No Mini Refresh: What now?

[Schnort]

Time and money to switch out of silicon could make this bottleneck take a very long time. At the end of the day these are businesses that have to make money. Just like the G4 chip stalled due to some financial and time issues, I don't think Intel wants to be the guinea pig here.

I remember when Centrino came out and fans were saying how they could eventually get 100 cores into that architecture, if needed. Practicality may make the industry go with more cores instead of getting too small.

Speed was king at one time, then battery time, and now it may be number of cores.

Intel will always be ahead of the curve in fab technology. It's part of their 'special sauce' and they invest tons of money to keep ahead of everybody else.

(Though, their new architecture is almost always on the current fab technology, then is migrated to the new fab technology with minor improvements. i.e. 'tick' and 'tock')

 

[Crosscreek]

IMOP Mac Mini Broadwell redesign with new thunderbolt displays UHD and 4K,
and Broadwell 4K MacBook Pro in June. All the IOS stuff in the fall because that is the money maker for the holiday season.

 

[barkmonster]

the mac mini is the last survivor of the "user-friendly-upgradable-macs" ... (the other survivor is the 13'' macbook pro, but it's outdated specs are a joke ...)

the mini has a perfect design, just upgrade the specs and release it, APPLE!!!

(by the way: the "old thick macbook pro" with up to date cpu and gpu and retina display would be bought by many I guess ...)

I couldn't agree more. Not to mention all the mounting systems and additional Thunderbolt and Firewire enclosures designed to fit with it.

If anything, a redesign internally so it can either be configured with a PCIe SSD and a standard 2.5" HDD or still have dual 9.5mm HDDs/SSDs using the existing flexcables and connectors would be an idea.

A re-designed motherboard could easily accomodate a modular mounting system for a PCIe SSD in place of the lower HDD and then the existing upper SATA connector could still be used with a drive.

That way it has the option of 2Tb PCIe Flash based Fusion, a 256Gb PCIe Flash SSD or even dual 2Tb HDDs for a 4Tb Mac Mini server option. New Samsung Spinpoint M9T drives make this possible (minus the speculation above about PCIe flash).

 

[Wuiffi]

If anything, a redesign internally so it can either be configured with a PCIe SSD and a standard 2.5" HDD or still have dual 9.5mm HDDs/SSDs using the existing flexcables and connectors would be an idea.

A re-designed motherboard could easily accomodate a modular mounting system for a PCIe SSD in place of the lower HDD and then the existing upper SATA connector could still be used with a drive.

I hope you are right. imo the minis price is fair, because you can add ram and ssd afterwards and not pay the apple premium. if they move to soldered ram and cut the normal sata connector the mini will be out of reach for many

 

[barkmonster]

I hope you are right. imo the minis price is fair, because you can add ram and ssd afterwards and not pay the apple premium. if they move to soldered ram and cut the normal sata connector the mini will be out of reach for many

All the Apple TV fanboys thinking an even smaller, locked down, entirely flash-based Mac Mini with soldered everything is the way forward seem deluded to say the least.

If they regret buying an Apple TV, why don't they just admit it? There's no point in Apple crippling their last value for money, user expandable system with form-before-function features that benefit nobody just to please aesthetics enthusiasts.

 

[Lesser Evets]

All the Apple TV fanboys thinking an even smaller, locked down, entirely flash-based Mac Mini with soldered everything is the way forward seem deluded to say the least.

It would be a good idea IF it chops $200+ from the price of the mini. Doubt that will happen. I'd still want something with access to RAM and HDs.

 

[barkmonster]

It would be a good idea IF it chops $200+ from the price of the mini. Doubt that will happen. I'd still want something with access to RAM and HDs.

How exactly? So there's a total limbo product that's neither a cheap media streamer or a full blown desktop?

If they want to chop the price down, they could offer a bare bones version of the current entry level model. 2Gb RAM, 250Gb 5200rpm drive, Core i5. For maybe $150 less than the current model.

Then the Quad i7 2014 model retains the current price point but has Thunderbolt 2, Haswell, Iris Pro GPUs and optional PCIe SSDs/Fusion drives while retaining the SATA connectors for dual 2.5" drives with a motherboard re-design to accomodate a modular PCIe connector in place of one of the SATA drives.

Gutting it to pander to media centre people would make it useless to everyone else. In it's current form-factor it suits a LOT more people for a LOT more uses than a media streamer through a TV. Cost is the only factor for people who need more than an Apple TV but less than a Mac Mini. Then again, if they were that savy they were buying it to repurpose with something like XBMC or PLEX, why do they need a Mac anyway? They could buy any number of barebones PCs, install Ubuntu, Linux or whatever they wanted on it and once it's got their media software on it and it's pointing to their media library, they have what they need anyway.

If the Apple TV is no good and the Mac Mini is too expensive. This fills the void and can be pre-configured with XBMC. Just add a media drive externally. It's only £357 compared with the £499 for an i5 Mac Mini and that's for a Haswell i3 system with a HD4400 GPU, 60Gb SSD, 4Gb RAM, both Mini-HDMI and Mini-Displayport along with 4 USB 3.0 ports, Gigabit and 2 USB 2.0 ports.

http://www.atlastsolutions.com/inte...ssd-in-impactics-fanless-case-d3-d3nu1a-4-60/

 

[hudson1]

How exactly? So there's a total limbo product that's neither a cheap media streamer or a full blown desktop?

If they want to chop the price down, they could offer a bare bones version of the current entry level model. 2Gb RAM, 250Gb 5200rpm drive, Core i5. For maybe $150 less than the current model.

Then the Quad i7 2014 model retains the current price point but has Thunderbolt 2, Haswell, Iris Pro GPUs and optional PCIe SSDs/Fusion drives while retaining the SATA connectors for dual 2.5" drives with a motherboard re-design to accomodate a modular PCIe connector in place of one of the SATA drives.

Gutting it to pander to media centre people would make it useless to everyone else. In it's current form-factor it suits a LOT more people for a LOT more uses than a media streamer through a TV. Cost is the only factor for people who need more than an Apple TV but less than a Mac Mini. Then again, if they were that savy they were buying it to repurpose with something like XBMC or PLEX, why do they need a Mac anyway? They could buy any number of barebones PCs, install Ubuntu, Linux or whatever they wanted on it and once it's got their media software on it and it's pointing to their media library, they have what they need anyway.

It seems so many of these pleas for a bare-bones mini are from a few not wanting to shell out a whole extra $95 for an Apple TV. Or am I wrong.?

 

[barkmonster]

It seems so many of these pleas for a bare-bones mini are from a few not wanting to shell out a whole extra $95 for an Apple TV. Or am I wrong.?

I'd noticed that.

It's also wierd how they don't just buy an older Mac Mini off eBay and follow any number of guides to get it working as a media centre if they want a cheaper Mac than the Mac Mini but more than just an Apple TV.

My current system was only £330 on eBay last year and that was in "as-new" condition with a full 8Gb upgrade. It handles HD playback fine and someone could get an even lower spec 2009 Mac Mini and still be able to run Mavericks on it with XMBC and OpenEMU for retro gaming.

 

[Eightarmedpet]

I'm a bit confused why people are talking about the mini as a less than capable machine? I'm a Graphic Designer who uses the full creative suite and dabbles with video editing, my 2011 handles anything I throw at it.
The only place it's lacking performance wise is games, but hopefully haswell/iris will fix that.

 

[Lesser Evets]

How exactly? So there's a total limbo product that's neither a cheap media streamer or a full blown desktop?

A "full-blown" desktop. That's a steep and vague road you travel.

I was suggesting that there is a lower-priced zone Apple could fit into with a limited Mini. That's all. It can be a "partially blown" desktop and still be completely useful to a gigantic segment of the market.

 

[Crosscreek]

I don't care anything about Apple TV in my Mini. I want a Mini capable of running 4k. That means a better processor than Iris Pro that is barely capable. Broadwell will be the leap needed that will have the capability without a dedicated GPU. If Haswell is the next refresh for the Mini then I will wait until the following refresh.
The Mini is a headless desktop computer for people who do not need a Pro. Not a Apple TV server. I use mine for CAD and design. Not TV.

 

[barkmonster]

A "full-blown" desktop. That's a steep and vague road you travel.

I was suggesting that there is a lower-priced zone Apple could fit into with a limited Mini. That's all. It can be a "partially blown" desktop and still be completely useful to a gigantic segment of the market.

It's not remotely vague. You want something between an Apple TV and a Mac Mini. That's as vague as can be.

Apple arn't going to make a £350 lower-lower end system just for people who regret buying an Apple TV but won't pay for a Mac Mini. Their needs are met by the used Mac Mini market or, like I suggested in an earlier post, if it's for a media centre, there's already Haswell based micro-PCs available pre loaded with XBMC for just that purpose for the $200 less than the base Mac Mini price that's been suggested for this mythical lower-lower end Mac Mini/Apple TV hybrid.

 

[Lesser Evets]

It's not remotely vague. You want something between an Apple TV and a Mac Mini. That's as vague as can be.

Who said I wanted something between an Apple TV and a Mini?

I didn't.

I said there would be a way to reduce the cost/price of a Mini. That's about the gist of it. You leapt to a conclusion.

"Full-blown" is completely vague. Can I go to a computer store and say, "GIVE ME A FULL-BLOWN COMPUTER!" and have them understand what I mean? No. They'll load me up with the most-expensive device they have. The current mini isn't "full-blown" because it doesn't have TB2 and can't handle a 4K, for starters.

 

[barkmonster]

Who said I wanted something between an Apple TV and a Mini?

I didn't.

I said there would be a way to reduce the cost/price of a Mini. That's about the gist of it. You leapt to a conclusion.

"Full-blown" is completely vague. Can I go to a computer store and say, "GIVE ME A FULL-BLOWN COMPUTER!" and have them understand what I mean? No. They'll load me up with the most-expensive device they have. The current mini isn't "full-blown" because it doesn't have TB2 and can't handle a 4K, for starters.

You don't even have a point nit picking over my use of the term "full blown". I was simply (but not to you apparently) linguistically describing a product that's more than a consumption device like the Apple TV but still a desktop computer. "Full Blown" means it runs a full OS, not iOS and offers the usability of you know, A COMPUTER! Not a media streamer. Why you don't get this is beyond me. The original G4 Mac Mini was under £350 and subsequent models have gained a lot in CPU power while creeping up in price but fragmenting the line up even further with 3 distinct Mac Mini systems isn't something I can see Apple doing.

 

[ELMI0001]

Can someone remind me how the iMac had a "silent" update via a press release? Was anything else updated with it.

I see the Mini needs to be updated, the Apple TV, MacBook Pro, and the displays. Is there a reason these 4 items would be updated together?

4K support for the Mini and MacBook Pro along with a 4K monitor makes sense. I have an Apple TV but don't know too much about what updates might be down the pipeline. Ability to connect to a 4K TV/Monitor I suppose?

I want a Mini to use as my full time machine and I'll continue to use my 08 MacBook until it gives up on me. But, I don't want to buy a Mini if an update is around the corner - which we don't know.

I know the iPhone/iPad's are sexier devices so we usually know what to expect when those are due for an update through leaks/pics. Is there not a manufacturer out there putting together updated Mini's? I feel like the info should leak if it's being produced. This leads me to believe it's not being updated yet.

My fear in waiting for an update is the new Mini may be redesigned and less user accessible. I'd like to upgrade the RAM and HD but not immediately. The jump I'll see from my trusty MacBook to current Mini doesn't make me feel like I'd need to wait for the Haswell chip or the upgraded graphics chip.

 

[apfelmann]

My fear in waiting for an update is the new Mini may be redesigned and less user accessible. I'd like to upgrade the RAM and HD but not immediately. The jump I'll see from my trusty MacBook to current Mini doesn't make me feel like I'd need to wait for the Haswell chip or the upgraded graphics chip.

Yes, I'm in the same dilemma situation: I'd like an updated mac mini (4K-future-proof!!!) but maybe they make it less user-friendly to upgrade ...

 

[ELMI0001]

Yes, I'm in the same dilemma situation: I'd like an updated mac mini (4K-future-proof!!!) but maybe they make it less user-friendly to upgrade ...

For me I should clarify my definition of full-time use: web, email, iLife, iWork, and work which is web based. My machine will hold thousands of songs and an expanding movie collection but aside from that I don't need it to do much.

Maybe a Win 7 partition.