Mac mini's twin runs Windows

DO YOU love the Mac mini but can't bear to part with Windows? Wait until September. That's when Taiwanese manufacturer, Aopen, will begin manufacturing a product codenamed 'Pandora'. It's the spitting image of Apple's highly-successful Mac mini, but it's based on Intel's Pentium M CPUs, and runs Windows. Details are still sketchy, but Aopen claim it will be 'cheaper that the Mac mini' (or, alternatively 'under $600' - the exact figure depends on who you talk to at Aopen).

Industry sources in Taipei say that 'Pandora' was actually made at the request of Intel, which has also assigned four other willing helpers in Taiwan to produce similar boxes. More details of this later in the Inquirer. Microsoft also offered encouragement, say the sources.

Aopen plan to sell Pandora under their own brand name, but are also open to offers from OEM customers, said Ken Cheng, the product manager at Aopen who oversaw its development. The company is hoping for brisk sales during the Christmas buying season.

Aopen showed two different models with slightly different cases, A white 'iPod' style version, and a silver 'mac Mini' flavour. A variety of hardware configurations are possible, including built-in Bluetooth and WiFi, say Aopen. The models on display at Computex included a slot-loading DVD-RW drive. Obviously these options will have an effect on price. As well as the Pentium M, the system will also be able to accept the cheaper Celeron M for what is known in the industry as 'maximum cost down'.

Some naysayers have suggested that those who attempt to copy the Mac mini in hardware alone are missing the point: the Mac mini without it's software would only be half the machine. There's undoubtedly some truth in this - compared to Windows XP, current incarnations of Mac OS are more user-friendly, more secure, better-looking, and just all-round better (for the average user).

However, hard as it may be to believe, millions of apparently sensible people actually want Windows machines and don't want Macs, often for the simple reason that Windows is what they are used to. If Aopen really can get the price as low as they claim (a very difficult task, when things like the $70 OEM price for MS Windows XP are factored in), this could be a hot seller come Xmas time. µ