Something between the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro

[philipma1957]

The main problem is most of us are Chevrolet class customers wanting to buy BMW class vehicles (er, computers).

no apple is just a !#@$$ company practicing a monopoly like game with it's os.

lenovo m700 tiny can run the i7 6700t cpu 2 sticks of 16gb ram for 32 gb ram. along with a 2tb samsung ssd and a 1tb m2 ssd . and it is the same size as a mac mini . apple has basically gotten so bad with the desktop it is truly sad. it is restricted to run the apple os.

yet a garbage mac mini 2014 can run windows 7 windows 8 or windows 10 .

I rather run apple os but I run windows 7 windows 10 apple os and lastly linux all because I can not get an apple pc the fits my needs. I do have 3 mac minis

 

[mrxak]

The nMP already is something between the mac mini and the Mac Pro.

 

[DualShock]

Ah another "xMac" thread . People have been wanting one of these for years! (Me included.)

 

[Merode]

The main problem with most Macs are really, really weak GPUs.

I miss the times when Jobs and Schiller were comparing Macs to PCs performance-wise on stage. Nowadays they can't because most of even cheapest PCs would outright win any GPU-oriented test.

My cheap PC GPU (about 150$) is more powerfult than most Mac GPUs. If I want to sell my PC and get a Mac with equivalent GPU I'd heave to get 5k iMac and not even the base one. I already have expansive displays, mouse and keyboard. I would prefer a tower or NUC. Apple has nothing to offer in that regard.

Apple used to produce and sell powerful computers. Now only name remains ('Pro').

 

[grad]

Apple should just stop pretending that it is "THE American company" when it sells/or tries to sell more machines to the rest of the world. Only the minority really cares if something is manufactured in California. Keep the build quality of the c(ylindical)MP and make it cheaper. Do it in China, in India, in Vietnam if you must. Rename and reintroduce this product and bring back the o(riginal)MP. Also, make MacMini a first citizen again. The more options the better.

1) Old/tower-style MacPro, for the "professional" youtuber, the video editor, or the poor scientist/researcher who can't afford a stack of machines running in parallel. Just reuse the old case, include the PCIe slots for GPUs but modernise it with Thunderbolt ports, USB3. Put dual V4 Xeons that can be replaced/upgraded, either by users or at Apple. 8+ slots of DDR4. The usual HD storage space for those that still prefer an internal RAID option and mechanical drives.

2) Cylindrical MacPro (rename it, MacPro Mini wouldn't sound good), for the sound engineer who wants both CPU/GPU power and silence, the DTP/GFX/Web designer who needs a multi-monitor setup without having an iMac standing on his way, the researcher who changes countries/cities every 1-2 years and wants a luggable workstation, the programmer who hates working with tiny laptop screens and keyboards. One GPU instead of two, give a build-to-order option for either AMD or NVidia. Go with i7 instead of Xeon, focus on GHz rather than cores, use ordinary RAM instead of ECC/Registered. Keep the great small case and the silent cooling solution, the Thunderbolt and USB slots (take them to latest versions).

3) MacMini for the people who want something smaller and/or cheaper but still hate being forced into an integrated screen, those who 'd like to have a more powerful and flexible HTPC than an AppleTV under their TV, those who would also want to run both Plex server and client in one device, run Roon/Squeezebox/etc services, maybe also Apache/MySQL/anything as well. Make the RAM user-upgradeable again. Besides the i5/i7s, bring a cheaper, low-end, ARM-based, fanless option as well.

 

[shaunp]

Except that a lot of people have their own computer workstation setups with their own monitors, speaker systems, etc.

Here is an example of such a setup:

Why not?

It could be priced the same as an iMac.

Instead of a display and speakers, Apple could fit it with dual Radeon graphics.

Basically an iMac with no display nor speakers, but with dual Radeon graphics.

It would still sit well below the current $2999 Mac Pro since it won't have Intel Xeon processor, ECC memory, nor dual FirePro graphics and would have less memory.

I think you misunderstand me. I would love for Apple to make such a product and while it makes perfect sense to us (i.e. the people who want to buy this kit) it doesn't fit in with what the Apple design team want to make. they want us all to own appliances with no moving parts, not computers.

Apple would keep brand loyalty by making in addition to the iMac.

Mini (quad core, with easy access to 2 x 2.5" drives) as the starting point,
Mac (a similar form factor to the nMP, but forget calling it the mini pro, just call it the Mac and have done with it, ). Haswell E CPU (upto 10 cores), high-end consumer GPU, upto 128GB RAM (X99 chipset), 2 x PCI-e SSD, and loads of TB3 ports.
Mac Pro. Larger case, dual xeon, upto 2TB RAM (like Z840, etc), 10 internal drive bays, loads of TB3 ports, 2 x 10GB Ethernet, support for upto 4 GPU's

The margins in these may not be as big as other products but they keep us within the ecosystem. i.e. the people who influence our friends and family to buy iPads, etc, influence our bosses to buy Apple rather than Windows PC's even through the same apps run faster on the PC. Once Apple is no longer 'cool with the kids' and the next big thing comes along (and they miss it, which they will) they will need to rely on their traditional market somewhat, which they are currently alienating at an alarming rate.

 

[rctlr]

My MacMini 2012 i5 is my main workstation, and when Im not working, my Home Theatre machine.
Its on all the time (very small power footprint), doing things over night whilst I sleep, ready for another daily grind.
I do not consider it an inferior machine, and as this is my third, I would certainly be considering another for my needs when this one has gone past it's usefulness (which I cannot see happening for at least another two years).
I've had two monitors fail during it's tenure, I certainly would have wept if I had a iMac.

 

[BlandUsername]

They do, it's called an iMac.

With a monitor that I don't want. I run my mini's to very large TV's to server as 1 stop everything. Workstation, data hub, entertainment.

 

[dandeco]

My 2012 Mac Mini is almost like a "regular" 15" MacBook Pro, except it only has Intel HD 4000 graphics (1.5 GB of memory being used.) It's got a 2.3 GHz Core i7 quad-core processor, and the RAM maxed out to 16 GB. It's really fast and powerful, and it's actually really good at video editing on Final Cut Pro X and running a VMWare Fusion virtual machine. Sure, it can't compare to the Mac Pro, but it's a great lower-end Mac. I'm considering replacing the internal 1 TB 5400-RPM hard drive with a similarly-sized solid state drive, as I think that should boost performance even more.

 

[Boyd01]

Wish I could get one of those today, but the prices for used machines don't seem reasonable and IMO there's zero chance Apple will take the mini there again.

 

[Cape Dave]

Apple should just stop pretending that it is "THE American company" when it sells/or tries to sell more machines to the rest of the world. Only the minority really cares if something is manufactured in California. Keep the build quality of the c(ylindical)MP and make it cheaper. Do it in China, in India, in Vietnam if you must. Rename and reintroduce this product and bring back the o(riginal)MP. Also, make MacMini a first citizen again. The more options the better.

1) Old/tower-style MacPro, for the "professional" youtuber, the video editor, or the poor scientist/researcher who can't afford a stack of machines running in parallel. Just reuse the old case, include the PCIe slots for GPUs but modernise it with Thunderbolt ports, USB3. Put dual V4 Xeons that can be replaced/upgraded, either by users or at Apple. 8+ slots of DDR4. The usual HD storage space for those that still prefer an internal RAID option and mechanical drives.

2) Cylindrical MacPro (rename it, MacPro Mini wouldn't sound good), for the sound engineer who wants both CPU/GPU power and silence, the DTP/GFX/Web designer who needs a multi-monitor setup without having an iMac standing on his way, the researcher who changes countries/cities every 1-2 years and wants a luggable workstation, the programmer who hates working with tiny laptop screens and keyboards. One GPU instead of two, give a build-to-order option for either AMD or NVidia. Go with i7 instead of Xeon, focus on GHz rather than cores, use ordinary RAM instead of ECC/Registered. Keep the great small case and the silent cooling solution, the Thunderbolt and USB slots (take them to latest versions).

3) MacMini for the people who want something smaller and/or cheaper but still hate being forced into an integrated screen, those who 'd like to have a more powerful and flexible HTPC than an AppleTV under their TV, those who would also want to run both Plex server and client in one device, run Roon/Squeezebox/etc services, maybe also Apache/MySQL/anything as well. Make the RAM user-upgradeable again. Besides the i5/i7s, bring a cheaper, low-end, ARM-based, fanless option as well.

Well said. You are a true genius. Apple really should be able to figure out stuff like this. Tomorrow is almost certainly coming

 

[LorenK]

I have zero need for an iMac I use my pc's with 46 to 60 inch tv screens.

That's funny, I use a 55" vizio lcd for my macmini and a 60" pioneer plasma for my 2008 mac pro.
[doublepost=1477515437][/doublepost]

Apple should just stop pretending that it is "THE American company" when it sells/or tries to sell more machines to the rest of the world. Only the minority really cares if something is manufactured in California. Keep the build quality of the c(ylindical)MP and make it cheaper. Do it in China, in India, in Vietnam if you must. Rename and reintroduce this product and bring back the o(riginal)MP. Also, make MacMini a first citizen again. The more options the better. . . .

From your lips to Apple's ears.

 

[psound]

Why doesn't Apple have something between the Mac Mini and the Mac Pro?

Mac Mini is basically an NUC with internals of a MacBook Pro 13"

Mac Pro is a workstation class PC with Intel Xeon processor, ECC memory, FirePro graphics. (It's also terribly priced for it's age.)

I am sure that many would want something in between with desktop class processors, Radeon graphics, etc.

Because they're greedy, complacent a$$holes who couldn't give a damn about the customers who've spent a small fortune, championing their products for decades, through the era when people would laugh in your face if you said you had an Apple computer at home.

When the quad i7 mini and MBP bite the dust, the next computers I own will be Hackintosh and I can't wait to sit there with a smug look on my face knowing Apple didn't receive a penny more.