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Boil

macrumors 68040
Oct 23, 2018
3,478
3,173
Stargate Command
If Apple is gonna pack a M1 Max Duo into a Mac mini chassis, it best not be that Prosser mess... Too short, no real ventilation; mainly a purdy render without any real substance...

The current 2018 Intel Mac mini chassis, but taller (larger heat sink & fan); that is what I would want to see in a Mac mini designed to handle a M1 Max Duo...!
 
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CWallace

macrumors G5
Aug 17, 2007
12,527
11,543
Seattle, WA
I don't believe the Mac mini chassis shown in the leaked CAD diagrams will be able to support the thermal load of an "M1 Max Duo".

As such, I believe it will be M1 Pro and single M1 MAX only.
 
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Krevnik

macrumors 601
Sep 8, 2003
4,101
1,312
The current 2018-era chassis doesn’t have a ton of headroom as it is. The M1 Max is a pretty good drop-in replacement for the i7 when it comes to power consumption. Improvements in the fans could let them go a bit smaller if they want. A Duo just makes little sense. Two M1 Pros could potentially fit the existing power envelope, but two M1 Max would be a waste of GPU resources.
 

CWallace

macrumors G5
Aug 17, 2007
12,527
11,543
Seattle, WA
There is a fair bit of empty room inside the current 2018 case and the Apple Silicon system board will take up less space than the Intel one, plus there is the volume of the internal PSU which will be removed. So even making the depth less (with the same length and width), it should be able to keep a 90W TDP M1 MAX cool enough.
 

Krevnik

macrumors 601
Sep 8, 2003
4,101
1,312
There is a fair bit of empty room inside the current 2018 case and the Apple Silicon system board will take up less space than the Intel one, plus there is the volume of the internal PSU which will be removed. So even making the depth less (with the same length and width), it should be able to keep a 90W TDP M1 MAX cool enough.

Agreed. But two M1 Max chips is a very different story from one. Note that I mostly call out the sheer excess of GPU cores it represents, compared to the thermal envelope available.

Empty space isn't very useful for cooling unless you can also increase the air volume through the case. I fully expect Apple to shrink the volume while keeping similar airflow, and offer the same options as on the MacBook Pros.
 
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Realityck

macrumors G4
Nov 9, 2015
11,423
17,216
Silicon Valley, CA
One of the readers made this logical comment

Tech In RL
I’m going to disagree that the upcoming mini will not have double-stacked M1 Pro/Max chips. Apple seems to be more consistent these days with their lineup. The current M1 mini has basically the same power as the M1 24” iMac. That follows that the upcoming mini will have the same power as the upcoming iMac Pro 27”.
So you really can't dream up a high end Mac mini until Apple gets the upcoming 27" iMac successor out.
 
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thenewperson

macrumors 6502a
Mar 27, 2011
992
912
I'm not really seeing it for the Mac mini (redesigned or not). They'll probably want to keep the new one ~ where the old one was in terms of heat dissipation, which was definitely not enough for 2 M1 Max chips. Instead the rumoured smaller Mac Pro could get this at its entry level. Or maybe this is exclusively a iMac (Pro?) part.
 
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