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Mac Mini and New iPod Nano On Sept. 9th

m1stake said:
The 2600 mobile chip is very popular, as is the 3400, which the current VAIO's use among other things. ATI only makes the mobile GPU, they don't make the chipset because Intel hasn't licensed the socket to anyone else.



Apple decided to go with OpenCL as opposed to CUDA.



Since Intel doesn't license the mobile socket as mentioned above, Nvidia doesn't make mobile chipsets (for anyone) either. :p
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Thank you for correcting him. Not to mention that ATI has better PQ than nVidia. Since when has ATI only programmed for AMD CPUs, that's the most absurd comment I've seen in a while. The top overclockers (PC world) use Intel CPUs, not AMD, and also the highest graphics benchmark was done with ATI GPUs and an Intel CPU.
 
It will be the end of life soon for the Mac Mini (since they got rid of the iPod Mini a while back, it's time to get rid of the whole mini name). They will come out with a Mid-Tower cause people want more power but not willing to pay the full price of the Mac Pro for moe power and they don't necesarily want the iMac screen and computer combo. With the current size of the Mac Mini you cannot give all the upgrades people want right now and here's what they could adf to the new tower:

- upgrade the hard drive and add a second HD slot;
- upgrade the memory;
- give wireless option;
- add a video cards;
- add HDMI;
- upgrade the processor.
 
PaulexPC said:
So if I want a mini I'd better buy one now? Is there a consensus?
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No, there's no consensus. Even if they do dump it, which I doubt, there will be stock to make a purchase at lots of places for weeks or months.

The truth is, no one knows how many (or few) Minis Apple sells except for Apple itself. Bottom line; if it's profitable for them to continue making the Mini, they'll do so.
 
Cave Man said:
No, there's no consensus. Even if they do dump it, which I doubt, there will be stock to make a purchase at lots of places for weeks or months.

The truth is, no one knows how many (or few) Minis Apple sells except for Apple itself. Bottom line; if it's profitable for them to continue making the Mini, they'll do so.
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Isn't that a worry for us waiting then - if the stock inventory is so high - wouldn't they be running them down for a loooong time then? Wouldn't it be obvious of a refresh (see iPhone 3G and the drought that was).
 
Honestly, IMHO, the only two things that make sense for Apple would be:

1 - Refresh the Mini as many have guessed
2 - Kill off the Mini and come out with a Mac Tablet

Of the two, #1 seems more reasonable of a guess at this stage, but a guess is all it is, just like the basis of this thread.

That being said, I'll be waiting until September 9th to see what Apple is doing. If the Mini gets refreshed, I'll probably pick one up. If not, I'll either get an :apple:TV or Mac Tablet depending on specs, price, ect.
 
If they ARE updating the mini, especially if the update follows the March rumor that the mini is being scooped out and completely re-engineered, they should give it 30" screen capability on the graphics card.
 
MacHappytjg said:
lol not so much me i dont like the design of it at all its ugly and every body has one, why would u are u buying one anytime soon?
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IMO it's one of the best designed macs ever, and I've pretty much owned 'em all. ;) And why on earth would it matter if "everybody has one" or not? You're not really that guy who buys computers to be in an exclusive club, are you? :rolleyes:

I don't think the mini will see a simple bump. It will either be killed off or changed radically in some way. If they were just going to keep bumping it, it could have gone to penryn or at least santa rosa (for 4 GB and x3100) months and months ago.
 
BOSS10L said:
Honestly, IMHO, the only two things that make sense for Apple would be:

1 - Refresh the Mini as many have guessed
2 - Kill off the Mini and come out with a Mac Tablet

Of the two, #1 seems more reasonable of a guess at this stage, but a guess is all it is, just like the basis of this thread.

That being said, I'll be waiting until September 9th to see what Apple is doing. If the Mini gets refreshed, I'll probably pick one up. If not, I'll either get an :apple:TV or Mac Tablet depending on specs, price, ect.
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What does a Mac tablet have to do with a Mini refresh? I would've thought that the tablet would be $1800+ as a higher end option for normally mac notebook users.

Apple either has to significantly enhance the internals of the Mini, or discontinue it and create a new product. Slightly bigger, but with better specs, and the ability to actually upgrade the parts inside.
 
Killing off the mini, with no replacement would definitely get seized upon my other manufacturers and PC commenters, because the baseline Macbook isn't really up to snuff in line with competitors, Apple's Mac product that was half decently kitted out would suddenly jump to double the initial mini price, and be >$1,000.
Apple if it wanted to could engineer it in a way that only certain sorts of upgrade were possible if it went the mid tower route. As some have pointed out, there's definite room for convergence in the Apple lines - the Apple TV could get sucked into the mini, iMac, a HDTV, a mid tower, be a card within a Mac Pro etc. The design of the mini is linked in with the Time Capsule, Airport Extreme, and also the ATV - to change the mini for design reasons would beg the question as to why not changing the others.
It's in Apple's interest to underspec the mini a bit to give a small gulf between the Macbook, a decent gulf in price and features between it and the iMac. A mid tower would similarly have to be forcefully restrained in features! Otherwise it'd be a Mac Pro mini!

Tablet is not a replacement for the mini. It's a separate market.
 
Hopefully on Sept 9th we will finally know the fate of the mini. If it is another event like Macworld and others where the mini is forgotten I will be bummed. I am tired of waiting, but that is the only choice that I have :(
 
November

If the rumors are true and we'll soon see new iPods and portable Macs, I'd expect the iPods early September, followed by portables in October, with the mini being quietly upgraded in November.

I'll be shocked if there's anything more than a simple upgrade of the mini to Santa Rosa. Apple just doesn't seem to want it to sell (even though it seems to do extremely well at Amazon and eBay).
 
aaquib said:
What does a Mac tablet have to do with a Mini refresh? I would've thought that the tablet would be $1800+ as a higher end option for normally mac notebook users.

Apple either has to significantly enhance the internals of the Mini, or discontinue it and create a new product. Slightly bigger, but with better specs, and the ability to actually upgrade the parts inside.
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I wasn't sure if Apple was looking to make an expensive tablet, or a inexpensive one, and that is why I responded the way I did. I guess only time will tell.

I'm not disagreeing with you in principle on that, but I can't see Apple doing it, that will have a cannibalizing effect on their Mini, iMac as well as Mac Pro lines.
 
Its pretty possible...the Mini is in need an update. And it wouldn't really take away from the iPod....if it just a spec up date even more so.
 
I have pretty limited wishes. All I really want is FW800 (or esata). I want to build a better media server and I thin this would do the trick. Slap 4 1 TB dirives in one of the new Drobos and connect via FW 800 and start sending content to the other minis scattered around the house.
 
I can personally GUARANTEE they will update the mini. Why you ask? Cause I waited and waited and I waited and I dealt with a crappy PC for years and couldn't take it anymore and FINALLY bought the mini. So according to Murphy's Law it should be seeing a drastic update next week.:p
 
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