No new mini ... no surprise? How about a journey?

[mvmanolov]

Well, the nMP is here and it is a gorgeous, expensive, fire-breathing-Smaug of a beast....

Yet the mini remains, so many predictions, hopes and dreams shattered against the precipitous abyss and devoured by the Scylla and Charybdis that is 's secret designs...

Yet I for one have turned away from personifying a present day Odysseus. i chose not to make the journey to Ithaca... for I, like many others, envisioned the perils...

I stayed in Troy..... For, Ithaca is yet a long ways coming...

Ithaca my friends is a land beyond Haswell...

 

[packeted]

Doesn't surprise me. I think Apple are trying to skim off all the people who would have gone for a new spec'ed out Mac Mini but will instead go for the nMP - which what I've done. I'm sure a new Mini will come but months after the nMP has fully established itself.

 

[mvmanolov]

Doesn't surprise me. I think Apple are trying to skim off all the people who would have gone for a new spec'ed out Mac Mini but will instead go for the nMP - which what I've done. I'm sure a new Mini will come but months after the nMP has fully established itself.

well, i do think you may be in the relatively small minority. the price jump even from the maxed mini to the base nMP is about 1200 - just under what a second maxed mini would cost... I don't think many people would say agh the hell with it i wanted a $600 mini but here, have me 3k instead...

Plus i wander what usage you have that would need a nMP but still be satisfied with a Haswell mini even with Iris pro?

 

[opinio]

Well, the nMP is here and it is a gorgeous, expensive, fire-breathing-Smaug of a beast....

Yet the mini remains, so many predictions, hopes and dreams shattered against the precipitous abyss and devoured by the Scylla and Charybdis that is 's secret designs...

Yet I for one have turned away from personifying a present day Odysseus. i chose not to make the journey to Ithaca... for I, like many others, envisioned the perils...

I stayed in Troy..... For, Ithaca is yet a long ways coming...

Ithaca my friends is a land beyond Haswell...

I like your narrative.

Also can I have what ever you are on? I need it after doing the sums on the Australian Dollar on the Pro. There is a $3000 difference (on the .com.au site) on the top spec even though the exchange rate does not at all justify it. ($3000 diff between buying it on the Aus or US Apple sites). It is cheaper for me to fly to Honolulu or even LA and buy it on the US Apple Store online, have it delivered to my hotel room and fly home. I can also fit in meals and car hire and maybe a massage. Apple's margin/profit on the high prices on the Aussie website is devastating for the consumer (basically our wages are crazy high).

I think I will just duct tape my three Mac minis together, spray paint them black, put an ash tray on top and pretend it is a Mac Pro. It'll have three graphics cards, three T-bolt, 9 USB3.0, 48GB RAM, 3GbE. Fairly close!! Ahh who am I kidding. It won't fool a blind folded goat with its eyes poked out

Anyway, I am winging in the wrong thread.

 

[mvmanolov]

I like your narrative.

Also can I have what ever you are on? I need it after doing the sums on the Australian Dollar on the Pro. There is a $3000 difference (on the .com.au site) on the top spec even though the exchange rate does not at all justify it. ($3000 diff between buying it on the Aus or US Apple sites). It is cheaper for me to fly to Honolulu or even LA and buy it on the US Apple Store online, have it delivered to my hotel room and fly home. I can also fit in meals and car hire and maybe a massage. Apple's margin/profit on the high prices on the Aussie website is devastating for the consumer (basically our wages are crazy high).

I think I will just duct tape my three Mac minis together, spray paint them black, put an ash tray on top and pretend it is a Mac Pro. It'll have three graphics cards, three T-bolt, 9 USB3.0, 48GB RAM, 3GbE. Fairly close!! Ahh who am I kidding. It won't fool a blind folded goat with its eyes poked out

Anyway, I am winging in the wrong thread.

The drug is simple my Aussie mate - no sleep + grading 3rd year university papers... you do the math. And 3K is a hell of a difference, basically that's the price of a base model nMP here in .ca but hell if you plan on coming to this neck of the woods might as well just come to Canada, we can come up with some arrangement for your stay in exchange for some good Aussie wine... Our prices up here are outrageous... a bottle of RWT runs for $150 and Elderton Command is $90, even a Two Hands angel's share is over $30 Complete Lunacy if you ask me.

But to be quite frank, tis a bit puzzling to me your qualms with high wages... i'd take those problems any day

hum your nMMP sounds more than than the nMP - this plan of yours may actually really work up in America, the goats here are far more gullible... - more=better right..? All you need is some sheet metal, a can or two of spray paint and a spot welder...

 

[Santabean2000]

well, i do think you may be in the relatively small minority. the price jump even from the maxed mini to the base nMP is about 1200 - just under what a second maxed mini would cost... I don't think many people would say agh the hell with it i wanted a $600 mini but here, have me 3k instead...

Plus i wander what usage you have that would need a nMP but still be satisfied with a Haswell mini even with Iris pro?

You're coming at it from the wrong angle. Anyone who started by looking at the mini is not going to jump on a nMP, but someone who may have bought a base spec nMP may have seriously considered a new mini.

Think pros who don't need massive graphics performance.

 

[mvmanolov]

You're coming at it from the wrong angle. Anyone who started by looking at the mini is not going to jump on a nMP, but someone who may have bought a base spec nMP may have seriously considered a new mini.

Think pros who don't need massive graphics performance.

no i get that. but in that case why not buy current mini.... the 2.6 i7 quad is not going to be much less powerful than the Haswell quad (if there is one) and the Iris Pro while much better than HD4000 can't compare to even one D300... meaning that there are very few pros that will be ok with doing serious video editing on a Iris pro. So more than likely any "pro" that need gpu power will stay away from the mini regardless of its new iteration. And if you need the CPU juice, the current quad mini is not $1200 off (slower) of the base quad nMP.

no?

 

[ELMI0001]

Nice write up.

Personally I am banking on a soft release of a new model similar to how they introduced the latest iMac.

I want a Mac Mini and I wanted it months ago but I didn't need it so I'll just sit back and wait.

No way I'm going for a nMP. I just don't need all that horsepower.

 

[mvmanolov]

Nice write up.

Personally I am banking on a soft release of a new model similar to how they introduced the latest iMac.

I want a Mac Mini and I wanted it months ago but I didn't need it so I'll just sit back and wait.

No way I'm going for a nMP. I just don't need all that horsepower.

i hear you... i love the way it looks and brag gin rights sounds nice, i could afford it though it'd be pretty tight - not to mention that i'd need a confirmation and authorization from the wife, which would be rather tough to get - but i just simply could not justify it to myself. Even if it lasts me as the main HTPC/SERVER box for the next 8 years... i'd still want an upgrade before then... and it'd be a shame to have a nMP run only a HTPC/SERVER so... I bought a 2012 mini (signature) and am loving it...

 

[Santabean2000]

no i get that. but in that case why not buy current mini.... the 2.6 i7 quad is not going to be much less powerful than the Haswell quad (if there is one) and the Iris Pro while much better than HD4000 can't compare to even one D300... meaning that there are very few pros that will be ok with doing serious video editing on a Iris pro. So more than likely any "pro" that need gpu power will stay away from the mini regardless of its new iteration. And if you need the CPU juice, the current quad mini is not $1200 off (slower) of the base quad nMP.

no?

All valid points. And I think there are a number of folk who have adopted the current mini (as a tide-me-over at least).

But you're assuming that a new mini will hold a consistent form factor. I'm thinking the new mini will be a redesign - smaller, cooler, faster, silent, cheaper. Maybe not as much on board storage though.

 

[Crosscreek]

Well, the nMP is here and it is a gorgeous, expensive, fire-breathing-Smaug of a beast....

Ithaca my friends is a land beyond Haswell...

It is just possible that a refresh with broadwell second quarter could happen.
Here is the latest I could find on the new chip set.
http://www.thinkcomputers.org/intels-14nm-broadwell-lineup-details-leaked/

 

[mvmanolov]

All valid points. And I think there are a number of folk who have adopted the current mini (as a tide-me-over at least).

But you're assuming that a new mini will hold a consistent form factor. I'm thinking the new mini will be a redesign - smaller, cooler, faster, silent, cheaper. Maybe not as much on board storage though.

i think a redesign into what you are suggesting (smaller/silent/cheper) will almost by definition mean not faster.

I think that the current design already uses just about every mm of space in that box... there aren't that many things that can be changed... 2nd drive bay could go (sucks), the psi could be made smaller (i don't think it'd be external ever again) but that also means less power and now we are talking MBA components rather than MBP components. the fan can probably be made a tiny bit thinner but wider and slower to keep it quieter (though i don't know why). getting rid of some ports will save some space, but not much and that won't be so good (replace FW with TB sure, but getting rid of either net or usb just a bad idea)...

so how do you make it smaller? maybe taller with a smaller foot print AEBS-like but then it won't be as unobtrusive as a HTPC, and all the collocation services (relatively big consumers of mini's) have to buy new racks.... (those are actually surprisingly expensive...). so what other shapes are left? circle? - no because then you have all kinds of ports coming from everywhere. Triangle - no you end up with loads of empty and de-facto unusable space. a hex - that's just silly.

could be a bit thinner but so what?

seriously though can anyone think of a shape that would be better for the purposes that the mini is designed for than the one it has now? (there is a our next poll)
I can't....

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to me, waiting for broadwel makes sense. no need to change manufacturing process (costs) for relatively minor update to system that is already (and still) performing rather well.... no?

 

[Santabean2000]

i think a redesign into what you are suggesting (smaller/silent/cheper) will almost by definition mean not faster.

I think that the current design already uses just about every mm of space in that box... there aren't that many things that can be changed... 2nd drive bay could go (sucks), the psi could be made smaller (i don't think it'd be external ever again) but that also means less power and now we are talking MBA components rather than MBP components. the fan can probably be made a tiny bit thinner but wider and slower to keep it quieter (though i don't know why). getting rid of some ports will save some space, but not much and that won't be so good (replace FW with TB sure, but getting rid of either net or usb just a bad idea)...

so how do you make it smaller? maybe taller with a smaller foot print AEBS-like but then it won't be as unobtrusive as a HTPC, and all the collocation services (relatively big consumers of mini's) have to buy new racks.... (those are actually surprisingly expensive...). so what other shapes are left? circle? - no because then you have all kinds of ports coming from everywhere. Triangle - no you end up with loads of empty and de-facto unusable space. a hex - that's just silly.

could be a bit thinner but so what?

seriously though can anyone think of a shape that would be better for the purposes that the mini is designed for than the one it has now? (there is a our next poll)
I can't....

----------

to me, waiting for broadwel makes sense. no need to change manufacturing process (costs) for relatively minor update to system that is already (and still) performing rather well.... no?

I also think we're in for a wait until Broadwell before the refresh comes. However, with faster, I'm also thinking connectivity, (TB2, 802.11ac WiFi, USB 3.1, PCI-e flash), not just better CPUs and GPUs.

I'm also thinking we'll see a flatter profile, if not a smaller footprint.

And for something crazy, maybe an entry into using an A series processor to complement the Intel inside.

 

[iydkmigthtky]

so how do you make it smaller?

haha, you talk like it would be impossible. intel's NUC (which has already been updated with haswell...) shows how it's done - it features almost half the footprint of the mac mini: 11 x 11 cm (4 x 4 inch) + pretty much the same height.

now imagine something similar with OS X, sleek design & exceptional build quality. i'm certain apple can pull it off.

 

[Schnort]

The NUC doesn't have any 2.5" drive bays (it uses mSATA) unless you're talking about the newer one that is taller.