The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

[Moonjumper]

I like the idea of a low-power, lower cost Mini, as long as it is an addition to the range, rather than replacement. I know a few people who would like a Mac, but the cost is too high, partly because they would be buying more performance than they needed.

 

[Rodster]

I like the idea of a low-power, lower cost Mini, as long as it is an addition to the range, rather than replacement. I know a few people who would like a Mac, but the cost is too high, partly because they would be buying more performance than they needed.

True, my 2012 stock i5 Mini has no problems running Mavericks and it will probably run Yosemite just as well. But boy would I love a Mini powerful enough to run some decent games.

 

[Micky Do]

I like the idea of a low-power, lower cost Mini, as long as it is an addition to the range, rather than replacement. I know a few people who would like a Mac, but the cost is too high, partly because they would be buying more performance than they needed.

Good to see this point of view to counter the geeky desire for more grunt than is actually needed by most. The current Mini is relatively cheap for what you get. Despite the whinging that it s hardware is not cutting edge, it is good for all current and and anticipated software.

The current Mini is at least 25% cheaper than what the original Mini cost me nearly ten years ago, which came with 256 MB of RAM and a 20 GB HDD. An extra fee was required to licence the preinstalled Microsoft Office.

It is 15% cheaper than the 2009 Mini I am using now, which came with 1 GB of RAM and a 120 GB HDD. I still had to pay extra for iWork, as well as for Snow Leopard and Mountain Lion upgrades.

I don't know how the price of the current Mini compares with current PC offerings, but I do know the Mini now comes with iWork loaded ready to use and OS upgrades, at no extra cost.

Plug it in and you are good to go. The current Mini seems good value to me.

True, my 2012 stock i5 Mini has no problems running Mavericks and it will probably run Yosemite just as well. But boy would I love a Mini powerful enough to run some decent games.

The Mini can run games, from what I hear, but a "gaming Mini" would be way more computer than most folks need…… but still less than what hard core gamers desire.

 

[Micky Do]

72 posts and a couple of days to go……

The thread may just miss out on reaching the next thousand by the end of this month…..

And the antsy among ye may just miss out on the next Mac Mini by the end of this year.

 

[philipma1957]

72 posts and a couple of days to go……

The thread may just miss out on reaching the next thousand by the end of this month…..

And the antsy among ye may just miss out on the next Mac Mini by the end of this year.

I will do my best to add one more to this. I have 167 in amazon gift cards. I have a 100 best buy gift card. So whomever has a new mini first will see my money.

 

[DesertSurfer]

I have been enjoying the recent speculations about mac mini possibilities. I would love to see an expanded line, with lower end and higher end options. I do think there is a redesign in the works. If that is not so, then goodbye mini. Persoanlly, I like the idea of an expanded mini line, with less expensive and smaller options and more high end options. I have no idea what will happen in fact, but I really look forward to finding out. It seems we may have a much better line on what the people who run Apple intend when we see the end result.

 

[fredshino]

I'm currently using my 2013 MBA in clamshell mode with a 24" 1920x1200 monitor as my work computer (I work from home) and I'm seriously thinking about buying a bigger 4k monitor for more screen estate.

The problem is I can't drive a 4k monitor with a MBA so I'd love to have a new mini with TB2 and a decent dedicated GPU to drive a 4k monitor, even though that seems unlikely...

The new Mac Pro is overkill and too expensive. The other option would be a 15" MBP which also for clamsheel mode would be a waste of money...

Do I have another option? Maybe going back to Windows?

 

[Balckoutgr]

I'm currently using my 2013 MBA in clamshell mode with a 24" 1920x1200 monitor as my work computer (I work from home) and I'm seriously thinking about buying a bigger 4k monitor for more screen estate.

The problem is I can't drive a 4k monitor with a MBA so I'd love to have a new mini with TB2 and a decent dedicated GPU to drive a 4k monitor, even though that seems unlikely...

The new Mac Pro is overkill and too expensive. The other option would be a 15" MBP which also for clamsheel mode would be a waste of money...

Do I have another option? Maybe going back to Windows?

I have a similar question .


I already have a 4K monitor (samsung u28d590) and i want to go Mac , what are my options if i don't want to spend a fortune to an overkill mac pro?

 

[Matintosh]

Hi, I've just come back from EGX in London and I'm afraid I now 'need' to be able to run Elite Dangerous with an Oculus Rift.
I don't want to buy Windows, I don't want an iMac and I can't justify a MacPro.

Apple, can you help? Here, look, I've got money.

 

[Jambalaya]

I will do my best to add one more to this. I have 167 in amazon gift cards. I have a 100 best buy gift card. So whomever has a new mini first will see my money.

If it's a gift card is it really your money ? Discuss.

That should add on a few more posts

----------

This new Mini rumour really has me confused, I don't know what I'd do if we get a Haswell style refresh and if some of the other ideas turn out to be true it's unclear whether they would be the right machine for me. I have to admit I am going to just have to wait and see.

 

[Micky Do]

I will do my best to add one more to this. I have 167 in amazon gift cards. I have a 100 best buy gift card. So whomever has a new mini first will see my money.

If it's a gift card is it really your money ? Discuss.

That should add on a few more posts .

20th century yokel living in humble circumstances that I am, denied even a credit card, I have no idea what gift cards are all about, but they do sound kind of cute.

 

[kazmac]

It will be great to see a new Mac in October, but a mini would be the best.

 

[LostSoul80]

Coming soon in October.

Not of this year.

 

[philipma1957]

If it's a gift card is it really your money ? Discuss.

That should add on a few more posts

----------

This new Mini rumour really has me confused, I don't know what I'd do if we get a Haswell style refresh and if some of the other ideas turn out to be true it's unclear whether they would be the right machine for me. I have to admit I am going to just have to wait and see.

Do A gift card is an IOU of sorts from the company it is for.
As for getting a new one. Since I have had every Intel version since 2006 what do you think I am going to do if and when it comes out?

Hint I will be listing the quad 2012 in the market place here.

 

[Micky Do]

Coming soon in October.

Not of this year.

What a load of generalist codswallop. Folks here are far more precise…….

The new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming on Tuesday.

 

[LostSoul80]

What a load of generalist codswallop. Folks here are far more precise…….

The new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming on Tuesday.

I never said it wouldn't be released on tuesday. It's fairly obvious to everyone.
Tuesday, in October. In some year.

 

[Mago]

Besides speculation and personal desires there are the facts:

* Long delayed update, means: full redesign or death of line (I bet on redesign).
* Apple now refocused it's marketing, evidence it's the cheaper iMac, the oversized iPhone 6+ (an sacrilege a year ago).
* First batch of Broadwell-M aimed at tablets and desktops (quote Intel)
*44W TDP limit on current Mac mini keep it away an decent Haswell cpu (65W).
*Users (specially those on music production) wants a fanless Mac.
* the gap among the Mac mini (and iMac) with the base Mac Pro it's huge.
* Apple needs a descent gaming Mac to boost game sales at the app store.
× Mid range desktop are replaced twice fast than Pro desktops, so if an xMac eats some Mac Pro sales, it's very likely it's owner will update it sooner than if where a mac pro.

The mini would eat some iMac sales, maybe but at low end each $ accounts, the mini option always have means the first choice, then providing the users freedom to upgrade to iMac or more powerful desktop (name it mini Mac Pro or xmac) doesn't means loss of earnings since Apple simply translated an bigger margin to its headless units.

+++++++++++++++

So, from my pov split the mini to two more specialized range of Macs it's the winner choice, providing an also cheaper entry point, while providing a competitive solution on the Mid range (server, gaming, Pro sumer).

 

[Crosscreek]

Besides speculation and personal desires there are the facts:

* Long delayed update, means: full redesign or death of line (I bet on redesign).
* Apple now refocused it's marketing, evidence it's the cheaper iMac, the oversized iPhone 6+ (an sacrilege a year ago).
* First batch of Broadwell-M aimed at tablets and desktops (quote Intel)
*44W TDP limit on current Mac mini keep it away an decent Haswell cpu (65W).
*Users (specially those on music production) wants a fanless Mac.
* the gap among the Mac mini (and iMac) with the base Mac Pro it's huge.
* Apple needs a descent gaming Mac to boost game sales at the app store.
× Mid range desktop are replaced twice fast than Pro desktops, so if an xMac eats some Mac Pro sales, it's very likely it's owner will update it sooner than if where a mac pro.

The mini would eat some iMac sales, maybe but at low end each $ accounts, the mini option always have means the first choice, then providing the users freedom to upgrade to iMac or more powerful desktop (name it mini Mac Pro or xmac) doesn't means loss of earnings since Apple simply translated an bigger margin to its headless units.

+++++++++++++++

So, from my pov split the mini to two more specialized range of Macs it's the winner choice, providing an also cheaper entry point, while providing a competitive solution on the Mid range (server, gaming, Pro sumer).

I'm so tired of people saying the Mini will eat into Mac Pro or IMac sales if it is to powerful.

I don't buy this argument because Apple is going to make the profit margin either way.

The smart thing for Apple to do is build a Mini with Core M Broadwell at $499 to bring more people and especially emerging markets under the Apple umbrella and build a mid level Mac Mini with the power of an iMac for people that want to use their own displays.

People are still going to buy all in ones and Mac Pros.

 

[Mago]

On my previous analysis I miss the new nVidia 980 series drivers: inclusion of such only means an new product: either or both: new iMac retina (long speculated) or an xMac (Mac Pro or mini), since those chips have an higher TDP on an iMac means an important redesign to dissipate a lot of extra heat (near twice), while on a Mac Pro like chasis means nothing since can handle much more heat. Let's see the next keynote.

Ahh and there is the one more thing, as Cook state *Apple is working on ne products actually nobody speculate yet*

 

[Crosscreek]

Well we have the 27" IMac coming with AMD and 5K screens means Apple is probably going to introduce 5K stand alone displays also.

Usually the Mini are equipped to handle any displays Apple sells so that leaves an interesting question mark on what they may have planed.https://www.macrumors.com/2014/09/29/retina-imac-27-amd/

 

[Mago]

Well we have the 27" IMac coming with AMD and 5K screens means Apple is probably going to introduce 5K stand alone displays also.

Usually the Mini are equipped to handle any displays Apple sells so that leaves an interesting question mark on what they may have planed.https://www.macrumors.com/2014/09/29/retina-imac-27-amd/

Only wrong on this speculation is that evidence suggest it will be powered by nVidia rather than AMD.

I'm not sure how conveniet would be to go to 5K, few days ago i meet an friend that uses a nMac pro to edit 4K content he has an dual screen setup, the 4K Displays preview at full screen (using a sony 4K tv) and at an older TB Displays he has all the Tools and windows. he told me many producers using this setup.

 

[Crosscreek]

Only wrong on this speculation is that evidence suggest it will be powered by nVidia rather than AMD.

I'm not sure how conveniet would be to go to 5K, few days ago i meet an friend that uses a nMac pro to edit 4K content he has an dual screen setup, the 4K Displays preview at full screen (using a sony 4K tv) and at an older TB Displays he has all the Tools and windows. he told me many producers using this setup.

May be more of a gimmick by Apple to set its' self apart from 4K.

 

[Mago]

May be more of a gimmick by Apple to set its' self apart from 4K.

Who knows, they kept away 3k on the iPhone6+ despite was the rivals resolution, also kept away full HD on the 4.7 iPhone 6 while most device on this size are on HD (which I consider smarter choice the current iPhone 6 resolution since I knew no body capable to distinctly a 2k from an HD display at 4.7 inch), so maybe the new iMac to be 4k at all.

 

[talmy]

A 5k display gives exactly a doubling of pixels on both axis over the existing 27" which is a much better choice than a 4K display which would end up displaying less information than the current display (everything would appear larger).

The big question in my mind is how sensible is this when the existing 27" is nearly retina resolution anyway? Also, the MacBookPro and iOS devices gained more than just retina resolution when they went retina -- they also went to IPS technology from TN, and that perhaps makes a bigger difference in perceived screen quality. The 27" Apple display is already IPS.

 

[philipma1957]

Besides speculation and personal desires there are the facts:

* Long delayed update, means: full redesign or death of line (I bet on redesign).
* Apple now refocused it's marketing, evidence it's the cheaper iMac, the oversized iPhone 6+ (an sacrilege a year ago).
* First batch of Broadwell-M aimed at tablets and desktops (quote Intel)
*44W TDP limit on current Mac mini keep it away an decent Haswell cpu (65W).
*Users (specially those on music production) wants a fanless Mac.
* the gap among the Mac mini (and iMac) with the base Mac Pro it's huge.
* Apple needs a descent gaming Mac to boost game sales at the app store.
× Mid range desktop are replaced twice fast than Pro desktops, so if an xMac eats some Mac Pro sales, it's very likely it's owner will update it sooner than if where a mac pro.

The mini would eat some iMac sales, maybe but at low end each $ accounts, the mini option always have means the first choice, then providing the users freedom to upgrade to iMac or more powerful desktop (name it mini Mac Pro or xmac) doesn't means loss of earnings since Apple simply translated an bigger margin to its headless units.

+++++++++++++++

So, from my pov split the mini to two more specialized range of Macs it's the winner choice, providing an also cheaper entry point, while providing a competitive solution on the Mid range (server, gaming, Pro sumer).

I built many mac mini recording setups.

Most of my users want 2 screens but they can be 1600 x 900 .

They want some fast external storage>
they want 16gb ram >
an internal large ssd.>

Most of my recording users would like ports and plugs more then anything and a solid i7 quad core to process the mixes.

Making the mini silent is easy to do . We either put it in a drawer or better yet a closet. We then have a large cable tube into the closet or into the drawer.

Every recording guy I work with would not mind it to be 1 inch taller with more slots and plugs.
You would be surprised to know the titles of hit songs mixed on a mini in small home studios.