AppleCare and iWork, it's over $1100 also.

Shame the Dell with come pre-installed with about 40GBs worth of Crapware to clog it up.

Click to expand...

Liked the link to OneCare (Crapware), Microsoft gives you Vista then charges you extra to make it more secure and give it the ability to remind you to do maintenance tasks!

i think it looks pretty cool, you can see that PC makers have started to care about how their computers actually look, but Apple have been doing that for years.

I think it actually looks quite good for a PC!

It's about time manufacturers started making different designs which are not highly influenced by Apple computers.

(Although I'd still go for a mini!)

I like how its stand can adjust to hold the unit vertical or horizontal. The wood grain skin is interesting too. Different. A nice adjustment to the plain old solid black, white or beige boxes.

louishen said:

Liked the link to OneCare (Crapware), Microsoft gives you Vista then charges you extra to make it more secure and give it the ability to remind you to do maintenance tasks!

Click to expand...

Sort of like how Apple gives us Leopard and then charges extra to make it NOT ridiculously bloated/RAM-inefficient a couple years later.

More on the Dell, though: Why would it be unable to boot Windows XP? As long as you're willing to reformat the hard drive and have an XP install disc, there shouldn't be anything holding you back from putting it on there unless there's some weird practice I'm not familiar with.

I went to a mac 2yrs ago as i just could not stand anymore hassle with windows, and I have converted two friends in that time, and the three of us cant believe that there is a computer system that "JUST WORKS" and does its job, as any product should do, I know friends that still have Vista and wish they had never seen it.