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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

iMacFarlane said:
Your reply got me curious, so I plugged in the closest parts I could think of into pcpartpicker.com's builder, and the mini, built using mail order retail parts, would cost $324.71. Dang. At $599, that's quite a hefty markup for a pretty silver case and a fruity logo. They need to update this thing with a quickness to restore the value!
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yeah but what os cost did you use?
 
I think at this point it's pretty clear a haswell refresh isn't coming. I'd bet they were planning on a major overhaul with a broadwell processor but Intel delays have continued to push that back. As we all know, the mini is low on the totem pole, so doing a mid cycle refresh like they did with the other computers just wasn't in the cards.
 
Vanilla Face said:
I think at this point it's pretty clear a haswell refresh isn't coming. I'd bet they were planning on a major overhaul with a broadwell processor but Intel delays have continued to push that back. As we all know, the mini is low on the totem pole, so doing a mid cycle refresh like they did with the other computers just wasn't in the cards.
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This... And has anyone jumping up and down for a Haswell refresh actually looked at any benchmarks? There's virtually no real-world performance gains to be had. Haswell is all about battery life, and we all know how important that is to the Mini. Even if Apple did refresh the Mini with Haswell most knowledgable people would skip it anyway... Because it offers little added performance.
 
iMacFarlane said:
I plugged in the closest parts I could think of into pcpartpicker.com's builder, and the mini, built using mail order retail parts, would cost $324.71. Dang. At $599, that's quite a hefty markup for a pretty silver case and a fruity logo. They need to update this thing with a quickness to restore the value!
Click to expand...
How much did you calculate for your time to
  • research the parts that properly play together
  • find the best price
  • order them online
  • assemble the whole package
  • install the OS
  • test the finished system
and the time risk in case something is broken (immediately or later), requiring root cause identification and dealing with the vendor about warranty issues?

And the points mentioned above don't even consider the (to be evaluated) time gap between a DIY tinkering project vs a machine that runs ootb...
 
VirtualRain said:
There's virtually no real-world performance gains to be had. Haswell is all about battery life, and we all know how important that is to the Mini. Even if Apple did refresh the Mini with Haswell most knowledgable people would skip it anyway... Because it offers little added performance.
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Actually Haswell would (have) also come with Iris (Pro), which makes a significant difference performance-wise, compared to HD4000.

The improved battery life would also mean less heat, which means that Haswell would (have) offer(ed) more thermal headroom for e.g. higher (sustained) CPU turbo or better graphics (e.g. Iris Pro vs. "normal" Iris) - or simply less noise from cooling under load.

Therefore I doubt that "most knowledgeable people would skip it anyway"...
 
Neodym said:
Actually Haswell would (have) also come with Iris (Pro), which makes a significant difference performance-wise, compared to HD4000.

The improved battery life would also mean less heat, which means that Haswell would (have) offer(ed) more thermal headroom for e.g. higher (sustained) CPU turbo or better graphics (e.g. Iris Pro vs. "normal" Iris) - or simply less noise from cooling under load.

Therefore I doubt that "most knowledgeable people would skip it anyway"...
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I agree. Add the CPU boost where 2Ghz Haswell = 2.3Ghz Ivy Bridge, Thunderbolt 2 vs Thunderbolt and the possibility of even more power efficiency and no, it's not a pointless upgrade. It's a faster system for the current price making it even more the most CPU power for the least outlay of the entire Mac range than the current one already is.

It always makes me laugh when PC geeks build "Mac Killer" systems on Youtube and it's always the same tedious setup:

Start with a 850 watt power supply
add 5 fans and/or liquid cooling
K series i7 CPU
Loads of internal neon and a transparent case because shiny, flashy things please simple minds

Takes up 10 x the room of an i7 Mac Mini, offers 20% or so more CPU power for 10 x the power requirements and the GPU might be better but nobody buys any kind of integrated GPU system for gaming or high end graphics anyway :)
 
For 600 $ its a good buy but for eu and other countries (cyprus in my case) 800-1000 € makes it expensive.
 
Difference between mobile and desktop haswell

Nobody ever mentions that there is a difference between the mobile and desktop class haswell CPUs.

The desktop CPU version does have performance enhancements of a notable amount over Ivy Bridge. The mobile CPU does not and is mostly a gain in the energy efficiently dept (as it is mostly used in devices with batteries).

iMacs use desktop CPUs. Mac Mini's use mobile CPUs. This is why the iMacs were upgraded to haswell, because they could actually take advantage of the performance improvements.

Minis upgraded to haswell will make almost no performance gains barring minor graphics improvements.

They were banking on holding out for broadwell for the mini, but intel screwed them with the delays.
 
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cypriot said:
For 600 $ its a good buy but for eu and other countries (cyprus in my case) 800-1000 € makes it expensive.
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Can't speak for the whole EU, but at least in Germany the mini starts around 600ish €. Delivery to Cyprus should be possible as well (depending on the vendor).

Part of the higher price compared to dollar prices are the included VAT and prolonged warranty (as demanded by law) compared to e.g. US offers.

mattofsmeg said:
Minis upgraded to haswell will make almost no performance gains barring minor graphics improvements.
Click to expand...

Graphics unfortunately is exactly where the current mini is lacking the most. The Iris Pro is said to even compete with a GT650m in some areas, so I would not call that only a "minor improvement"...
 
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Neodym said:
Actually Haswell would (have) also come with Iris (Pro), which makes a significant difference performance-wise, compared to HD4000.

The improved battery life would also mean less heat, which means that Haswell would (have) offer(ed) more thermal headroom for e.g. higher (sustained) CPU turbo or better graphics (e.g. Iris Pro vs. "normal" Iris) - or simply less noise from cooling under load.

Therefore I doubt that "most knowledgeable people would skip it anyway"...
Click to expand...

Most knowledgeable people would skip it, unless they had a need for the benefits suggested would accrue…… which would amount to not many, at a guess.

Geeks after bragging rights might also find a Haswell Mini an attractive proposition for the the kudos it would inspire among the similarly minded….. again probably relatively few.

I reckon that most regular folks, erudite or otherwise, replace their Mac Mini when it is more cost effective than upgrading or repairing the one they have.
 
Neodym said:
Can't speak for the whole EU, but at least in Germany the mini starts around 600ish €. Delivery to Cyprus should be possible as well (depending on the vendor).

Part of the higher price compared to dollar prices are the included VAT and prolonged warranty (as demanded by law) compared to e.g. US offers.
Click to expand...

Here in Mexico the lowest priced mac mini is 9999. pesos or 770.00 us and everywhere like sams club and the others all sell at the apple mexico prices. A much bigger difference than the 16% iva and apple mexico is actually the us, it's shipped from there. Hard to justify 2 year old equipment at that price, I really hope an update is coming.
 
barkmonster said:
It always makes me laugh when PC geeks build "Mac Killer" systems on Youtube and it's always the same tedious setup:

Start with a 850 watt power supply
add 5 fans and/or liquid cooling
K series i7 CPU
Loads of internal neon and a transparent case because shiny, flashy things please simple minds
Click to expand...

I get what you'e saying, but you'r missing the point. The mindset is the same as people who add huge exhaust tubes, wide tires, neon, performance seats etc to their machines.

The aesthetic choice of these "PC Geeks" is just as valid as yours. Enjoy your minimalist lines on your mac mini and let them enjoy their huge, loud and neon monster. What you can't get around is for price of a mid-range mac, these monsters are "mac-killers" in performance.
 
I am done waiting.
Just ordered a Refurbished Mac mini to replace mt 2009 server. All I really needed is thunderbolt and USB3, got it and I can't be happier.
 
mattofsmeg said:
Nobody ever mentions that there is a difference between the mobile and desktop class haswell CPUs.

The desktop CPU version does have performance enhancements of a notable amount over Ivy Bridge. The mobile CPU does not and is mostly a gain in the energy efficiently dept (as it is mostly used in devices with batteries).

iMacs use desktop CPUs. Mac Mini's use mobile CPUs. This is why the iMacs were upgraded to haswell, because they could actually take advantage of the performance improvements.

Minis upgraded to haswell will make almost no performance gains barring minor graphics improvements.

They were banking on holding out for broadwell for the mini, but intel screwed them with the delays.
Click to expand...

Yes, exactly.

And even the desktop Haswells are a disappointment...
http://www.anandtech.com/show/8426/...review-core-i7-5960x-i7-5930k-i7-5820k-tested

And if GPU performance is critical to your work, then even the 5000 isn't much to work with... You probably need a real discrete GPU (or two) which is iMac (or Mac Pro) territory.
 
englishman said:
So far behind now will try to sell mine and go the dark side
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I have a 2004-era PowerBook that doesn't do anything newer than Leopard, but it runs my old copy of Office, Photoshop, Quicken ... runs them slowly, mind you, but runs them fine. I use it as a second machine in the bindery for notes and whatnot, so it's not as useful as it once was but it doesn't cause me any headaches either.

I have a 2009 win doze machine from 2010 - bought because I didn't to pay the premium for apple ware and thought maybe the dark side had lightened up. This machine will be scrap as soon as I confirm all the data is off it. Crashes, periodically picks up strange internet bugs which are the devil to excise. I can probably fix some of the problems by reinstalling the OS and all the apps, and then downloading all the updates, but I'm tired of fighting a never ending battle.

New PCs do seem faster, and that's tempting, but will you regret it in the long run? I voted with my own dollars: bought a end-of-run mini i7 with upgrades that for the same money I would have had a very nice powerful PC. Fool me twice, don't get fooled again.
 
Oracle1729 said:
I get what you'e saying, but you'r missing the point. The mindset is the same as people who add huge exhaust tubes, wide tires, neon, performance seats etc to their machines.

The aesthetic choice of these "PC Geeks" is just as valid as yours. Enjoy your minimalist lines on your mac mini and let them enjoy their huge, loud and neon monster. What you can't get around is for price of a mid-range mac, these monsters are "mac-killers" in performance.
Click to expand...

I love my iPhone, iPad, and mid-2011 Macbook pro. I also love my garish neon mid-tower with water-cooled devils canyon i7 and dual gtx 770's for gaming only. Why not have it all? I would go all-Mac if Apple ever makes a great non-AIO gaming macine.
 
cypriot said:
For 600 $ its a good buy but for eu and other countries (cyprus in my case) 800-1000 € makes it expensive.
Click to expand...

It may have been a good buy when first released, but today? absolutely not. A pretty box and OS X is not worth that sort of money. I would much prefer to run current hardware and have a NUC with Windows 8.1. I like my mid-2011 iMac but I wouldn't pay full price if I was offered it today.

All this it must be OS X not crappy Windows rubbish is for the playground. No right thinking adult would make such a childish argument. I go for what works for me not all this peer pressure nonsense.
 
I got tired of the endless wait so I gave up on the mini and blew it all (and then some!) on a retina MBP. Take that Apple! :eek:
 
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