Ranting Kenya

Here’s the price comparison from Daily Tech:

The numbers look too good to be true… A 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB of DDR2 667 memory, a 250 GB hard drive, DVD, and Integrated Intel GMA 950 Graphics, all for a lowly $399. To put this in perspective a Mac Mini with a 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, equivalent memory, a 160 GB hard drive, DVD, and the same graphics processor, will cost you a hefty $949. Of course the $399 Mac came in a full-size case, and the Mac Mini came in a shrunken footprint, but obviously for some Mac users, the decreased size wasn’t worth $550.

So what does this tell us about Apple, Macs, and the industry? Well for one, there’s interest in an actual low-cost alternative to the Mac. The Mac Mini gets a lot of attention due to it’s form factor, but it was billed by Apple as the cheap alternative. The computer that was for people who wanted a Mac experience, without spending thousands of dollars.

Some would argue that these computers are a good thing, that they will increase the Mac platform’s spread in the computer world. And they probably would. I would even bet that it wouldn’t cut into Mac sales much, if at all. The people who buy Macs still want “a Mac”. This however would bring more people in, and probably convert them to full-blown Mac users eventually.

Apple however, I’d bet, isn’t interested in this scenario. I forget where this comes from, but someone speculated that Apple isn’t all that interested in increasing their marketshare in the PC/Windows dominated world. They have their little corner of the market, and they’re happy with it. Why not sell a “premium” product at a premium price? They even get to play by a lot of their own rules as a result. They are in essence a monopoly of sorts. Sure they compete against PCs, but not really.

Hopefully this product doesn’t die. I’ve been thinking hard recently of hacking a PC to run OS X. It’s a cheaper alternative to buying a Mac and running Windows on it via Bootcamp. My PC has far more power than any iMac, and probably competes with the Mac Pros on some benchmarks, and is half the price. Which is really why Apple doesn’t like this Open Computer. They don’t want to compete on price (they’d lose), and they don’t want more of the market. Simple as that.

Update

One problem with Apple’s dislike of this company… it doesn’t exists really… Oh well.

Update 2

I guess they do exists. Who can keep up with this? Oh right, Engadget

There’s been a number of rumors re-surfacing in the last couple days about Blu-Ray drives coming to the Xbox 360. Microsoft said a few weeks ago after HD-DVD officially died that they weren’t talking with Sony about it. What that really means is “we’re thinking about it, and as of this moment we haven’t contacted anyone.” So are they going to do it? I think so.

I don’t think there’s any question that the future of the DVD/Blu-Ray is limited by digital downloads. We’re already seeing a number of services available that provide just this service. Microsoft’s Xbox Marketplace, iTunes Store/Apple TV, and the VooDoo box are a few. Plus you can watch so much online for free now straight from the internet browser. And of course, there’s still Video on Demand (VOD). VOD could be a real competitor if they’d just fix the quality issue.

Anyway, many have speculated that Microsoft won’t do a Blu-Ray (BR) drive because they want people to move to the download model. This is about half true in my mind. Yes, absolutely, they want people to do digital delivery. However, the Xbox division main goal is to sell Xbox 360 consoles and Xbox 360 games. Would adding a BR drive (either internal or as an add-on à la HD-DVD drive) be an added incentive to buy Xbox 360 consoles? I believe so. Many people bought a PS3 solely as a BR player. The PS3 continues to be one of the best and most flexible BR players available.

However, should Microsoft make such a drive available, it would surely sell at least as well as the HD-DVD drive did. All those early adopters are bound to jump on it since the format war is over. True, Sony would benefit from licensing fees, but at least Microsoft would get a cut on the players. It’s also another bullet point on the Xbox 360 box (BR capability), which would eliminate the major difference between PS3 and Xbox 360.

Plus, you can look at Microsoft’s track record with the Xbox 360. They’ve bowed to the community’s pressure on multiple occasions. The HD-DVD drive was in a way, bowing to consumer pressure. As was when Microsoft released Xbox 360 consoles with HDMI ports (their story before hand was that nobody needed HDMI). And perhaps less due to consumer pressure and more media pressure, the warranty extension to 3 years for all the red ringed consoles. Is there any reason to believe Microsoft won’t flinch and release an external BR drive? I don’t think so. The only reason in my mind that Microsoft hasn’t said there will be BR drives for the 360 is they may be waiting for the cost of the drives to get low enough to be able to offer an external drive at the $199 price point.

I only bring this up because recently I heard somebody actually say that “Yes, this is HD, but my good Monster cables are downstairs and I should hook them up.” Here’s the real deal. There is no, let me repeat, NO benefit to using Monster (or any other “high end” brand) cables. Engadget reported that users couldn’t “see the monster difference” when the cables were compared to a coat hanger. Here’s the link for Audiophiles can’t tell the difference between Monster Cable and coat hangers.