Ridiculous price for what you get. I don't see the Mini lasting to much longer.
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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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Ridiculous price for what you get. I don't see the Mini lasting to much longer.
It would have been better to buy the 2012 I7 model, put in an SSD and max out the memory. A lot less expensive and you have a better computer.
Watch would be a deal tho. (sarcasm intended)
Time was, a generation or so ago, that computers were the domain of IT professionals and geeks. They are still around building, tinkering and creating…… doing a bit more than swapping out one RAM stick for another, and replacing a HDD with a SSD.
Nowadays PC's are ubiquitous. All offices and most homes have a computer or two or more. Most people buy them to do things, not to tinker with, install drivers, debug software and so on. Most don't want the hassle.
Now anybody can use a computer, to a greater or lesser extent, for their own purposes. The original Mac was a big step in that direction.
The Mac Mini is an entry level computer for users just getting in to the Mac system and who already have a monitor and keyboard. It will never be what it was and what it is is what it will be. Want quad, get a iMac or Pro.
I went from a mid 2010 Mini to a maxed out late 2014 Mini and I am very happy with this new machine with 1TB SSD and 16GB ram. True, I'm not a gamer, but if I were a gamer I would not be messing around with a Mini anyway.
It is what it is, and it will never be what it was. Get over it guys.
The Mini was originally promoted as an entry into the Mac system. For some it still is, but it it has become more than that. For many a suitably specced mini is all the computer they need is all the computer they need….. It fills a niche.
The 2005 Mini was my first computer because I wanted something that was occasionally transportable (on a bicycle or motorcycle), but didn't want a delicate portable to tote from home to class or office, to cafe or park. I didn't want an all in one with a glossy screen. I had no need of a honking great high specced box more suited to creative pros and gamers. Just something to keep create documents, and keep records for work, and for digital photography, music, communications and so on away from work. And I didn't want the hassles that came with Windows.
When replacement became more cost effective than repair or upgrading, my needs were unchanged, though tech had moved on a bit one way and another. My second computer was a Mac Mini. When the time comes my next will almost certainly be a new Mac Mini, which is almost certainly coming.
Yeah, like people ranting and whinging here that Apple isn't producing a Mac Mini tailored to their specific dreams and means.
Why so superior sounding and judgmental about the purchasing decisions of the hoi polloi?
Out of the box a Mac Mini comes with an OS and productivity apps to do things straight away. Updates come free of charge, and generally hassle free. Cheap at the price, I reckon. Who gives a a hoot about your cynical point of view?
Move on.
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OK, I get it. Everything Apple does is peachy-keen and groovy. That is why I own four 2012 models, three of which were purchased in 2014!
I wouldn't say that. Apple has made a few controversial calls over the years, which have bought a bit of an outcry at the time…. sometimes with good reason….. But sometimes, in hindsight, they have turned out to be good calls.
Does anybody lament the loss of floppy disc or optical disc ports? Not following the Blu-ray trend turned to be a non-issue.
This time, sure they have upset a few geeks by bringing out an updated, 2014 Mini, without a big increase in computing performance, and dropping the quad core. However it does come with improvements in other areas, especially connectivity, which are relevant for the day to day use of many.
The soldered RAM is probably less of an issue than many here make it out to be. Up to 16 GB is available, if customers so desire. A 2012 Mini is maxed out at the same 16 GB, albeit DIY. That is more than enough for the current OS and most apps, and is likely to remain so for quite a while. If more is required, a Mac Mini is probably the wrong computer for the task.
The loss of being able to do DIY upgrades is probably more of an issue to the average geek, than the average consumer.
For 2012 Mac Mini owners, disappointed by the 2014 offerings, the new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming.
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I largely agree, but my biggest issue is actually the lack of SSD options on the base model and overall available capacity. Apple is definitely not following the trends there. If you want a pure SSD experience, you have to go up to the US$900 model. If you want 512GB SSD, then it's $1,300! They specifically did this to up-sell.
Meanwhile SSD is the "new" RAM when it comes to Apple prices... they are just gouging customers on this, marking up SSDs 2-3 fold compared to retail. In the old days, it was easy to get around Apple RAM prices (which are relatively reasonable these days) by buying 3rd-party. Now you can't do that on the RAM or the SSD (well, maybe technically the SSD is possible, but I don't buy new Apple products to rip them apart and deal with the various DIY issues that keep these forums busy).
I can't see a new Mac Mini right on the heels of the baby upgrade they just did. Maybe 1/2 year from now.
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With a desktop computer it's easy to add an *external* SSD and get around the Apple Tax. Can't do that with RAM, which IMHO is still gouging. Apple charges $100 per 4GB. Crucial.com RAM is $40 per 4GB, or 2.5 times retail.
FYI gouging on memory is a industry tradition. I could site examples of this from HP, DEC, and Tektronix in the early 1970's and know of a similar "gouge" on a hardware upgrade by IBM in the 1960's.
The only problem with an external SSD is it doesn't utilize Apples trim utility but most SSDs now come with good garbage collection that runs during idle time so it's not that big of deal any longer.
Apple does the double dip on RAM and SSD since they partner in RAM manufacturing.
Considering the fact that the 2013 Mac mini came out in late 2014 I'm not very optimistic about the 2015 mini. I assume the mini will be the last Mac to be upgraded to Broadwell. By that time it will make more sense to skip Broadwell and go directly to Skylake. So Apple cancels the Broadwell mini, and then Intel delays Skylake, and you know the rest...
With the external SSD you now have a dual drive system. You can boot from the SSD and have applications there, but put the home folder on the internal HD. That way you get the benefit of quick boot and program load times (where you really see the improvement of an SSD) but do almost all disk writing to the HD which is where trim on an SSD is potentially useful. However you are right about the GC. I've got a 2009 mini I upgraded with an SSD and haven't seen any slowdown caused by lack of trim (or any other reason).
Is it here yet?
In 2014…..?
It did turn up in such underwhelming glory that folks hardly noticed, and reviewers took a couple of months or so to be bothered checking it out!
Yes, it did seem a bit odd that there isn't a SSD option on the base model, but I guess they figured that there would be relatively few takers at the budget end of the market.
Time was that CPU speed was the main determinant of a computer's performance. That has not gone up much for several years now. Indeed, with turbo boosting available to kick things along for a bit when needed, Apple has seen fit to drop the CPU speed in its lowest spec models.
Then adding RAM was the the thing to do when seeking better performance. Now, 8 or 16 GB is probably more than enough for most folks' everyday use, and could well remain so for quite a while, so no significant gains to be made there these days. Sure, the Mac Pro can go up to 64 GB, but it is more for creative pros than regular users.
In recent years it has been larger, more competitively priced SSD's that are giving folks significantly better performance. We will surely be seeing more of them as they become more affordable…… They will almost certainly be coming to a Mac Mini sooner or later.
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No, in 2014 we got another old Mac mini. We are talking about the new Mac mini.
Why would I want to do that? I just bought a brand new Mac Mini, and now I would have to have a "permanently" attached external drive hanging off of it?
I agree, the RAM prices are still silly, but as someone who has been buying computers for 30 years from Apple, Dell, HP, etc., the prices just seem relatively a little less silly then they used to. And I wasn't singling out Apple - yes, it's an industry thing on both the RAM and the SSD price gouging.
In the Apple Store on 12/31 asking about 4K display from the Mac Mini. The kids said it was not available yet, even though I knew it should be possible with the Iris Graphics chips ... and now looking at the Apple Mac Mini specs online it does say "Support for 3840-by-2160 resolution at 30Hz" and "Support for 4096-by-2160 resolution at 24Hz" through the HDMI port only.
Why no 4K video through the Thunderbolt/Display port is a mystery. Anyone got an answer?
IMOP: Maybe Apple will have to have 4K out of Thunderbolt on a small foot print cpu "real soon now", or the Winders' world will.
Anyway, when and if is the question for us. Gotta have it.
Why no 4K video through the Thunderbolt/Display port is a mystery. Anyone got an answer?
IMOP: Maybe Apple will have to have 4K out of Thunderbolt on a small foot print cpu "real soon now", or the Winders' world will.
Anyway, when and if is the question for us. Gotta have it.
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It's available for the Mac Pro and probably because it needs a graphics card to push that many pixels efficiently to do any sort of video editing.
Oh, I see what you mean.
Mac Mini updates have tended to come after others in the Mac range, thus usually a bit old by comparison.
I'm not cooling my heels waiting for a 2015 Mac Mini. I purchased an Apple refurbished 4GB RAM 2012 2.3Mhz quad core with a 1 TB HD and I'm adding a 240SSD and 16GB RAM upgrade and having OtherWorld Computing do it for 99 US Dollars. I think that serves me better than the 2014's since I'm using it as my media server and to run Handbrake.
Whether Apple ends or continues the Mac Mini, I'll be set for a few years at least.
My thinking is Apple is soon going to create their own media machine with AppleTV. It will have the capabilities of the Mac Mini in media server power, but will be dedicated to apps, including games and not a full blown desktop. However, it will serve as an always on computer for any Apple compatible appliances. Though, that's just a guess. AppleTV is due to have an upgrade that means something.
Whether Apple ends or continues the Mac Mini, I'll be set for a few years at least.
My thinking is Apple is soon going to create their own media machine with AppleTV. It will have the capabilities of the Mac Mini in media server power, but will be dedicated to apps, including games and not a full blown desktop. However, it will serve as an always on computer for any Apple compatible appliances. Though, that's just a guess. AppleTV is due to have an upgrade that means something.
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The Broadwell CPUs announced today by Intel include 28W parts (for example the 5557U) which would be suitable for a 2015 Mac mini. These are all dual-core CPUs, but of course faster than the Haswell CPUs found the current mini, particularly faster graphics performance.
Really would like to see Skylake Mini and skip the Broadwells. Broadwell will be short lived in my opinion.
Me. I have much data stored on CD and DVD, much music stored on CD, old installation DVDs for various things. For example ... all my Office programs that run on Windoze that also came on disc with the new copy of Parallels. I had to buy and external drive to read them on my new/old 2012 mini, so I did go ahead and get the BluRay version because what the heck. Would have been lots easier on my desktop if the disc drive was built in.
Got lots CDs in storage that will burn to iTunes one day and need reader for that. I guess the takeaway is that if you are young enough that the first music you bought was digital, you don't need no stinking disc drive. But if you're a geezer, who spent all that time ripping albums to disc ... I mention no names except my own.
Maybe with todays HP Pavilion Mini (Pentium 3558U processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 500GB, 7200RPM hard drive) $320,or the even cheaper HP Mini (Celeron 2957U processor, has 2GB of RAM, and a 32GB M.2 SATA solid state drive) $180....Apple will feel some heat?
