While computers have long been sold as machines that can turn a home into an office, most Americans now use them in their bedrooms and kitchens as e-mail terminals; as hubs for playing music, storing and editing photos; and as stations for navigating the Web.
The new Mac Mini, priced as low as $499 without a keyboard, monitor or mouse, is aimed squarely at the needs of this new digital household. The new Apple strategy, which moves the company deeply into the consumer electronics market, positions the new Macintosh as an entertainment and communication device. It also promises to intensify Apple's battle with Microsoft in the personal computer market dominated by machines using Windows software.
The move is in part propelled by Apple's success with its iPod digital music players; with 10 million sold in the last three years, the iPod has pulled Apple into the mass market. The popularity of iPod, analysts say, may persuade consumers who have not been Apple computer users to consider the Mac Mini.
Steven P. Jobs, Apple's chief executive said at a conference on Tuesday, "We want to price this Mac so that people who are thinking of switching will have no excuse."
More important, Microsoft is also moving to turn PC's into entertainment centers with its Windows Media Center Edition software, which lets a computer double as a television and video recorder.
Gene Munster, an analyst at Piper Jaffray, said that Apple's consumers were probably not going to give up their Windows PC's but might buy a Macintosh as an additional computer for entertainment.
一直以来，无论是台式机还是笔记本，美国苹果电脑公司的电脑都是价格不斐的高端产品。然而日前，苹果公司推出了一款低价迷你型电脑Macintosh，售价只有499美元。
据《纽约时报》1月12日报道，时下很多美国人在卧室和厨房里使用电脑，要么接收电子邮件，要么播放歌曲，要么上网浏览。苹果公司这次推出的迷你型电脑Macintosh就是为了满足这些人士的需要。它不带键盘，也没有显示器和鼠标，售价只有499美元。苹果电脑公司将这款小型电脑视为娱乐和通讯工具。
此前，苹果电脑公司推出的iPod数字音乐播放器投入市场获得很大的成功，过去3年中卖出了1000万台，并使苹果电脑跃升至主流市场。分析人士认为，这款新的迷你电脑也许可以借助iPod的名气，把一些以前不曾考虑使用苹果的人吸引过来。用苹果公司首席执行官史蒂文·乔布的话说，“这款电脑价格低廉，你没有理由不用它”。
报道说，这款小型电脑估计不会给微软的垄断地位带来很大冲击。目前，微软电脑依然牢牢占据着90%的个人电脑市场；微软现在也在向娱乐电脑方面转型，微软推出的Windows Media Center软件将电视和录像机合二为一。分析人士认为，人们购买这款迷你电脑不会用它来替代微软，而是作为一个新增电脑。