The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

[corvus32]

Let's just cut the neutering nonsense. If we're going to do it, at least do it right.

The sooner Apple can get the Mini and OS X switched over to their own silicon, the better.

They already have silicon powerful enough to drive 3D games at iPad resolutions, and they already demonstrated a tiny form factor with HDMI, ethernet, and USB (Apple TV), so there's only one thing left to do - curve out a new product in the sub-$500 desktop. They don't really have anything in that range anyways, so why not.

Just think of the energy savings alone for business and education buyers. Not only does it cost less, but uses half the electricity.

 

[Oracle1729]

Let's just cut the neutering nonsense. If we're going to do it, at least do it right.

The sooner Apple can get the Mini and OS X switched over to their own silicon, the better.

They already have silicon powerful enough to drive 3D games at iPad resolutions, and they already demonstrated a tiny form factor with HDMI, ethernet, and USB (Apple TV), so there's only one thing left to do - curve out a new product in the sub-$500 desktop. They don't really have anything in that range anyways, so why not.

Just think of the energy savings alone for business and education buyers. Not only does it cost less, but uses half the electricity.

Great, let's break binary compatibility with every single OSX app ever written. Again. At least last time, the new hardware was much more powerful so there was a huge benefit to the users and the new hardware had the muscle to translate the binaries on the fly with rosetta.

This time, you want to move to weaker inferior hardware so no rosetta style solution will exist, you'll just need all new binaries, and there will be no benefit for the end user. Just a wimpy little box that MS can make fun of in their commercials.

But hey, as an added perk, Apple can even roll it all into their walled garden so the new cripple-mac apps can only be bought in the App store with apple's blessing and cut. Pure genius.

 

[shaunp]

Let's just cut the neutering nonsense. If we're going to do it, at least do it right.

The sooner Apple can get the Mini and OS X switched over to their own silicon, the better.

They already have silicon powerful enough to drive 3D games at iPad resolutions, and they already demonstrated a tiny form factor with HDMI, ethernet, and USB (Apple TV), so there's only one thing left to do - curve out a new product in the sub-$500 desktop. They don't really have anything in that range anyways, so why not.

Just think of the energy savings alone for business and education buyers. Not only does it cost less, but uses half the electricity.

It depends what you do for a living. Personally I use VMware a lot - couldn't work without it. I can't see Fusion or Parallels running that well having simulate x86 architecture on an A9,A10, etc CPU. If I couldn't run VM's effectively then I'd have to drop Apple as a platform.

I know this is about the mini, but it wouldn't make sense to have OS X developed for two platforms.

 

[Crosscreek]

It depends what you do for a living. Personally I use VMware a lot - couldn't work without it. I can't see Fusion or Parallels running that well having simulate x86 architecture on an A9,A10, etc CPU. If I couldn't run VM's effectively then I'd have to drop Apple as a platform.

I know this is about the mini, but it wouldn't make sense to have OS X developed for two platforms.

I feel the same way although I fear some Mac are headed exactly in that direction. This 12" iPad that is coming may be an example of a hybrid ARM.

I don't know what direction Apple is headed but I'm really discouraged by the new Mini.

Looks like I'll be holding on to this 2012 for a long time.

 

[talmy]

Let's just cut the neutering nonsense. If we're going to do it, at least do it right.

The sooner Apple can get the Mini and OS X switched over to their own silicon, the better.

Let me join the chorus. But first I'd like to point out that this person claims (in his signature) to own only iOS devices, so it probably would make sense to him.

I only jumped into Mac ownership when Apple switched to Intel processors. The Power PC processors really lagged (as do ARM processors) and I have a need to run Windows and x86 Linux virtual machines. If Apple ever started to switch to ARMs for their OS X systems, I'd ditch all my Macs and go Windows.

 

[scottsjack]

I feel the same way although I fear some Mac are headed exactly in that direction.

That is exactly why I own three 2012 Macs, one bought new last fall, the other two purchased new this year. By all indications it looks like Apple is not interested in the same kind of computers that interest me so there is little reason for me to buy expensive Macs. I've got what I need for the next three years or so.

 

[shaunp]

I feel the same way although I fear some Mac are headed exactly in that direction. This 12" iPad that is coming may be an example of a hybrid ARM.

I don't know what direction Apple is headed but I'm really discouraged by the new Mini.

Looks like I'll be holding on to this 2012 for a long time.

Apple don't seem to realise that they are in danger of over-doing what makes them good. The acceptance of the ecosystem and the brilliant integration hardware and software will turn to mistrust if they simplify their desktops and laptops too much and turn them into appliances. I'm already annoyed by the lack of ethernet port and matt screen options on the rMBP - it's not supposed to be a light-weight consumer laptop, it's supposed to be a work laptop. I moved away from the Mini to a nMP as I don't see any future in the mini and there's no way I would ever buy an iMac.

Apple would win over even more customers by having an 'enthusiast' line of products. Remember their roots a little and let us swap out things like RAM, storage and where possible GPU's

 

[philipma1957]

Apple don't seem to realise that they are in danger of over-doing what makes them good. The acceptance of the ecosystem and the brilliant integration hardware and software will turn to mistrust if they simplify their desktops and laptops too much and turn them into appliances. I'm already annoyed by the lack of ethernet port and matt screen options on the rMBP - it's not supposed to be a light-weight consumer laptop, it's supposed to be a work laptop. I moved away from the Mini to a nMP as I don't see any future in the mini and there's no way I would ever buy an iMac.

Apple would win over even more customers by having an 'enthusiast' line of products. Remember their roots a little and let us swap out things like RAM, storage and where possible GPU's

Wow no ethernet port I missed that news until now. That means no mac for me. I have to watch what I say here as I really want to say a lot of bad things that will get me in trouble.

 

[talmy]

Remember their roots a little and let us swap out things like RAM, storage and where possible GPU's

Roots? Thinking Apple and Apple ][, I guess. The Macintosh was notorious at the time for being a sealed system ("No User Serviceable Parts Inside").

Wow no ethernet port I missed that news until now. That means no mac for me.

I think the idea is that on portable computers one always connects via WiFi. The MBA has never had an Ethernet port. The RMBP just follows that design pattern. An adapter is available. I've got one for my wife's MBA, and never used it. I only occasionally use the built-in Ethernet port in my MBP.

They've also gotten rid of the optical drive, the modem, the IR receiver, and Firewire ports in the past 10 years or so.

 

[Kentuckienne]

I use the Ethernet port whenever I can. Always at home, even with a laptop, and and in hotels, when it existed ... faster and more secure. Wireless is everywhere now and it's convenient, but I would hate to see the wire fall off the mini. Am I just a relic, or does anyone else keep wires around?

Got a spare Token-ring card or two if anyone needs one ..

 

[JackieInCo]

I use the Ethernet port whenever I can. Always at home, even with a laptop, and and in hotels, when it existed ... faster and more secure. Wireless is everywhere now and it's convenient, but I would hate to see the wire fall off the mini. Am I just a relic, or does anyone else keep wires around?

Got a spare Token-ring card or two if anyone needs one ..

I connect my modem to the ethernet port as well simply because I can get 60Mbps through the wired vs. about 12Mbps through WiFi over my AEBS. If I could connect my iPad through ethernet too, I would.

My smart TV, Apple TV 2 and DVD player are also connected via ethernet directly.

 

[scottsjack]

I use the Ethernet port whenever I can. Always at home, even with a laptop, and and in hotels, when it existed ... faster and more secure. Wireless is everywhere now and it's convenient, but I would hate to see the wire fall off the mini. Am I just a relic, or does anyone else keep wires around?

Got a spare Token-ring card or two if anyone needs one ..

Both of my minis sit on the same desk where my MBP usually resides. All three are plugged in the TC Ethernet ports. Ethernet is much faster since I'm often transferring files from one computer to the other.

One of the factors that caused me to get 2012 MBP was the Ethernet port. I use a plug with a partially broken lock tab on it. It's super easy to slip in and out of the port when I'm taking the MBP somewhere. TB ports are not so easy to plug and unplug.

 

[philipma1957]

Roots? Thinking Apple and Apple ][, I guess. The Macintosh was notorious at the time for being a sealed system ("No User Serviceable Parts Inside").



I think the idea is that on portable computers one always connects via WiFi. The MBA has never had an Ethernet port. The RMBP just follows that design pattern. An adapter is available. I've got one for my wife's MBA, and never used it. I only occasionally use the built-in Ethernet port in my MBP.

They've also gotten rid of the optical drive, the modem, the IR receiver, and Firewire ports in the past 10 years or so.

yeah but I need hard wired ethernet so a macbook pro is out.

the optical drive
the ir receiver
and firewire

can be worked around.

No internet and I don't need the pc's.

I use my t-ports to run external ssd's as booters on all 3 mac mini's so have an ethernet hard wire is a must.

 

[corvus32]

Great, let's break binary compatibility with every single OSX app ever written. Again. At least last time, the new hardware was much more powerful so there was a huge benefit to the users and the new hardware had the muscle to translate the binaries on the fly with rosetta.

This time, you want to move to weaker inferior hardware so no rosetta style solution will exist, you'll just need all new binaries, and there will be no benefit for the end user. Just a wimpy little box that MS can make fun of in their commercials.

But hey, as an added perk, Apple can even roll it all into their walled garden so the new cripple-mac apps can only be bought in the App store with apple's blessing and cut. Pure genius.

Intel Macs are already wimpy, overpriced neutered PC's that Microsoft makes fun of in their commercials, so what's your proposal?

That Apple continue this trend? PURE GENIUS!

 

[philipma1957]

Intel Macs are already wimpy, overpriced neutered PC's that Microsoft makes fun of in their commercials, so what's your proposal?

That Apple continue this trend? PURE GENIUS!

yeah too bad you and me are not running the desktop pc division of Apple.

 

[talmy]

yeah but I need hard wired ethernet so a macbook pro is out.

the optical drive
the ir receiver
and firewire

can be worked around.

No internet and I don't need the pc's.

I use my t-ports to run external ssd's as booters on all 3 mac mini's so have an ethernet hard wire is a must.

Nothing for you to worry about. You can get hardwired Ethernet via an adapter, so it's no different than an external optical drive or Firewire adapter.

All desktop Macs still have and are very likely to continue to have an Ethernet port.

 

[shaunp]

Roots? Thinking Apple and Apple ][, I guess. The Macintosh was notorious at the time for being a sealed system ("No User Serviceable Parts Inside").



I think the idea is that on portable computers one always connects via WiFi. The MBA has never had an Ethernet port. The RMBP just follows that design pattern. An adapter is available. I've got one for my wife's MBA, and never used it. I only occasionally use the built-in Ethernet port in my MBP.

They've also gotten rid of the optical drive, the modem, the IR receiver, and Firewire ports in the past 10 years or so.

That's the problem, everyone assumes wifi is available everywhere. What happens when you are part of the team building the infrastructure and there is no network at all let alone wifi? Also thunderbolt adaptors have a tendency to work loose, a CAT 5 cable with a clip doesn't. This doesn't make me feel very comfortable when I'm configuring some expensive kit for the first time.

----------

Nothing for you to worry about. You can get hardwired Ethernet via an adapter, so it's no different than an external optical drive or Firewire adapter.

All desktop Macs still have and are very likely to continue to have an Ethernet port.

Adaptors have a tendency to work loose, that's my issue with them, and that it's something else to forget/loose/break. CAT 5 cables, providing they aren't broken, never fall out. This matters if you have to configure things like storage arrays, or network devices, etc.

I can understand consumer devices that are designed to be light and thin like the MB Air not having ethernet, but a full-fledged laptop? Nah, that needs ethernet. And while I don't personally need an optical drive, I understand others do. It's all about choices, and unfortunately Apple seem to want to limit them.

 

[Crosscreek]

The new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming with hopefully a new design instead of this tired old box that disguises a throw away tamperproof disaster.

I just thought I would keep the thread alive.

 

[Neodym]

Also thunderbolt adaptors have a tendency to work loose

This seems to be a special "feature" of Apple's aluminum notebooks, though.

On the mini and an external TB drive from WD, the TB plug snaps in (both audibly and haptically) and sits well-fixed. I'm sure about this for a TB cable, but admittedly have to re-check for a TB adaptor.

----------

it wouldn't make sense to have OS X developed for two platforms.

You mean just like Apple did in the years prior to the Intel switch?

----------

I use my t-ports to run external ssd's as booters on all 3 mac mini's

Philip, what happened?

You know every single screw and piece of plastic inside the mini by first name and could probably apply for a Guiness World Record for fastest disassembly/reassembly of a mini.

Of all people you are running SSD's externally on all 3 machines?

 

[Neodym]

I don't know what direction Apple is headed but I'm really discouraged by the new Mini.

I consider the 2014 mini a stop-gap solution. Take a Macbook PCB and modify it for the mini as quick'n'dirty patch to soothen the complaints about no updates.

With Broadwell eventually available, the real new mini will be revealed. Smaller (maybe AppleTV-sized) and at a lower pricepoint, perhaps even a plastic housing.

And with lots of luck this will finally make room for a mid-class/enthusiast/prosumer headless Mac between the mini and the iMac.

Apple has listened to customers more often recently, so why not listen to the years old complaints about that gaping hole in their desktop lineup?

 

[timmillea]

I consider the 2014 mini a stop-gap solution. Take a Macbook PCB and modify it for the mini as quick'n'dirty patch to soothen the complaints about no updates.

With Broadwell eventually available, the real new mini will be revealed. Smaller (maybe AppleTV-sized) and at a lower pricepoint, perhaps even a plastic housing.

And with lots of luck this will finally make room for a mid-class/enthusiast/prosumer headless Mac between the mini and the iMac.

Apple has listened to customers more often recently, so why not listen to the years old complaints about that gaping hole in their desktop lineup?

The community consensus, in the absence of any hard information it must be said, is that the 2014 Mac Minis are a stop-gap measure pending Broadwell. Given the design asthetic that is Apple, we should expect a total re-design of the Mac Mini to already exist somewhere in the Cupertino caves with a much reduced form factor, SSD only, fanless, ultra low power and 4k-capable. Intel is the dragging force on its release.

I join the ranks of those peeved with this minor update and partial downgrade. Also of those who feel that Apple currently does not make a Mac for me. I want something smaller and lighter than a laptop to travel with and plug into a giant monitor when I get there, yet still be able to do some seriously powerful computing. I accept the lack of upgradability in return for something adequate now at a price I can afford. 4-core i7 was and is my minimum spec. I had hoped for, but did not expect, an 8-core top model.

As is, even the 2012 2.3GHz quad-core Mac Mini can give the base 2013 Mac Pro a run for its money (Geekbench). The 2014 Mac Mini can't.

My choice is therefore between a 2012 quad-core Mac Mini, a new Mac Pro with far greater cost, bulk, weight but with two discrete GPUs and a decade of upgradability, or a new Mac Mini that has 'obsolete' written all over it before it arrives. None of these is particularly attractive and really, it is a very poor show by Apple. I have not felt like this before ever with Apple products - and I have used Macs since 1985 and owned since my LCII in 1992.

I will live in my cave for another year and wait for something acceptable to emerge from Apple.

Tim.

 

[Crosscreek]

I consider the 2014 mini a stop-gap solution. Take a Macbook PCB and modify it for the mini as quick'n'dirty patch to soothen the complaints about no updates.

With Broadwell eventually available, the real new mini will be revealed. Smaller (maybe AppleTV-sized) and at a lower pricepoint, perhaps even a plastic housing.

And with lots of luck this will finally make room for a mid-class/enthusiast/prosumer headless Mac between the mini and the iMac.

Apple has listened to customers more often recently, so why not listen to the years old complaints about that gaping hole in their desktop lineup?

Apple has set its coarse in my opinion as far as what they will offer in the Mac future.

Mac Pro
Retina iMac
MacBook Pro
MacBook Air
Mac Mini

The Mac Mini will be on par with the Air and will never reach 15" MacBook Pro or iMac territory again with the offering of quad core processors.

They will all be unserviceable by consumers except for RAM upgrades for the 27" iMacs and the Pro will be upgradeable to compete with other work stations.

Apple won't listen to the Mac Mini consumer because it's once and for all just an entry level machine not the money maker.

 

[iFitzgerald]

Let's just cut the neutering nonsense. If we're going to do it, at least do it right.

The sooner Apple can get the Mini and OS X switched over to their own silicon, the better.

They already have silicon powerful enough to drive 3D games at iPad resolutions, and they already demonstrated a tiny form factor with HDMI, ethernet, and USB (Apple TV), so there's only one thing left to do - curve out a new product in the sub-$500 desktop. They don't really have anything in that range anyways, so why not.

Just think of the energy savings alone for business and education buyers. Not only does it cost less, but uses half the electricity.

Switching over to their own silicon would mean using a "new" architecture, which in this case would be ARM. When Apple moved to Intel, it made things a lot easier for Windows developers to port their Applications to OS X and I think it made the number of apps available much larger. Moving away from that will most likely have the reverse effect and a lot of companies aren't going to support that extra effort (time/staff/money) to develop for OS X.

Intel is getting much better in terms of graphics capabilities on their chips (Iris and Iris Pro) and in energy/power efficiency, so I really don't see the need to make the switch to ARM on the Mac and I believe it won't be good if it happens. I might be wrong, I'm no expert but at least that's the way I see it.

Going back to Windows is something I don't want but I don't exclude anymore (I'm not liking these new Macs) and if the Mac losses apps that I like/use with a new architecture switch, then I will have to go to the dark side of the...computing world...

 

[timmillea]

Switching over to their own silicon would mean using a "new" architecture, which in this case would be ARM. When Apple moved to Intel, it made things a lot easier for Windows developers to port their Applications to OS X and I think it made the number of apps available much larger. Moving away from that will most likely have the reverse effect and a lot of companies aren't going to support that extra effort (time/staff/money) to develop for OS X.

Intel is getting much better in terms of graphics capabilities on their chips (Iris and Iris Pro) and in energy/power efficiency, so I really don't see the need to make the switch to ARM on the Mac and I believe it won't be good if it happens. I might be wrong, I'm no expert but at least that's the way I see it.

Going back to Windows is something I don't want but I don't exclude anymore (I'm not liking these new Macs) and if the Mac losses apps that I like/use with a new architecture switch, then I will have to go to the dark side of the...computing world...

This is a common misconception. There are many abstraction layers between hardware and software precisely to make the hardware easy to change and the software portable. If ever one is dependant upon the other something is going disastrously wrong.

Apple introduced Swift - in my mind a cobbled-together compromise of a development language which Apple claims is 'modern'. It is compared to Objective C, Java and the other legacy languages. However, it has been designed to further seperate Apple hardware from Apple software irrespective of OS.

Apple has been investing heavily in its own silicon in recent years and I would not be at all surprised by an anouncement that all future Macs will be transitioned to its own just to leave the competition incapable of following. Apple taught Intel a few things - e.g. performance per Watt is critical rather than cooling ever hotter chips - with their partnership but Apple is in a position where it need no longer be dependant on a CPU partner.

The new Mac Mini is certainly coming, but not yet.

Tim.

 

[talmy]

There are many abstraction layers between hardware and software precisely to make the hardware easy to change and the software portable. If ever one is dependant upon the other something is going disastrously wrong.

You don't have to look any farther than Apple itself to see this. The move from PowerPC to Intel was almost seamless (only real gotcha was PowerPC being big-endian and Intel being little-endian with programs that relied on endian-ness, generally a poor programming practice). People also forget that when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone he said it ran OS X. And for the most part iOS and OS X differ mainly in the user interface and iOS offering fewer services.

The real problem is lack of backwards software compatibility and also the impact for those running Windows and/or Linux virtual machines. Apple has historically shown a disregard for backwards compatibility, but without a crutch like Rosetta this move would hurt them big-time.