Test Drive a Mac Mini

Written by: Adam Christianson

Categories: News

Woah!. I am not sure when this went live, but I guess maybe someone at Apple is listening to the MacCast. Apple has a Test Drive a Mac Mini program. It is an online exclusive program that allows you to order a Mac Mini and try it for 30 days, if you like it you keep it. Otherwise call within the 30 day trail period and you have 15 days to return it no questions asked. If you order a mouse and keyboard at the same time you can also return those. I wonder if Apple’s marketing team will be sending me a consulting fee? Just kidding.

Update: Something strange is going on. Looks like this promo is no longer on Apple’s site and the images and pages have been pulled. Even stranger is that I am an affiliate with Apple through their LinkShare program and this offer is in an email I just received, but all the links and images are dead. Hmmm. Maybe they didn’t like the idea after all? I’ll keep ya posted.

Update: (08/31 – 10:24 PM PST)
I just received this from LinkShare in my email:
“As a follow-up to an email we sent you this morning, please note that the Mac mini Test Drive promotion is no longer offered at the Apple Store. We have dynamically updated the banners and landing pages for this promotion, so if you are featuring this promotion on your site, they will automatically update to another promotion. Please be sure to update your Mac mini Test Drive text links. The rest of the promotions featured in today’s email are still live.

We apologize for the inconvenience”

There are 26 comments on Test Drive a Mac Mini:

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  1. Ryan | Aug 30 2005 - 01:44

    YAY! I might just go out and get one right now!

  2. bronson | Aug 30 2005 - 01:01

    is this in the US only, or is it offered in canada?

  3. Allen | Aug 30 2005 - 02:21

    I read it this morning at TUAW and the first thing come to mind is Adam suggesting Try before you buy program during his podcast last week. Wow… this is no coincident.

  4. jon from vancouver | Aug 30 2005 - 02:56

    Finally Apple. I hope many people take up the offer.

  5. Thorsten | Aug 30 2005 - 04:32

    You know I am actually quite sure that comes from Adam.
    First of all I am quite sure people at Apple are listining to the MacCast afterall, they are geeks too aren’t they?
    The other thing is. I always found that people on the outside can have a better view on things than people on the inside.
    So I think Adam had a brilliant idea, and the people at Apple went “dow, why didn’t we have that idea?”
    So great job, Adam lol. Apple will neer admit it officially, but this is thanks to Adam I am 999% sure. :D

  6. Stephen | Aug 30 2005 - 04:38

    This tempts me to try a Mac Mini, for I have been wanting to add one to my Mac collection. However, I *know* I would keep it, so I think I’ll wait. :)

  7. Matt | Aug 30 2005 - 06:06

    I saw this about an hour ago on a feed and had to do a double take. I caught your podcast last week and immediately thought about your comments. As a recent switcher and proud owner of a Mac Mini I think this promotion will be highly successful.

    Now they will just need to do one of these when the Intel PB comes out…

  8. Christopher | Aug 30 2005 - 08:48

    Sweet… I would love to try one… I was pricing out Dell 20″ LCD monitors the other day, to combine w/a Mini… unfortunately I am bnot in a position to keep it either, sooooo…

    I’ll just have to wait…

  9. Calvin | Aug 30 2005 - 08:55

    That is a great offer. We got our kids a Mac mini and they love it. We have it hook to the tv in the living room. They go back in forth between the ps2 and the mini. Sometimes I feel like I use it more than they do,……but my PowerBook wins hands down :). The Mac mini is a sure hit at our home.

  10. Scott | Aug 30 2005 - 08:56

    You were the first person I thought of when I heard this news… :) Good idea Adam!!

  11. macFanDave | Aug 30 2005 - 10:45

    That’s a pretty neat trick, Adam.

    Now try saying on the show that Apple should give everyone who participated in your 10 Reasons to Switch Contest a 30″ Cinema Display. If that works, I’ll be really, REALLY impressed!

  12. Dustin | Aug 31 2005 - 12:13

    Yeah Adam, I thought of the Macast as soon as I read about this awesome program. Maybe we will get a lot of switchers!!

    -keep up the great work

  13. macfan | Aug 31 2005 - 01:31

    “Congrats maccast, you are a true king of mac-geeks. We shall unite and take over this PC market. GEEKS UNITE!!!!!”

    Hey maccast, on a more serious note, I am truly impressed by your show. I stared listening about 2 weeks ago and I’m a witness to your accomplishment on the mac mini vision. Congratuations…you can now keep this on your list of accomplishments. Keep doing what you are doing and I am sure you can reach greater accomplishments down the road.

    You are truly the king of mac-geeks,
    -macfan

  14. Boyfarrell | Aug 31 2005 - 06:00

    Nice one Adam!

    I listen to that and thought what a good idea. I wonder if you started the ball rolling? How long do you think it would take Apple to get this project running? How long since your podcast?

    Dan.

  15. JFMartin | Aug 31 2005 - 08:14

    Hi,

    I remember in the mid eighties the program called ‘Try a Macintosh’. It wasn’t very successful. But, what so many years make a BIG difference. Lots of people are looking at this new initiative from Apple as a winning one… again.

    I’m about to switch from Windows in the very near future… I’m pretty sure I’ll go with the iMac G5… I’m waiting after Sept 20 after the Paris Expo to see if something new is about to be announced… anyway, If I were at the begginning of my purchase decision, I would be trying this one out… don’t know if this is avaiable in Canada though….

  16. Ben | Aug 31 2005 - 08:29

    The very minute I saw this on TWAU I came to Maccast website to find adam’s email address.

    It’s interesting that they’re doing it for Mac Mini. The setup cost for an ibook or a powerbook would be much lower for the user, which would more likely bring along better user experience.

    But the Mac Mini is probably a smart play in terms of price. There are probably a lot less people willing to put down 1000USD just to try something out. sub-$500 is a good one. One thing I think they should do is, if you don’t end up buying the mini and want to buy an ibook instead, there should also be a discount, free gift, or some sort of incentive to do so.

  17. epplegacks | Aug 31 2005 - 11:56

    The link is one for the US store which is of course expired now, but two questions: Is this applicable in Canada and if it is, where is it? I’ve searched both stores and I can’t find anything on it.

  18. sebastian | Aug 31 2005 - 03:04

    @ .net thinking:

    The regular version of the show is in .mp3 format

    The enhanced version is in ACC

    Look at the main page you are gonna see the file name of the podcast is MC20050830.mp3

  19. Charles | Aug 31 2005 - 05:52

    Plug this in as your Google search term “mac mini 30 day trial site:apple.com” and the 8th hit shows this…

    The Apple Store (US)
    NewsletterPromo · Mac mini test drive tile …

    but the link is dead.

  20. JF Martin | Aug 31 2005 - 07:00

    Hi Guys,

    Forget about that, Apple as retired the offer… the news is already going out on other Apple News sites…

    JF

  21. Mike | Aug 31 2005 - 09:46

    Apple just ended the 30 day trial for the mac mini… The story can be found at macnn.com

    Bummer, cuz it was a great idea created by a great podcaster.

  22. Bruce | Sep 01 2005 - 07:21

    What a TEASE! I was telling people about this all day yesterday and some were very interesed in trying it out. Now they’re all going to call me liar. :(

    This has got to be the shortest promotion in the history of short promotions. What a letdown.

  23. ShanMac | Sep 01 2005 - 03:56

    I don’t know why Apple would pull this promotion. It looks bad on the company.

  24. macFanDave | Sep 01 2005 - 10:57

    >> This has got to be the shortest promotion in the history of short promotions. What a letdown.

    No, it isn’t. The record for shortest promotion was my career as a male prostitute. I quit immediately once I realized that I’d have to have sex with anyone who had the money, and not just rich, beautiful women like in “American Gigolo.”

    My pimp bitch-slapped the hell out of me, but she could not stop me from quitting!