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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

Guys the phrase on the invite has NOTHING to do with Apple admitting that they have been slow to update a product. They would never publicly admit that. Instead it's probably a clue about the revival of an older product. Look at that colorful Apple logo, similar to what it used to look like many years ago.

I'm guessing it means the return of the Macintosh computer, not Mac Pro or Mac Mini, just Macintosh. Maybe this will replace the current Mini, who knows.
 
docprego said:
Guys the phrase on the invite has NOTHING to do with Apple admitting that they have been slow to update a product. They would never publicly admit that. Instead it's probably a clue about the revival of an older product. Look at that colorful Apple logo, similar to what it used to look like many years ago.

I'm guessing it means the return of the Macintosh computer, not Mac Pro or Mac Mini, just Macintosh. Maybe this will replace the current Mini, who knows.
Click to expand...

It is very intriging, this "Its been too long." Who knows what it means? But on reflection, I fear it may portend great evil. It is almost certain that Tim has been imprisoned, or worse, by a shapeshifter who, on October 16, 2014, will reveal himself to be the one more thing, Bill Gates, and instead of OS X Yosemite we will be presented with MS DOS XXX, Satan.

Or, there may be a somewhat nicer surprise. Or not. This I am told by an incomparably unreliable source, so you can take it to the bank. :D:eek::apple:
 
docprego said:
Guys the phrase on the invite has NOTHING to do with Apple admitting that they have been slow to update a product. They would never publicly admit that. Instead it's probably a clue about the revival of an older product. Look at that colorful Apple logo, similar to what it used to look like many years ago.

I'm guessing it means the return of the Macintosh computer, not Mac Pro or Mac Mini, just Macintosh. Maybe this will replace the current Mini, who knows.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, this could end up being the more interesting of the two recent Apple conferences after all :) Booyah!
 
Well at least we know something is happening next Thursday!

I still would like to see a Mac Mini with an I7-4770HQ with that Iris pro!
If a headless iMac was available then even better!

Maybe Apple is listening to peoples interests or Demands(larger iPhones)...

If you look at Hackintosh sites(tonymacx86 or insanelymac), they have tens of thousands of posts.

Could Apple be looking to get these people to buy Macs?

My plan is to build a Hackintosh if Apple doesn't come through...
 
patohi said:
Well at least we know something is happening next Thursday!

I still would like to see a Mac Mini with an I7-4770HQ with that Iris pro!
If a headless iMac was available then even better!

Maybe Apple is listening to peoples interests or Demands(larger iPhones)...

If you look at Hackintosh sites(tonymacx86 or insanelymac), they have tens of thousands of posts.

Could Apple be looking to get these people to buy Macs?

My plan is to build a Hackintosh if Apple doesn't come through...
Click to expand...

This makes a lot of sense to me. I could realistically see Apple offering the new iMac in 2 versions; with screen and without. This would tighten up their lineup by allowing them to drop the Mini altogether while still providing a headless option.

Taking it a step further there are rumblings of a new Apple display that my be in the works. If the new iMac features a Retina Display as rumored, maybe the headless iMac would be a perfect match for a new Apple Retina display.
 
docprego said:
Guys the phrase on the invite has NOTHING to do with Apple admitting that they have been slow to update a product. They would never publicly admit that. Instead it's probably a clue about the revival of an older product. Look at that colorful Apple logo, similar to what it used to look like many years ago.

I'm guessing it means the return of the Macintosh computer, not Mac Pro or Mac Mini, just Macintosh. Maybe this will replace the current Mini, who knows.
Click to expand...

I wish you are true! BUT, we're talking Apple here. To me the logo is similar to iOS 8
rainbow theme. So i am afraid it has nothing to do with computers, xMac or Macintosh, but it's a new iOS device. I remember the days when purchasing a Mac was a real joy and a true deal. You received an upgradeable computer, office software(iWorks), few games, repair tools etc. Basically all you needed to run your computer. Now all the models are underpowered, you receive just the cord, no keyboard or mouse for mini and pro(!!!). You basically need to upgrade hard, ram immediately after purchase or BTO leading to huge costs. Video cards are also seriously underpowered and well behind PC offerings, and without the possibility to upgrade them anymore, mac's are obsolete from the day1. On PowerPC days this was because video cards where custom designed for Apple and they tried to cut down costs, but now? Bad business model for Apple, they offer less and less for higher prices with every iteration. I don't expect anything good from this event.
 
docprego said:
If the new iMac features a Retina Display as rumored, maybe the headless iMac would be a perfect match for a new Apple Retina display.
Click to expand...

Makes sense to me to release a new Display and Mini at the same time. Only thing Apple need to be careful of is that it doesn't steal from nMP sales, which is extremely unlikely as there is no way they will let a new Mini have anywhere near either the CPU or GPU grunt of the nMP.

If Apple do it right we could see the renaissance of the Mini! :apple: :cool:

Or are we just jerking off? :eek: :rolleyes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbR8H2hJZM
 
Miat said:
Makes sense to me to release a new Display and Mini at the same time. Only thing Apple need to be careful of is that it doesn't steal from nMP sales, which is extremely unlikely as there is no way they will let a new Mini have anywhere near either the CPU or GPU grunt of the nMP.

If Apple do it right we could see the renaissance of the Mini! :apple: :cool:

Or are we just jerking off? :eek: :rolleyes:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlbR8H2hJZM
Click to expand...

Probably the latter. :(
 
mojolicious said:
And that's very possibly exactly the course that Apple will take, in order to reduce the size of the mini so they can tell you that it's NOW SMALLER THAN EVER!
Click to expand...

Yeah, that still doesn't ring true to me as a "deep" enough reason to do it from a design perspective.

In every venue where Apple is super anal about making things smaller, there's a practical value to it - laptops are carried, so every weight, space-saving and strengthening measure is to further the actual goal - portability.

historically, "Smaller" in of itself isn't really a goal in Apple's design ethos - smaller is a means to an end.

Sure the iMac got arguably unnecessarily thin, but doing that got rid of the one component, the internal superdrive, that *always* breaks 1.5-2 years down the road, which is inside the envelope of the statutory warranties, not to mention the Applecare extended warranty, that more and more countries are getting aggressive about enforcing. I'd be willing to bet that one decision radically reduced the cost of Apple's warranty service when it comes to the iMac.

I still don't see what user case is served by making the Mac Mini that fraction smaller by skipping upgradable ram. I don't think Apple are so money-grubbing as to see the existence of a third party ram market as something they have to destroy for no practical benefit.
 
Well I am all excited about the headline "it's been too long" - definitely a Mini refresh plus the new iPad Air 2 and I think they'll add a "one more thing" surprise.
 
The only product they can add i think is a smart tv or a proper mac. I dont think they will distract people from buying watches and iphones by adding more mobile gadgets. Other than that they might update current products. "Its been too long" could end with "we are working on a tv" or "you are waiting for an affordable beast mac". I wish its the last one. :) I dont want to be pessimistic.
 
mattspace said:
(...)
Sure the iMac got arguably unnecessarily thin, but doing that got rid of the one component, the internal superdrive, that *always* breaks 1.5-2 years down the road (...)
Click to expand...

Well, I have my iMac for 5,5 years and the model itself is 6,5 years old and my Super Drive still works. In fact the whole machine works just fine and the only problem I had was a fried power supply and even that only happened because of a power surge!

Maybe I'm lucky hehe :)

----------

I've seen some people talk about the return of the Mac...not the iMac, not the Mac Mini, not the Mac Pro, but simply the Mac...

I seem to remember the Mac being 30 years old not that long ago and well...I'm just going to put this here...

Z3Ll50w.png


apple_oct_2014_invite_large.jpg
 
Last edited:
iFitzgerald said:
[/COLOR]I've seen some people talk about the return of the Mac...not the iMac, not the Mac Mini, not the Mac Pro, but simply the Mac...

I seem to remember the Mac being 30 years old not that long ago and well...I'm just going to put this here...

Image
Click to expand...

I sure hope this is NOT the case, because otherwise i will spend the tax money on that machine. AKA i will go broke.....:D
 
I like this Idea from TUAW: A new Mac mini?

"The words "It's been way too long" can be interpreted any number of ways. My first guess is that they're referring to the 715 days since the Mac mini was last updated. Apple's least expensive Mac (well, at least if you already have a monitor, keyboard, and pointing device on hand) has been ignored far too long, and it's still one of the more popular server devices for small business.

The current MD388LL/A (and MD389LL/A server) Mac mini model features up to a 2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 as a configure-to-order option, allows for up to 16 GB of RAM, has a built-in Intel HD Graphics 4000 processor, and has one Thunderbolt and four USB 3.0 ports.



Let's say that Apple decides to follow the design cues of the Mac Pro and turn the Mac mini into a squat cylinder, bumps the CPU to a quad-core 3.7 GHz Intel Xeon ("Ivy Bridge-EP"), adds RAM expandibility to 32 GB, and sports an AMD FirePro D300 graphics coprocessor. Throw in 802.11ac capability and Thunderbolt 2, and you've got quite the nice little machine."
 
Crosscreek said:
I like this Idea from TUAW: A new Mac mini?

"The words "It's been way too long" can be interpreted any number of ways. My first guess is that they're referring to the 715 days since the Mac mini was last updated. Apple's least expensive Mac (well, at least if you already have a monitor, keyboard, and pointing device on hand) has been ignored far too long, and it's still one of the more popular server devices for small business.

The current MD388LL/A (and MD389LL/A server) Mac mini model features up to a 2.6 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 as a configure-to-order option, allows for up to 16 GB of RAM, has a built-in Intel HD Graphics 4000 processor, and has one Thunderbolt and four USB 3.0 ports.



Let's say that Apple decides to follow the design cues of the Mac Pro and turn the Mac mini into a squat cylinder, bumps the CPU to a quad-core 3.7 GHz Intel Xeon ("Ivy Bridge-EP"), adds RAM expandibility to 32 GB, and sports an AMD FirePro D300 graphics coprocessor. Throw in 802.11ac capability and Thunderbolt 2, and you've got quite the nice little machine."
Click to expand...

None of that would fit in a squat cylinder and the component costs would be way beyond the price range of the MacBook parts the Mac Mini is always based on.
 
Crosscreek said:
I say screw what its alway based on and build us a real machine. Quit this under powered no GPU mobile crap. ;)
Click to expand...

The top 2 15" MacBook configs have a capable dedicated GPU and equal to faster CPU performance than the quad Xeon in the current Mac Pro. Simply updating to Haswell, retaining the GPUs instead of going with Iris Pro and using at least the 2.5Ghz i7 in the high and quad model would be more than enough.
 
barkmonster said:
The top 2 15" MacBook configs have a capable dedicated GPU and equal to faster CPU performance than the quad Xeon in the current Mac Pro. Simply updating to Haswell, retaining the GPUs instead of going with Iris Pro and using at least the 2.5Ghz i7 in the high and quad model would be more than enough.
Click to expand...

I would buy that.
 
Crosscreek said:
Let's say that Apple decides to follow the design cues of the Mac Pro and turn the Mac mini into a squat cylinder, bumps the CPU to a quad-core 3.7 GHz Intel Xeon ("Ivy Bridge-EP"), adds RAM expandibility to 32 GB, and sports an AMD FirePro D300 graphics coprocessor. Throw in 802.11ac capability and Thunderbolt 2, and you've got quite the nice little machine."
Click to expand...

Nice day dream, I wish it would come true. Though no hope for it. But sometimes :apple: surprises us. hope hope hope
 
barkmonster said:
The top 2 15" MacBook configs have a capable dedicated GPU and equal to faster CPU performance than the quad Xeon in the current Mac Pro. Simply updating to Haswell, retaining the GPUs instead of going with Iris Pro and using at least the 2.5Ghz i7 in the high and quad model would be more than enough.
Click to expand...

that would be mine in a heartbeat
 
mattspace said:
I still don't see the logic for thinking a nMM would have soldered ram. On a laptop, it reduces the chance of unseating due to movement, and massively reduces space requirements, and the 21" iMac is effectively the Apple dumb terminal - for institutional buyers who refresh the entire machine every 1-2 years but will never allocate budget to paying an IT person to order ram, take a machine offline, open it up, fit new ram, make sure it all works ok etc.

While the iMac / Mini / Laptops share components, they don't AFAIK share actual motherboards - open a laptop or an iMac and the board is custom shaped to fit around all sorts of components, not a straight line to be found.

What possible reason (excluding "because Apple are evil, bwahahaha") would there be to have multiple SKUs in motherboard manufacturing, when they can just make a single motherboard and then have the ram on a card, and all the BTO/CTO options it brings?

Theres no problem to be solved for which soldered ram is the answer when it comes to the mini.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the explanation, I do not know motherboard details and the like. The only thing I can figure is Apple is moving towards soldered ram on many machines. If the laptops and 21.5" iMac got it, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Mini get it too. If you're right, that's cool. :D
 
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