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2011 Mac Mini - Speculation

Lankyman said:
I think far too many people have got hung up on the idea of SSD and what it can do. For the average user e.g. surfing the web, iTunes, office tasks, email and maybe the odd bit of photo editing then SSD adds little value to the computing experience. If you are a user that requires multiple applications running at the same time or video rendering etc. then SSD would be of value. Even then it does depend on how fast the machine is in the first place. A machine with low RAM slow entry level CPU etc. will not see much benefit in adding SSD whereas a user with "hot specs" will. I fall into the first camp i.e. average user, so my money would be better spent on RAM or a better monitor etc. Even boot times won't be blistering if the machine has low specs and for my money 15 seconds faster booting means little as I always use "sleep mode" anyway.
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With respect, you're mistaken. Video rendering and multiple apps benefit from multi-core CPUs and extra RAM first, then an SsD. The MB Air was a success becsuse the SSD in that made up for the slow CPUs and low amount of RAM by making drive seek time (the true bottleneck in performance systems) a non-issue.

Too many SSD benchmarks focus on sustained data transfers - "Look ma, 400 meg a second!" when the thing that makes the difference to day-to-day users is opening and closing all those little files - random transfers. A good SSD will get random read / writes of 30 meg a second compared to about 8 or 10 from a hard disc. That's why an SSD will make a machine seem speedy even when attached by Firewire. No seek time, no whirring up the discs and no degradation of speed as the disc fills up.

Apple could do a lot worse than throw in their extra slim 64Gb SSD from the Macbook Air into a mini. The average user cares about how fast and snappy the machine feels rather than specs. An SSD could make the machine feel much faster without requiring any major overhaul.
 
PorterRocks said:
Just thought I'd chime in here and add that I, too, am waiting for the Mac mini to be refreshed. (desperately waiting?)

I really need a new computer and I refuse to purchase the current Mac mini as it is so outdated. (Plus, I really want a thunderbolt port in that sucker)

An iMac is out of the question as I want to use my new 55" tv as the display. The Mac Pro is just overkill for me, as is the price.

I'll wait as long as it takes. As Lion is just around the corner, hopefully the wait won't be too much longer.

Come on, Apple! I desperately want to give you my money! I promise I'll be buying an iPad 2 after I get my mini. :apple:
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I am in the same boat as you. I refuse to buy the outdated current MM. I need one and check google news every day as well as this forum in the hope that there is a thread about a leaked photo of it, constrained supply or that the current model is going to take longer than 24 hours to ship to a purchaser.

At the moment I am happy lugging my work HP laptop home every evening to work on if it means that I can get an updated mini in the near foreseeable future. I plan on having this mini for at least the next few years and still use a 5 year old Powerbook G4 even though it is as slow as crap.

I too hope that it is released shortly after Lion. The sooner the better.

As much as I believe that the current MM would suit my needs, I can't rationalize spending that much money on a computer that is relatively speaking ancient in terms of its "guts."

Plus, even though I will probably never use it, I would like to have the possible option of taking advantage of the Thunderbolt technology that will surely be found on the new MM and do not want to have to buy an adaptor in the future.
 
If the new Mac Mini is released with Lion on it, as many of us suspect, how soon it comes after Lion's release depends a bit on how long Apple settles on a Golden Master release before making it public on the App Store (this is of course assuming they intend to update it ASAP, that they've pretty much drained their stocks of the hardware for the old C2D Mini). I don't think Apple would start building new Minis to come with Lion pre-installed before settling on a Golden Master build. Apple would need to build quite a number of Minis and distribute them around the world, so personally I wouldn't expect them to be released before late July at the very earliest.
 
mdgm said:
If the new Mac Mini is released with Lion on it, as many of us suspect, how soon it comes after Lion's release depends a bit on how long Apple settles on a Golden Master release before making it public on the App Store (this is of course assuming they intend to update it ASAP, that they've pretty much drained their stocks of the hardware for the old C2D Mini). I don't think Apple would start building new Minis to come with Lion pre-installed before settling on a Golden Master build. Apple would need to build quite a number of Minis and distribute them around the world, so personally I wouldn't expect them to be released before late July at the very earliest.
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Doesn't mean anything - they just offer as they did in the past a free upgrade to Lion, was discussed here somewhere already. And they have done so in the past. They don't need to wait for the software, so not Apple. What should they do with all the Macs not sold yet when Lion comes out, destroy them? Open them all to re-load the new system...?
 
They may not wait, but somehow I think they could. I could be wrong (I did think Lion wouldn't be out till September).

Of course they won't destroy already built machines. However with Apple's target for the Mini being the entry-level home user (many of whom wouldn't have quotas to download a 4GB OS update), I think it would be wise for them to wait till Lion's released before updating the Mini now. They should have no problems maintaining a sufficient supply of the current model till then (or even longer).
 
gri said:
Doesn't mean anything - they just offer as they did in the past a free upgrade to Lion, was discussed here somewhere already. And they have done so in the past. They don't need to wait for the software, so not Apple. What should they do with all the Macs not sold yet when Lion comes out, destroy them? Open them all to re-load the new system...?
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Not to mention that there are people with software not certified on Lion that would probably prefer to have a copy of Snow Leopard now and still be able to upgrade to Lion later.

This is actually a pretty common occurrence with musicians and DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) software versions and audio interface hardware where the new OS hasn't been vetted against older (proven) recording tools.
 
evilcat said:
Apple could do a lot worse than throw in their extra slim 64Gb SSD from the Macbook Air into a mini. The average user cares about how fast and snappy the machine feels rather than specs. An SSD could make the machine feel much faster without requiring any major overhaul.
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I'd disagree a bit here. The average user might not be interested in specs, but they do want "acres and acres" of space for all their stuff (music, photos, video, etc).
 
Originally Posted by evilcat
Apple could do a lot worse than throw in their extra slim 64Gb SSD from the Macbook Air into a mini. The average user cares about how fast and snappy the machine feels rather than specs. An SSD could make the machine feel much faster without requiring any major overhaul.
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I think that you have a basic misunderstanding of how an SSD performs. The poorer the specs the less likely the user is in seeing any significant benefits while the better the specs the better an SSD will perform. Therefore the latest and greatest Macs will perform much better when fitted with an SSD than something like a Mini.

I think the average consumer would be much happier with more RAM and a significant bump in storage - I know I would.
 
I would be happier with a larger HD, snappier processor, and maybe (wishful thinking) Thunderbolt. :)
 
Not sure how long this has been the case, but futureshop.ca is showing zero stock available for the base mac mini (not server) units. Things are finally looking up here folks...
 
danielsmu said:
Not sure how long this has been the case, but futureshop.ca is showing zero stock available for the base mac mini (not server) units. Things are finally looking up here folks...
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Hasn't it been proven time and time again that temporary fluctuations in stock availability do not indicate an imminent refresh?? The last 3 or 4 rumors of "low stock" were false. FWIW - Apple online store now showing 24 hour shipping availability on both Mini models.
 
hitekalex said:
Hasn't it been proven time and time again that temporary fluctuations in stock availability do not indicate an imminent refresh?? The last 3 or 4 rumors of "low stock" were false. FWIW - Apple online store now showing 24 hour shipping availability on both Mini models.
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The last "low stock" rumor I heard was followed up by four new iMacs.:confused:
 
I still remember when the early 2009 "secret" photo was released: FIVE usb ports and a firewire 800. I thought, no way, obviously a photoshop job...
 
Minicube said:
I still remember when the early 2009 "secret" photo was released: FIVE usb ports and a firewire 800. I thought, no way, obviously a photoshop job...
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Not to mention the mini displayport. I seem to remember people saying it was an "obvious photoshop".
 
hitekalex said:
Hasn't it been proven time and time again that temporary fluctuations in stock availability do not indicate an imminent refresh?? The last 3 or 4 rumors of "low stock" were false. FWIW - Apple online store now showing 24 hour shipping availability on both Mini models.
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When there is an imminent refresh, we usually "notice fluctuations in the stock availability". But no, not all "low stock" levels mean a refresh is coming.

It's just part of the detective work that happens because people don't necessarily want to pay full freight for the older hardware when the new stuff seems like it could or should be right around the corner (361 days and counting since the mini was last updated, BTW) and we'll only know for sure when the new hardware shows up on the Apple website.
 
I know no one can know this for sure, but does anyone here have a guesstimate on when the refresh is to take place? July, August, maybe September? Because depending on how long it takes I might or not wait. I don't think I would like a Core 2 Duo... old stuff!:mad:
 
ratzzo said:
I know no one can know this for sure, but does anyone here have a guesstimate on when the refresh is to take place? July, August, maybe September? mad:
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All the above plus January February March April May June October November and December.

Sorry but as you say no one knows for sure.
 
Apple should just use the 2011 iMac hardware without monitor in the new 2011 Mac Mini and it would sell like hotcakes . It would save them money because there would be less configurations to test with OS X Lion.
There are millions waiting for a Mac that cost less than half the price of the base Mac Pro but don't want it built into the back of a monitor.
 
joe1946 said:
Apple should just use the 2011 iMac hardware without monitor in the new 2011 Mac Mini and it would sell like hotcakes . It would save them money because there would be less configurations to test with OS X Lion.
There are millions waiting for a Mac that cost less than half the price of the base Mac Pro but don't want it built into the back of a monitor.
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Definitive post.

Word to the mummy humper!
 
After using my new MBP, with the i5 and then having to use my Mini for something, I would just be happy if they included the i5 in the refresh. It really is sad to see the difference when these two machines are only a year apart in age.
 
Why must we as Mac-users always be behind the tech-curve when compared to our PC-cousins? Why can't Apple develop its products to use never seen before processors that wipe the PC-map? i3? i5? Seriously? This is sooo OLD tech and is completely LAUGHABLE and shouldn't even be considered... i7 - possibly but this has been around for over a year! Let's PUSH the boundaries! Apple is becoming less and less a "computer" company and more of a gadget company. iPads, iPhones and iOS - whoop-dee-doo. Lion is just a big iOS mess - and requires me to have a trackpad to take advantage of it... SO WHAT. I'm an Apple computer-user - not a gadget-guy. Bleh!
 
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