Mac mini 2013/2014 refresh.

[Yebubbleman]

what do you expect?

PCIe SSDs, a form factor only slightly larger than the current AppleTV at most (maybe retaining the thickness of the current mini while employing the footprint of the AppleTV); no more FireWire 800, one Ethernet port, two Thunderbolt 2 ports (the only reason why the Haswell iMac and MacBook Air missed out on them is that they were released before the Thunderbolt 2 controllers were available), 802.11ac, audio out or audio out/in dual-port only (Apple has assumed that if you need to record input, you'll buy a USB device that will be superior to what they would've offered). Iris on the standard model, Iris Pro on the higher-end model. Should the Mac mini Server continue, my guess is that they'd increase the size to accomodate a second PCIe SSD blade unless Apple is going to encourage the use of USB 3.0/Thunderbolt storage, which would've been faster than the bus speed employed by either of the current Mac mini Server's hard drives. Dual-core i5 on the entry-level model, Quad-core i7 on the higher-end and server models just like they do now.

Either way, a redesign is coming, if for no other reason than to complete the transition to PCIe-based SSD storage, which Apple is obviously invested in given the Haswell Macs and the Ivy Bridge E Mac Pros.

 

[Elho]

can you cover your needs with a good and cheap (400-500$) laptop or PC? Do you actually need a MAC product? Of course, it's your decision to invest your money whenever you like....but....



Statistically speaking, a cheap laptop or PC won't break too often...you'd better need faster internet...and you can replace your computer with another cheap one (maybe more advanced) after 3-4 years...big deal!

In four years, You can save more than 3000$ for a luxury trip to an exotic island!

I'm sure Windows pc will suit my needs, but hey, did you ever noticed the ocean of choices with Microsoft products? And I like the hardware/software philosophy of Apple...

 

[grandM]

costs

1. European prices, in general, include tax. U.S. prices do not!

2. Due to significant fluctuations in the Euro/USD exchange rate, Apple has to have a buffer to be able to absorb those those ever-fluctuating exchange rates.

3. Operating costs for a company are always more expensive in Europe because the Employer has to pay a lot more for social welfare and benefits.

1 would make 21 %
2 as 1 euro is about 1,35 dollars it makes no sense to ask more euro than dollar
3 it's not produced in Europe. Do you really think those few retailers add up to that premium?

 

[animatedude]

PCIe SSDs, a form factor only slightly larger than the current AppleTV at most (maybe retaining the thickness of the current mini while employing the footprint of the AppleTV); no more FireWire 800, one Ethernet port, two Thunderbolt 2 ports (the only reason why the Haswell iMac and MacBook Air missed out on them is that they were released before the Thunderbolt 2 controllers were available), 802.11ac, audio out or audio out/in dual-port only (Apple has assumed that if you need to record input, you'll buy a USB device that will be superior to what they would've offered). Iris on the standard model, Iris Pro on the higher-end model. Should the Mac mini Server continue, my guess is that they'd increase the size to accomodate a second PCIe SSD blade unless Apple is going to encourage the use of USB 3.0/Thunderbolt storage, which would've been faster than the bus speed employed by either of the current Mac mini Server's hard drives. Dual-core i5 on the entry-level model, Quad-core i7 on the higher-end and server models just like they do now.

Either way, a redesign is coming, if for no other reason than to complete the transition to PCIe-based SSD storage, which Apple is obviously invested in given the Haswell Macs and the Ivy Bridge E Mac Pros.

I highly doubt they will release the next mini with SSD storage as standard because this will hurt the sales of iMacs which still don't have SSD as standard and won't until 2015/2016?

 

[Lesser Evets]

I highly doubt they will release the next mini with SSD storage as standard because this will hurt the sales of iMacs which still don't have SSD as standard and won't until 2015/2016?

Also, the price would jump and a base mini would be around $800.

As long as they offer it as an option, why wish for strict SSD?

 

[Mal67]

Why the wait Apple?

Whatever it looks like. However powerful or otherwise it is. I would have thought it would be out by now.

 

[ioannis2005gr]

1 would make 21 %
2 as 1 euro is about 1,35 dollars it makes no sense to ask more euro than dollar
3 it's not produced in Europe. Do you really think those few retailers add up to that premium?

They never explain why 0,35 cents directed to their account for every single euro and above this, they add 20-30% nominal profit (depending on the country).

These retailers are completely mice and roaches! They have invented legal methods to stick their long hand into your pocket without your complaints....and most of the customers in Europe are happy because they own an expensive MAC! aha! Just like BMWs and Mercedes? YES!....

Really? I 'll be two! Maybe, three! ...What a happy life!!!

 

[Santabean2000]

PCIe SSDs, a form factor only slightly larger than the current AppleTV at most (maybe retaining the thickness of the current mini while employing the footprint of the AppleTV); no more FireWire 800, one Ethernet port, two Thunderbolt 2 ports (the only reason why the Haswell iMac and MacBook Air missed out on them is that they were released before the Thunderbolt 2 controllers were available), 802.11ac, audio out or audio out/in dual-port only (Apple has assumed that if you need to record input, you'll buy a USB device that will be superior to what they would've offered). Iris on the standard model, Iris Pro on the higher-end model. Should the Mac mini Server continue, my guess is that they'd increase the size to accomodate a second PCIe SSD blade unless Apple is going to encourage the use of USB 3.0/Thunderbolt storage, which would've been faster than the bus speed employed by either of the current Mac mini Server's hard drives. Dual-core i5 on the entry-level model, Quad-core i7 on the higher-end and server models just like they do now.

Either way, a redesign is coming, if for no other reason than to complete the transition to PCIe-based SSD storage, which Apple is obviously invested in given the Haswell Macs and the Ivy Bridge E Mac Pros.

I think you've pretty much nailed it. When that price increase rolled out a while back for some countries, the writing was on the wall for a wait till the new models.

The redesign should be interesting, although I'm in the market for a 2012 mini referb; I want dual 2.5" capability. SSD space at a reasonable price!

 

[haravikk]

The redesign should be interesting, although I'm in the market for a 2012 mini referb; I want dual 2.5" capability. SSD space at a reasonable price!

If they are doing a redesign I'd expect there to still be a single 2.5" drive bay for capacity, but either mSATA or PCIe SSD options for creating a Fusion Drive. Although Apple's preference is clearly now for PCIe SSDs, there's no particular need for that in a Mac Mini so I'm personally hoping they go for the cheaper mSATA option, but I expect I'll be disappointed and they'll go the more expensive route.

Although the Mac Mini being compact is great, it simply doesn't need to be as small as a laptop does, and doesn't have quite the same energy consumption concerns.

I would have said the same about the Mac Pro, but we know how that turned out. However, unlike the Mac Pro the Mac Mini has to consider cost as an important factor, and the simple fact is that SSDs, particularly Apple's preferred PCIe SSDs, aren't cheap enough yet to use as standard, and the other benefits (high-end speed, energy, portability) just aren't big concerns for a typical Mac Mini user.


But yeah, in a redesign I'd expect the second 2.5" drive to be the first to go; I expect we only have that now because the space was left over after Apple removed the optical drive, since the current and previous Mac Mini models are otherwise almost identical.

The implication of that though is that a redesigned Mac Mini is likely to ditch the Mac Mini Server option, but then pretty much any Mac Mini is perfectly capable as a small server, it was just nice having the option of mirrored drives, but then a Fusion Drive can significantly reduce wear on an HDD, so as long as the SSD is good enough it should still have a good operating lifetime.

 

[hudson1]

Whatever it looks like. However powerful or otherwise it is. I would have thought it would be out by now.

Could be all available resources for desktop development were dedicated to getting the Mac Pro out the door.

 

[Yebubbleman]

I think you've pretty much nailed it. When that price increase rolled out a while back for some countries, the writing was on the wall for a wait till the new models.

The redesign should be interesting, although I'm in the market for a 2012 mini referb; I want dual 2.5" capability. SSD space at a reasonable price!

I left out the part where I said that they'd bring back the optical drive.

Dual 2.5 capability would be cool still, though I think down the road, they'll just opt for dual PCIe stick slots instead; that way they still have dual-drive ability for the server and higher-end models with expanded use of Thunderbolt 2 and USB 3.0/3.1 for additional storage, especially given that Apple has never used 6Gbps SATA 2.5" Hard Drives in any of their Macs to date and even the 5Gbps bandwidth that USB 3.0 offers is a nice improvement over 3Gbps SATA.

I highly doubt they will release the next mini with SSD storage as standard because this will hurt the sales of iMacs which still don't have SSD as standard and won't until 2015/2016?

I would think that they'd want to make the Mac mini more mini than the Mac Pro in terms of design while bringing in PCIe SSD sticks to replace the 2.5" SATA SSDs that they currently use. I suppose they could drastically reduce the footprint of it and have one drive bay; though I have a feeling that at the very least, the days of dual SATA bays in the Mac mini are done.

 

[dupablada]

hmmm 2014/2015

for sure not now for sure not in december i told u this 2 months ago and month ago

 

[rrl]

for sure not now for sure not in december i told u this 2 months ago and month ago

And yet your join date says Nov 2013.

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

Haswell, HD5000, Wireless ac added

No change in size or cosmetically. No TB2. Dropping Firewire and/or Ethernet in favour of a second thunderbolt.

I see eith Iris, or Iris Pro, but also an option for the GT 750m.

 

[mvmanolov]

I see eith Iris, or Iris Pro, but also an option for the GT 750m.

i am going to bet that the mini misses out on has well altogether and plunges directly into braodwell

my prediction, in all honesty, is also somewhat skewed by my recent purchase of 2012 mini

Regardless though. it is not a completely outlandish prediction as the top end little guy gives many of the current has well lineup (whatever) a good run for their money... (except for vide of course)

 

[TahoeBlue]

I see eith Iris, or Iris Pro, but also an option for the GT 750m.

The 750m? Why?! It's not a laptop. GTX 760m would be a much better choice.

 

[MartinAppleGuy]

The 750m? Why?! It's not a laptop. GTX 760m would be a much better choice.

It is a small footprint device, just like the placement of the gt750m in the iMac.

 

[TahoeBlue]

It's a desktop computer. There is no reason why Apple would intentionally use an expensive GPU that gets barely any performance at 1080p, then try to charge a premium for it when it isn't a laptop or some all in one that starts at $1500.

 

[Ice Dragon]

Why not the 765M? It's what's used in the Razer Blade Pro? Why not the 780M? : P

So on and so on.

 

[TahoeBlue]

The 750m is basically a side grade to the Iris Pro. If you're going to put a mobile version dGPU in the thing and charge $200-300 for the option, then make sure it's worth it.

 

[Schnort]

It depends on what you're using it for. For games, the 750m seems to be ~20% faster than the Iris Pro.

For OpenCL stuff, the Iris Pro is faster.

I'd be fine with either, as long as they release something :/

 

[mvmanolov]

It depends on what you're using it for. For games, the 750m seems to be ~20% faster than the Iris Pro.

For OpenCL stuff, the Iris Pro is faster.

I'd be fine with either, as long as they release something :/

It doesn't look likely ....

 

[ioannis2005gr]

The 750m is basically a side grade to the Iris Pro. If you're going to put a mobile version dGPU in the thing and charge $200-300 for the option, then make sure it's worth it.

APPLE won't replace Iris graphics with a dGPU in Mac Mini increasing the cost significantly....alternatively, an iMac is offered... (my opinion).

 

[haravikk]

It depends on what you're using it for. For games, the 750m seems to be ~20% faster than the Iris Pro.

For OpenCL stuff, the Iris Pro is faster.

I very much doubt we'll ever see discrete graphics, even soldered on, in the Mac Mini ever again. We only got it in the past because the integrated GPUs from Intel at the time were terrible (if there even were any, I can't remember).

So I think it's a safe bet that the best we can hope for will be an Iris Pro, probably as part of the best build-to-order processor option. Compared to what we get in the Mac Minis now the Iris Pro is significantly better, and thanks for the L4 "Crystalwell" cache it can eliminate a lot of the downsides of shared RAM. By that same token though if you don't need strong GPU performance that same cache also offers benefits to CPU performance as well.

I don't think it's realistic to expect much gaming performance out of the Mac Mini, but I think an Iris Pro option would make it a solid little performer, and is the best we can hope for from Apple. It partly depends though on what the future holds for the iMac; some models do still have discrete GPUs, but I'm unsure how likely that is to last; while Iris Pro may not replace them in the next generation, I can absolutely see iMacs switching to integrated graphics only as well sometime in the future as it's one less part to worry about, and might allow them to make the iMacs even slimmer than ever (how long until the iMac is so thin it can't remain rigid I wonder?)

 

[AlexMaximus]

What are the chances of a "Mac mini Plus" ?

Hello Forum,

I would like to have more redundancy and consider a mac mini to complement my MBP with ACD. My applications are not really high end, so I think a mini would be just fine for me. On occasion I do some minor games and work on CAD on an extra PC.

I would like to see a Mac mini plus with a tad more GPU power to cover that minor gaming area. I think it would also lengthen the shelf live cycle on that mini. (I like to keep my stuff longer)

One question:

Does anyone run a CAD System on a mini, such as Solid Works or CatiaV5 in bootcamp?
I don't expect it to run, however I would be highly interested to get a basic CAD System running on a prepped up mini. This would replace my current PC. Is there anybody out there with CAD/CAM experience on mac mini? Would even work a 2011 model with the gpu chip on this end?

Thanks folks!