Of course you are wrong, but it doesn't matter. You are set to your own beliefs. I don't care, keep believing anything you want.
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Poll: When do you think the new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming?
- Thread starter ActionableMango
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I suspect it will be a mac mini / apple tv hybrid.
Since my 2011 and 2012 minis are still running fine, I don't really care.
Since my 2011 and 2012 minis are still running fine, I don't really care.
Nah, Apple has zero interest in providing general-purpose computing on television sets. They want to maximize ease-of-use, and so they'll keep the Apple TV simpler than even an iPod, so far as they can manage it. This also allows Apple to maintain far more control over the media available on the device.
I just don't see space for the mini in Apple's current lineup. Their future is the integrated device: the iPhone, the iPad, the iMac, the watch. The Apple TV is probably the only device they will sell in the future that isn't a self-contained all-in-one box.
"Since my 2011 and 2012 minis are still running fine, I don't really care"
Yeah, mine run fine too....but would be nice to see the mini continue. Great concept and great machine.
Yeah, mine run fine too....but would be nice to see the mini continue. Great concept and great machine.
Mac Mini, next year. I like the idea of the base or prosumer version of the Mac Pro (perhaps only upgradable RAM, the rest soldered.) More cha-ching, but hopefully a true heir to the 2012 Mini.
Mine is running extremely well, but it'd be nice to have an updated CPU/GPU with hardware encode/decode for HEVC.
How about an "ultra-low-end" Mac mirroring Chromebook functionality, form-factor like an TV? Imagine a $149 Mac that could be a stocking-stuffer on Christmas morning. Runs on an A8 -level CPU, 4GB RAM, 64GB flash storage, Siri, WiFi, BT, USB-C, HDMI. BYO keyboard, mouse, monitor. Or use an iPad/iPhone/iPod Touch as input device. Target parents buying for their children and build-in internet safety filters, etc. Kids today want to stream everything, not save it. But it's a full Mac so they can plug-in external storage if they need to. Every kid will want one -- initiating a very profitable upgrade path to iMac's & MacBook Pro's down the road.
I'm willing to bet that Apple is not the slightest bit interested in that market. Their market is to people willing to pay a premium for hardware that runs the MacOS or iOS.
I would love a return of the Mac Mini. I have gone from wanting new MBP to new iMac to finally coming to the realization that I just feel ripped off paying an extra $1000+ for a monitor.
I am a programmer and any display is fine for me. I sit at a desk often with a dock so I plug in my current MBP to $150 monitors and have no issues or want for better display at all. Retina display for nothing (though it is beautiful when I am using my MBP on the go, its pointless 90% of the time - and I'd be fine with almost any display.
There is a huge market for graphic / video professionals, and even just people that do appreciate and need these big crisp displays and would pay $500+ for nicer monitors. Nothing wrong with that - but not everyone needs it.
From a financial standpoint though, its pointless for Apple to release any computer (ie not Apple TV) without the display. Its literally free money for them - sometimes thousands of dollars in the case of these monitors. Yes they will lose some customers but I'm sure there is a balance in the new customers they are getting through other means. Most of us who want it will eventually just buy what Apple gives us.
Hopefully I'm totally wrong. Would love to buy a fully loaded mini (not the joke they have now of course lol dual core) - not paying for a display means I could go to town on the rest.
I am a programmer and any display is fine for me. I sit at a desk often with a dock so I plug in my current MBP to $150 monitors and have no issues or want for better display at all. Retina display for nothing (though it is beautiful when I am using my MBP on the go, its pointless 90% of the time - and I'd be fine with almost any display.
There is a huge market for graphic / video professionals, and even just people that do appreciate and need these big crisp displays and would pay $500+ for nicer monitors. Nothing wrong with that - but not everyone needs it.
From a financial standpoint though, its pointless for Apple to release any computer (ie not Apple TV) without the display. Its literally free money for them - sometimes thousands of dollars in the case of these monitors. Yes they will lose some customers but I'm sure there is a balance in the new customers they are getting through other means. Most of us who want it will eventually just buy what Apple gives us.
Hopefully I'm totally wrong. Would love to buy a fully loaded mini (not the joke they have now of course lol dual core) - not paying for a display means I could go to town on the rest.
I hope not. "Ultra-low-end" is very far outside of Apple's strategy and would harm the brand.
I disagree wholeheartedly. For a long time, OS X was the best operating system available. Full stop. Apple decided to cash in on this fact, forcing consumers to purchase extremely expensive hardware in order to access this software.
But this naturally limits the use of Macs to where high-end hardware is appropriate. There are other uses -- office computing, file / web / mail serving, school use, etc., where low-end hardware works just fine. OS X would be a great option for these tasks as well, but Apple has placed itself out of those markets. (Oddly enough, Apple has also failed to provide hardware suitable for high-end gaming, placing itself outside of that lucrative market as well.)
The way that Apple is restricting OS X from being used outside of a few specific niche purposes is doing far more harm to the brand. As Windows and Linux continue to grow and fill more and more tasks of modern life (and attracting the applications needed to perform these tasks), OS X is atrophying, becoming less and less of a general-purpose OS. Which is sad, given just how powerful it really is...
Apple cares about margins. Low end, low cost hardware hurts margins. That’s why memory and disk upgrades are so expensive, just like options on a car. Want the leather ventilated massaging seats? $2500. Real cost probably $500.
If Apple really cared about volume over margins they would license OSX and let others build commodity hardware instead of having a mostly closed system.
If Apple really cared about volume over margins they would license OSX and let others build commodity hardware instead of having a mostly closed system.
You're absolutely right of course, but there's a bigger picture here. I don't have the stats in front of me, but I'm betting that Apple is already one of the dominant players in the $1,000+ home desktop market and the $2,000+ laptop market. Sure you'll always get some kid blowing $3,000 on a gaming PC but by and large the Dells that sell the most cost $399-$799. This is both good and bad for Apple. It's good because their profit margins are consistently at the top of the pack, and Apple Stores are record-setters for dollar-sales-per-square-foot in every mall they're in. But it's bad because a lot of potential buyers won't even consider a Mac because they have preconceived notions that they can't afford one. The current entry-level Mac mini price point is roughly on par with the most popular Dell's ($599). My thoughts re: extremely low-end $149 Mac mini (micro?) is to blow past even the cheapest Dell's & Lenovo's with a "real" Mac that will do everything that a high school student needs to do. Sure the profit margin on it would be close to zero, but it would decimate the competition and get people used to OS X vs. Windows 10. And chances are their next computer will be a mid-line Mac with a much greater profit margin. It's like a corner store selling milk at a loss so they can sell more bread at a higher profit margin. Get the kids used to Macs and they'll never want anything else again -- even if the Dell costs half as much.
Such a micro (in price) system would also cannibalize on the sale of other Apple products with much higher profit margin. People who would otherwise buy a "cheap" ipad or apple notebook or a mac mini or a low end imac, would stay content with the "micro". People who don't know enough about computers would either be completely satisfied with the "micro" or be so disappointed with its performance that they wouldn't want to touch another Apple system. People who know enough, wouldn't buy one, unless they were youtubers or something.
Either way, it would hurt sales of their other systems and that would be suicidal.
Would like to see something similar to the hp z2 mini. Which has a desktop processor, and up to 32gb of ram, along with access to the internals. Doubt apple would do something like that, but HP does have the right idea.
Apple needs to offer RAID/Dual SSD in the mini as an option. Why are they so damn chintzy on the hard drive space?!?!?!? I had to spend two days getting an extra ssd into my mini because it's such a non-user-friendly format, Apple mentality cluster. My Intel NUC? I can pop that thing open and have anything done in under 10 minutes.
If Apple doesn't release one this year, then I think it is game over. I have been relatively confident that this is not the end of the line, though. If Apple were only concerned with high margins and protecting more expensive segments of their product line, they would have never come out with a $329 iPad (which can be found for $250 - $275) at times.
The Mac Mini is a fantastic product, that fills so many niches that I just cannot believe it will be killed off yet. I also still believe that Apple really cares about its computer line (but are just too fat and lazy to do anything about it), so what do I know??
The Mac Mini is a fantastic product, that fills so many niches that I just cannot believe it will be killed off yet. I also still believe that Apple really cares about its computer line (but are just too fat and lazy to do anything about it), so what do I know??
“Silly person, buyers are too stupid to make such changes” - says every Apple apologist.
When in reality, it’s really Apple’s new target customer - too stupid to ask such questions and demand such specifications in their computers
Did he?
He did suggest that the Mini has a place in the Mac line-up, but gave no indication of just when. Some time in 2018 would seem likely, but it is not a sure thing.
Honestly think 2017 was the last chance saloon for an update, letting the machine go that long without anything including price/ configuration adjustments seems off for a product with a future. Maybe 2018 will bring a surprise, but chances are slim and getting ever more remote now.
It's looking bad for 2018.
- We're halfway through the year.
- No "hang in there it's coming" type announcements like the iMac Pro and modular Mac Pro had.
- No rumors in the supply chain.
- No "leaks" to friendly Apple bloggers.
- WWDC has come and gone.
- No mention in Kuo's big Apple memo yesterday.
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