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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

Mago said:
Soldered ram it's only for low end models.
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The Mini is the low end Mac product. If low end products get soldered RAM then they will get BGA CPUs that only take soldered RAM.

could be achieved thru a Mac Pro like design without fan, and with ssd as only storage (allowing 2.5 hdd), a redesign comes, it's sure but maybe only the deletion of firewire for a 2nd Thunderbolt.
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The Mac Pro decided SSDs were "good enough" for all targeted users. It lost the capability to handle 2.5" drives. If Mini takes on same concept of only 'SSDs for everyone' then the 2.5" form factor for internal rotating devices will probably get tossed.

If it is a really a 'Mac nano' design they are after, then I suspect won't see a 2nd TB socket. The mini would start mimicking the MBA which is only a single TB socket.

A fanless , shrunk down , Core M based Mac Mini would re-purpose the name to a substantively new product like the Mac Pro was.

If not a 'Mac nano' design and Mini tracks the iMac (or rMBP) components then it probably won't be fanless . Dropping a fan completely isn't very efficient (in thermal transfer) or effective ( in size/weight ). Sure folks have done that in some products, but Apple doesn't necessarily adopt every dood-dad design trend of the general PC market.
 
haravikk said:
I'm not so sure I expect a major redesign now, as Haswell processors still run pretty hot, so it would make more sense for Apple to wait for Broadwell chips to become available.
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Broadwell based Core M will be available in the Fall. You're presuming that Apple is going to keep the CPU performance at the same equivalent level. If they decide that current levels are "good enough" they can transition to cheaper, lower TDP CPU package products.


However, an internal redesign might involve PCIe flash storage, in which case the current Minis would be better for RAID-0/RAID-1 setups (as you won't be able to have properly matched drives with PCIe + SATA).
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PCIe flash storage blows away any current HDD RAID-0 performance. Flash won't match HDDs on capacity, but anyone jumping through hoops for performance, just moving to Flash SSD does that.

RAID 1 probably isn't a huge market. For servers a revision of Mac Mini enclosures like the Sonnet xMac ( http://www.sonnettech.com/product/xmacminiserver.html ) can easily solve two 2.5" bays or two M.2 sockets.


Apple may even keep the current model around as a server model since the current processors are still perfectly good for that use-case and being able to fit two matching hard drives is far more important than better integrated graphics.
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If they re-purpose the name then probably not. The Mac Pro move they didn't keep a Mac Pro server for folks who wanted a server box with more internal storage capacity.

The 'classic' MBP 13" is still around. When it disappears there isn't going to much left to couple a 2012 Mini too. Especially one sold in relatively low volumes.
 
GabrieleR said:
Hi guys, this tweet from Macminicolo clearly shows that they know something we don't:



In the past they demonstrated to have some good sources inside Apple and they talk about "current gen minis" being better for some uses, which to me looks like the first confirmation that the new mini (which is almost certainly coming :eek:) will have a new form factor with little to none upgradability.
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Finally some Mac mini rumors!
 
deconstruct60 said:
The Mini is the low end Mac product. If low end products get soldered RAM then they will get BGA CPUs that only take soldered RAM.
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Sorry, but bga cpu don't imply only take soldered ram, actually almost all Mac line with the notorious exception of the iMac 27 and the Mac Pro all use bga soldered cpus.


deconstruct60 said:
The Mac Pro decided SSDs were "good enough" for all targeted users. It lost the capability to handle 2.5" drives. If Mini takes on same concept of only 'SSDs for everyone' then the 2.5" form factor for internal rotating devices will probably get tossed.
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Not necessarily, as the iMac the ssd maybe only one storage option on the menu.

A mac-Pro like cylinder for a mini could use the areas dedicated to the dGPU for 2.5/3.5" hdd slots leaving all the thermal core available for the cpu cooling.

deconstruct60 said:
If it is a really a 'Mac nano' design they are after, then I suspect won't see a 2nd TB socket. The mini would start mimicking the MBA which is only a single TB socket.
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While everything it's possible I don't think a Mac Nano will succeed the mini coz the Nano format requires external PSU, noisy fans (especially with iris pro, just peek at gigabyte brix Pro users for comments), plus restrictions to expansion ports.

deconstruct60 said:
A fanless , shrunk down , Core M based Mac Mini would re-purpose the name to a substantively new product like the Mac Pro was.
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Why? , still mini.

I own a Mac Pro 6,1 and I use it for what is supposed must be used: workstation, only difference is when I see the nMacPro and the old Mac Pro is space saving and Quieter device, same purposed devices, just some evolution.

deconstruct60 said:
If not a 'Mac nano' design and Mini tracks the iMac (or rMBP) components then it probably won't be fanless . Dropping a fan completely isn't very efficient (in thermal transfer) or effective ( in size/weight ). Sure folks have done that in some products, but Apple doesn't necessarily adopt every dood-dad design trend of the general PC market.
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FYI I build pc for professional flight simulation, of course I use pc hardware, I'm very familiar with fanless cpu coolers, and only thing I must with confidence is that you're absolutely wrong on passive cooling.

Actually am 120W passive cpu cooler it's something like 2x2x3" in size, with 25deg Celsius room temperature, cpu on heavy load don't rises over 80deg Celsius (sorry I'm not familiar with old Fahrenheit scale).

So a mac mini with 65w TDP cpu (as i7 with iris pro) could be cooled passively with an thermal core like design cooler much smaller than currently Mac Pro thermal core (active cooling) I speculate could be about 2/3 the size of a Mac Pro. Leaving room for 2 2.5 hdd where the dGPU are on the nMP, of course one of those 2 5 hdd could be replaced by an pcie ssd exactly as on the nMP.

Of course This is what I will do if I'm Johnny Ive, give all us an more powerful and absolutely quiet Mac Mini -pro.

Being realistic, I'm not surprised if the only change on the form factor is the removal of the firewire port replacing it with an 2nd Thunderbolt port. And internals upgraded to offer upto i7 + iris pro.

What would surprise me it's time see an dGPU on the next mini, thus will be an groundbreaking offering killing some iMac.
 
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apfelmann said:
Aaaahhhh, a very scary thought just struck me:

1) THERE WAS NO "Mac mini server MID 2014" on that boot camp support list!!!!
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As slow as the updates for OS X Server have come and coupled to the complaints about OS X Server trends, it may be an indicator more so of the dedicated OS X Server pre-installed SKU as opposed to anything changing.
Throw on top Apple punting "Enterprise services" issues toward IBM, there is general trend of Apple catering to the server/enterprise issues by outsourcing that to 3rd parties. The OS X Server as a pre-installed SKU with a "server" support queue and other non-mainstream services may be winding down.



2) this could mean APPLE will release a crappy crappy new super slim Mac mini with the same internals like the crappy crappy low end iMac.
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If they have adopted on a broader scale : Low cost == plateaued performance demands .... perhaps. Mac Mini as headless MBA would jump on track of using the high volume laptop for components for a mini. The rumored fanless, thinner. Retina Macbook ( probably MBA replacement ) would be were mini perhaps jumps on that bandwagon. Core M Mini probably could roll out easier than a Retina Macbook Air can (so sooner).


3) they will just keep selling the Mac mini server late 2012 for the server farms!!!!
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Probably not over long term. Probably going to be a punt to 3rd parties to come up with containers/kludges around the form factor trends they are following away from server market hardware.

Server farms where bulk storage is down outside the server CPU containing system box won't have huge adjustments to make. It was all DAS/NAS/SAN storage anyway.

IF they put Mini on same "$100-200" cheaper trend that the MBA has been on then may not get big hiccup from colocation server farm folks. Lower power but still good enough to run a modest web site isn't really a big negative. ( dense packing virtual hosts perhaps, but OS X isn't a major player there. )
 
chelch said:
2014 mac mini:
1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
Turbo Boost up to 2.7GHz
8GB memory
500GB hard drive
Intel HD Graphics 5000
Available to ship:
Within 24 hours
Free Shipping
$599.00


Tim Cook: "Why the hell do we still have a warehouse full of these 1.4GHz i5s? I thought we put them in the iMac to move them!"
Jony Ive: "Don't worry mate, I've got a solution!"
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what a nightmare!!!!
 
if there is no more space for even one 2,5" drive in the MID 2014 Mac mini I think we should see specs like these:

Mac mini 2014 i7 model:

same quad core i7 and iris pro as rMBP
256 GB PCI flash storage
8 GB RAM (soldered)
2 thunderbolt 2
4 USB
1 HDMI
no Ethernet

price: 799$

the only big problem: apple will charge 200$ for 16GB RAM upgrade

edit:
but I hope they spare the redesign for BROADWELL and just bump up the specs and keep old design for MID 2014
 
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So basically the macminicolo tweet ("old Minis will still be better for some uses") could mean my "hockey puck Mini alongside regular ones" theory was right :cool:

Then in 2-3 years the hockey puck Minis will become powerful enough to kill the regular ones, like the Airs and Retina did to the old MBPs (with the 2012 13" MBP being the lone survivor, its days numbered).

surroundfan said:
Provided the 2.5" SATA drive is replaced by a replaceable mSATA drive, this won't be an issue to me. Hopefully, Apple will take a leaf out of the NUC book and include a replaceable mSATA SSD, user-upgradeable SODIMMs a
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All the evidence points at this not happening though.

They went proprietary with the Airs, the rMBPs, the iMacs (as far as flash storage is concerned) and above all the Mac Pro, once the most flexible machine.

I guess they want to have some wiggle room to enhance the storage speed on a year-on-year basis. This year is PCIe 2.0 x4, next year a faster PCIe and so on, the sky is the limit. And sudden changes to the connector could be needed along the way. If they went standard at first and then drop it, there would be an uproar. They looked at the roadmap for SSDs in the next 5 years and went proprietary from the get go.

I recently bought a 1TB 2.5" ssd for (not literally) spare change. 2-3 years ago 1TB of good quality flash would have cost me like a used car. Storage is not what it used to be, it evolves at a CPU kinda pace. Guess it is expected for storage connectors to change as often as CPU sockets. Apple can't (or, won't) wait for the next big SATA leap or any other consortium to agree on a connector anymore. They just call their R&D department and ask for a new connector. Or that's how I see it, could be wrong.

To make everyone happy there should be a secondary standard connector for mSATA. Just like having both FW400 and USB 2.0 back in the day.
 
apfelmann said:
if there is no more space for even one 2,5" drive in the MID 2014 Mac mini I think we should see specs like these:

Mac mini 2014 i7 model:

same quad core i7 and iris pro as rMBP
256 GB PCI flash storage
8 GB RAM (soldered)
2 thunderbolt 2
4 USB
1 HDMI
no Ethernet

price: 799$

the only big problem: apple will charge 200$ for 16GB RAM upgrade

edit:
but I hope they spare the redesign for BROADWELL and just bump up the specs and keep old design for MID 2014
Click to expand...

No Ethernet would be the biggest mistake they could make. Almost as bad as Windows 8.

Get real. Keep Ethernet. Wireless SUCKS.
 
I want thunderbolt networking to become a thing.
Like, with a thunderbolt apple router and affordable optical cables. It would take a couple of years, if even, I'd guess.

Meanwhile, gigabit over thunderbolt is not bad. The adapter would be even less annoying on a desktop. I would forget about it. (provided there are at least 2 tb ports)

I don't think ethernet will go away from the apple-tv-sized Mini though. Apple TV itself has it.
 
giggles said:
I want thunderbolt networking to become a thing.
Like, with a thunderbolt apple router and affordable optical cables. It would take a couple of years, if even, I'd guess.

Meanwhile, gigabit over thunderbolt is not bad. The adapter would be even less annoying on a desktop. I would forget about it. (provided there are at least 2 tb ports)

I don't think ethernet will go away from the apple-tv-sized Mini though. Apple TV itself has it.
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It's named 10gb ethernet, already you can get an tb - > 10gb ethernet adapter, Thunderbolt isn't an networking connection, but a peripheral bridge, also networks requires switches, routers, transceivers a lot of stuff standardized to work together.

Apple possibly will introduce 10gb ethernet on the next Mac Pro update, maybe on 2015-2016. While basic gb ethernet will remain std on desktop at least for the next 3 yr, sure Apple eventually will replace it by another Thunderbolt port so you will need an tb/usb3 to GB ethernet adapter (as on rMBP).
 
giggles said:
I want thunderbolt networking to become a thing.
Like, with a thunderbolt apple router and affordable optical cables. It would take a couple of years, if even, I'd guess.

Meanwhile, gigabit over thunderbolt is not bad. The adapter would be even less annoying on a desktop. I would forget about it. (provided there are at least 2 tb ports)

I don't think ethernet will go away from the apple-tv-sized Mini though. Apple TV itself has it.
Click to expand...

Thunderbolt networking is a long way away even if it gets to be a thing. Thunderbolt copper cables cant be that long and optical Thunderbolt cables are really expensive but thats not really the fault of thunderbolt but optical cables are expensive everywhere you go. When you get 1m copper ethernet cable for a few cents is 1m optical cable multiple dollars.
 
I'd rather have a soldered RAM Mini than no refresh at all. I'll pay the premium for 8 or 16 ram upfront and "get over it (price)"

Definitely keep the Ethernet by the way, wifi is too unreliable.
 
It seems like Apple will have updated their entire Mac lineup until the end of August (MID 2014 Mac mini and iMac)

Then they have September, October and November to fully concentrate on presenting their shiny new amazing magical gadgets (iphone, ipad and iwatch)
 
apfelmann said:
It seems like Apple will have updated their entire Mac lineup until the end of August (MID 2014 Mac mini and iMac)

Then they have September, October and November to fully concentrate on presenting their shiny new amazing magical gadgets (iphone, ipad and iwatch)
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Yep, this 'pipeline' needs to start spitting out the products. Surely...

I liked it when Apple under promised and over delivered. Can't say they done that in quite some time.
 
How would you all feel about an August Mini (with old form factor) with the exact same specs and ports of the new low end iMac? I'm starting to think it's the most expectable scenario.

The GPU would be more powerful but how would the CPU compare to a 2.3Ghz quad core Ivy Bridge?
 
giggles said:
How would you all feel about an August Mini (with old form factor) with the exact same specs and ports of the new low end iMac? I'm starting to think it's the most expectable scenario.

The GPU would be more powerful but how would the CPU compare to a 2.3Ghz quad core Ivy Bridge?
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This would be a joke!
 
If they allowed to configure (or install later) 16gb of RAM I wouldn't be SUPER-disappointed...

Now if it's limited to 8gb like the imac, that would suck.
 
Hopefully this machine isn't a massive disappointment if/when it's released.

I'd really love a quad core CPU and Iris Pro graphics (well, I'd like more than that, but it's unlikely...)
If it's anything less, then I'd sooner just buy a Gigabyte Brix, or Intel Nuc.
 
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