Apple updates full desktop Mac line-up

It's all go at Apple: the company has just rolled a stack of new desktops: the Mac Pro, the iMac and the Mac Mini have all been updated. The Mini's long awaited revamp sees the small machine gain Nvidia's GeForce 9400M integrated graphics as Apple's laptops now possess. As early leaked pics revealed, the new model has five USB …

[Peter Kay]

So near, but so far..

Clever, clever Apple. 500 quid is just (only just) about swallowable for a mini, but 150 quid for an extra GB RAM and 160GB of hard drive? Fuck off! It'll be a sealed warranty busting situation if you upgrade by yourself again, I expect. Laptops have memory access slots, and the mini is a keyboard and screenless laptop..

500 quid *with* 2GB RAM (upgradeable to 4GB for a minimal price), 320GB HD and a mouse and keyboard would be more realistic in these times.

I want to know if a) multi monitor is enabled - it'd be a crime if not and b) This is a Santa Rosa based motherboard (8GB enabled, with hideously expensive 4GB SODIMMs)

[Steve]

So not much change to the mini

Looks like they just cut the low-end version and added ports and dedicated graphics.

Phew! So my 9 month old mini is still as fast as the new one, not counting the gfx upgrade, I like my full DVI port, could do with that Firewire 800 port tho'. :(

[Anonymous Coward]

Mini

Does this mean that the Mini is dual screen capable? If so, I'd actually be half tempted.

[Paul Adamson]

20" iMac price fall? nah

"The iMac tweak sees the 20in model's price fall to $1199/£949"

err not quite, thats what you get when you repeat apples blurb..

The iMac 20" was £799 yesterday today its £949 if im right thats an increase!

[Sergie Kaponitovicz]

Rip Off Britain

Classic rip-off Britain again.

Let's take these numbers for a Mac Mini, lowest spec:

USD 599 (i.e. net price) to which sales tax must be added, say 8.5% (about right for NYC), versus

GBP 499 which by law includes VAT (so net price = GBP 434)

Let's take USD 599 and apply the interbank conversion rate as of today, which is 0.71. So the net UK price for the exact same product (except voltage) is 434 x 0.71 = GBP 308.

Keep with me. Now take GBP 308 and add 15% VAT. That's GBP 355.

Compare GBP 355 versus GBP 499!

There is no way that it costs Apple GBP 144 more to sell this product in London than it does in NYC.

[Alexis Vallance]

Price decrease????

What price decrease? I could get a 20" iMac for £750 before. Now it's £950.

[Anonymous Coward]

Painful prices

Looks like there's been significant price increases across the board. The entry-level iMac is about £200 more - and the standard Mac Pro, by about £250 - I think.

Was intending to buy a MP, but even with the higher education discount I get, think I'll be taking a pass and be considering a efi-x dongle instead....

[Jaimie Vandenbergh]

Back to normal price differential then

@Sergei - For a year or so, Apple's new kit prices were decent over here. Now right back into taking the piss again. Still, that's what the Refurb shop is for - to get us back to US prices.

@Ross Beavis - yes, dual screens possible, up to 1920x1200 on the mini-DVI and 2560x1600 on the mini-DisplayPort.

[Christopher Smith]

@Rip Off Britain

Your math is awry - you've applied the exchange rate to the uk price. Actual figures are 489 v 499.

599 x 0.71 * 1.15 = 489.08.

[John]

Bit annoyed at those Atom rumours

of the Mac Mini as it meant I didn't wait.

Bloody websites and their rumours, now that I think of it. It could have been misinformation by Apple to shift a few old ones.

Although I'm not too annoyed as I generally only use it for a Media Server.

[Anonymous Coward]

Re: Rip Off Britain

You've mixed yourself up there.

Try this

599 (USD price) x 0.71 (USD-GBP conversion) x 1.15 (VAT) = 489 GBP

So there's a tenner in it.

[Anonymous Coward]

That's me going elsewhere

As a lifelong PC owner, hacked off with Vista, I was looking at a Mac. Not at these prices. I priced up a Dell Studio XPS PC at £10 less than the 2.93GHz model. This is how they compare for essentially the same money:

Core i7 2.93 vs. Core 2 Duo 2.93 - Not even a fair comparison.

8GB DDR3 vs 4GB DDR3 - Hmmm I could spend a put of cash extra on the Mac to get to 8GB...

1.2TB (2x640GB) vs 640GB - Apple offers half the storage.

Radeon 4850 vs Nvidia GT120 - Again, not even close - a mobile GPU, versus a desktop one?

Otherwise, I specced them the same (24in HD panel, DVDRW etc). The only downside is Vista, but given the spec, I'd even tolerate that (Ubuntu is rather cheap after all). Hell, I can go to most PC manufacturers and find similar for the same or less cash.

Now I can't justify buying hardware that is half the horsepower simply because it looks nice and has a nice OS.

Sorry Apple, you've just lost a sale. A pity, because I genuinely like the kit.

[Dave Fox]

Currency conversions way off!

@Sergie

Rip of Britain???

Your currency conversions are way, way, way off! You've converted the VAT-less GBP price, "back" to GBP, instead of the USD price.

The actual conversion should be:

$599 *. 71 = £425.29

Add 15% VAT and you get to £489.08! Somewhat more reasonable methinks!

Regards,

Dave

[Maliciously Crafted Packet]

Mini drive speeds?

How much extra performance would a Mini get from a faster 7200 RPM drive? Wondering if its worth risking the warranty installing one. On that note would plugging in a decent FW800 will give better performance than the internal 5400 jobbie?

Sort of defeats the object really as Im looking for a test DB/Web server that I can stick in the bottom draw of my desk. External drives make this impractical with all the extra cables and the like.

[Mark Honman]

@Sergie - computational error - reboot programmer

Uhh, the US price when converted to squids is 599*.71 = £420 ish.

So the comparison is between 420 and 434 pre-VAT - not too bad. Just a pity that the pound has fallen from US$0.50! The missing £14 is probably "forward cover", i.e. insurance against the pound getting worse.

[Anonymous Coward]

re: Rip Off Britain

Sergie,

Apple has routinely charged more in Britain than the US - but the real issue here is how much the prices have been jacked up without upping the specs in a similarly way.

No disrespect, but I think your calculations are suspect – I think more would compare the price as:

£1=$1.40:

$599 Mac mini = £427

£427 + 15% = £491

UK RRP is £499

I think you seem to have taken the net UK price and converted to sterling as if it was in US dollars.

[Anonymous Coward]

A title

so wheres the mini with blu-ray? to make a perfect home media solution

and rip off britain; lets all thank labour and gordon brown for screwing up the currency, as somebody once said 'a weak currency is a sign of a weak government'. but seeing as obama has cut short his glory seeking maybe somebody should book him a genius bar appointment so at least the entire trip wont be wasted

[Richard Cartledge]

A few minor updates

A few major price hikes.

[Jarrad]

*Integrated* graphics on the iMac?!?

WTF? I don't want or need a 24" iMac and was quite close to being ready for a replacement, but there's no way in hell I'll go with the 20" iMac now that you can only get it with integrated graphics.

For awhile now, the iMac has been a decent gaming machine, and now you mess it up with integrated graphics? What are you thinking, Apple?

[Chris Hatfield]

zOMG!!! one!!! Apple finally updates the Mac Mini

woo hoo!!!!

The price is not appealing, I hope it comes down.

brb fapping

[Bod]

Mini

Had been waiting to see what happens with the Mini as a potential HD HTPC box. At that price though, no way. Can source decent PC kit in a mini form factor for around the £200 to £300 mark that's good enough (whether it be XP or Linux), and it'll probably come with a keyboard!

Though I believe there's potential in Atom for quiet, low power, small form factor HTPC, especially considering how well my Sammy NC10 netbook is doing at the job even with HD material hooked up to a 1080p telly!

[Anonymous Coward]

@Peter Kay

"and the mini is a keyboard and screenless laptop.."

You forgot to say batteryless too. Which makes it non-portable. Which means it's really much more like a desktop machine ;-)

[Carl]

poxy exchange rates

My 3.06 GHz iMac was £1500 last year. Now what appears to be a very similar spec machine is £1900.

[Alexis Vallance]

Don't do it

The only way to get Apple to lower those prices is if nobody buys one.

Boycott Apple everyone!

(I love Apple, but they're taking the piss with these charges)

[sleepy]

@ac (Dell Studio XPS better value)

Go ahead and buy something you didn't want because it's better value!

When pricing the Dell, I think you forgot to include a price for webcam, iLife, speakers, bluetooth, Vista Ultimate upgrade, optical audio in/out. Then there's the low noise level, and good design that you can't even get from Dell.

But in fact you should be comparing iMac with XPS One. Dell brands an all-in-one too.

[Peter Nuding]

That's the worthless pound for you

If you're looking at the Euro prices you won't see much change. With the Pound having lost so much value in the last months their margins on UK sales must have been rather painful. Apple usually don't change pricing during a product's lifetime.

So with the model change they adapted to the exchange rates (and probably include the bad outlook).

Paris, because I'm sure she wouldn't get it, either.

[Bad Beaver]

FireWire

FTW.

[Rolf Howarth]

Rip-off Britain?

There was a slight price drop in US$ but because the exchange rate has shifted so much recently the price in pounds has actually gone up. That's not really Apple's fault though.

Stop dragging out the boring old story of "rip-off Britain", it's simply not true. A lot of the higher end Macs are actually CHEAPER here than they are in the USA, eg. the Mac Pro at $2499 ought to cost 2499/1.4*1.15 = £2052 but actually costs £1899 inc. VAT. Perhaps we'll start getting American tourists coming over to London to buy their Macs and then claiming the VAT back when they export them!

Prices will never agree exactly because Apple (like a lot of other companies) like to round their prices to nice round numbers in each market. Additionally, once they set a price for a new model they tend to stick to that even if there are subsequent exchange rate fluctuations.

[Bill]

Dell Studio XPS better value

sleepy wrote "When pricing the Dell, I think you forgot to include a price for webcam, iLife, speakers, bluetooth, Vista Ultimate upgrade, optical audio in/out. Then there's the low noise level, and good design that you can't even get from Dell."

Webcam: Cheap as chips. Plus, not everybody wants or needs one.

iLife: Free Windows alternatives all over the Web

Speakers: Again, cheap as chips, to get something that would be comparable to the ones inside an iMac

Bluetooth: An inexpensive upgrade option that can be obtained from Dell itself in the from of their 19 in 1 Media Reader/Bluetooth module combo.

Vista Ultimate: Not really necessary as Vista Premium is included with the system

Optical audio I/O: Very few people use it and S/PDIF is included with the Studio XPS as an alternative

Regarding noise and good design: Dell systems are very quiet. I have one here and I hardly ever notice that the system is actually on. Designwise, I find Dell's to be quite nice. Also, that sort of thing tends to be a matter of tastes anyway.

Also, with a Studio XPS, one can pretty much upgrade the system whenever they feel like it; as opposed to waiting for Apple to feed one upgrades in drips and drabs.

[Richard]

Mini not so expensive really ..

Compare the specs, like for like with the previous generation ... e.g.

http://www.johnlewis.com/230442015/Product.aspx

http://www.ghc.co.uk/acatalog/Mac_mini.html

and with the much faster memory, faster and better - but still integrated - graphics, FW800, extra usb, 13 watts when idle .. you get a significant amount for an extra tenner ... and if you have an employers' discount or student discount you can get it for £469.20 direct from Apple with free delivery.

My first gen Mini has done very good service as a PVR and media centre ... now it needs an upgrade to fully drive my 1080p HDTV. So finally after months of waiting I'm off to the Apple online store for a discounted upgrade for me ...

[Anonymous Coward]

For an extra £200...

... on top of the high end model, you can configure the mini with a 2.26ghz cpu and 4gb ram.

If that were the high end model out of the box, I'd buy one tomorrow!

[stu]

@Bod mac mini as HD HTPC

Got the minimum spec 1.6 dual core 2 1/2 years ago from apple refurb store for 300 quid.

30 quid got me a 2.33ghz dual core cpu.

30 quid got the memory upgraded to 2gb.

Oh, and I fired vista onto it (massively better codec support that osx).

result: plays anything you throw at it. 1080p @50% CPU, 5.1 DTS spdif output to amp, etc.

The smart folk will be on the lookout for old spec mac mini discounted pricing and do the same thing.

Unless you are a gamer the 9400 is useless... sure with MPC HC it will reduce the cpu usage of h264 playback, but so what ? its plugged it.. and you ain't doing anything else with it when watching a movie.

[Anonymous Coward]

Price Whiners...

Two things.

The £/$ exchange rate is FUBAR for us Brits at the moment. The UK prices quoted includes VAT. Don't forget to add sales tax to the US prices. Or carry on blaming Apple. Twats.

[Anonymous Coward]

Only Apple

Only apple would dream of hiking their prices up like this in one of the worst ever recessions. Guess whos sales figures will be showing a massive plummet later this year

[Peter Kay]

@AC Mini and iMac are laptops

No keyboard, no screen (mini), no battery. Still laptops though.

Laptop chipsets. Laptop hard drives. Laptop class processors. Laptop grade graphics cards. SODIMM memory. The mini is a laptop in a fancy case at a higher cost than a laptop with screen, keyboard and battery..

Finding a direct equivalent at the Mini price point is difficult, as most laptops under 500 quid include Intel integrated graphics. A few do include Radeon graphics, though, and most ship with at least 2GB (sometimes 4GB). 1GB is definitely a stingy move from Apple, seeing as they don't have to budget for a screen, keyboard, mouse..

I'll wait for a full review and then decide. No way I'm spending 150 quid extra on a bigger hard drive and more memory - that goes beyond expensive into price gouging. Need to be certain about multi monitor support, access to memory upgrades without invalidating the warranty and whether the amount of memory used by the 9400M scales with installed memory or if Apple has pulled a fast one to required users to pay 150 quid extra for a system where the 9400M uses 256MB..

[Adam]

Ah, BluRay.

I can't wait until BluRay is invented. As soon as it is, Apple will include the drives on their computers and you will buy an Apple high-definition system that will beat all the PCs still running on standard-definition.

What? You mean BluRay HAS been invented already? And new PCs in these price brackets DO play BluRay? But Apple invents everything, don't they?

As to those who DON'T think the price is a rip-off... the £/$ rate is about as low as it will go (fingers crossed). As soon as the rate climbs ~10%, that £500 computer that is actually sold at £450 inc sales tax in the US will suddenly be worth £400. Doubt Apple will drop their figures then.

[N]

@ Mac Phreak

Agreed,

Not so long ago the exchange was around $2 for £1 (or £1 for $1 for Microsoft Windows Vista )

Now its different, £1 buys $1.41 & US prices are without state sales tax which varies between 0 & 7.25%

So a difference but hardly a rip off & no ones forcing you to buy it.

[Sergie Kaponitovicz]

Oh! Bolleaux - Re Rip-off Britain

My embarrassed apologies to all. I will now go away, sit in a corner, and suck something.

[Anonymous Coward]

Britain? Aussie users take it in the dark hole around back!

No Mac can be bought anymore in Oz for under $1,000.00 Yep the mini costs more than that!

World Economy you say? When AUD hit near perfect price parity with the USD Apple still charged us $800+ for a mini. It was cheaper to buy US then have a friend ship the box to you in Oz.

I'd go for it if the whole PC industry moved in the same pricing direction but Apple has re-jiggled the prices in Oz and the PCs are still selling for the old pricing points. Hrmmm

Apple, feck off! My next Mac will be a hackintosh if you keep the prices like this!

[Anonymous Coward]

Ah well, buy an iMac in Oz you get a better deal.

Seems like you pay less for iMac in Oz than in USA. So you save yourself $50 USD on every model in the iMac line.

Top end iMac 24-inch 3.06 GHz. AUD 3699 * .9 (take off 10% GST) = 3329

Google: 3329 AUD in USD = 2,137.55 USD

Price in USA for same kit = $2,199.00 USD

Still, it sucks to have the Aussie Dollar.

Paris--because I need to think of something else right now.