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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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I hope it's not "redesigned" as for most entry-level & many established Mac users, I imagine the current Mac Mini's design is near perfect. That includes its limited upgradability. Esp RAM, which some like me only doubled to 8GB nearly a year after buying.
FWIW, I use my 2011 Mini daily. I also appreciate its HD 6630M discrete graphics (the last Mini with such a card). If I was to upgrade to a new Mini immediately on release, a better GPU with at least double the VRAM (to 512, but preferably 1GB VRAM as a buy option), would almost certainly sway me. Otherwise, I'll stick with my current model for a good while longer.
I was comparing some benchmark results the other night and I was amazed to find out the current 2.3GHz model is only slightly slower than the haswell 2.0 model (they both score over 12.000 in gb3). Now I don't know how big the difference is between the iris pro and hd 4000, but Cpu wise we won't see much difference. I'm wondering if Apple thinks this too and just decided to take things slowly, maybe until Broadwell arrives later this year.
At any rate, if there's no Haswell by april I'm seriously considering just to go with the current 2.3 i7 and call it a day. All i need is a smoother FCPX experience anyway, and fron what I understand the hd 4000 performs much better under it than my 320m.
At any rate, if there's no Haswell by april I'm seriously considering just to go with the current 2.3 i7 and call it a day. All i need is a smoother FCPX experience anyway, and fron what I understand the hd 4000 performs much better under it than my 320m.
The difference is huge. Iris Pro (HD 5200) is about 2x faster than HD4000 in games and even more in synthetic benchmarks.
I'd very much like to daisy chain my Mac Mini to a new Mac Mini and just build out a little render farm style jobby... Thunderbolt does that for other stuff, why can't it do it across machines?
Anyways, It's been a while, I'm not hopeful of it coming out this month... I'm also disappointed it didn't come out while apple had it's 10 month 0% financing option. That would have been perfect.
Anyways, It's been a while, I'm not hopeful of it coming out this month... I'm also disappointed it didn't come out while apple had it's 10 month 0% financing option. That would have been perfect.
I hope something comes soon, my 2009 is beginning to creak and there's no sense in getting more RAM at this point...
The competition is starting to heat up for the HTPC mini spot.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/zotac-zbox-ivy-bridge-mini-pc-geforce,25961.html
Big step to add dedicated GPU.
Had to edit this to provide information Iris Pro vs this GPU.
It would seem that if the new Mini does get Iris Pro or Broadwell GPU it will be better than the dedicated graphic offered in this machine and the CPU doesn't even come close.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6993/intel-iris-pro-5200-graphics-review-core-i74950hq-tested/17
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/zotac-zbox-ivy-bridge-mini-pc-geforce,25961.html
Big step to add dedicated GPU.
Had to edit this to provide information Iris Pro vs this GPU.
It would seem that if the new Mini does get Iris Pro or Broadwell GPU it will be better than the dedicated graphic offered in this machine and the CPU doesn't even come close.
http://www.anandtech.com/show/6993/intel-iris-pro-5200-graphics-review-core-i74950hq-tested/17
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The 640m is pretty good, probably on par with the Iris Pro.
The 610 option, however, is a waste of everybody's time and money compared to the HD4000.
edit: btw, the Gigabyte Brix with Iris Pro on a desktop CPU is now available at newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164012
missing a HD, memory, and an OS, so add ~$150 and you're in the approximate price range of the equivalent mini today, but with much much much better graphics.
I think Apple will have to do the same (i.e. essentially just swap the CPU to an Iris/Iris Pro) without raising their prices.
The 610 option, however, is a waste of everybody's time and money compared to the HD4000.
edit: btw, the Gigabyte Brix with Iris Pro on a desktop CPU is now available at newegg:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164011
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16856164012
missing a HD, memory, and an OS, so add ~$150 and you're in the approximate price range of the equivalent mini today, but with much much much better graphics.
I think Apple will have to do the same (i.e. essentially just swap the CPU to an Iris/Iris Pro) without raising their prices.
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I think Apple will one up them with Broadwell for 2 reasons.
1. CPUs are about as fast as they are going to get. Broadwell is a GPU upgrade of Haswell architecture.
2. The Mini will be up to date and is good for another 1 1/2 year refresh if not longer.
I think Apple will wait for the chips to be ready maybe in June or late summer early fall.
1. CPUs are about as fast as they are going to get. Broadwell is a GPU upgrade of Haswell architecture.
2. The Mini will be up to date and is good for another 1 1/2 year refresh if not longer.
I think Apple will wait for the chips to be ready maybe in June or late summer early fall.
I don't see Apple skipping two releases just to put Broadwell in the Mini. Especially when you consider that Broadwell won't be around until late this year. I think it is more likely that they were waiting for the Mac Pro to be released.
Now that's out of the way, and new Haswell mobile processors were announced two weeks ago. There were several that would work for the Mini. The i7-4860HQ would be a perfect BTO for it.
My guess is that Apple will be refreshing the rMBP and Mini at the same time with the Haswell refresh in the very near future.
Agreed. The Mac mini is designed to be "entry-level", and improving them too much would eventually affect the iMac sales </opinion>
New Mini and new TB display -
Quite a few new Mac Pro owners looking for a new display.
Quite a few new Mac Pro owners looking for a new display.
the 4860HQ costs $434 from Intel. Add Apple's 30% and they typicall rounding to whole, 'nice' numbers around $600 . The whole Mini costs about that much. So a system aimed at more price senstive users to have an option that double the costs probably won't get selected all that often.
One reason to wait for Broadwell 58xx options is that they perhaps will be more so inside the Mini's price range. Intel is charging a high premium for Iro Pro this first generation. (as much as buying a discrete GPU and VRAM. )
The cost for the i7-3720QM in the current Mini is $378. So, that processor would raise the cost a little, but I think a rise in cost should be expected in the next Mini since it will likely move to PCIe storage like all of the other Mac products.
Also, there were less expensive CPUs announced as well. They could go with some of the cheaper ones and not offer Iris Pro graphics. Either way, I doubt they'll wait until late this year for Broadwell to update the Minis. I can't think of any reason that it would make sense for them to wait that long.
You have to remember that those are 'consumer' prices. Not what Apple would pay. They buy in bulk and have 'contracts' and get discount pricing. If Apple buys this much from intel they get this price on these processors, etc. Apple now pays around $220 for their current i7 mini processors, and $280 for the upgraded i7. In the beginning of the year they work out a contract for that gen of processors and sign a contract to buy a certain amount at a certain price. In the next quarter they workout another contract for the next gen of upgraded processors to buy a certain amount at a certain price point.
Things are not what they seem.
I'm currently saving for a Mac mini, I want the Core i7 model, so I hope they don't raise the price too much with the refresh.. I'd hate to think that I'm almost there only to find that I have to save for another few months due to the new price.
The three popular guesses:
This month
Developer conference (June)
Fall (back to school and/or after new chips)
The farther back in time, the more likely a change will include a new case. Info in another thread suggests thermal management difficulties with a new design currently in the works. If so they may punt with an update of the current design.