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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

Jambalaya said:
If Apple released a new Mini with Skylake and soldered RAM I'd bite the bullet and pay up for a "future proof" amount of RAM (8 probably combined with ssd). Is that the ideal machine no but there comes a point where we have to conceed what we'd really like isn't coming. My 2009 maxhine got an extra lease of life with ram/hdd in 2012 but it can't last forever and unless we get a new Mini I will be one of many forced to chose between a used machine or an iMac
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I agree with you about the soldered chip: with a mini it makes little sense to worry about replacing the chip. I would still prefer the RAM be user upgrade able.

I can even be okay with a two-core chip if some discrete graphics were built in to reduce the load on the CPU.
 
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Tiberius2000 said:
I agree with you about the soldered chip: with a mini it makes little sense to worry about replacing the chip. I would still prefer the RAM be user upgrade able.

I can even be okay with a two-core chip if some discrete graphics were built in to reduce the load on the CPU.
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I can live with soldered RAM, provided Apple either raise the baseline for all Macs to 8GB (without increasing price), or stop gouging on the BTO extra RAM.

If iGPUs get good enough to compensate for the move from quad to dual core CPUs, at least for basic video work (conversion, filtering, editing, etc,) then I can also live with dual core CPUs.
 
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I'm still using my late 2012 mac mini. Quad core i7 with 16GB of ram I paid $100 for a couple years back. My only real complaint about the computer is the lack of a good GPU. I can't run Da Vinci Resolve on it.

I was a little hesitant about buying it when I did in August of 2013 because I figured Apple would update it at any time. But it took them a whole extra year before they did and even then it seemed like the new version sucked by comparison. So I'm pretty happy I've gotten my money's worth out of it. But at the same time, I don't feel like there is a real upgrade path. Even if Apple releases a new mini soon, I'm not going to want to trade a quad core cpu for a dual core nor the inability to upgrade ram myself. I'd have to move to an entirely different machine.

I just hate that Apple keeps locking things down more and more. It's tempting me to move to a self built PC tower, I moved away from those 6 years ago.
 
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I was looking at alternatives to Mac Mini and find Dell Optiflex Micro 3040 and 7040. They are even smaller (and uglier) than the Mac Mini but them fit 35W desktop Skylake proccesors: dual core i3-6100T and quad core i5-6500T. On the bad side, ram is only 8gb and single channel, storage 128gb SSD but I think storage could be easy to upgrade.

i3-6100T performance allmost equal to i5-4278U on the Mac Mini, but i5-6500T it's close to a rMBP15 2015

Anyway, there is not to much diference in price, and with the mac mini you got better design, Iris HD, and dual channel memory, but maybe someone find them interesting.

Hopefully Apple will update it in March, colors option, usb-c and skylake.
 
All praise Our Prophet, Saint GabrieleR

For he sayeth the new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming.

Halellujahtechnobabble.
 
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Apple don't be a cauc2us, it's Super Tuesday, give us new Mac Minis.

We're not asking for or expecting much.

We know user upgrading isn't coming back. We know we won't see 16GB RAM standard. Nor Fusion Drives/256 SSD at $699. These things won't happen.

But we would like to see:

1. An architecture bump.
2. Which brings better integrated graphics with it.​

We know the spec changes to the Mini will be well, Mini-mal. But at least we could buy a machine today and not feel like we're getting killed with 2014 specs.

So Apple, make it a Super Tuesday and don't be a cauc2us.
 
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I'm wondering if they are waiting for the price of SSD sticks to come down. Get rid of any hard drive option and merge the mini with the Apple TV.
 
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Apple used to be proud of the mini in that they made something small that no one else did. The mini lost the race to the smallest years ago with the mini-itx clones. Now there is nano-itx, pico-itx and mobile-itx and the current mac mini is still based on the size of a supporting a DVD player. So the next model has to be smaller. If they do a mini-pro it could be the size/shape of a soda can. The problem with a smaller mini is then it is close to an Apple TV. So instead of competing they should just merge them. Remember that the early Apple TVs were essentially a stripped down mini.
 
C'mon Apple, I need one... Skylake, USB-C, Colors... it's not that difficult!

Plz...

saulinpa said:
Apple used to be proud of the mini in that they made something small that no one else did. The mini lost the race to the smallest years ago with the mini-itx clones. Now there is nano-itx, pico-itx and mobile-itx and the current mac mini is still based on the size of a supporting a DVD player. So the next model has to be smaller. If they do a mini-pro it could be the size/shape of a soda can. The problem with a smaller mini is then it is close to an Apple TV. So instead of competing they should just merge them. Remember that the early Apple TVs were essentially a stripped down mini.
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Apple Mini is desktop architecture and Apple TV is iOS architecture. That's not going to happend, unless Mac Mini starts using a AX ARM CPU. And there's not point to do that. There is already one... the Apple TV.
 
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Micky Do said:
Why….? What is wrong with having SSD, Fusion, and HDD among the option?
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Fusion is cheap-assed marketing ploy. Spinners are for EXTERNAL. They are slow, hot and contribute to an overall crappy computing experience when inside the computer. Especially with 4GB Ram. That is a real horror show.
 
Cape Dave said:
Fusion is cheap-assed marketing ploy.
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Hmm. From what I can see, a Fusion drive is actually optimal for the type of user Apple normally courts. It provides a speedy SSD, an inexpensive HD, and software to automagically balance storage between the two so that non-technical folks just see a single drive. I'm sure Apple considers this a win-win-win situation.

Spinners are for EXTERNAL.
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This is also a situation Apple would like to avoid. They seem unhappy enough about even having a machine that doesn't have an integrated screen, let alone integrated peripherals. :)

They are slow, hot and contribute to an overall crappy computing experience when inside the computer. Especially with 4GB Ram. That is a real horror show.
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I do have to admit, I am also dismayed at the relatively poor choices available in Apple hardware. Apple is certainly sliding back down into the position it held more than a decade ago, where all its products were significantly inferior to the hardware available in the Windows PC world. But in my opinion, this is a combination of (a) very poor high-end choices, and (b) lack of expandability in existing products. I see no reason why Apple should be prevented from selling weak, low-end machines (other than the fact that the lowest-end Mini is so weak that it is not future-proof and may quickly become unusable); they really just need to be encouraged to also provide some stronger high-end options.
 
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I agree, all mac products base models should have at least 256GB SSD and 8GB Ram. That would warantee a great user experience.

500GB HDD is about 50$ while 256GB SDD is less than 100$

RAM 2x2GB is about 30$ 2x4GB is about 40$ and 2x8GB is about 80$

And those are consumer prices! For such a big enterprise like Apple, a mass buy of those should be near to free cost.


But Apple lives from charging us +200$ for upgrading each one. So sadly I can't see that happening anytime soon.
 
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