I have a Imac i7 right now but it really bothers me that i cant upgrade easily. I wish apple had some sort of mini Mac pro for those non professionals that still love apples product and still want upgradability for the future. If i had just one PCie express slot for a black magic intensity card my experience with apple would be perfect. ANy chance we will see a mini mac pro in the future?
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Cmon apple wheres a mini mac pro lol
- Thread starter drexl5
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People have been wishing for an upgradeable desktop machine that sits between the mini/iMac and the Mac Pro for years.
Generally seems to be referred to as an xMac.
Has the upgradeable and expandable features but using Desktop Parts rather then Workstation parts so brings the cost down.
General opinion seems to be is something that people want, however is unlikely to appear.
Generally seems to be referred to as an xMac.
Has the upgradeable and expandable features but using Desktop Parts rather then Workstation parts so brings the cost down.
General opinion seems to be is something that people want, however is unlikely to appear.
If upgradability is a major concern, an iMac is certainly not the machine for you. That said, if you want to upgrade in 2-3 years time I would've thought that an i7 will still be worth a reasonable amount so you could sell it and put the money towards a new computer. At the very least (if it is still working) you will be left with a nice 2nd monitor!
"xMac" discussion has been beaten to death. Apple would have released a mid-tower ages ago if they were interested in that market. Besides, there is about 1000$ of air in the base Mac Pro's price so your mid-tower would likely cost +2000$ too
yes it would be cool, but it wouldnt bring in nearly the revenue of ipad etc. el jobso also said they werent interested in the tablet or netbook markets and came up with revolutionary new products to quench that thirst, so perhaps he has something in mind for the mini-tower market? Only problem is doing it without killing his baby the iMac which is a machine I have little interest in for personal use (its a great machine for schools though)
all they need to do is make an imac have real connectivity . An esata jack with this machine
http://www.sansdigital.com/towerstor/ts25ct.html
or this machine
http://www.sansdigital.com/towerstor/ts5ct.html
solves most storage and speed issues. that and a pci e slot and imac would be a great machine. iMac is like owning a race car and only being allowed to use it on your driveway.
http://www.sansdigital.com/towerstor/ts25ct.html
or this machine
http://www.sansdigital.com/towerstor/ts5ct.html
solves most storage and speed issues. that and a pci e slot and imac would be a great machine. iMac is like owning a race car and only being allowed to use it on your driveway.
Great. So make a version where the case is only 2/3rds the size of the Pro. Room for two hard drives, an optical drive and one PCI slot. There are three variables in the mid range Mac equation. Capability, Size and Price. If there is lot's of air in the Pro case then at least two of those variables can easily be solved.
The size of the Mac Pro is as big a factor as the price in my resisting buying one.
Let's say I have a need for a small pickup. Why do I have to be limited to buying a 3/4 ton long bed full size pickup (base Mac Pro). I'd call the other Pros 1 ton and 1 ton dually.
I could buy an SUV (all in one like the iMac) but then have to try to use the inside cargo area to do everything. Or I could buy a small car (Mac mini) and have to try to carry everything in the trunk.
Those SUV's and small cars are great for lot's of people. Those full size pickups are good for some others.
But where is the mid sized vehicle? The mid sized Mac?
Apple wont create the mid sized Mac, simply as they view the iMac as "Middle-Of-The-Line" and if you want to expand your Mac, you just do as I did and buy the base Mac Pro (Its definitely worth it) - a iMac with expansion wont happen, as in Apples View mid-range consumer computers need to be all-in-one, thin and beautiful - not something expandable for hobbyists.
I'd never buy an all in one so I am fine with no iMac with expansion. At the same time I wouldn't consider the Mac Pro an ideal starting place for hobbyists either.
I wonder if Apple could even make such a machine without it costing them money. Sure, the machine would be profitable, but I think they would lose a lot of Mac Pro sales, and I'm not sure they would make up the difference with increased sales of an 'xMac' from the people that otherwise would have purchased a cheaper Mac or would not have purchased a Mac at all.
You're kind of shooting at where the PowerMac 7000 series stood between the Performa line and the PowerMac 8500 and 9500, kind of a mid level Pro machine that is not quite a superbeast but still offers expandability and card options.
Having an "xMac" would probably steal so many Mac Pro sales it wouldn't be to Apple's advantage.
I mean,
mid-top range Intel consumer processor eg. i5-i7 (4 cores)
two (?) hard drive bays
PCI Express slot
for say $1999
would be more than adequate for about 90% of even prosumers, and completely cannibalize sales of the low-end Mac Pros in a similar way to how the top-end iMac is doing that now.
I mean,
mid-top range Intel consumer processor eg. i5-i7 (4 cores)
two (?) hard drive bays
PCI Express slot
for say $1999
would be more than adequate for about 90% of even prosumers, and completely cannibalize sales of the low-end Mac Pros in a similar way to how the top-end iMac is doing that now.
and it would cause havoc when professional IT managers decide that "the xMac will do" - and every professional starts getting lumbered with them because of some nonsense excuse...
I'm doubtful, Both target different users. The professional would most likely stick with Mac Pro & consumers with a xMac for a lower price with a little more expansion.
ummm No, No you couldnt. The last "Mid-range" tower in terms of what the OP is envisaging is a PowerMac 7x00 series machine. Admittedly the price of the Professional Towers has risen a bit, but even in the G4 era there was no "mid-range" tower machine, certainly not in spirit. There are 2 examples I can think of that you might be referring too, in terms of super-cheap-but-memorable-towers-from-
: Apples Super-Cheap-G4-MDD post G5 introduction, or the G5 Single CPU models, but even those werent that cheap (they definitely werent bottom end iMac price)Your forgetting quite a few "pros" would go down to the xMac as money matters to everyone, and most pros only need a small amount of expansion.
My first computer experience was on Apple computers. I prefer using Apple computers. I have only bought Apple computers.
But.
I find myself uninterested in the current line up. I do not want an all in one. That leaves the mini which I find lacking in several areas or the Mac Pro which is frankly more computer than I need. Plus it is very large.
So while I really need a new computer I'm not buying anything.
So I'm not buying a Mac Pro and I'm not buying an iMac or Mac mini.
Apple is close to forcing me to the last part of your quote above.
Imagine no mid sized cars. Or no medium sized shirts. No shoes in sizes 10-12.
Any company that did that would be called crazy and be told they were missing a big part of the market.
But a mid sized Mac is supposedly a bad business case.
Maybe new advertising for Apple.
iMac. The all in one jumpsuit of computers.
Mac Mini. The Petite computer.
Mac Pro. Big and Tall.
Imagine only having those choices when shopping for clothes.
The iMac, is in all-fairness, a heck of a lot more capable than people give it credit for - what do you want expandability for? whats wrong with an all-in-one, the iMac is incredibly similar in dimensions thickness wise to my Cinema Display
Also, just remember: Apple cares about its bottom line, not about what a small number of tech enthusiasts want apple to create.
HERE IS WHAT YOU WANT!
The only problem is it has a C2D 2.66 and a Nvidia 9400 chipset for graphic. This machine has a pair 3tb hdds with no inside hdds and no inside dvd player. Once this was shown to be a working design that fit many users apple was forced to redesign The Macmini. Apple also keeps the Mac mini cpu at a max of 2.66Ghz in the new design plus made the 2010 2.66ghz more money then the 2009 model. It is simple protectionism apple knows that this machine would hurt sales of iMacs and Mac pros.
Take a look at the size. it is an 9 by 8 by 5.5 form not counting The two power bricks. in this design both bricks put out 12v and total 175 watts. they provide far more power then needed. This means it could be shrunk to about 8 by 8 by 5 with 1 150 watt brick.
Since the body of the mini has no dvd player and no hdds it runs cool and could have a quad processor with a decent graphics card. This machine clearly shows that apple knows that a mac mini on steriods or a mac pro missing a left nut so to speak would sell like a mo fo. Thus the mini redesign and the certainty of never seeing the midline mac.
The best anyone can ever hope to see is an iMac with esata or USB3 and maybe a pcie slot or an express card slot. The reason being that iMac upgrade will not affect mac mini sales and it will increase iMac sales. Only a few mac pro sales would stop. Soooooo if you want to make a bet on what will happen
1) mac mini super boost no
2) a shrunken macpro no
3)a midsize mac no
4) a more connecting iMac yes
I say to apple build this machine you will get rid of a ton of hacintosh users. They will buy this instead.
The only problem is it has a C2D 2.66 and a Nvidia 9400 chipset for graphic. This machine has a pair 3tb hdds with no inside hdds and no inside dvd player. Once this was shown to be a working design that fit many users apple was forced to redesign The Macmini. Apple also keeps the Mac mini cpu at a max of 2.66Ghz in the new design plus made the 2010 2.66ghz more money then the 2009 model. It is simple protectionism apple knows that this machine would hurt sales of iMacs and Mac pros.
Take a look at the size. it is an 9 by 8 by 5.5 form not counting The two power bricks. in this design both bricks put out 12v and total 175 watts. they provide far more power then needed. This means it could be shrunk to about 8 by 8 by 5 with 1 150 watt brick.
Since the body of the mini has no dvd player and no hdds it runs cool and could have a quad processor with a decent graphics card. This machine clearly shows that apple knows that a mac mini on steriods or a mac pro missing a left nut so to speak would sell like a mo fo. Thus the mini redesign and the certainty of never seeing the midline mac.
The best anyone can ever hope to see is an iMac with esata or USB3 and maybe a pcie slot or an express card slot. The reason being that iMac upgrade will not affect mac mini sales and it will increase iMac sales. Only a few mac pro sales would stop. Soooooo if you want to make a bet on what will happen
1) mac mini super boost no
2) a shrunken macpro no
3)a midsize mac no
4) a more connecting iMac yes
I say to apple build this machine you will get rid of a ton of hacintosh users. They will buy this instead.
Attachments
The iMac calls for 1 or two mods an esata jack and a pcie slot. Many people would use it if those options exist. An esata jack allows an external high speed boot drive like these three below
http://www.sansdigital.com/towerstor/ts2ct.html
http://www.sansdigital.com/towerstor/ts25ct.html
http://www.sansdigital.com/towerstor/ts5ct.html
anyone of them can run faster then any internal hdd even a raptor. they can all be huge 4tb 6tb even 10 tb. the pcie card allows a lot of other choices. My guess is this is going to be apples direction. it would only hurt macpro , hackintosh sales while helping iMac sales