Intel shamelessly trying to steal some sales away from the MiniWith Apple's Mac Mini flying off store shelves at a rate of around 40,000 units a month, Intel has begun to take notice, and they are hoping to dull the "Switch" campaign that Apple has been pushing. Apparently Intel has already contracted out AOpen to build Mac Mini-imitations based on Intel's low-power Pentium M processor, running Windows XP.
"I don't think the two -- Mac mini and whatever Intel puts out -- are really in the same market; that is, of course, unless Apple starts running OS X on x86 hardware," said IDC analyst Roger Kay.
I agree entirely. I don't believe that the attraction of the Mac Mini is the size/design of it so much as it is a (relatively) cheap way of getting the chance to play around with OS X. In my opinion, OS X is the only reason Macs are still attractive in some way -- I wouldn't mind a chance to play around with an operating system that has a form of UNIX underneath and a real user interface on top. Other than that, the hardware is less than attractive, especially considering the price.
That leads over to this point:
"The Pentium M and Windows XP are pretty expensive components. It would be hard to hit the Mac mini's $499 price point with that combo," wrote IDC's Kay.
Hard -- but not impossible, if Intel lowers the prices on its Pentium M. If they're serious about getting even a partial foot-hold in the Mini's market, it has to be a combination of a) much cheaper and equally attractive or b) the same price but much more attractive.
Article Link: Intel Preps Mac Mini Look-Alike
