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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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I'm in a similar position. One drive down, one to go. I've been waiting for the new one so I can refurbish the current one and repurpose it.
A.
People have been saying this since the first version came out nine years ago!
But the intended market is completely different. After all, you can buy 5 minis for the cost of the entry level Mac Pro! The mini was designed to make it easy for people to switch from a PC, as they could use their existing keyboard, mouse, and display, and at a price point below any other Mac offering. In the past 4 years they have also been targeted for home/small business servers and is now the only Apple server offering. They are also well designed for use as entertainment servers, and I expect Apple would prefer to sell these over ATVs.
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I just replace the drive (a quick task especially if you have a saved image) and forge ahead! Seems to be the only thing that fails. If you are using it as a server, there's hardly need for more power.
True, but Apple is also now pushing towards PCIe based Flash storage, and with increasingly power efficient processors (including Broadwell, which could be a reason for the delay) there's more and more reason to go smaller again as otherwise they're just leaving empty space in the current design, unless they can use it get a bigger fan in there maybe.
Actually the integrated graphics in Haswell are significantly better, particularly if Apple offers Iris Pro Mac Minis. It's a possible selling point, enough to make an announcement at least, which a redesign would certainly help with
To put into perspective; I currently have an early 2008 Mac Pro (2x Quad Core 3.2ghz Xeons, NVidia GeForce 8800GT graphics) and I'm planning to replace it. Now I'd love a new Mac Pro of course, but I don't really need much more power than I have right now for what I do. The current Mac Minis are actually better in most workloads when it comes to CPU speed, but in graphics they fall massively behind.
A Haswell update however should not only be equivalent to what I have (but much smaller/more efficient) but actually slightly faster, especially with the faster RAM, USB3, Thunderbolt etc.
I do agree that it could still go either way, it just seems like a simple spec-bump would have happened by now though. While I'd expect them to move some Mac Mini production/assembly to the US, if they were keeping the same design then they could have easily just waited till later and just produced the Minis as normal. Personally I'd actually be fine with Mac Minis remaining the same size, as I've recently mounted two on the back of monitors with VESA holes as it's dead easy (just drill holes in the Mini's plastic base, screw it onto the monitor and twist the Mini into place)
The operating system drive is still good.
the second drive contained a volume for a timemachine back for my macbook air, and an other volume for data, mainly torrents... I can always redownload stuff
The more cpu power would be good for my minecraft server...(the heat generated from this probably took out the second drive)
For one thing, the PC market is in decline,"switching people from PCs" is no longer a valid long-term strategy.
And for another thing, in those 9 years you mention, Apple has NEVER ever designed, targeted or wanted people to use the Mac Mini as entertainment servers or HTPCs - otherwise they would not have persistently crippled them in the ways they have (make it difficult to add HDD or SDD, not offer Blu-ray option, remove the DVD drive, refuse to make combined keyboard/touchpad, etc). One cannot pretend this fairly consistent pattern of behaviour away.
Apple by now certainly doesn't want to to use your own already-paid-for media and play it on a TV - rather they want to you rent it from them on itunes and "Airplay" it to your TV or receiver or bluetooth speaker. Mac mini has no role in that future either.
I don't think the Mac Mini will live on any further. But we shall find out shortly....
This is really good information and food for thought. It's true the Apple Mini was never marketed by Apple to be used as entertainment yet you tube is filled with videos how how the public is using it just for that reason. I'm thinking this could be true that apple may just discontinue the mini all together. I wonder if I should just buy now instead of waiting?
And the thing starts at $500 without RAM, HD, or OS.
Apple delivers an operational computer for roughly the same cost.
the 2012 apple quad is 800 which is my basis of comparison to the new gigabyte brix with the i7 4770r cpu
the brix is - 500
plus ram is - 100
windows 7 is 100
240gb msata is 200
900 for a machine that is louder, but much more powerful then a 2012 quad mac mini.
It is faster but that is a Haswell chip. If the Mini was updated to intel Core i7-4960HQ 2600 MHz (4 cores) which is in the 15rMBP it would be really close and a lot more quiet. If the Mini gets released with Broadwell with the high end mobil chip it will probably be as fast and much better iGPU than the Brix. Just speculation but could happen.
If Apple wanted to kill the mini because they don't like it being used as an HTPC, they likely would have done it long ago.
Given the choice of selling a $600 and up Mac mini or a $100 ATV, which makes the most sense for Apple?
Just give me something with 802.11AC and I will by 5 to update my HTPC head units.
only read reviews . but they all mention the sound issue. I am not looking to drop close to 1k to find out.
yeah, me neither. You would think companies would have learned by now. Silence is gold
The referb store here (in Singapore) rarely sees the mini come through online, until the last week - where we have been inundated. [Which, in the past has pointed to a new model about 4-6 weeks later.]
Probably means nothing, but I was reading in Macworld that they predicted a new model in February... [An odd time spot, but does coincide with above.]
Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but I am one of those waiting for a new one (having just sold my 4 ½ year old iMac for $1400).
Iris Pro please... Giddy up!
Probably means nothing, but I was reading in Macworld that they predicted a new model in February... [An odd time spot, but does coincide with above.]
Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but I am one of those waiting for a new one (having just sold my 4 ½ year old iMac for $1400
). Iris Pro please... Giddy up!
The referb store here (in Singapore) rarely sees the mini come through online, until the last week - where we have been inundated. [Which, in the past has pointed to a new model about 4-6 weeks later.]
Probably means nothing, but I was reading in Macworld that they predicted a new model in February... [An odd time spot, but does coincide with above.]
Doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but I am one of those waiting for a new one (having just sold my 4 ½ year old iMac for $1400
Iris Pro please... Giddy up!
well it would be nice if it has a good cpu.
FYI
If it did offer the high end 15rMBP Haswell chip notice where it falls in the benchmark test of MacWorld.
http://www.macworld.com/article/2082044/how-we-test-speedmark-9-mac-benchmarks.html
The only problem is that score is with the dedicated GPU and not the IrisPro.
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I am waiting to buy a new mini too. For me the winning combination ASAP would be :
- Haswell CPU
- Iris GPU
- USB 3.0
- 802.11ac (probably wont use it, but my actual mini is 10 cm from the Airport)
- same box (or possibility to still upgrade RAM and disk)
- Haswell CPU
- Iris GPU
- USB 3.0
- 802.11ac (probably wont use it, but my actual mini is 10 cm from the Airport)
- same box (or possibility to still upgrade RAM and disk)
I agree, but we already have USB 3.0 in the current mini
and I would add FW 800 to the list (for my audio interface)
New Mac Mini coming soon! Like, tomorrow!
Here the specs:
-8 core
-32 GB RAM
-2 GB vRAM
-free of charge.
Of any charge.
Feel free to quote on me when this happens.
Here the specs:
-8 core
-32 GB RAM
-2 GB vRAM
-free of charge.
Of any charge.
Feel free to quote on me when this happens.
Unless Intel is releasing a newer processor, I wouldn't expect it.
They might do a very silent upgrade to ac wifi in the first half of the year. I doubt they will arbitrarily upgrade this late. The best bet is a redesign around smaller die processors sometime in mid-summer or later. The modern mini design will have gone from 45nm down to 14nm die, which will probably facilitate some reduction in packaging and compression of other electronics.
They might do a very silent upgrade to ac wifi in the first half of the year. I doubt they will arbitrarily upgrade this late. The best bet is a redesign around smaller die processors sometime in mid-summer or later. The modern mini design will have gone from 45nm down to 14nm die, which will probably facilitate some reduction in packaging and compression of other electronics.