Linked by Brian "eXtra heavy" Czarski on Wed 19th Jan 2005 17:41 UTC
I have been an omni-platform user, Windows, OS X and Linux user for some time now. I love different things about each platform and loathe just as much as I like about all three. The release of the Mac Mini at MacWorld really made me wonder if Apple made good move in jumping into the low range market. I decided the best way to see was to compare the Mini to my primary box, a similar system in specifications and price.
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I fully believe it's people like me who are being targeted by Apple. I purchased my Mac mini the day they were announced and I just saw today that it shipped yesterday and that I should receive it the day after tomorrow.
I'm certainly not a Mom and Pop, don't know anything about a computer user. I have Windows XP and Ubuntu installed on my 6-year-old, built from scratch PC at home. I used to love to tinker with my PC, adding components, formatting my hard drive and reinstalling operating systems once ever couple of months, etc.
Then, I got married. Then, my daughter was born. Now, I've been married 2.5 years and have a daughter who's 16 months old. I'm an IT professional working in the government industry. I now barely have time to even use my computer at home, let alone tinker with it and fix problems with it. I want something that meets my needs of ease-of-use along with advanced technology.
We have an Apple store at a local mall here and I fell in love with Mac OS X the first time I used it. It was so easy to use, yet so advanced. I decided then that I was going to make the switch. Actually doing it though was another issue. I simply couldn't justify the cost to my wife. Not that she runs the show or anything, but when she's a stay at home mom and we live on my salary, money isn't something that's taken lightly.
The iLife apps are built for people like me. I loved the fact that using iPhoto, I could easily manage all of the digital photos we were taking of our daughter. I loved the fact that using iMove and iDVD, I could create movies from the video we were taking of our daughter, burn them onto a DVD, and send it to my parents who live 500 miles away. I loved the fact that everything just worked, and worked well.
I tried to use Linux and find something that worked as well as the iLife apps. I never was able to find anything to suit my needs.
So, I was resigned to the fact that I was going to switch, but would have to save and scrape money together to do it (without making it a priority over the other things needed). I couldn't wait to finally have a Mac companion for my iPod mini.
Then, Apple saved the day and came out with the Mac mini. It was everything I wanted and had the right price to boot. As of Friday, I'll make the switch and not look back.
In my opinion, Apple's strategy is to get people like me first. People who want to switch, but haven't been able to take the leap yet. Then, once people like me are converted, we'll convert people like our parents. I was at my in-laws house last night for 3 hours trying to remove viruses and spyware from their Windows XP computer. I'm going to try to use my mini to convince them to make the switch too.