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broosten

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 13, 2008
8
0
New England
I had nothing to do today, so I mocked this up:
30cm73d.jpg

Thoughts?
 

JG271

macrumors 6502a
Dec 17, 2007
784
1
UK
Putting CDs in so low to the desk doesn't make a great deal of sense to me.
I don't think it would have a curved top, maybe not a curved bottom either as that is how the current mini draws air in.

Also, i'd have to be quite long to be that thin and accommodate an optical drive and a superdrive.
I'm expecting to see a lot more like this over the coming weeks...
 

zioxide

macrumors 603
Dec 11, 2006
5,737
3,726
how do you expect to fit a hard drive and optical drive in only 0.95 inches?
 

Slowstick

macrumors 6502
Dec 16, 2008
335
0
Putting CDs in so low to the desk doesn't make a great deal of sense to me.
I don't think it would have a curved top, maybe not a curved bottom either as that is how the current mini draws air in.

Also, i'd have to be quite long to be that thin and accommodate an optical drive and a superdrive.
I'm expecting to see a lot more like this over the coming weeks...

You people are so negative. :) I think it is a great concept design! Kudos!!!!
 

zioxide

macrumors 603
Dec 11, 2006
5,737
3,726
And they seem to be able to do it with laptops, 1.8" HDDs.

1.8'' hard drives are crap. The reason you can fit an optical drive and hard drive in a macbook/pro that thin is because they're next to each other. In your mock up, it looks like the drives would be stacked. That wouldn't work. I don't think you could physically fit an optical and hard drive stacked in that design, and even if you did, they would be way too close together which would cause massive overheating and hard drive failure.
 

duncyboy

macrumors 6502a
Feb 5, 2008
724
1
I think the '09 Mini will be purely a spec bump- same price point and same design, no new case.

HOWEVER- I do love the above designs- particularly the second one- would dearly love Apple to release something similar one day.
 

xper

macrumors 6502
Dec 15, 2005
430
3
Sweden - Halmstad
The last design looks great, i hope the new mini will look something similar, the problem is that i want to be able to use a 3.5" harddrive, those 2.5" is just to small. :S
 

basesloaded190

macrumors 68030
Oct 16, 2007
2,693
5
Wisconsin
really like that ^^^^, but i think it would just make more sense to keep the optical drive with the rest of the unit. I don't think they will change the looks much of the mini, if it ain't broke don't fix it
 

Slowstick

macrumors 6502
Dec 16, 2008
335
0
really like that ^^^^, but i think it would just make more sense to keep the optical drive with the rest of the unit. I don't think they will change the looks much of the mini, if it ain't broke don't fix it

I highly doubt Apple will not include an optical drive on a DESKTOP computer. That would kill the Mini line.
 

basesloaded190

macrumors 68030
Oct 16, 2007
2,693
5
Wisconsin
I highly doubt Apple will not include an optical drive on a DESKTOP computer. That would kill the Mini line.

even though i rarely use the one on my macbook and could do with out, i still think its a necessity for most and we aren't there yet where we can download everything or have no need for CDs/DVDs
 

xper

macrumors 6502
Dec 15, 2005
430
3
Sweden - Halmstad
Yeah but if the price would be the same with a Mac Mini that had a built in optical drive as a Mac Mini without the optical drive + a standalone drive it would be perfect.

I really like the small formfactor and if the Mini could be as small as possible i would love it, i like the fact that i can put it on the monitor stand och hang it under the table where nobody would ever see it.

Just one thought, wouldnt it be better if the connectors where at the bottom of the unit in the picture i posted? Now if someone would plug every cable into the Mini it would probably hang down and block the airflow.
 

broosten

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 13, 2008
8
0
New England
really like that ^^^^, but i think it would just make more sense to keep the optical drive with the rest of the unit. I don't think they will change the looks much of the mini, if it ain't broke don't fix it

Well the appearance is out of swing with the rest of the line, it needs some shiny black and/or darker aluminum, so in a sense, it is "broken".
 

duncyboy

macrumors 6502a
Feb 5, 2008
724
1
Apple won't ditch the optical drive for the Mini for a while yet.

1) It's a switcher-magnet. People might consider going for Apple but not if the cheapest option doesn't have an optical drive without having to fork out for an external drive.

2) A lot of people use a Mini as a media-centre. Kind of pointless having a potential media centre with no optical drive when you're selling Apple TV's also.
 

davedepinoy

macrumors newbie
Sep 12, 2008
10
0
London
Looks great, there's nothing much you could change with a Mac Mini unit (or with any other Mac product as they ran out of ideas but that's other topic) so lowering the disc slot is a pretty original design key plus it's pretty stylish.

A lot of people class the Mac Mini is an entry level unit so I think as well as DVI output (and/or a Mini-Display/HDMI/etc) there should be a DVI-input, making it act like a mini KVM switchbox. For those PC users who don't want to fully switch yet but wanting the luxury of switching to and from a Mac and a PC with the use of one monitor, and peripheral interface devices in sync to both systems also.
 
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