Any guesses as to the next Mac Mini specs?

[Patmn]

I want to get a new Mac Mini within the next year or two (my eMac is working ok but I know it won't last forever and it does run pretty slow sometimes) and am curious as to what you guys think the specs of the next one might be?

Based on the history of the upgrades Apple has done to previous Minis, can we expect that the next version of the basic Mini will have the same specs as the current "uplevel" Mini? In other words would the next basic version come with 4GB of ram, 320GB HD and the dual 2.53 Ghz processors? Whenever they do come out with new versions of the Mini has the pricing stayed roughly the same or has it gone up or down slightly?

Since I'm not in a major hurry to get one just yet, that's why I figured I would wait, as the base Mini is $649 and the uplevel Mini here in Canada is $899, but if they end up offering that $899 machine as the base model in the future it would definitely be in my best interest to wait for that to happen.

 

[Hellhammer]

Next gen Mini will likely stick with Core 2 Duo while others get Arrandale. I hope/think Mini will get a new GPU, likely a nVidia GT 305M or GT 310M.

 

[fa8362]

In other words would the next basic version come with 4GB of ram, 320GB HD and the dual 2.53 Ghz processors? Whenever they do come out with new versions of the Mini has the pricing stayed roughly the same or has it gone up or down slightly?

I doubt it has a 320GB HD and it almost certainly won't have 4GB of RAM. Mini prices have remained exactly the same for quite awhile.

 

[flopticalcube]

Within the year it will be a spec bump. Maybe 250GB HD and 2.53GHz on the base. When they come on the refurb store, they are about $100 less: http://store.apple.com/ca/browse/home/specialdeals/mac/mac_mini

 

[Badger^2]

I want to get a new Mac Mini within the next year or two

Im guessing this question would be far easier answered a "year or two" from now...

Maybe the mini wont even exist in a year or two?

 

[Patmn]

Im guessing this question would be far easier answered a "year or two" from now...

That's why my title says "any guesses as to the next Mac Mini Specs", I realize that nobody knows 100% for sure. I don't have an exact time frame of when I'm going to buy, if my eMac dies on me (occasionally I get a high pitched squeal from the monitor and sometimes I can hear the hard drive clicking as well, but it's done both of these things for about a year now) it could be sooner than later, but if it keeps plugging along I'm not in a massive hurry to buy just yet.

I haven't followed the progression of changes to the Mini lineup since it's inception and figured that for those of you that have, you might be able to tell me if the history of changes has been that the higher end version of the mini ends up being the next "base model".

Money is pretty tight for me so I just don't want to spend $649 (Canadian) on the 2GB/2.26 Ghz model only to have the 4GB/2.53Ghz version sell for that exact same price six months later. I have been watching the Canadian Apple Store site for refurbs but the Mini doesn't show up on there all that often (and when it does it sells within an hour or two, so if you don't check it constantly all day long you'll miss out)

 

[Palleraa]

I think the Mac Mini is the hardest piece of Apple hardware to predict at the moment. For a while people have been expecting major upgrades only to find small speed bumps. I bought one for a media center a month back. I wont be needing more power than it has right now, so Im not that concerned. The question is what Apple want to do with the Mini. Keep as a niche media center, upgrade it to a serious Mac Pro contender or just stop making it. They way I see it, right now it is perfect for a media center or a small and cheap server, but only few people have these needs. My guess is that they will end up too expensive compared to a iMac that no-one will buy it. They they can just discontinue it without too many people complaining.

That was my predictions about the Mac Mini Wonderfull machine btw, if it fits your needs I would just buy it now.

 

[tomacintosh]

Quad Core mini? Yes please! We already know the i5 and i7 chips run cooler than their C2D counterparts so it is feasible. But I think Apple will wait for the i3 and stick that in there. Just my prediction of course (take it with a pinch of salt )

 

[Hellhammer]

Quad Core mini? Yes please! We already know the i5 and i7 chips run cooler than their C2D counterparts so it is feasible. But I think Apple will wait for the i3 and stick that in there. Just my prediction of course (take it with a pinch of salt )

We won't see a quad core Mini until all other Macs have quad core as well, so 2011 at the earliest. Mini is known to have older technology than other Macs as it's the cheapest Mac.

Next update will likely be a minor spec bump with Core 2 Duos and IF we are lucky, a new GPU. Late 2010 we might see a Nehalem Mini if Apple use Arrandale.

 

[tomacintosh]

We won't see a quad core Mini until all other Macs have quad core as well, so 2011 at the earliest. Mini is known to have older technology than other Macs as it's the cheapest Mac.

Next update will likely be a minor spec bump with Core 2 Duos and IF we are lucky, a new GPU. Late 2010 we might see a Nehalem Mini if Apple use Arrandale.

Well I think the MacBook line will all have a Quad Core option by the summer. I can see Apple updating the top end mini to Quad in the fall. Doubt they will bother with a C2D bump.

 

[Patmn]

That was my predictions about the Mac Mini Wonderfull machine btw, if it fits your needs I would just buy it now.

The current base machine doesn't quite fit what I eventually want to use it for though, as I'd like to start doing more Photoshop work at home, and I think that 2GB of ram is probably not enough. I've got Photoshop CS3 on my eMac and it's brutally slow, so I barely use it. I've been doing color correction and retouching in Photoshop since 1992 as my career, but since the Macs I had at work were always incredibly fast machines with the maximum ram, I never bothered using Photoshop at home, I'd just do my personal stuff at work.

If it weren't for that, the current base Mini would be more than enough for email and basic internet surfing. Of course I could always just get the current base Mini and spend the extra $100 or so for 4GB of ram. But if the next gen Mini has that extra ram plus a bigger HD plus a faster processor, for the same money, then I might as well wait for that one. I've also considered the fact that I might want to just wait until Apple releases it's next OS as well, so that I end up with a machine I can keep for a very long time. (unlike my current setup which is very outdated, but at least it's a bit better than it was two months ago, when I was still running OS Panther on it!)

 

[Hellhammer]

Well I think the MacBook line will all have a Quad Core option by the summer. I can see Apple updating the top end mini to Quad in the fall. Doubt they will bother with a C2D bump.

No they won't. Arrandale is dual core and we won't see new mobile quad core CPUs until mid 2010 if Clarksfield goes 32nm. Current quad cores are way too expensive to be used in Mini or MacBook. I can see Mini getting quad core in 2011 at the earliest

 

[Cox Orange]

(...)Of course I could always just get the current base Mini and spend the extra $100 or so for 4GB of ram. But if the next gen Mini has that extra ram plus a bigger HD plus a faster processor, for the same money, then I might as well wait for that one.

I'm from Germany and Upgrades come to us a bit later then in the US, but at the moment I am definitely waiting for the next update, which I assume, will be in march (just hoping, not knowing).

My strategie is to wait, if they upgrade the mini in March, if not, it could be worth spending a thought on the base model iMac. (ok, we would be a bit "disappointed", if March doesn't bring anything new and then, having one allready bought they will upgrade it in April, but it's always the same with technology, its old the moment you spend your money.)

By the way as the architecture of minis, Apple Laptops and iMacs with C2D is identical, one could wonder why spending more on an iMac (just for 2GB RAM more pre installed, an SD-Card-Slot, an iSigh-tcamera, the ips-display, which is more an entertainment display then for work. HD-Space can be overlooked, since no one, who don't use it as a server needs so much HDD-Space. You can easily add extern HDDs, which is even saver, having your data on two 500GB Disks, makes the chance higher that you will even have the half of your data still there, when your 1TB HDD chrashes. My Opinon, I know this is a point everyone should deside on his/her own.) Ok, I forgot the 2x3GHz of the iMac compared to 2x2,25GHz mini. But some people say you just notice a small difference in speed. For Adobe Photoshop it is more interesting to have more RAM.
Inofficially you can even put 8GB of RAM in a mini. But since I heard from people putting more RAM in earlier iMacs, then allowed by specs, who had overheat there iMacs, I don't know if it is really smart to put 8GB in a mini...

Questions over questions... You can allways wait, but once you will have to buy one, if you don't want to end up buying never. I would wait till the next update or the one in Oktober 2010. But from now, no one can say what will be then, anyway.

About the new OS, you are waiting for. Snow Leo is new now, what do you want to wait for? I don't know, if problems will get less, with waiting for the next family member of Feloidea to be born. (With Problems, I mean that I still feel more comfortable using Tiger and having less Problems, and with Snow Leo, incompatibility to old macs is rising, I can't use my Pro audio software produced in 2008, allthough it was developed for both PPCs and Intels).

 

[stevant]

As user of mac mini G4 and now user of mac mini Intel 2.26Ghz, if you want to predict the future spec of mac mini my advice is you should look for Mac Book and the low end Mac Book Pro spec and how Apple going to expand it.

The latest updates of mac mini use the same spec as low end mac book pro, so basically you use mac book pro without battery, integrated lcd, keyboard and trackpad. If Apple plans to upgrades the low end mac book pro or mac book it's likely they will use the same component to be use in mac mini again.

Now the real question is what Apple will be doing with mac mini platform in the future? The same question already plagues people for some time. Apple not intending mac mini to be use as media hub. For that they will use apple tv instead. Mac mini on the other hand I think is targeted to people who can't afford to buy imac. So hopefully people with 'little' budget could experience the mac and whenever their budget permit in the future they will bought more complete platform like imac or their portables or even mac pro.

In this segment Apple not really hit big success as more portables sold than minis or even when people need desktop they choose to buy imac. The actual people who bought minis is either the computer enthusiast or as second system of primary mac. That's way in the end Apple release mini use as a server. But the total amount of mini sold I think still please Apple.

So the future of mini will be decide by will Apple release another minis like platform (without display and input device) only this time more like lower mac pro (can be upgaraded), which will eaten imac low end market or bring imac low end version into cheaper price to replace mini. Either way it will not happen quickly as Apple is still busy developing rumored tablet and other device and leaves mac as it is. So if you plan to use mini for 2-3 years ahead there's nothing to stop you now.