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2011 Mac Mini - Speculation

mrklaw said:
What's wrong with dual cores? The sandy bridge mobile chips are dual core but four threads, the desktop chips are quad core with four threads. So with good hyper threaded apps the mobile chip performance should still be good
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Depends. There are mobile CPUs which are quad core with eight threads (e.g. in 15" MBP). There are also desktop CPUs which are dual core (i3) and quad cores with eight threads (i7).
 
Sure. But realistically I don't think anyone was expecting quad core, 8 thread chips in the mini. An i7-2649m should be on par with the low end MBP13 and 15
 
I expect seven years of productivity from a new Mac. A two core i3 or i5 probably won't be suitable to meet specs or efficiently run the best software available that will be released by 2014 and later. I expect 2012 to be a year of developers leveraging multi threaded multi core performance, swift ram, and 10Gb+ transfer speeds to release some mind blowing lightning fast software and I don't plan to be stuck with an underpowered mini that won't be able to keep up two years after its release.

I bought relatively early in the PowerMac G5 series (June 2003) and even with the intel transition my mac remained compatible and capable until the last couple years. Now I'm on two or three year old OS and software missing beneficial updates and upgrades. Gotta buy a new Mac. iMac would be fine if I could take the glossy screen off and get a $800 rebate.. probably don't need and never will a sixteen core MP.. give me a new mini that can keep up I'll gladly shell out $1k.
 
Bring back the cube!!

Now is the time to re-release the, before its time, CUBE! Sounds to me that most people these days would buy one! Small form factor but with an i7 and fantastic graphics card, Radeon 4760, for instance - with oodles of RAM and SSD with TB - would be all we need. If the price came in at the existing price that the MacMini is going for, I'd buy two!
 
J-W said:
Now is the time to re-release the, before its time, CUBE! Sounds to me that most people these days would buy one! Small form factor but with an i7 and fantastic graphics card, Radeon 4760, for instance - with oodles of RAM and SSD with TB - would be all we need. If the price came in at the existing price that the MacMini is going for, I'd buy two!
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this could sell for 1200.
with an i7
a good gpu
4 ramslots
2 hdd slots
and tb

it would be worth it to many buyers. they won't make it IMO

the attitude is fu buy an iMac or mac pro if the mini is too weak.
 
J-W said:
Now is the time to re-release the, before its time, CUBE! Sounds to me that most people these days would buy one! Small form factor but with an i7 and fantastic graphics card, Radeon 4760, for instance - with oodles of RAM and SSD with TB - would be all we need. If the price came in at the existing price that the MacMini is going for, I'd buy two!
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Agreed! With the size of the current Mac Mini 2010 Snow Leopard Mini Server, its like half the size of the original CUBE! Lion is going Disc-Less, this should be the Cube of Today!

And with Sandy Bridge (hope they at least can top it off with a Core-i 5 Quad) and Thunderbolt! This will finally draw people to have an affordable Mac Desktop they could be proud of (and still the sleekest HTPC) :apple:
 
srf4real said:
As much as I personally would prefer a superdrive free mini, I can't envision Apple removing this feature as they do target the switchers with mini and no optical drive could be very deal breaking for your average novice pc user, I can hear it now, "You expect me to pay an extra $150 for an external dvd player??"
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Lack of an optical drive hasn't slowed down sales of the MBA. I could easily see Apple dropping from the Mini as well.
 
Need an updated mini for this summer or I'll probably have to upgrade to an iMac and sell my display... Hopefully one will come out soon. I was thinking of either going with the server edition and getting an external bluray, or the iMac option.
 
hitekalex said:
They already have. It's called Mini server. Having 2nd hard disk in my Mini beats a useless DVD drive by a long stretch.
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different people want different things. You'd prefer a 2nd hard drive (well you can get one in the server), others use NASes so don't need lots of storage. Others would like a bluray drive, some just more space to allow for faster CPUs

I'm still not convinced apple know what they're doing with the mini. The most recent size change makes it old appleTV sized - is that a computer or were they looking more at the HTPC market?
 
santosmarco said:
Dears, please really read this hardware spec from this new product of ASROCK: http://www.asrock.com/nettop/overview.asp?Model=CoreHT Series, if you have been following this thread you can see many specs that we discussed here! This company has released this product just before the rumors that Mac Mini will be probably released in earlier August... :(
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The Vison 3D is far more interesting and with the fan being "hidden" like in the Mac Mini it is likely to have a lower noise level. Thanks for the link.
 
Bob Coxner said:
Lack of an optical drive hasn't slowed down sales of the MBA. I could easily see Apple dropping from the Mini as well.
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Then it becomes useless as a HTPC. I have netflix and blockbuster and while I stream 60 percent of the moives I watch the other 40 percent are dvds. I use it with a nas so drive size is not important.

The MBA is nice for moving around and it is portable lite weight. I prefer it to an iPad. It just does not do the same tasks that I want my mini to do.
 
I brough the 2.4ghz mac mini in Feb this year, its connected to a drobo and my LED flat and all i use it for is watching HD tv/films and music...

Is there any point selling my mac mini now, reclaiming 80% or so back and buying the new one when it comes out?

Is there a big difference between 2.4ghz core 2 duo and what will most likely be an i3 or i5?

Thanks
 
Yeah, that was the word. And that is undoubtedly a Sandy Bridge motherboard (socket 1155).
 
weckart said:
Hold on a second - an Intel board with native USB 3.0 support? I thought that wasn't coming until 2012 and Ivy Bridge.
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Not native. Plenty of mobos made by Intel have USB 3.0 support, but via a discrete USB 3.0 controller.

Heilage said:
Yeah, that was the word. And that is undoubtedly a Sandy Bridge motherboard (socket 1155).
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Though that is for desktop CPUs. Mobile Sandys use BGA-1224 socket. Mini's logic board will most likely be custom, like all Macs'.
 
Do you guys think there is a possibility of the new Mac mini having a keyboard and mouse/trackpad included? Because if not I would like to buy an Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad in advance, so when the new model arrives I will be ready.

Being a entry level Mac and being at the lowest price point of any Mac I think Apple most likely would not include keyboard/mouse to lower the cost, what do you think?

Thanks :)
 
AJ-X said:
Do you guys think there is a possibility of the new Mac mini having a keyboard and mouse/trackpad included? Because if not I would like to buy an Apple Wireless Keyboard and Magic Trackpad in advance, so when the new model arrives I will be ready.

Being a entry level Mac and being at the lowest price point of any Mac I think Apple most likely would not include keyboard/mouse to lower the cost, what do you think?

Thanks :)
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The main market of Mac Mini is people who already have a mouse and keyboard so I think it is very unlikely that those would be bundled with Mini.
 
Hellhammer said:
The main market of Mac Mini is people who already have a mouse and keyboard so I think it is very unlikely that those would be bundled with Mini.
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Thanks Hellhammer :)

I think I will go ahead and order the Apple Wireless Keyboard & Magic Trackpad.
 
Just a quick update - Amazon UK are running low on 2010 Mac mini stock (client and server versions).
 
Hellhammer said:
Though that is for desktop CPUs. Mobile Sandys use BGA-1224 socket. Mini's logic board will most likely be custom, like all Macs'.
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True. And since you seem to assume that this is a third party onboard controller, we're still at square one. :)
 
But I did see i7 on that board config - which bodes well for the next MM... Yes? Fingers crossed that we have an upgradable Graphics Card too and plenty of RAM! No DVD and an SSD! Come on Apple!!!
 
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