Will the Mini live or die?

i think it'd be cool if a 9 inch screen were part of the computer (mounted on) and the mini was upright

shawn-dude; One doesn't need to spend $3k on a home server, and said server doesn't need to be a mini to be reasonably quiet. For my HTPC, I use an original PowerMac G5, I almost never hear it. It replaced a Xeon-based Windows 2000 system, which was nearly as quiet except when the G5 really gets loaded, I didn't like that about the G5.

available in .nl http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObjects/nlstore.woa/wa/RSLID?nnmm=browse&mco=9A42D2A0&node=home/desktop/mac_mini

To the poster that wants the 1300 dollar mac. You just got your wish, entry 20'' imacs are now 1199.

It LIVES. They just said that it is being refreshed today!

I wouldn't have stopped with the upgrade in processor. I would have thrown and HD Tuner in it and scrapped the stupid apple tv! What really does the Apple TV buy me that I couldn't get with a Mini? Techmaven over on businessweek reviewed the HD Tivo and his comments were right on the mark. Outside of Tivo, no one else has come close to creating an easy to use DVR/TV/Media device. Apple isn't in this space even with apple tv. Cable companies now have to provide users with the card used in the cable boxes they supply. The major disadvantage here is that nobody makes a device that with the cable card has access to On Demand or Pay Per View. ENTER to trumpets ! The itunes Store!!!!!!!

It's funny that people always want their dvr/tuner to do more like a computer and their computer to do more, like a dvr/tuner. Yet no one has built the killer device in the space.

With cable cards opening the door, the mini's possibilities are much more endless. The "smart home" needs a decent computer at the hub. Serving up notice to my computer for everything doesn't make sense if I'm parked in front of my TV more, or if I'm one of those people who always has the TV on while I'm doing something else. I have 2 laptops at my house. So mobility isn't the issue. It's about where I spend my time. A computer requires me to be with it to be useful. A tv can be across the room and display something useful. Do I really want to hookup a Mac Pro to my TV?? A bit much don't you think?

Besides, that would open the door for the cinema displays being something more then a monitor. Let's face it. They look great, they are beautiful and if I had more cash I would have 2 or more, but in the end. It's just a monitor because it still needs a computer to be useful.

Killing the Mini is just a bad idea.
(Sorry for my rant.)

I'd be glad to see the mini die. And hopefully replaced with a budget box that has no monitor but does have a 3.5" hard-drive. Being a person of low income, the mini was my intro to the Mac world and I plan to hang onto my first-gen, G4 mini hopefully about a year longer. That said, there's no great need for this "desktop" computer to be made so small that it can only fit a low capacity, 2.5" hard drive. I run mine off an external drive, and if I wanted to clone that drive, I'd need to buy a second external HD. Thus, my computer is no longer "mini," and it cost far more than the original price tag of $430 (refurb) when you add the HD. If I got a desktop with a $3.5", 160-Gig internal HD, I could clone that off a single, external HD. And it would be cheaper and less messy.

I think the Mini is boxed in against the Macbook and the AppleTV but serves a purpose as a second/3rd Mac.

When I made the leap to Mac, I replaced two desktops and a laptop with one Macbook. When at home, it sits on my desk closed hooked to an external monitor (so it is basically just like a mini). My Macbook was a refurb so it wasn't much more than a Mini. It is a Mini I can pick up and go with and actually looks a bit easier to upgrade than the Mini.
I'd like to have a Mini to hook up to the HDTV as a media box/backup server but doing that eats into the AppleTV's space. So from Apple's standpoint, why keep it?

I personally want the iMac and Mini killed for an xMac but everyone has their flights of fancy.

Looks like the Apple Store is down in Australia and New Zealand only as of 12:43EDST

Maybe the Mini and the Apple TV coexisting doesn't make sense. If the aTv essentially became the mini then that I could understand but to keep the aTv in its current state and lose the mini would be crazy.

In my opinon the current mini with front row makes a much better aTv than the current aTv. More codecs, storage, occasional games, eyetv etc.

Keep the mini and install the @Tv software on it and lose the apple tv box.