Just found out this....pretty interesting.
I gotta find out more about this.
Anyone know more about this?
Edit: http://store.hp.com/us/en/ContentView?storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&eSpotName=Z2Mini
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Hp z2 mini (Apple mac mini killer?)
- Thread starter pat500000
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Just found out this....pretty interesting.
I gotta find out more about this.
Anyone know more about this?
Edit: http://store.hp.com/us/en/ContentView?storeId=10151&catalogId=10051&langId=-1&eSpotName=Z2Mini
I read about it on Engadget this morning: https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/15/hps-tiny-xeon-powered-pc-puts-the-mac-mini-to-shame
About 4-5 dozen comments, mostly about the whole Ford-vs-Chevy OS platform banter. I've got several Mini Servers running, I don't see this replacing any of them. I also don't see it replacing any of my workstations either - all of my Mini Servers are 2012 quad-core i7s with Samsung 850 Pro SSDs in them and my PCs are running Quadro cards already, a big step up from the mobile Quadro in the new HP box.
I do have it bookmarked and will be waiting for a review from one of my friends or a tech rag before passing judgment like so many on that Engadget post...
About 4-5 dozen comments, mostly about the whole Ford-vs-Chevy OS platform banter. I've got several Mini Servers running, I don't see this replacing any of them. I also don't see it replacing any of my workstations either - all of my Mini Servers are 2012 quad-core i7s with Samsung 850 Pro SSDs in them and my PCs are running Quadro cards already, a big step up from the mobile Quadro in the new HP box.
I do have it bookmarked and will be waiting for a review from one of my friends or a tech rag before passing judgment like so many on that Engadget post...
Read its coming december. Looks interesting will wait for a review. Im not sure how this would compare to my z420 though. Hopefully this encourages apple to update the mini. Was looking at getting the mini for a family member whenever it gets updated. Might look at this if reviews are good.
Apple recently struck a deal with LG for new displays, designed for use with Macs.
Perhaps they ought to make a deal with HP, for slightly customized HP z2's?
It would be trivial for Apple software engineers to whip up a version of the Mac OS to run on it.
Rework the case, Apple logo, thunderbolt 3 ports, usb-c AND usb-a ports.
Let this fill two niches in the Apple product lineup:
- replace the Mini
- replace the base model Mac Pro (with full-bore options added to z2)
(Apple would have to also replace the "mid-high" end Mac Pro's with something else)
Perhaps they ought to make a deal with HP, for slightly customized HP z2's?
It would be trivial for Apple software engineers to whip up a version of the Mac OS to run on it.
Rework the case, Apple logo, thunderbolt 3 ports, usb-c AND usb-a ports.
Let this fill two niches in the Apple product lineup:
- replace the Mini
- replace the base model Mac Pro (with full-bore options added to z2)
(Apple would have to also replace the "mid-high" end Mac Pro's with something else)
Looks nice, might be the perfect replacement for my trusty mid-2007 Mac mini (which now runs Windows 7, after Apple stopped providing MacOSX updates for it several years ago, while Microsoft is still happily supporting aging Mac hardware with OS updates ...) 
If it comes out, it might pressure on Apple to bring out mini to compete it.
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If it. Does fill the niche of those two categories....it would be great.
Competition is always good. I put in a call to one of my vendors to find out what that little beastie will spec out to and if I can get an early cut sheet with options laid out. My only issue with that form factor, in a production environment, is it's hopped up with a Xeon option (which won't be cheap!
) but it's kind of gimped by the mobile Quadro option - I'd rather buy a 17" business laptop with those two options and have a display and battery "backup" option, or build my own box and stuff a 8GB Quadro card in it for about the same coin as that HP Mini...I hop up some of my Mini Servers as video ingest stations and a couple are set up as RAID storage servers using Sonnet's xMac expansion system. The xMac is a great equalizer IMHO. :evil grin:
The z2 Mini is the right idea, plenty of choices and price is a bit out of the typical buyers range but great for the rest of us. As for Apple - I have been in the past a huge Mini fan but stopped when they put out the castrated models. I'll say similar for the Mac (mini) Pro joke of a computer that is/was a huge waste (can). What Apple has done is made computers into appliances with there design and intention to not make the internals accessible for easy upgrades and a "pro" with proprietary parts. I am pretty much done with those two Apple models in my home. Since I have no use for iMacs these days, I'll just use my Apple laptop, the mini and get excited about some offerings by PC makers of their truly kick ass products that do the job and have the real cool factor that has also left Apple. I can't write my opinion in the language I would like because I have already been warned but would like to hear others chime in. Btw, OSX sounded cool and MacOS sounds like a reference to the OS from someone who doesn't know Apple well. What were they thinking at Apple?
Nah, exactly the opposite. Years ago, Apple chose to market only niche desktops: all-in-one, small-form-factor, stratospherically expensive workstation. They gutted the very center of their lineup, the most popular form factor of all -- the inexpensive, expandable tower. Most likely, because they simply couldn't compete on price (or, at least, didn't want to try to do so).
It may just be that now, with a decent selection of competitive SFF boxes out there, Apple has no reason left to continue in the SFF niche.
Moreover, I'd expect that if Microsoft continues to wade into the AIO arena with competitive products (and, seeing that Windows 10 is now highly competitive with OS X as well), Apple will be quite willing to drop the iMac as well.
What Apple likes to do is create new markets; iPod, iPhone, iPad. What Apple doesn't like to do is compete in existing markets.
Maybe they're planning to move on to 11.
We've been on version 10 for so long that I suspect many have forgotten or never even known that the X was a version number.
As a reminder, the X in OS X is the roman ten (10). At some point, they'd have had to increase that to XI (11).
I'm not too optimistic that a large part of they typical customer-base would have really been able to ingest the peculiarities of the Roman number system (given that the US hasn't even been able to switch to SI-units to begin with...).
I'm not too optimistic that a large part of they typical customer-base would have really been able to ingest the peculiarities of the Roman number system (given that the US hasn't even been able to switch to SI-units to begin with...).
Apple can spin whatever they want about the "X" next to OSX. They might even play loosely with "OSXi" as in i for integrated (since they are mixing in IOS crap at times). I don't even bother thinking of the X as a roman numeral these days as it is just another OS..as in product "X."
This is not quite related to this thread but close enough for an interesting take on Apple vs...
https://www.thrillist.com/tech/nation/apple-commercials-problems-microsoft-samsung
For me the funny part was a reference to a specific animal when it comes to some types of Apple fanboi types. The humour for me was I used the very same term and it as 'banished' by the powers that be here.
I'll just say that both Microsoft and HP have put product out that is starting to shame Apple. In fact, the HP Z desktops are shaming the nMP and Microsoft's higher end surface that looks like a combo of iMac and Mac Mini is more MAC than Apple in some respects. Maybe some people are right and Apple wants to leave the computer market (other than laptops) which I believe would be very sad indeed.
This is not quite related to this thread but close enough for an interesting take on Apple vs...
https://www.thrillist.com/tech/nation/apple-commercials-problems-microsoft-samsung
For me the funny part was a reference to a specific animal when it comes to some types of Apple fanboi types. The humour for me was I used the very same term and it as 'banished' by the powers that be here.
I'll just say that both Microsoft and HP have put product out that is starting to shame Apple. In fact, the HP Z desktops are shaming the nMP and Microsoft's higher end surface that looks like a combo of iMac and Mac Mini is more MAC than Apple in some respects. Maybe some people are right and Apple wants to leave the computer market (other than laptops) which I believe would be very sad indeed.
Not to pull the rug out from under all the OS X naming theories going around, but it is pretty obvious that Apple simply wanted to harmonize the names of its new line-up of OS products; that is:
iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and of course macOS.
iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and of course macOS.
So should we expect iOS to be changed to iphoneOS? or iPodOS or...? after all, consistency is so darn important (yes sarcastic but not at you).
Well, iOS does provide more than 50% of the revenue for this company, so it is the top dog. All other OSs are simply also-rans standing in iOS's shadow...
I'm definitely keeping an eye on the HP Z2 mini. I was lucky enough to order a MacMini late 2012 quad-core right before Apple announced the Great Mac Mini Lobotomy, but after thirty years in the Macintosh field, I'm watching in absolute horror as Apple stamps their desktop machines into the ground. So there may be a day I'll need something from the other side of the airlock, as much as I hate to say it, because Apple is taking a great thing and strangling the life out of it.
Doesn't anybody at Apple love computers anymore?
Doesn't anybody at Apple love computers anymore?
I hate the term 'macOS'. It just looks so pathetic when compared to 15 years of '[Mac] OS X'.
Yeah, it implicitly defines the OS down as essentially a sidekick to their main product, iOS.
Or, in other words: iOS is the future. macOS is the past.
Yeah, it implicitly defines the OS down as essentially a sidekick to their main product, iOS.
Or, in other words: iOS is the future. macOS is the past.
I think Apple Marketing is out of control. I've wondering if this change is driven by Angela Ahnherts...
C'mon Apple! Stop the slow death spiral, get out of the desktop business, and license the macOS to HP. You'll be happier, and so will your customers.
Better yet: just open-source the thing. That'll allow Apple to keep using the OS in the future if it wishes, while providing an immediate advertising boost as people everywhere who never before considered using the OS try it out for the first time...
Open-sourcing stuff doesn't magically fix it. You still need people developing stuff. And they need to be paid.
In fact, the core of macOS - Darwin - is available in source form. But few people take interest in it these days.
In fact, the core of macOS - Darwin - is available in source form. But few people take interest in it these days.
Er, ever heard of Linux? Lots of people working on it, both paid & unpaid. (After all, Android is a Linux OS. Popular distributions like Ubuntu have cash to pay people too.)
Or, for that matter, BSD -- the heart of Darwin. Plenty of money still finds its way into that as well.
And there's no reason why Apple has to stop paying people to work on OS X; it isn't like Apple is starved for cash right now, or that they'd derive no benefit from getting an OS with their name stamped all over it into lots of people's hands.
Heck, considering how much effort they've been putting into their "Continuity" feature linking macOS to iOS devices, it might actually spur iPhone/iPad sales to increase the base of macOS users...
Anyway, the problem here is not "fixing" OS X. There is nothing wrong with this OS. The problem, instead, is that OS X is going to disappear if Apple just stops making Macs. Freeing the operating system from the slowly decaying remnants of Apple's Mac lineup would certainly give it a new lease on life.
OS X and iOS come from the same source base. You can't separate them easily to open source them.
Not interested in "open source" as it were but wouldn't be upset if Apple decided to allow other companies to install OSX. One of the nice features of OSX in its day was that it only had to work on limited hardware and as such "appeared" more stable. Opening it up to too many types of hardware you get a kluge like Windows faces (and now a bit of what Linux too faces). I remember way way back when Apple allowed others to make computers that used Apple's OS. NEC put out a computer that was (by test, measure and confirmed time and time again in articles) superior to what Apple was putting out. Sadly, it was only out for about a year then Apple pulled the plug on 3rd party computers.
So Apple just needs to learn one thing - THIN is not needed for desktops. THIN is not your friend when it comes to types of internal hardware and leads to major compromise. THIN is not good for ease of heat dissipation. THIN is not good for easy access to repair and swap outs. THIN is good for tablets and phones. APPLE GET YOUR ACT TOGETHER AND DISCOVER FUNCTION BEFORE FORM IS WHERE IT IS AT.