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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

Jedi said:
I think he thinks it`s dead.

I have to believe that Apple would not let one of there best sellers go quietly into the night.

Have faith , not in Apple , but in those that demand from them a new and better Mac Mini !! :D

We can hope that someone at Apple`s HQ monitors this forum and looks for key words like Mac Mini Update.

Happy New Year :)

Gary 
Click to expand...

;-)
Too bad we will never see individual sales numbers of Apple products.
The whole Mac section already pales in comparison with iPhone - and most of the Mac sales are in notebooks anyway.
So, the Mini is probably a rounding error in iPhone-land.

Probably more time is spend at Apple deciding the brand and type of toilet paper in the executive bathrooms than about the fate of the Mac Mini - and I cannot really blame Apple for that.
The iPhone has relegated traditional desktop and mobile computers into a niche status that was almost inconceivable nine years ago. Because Apple sucks up users and profit from other manufacturers who leave that market, their Mac-business actually still has growth (and thus, it makes sense to actually still release updated hardware).
But we may soon reach a point where it doesn't make sense anymore (neither for Apple nor for Intel) to do yearly updates of their desktop/notebook lineup.
I wouldn't be surprised to see the update-cycle of the rest of the Mac lineup be more and more dragged out towards what we have seen (and dreaded...) for the Mac Mini (or, god help us, the MacPro).
 
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If it does come, it will likely disappoint. If it does not come, it will surely disappoint.
Seems the gist of this thread is discussing the type and degree of disappointment that may or may not come in 2016 or suuuuuurely by spring of 2017! :confused:

PS. If Apple would just slow down the OS release cycle to match the Mini's hardware cycle, that would be a plus.
 
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Apple has to know that the mini is still a great way to bring in NEW people to the Mac fold. And that has extreme value, because without it, Apple will die on the vine. New customers are the life blood of business.
 
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MRrainer said:
So, the Mini is probably a rounding error in iPhone-land.
Click to expand...
Cape Dave said:
Apple has to know that the mini is still a great way to bring in NEW people to the Mac fold.
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So if it's so insignificant for the bottom line, why not make it something special to attract just that crowd that is not that enamored of the rest of the Mac line-up. They did it with the nMP, what is there to lose? Give it some more options and make it user upgradeable - is that going to scare away any current buyers? It sure as h--l would attract new ones.
 
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And what about a redesign? If they go pci-e SSD for all models, that will allow to make it even smaller or slimer, while offering a better overal experience. 3 color options with 8GB DDR4 RAM base model and Skylake-H with Iris Pro 580 as higher option would make it very interesting machine.

Not going to happend though...
 
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AirdanMR said:
And what about a redesign? If they go pci-e SSD for all models, that will allow to make it even smaller or slimer, while offering a better overal experience. 3 color options with 8GB DDR4 RAM base model and Skylake-H with Iris Pro 580 as higher option would make it very interesting machine.

Not going to happend though...
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- 3 different colors: not going to happen (production volume)
- 8 GB base: would increase the base-price (you can order it with 8 anyway), not going to happen until OS X needs 8 to even start up
- more powerful gpu: again: variety kills profits (over time, even the entry-level gnu will do 4k, so it will sort itself out "in the long arc of time", as Tim Cook likes to put it)

As I said: desktops are on the way out. Nobody in his right mind is going to spread-out their model-lines even further.
 
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MRrainer said:
- 3 different colors: not going to happen (production volume)
- 8 GB base: would increase the base-price (you can order it with 8 anyway), not going to happen until OS X needs 8 to even start up
- more powerful gpu: again: variety kills profits (over time, even the entry-level gnu will do 4k, so it will sort itself out "in the long arc of time", as Tim Cook likes to put it)

As I said: desktops are on the way out. Nobody in his right mind is going to spread-out their model-lines even further.
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I have to agree on the not happening thing, but to disagree on your logic.

Color: If they can sell the ipod shuffle in 5 colors, they can offer the mac mini with 3 color. For me is that simple. But if you check the net sales of mac vs iPod at 2015 they were both on pair and I think we could say that mac mini is the equivalent of the shuffle, both the low end model of the family.

- 8GB ... even the macbook with a core-m has a 8gb base model. If they update the mini it should be 8gb base model without the 120$ more than they charge you right now.

I agree about the cpu / gpu profit, because that's how apple works, but it's really stupid, it won't really kill profits, just move them to another product line while you atract new clients due to the mayor variety of products.
 
Unless Apple updates the Mini with a quad core next time I will no longer pay the Apple tax. I have Win 10 on my Mini I might take off or just go with a Linux NUC.

Apple is not really in the computer business anymore. The money is in mobile. Linux and Windows 10 have caught up with OS X which has become more and more bloated.

I'll keep my 2012 Mini until it dies. It has been a good machine but I'm over Apple.......
 
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I'm thinking the next Mac Mini looks a lot like the base iMac:
1.6GHz dual core i5 (with hopefully an option for the 2.8GHz quad core i5)
8GB RAM configurable up to 16GB
1TB (or maybe still the 500GB) 5400RPM slow hard drive (sad this is still the case for the iMac)
Intel HD Graphics 6000

If they make another quad core mac mini, I would be interested in another one. I will miss the upgradeable RAM, but if the mini comes with 8GB RAM base like the iMac, then I would find this acceptable...
 
Question for you experts,

Do you think they will release a quad core processor?

If they released a new version with quad core I would be all over it.

Apple don't seem to offer much choice form factor wise anymore. So I'm either lumped with an iMac which is £2000 roughly or a Mac Pro which is way overkill which starts at £2500 or a Mac mini which is sub £1000....

I got all excited to see Mac mini in the refurb store today but it's all 2014 models
 
sparkie1984 said:
Do you think they will release a quad core processor?
Click to expand...

It seems to be up to Intel. I'm sure Apple would offer it if they had a pin-compatible quad core processor they could use.

Apple don't seem to offer much choice form factor wise anymore.
Click to expand...

Anymore? They never did! At least not since Steve Job's return and his four quadrant plan (laptop/desktop, consumer/pro) for computers. Now I here criticism that there are too many products.
 
talmy said:
It seems to be up to Intel. I'm sure Apple would offer it if they had a pin-compatible quad core processor they could use.



Anymore? They never did! At least not since Steve Job's return and his four quadrant plan (laptop/desktop, consumer/pro) for computers. Now I here criticism that there are too many products.
Click to expand...

Oh so it's more a case of there's no processors to fit in it? Wouldn't the iMac processors be usable?
 
sparkie1984 said:
Are there any mobile quad core processors due out?
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Quad-core Haswell mobile processors like the ones in the previous-generation 15" rMBP would have been usable for the 2014 Mac mini, but would have required a second logic board design because of the different pinout. I'm not sure if this is still true with Skylake, or if the pinout has been changed to match again.
 
I couldn't find any better chart - but if http://files.shareholder.com/downlo...ec_27_15_Recommended_Customer_Price_Lists.pdf is representative, I wouldn't even rule out a Core M Mini.
Price is the same, more or less - but availability will play a big role in that decision, too - of course.

If they really do it with a Core M, the system could shrink even further - the power-brick would probably exceed the size of whole compute-unit (as there needs to be no space for the battery).
I trust them to gut all ports except two USB-C and the audio-out ports ("People use bluetooth-devices anyway, aren't they?").
No sure who'd buy such a thing, though. Wouldn't be "love on first sight" for me, for sure.
;-)
 
MRrainer said:
I trust them to gut all ports except two USB-C
Click to expand...

If people keep saying that, Apple will think we actually want USB-C ports on our Minis. :D

Actually, I don't really care what they do with the next Mac Mini... I'm buying a 2014 model soon.
 
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burne said:
OK. That is my cue. Holding my breath.. :eek:
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I wouldn't be holding my breath... Any day now could be tomorrow or a year from tomorrow.

Apple does what Apple does and nobody is any wiser until Apple actually does it.

It is fun to speculate though. :D
 
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