MINIs and Macs

Sections: Best of the Web | Classic Mini | Design | Efficiency | R56 (Hatch) Mar 27th, 2009 10 Comments

We always talk about the comparison between the MINI brand and Apple. Both are considered to be premium brands in their respective segments for a number of reasons. Size and efficiency being one of them.

â€œTo us,â€ Wu wrote, â€œthe new Mac mini is like a Mini Cooper, a premium small form factor product but with decent horsepower. We believe the Mac mini could turn out to be a surprise dark horse hit.â€

The comparison is serendipitous for more than name commonality (although Mini â€” the car â€” has always been capitalized). That first commercial product imprinting the Mini name on cultural iconography was sprung on the world 50 years ago this year.

[ Minis and minis by Apple and Others ] TheAppleBlog.com

Written By: DB

zm

oh, no–apple fanboi’s commence…
mike c.

I enjoyed the article, it parallels my tastes and sort of brings together the reasons I like both products. I got my first Apple product (iMac) the year BMW was announcing their new product (MINI). With those first articles about the MINI, I decided that when I was in the market for a new car, a MINI would be at the top of my list. I now own several Apple products, and a MINI; love all of ‘em.
goat

As predicted by zm, L-O-N-G-time mac user chiming in… :)

Well, the comparison between Apple products and MINI products (and more frequently BMW products as a whole) has been made many times and works in some ways and doesn’t in others. Need to be careful not to overstate the analogy as it crumbles quickly with the two markets, companies, and business models differing in so many fundamental ways.

However, I can say at least this: Apple products at their core foreground clean and purposeful design (integration and appearance of physical hardware as well as of course Apple’s OS and native apps) and more-than-sum-of-parts “synergistic engineering”. At their best, BMW products achieve this as well; certainly the R50/R53 MINI does.
C4

Well, I own a few Apple products….

15″ Aluminum MacBook Pro notebook (Just purchased 3 months ago)

13″ White MacBook notebook (!st gen from 2006)

4GB Black iPod Nano (1st gen) from late 2005

Airport Express

iPod HI-FI speaker (Which I have hooked to my Sony PS3 via optical-digital audio connection).
http://Inskipmini.com Tim

Comparison is cool, but I’d rather they joined up to design a MINI or an exclusive MINI/Apple product.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1232156929 Mike Roberts

I’d buy a new MINI if they let Apple design their Nav interface.
bee1000

Minis, like high-end Macs, are very capable products that are bought by pretentious poseurs far more often than they are bought by people willing or able to exploit their full capabilities.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1232156929 Mike Roberts

Unlike Ferrari’s and Porsches, bee?
Dave MacMini

Well, my name says it. I have a Mac mini (2 in fact) along with a Powerbook and an iMac. My licence plate, which was presented to me as a gift from a friend, because I convinced him to buy a Mac rather than a PC, is MAC MINI. The guys at the local Mac store thought that was great. The plate fits in several ways, as it refers to the computer, to the car, a blue and white R56, and me, since my name is MacDonald. Call me an Apple Fanboy if you like, but I use Windoze XP every day, Vista occasionally, and Linux every day, and I prefer OS X to any of them. Anyway, the comparison makes sense in one respect. Apple products are cool, and the MINI is the coolest car out there.
Chad

So all those little netbooks and PicoITX machines… I’m not seeing how anyone could think that Apple has a niche in “small” by any stretch of the imagination.

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