The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

[ardchoille50]

Then how do you explain the constant cripling of macmini. For example the elimination of dedicated graphics card once the cpus became strong. or the much longer refresh rates then for other products? All this are clear marks that Apple wants to sell more iMacs then minis, so i guess you still need to understand how Apple operates.

Crippling? I don't see it that way. The Mac mini is meant to be an entry level device - there is always the iMac if you need something more powerful. The dedicated graphics card could have been removed to keep the price point down to stay within the definition of "entry level". Entry level devices don't need a yearly refresh to be state-of-the-art.

You seem to keep banging on the graphics card. My advice, even though you don't want to hear it, is: buy an iMac. Nothing worthwhile comes easy. You get what you pay for.

 

[pcd109]

.....You seem to keep banging on the graphics card. My advice, even though you don't want to hear it, is: buy an iMac. Nothing worthwhile comes easy. You get what you pay for.

Well, repeat after me: 800$ is not entry level. And then repeat some more. And in EU is 1100-1200$, witch by all means is NOT entry level. And even if it will be, entry level video card today have at least 1gb of dedicated video memory. Will not purchase an iMac. I purchased power macs, macpros and mac minis, nothing with integrated screen. Worst case scenario i will purchase refurbished/old macpro, but now i want a new mini to replace my oldest mac alive. And i want a DECENT graphics card. If you say hd4000 is decent, well my brother we have different opinions about DECENT. I am not arguing with you or anybody, this is just how i see it. And if more of us will put some pressure on Apple maybe they will hear us and give us some DECENT graphics in mini. Iris Pro on mac mini anyone at Apple?

p.s. 21,5" imacs don't have user upgradable ram anymore. apple wants about 300$(in EU) to put 16gb in them instead of 8(cto). maybe you think this is ok too? if yes, maybe you need to start paying dividends to Apple because they allow you to use they hardware. or, wait a minute you paid for it....

 

[EADGBE]

I'm still left wondering why the SSD and fusion drive options are back ordered 2-3/3-4 weeks respectively. This is in the Apple US store.

These options are still backordered by the same timeframes, and they've been that way for over a week.

And no refurb Mac Minis have appeared in the US Apple store over the last week. It's common to have a few days elapse between refurbs appearing but this is the longest stretch since I've been watching it for the past couple of months (I think).

May mean nothing.

May mean something.

 

[riggles]

Well, repeat after me: 800$ is not entry level. And then repeat some more. And in EU is 1100-1200$, witch by all means is NOT entry level. And even if it will be, entry level video card today have at least 1gb of dedicated video memory.
---
I am not arguing with you or anybody, this is just how i see it.

Heh. You've an interesting way of not arguing with people in this thread

I'm still not sure where you get your numbers from. Obviously Europe is more expensive than the US, both for base Apple price and for taxes, but $800 through the Apple store and before taxes? For the base Mac Mini? $1,200 in the EU? I'm not following

I also think Apple has a different definition of "entry-level" than you. It will never include "cheap", both in cost and in quality. Apple puts an i5 CPU in their base $600 (US price) model. An entry level HP gets an i3 or less, with very much integrated graphics -- naturally it costs less, too. I'm curious what entry-level tasks you think need 1GB of dedicated VRAM? Perhaps you want the Mac Mini to perform at levels outside of the market it's designed for?

 

[hugodrax]

I do not see a new Mac mini until broadwell arrives. The high end i7s run 47 watts which is above spec compared to the high end ivy bridge CPUs that ran within the 45 watt tdp design of the Mac mini case.

Broadwell will provide a significant increase in gpu performance over haswell that I see that being the time for new minis.

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

I do not see a new Mac mini until broadwell arrives. The high end i7s run 47 watts which is above spec compared to the high end ivy bridge CPUs that ran within the 45 watt tdp design of the Mac mini case.

The Haswell processors have integrated voltage regulators which generate less heat than external voltage regulators. The TDP is only 2 Watts higher-that's nothing.

 

[GoBengals]

Well, repeat after me: 800$ is not entry level. And then repeat some more. And in EU is 1100-1200$, witch by all means is NOT entry level. And even if it will be, entry level video card today have at least 1gb of dedicated video memory. Will not purchase an iMac. I purchased power macs, macpros and mac minis, nothing with integrated screen. Worst case scenario i will purchase refurbished/old macpro, but now i want a new mini to replace my oldest mac alive. And i want a DECENT graphics card. If you say hd4000 is decent, well my brother we have different opinions about DECENT. I am not arguing with you or anybody, this is just how i see it. And if more of us will put some pressure on Apple maybe they will hear us and give us some DECENT graphics in mini. Iris Pro on mac mini anyone at Apple?

p.s. 21,5" imacs don't have user upgradable ram anymore. apple wants about 300$(in EU) to put 16gb in them instead of 8(cto). maybe you think this is ok too? if yes, maybe you need to start paying dividends to Apple because they allow you to use they hardware. or, wait a minute you paid for it....

$800? that "entry level" quad core i7 with a tb hard drive??!?! thats entry level?

ffs guy, you can spend $600, $800, $1000, $1100, $1200, $1300, $1500, $1700, $2000,. $2100, $2300, $2600, $3,000, $4,000 on a mac between desktop, and notebook, pick what you need and pay for it or find something better.

your personal preferences do not define market value nor do they define the needs of the masses, so stop acting like your personal opinion is strict fact that everyone should believe, its your opinion and your preferences, they have nothing to do with reality. just because you want a nice small mac mini powerhouse, doesnt mean apple gives a ***** and doesnt mean everyone does or should "demand" the same thing..

if you dont like it, buy something else, no one will care. if it were affecting sales as you pretend it does, apple would change its offering, its obviously working well for them. and its not like they push the mini, its a $600 entry level machine, you demanding a qoad core i7 and tb hard drive, thus considering the $800 "entry level" is foolish, the $800 isnt entry level, what percentage of casual computer users need a quad core i7 tb hard drive and dedicated graphics, since you seem to think the entire world required dedicated graphics?!?!?!?!??! you can do all web, video streaming, photoshop, email, etc, 99% of computer needs without it... gaming or video capture and editing, etc, things that require more from graphics, are things someone not so cheap that they are going to spend $600 on a computer, does.

why do you keep acting likem the entire world must have dedicated graphics????

 

[Sun-Warrior]

These options [the SSD and fusion drive options are back ordered 2-3/3-4 weeks respectively] are still backordered by the same timeframes, and they've been that way for over a week.

And no refurb Mac Minis have appeared in the US Apple store over the last week. It's common to have a few days elapse between refurbs appearing but this is the longest stretch since I've been watching it for the past couple of months (I think).

Those backorder dates might be a mirage.
At least they were for me.

Just because there might be a new version -- to be explained below* -- of the Mini, I ordered a 2.6GHz i7 with 16GB memory and the 256GB SSD on February 9th. Ordered online directly from the US Apple store. And at the time of purchase, the order said 3 to 4 weeks until shipping.

However, I would have received it on February 13th, only four days later coming from China, except for the big snowstorm in the Northeast, so I received it on the 14th, only five days after ordering.

That's normal-fast, I'd say, from other experiences buying from the Apple Store. Wonder why the discrepancy between what they said and what they did.

* I am using this Mini as a dedicated music server, no other uses. The current model is plenty fast for me. And there are several reasons I wanted the current version, and not take a chance on changes:

• I wanted the FireWire port since I already had several external drives for holding my 600GB of music files -- and what doesn't work is a USB port, since that's for sound output only, and not Thunderbolt either, since the adapter is okay but a bit of a kluge.
• I wanted the infrared remote capability, since that's one of the ways I can control music playing -- next track, quick pause, et cetera.
• I wanted the current look, not something like a Mac Pro -- one possibility, from stuff I read here -- since the current low-silver look blends in well with my music system. (I run the Mini headless, doing everything but playing the music using OS X's screen sharing capabilities, running off my work iMac.)

Dave, who wants to point out that depending on your needs and desires newest isn't always best

 

[talmy]

* I am using this Mini as a dedicated music server, no other uses. The current model is plenty fast for me. And there are several reasons I wanted the current version, and not take a chance on changes:

I watching Apple closely to not be caught by changes! I've got three minis that are working fine (and are roughly 4 years old). But if there is a massive change I'll probably spring for the current generation as a refurb. My mini server relies on FW800 external drives, no FW800 and that will be replaced. No IR and I'll have to rethink my strategy for entertainment centers (my other two minis) as well.

While one of the minis has a SSD (replacing the original HDD that failed) just to see how it would run, there has been no noticeable speed up and I wouldn't pay extra for a 2014 SSD only mini!

 

[762999]

Those backorder dates might be a mirage.
At least they were for me.

Just because there might be a new version -- to be explained below* -- of the Mini, I ordered a 2.6kHz i7 with 16GB memory and the 256GB SSD on February 9th. Ordered online directly from the US Apple store. And at the time of purchase, the order said 3 to 4 weeks until shipping.

However, I would have received it on February 13th, only four days later coming from China, except for the big snowstorm in the Northeast, so I received it on the 14th, only five days after ordering.

That's normal-fast, I'd say, from other experiences buying from the Apple Store. Wonder why the discrepancy between what they said and what they did.

* I am using this Mini as a dedicated music server, no other uses. The current model is plenty fast for me. And there are several reasons I wanted the current version, and not take a chance on changes:

• I wanted the FireWire port since I already had several external drives for holding my 600GB of music files -- and what doesn't work is a USB port, since that's for sound output only, and not Thunderbolt either, since the adapter is okay but a bit of a kluge.
• I wanted the infrared remote capability, since that's one of the ways I can control music playing -- next track, quick pause, et cetera.
• I wanted the current look, not something like a Mac Pro -- one possibility, from stuff I read here -- since the current low-silver look blends in well with my music system. (I run the Mini headless, doing everything but playing the music using OS X's screen sharing capabilities, running off my work iMac.)

Dave, who wants to point out that depending on your needs and desires newest isn't always best

I'm still wandering why you went with that config. A headless entry-level i5 with 4GB would have done the same job. It's only playing back music.

I don't complain but it seems highly overkill!

 

[jimbobba2773]

I've just landed a Refurb Mac Mini 2.6 with stock config (unless I land a bonus) from the Apple store to replace my old MacBook Pro. Going to use it as my main machine with 16GB (ordered) and a 512GB SSD which I had inside my MacBook Pro nicely connected to a Thunderbolt display. Got the Mini for $869Aus which I think was a good buy. Was going to wait for a new model but don't know when they are coming and this was a good opportunity.

Will have 3 Mac Mini's soon and I love their size/power performance.

 

[NewbieCanada]

These options are still backordered by the same timeframes, and they've been that way for over a week.

And no refurb Mac Minis have appeared in the US Apple store over the last week. It's common to have a few days elapse between refurbs appearing but this is the longest stretch since I've been watching it for the past couple of months (I think).

May mean nothing.

May mean something.

Means I was able to sell my year-old one today for $1100. I'd paid $1175 including taxes (but I threw in a wired Mac keyboard and magic mouse.

 

[pcd109]

$800? that "entry level" quad core i7 with a tb hard drive??!?! thats entry level?

Take a deep breath and then some more. The guy i was answering to said it's entry level, i said IT"S NOT ENTRY LEVEL. Go bang your head to a wall, you might feel a bit better...

 

[goatghost]

I've been waiting for the Mac Mini refresh since last summer.

I'm on a Powermac G5 Dual 2.0 from like 2005 (4GB RAM, Panther OS X 10.5.8). Web pages take time to load. Safari freezes, especially with several tabs open. Videos take forever to load and are choppy, at best.

I could get a 2012 Mini, but I'm looking to play games on it (not that games can't be played on the 2012). Iris/Iris Pro sounds pretty good, since I'll probably be using Bootcamp or VMware to play PC-compatible games (e.g. World of Tanks) with my son. Hopefully, they'll run okay. I'm hoping a new Mini will buy me a bit more time before I need to upgrade again.

I'm also thinking of using it as a Plex media center, in order to stream home movies to TVs in my house. If memory is soldered, I'll probably go with 16GB. If not, I'll buy it separately and install it myself. As for storage, I'll probably go for a 256GB SSD (if it's not too expensive) and an aftermarket 2GB-4GB external drive.

The waiting is killing me, though. Hopefully, the update comes in February or March. The longer I wait, the more invested I am in waiting for the update and the less sense it makes in buying the 2102.

I might be waiting a while, though...LOL

 

[Miguel Cunha]

The waiting is killing me, though. Hopefully, the update comes in February or March. The longer I wait, the more invested I am in waiting for the update and the less sense it makes in buying the 2102.

You read my mind!

 

[And]

I've been waiting for the Mac Mini refresh since last summer.

I'm on a Powermac G5 Dual 2.0 from like 2005 (4GB RAM, Panther OS X 10.5.8). Web pages take time to load. Safari freezes, especially with several tabs open. Videos take forever to load and are choppy, at best.

I might be waiting a while, though...LOL

Try TenFourFox for web browsing, there is a version optimised for G5 processors. It is kept up to date, whereas Safari is not. It is probably safer to use.

Yes, the waiting game is not fun. I'm starting to think later in this year is likely now. It may also not be quite what we are expecting from a new mini - other threads are speculating, so I won't here. If it doesn't suit my needs I will have to think very carefully, I really don't want an iMac!

 

[Sun-Warrior]

I'm still wandering why you went with that config. A headless entry-level i5 with 4GB would have done the same job. It's only playing back music.

I don't complain but it seems highly overkill!

Good question.

Why did I go with the 2.6GHz i7, 16GB memory and 256GB SSD Mini configuration for a dedicated music server?

• The SSD is faster and quieter than any hard-disk drive. Plus, there's less EMI, which matters for a higher-end music system.
• And to get the SSD from Apple, you need to go with the i7 chip.
• So, if I needed the i7 anyway, only $100 more for the 2.6GHz version makes sense to me.
• Then, memory -- I use Audirvana Plus (A+) as the music player (iTunes is just the library, database). And A+ reads the whole track into memory before playing it, which is why 8GB is really the minimum needed. But also, and this is a minor A+ flaw, it tends to eat up memory as it plays for a few hours, so going up to 16GB gives me a buffer.
• And checking out the pricing for 16GB memory would be only $100 less from OWC, for example, than from Apple. But from Apple, it's all under warranty.
• Lastly, if I ever decide to use this Mini for general computing purposes, I'd rather have the higher end machine.

And also, yes, I could have done things like the SSD or memory myself. But I'm paying here for both convenience and protection (Apple's warranty only covers its own installs).

So, if you're just playing a bunch of MP3s and the like, a lower-end Mini would surely suffice. But for my set of needs and wants, this top-end Mini makes sense.

Thanks for asking.

Dave, who also wanted the current Mini because he would be unhappy to lose the ability to control it with that slim Apple silver remote that needs infrared

 

[762999]

Good question.

Why did I go with the 2.6kHz i7, 16GB memory and 256GB SSD Mini configuration for a dedicated music server?

• The SSD is faster and quieter than any hard-disk drive. Plus, there's less EMI, which matters for a higher-end music system.
• And to get the SSD from Apple, you need to go with the i7 chip.
• So, if I needed the i7 anyway, only $100 more for the 2.6kHz version makes sense to me.
• Then, memory -- I use Audirvana Plus (A+) as the music player (iTunes is just the library, database). And A+ reads the whole track into memory before playing it, which is why 8GB is really the minimum needed. But also, and this is a minor A+ flaw, it tends to eat up memory as it plays for a few hours, so going up to 16GB gives me a buffer.
• And checking out the pricing for 16GB memory would be only $100 less from OWC, for example, than from Apple. But from Apple, it's all under warranty.
• Lastly, if I ever decide to use this Mini for general computing purposes, I'd rather have the higher end machine.

And also, yes, I could have done things like the SSD or memory myself. But I'm paying here for both convenience and protection (Apple's warranty only covers its own installs).

So, if you're just playing a bunch of MP3s and the like, a lower-end Mini would surely suffice. But for my set of needs and wants, this top-end Mini makes sense.

Thanks for asking.

Dave, who also wanted the current Mini because he would be unhappy to lose the ability to control it with that slim Apple silver remote that needs infrared

Thanks for replying, your reasoning make sense. But EMI won't affect anything if you use the digital out. I currently have my computers pc&mac hooked to an external high-end DAC.

Enjoy you're little rocket! I also went SDD for my silent HTPC in the basement (alto took a fanless GPU to go with it).

 

[Sun-Warrior]

Thanks for replying, your reasoning make sense. But EMI won't affect anything if you use the digital out. I currently have my computers pc&mac hooked to an external high-end DAC.

Enjoy you're little rocket! I also went SDD for my silent HTPC in the basement (alto took a fanless GPU to go with it).

Oh yes, that's the other thing: with a Mini this powerful used only for music, the fan never comes on, since it's never close to be over-taxed. That's silence too, of course.

Dave, who adds interesting music app you have there Luc and while I don't need it now since all my music files are in ALAC format I might need it someday

 

[Mr. Retrofire]

[*]So, if I needed the i7 anyway, only $100 more for the 2.6kHz version makes sense to me.

2.6 kHz processor. Wow!

;-)

 

[Sun-Warrior]

2.6 kHz processor. Wow!

;-)

All my typos are very retro.
Someone once told me that was cool.

And with your screen name, I know you understand.

Anyway, slower computers are much more thorough.

 

[hleewell]

I put a Scorpio Black running at 7200 rpm and very rarely get a beachball. For me the 750gb HDD was a better and cheaper option than 256gb SSD, at least for the time being. If we do get a refresh I would probably go with 256ssd and use the HDD in an external housing for media libraryor use the old mini as a server.

----------


Not announcing in advance gives the competition less time to react.

Depending on what you're doing ram and drive upgrades will probably give you more than i7

My Hitachi HDD just died after only 3 years of service. SSD wild deteriorate over time but it will not go "Creeeak! Creeeeeak!" like my poor Hitachi.

 

[corvus32]

I got tired of waiting and knowing the next Mini would have lame graphics anyways, so I built this.

 

[Crosscreek]

I got tired of waiting and knowing the next Mini would have lame graphics anyways, so I built this.

Are you going to Hackintosh it?

 

[grandM]

answer

Heh. You've an interesting way of not arguing with people in this thread

I'm still not sure where you get your numbers from. Obviously Europe is more expensive than the US, both for base Apple price and for taxes, but $800 through the Apple store and before taxes? For the base Mac Mini? $1,200 in the EU? I'm not following

I also think Apple has a different definition of "entry-level" than you. It will never include "cheap", both in cost and in quality. Apple puts an i5 CPU in their base $600 (US price) model. An entry level HP gets an i3 or less, with very much integrated graphics -- naturally it costs less, too. I'm curious what entry-level tasks you think need 1GB of dedicated VRAM? Perhaps you want the Mac Mini to perform at levels outside of the market it's designed for?

In Europe you'll pay 800 euro = 1100 USD for an i7 mac mini. The complainer makes sense. It's reasonable not wanting to buy an integrated screen. I don't want this either. Given that constraint you're looking at 800 euro (mini) or 2800 euro (pro). No prob with the apple tax. Do have a prob with the lack of choice.