Possible but they will probably just use the leftover chips from the MacBook Pros after they update those to Skylake.
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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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Possible but they will probably just use the leftover chips from the MacBook Pros after they update those to Skylake.
I have seen a lot of discussion on it and opinion says no. Apple is moving away from the computer in favor of mobile IMHO.
If the Mini ever gets TB3 you could get one of these maybe if Apple supports it .....for a ransom of gold. Looks like a very large drop in bandwidth with TB3 for egpu.
I'm not sure I'd agree with this. In the past, it did seem that the Mini was designed as a desktop-oriented version of the Macbook Pro hardware, with roughly the same CPUs and GPUs.
The 2014 models were different, though. A quad-core i7 option was kept for the Macbook Pro line, but dropped for the Mini. However, the Mini added a 1.4 GHz i5 option on the low end, a processor not found in the Macbook Pro line. Also, the Macbook Pros have continued to offer a discrete GPU (at least in the 15" models), an option not seen in the Mini since 2011.
At the very least, it looks like the Mini hardware is moving closer to what the Macbook Air contains than the Pro. I could see them experiment further by inserting iPad hardware into a Mini.
I could still see them going with a fanleess Core M in a Apple tv size case.
Is there an advantage to choosing Core M over A9X? My understanding is that they are comparable in performance...
I would say no except for the obvious of X86 v IOS. Probably no difference in multitasking except again X86 v IOS.
And that's why I just picked up a 2nd 2012 i7 2.6GHz for my studio.
Actually, there's an advantage of the A9X that I'd forgotten: the Apple TV is already running on Apple's SoC chips. I don't see much trouble for Apple in just re-purposing the existing Apple TV into a new Mini; whether they use iOS or macOS for it, I doubt Apple sees too much difference for the consumers they are currently targeting the Mini towards.
I don't think Apple cares about anything that they can't put a watch band on.
Did Intel just pre-announce the new Mac Mini? They said new Kaby Lake cpus will be shipping shortly. Is this the evidence for the October 2016 Mini refresh that was rumoured on here?
Maybe they are just waiting until all their Intel CPU stuff is sold. If Apple is going to buy AMD, I wish someone would tell me so I could by a few thousand shares of AMD first.
What functionality did the imac lose besides the DVD drive? There's really no reason for the iMac to be any thicker than the macbook pro since they basically use the same components, do they not?
Hell, the Macbook proved the iMac could be just a screen if Apple wanted to do that. I hope they do, eventually... the iMac Air maybe
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Why should apple see themselves as just a computer manufacturer? If they did their bank balance would surely be falling…… Good for neither the company nor its customers.
There was a time, a long long time ago, when Apple produced desktop computers. Desktop computers that used desktop computer components.
Occasionally, these desktop computers would feature the computer integrated with a screen. These integrated computers eventually came to be known as "iMacs".
In the fullness of time, the iMac would come to dominate Apple's desktop lineup. Most other models were discontinued (other than the Mini and the Pro today, and neither of those seem to be getting much attention from Apple either anymore).
But, until fairly recently, the iMac was still a desktop computer that used desktop computer components. That started changing in 2009, when the low-end version of the iMac started using a mobile GPU. By 2011, all the iMacs used mobile GPUs.
Starting in 2011, only the 27" iMac could house a full-power CPU; all other iMacs used low-power CPUs.
I'm not entirely sure when iMacs lost the ability to house 3.5 inch drives internally; probably around 2011 as well?
In any case, the iMac now uses Macbook Pro components not because you can't build an integrated computer with desktop components, but because Apple decided to turn the iMac into a non-portable Macbook Pro...
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Well, some of its customers anyway.
For a while during the previous decade, Apple was producing top-of-the-line PCs, competitive with anything anybody else was producing.Apple is of course doing great business for several huge markets today! It's just, they're moving away from one market they used to serve quite well, and folks who enjoyed their products are feeling some pain...
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In a word: no.
Well they put the SD card reader (which I use a lot) on the back where you can't find it!What functionality did the imac lose besides the DVD drive? There's really no reason for the iMac to be any thicker than the macbook pro since they basically use the same components, do they not?
Hell, the Macbook proved the iMac could be just a screen if Apple wanted to do that. I hope they do, eventually... the iMac Air maybe
I bought a seperate reader which kind of defeats the purpose of an all in one.
Mind you so does the second screen and two external hard drives!
In truth, Apple hasn't seen themselves as a computer company since January 2007 when they renamed the company from Apple Computer Inc. to Apple Inc.
I take a lot of pictures and having to fumble around on the back of the Mini is a REALLY bad design decision IMO.
I still think it'd be awesome if you could just pull the screen off of the MacBook and it be an iPad (sure, sure, as it's Apple, they'll want to charge us $5k for that MacBook), but I still really think there's possibilities there if the engineering teams could create a really cool symbiotic relationship.What functionality did the imac lose besides the DVD drive? There's really no reason for the iMac to be any thicker than the macbook pro since they basically use the same components, do they not?
Hell, the Macbook proved the iMac could be just a screen if Apple wanted to do that. I hope they do, eventually... the iMac Air maybe
Not really, but you can't be 100% sure. (How's that for a non-committal answer?
)The first Kaby Lake chips are most likely the Core-M successors - the '-Y' chips - low power dual core chips like in the MacBook (probably due to yields). However, since the process node didn't change, and Intel did say that yields are up greatly in Q1 and again Q2, so maybe we'll see -U and -H series this year instead of 2017.
Now, the expected CPU speed improvements aren't huge compared to Skylake, so the thing that might be of more interest to Apple is the Union Point (200 series) chipset and its full USB 3.1 support and better 4K/UHD and 5K video support.
I think Apple, like most other OEMs got thrown off schedule by Intel's product delays and abandonment of tick-tock releases.
To be perfectly honest I think due to over supply and the fact that there's not that much going on in the tech world currently, consumers are moving on from the tech craze. It's now being seen as just another product. I'm getting that way myself.
I now find I walk past an Apple store or tech store without stopping to look round, basically because I know there's nothing new to look at and because I'm bored with the whole scene. My current iMac is 5 years old (although extensively upgraded) and I've no current plans to upgrade it. I have an iPhone 4s plus a 2 year old Android phone - again no plans for upgrade. Tablet 2 years old - no upgrade plans, plus ATV2 no upgrade plans and finally Window 7 Laptop running W10 again no plans to change.
Not that long ago I would have been chomping at the bit to change these products every few years but now my attitude is hey! they're still running well why bother.
I think many many people now feel the same.
I now find I walk past an Apple store or tech store without stopping to look round, basically because I know there's nothing new to look at and because I'm bored with the whole scene. My current iMac is 5 years old (although extensively upgraded) and I've no current plans to upgrade it. I have an iPhone 4s plus a 2 year old Android phone - again no plans for upgrade. Tablet 2 years old - no upgrade plans, plus ATV2 no upgrade plans and finally Window 7 Laptop running W10 again no plans to change.
Not that long ago I would have been chomping at the bit to change these products every few years but now my attitude is hey! they're still running well why bother.
I think many many people now feel the same.
Very good points. These days the improvement from one release to the next is smaller and smaller.
With the exception of 4K and a small speed bump, there isn't much need to upgrade.
Of course when we do, we want to make sure we don't update just before a new release.
Mostly because we are looking to keep that machine for the longest time possible.
Especially since Apple are generally making it harder for you to upgrade your own machine.