Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

I'm ready for a new Mac mini! If Apple doesn't come through, I'll build a new Hackintosh. I wonder if Apple knows how many Hackintoshes are out there? Can they get numbers from the mac app store for system upgrades?

What I want is quad core with iris pro... Same thing as the base 15" mac pro. I think an October update is very possible. It doesn't interfere with broadwell and I don't think Apple would release a Mac mini with Broadwell until late 2015 anyways. The Mini was always the last to get the refreshes usually.
 
Last edited:
patohi said:
I'm ready for a new Mac mini! If Apple doesn't come through I'll get build a new Hackintosh. I wonder if Apple knows how many Hackintoshes are out there? Can they get numbers from the mac app store for system upgrades?

What I want is an quad core with iris pro... Same thing as the base 15" mac pro. I think a October update if very possible. It doesn't interfere with broadwell and I don't think Apple would release a Mac mini with Broadwell until late 2015 anyways. The Mini was always the last to get the refreshes usually.
Click to expand...

I think we'll be seeing a new MM next month. :)
 
patohi said:
What I want is an quad core with iris pro... Same thing as the base 15" mac pro. I think a October update if very possible. It doesn't interfere with broadwell and I don't think Apple would release a Mac mini with Broadwell until late 2015 anyways. The Mini was always the last to get the refreshes usually.
Click to expand...

At this point, I've lost interest in Haswell, I've been waiting a long time for a mini, but I wouldn't buy last year's CPU at the end of 2014. If they do release one in October, you're probably right about late 2015 at the soonest for Broadwell, and there's no way I'm waiting for that.

So now I'm hoping Apple holds out until Spring with a Broadwell mini. If they release Haswell now, I'm just going to buy a PC as soon as Broadwell comes out.
 
philipma1957 said:
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.
Click to expand...

Mixing records not as huge or cpu/ram intensive task as some people or user may believe, actually those users could do the job on an much modest dual core i5 and didnt notice it, of course an cuad core i7 its more desirable brings a more fluid experience, but at the lower end many people ask for fanless, not only on recordings, you'll be surprised too how popular is the Mac (either macbook, mini, imac) on DJs, even on live perfromances.
 
Mago said:
Mixing records not as huge or cpu/ram intensive task as some people or user may believe, actually those users could do the job on an much modest dual core i5 and didnt notice it, of course an cuad core i7 its more desirable brings a more fluid experience, but at the lower end many people ask for fanless, not only on recordings, you'll be surprised too how popular is the Mac (either macbook, mini, imac) on DJs, even on live perfromances.
Click to expand...

You'd be surprised how cheap and powerful computers have become outside Apple's ecosystem in the past 3 years.

You make it sound like Apple is doing most of its users a favor by selling them underpowered hardware that's "good enough" for most people. Yet, when you can get an i7-4790k CPU for $340 and this will run rings around the most expensive BTO option on an iMac, you quickly realize that Apple is just choking on everyone else's dust.

So what if you don't "need" the processing power for music, it still helps. When I shoot a wedding and batch output my JPGs, it takes my mac about 10 seconds each to process them. So on 500 images, that's about 90 minutes just leaving the computer chugging away with the fan sounding like a jet engine. My PC takes under a second per image, so less than 10 minutes and it's done. Yet the PC is so much cheaper.

In the early 90's, Apple became a bad joke because their computers were so overpriced and underpowered. Steve turned Apple around by making the performance more competitive and making them more compatible (hard drives, ram, peripherals). Now with Timmy, Apple is just falling by the wayside. And performance isn't even that expensive. And there's idiots around here who think Apple should jump even farther behind with Arm based desktops.
 
Oracle1729 said:
You'd be surprised how cheap and powerful computers have become outside Apple's ecosystem in the past 3 years.

You make it sound like Apple is doing most of its users a favor by selling them underpowered hardware that's "good enough" for most people. Yet, when you can get an i7-4790k CPU for $340 and this will run rings around the most expensive BTO option on an iMac, you quickly realize that Apple is just choking on everyone else's dust.

So what if you don't "need" the processing power for music, it still helps. When I shoot a wedding and batch output my JPGs, it takes my mac about 10 seconds each to process them. So on 500 images, that's about 90 minutes just leaving the computer chugging away with the fan sounding like a jet engine. My PC takes under a second per image, so less than 10 minutes and it's done. Yet the PC is so much cheaper.

In the early 90's, Apple became a bad joke because their computers were so overpriced and underpowered. Steve turned Apple around by making the performance more competitive and making them more compatible (hard drives, ram, peripherals). Now with Timmy, Apple is just falling by the wayside. And performance isn't even that expensive. And there's idiots around here who think Apple should jump even farther behind with Arm based desktops.
Click to expand...
The Mac mini for either reason didn't get an update from 2yr now, when launched simple there are no rival on size or performance, two yr ago the best mini pc from zotac didn't have i7 option or at least not as good as the mini, I agree things changed and now Apple got far behind to device like zotac E series, but zotac still sells good under powered mini pc as the fanless C series, everything has its own market user it's free to choice if go underpowered or burn the amazon with 12 core Xeon..
 
patohi said:
I'm ready for a new Mac mini! If Apple doesn't come through I'll get build a new Hackintosh. I wonder if Apple knows how many Hackintoshes are out there? Can they get numbers from the mac app store for system upgrades?

What I want is an quad core with iris pro... Same thing as the base 15" mac pro. I think a October update if very possible. It doesn't interfere with broadwell and I don't think Apple would release a Mac mini with Broadwell until late 2015 anyways. The Mini was always the last to get the refreshes usually.
Click to expand...

Considering the timing, I think it is very likely it will be the first Broadwell release. If it is indeed released in October, it seems that it would be more than just coincidental that it is being released at the same time Broadwell Core M devices are being released.

I can certainly see Apple marketing a small fanless Mac Mini with no user serviceable parts. It seems like an Apple thing to do.
 
I hope they don't release a broadwell mini. I know the current form factor might need a change because it looks the way it does due to the super drive it had inside. If they announce a Broadwell Mini we will only get core M(4Q 2014) or broadwell U(1Q 2015) type chips... all the other chips won't be out until 2Q or 3Q 2015.

The current mini is the desktop ver of the macbook pros and I hope they continue in that direction. It is the last Mac you can still tinker with as far as Memory and hard drive upgrades.
 
Last edited:
Mago said:
Mixing records not as huge or cpu/ram intensive task as some people or user may believe, actually those users could do the job on an much modest dual core i5 and didnt notice it, of course an cuad core i7 its more desirable brings a more fluid experience, but at the lower end many people ask for fanless, not only on recordings, you'll be surprised too how popular is the Mac (either macbook, mini, imac) on DJs, even on live perfromances.
Click to expand...

when I sit in and watch them run amp/guitar simulators they need the i7 quad core. A lot of software now can pretend to be any instrument hooked up to any tube pre/amp combo.
(far cheaper then buying the tube amp and the pre)
my buddies i7 that I built with a 1tb samsung ssd and a 1tb 7200 hdd as a fusion. along with 16 gb ram. Is starting to lag just a bit with the new emulation software.

He could use new gear soon. maybe this has 6 to 10 more months before it gets too slow for him.
 
patohi said:
I hope they don't release a broadwell mini. I know the current form factor might need a change because it looks the way it does due to the super drive it had inside. If they announce a Broadwell Mini we will only get core M(4Q 2014) or broadwell U(1Q 2015) type chips... all the other chips won't be out until 2Q or 3Q 2015.

The current mini is the desktop ver of the macbook pros and I hope they continue in that direction. It is the last Mac you can still tinker with as far as Memory and hard drive upgrades.
Click to expand...

I don't think they would put anything more powerful than a broadwell U chip in the mini's. I hope they don't put broadwell M, but if you're looking for a chip besides either of these two, you're probably out of luck (unless they put in the last set of haswell chips in these minis, in which case, i doubt they would redesign it around these chips since you'd still need a fan).
 
Actually I'll put to rest the Mac Mini Broadwell rumor simply because the mini is still used as Apple's go to for a server. Would Apple drop server support and software? I doubt it... So a quadcore Mini is still essential to the lineup. If something is announced next month expect a Haswell upgrade or wait a year till broadwell releases...

http://www.apple.com/mac/ click server and what do you see?
 
Last edited:
philipma1957 said:
when I sit in and watch them run amp/guitar simulators they need the i7 quad core. A lot of software now can pretend to be any instrument hooked up to any tube pre/amp combo.
(far cheaper then buying the tube amp and the pre)
my buddies i7 that I built with a 1tb samsung ssd and a 1tb 7200 hdd as a fusion. along with 16 gb ram. Is starting to lag just a bit with the new emulation software.

He could use new gear soon. maybe this has 6 to 10 more months before it gets too slow for him.
Click to expand...
What software it is?

I've am degree in computer science, decade and half ago I used to run analog circuits simulations thru pspice, math cad etc, many times I simulated circuits with tube amplifiers, and all this was done on my powerful 486 pc with obscene 128 mb of ram, those simulations recreated with high precision every wave, so I'm curious why some audio simulations today requires that much cpu time, maybe the software was so inefficient coded or the simulations it's focused on animations than the true comments of the audio signal.
 
patohi said:
Actually I'll put to rest the Mac Mini Broadwell rumor simply because the mini is still used as Apple's go to for a server. Would Apple drop server support and software? I doubt it... So a quadcore Mini is still essential to the lineup. If something is announced next month expect a Haswell upgrade or wait a year till broadwell releases...

http://www.apple.com/mac/ click server and what do you see?
Click to expand...

Yes.. this is why I hope I just get an haswell update since I want a quad-core machine. The software I use is not GPU intensive, but calculation intensive and does make use of multiple cores. So for my needs, a quad core ivy bridge (2012) will do me better than a dual core broadwell M or U.

For my needs, a quad-core haswell will be fine along with updated wifi/connections and hopefully more SSD capacity for the same price.
 
patohi said:
Actually I'll put to rest the Mac Mini Broadwell rumor simply because the mini is still used as Apple's go to for a server. Would Apple drop server support and software? I doubt it... So a quadcore Mini is still essential to the lineup. If something is announced next month expect a Haswell upgrade or wait a year till broadwell releases...

http://www.apple.com/mac/ click server and what do you see?
Click to expand...

That isn't really the case anymore since the server functions are a standalone app that's downloaded from the App store. Sure, a quad i7 with dual HDDs is their recommended system for it, but OS X server can be run on any machine, regardless of processor, ram, storage, etc.

If there is a new Mini I have to imagine it'll still be the go-to model for server configuration because of its small volume and low power usage but in no way is a quadcore required.
 
squirrrl said:
Yes.. this is why I hope I just get an haswell update since I want a quad-core machine. The software I use is not GPU intensive, but calculation intensive and does make use of multiple cores. So for my needs, a quad core ivy bridge (2012) will do me better than a dual core broadwell M or U.

For my needs, a quad-core haswell will be fine along with updated wifi/connections and hopefully more SSD capacity for the same price.
Click to expand...

Yep, anybody like you requiring 4 core machines better buy up on Haswell if it comes or stick with the 2012 because Broadwell U does not offer quad core as far as the skus' I have seen.
 
I have often thought of buying a few "old" mini's (2012 loaded) for purposes of eBaying at a profit after the new ones come out. There is at least a chance that they could mess up and make something none of us on this thread want, and then, if we could not get the 2012's that we wanted, well... $$$ :)
 
GabrieleR said:
Hi,

i work in an Apple Reseller and like many of you i'm waiting for the mini 2013 refresh.

Trust me, a new mini is coming next week, or at least we have solid evidence to believe it.
Click to expand...

I'd just like to take a moment and remind everyone that this was posted in December of 2013.
 
Cape Dave said:
I have often thought of buying a few "old" mini's (2012 loaded) for purposes of eBaying at a profit after the new ones come out. There is at least a chance that they could mess up and make something none of us on this thread want, and then, if we could not get the 2012's that we wanted, well... $$$ :)
Click to expand...

I have one with a 1tb samsung ssd + 16 gb ram ready to sell just in case you are correct.
 
I need the refreshed Mini with Thunderbold 2 interface which can support my 4K Sony TV.

Come on Apple.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back