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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

Yep, I don't think will we soon see any new Mac minis with a Quadcore (not with an intel CPU).
However Apple can surprise us and introduce a QC ARM-based Mac Mini.
 
By the looks of what is happening with the Sierra Beta's and none support for more powerful Macs I would say Apple is barely keeping the Macs alive with very little support for gpu intensive programs.

Unless Apple steps back in to the Pro market again Macs will grow weaker in general. Just my opinion.
 
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Crosscreek said:
By the looks of what is happening with the Sierra Beta's and none support for more powerful Macs I would say Apple is barely keeping the Macs alive with very little support for gpu intensive programs.

Unless Apple steps back in to the Pro market again Macs will grow weaker in general. Just my opinion.
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There is a chance, that except the iMac, all their other desktop products gets EOL-ed. Just my two cents.
 
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Windows 8 focus of pandering to a social media experience instead of tools made 8 a failure. Now Apple with their big Emoji's and social media focus in macOS is trying to do the same thing. No new tools and a Beta file system that won't be ready for a year.

Sierra is a joke.



Is there anyone developing Apps for macOS beside VM providers (Paralells and VM Ware). The reason is that the tools and app development is going on in Linux and Windows 10.

macOS is floundering. Just my opinion again.
 
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Crosscreek said:
Windows 8 focus of pandering to a social media experience instead of tools made 8 a failure. Now Apple with their big Emoji's and social media focus in macOS is trying to do the same thing. No new tools and a Beta file system that won't be ready for a year.

Sierra is a joke.



Is there anyone developing Apps for macOS beside VM providers (Paralells and VM Ware). The reason is that the tools and app development is going on in Linux and Windows 10.

macOS is floundering. Just my opinion again.
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It's not clear to me what Sierra gives over el cap. All. The features require iCloud linking to another Apple gadget, but I don't do iCloud. So it's all just meh. We have tabbed Windows plus Siri I s'pose but I'm not that bothered. El cap is stable on the mini and no microphone in the mini by default. Or mine is broken.
 
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dogslobber said:
It's not clear to me what Sierra gives over el cap. All. The features require iCloud linking to another Apple gadget, but I don't do iCloud. So it's all just meh. We have tabbed Windows plus Siri I s'pose but I'm not that bothered. El cap is stable on the mini and no microphone in the mini by default. Or mine is broken.
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Yeah, no mic on the Mini. Some people say Siri is useful but I don't talk to computers so meh. Just adding more bloat to an already bloated OS.

Tim added the cloud stuff to sell cloud storage.

Apple lives off service subs.
 
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Lazy question because I'm on Tapatalk right now and searching is a pain... is Sierra out on the 7th, and if so does El Cap become immediately unavailable? Still haven't got round to downloading a copy and don't want a hole in my growing collection of OSes I'll never install!
 
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mojolicious said:
Lazy question because I'm on Tapatalk right now and searching is a pain... is Sierra out on the 7th, and if so does El Cap become immediately unavailable? Still haven't got round to downloading a copy and don't want a hole in my growing collection of OSes I'll never install!
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I wouldn't expect Sierra to go gold until the Mac event in October. Yes, as soon as they populate Sierra in the App Store the option to snag El Capitan should disappear.
 
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Cannot see Apple EOL-ing iMac, Mini maybe but not iMac. Laptops look increasingly cluttered with MBA and MBP converging size wise and the iPad pros getting bigger.

My 2 cents would be for processor upgrades over the iMac / MBP / MBA (?) perhaps rolled out over 3 months. The Mini wait's till mid 2017 and goes all-soldered :(

My 2009 Mini won't support Sierra, no loss regarding Siri as I don't use it on iPhone or iPad. However its a modest concern to not have the latest "under the hood" OSX improvements but many here seem to be running their Minis on older OSX.
 
Eighty wrote above:
"I can already buy that Man Mini... it's called an iPad."

Can the iPad run the Mac OS?
Does it boot to the finder?
Can I create a folder/file hierarchy using it?
Can I have multiple applications and windows open at once?

Until the iPad does that, it's nowhere near to being what a real computer is.
 
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Fishrrman said:
Eighty wrote above:
"I can already buy that Man Mini... it's called an iPad."

Can the iPad run the Mac OS?
Does it boot to the finder?
Can I create a folder/file hierarchy using it?
Can I have multiple applications and windows open at once?

Until the iPad does that, it's nowhere near to being a real computer is.
Click to expand...
Don't forget running multiple screens. I couldn't go back to just one. That's so 2002.

I'll be ordering another 45 Mini's this week to help use up that old stock.
 
300 pages long! What a loyal group.

Too bad Apple couldn't care less about the Mini. Seeing as how the last "refresh" was a downgrade, who knows when they'll just stop making them.
 
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AllergyDoc said:
300 pages long! What a loyal group.

Too bad Apple couldn't care less about the Mini. Seeing as how the last "refresh" was a downgrade, who knows when they'll just stop making them.
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Downgrade? Apple dropped the quad core from the 2014 line up, but the other models came with slightly improved performance over the 2012 equivalents, and they were updated in other aspects. Many see the loss of user upgradeable RAM as a retrograde step, but the option of up to 16 GB remained the same.

Overall, except for the loss of the quad core, it was not a downgrade. It was a small, evolutionary upgrade and modernisation, with models to suit a range of needs for the average Joe or Jill (some of whom have posted their satisfaction with even the 1.4 GHz model)…….. if not the average geek with more demanding expectations!

Bear in mind that recent years have seen apps and OS upgrades that previously had to be paid for, now coming included in the package, with updates at no cost.

The new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming, along with other Macs, and they will almost certainly spring a surprise or two.
 
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yes, i think along with the new macbook pro,the mac mini is due to a redesign as well.I wonder what cpu can fit the mac mini
[doublepost=1473020945][/doublepost]i mean if apple is working with LG for a standalone 5k display...i think will be a proper companion for the mac mini
 
I just added an SSD to my 2011 Mac Mini (base model). It's running Sierra just fine, and performs admirably. Other than not having a GPU powerful enough to drive a high-res monitor, it isn't lacking in any features present in the new Minis (or the iMacs really). We can complain about the stagnation of the Mini, but the only likely changes would be 1. form-factor (smaller, new ports), and 2. more powerful hardware. Altering the form factor isn't as major a concern even with the Mac Mini as it is. In the case of the latter, the CPU situation is stagnation on the part of Intel and AMD, and has little to do with Apple in many respects. The nature of computing is moving towards silicon dedicated to hardware acceleration of specific tasks--as opposed to GPGPU--and usage of specific extensions. The uptake of any of them has been fairly slow across the PC market, and it's not likely to improve in the near future. Cramming more cores in the Mini might be nice (with improved cooling solutions in particular!), but it was never designed to be more than a standard desktop or rival the Mac Pro.

If they can update to the latest processors and continue to have an Iris option, add M.2 storage, and update the ports, I'm not sure what else they need to address for now.
 
dnewkirk said:
I just added an SSD to my 2011 Mac Mini (base model). It's running Sierra just fine, and performs admirably. Other than not having a GPU powerful enough to drive a high-res monitor, it isn't lacking in any features present in the new Minis (or the iMacs really). We can complain about the stagnation of the Mini, but the only likely changes would be 1. form-factor (smaller, new ports), and 2. more powerful hardware. Altering the form factor isn't as major a concern even with the Mac Mini as it is. In the case of the latter, the CPU situation is stagnation on the part of Intel and AMD, and has little to do with Apple in many respects. The nature of computing is moving towards silicon dedicated to hardware acceleration of specific tasks--as opposed to GPGPU--and usage of specific extensions. The uptake of any of them has been fairly slow across the PC market, and it's not likely to improve in the near future. Cramming more cores in the Mini might be nice (with improved cooling solutions in particular!), but it was never designed to be more than a standard desktop or rival the Mac Pro.

If they can update to the latest processors and continue to have an Iris option, add M.2 storage, and update the ports, I'm not sure what else they need to address for now.
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Conversely, Apple's move from a 45W to a 28W CPU in the top-of-the-line mini has very little to do with any stagnation on Intel's part. More powerful CPUs exist and are compatible with the cooling solution in the mini, but Apple does not want them in the mini. The correct way to make sure that the high-end Mac mini does not rival the entry-level Mac Pro would be to sometimes update the Mac Pro. For the money they are charging for the Mac Pro it is trivial to design a computer that leaves a 4-core Mac mini in the dust for all tasks including those that are only CPU-limited and not using the GPU.
 
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MarkusL said:
Conversely, Apple's move from a 45W to a 28W CPU in the top-of-the-line mini has very little to do with any stagnation on Intel's part. More powerful CPUs exist and are compatible with the cooling solution in the mini, but Apple does not want them in the mini. The correct way to make sure that the high-end Mac mini does not rival the entry-level Mac Pro would be to sometimes update the Mac Pro. For the money they are charging for the Mac Pro it is trivial to design a computer that leaves a 4-core Mac mini in the dust for all tasks including those that are only CPU-limited and not using the GPU.
Click to expand...

A fair point. The Mac Pro has had me perplexed. I never understood why they went through all the trouble to create such a new design and the associated manufacturing processes, only to never update the machine.
 
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fischersd said:
I wouldn't expect Sierra to go gold until the Mac event in October. Yes, as soon as they populate Sierra in the App Store the option to snag El Capitan should disappear.
Click to expand...

Normally that would be the case, however I am not sure because El Capitan is the last supported OS for many older models and maybe Apple decides to keep it available in the App Store?

Personally I would prefer Apple would keep all the previous OS versions available for those who need them but given how Apple is pushing only the latest OS it doesn't seem likely to happen... :(
 
Ebenezum said:
Normally that would be the case, however I am not sure because El Capitan is the last supported OS for many older models and maybe Apple decides to keep it available in the App Store?

Personally I would prefer Apple would keep all the previous OS versions available for those who need them but given how Apple is pushing only the latest OS it doesn't seem likely to happen... :(
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Umm. You don't see Snow Leopard in there, do you? ;) I have a couple mac's on the deprecated list that I'll be patching from here on in to keep on the latest code. As long as they continue to perform well, I'm keeping them running. :)
 
fischersd said:
Umm. You don't see Snow Leopard in there, do you? ;) I have a couple mac's on the deprecated list that I'll be patching from here on in to keep on the latest code. As long as they continue to perform well, I'm keeping them running. :)
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I'm not sure what you mean. Snow Leopard was never on the App Store. How hard would it be include a link in the Store where one could find older OS versions? Given Apples resources it would trivial...
 
[QUOTE="Ebenezum, post: 23324857, member: 952962"
Personally I would prefer Apple would keep all the previous OS versions available for those who need them but given how Apple is pushing only the latest OS it doesn't seem likely to happen... :([/QUOTE]

Fwiw, my assumption is always latest OS release only so I just keep a fresh installs for SL and El cap on an external drive so I can CCC them to any machine I want. That's usually the first step I do for a new machine is to bot up externally then obliterate the internal drive of its contents.
 
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