Apple introduced several products today like the unibody
Macbook, new 21.5" and 27"
iMacs, the new
Magic Mouse and new
Mac Minis.
Way to steal
Windows 7's thunder Apple! Announcing new line of products two days before
Windows 7's launch on Oct 22, 2009.
The new Apple products are very compelling. The new iMac 21.5" is $100 cheaper than previous generation and the 27" is cheaper than the 24" version of the previous generation iMacs.
While these are great products, what really caught my attention was the new
Mac Mini Server.
Now, using a Mac Mini as a server is nothing new. A lot of people are already using Mac Minis as a server. But this is the first time Apple has actually brought out a Mac Mini that has OS X Snow Leopard Server pre-installed.
The new
Mac Mini Server has a 2.53Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 3MB on-chip shared L2 cache running 1:1 with processor speed, 1066MHz frontside bus, 4GB (two 2GB SO-DIMMs) of 1066MHz DDR3 SDRAM and NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics processor with 256MB of DDR3 SDRAM shared with main memory.
It also uses a dual 500Gb 5400-rpm Serial ATA hard disk drives.
What's interesting about this Mac Mini is that it uses two 500Gb hard disk instead of one hard disk and a Superdrive. So you can distinguish a Mac Mini from a Mac Mini Server from each other by looking to see if there is a Superdrive slot. The Mac Mini Server has no slot.
Apple has never really been strong in the business market specially in the server market. But this new Mac Mini Server which is priced at US$999 for unlimited number of users is quite intriguing.
It's a very cheap server (other than if you run Linux). But then you get the full OS X Snow Leopard Server functionality. Since the OS X Snow Leopard Server has no per number of user license fee, that beats Microsoft's Server in price. Again, other than running Linux of course.
Apple is marketing the Mac Mini Server to small businesses, retail shops, doctor and law offices, classrooms and design studios. From the looks of it, they're targeting groups up to 50 people.
The OS X Snow Leopard Server can be used to synchronize contacts and calendars, share wiki's, have secure instant messaging, file sharing and web hosting.
Servers are not really complex setups for small groups and the Mac Mini Server makes it doesn't make it look intimidating to those who have never run a server before.
My guess is, Apple is trying to capture this small business so they can get used to using OS X Servers. Once they're used to it, they will eventually move up to either a Mac Pro or the Xserve.
Who knows, maybe Apple is even trying to capture the home server market since there are rumors that Apple's future strategy is to dominate the living room. This Mac Mini Server could just be the first step in trying to see how people will use
OS X Snow Leopard now they bundled it with their cheapest Mac hardware.
Think about it, the entry level Mac Mini is $599 and has a 2.26Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2Gb of RAM and 160Gb HD. The next level up is $799 and has a 2.53Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo with 4Gb of RAM and 320Gb HD.
The Mac Mini Server has the specs of the higher level Mac Mini with two 500Gb HD for a total of 1 Tb and includes OS X Snow Leopard Server which retails for $499.
So you get a higher end Mac Mini with server software for $999. That's really cheap. Of course, if you want to add a Superdrive on it you need to spend an extra $99 for an external Superdrive.
This really looks like the best value Mac from what was offered today.
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