The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

[potatis]

Hey, this is fairly new to all of us. Apple was created as a desktop computer company, and at least up until recently, it continued to play that role. But it just doesn't seem interested in that market any more.

Apple's interested in where the Money is. That used to be desktop computers, now it's laptops and phones.

 

[jedisaga]

Apple's interested in where the Money is. That used to be desktop computers, now it's laptops and phones.

And I'll take it a step further... Not even about the laptops much any more. All about the iPhone.

 

[Santabean2000]

And I'll take it a step further... Not even about the laptops much any more. All about the iPhone.

Yep. And at some point that will come down. My guess is when the money-grabbing resentment of its once loyal, now neglected (Mac) customers takes hold.

Do you know that if you buy a new power adapter for a MBP it doesn't even include a cable to connect to you computer.

Apple's penny-pinching mantra under Tim is suffocating the consumer.

 

[Crosscreek]

Many Apples Pro's and consumers have moved on. I still have a iPhone and my wife still prefers the iPad Air and iPhone she has but were done with Apple computers at least for now.

 

[Boyd01]

Well I have officially given up on the new Mini. But for me, "the old Mini is certainly coming". Just ordered a used 2.6ghz i7 quad 2012 mini with 16gb/256gb SSD from OWC. I have around $6000 in legacy software that I still run under MacOSX 10.8.5 on both a 2013 i7 MBA and a 2012 base model Mini. This machine should make migration a no brainer…. can just clone the drive on my other mini, plug all the peripherals in, and continue about my business with a machine that should be twice as fast.

This machine is dedicated to video, am running a legacy version of Final Cut Pro that currently meets my needs since I'm working with lots of SD footage going back 15 years. But I should see much better rendering times on the quad mini… currently takes about 36 hours to deinterlace a one hour uncompressed SD video using Compressor in highest quality motion compensated mode. Will be interested to see if I can cut that in half, as the specs would suggest.

The only downside I can see is the HD4000 graphics if I want to use FCPX, although I have run that under El Capitan on my base 2012 Mini and it worked fine with SD footage. So I think this machine can last me a year or two, and by then maybe there will be something more compelling in the Mini lineup.

Had been considering the top spec 2014 3 ghz Mini, but in the same configuration (16gb/256gb SSD) that would cost $150 more than the used 2012 quad. And there would no doubt be some issues in terms of compatibility with all my legacy software. So we'll see how this works out, OWC offers a 14 days return/exchange and a 90 day warranty so I don't think I stand to lose much.

And the other plus is that I can now give my 2012 base mini to my daughter's family as a Christmas present!

 

[STC1709]

I WANT A NEW MINI, APPLE GET YOUR HEAD OF YOUR A$$

 

[Partron22]

Many Apples Pro's and consumers have moved on

Baffling part of Apple's logic here is the company wants to keep us locked in their beautiful walled garden, yet spray Roundup on their 15 foot bonsaied Redwood and clear cut the patch of Chilean rhubarb by the half drained Koi. pond. That's a very short term strategy,
http://www.hakone.com/main.html

 

[talmy]

I've made 178 posts (about 2% of the total) to this thread in the past 34 months. The new Mac mini came two years ago. The death of the mini was first predicted when it first came out nearly 12 years ago. It's a basic Mac intended primarily for converting desktop Windows users because of its low price and ability to use the keyboard/mouse/display the PC user already has. It's also great for headless uses such as compact file servers and entertainment servers, which has always been my use. When I first bought one (2010) they had the reputation of the most reliable Mac and that seems to be the case -- the three I bought in 2010 have had an aggregate two disk drive failures and one audio failure (fixed by using a USB audio adapter) over 6+ years. It's still the go-to Mac for Windows users who want to write iOS apps with the least hardware investment.

When the new minis came out in 2014, I bought 2 2012 refurb minis, one before the announcement and the other, an i7, afterwards. I use the i7 as my network server, which really loafs along especially now that it doesn't run a Windows VM as well. I've retired my 2010 mini with Snow Leopard Server -- sold to a friend, and another 2010 base model upgraded with a 120GB SSD that I used clandestine at work before I retired. It outperformed the employer provided HP workstation with a Xeon processor of a more recent vintage!

I don't really have any task that the base model 2014 mini wouldn't handle, of my 4 minis still in service for me. So as far as I'm concerned they can continue making the 2014s forever in case I need a replacement.

 

[Cape Dave]

http://www.windowscentral.com/hps-new-z2-mini-workstation-miniature-beast

Nuff said

 

[jpietrzak8]

http://www.windowscentral.com/hps-new-z2-mini-workstation-miniature-beast

Nuff said

Actually, they don't give any specs at all on the machine, so there certainly isn't enough said here.

 

[Crosscreek]

http://www.windowscentral.com/hps-new-z2-mini-workstation-miniature-beast

Nuff said

Cool prob needs egpu.

 

[STC1709]

Actually, they don't give any specs at all on the machine, so there certainly isn't enough said here.

http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer...lest-workstation-takes-aim-at-apples-mac-mini

Despite the small footprint, the octagonal Z2 Mini supports Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors in addition to Intel's server-class Xeon E3 processors, and comes with a 2GB Nvidia Quadro M620 GPU, up to 3GB of DDR4 SO-DIMM RAM, HP’s Z Turbo Drive for speedy file transfers, a PCIe M.2 connector and space for a 2.5in hard drive.

 

[MRrainer]

The base-version of that Z2 (4GB RAM, 500GB HD, Core i3) is 850€, apparently.
I guess the top-end reaches into MacPro territory.
It does look nice.
Too bad Apple isn't interested in this any more.
If they are still interested, they're very good at hiding it ;-)

 

[navaira]

Please be Hackintoshable

 

[jerwin]

The base-version of that Z2 (4GB RAM, 500GB HD, Core i3) is 850€, apparently.
I guess the top-end reaches into MacPro territory.
It does look nice.
Too bad Apple isn't interested in this any more.
If they are still interested, they're very good at hiding it ;-)

Not very far. The Xeon e3-1200 series isn't high powered. I suppose if you need Xeon features, but aren't interested in more than 4 cores, and have a tight budget, it fits the bill.
The video card, which, again, is optional, has just 2 GB of Ram, and possibly just 384 CUDA cores.

Then again, if you need more power but want an preconfigured, sort of stylish, HP, you can get a Z1. Or one of half a dozen generic tower machines.

HP offers far more models than Apple. You can't buy a 72 core, 4 way server from Apple.

 

[Partron22]

I spent this morning looking at some slightly superannuated servers.
For under $400, I can get 4X4 core 3.86 GHz CPUs, and more Ethernet than I can shake a stick at.
Need to add SSD, USB, wifi, Bluetooth, video and sound, and some OS, and I'd have a fairly kckass machine.
I think I could keep things under $1000.

 

[twalk]

I spent this morning looking at some slightly superannuated servers.
For under $400, I can get 4X4 core 3.86 GHz decideCPUs, and more Ethernet than I can shake a stick at.
Need to add SSD, USB, wifi, Bluetooth, video and sound, and some OS, and I'd have a fairly kckass machine.
I think I could keep things under $1000.

If you need to go big: http://www.techspot.com/review/1155-affordable-dual-xeon-pc/

You can basically build a 2x 8 core xeon linux or windows system for < $1000. That's 32 hyperthreads in total... The used processors have gone up to $90+ (they were at $60 for a while). People have been able to overclock them to 3.4Ghz.

Basically something that stomps the crap out of a Mac Pro in regards to system power, while only costing about the same as a decent Mac Mini.

Sigh... I'm not going to say "Apple used to..."

 

[Boyd01]

for me, "the old Mini is certainly coming". Just ordered a used 2.6ghz i7 quad 2012 mini with 16gb/256gb SSD from OWC.

Got the quad mini today, cloned the old 2012 base mini to it, entered my FCP serial number and was up and running in a flash. Not the bleeding edge, but it is true to the specs... took me 34 minutes to export a clip in compressor on the dual i5, same clip took 17 minutes on the quad i7 - exactly twice as fast. That is going to save me about 18 hours when I process my whole film.

So I'm all set for another year or more while you guys keep on daydreaming….

 

[ActionableMango]

It's their belief that laptops are where the profit centres are, and where the 'future' of modern computing is.

If they continue to ignore their desktop lines, then that belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

 

[jpietrzak8]

If they continue to ignore their desktop lines, then that belief becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

More likely, the future of computing will pass them by, as the vast majority of serious interaction with computers occurs when you are sitting down and able to devote your entire attention to the work at hand. Laptops and tablets are by their very nature inferior to desktop computers in this role. My guess is that there is more to come in the deep-computer-interaction environment than Apple suspects...

 

[pat500000]

Looks like z2 is the Mac mini users' only hope...

 

[Crosscreek]

Looks like z2 is the Mac mini users' only hope...

Meh, there's a lot of other choice out there without the pro chips in them but the reliability of z2 would be a plus.

 

[BornAgainMac]

Here is a Mac Mini clone that runs Linux (or Windows if you want to install it on there).
https://system76.com/desktops/meerkat

You can upgrade the memory to 32 GB. It is very configurable beyond what Apple's Jony could ever dream of in his entire lifetime.

 

[MRrainer]

Meh, there's a lot of other choice out there without the pro chips in them but the reliability of z2 would be a plus.

I assume, the z2 can do ECC - and it's supposed to be able to drive a lot of displays.
The better Skylake chipsets can drive 3x4k 60Hz - but I assume you can't daisy-chain the displays, so you have to have at least three full USB-C ports.

I really hope Apple can come up with something Skylake or Kaby Lake based in Spring.
Their designs are so nice (if you forget for a second that they aren't really user-serviceable).

 

[Boyd01]

B&H keeps building their inventory and now has 11 different configurations in stock. Sure seems like people continue to buy these machines regardless of the price and technology...

Just had another look and B&H now has 18 different configurations in stock, don't think I've ever seen that many there before. Guess they are building up inventory ahead of the holidays?