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Mac Mini is NOT DEAD?

R

Robby9279

macrumors regular
Original poster
Nov 3, 2008
239
1
Hello all, I'm new here so bear (Haha thank you Courtaj) with me :p

As we all know, there has been much speculation as to whether the Mac mini will be "Dead" in the near Future. However, a light was casted this evening as I spoke with an Apple representative via the apple website. She went by Melinda B. I asked her a simple and formal question "Melinda, do you know if Apple has decided to discontinue the product line for the mac mini", She responded "Of course not! The product line is not being discontinued, who did you hear this from" I stated simply "I've heard many rumors, and also that there is no update coming anytime soon." She did say "Although it may be true there are no upcoming updates, we definitely aren't ending the product line".

I don't know exactly what all this means, however, I don't believe they are ending the mac mini's life. Thus, I don't understand as to why they have stopped selling the mini in the retail stores. Maybe she's hiding a secret and just wanted me to buy a mini so they could sell the remaining mini's for a future update, that is being held secret, I don't know.

Hope This Helped somewhat,
Rob.
 
I think the sort of person you'll chat to on the help thing, isnt the sort of person that is going to know about future updates etc.

Shes just a salesperson. Shes not going to tell you its being discontinued even if it is as that will lose a sale.

IMO she doesnt know anymore than anyone on this forum ;)
 
oh, ok haha. Well I'm new to this whole thing. And I thought that if she didn't know whether the updates were coming out or not, she would have simply stated she didn't know.
Alright, well sorry for the waste of the thread!
 
Robby9279 said:
oh, ok haha. Well I'm new to this whole thing. And I thought that if she didn't know whether the updates were coming out or not, she would have simply stated she didn't know.
Alright, well sorry for the waste of the thread!
Click to expand...

Please don't feel that it was a waste of thread and sorry if I or we was/were a bit harsh. I really was looking forward to a refreshed Mac mini.

I hope we have not put you off posting.
 
The current Mac Mini is a very old design, from the G4 era. Given the current advances on the MacBook line, I expect a major redesign on January, like cutting its height by half.

My guess is that it will look like a thicker MBA Superdrive. It could be even better if they decide to drop the optical drive, which is something that I would really, really love.
 
Right now, the #2 selling desktop on Amazon.com is the Mini. I've seen theories that high sales are the very reason that it hasn't been updated in so long: The systems are still selling extremely well as they are, so why change them?
 
With nearly every latest Mac release there have been very credible leaks or rumors. And nothing, absolutely nothing has surfaced regarding the Mini. So relax, nothing new is happening. Its not dead. Its not changing, it just is, and will likely continue to just be the cheap, headless Mac that we know.
If you're waiting to buy one then the lack of rumors suggests that its a safe bet to buy one whenever you like.
 
Robby9279 said:
Hello all, I'm new here so bare with me
Click to expand...
Bare with you? But I hardly know you! Oh, you mean "bear with me." My bad.
She responded "Of course not! The product line is not being discontinued, who did you hear this from? . . . Although it may be true there are no upcoming updates, we definitely aren't ending the product line".
Click to expand...
All this means is that they're still selling at the Apple Store and are likely to continue selling for the near future.

You'd have spent your time more wisely asking her for her pic and phone number, and seeing if she'd like to "bare" with you . . .

:p
 
IroquoisPliskin said:
The mini is not dead, its just an outdated and very expensive 2 year old pile of cr@p.
Click to expand...

Outdated - perhaps
Expensive - perhaps

However, the basic design is excellent for lots of people and uses.

I built a long while ago a "shuttle-like" PC for some family members that is still used to this day. It is still used to this day for a lot of web browsing, some word processing and DVD play. Except for the video, the Mini beats it in CPU/RAM, better OS and drive size. It works very well. The cost - back then similar to the lower end Mini. I may end up retiring that PC and moving them to a Mac Mini.

As for some Mac folks - if they are watching 720p or lower resolution media, its an excellent media player with Plex software front end. (Plex can play 1080p but with some trouble on some files.)

The latter is more of my interest so I would welcome an updated Mac Mini or a Mini that I upgrade the processor myself or ...

btw - I saw what you are using. G5/2G? Sounds outdated and expensive <grin>.

If I had a complaint about Apple it would be that by design (save for the Mac Pro) their line of systems are not designed to be upgraded.

- Phrehdd
______________
Mac Pro Quad 2.66, 9 gig Ram, ATI 1900, 4tb internal, sATA blu ray rw
iMac 20" 2ghrz, 4 gig RAM, EyeTV
4 TB NAS, iPhone 3G 16gig, multiple external drives
 
vansouza said:
Please don't feel that it was a waste of thread and sorry if I or we was/were a bit harsh. I really was looking forward to a refreshed Mac mini.

I hope we have not put you off posting.
Click to expand...

No, you definitely have not. I love this site, very interesting to see what is going on or what may happen with the Apple products. Considering I don't have a Mac, I am always thrilled to see what new products they release, and what I am considering to buy is all based upon these forums, great reviews, great people. :D

By the way
All this means is that they're still selling at the Apple Store and are likely to continue selling for the near future.

You'd have spent your time more wisely asking her for her pic and phone number, and seeing if she'd like to "bare" with you . . .
Click to expand...

Haha thanks Courtaj, Nice Joke :p
 
It's strange that there's such a time lag from the sources that said that Mac Minis were still coming (there was an article about a major mini seller who was adamant about it).

All about how you interpret "the holiday line up" message - does that mean model type, but it still allows bump refreshes e.g. to the mini? There's a difference between the new unibody MB MBP and the old versions - i'd imagine that would count as a change that wouldn't happen till January, but what if they just bumped the CPU in the iMac, or the Mini got a graphics memory and HD boost? For the wait, it would be strange to actually get just a bump now - there would be a backlash of "why didn't you do it earlier" for starters...
 
t0mat0 said:
It's strange that there's such a time lag from the sources that said that Mac Minis were still coming (there was an article about a major mini seller who was adamant about it).

All about how you interpret "the holiday line up" message - does that mean model type, but it still allows bump refreshes e.g. to the mini? There's a difference between the new unibody MB MBP and the old versions - i'd imagine that would count as a change that wouldn't happen till January, but what if they just bumped the CPU in the iMac, or the Mini got a graphics memory and HD boost? For the wait, it would be strange to actually get just a bump now - there would be a backlash of "why didn't you do it earlier" for starters...
Click to expand...

This is true.
 
dudup said:
The current Mac Mini is a very old design, from the G4 era. Given the current advances on the MacBook line, I expect a major redesign on January, like cutting its height by half.
Click to expand...

If the height is cut in half, I would expect maybe also a speed bump in a core duo processor and superdrive on every level of the line. And same price.

If it keeps its same size, I can eventually see it, after other Apple product lines, get a quad core processor in it. That would be very nice. A corresponding Macbook Pro and Macbook with a quad processor would come out concurrently.

That would leave the Mac Pro with four quads in it eventually, unless we are already there and I have not been paying attention. :)
 
Would they kill it before January?

Assuming Apple announces a new Mac Mini in January, would they stop shipping the old one before then? I've been thinking about getting one to keep my media files on and to use for syncing my iPhone. My PC works fine for this, but for obvious reasons iTunes and windows don't play well together all the time. And while I have no qualms with Mac OS, I don't use it that often and really only need it for media storage and iPhone control. So I don't want to have to buy an expensive iMac when the Mac Mini will do the job.

Also, what are the odds a new Mac Mini would only use Apple's new display connector thus requiring the purchase of a new display and negating the purpose of the Mac Mini?:(
 
bobsentell said:
Assuming Apple announces a new Mac Mini in January, would they stop shipping the old one before then? I've been thinking about getting one to keep my media files on and to use for syncing my iPhone. My PC works fine for this, but for obvious reasons iTunes and windows don't play well together all the time. And while I have no qualms with Mac OS, I don't use it that often and really only need it for media storage and iPhone control. So I don't want to have to buy an expensive iMac when the Mac Mini will do the job.

Also, what are the odds a new Mac Mini would only use Apple's new display connector thus requiring the purchase of a new display and negating the purpose of the Mac Mini?:(
Click to expand...

If it did they would either sell you a DVI/VGA connector ($20), or bundle it with it (free). I guess they would bundle the connector along with it, since otherwise without it you couldn't actually use the computer, hey here's your plane ticket but you have to pay more if you want engines.
 
bobsentell said:
Assuming Apple announces a new Mac Mini in January, would they stop shipping the old one before then? I've been thinking about getting one to keep my media files on and to use for syncing my iPhone. My PC works fine for this, but for obvious reasons iTunes and windows don't play well together all the time. And while I have no qualms with Mac OS, I don't use it that often and really only need it for media storage and iPhone control. So I don't want to have to buy an expensive iMac when the Mac Mini will do the job.

Also, what are the odds a new Mac Mini would only use Apple's new display connector thus requiring the purchase of a new display and negating the purpose of the Mac Mini?:(
Click to expand...

Be careful, not really, as that is how I got started. Mac mini for my iPod and then down the slippery slope to iMacs and Macbooks and Macbook Pros... be afraid... be very afraid... and good luck.
 
I hope.....

nick9191 said:
If it did they would either sell you a DVI/VGA connector ($20), or bundle it with it (free). I guess they would bundle the connector along with it, since otherwise without it you couldn't actually use the computer, hey here's your plane ticket but you have to pay more if you want engines.
Click to expand...

My intent is to use a switch I had set up between my wife's PC and mine (before I consolidated) that allowed me to use the same keyboard, mouse, and display for both machines. My father-in-law uses it for his Dell and his Macbook, so I assume I would be able to do the same with the mini......as long as the display can connect.
 
IroquoisPliskin said:
The mini is not dead, its just an outdated and very expensive 2 year old pile of cr@p.
Click to expand...

I don't think it's a pile of Cr@p at all. It still runs all my design programs including photoshop just fine, with a Wacom tablet and a 23" cinema display. It just needs an update for sure, mine only came with a 60gig HD.
 
I'd imagine they'll be updating the Mini to put a Mini DisplayPort output on it (as it is Apple's stated intention to standardise on DP).
It'd be cool if they also made the power input compatible with the MagSafe adapter on the 24" monitor - you could then have an instant "DIY iMac" running off a single power cable.

Having said that, they'd probably rather you bought an iMac so it won't happen...
 
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