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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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You are certainly convinced about your convictions; convinced that blissfully ignorant others should be too, whether or not they give a hoot.
Finally, you really need to check out the name of this thread: The new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming.
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Dude nailed it. I'm trying to figure out why I shouldn't pre-order this thing.
I think i will be getting in on this!
Depending on if a new car purchase is happening or not I will pre order or have to wait a bit.
Depending on if a new car purchase is happening or not I will pre order or have to wait a bit.
??? The Mini has no USB-C mainly because USB-C itself hadn't been finalized until late 2014. The Skull Canyon does have USB-C (via its Thunderbolt-3 port). It's the second-to-last port going left-to-right in this image:
Yes, because it's Thunderbolt-3: it is backwards-compatible with the USB-C standard. (In much the same way Thunderbolt and Thunderbolt-2 on Apple's machines are backwards-compatible with the Mini Displayport standard.)
Yes, but realistically is it likely to be anywhere near as powerful sexy and upgradable as the opposition? I'm thinking not. Don't get me wrong, I would like them to be having owned two previously myself.
However, I'm a realist and can see that any replacement is unlikely to have the power or flexibility of the NUC. You have very little to offer this thread other than like a cracked record or demented parrot keep repeating 'The new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming' - very embarrassing don't you think?
??? The Mini has no USB-C mainly because USB-C itself hadn't been finalized until late 2014. The Skull Canyon does have USB-C (via its Thunderbolt-3 port). It's the second-to-last port going left-to-right in this image:
Sweet! That is a proper array of ports for 2016! I am very interested. I love my iMac, but throwing a Samsung 950 Pro M.2 in there just seems like it would be a rocket! Hmmm, what monitor would be appropriate?
This is one thing I wouldn't worry about in a new Mini. Apple has been moving all their computers to similarly high performance multi-lane PCIe SSDs for a while now and away from SATA as part of their usual adoption of latest technologies. I have a 512GB 950 pro in a Shuttle XPC with an i7-6700, and it's great, but about the same as the latest MacBook Pro.
Thanks. Something has been up with Intel's ability to ship CPUs with EDRAM. Skull Canyon was original slated to ship 3 months ago and was quietly pushed back a couple times. It looks like first shipments are just arriving now. PassMark doesn't even have the HD 580 (nor the HD 540) graphics showing up on their GPU benchmarks yet.
I have to wonder if Intel's manufacturing issues and supply capacity have impacted Apple's product development plans in any way.
I think we all would love to see Apple realize that a Skull Canyon competitor would be a "halo" model for the Mac Mini and breath some pizzazz and excitement into the Mini line. It's clear looking at the Skull Canyon NUC that it could be done in the existing Mini form factor. Include a return to socketed SO-DIMMs (thanks to the move from LPDDR3 which apparently never came in DIMMs to DDR4 ) and a single SATA port and room for a 15mm 2.5" HDD (in addition to M.2) along with the 6670HQ/6870HQ CPU and all of us here wouldn't shut up about it for years to come.
If only that mattered... Perhaps the slowdown in company growth and stock performance could allow such voices in the company to be heard.
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I LOVE the specs on this. What i dont love is the fact that id have to use windows. i would love these specs with an mac osx
Not embarrassing at all; it is after all the theme and the title of the thread….. And, like it or not, almost certainly true.
Obviously you don't find it the least bit embarrassing to have to resort to scoring brownie points off the blissfully ignorant to boost your own ego.
But then, I've been here a while and have seen all sorts come and go.
Methinks you take yourself, and this thread waaaay toooooo seriously.
USB-C is the connector type (USB-A is the rectangle you see on the Mini, USB-B is the square one). Thunderbolt is the "hardware interface" (Wikipedia) or "I/O technology" (Apple) or "Protocol I/O" (Intel). Thunderbolt 1-2-3 have never had their own unique connectors. Thunderbolt 1-2 used Mini Displayport, Thunderbolt 3 will use USB-C. The Intel NUC uses the "Alpine Ridge" chip which allows USB 3.1 Gen 1/2 and Thunderbolt 3 to be used on the same port. USB 3.1 Gen 1 is basically the same USB 3.0 technology (5 Gb/sec.), Gen 2 is 10 Gb/sec. It would be nice if you have 2 of these ports on a computer, one for a high-res display, one for the USB devices (including SSD's). With one port, the only way you can do both is to have a Thunderbolt 3 docking station because 10 Gb/sec. (USB 3.1 Gen 2) is not going to be high enough - 2560x1440, 32-bit color, 60Hz is 885MB/sec.
Hmm. It's already got an HDMI 2.0 port and a Mini Displayport 1.2 port, both apparently capable of driving 4K/60Hz displays. Unless you need to drive a third display, I think it should be relatively easy to leave the Thunderbolt port open for USB-C devices...
W10 is the new OS X
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Sorry but your posts remind me of the term 'empty vessel'.
I don't speak for everyone here, but some of us appreciate the wide variety of posts in this thread. This thread is more than just a rational discussion about the available components and technologies, and why they will or won't be included in the new Mac mini. It's also a support group and therapy session for people who either look forward to or fear the new Mac mini. Baseless optimism unsupported by fact is what this thread was originally built on, and that's no less on-topic than the other stuff we see here: discussions about Apple's strategy, comparisons with the offerings of other vendors, whining and bitterness about the new Mac mini, wishlists for components/ports/form, and much much more.
Many threads with narrower topics have come and gone, but I think the popularity and longevity of this one speaks for itself.
Well I know we all live in bizarre times but a support and therapy group for a bunch of computer users awaiting an upgrade for their computer of choice has to be a first - and perhaps craziest yet.
If this post is seen by the public at large Apple users will become a laughing stock.
Third display may need the appropriate hardware. I came across the following at the link which suggests the third display is not directly connected to the Skull NUC:
Video Expansion
All NUC Products support a minimum of 2 Displays directly. NUC systems which have at least one mini DisplayPort (mDP) connector have 3 Display Controllers internally and will support up to 3 Monitors. To connect to the 3rd monitor requires either a Multi-Stream Technology (MST) HUB or MST DisplayPort (DP) monitor which supports Daisy-Chaining.
The following options allow you to either get access to the 3rd Display Controller using a MST Hub attached to the NUC’s mDP connector, or attach additional Display Controllers through the USB 3.0 Port or USB 3.0 HUB, for even more monitors.
Up to 14 monitors driven by a single NUC5i5RYH system has been demonstrated by driving 2 from the NUC itself, and 12 monitors using 6 Dual Monitor Display Controllers below with a single 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub
Additional Display Controllers or HUBs can be selected in the Accessories section of the web site
https://www.simplynuc.com/product/nuc6i7kyk-full-system/
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Well I know we all live in bizarre times but a support and therapy group for a bunch of computer users awaiting an upgrade for their computer of choice has to be a first - and perhaps craziest yet.
If this post is seen by the public at large Apple users will become a laughing stock.
I don't think this is a therapy session or anything like this. I think there's a general lethargy about how Apple will update the Mini in the context of competition from those around it. When the Mini was originally released it was ground breaking but now various other non-entity Intel box shifters are producing Mini-style computers that are way better than the current Minis. I think the 2014 Mini is an indication that Apple isn't reacting like a normal company does when a competitor releases a product that is way better. I'm not sure what I'd describe Apple's strategy as in this context. Maybe they don't see the Mini-style computer competitors as competition due to OS X lock in.
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One other point about the Mini. We don't know the number of Minis Apple produces and we always assume it's pretty low volume and irrelevant when compared to MBPs, etc. Maybe so, but if you look at the sudden attention that this area of the market is getting then you have to question why it's suddenly popular? Other competitors are not producing their own Minis without reason so the market research must suggest this is a growing market. You'd think Apple would have their finger on the pulse of this segment.
From Intel's advertising copy, they indicate that a Skull Canyon can directly drive three daisy-chained Thunderbolt displays:
(link to page)
I dunno if this means that you have to use Thunderbolt alone if you want three displays...