Aaron Adams’s Blowhard Blog

And you thought I forgot about the Mac mini!

I used to be one of those people who built my own computer every year or 18 months because I could customize a machine cheaply and get exactly what I wanted for my money. As keeping up with the plethora of hardware choices became more difficult, as the substantive differences between generations of hardware became less pronounced, as the hardware I had chosen came back to bite me in the ass in unanticipated ways later, and as my time spent researching, assembling, and building homemade boxes became needed in other pursuits, I gave up rolling my own.

However, as I’m sure you’re aware, there are still many people out there who do, and a motivating factor among those who build rather than buy is price. The Mac mini has received quite a bit of attention recently, and because of its low price, Apple’s least expensive machine, fairly or not, gets compared to these very inexpensive do-it-yourself computers. If Macs really are as great as I’ve heard, some people reason, perhaps it’s worth a comparatively modest expenditure to try it and see what I think.

Such was the case with Mick, a build-it-yourselfer. When rumors were flying about a potential headless Mac, I asked in my forums whether Windows users would really consider buying such a thing. Mick said he would, and now that the Mac mini is a reality, I’ve followed up with him to find out whether he has a Mac mini yet, and to discover the reasoning behind his decision.

Before going any further, I would once again like to state my thesis.

Thesis:
The Mac mini will sell primarily to persons interested in an additional Mac, to persons or institutions with special needs or circumstances, and organizations that already own Macs. The Mac mini will do little to draw switchers from other platforms. The best way for Apple to attract switchers is through a sustained marketing campaign highlighting the advantages of products such as, but not limited to, OS X and the iLife suite, not via an inexpensively priced headless computer.

And now we’ll let Mick tell us the decision he came to in his own words.

After much deliberation, I have begun to price out what it would cost me to build a new PC instead of ordering the Mac Mini.

I originally started pricing out the Mac Mini in a configuration that I would want. First off, I went with the $499 base model. I don’t think I need the extra clock speed on the processor. Second, I knew I wanted 512MB of RAM minimum because I would want to do some video editing on it. To add that it cost an extra $75. Third, the base model does not come with the S/PDIF port, as mentioned before, so I priced out an external sound card that could plug in the firewire or USB port. That was another $100 or so. The total for the Mac Mini before I bought the USB keyboard (I have a mouse) was already over $700 after tax. In the future I might want to upgrade the HDD on the machine, and but being that it is a laptop drive it is more expensive and a pain in the ass, therefore another strike against the mini.

I then went to Dell to see what they were offering. They were not (and still aren’t) offering any great prices, but I could get a decent PC with 512 MB ram, 80GB HD, S/PDIF out, etc., for around $500. After totally configuring the PC how I would want it (just a low end PC, not needing to be a monster gaming machine), I felt I could build the PC for a lot cheaper than I could get on Dell’s website.

Next stop, NewEgg.com. I can build a pretty good PC (AMD Mobile Athlon XP 2500+ overclocked from ~ 1.8 GHz to ~ 2.3GHz, Biostar M7NCD Pro motherboard with S/PDIF out, 512MB PC3200 RAM, 120GB HD, 6 USB 2.0 ports, 350W Power Supply w/ case) for around $300. I can buy a FusionHD card for another $130 or so if I want to turn the PC into a PVR down the road (software free if I run Linux on it, and MythTV.org has a free PVR that looks to be extremely nice).

So, I am at the point of spending the extra $200 so I don’t have to deal with warrantee issues myself if it breaks down (Dell vs. build my own), or spend about $400 more to buy the Mac Mini (twice as much as building my own PC). I haven’t done anything yet, but I pretty much have ruled out Apple. Most likely I will end up with the NewEgg.com system due to the great price

Mick can probably be considered more of a sampler than a switcher. He expressed his interest in trying a Mac on his own, and there is nothing to suggest he’s unhappy with Windows, or that another platform would replace his Windows machine. According to the information available to us, Mick’s decision to skip the Mac mini and build his own machine was based solely upon price. Nowhere does Mick mention usage of the computer as a factor. I assert that it is no small coincidence that Apple also does not factor usage into their advertising. There are tangible, quantifiable advantages to the Mac experience and the software Apple bundles with their machines that justify the price difference, but Mick isn’t fully aware of them because he hasn’t been exposed to them. Apple advertising is primarily responsible for that.

Mick will be neither a switcher nor a sampler. When it comes to price, the Mac mini will be compared to, and simply cannot compete with, low-end, low-expectations, commoditized Wintel hardware. The true value of a Macintosh lies not in the price / hardware goodies ratio, but in the satisfaction of doing things with a computer rather than to it.

As a final note, Mick ordered his parts from NewEgg.com and received them last week. He quickly discovered some problem with the CPU, motherboard, or some combination thereof, and had to return each part for replacement.