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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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Apart from the iMac, the Mini is the oldest line of Mac computers that Apple makes with its processor origins way back in the PowerPC chip. It's been running since 2005.
Hard to believe it was 12 years ago and we were privileged to have been part of this in Steve's lifetime. Future generations will only be able to read about his genius.
New iPad Pro Commercials Pitch Device as Computer Replacement
Apple has yet to tell me how to hook up my Arduinos to my iPad, far less how to install the custom Apps I use to communicate with Arduino attached sensors. I've yet to figure out how to get my many custom AppleScripts to work on my iPad.
Let them fix those issues, and the lack of a user facing file system before they get too cocky about iPads being "better" than even a 2005 Mini. I'm still getting good work out of that one, even if it is stuck at 10.5.11.
Heck if iPad Pros are better, Apple should drop the iMac line as well, so as to focus exclusively on Quality products.
Apple has yet to tell me how to hook up my Arduinos to my iPad, far less how to install the custom Apps I use to communicate with Arduino attached sensors. I've yet to figure out how to get my many custom AppleScripts to work on my iPad.
Let them fix those issues, and the lack of a user facing file system before they get too cocky about iPads being "better" than even a 2005 Mini. I'm still getting good work out of that one, even if it is stuck at 10.5.11.
Heck if iPad Pros are better, Apple should drop the iMac line as well, so as to focus exclusively on Quality products.
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“better than a computer”
Sure Jan. Off to buy a 27" iPad with 1TB storage and install Creative Cloud and Reason on it.
If only Apple would actually invest in making their services more 'pro'. iCloud could be so much better never mind the value of the product under the profit level that they demand.
In any case, I'm expecting iPads to continue to proliferate in the sub $1000 zone after the increasingly expected new product launch in March, with the latest advertising campaigns on social media starting to take off.
I still think it makes sense for Apple to consolidate desktop lines if they are getting less revenue from them.
It does seem like a self-fulfilling prophecy going on here.
Why doesn't Apple update it's desktop line more regularly? Because not enough people are buying them.
Why aren't people buying them? Because they are not updated often enough.
Why doesn't Apple update the Mac Pro? Because not enough people are buying them.
Why aren't more people buying them? Because they are incredibly out of date and overpriced.
I suppose it's a combination of self-fulfilling prophecy and the chicken/egg problem. All that aside, the new mac mini is almost certainly coming.
Part of this is down to Intel's CPUs reaching a plateau ever since the Sandy Bridge CPU. They are very good indeed but we've had 3-4 generations ever since which shows a relative lack of innovation aside from process shrink which reduces power consumption but shipping dates are constantly slipping as the process shrink becomes harder. Bottom line is desktop buyers are holding on to their machines for longer.
The bigger updates are coming from replacing hard drives with SSD (or Fusion drive) and improving GPU compute using Iris Graphics or a GPU. We're seeing an occasional transition in connection standards with the Thunderbolt that could just annoy users who invest in TB gear.
Done right, there's no reason for most users to update a desktop PC for years and when they do Apple are handing over a lion's share of the money to Intel for the CPU. Apple really need AMD Zen to be good if for nothing else but to keep Intel on their toes. The fact that Apple are heavily into Thunderbolt makes a switch to Zen itself unlikely.
It's no surprise that Apple are soldering down the components - cheaper to manufacture but preventing users from making their own upgrades which bypass Apple anyway - these users (plenty to be seen in the Mac Pro forums too) are keeping their computers for 5-6 years. I've accepted that I may as well have some sort of external storage to let Apple get away with a thinner computer.
Until recently updates to Macs were fairly predictable meaning people could save up money and spend it on the annual iMac refresh, for example. It really doesn't help when Apple start missing the predicted deadlines, raise prices, produce outdated gear and then folks start spending their money on generic PC gear to Hackintosh or just go Windows 10.
On the other hand, we're still in the Microsoft zone with iPads where the latest annual iOS update performs relatively poorly on older machines which prompts users to buy newer devices more often.
Add this to the different sizes of screens, ever thinner and lighter devices with CPUs that still make quantum leaps in performance in a package which makes Apple more profit every time and you can see why want people to have iPads and combine them with iCloud.
The fact that they change form factors offers users something tangibly different to consider every few years. We've gone from 9.7" to 7.9", up to 12.9", perhaps down to 10.5" with smaller bezels. All of them getting lighter each generation.
Some people are saying that Apple will be using a later Ax series ARM CPU for future desktop devices, and they may well do so for something in the future (tied exclusively to an Ax Mac App store in my opinion) leaving people who need Intel to fork out for a Pro device. I'm not so sure that's coming in the short term.
Apple's premium pricing plan on Macs (never discounting across the on-sale life of a model) helps keep used values high. If they think they have too many SKUs versus sales per model they just need to simplify their models line-up.
They need to accept that they should have a new design every 4-5 years with predictable speed bumps in between if they are going to insist on keeping that price the same between models.
Or stop making people hang on with a dead product and discontinue the Mini. Let people move on with their lives rather than hanging around in this thread
I was doing a little comparison of Mac Minis using Geekbench scores and also threw in a few iMacs for comparison (and the 4c nMP).
Most of the little things casual users do on a computer (i.e. Mac Mini target audience) are single threaded activities like email & Internet stuff & looking at pictures etc. Single threaded processes are where most casual Mac Mini owners live.
Well take a look at the historical trend (advancement) of single core speeds below. It's dismal. Roughly a 2X improvement in 6 years. And that was when Intel was pulling rabbits out of a hat on a regular basis. GHz has hit a wall and there really isn't much improvement left for single threaded performance.
That's why there's no new Mac Mini (yet). There just hasn't been any significant improvement in CPU speed for the last 5 years (or more). And the future looks grim for significant single core CPU improvements from here on out.
Most of the little things casual users do on a computer (i.e. Mac Mini target audience) are single threaded activities like email & Internet stuff & looking at pictures etc. Single threaded processes are where most casual Mac Mini owners live.
Well take a look at the historical trend (advancement) of single core speeds below. It's dismal. Roughly a 2X improvement in 6 years. And that was when Intel was pulling rabbits out of a hat on a regular basis. GHz has hit a wall and there really isn't much improvement left for single threaded performance.
That's why there's no new Mac Mini (yet). There just hasn't been any significant improvement in CPU speed for the last 5 years (or more). And the future looks grim for significant single core CPU improvements from here on out.
They need to accept that they should have a new design every 4-5 years with predictable speed bumps in between if they are going to insist on keeping that price the same between models.
Or stop making people hang on with a dead product and discontinue the Mini. Let people move on with their lives rather than hanging around in this thread
I agree with the first sentence and laughingly agree with the second.
Move on or hang around with me for the chuckles.
And this is why Apple are proceeding with using GPU and SSD for the big performance improvements between generations. It's a bit difficult when there's no GPU in a Mini and SSD costs can vary, all this against a backdrop of delayed but incremental updates from Intel.
The argument over single core is an excellent one and one which gets overlooked by the 2012 Quad Core crowd.
Granted, the average consumer is always looking for the bigger GHz numbers which a year-on-year CPU upgrade will deliver.
What they really will appreciate is faster I/O through SSD followed by a GPU that can be utilised in certain apps.
If you have to install a smaller SSD instead of a bigger HD that won't get filled, then by all means have a generous iCloud using macOS Sierra's Optimised Storage options but bear in mind some users have capped internet and the fact that iCloud is no better than mediocre when compared to Dropbox.
If Apple were ever looking at profit from desktop they might have looked at the gamer crowd who need powerful GPUs but they don't update fast enough to satisfy them. Secondarily, VR is underserved by Apple too on the same token - unless they update the Mac Pro to a decent level with a modern GPU.
This illustrates quite nicely why I am happy with my new (to me) 2.6 2012 mini.
I would love to make this my new avatar, but it's a bit large...
I'm sure it's already been linked to earlier in the thread, but John Gruber has said on his podcast (in a recent episode, a few shows back) that he thinks the Mac Mini is done and will quietly disappear from the site sooner than later. Nothing particularly shocking, a lot of people believe the same, but I think if anyone is holding out for new Mac Mini updates at this point - well you're just setting yourself up for disappointment.
I wouldn't be surprised if they thinned the line up to basically iMac and MacBook/MacBook Pros. Their ceasing to make Apple displays probably signals their intent is to kill off all remaining Macs that need to be plugged into an external display.
I wouldn't be surprised if they thinned the line up to basically iMac and MacBook/MacBook Pros. Their ceasing to make Apple displays probably signals their intent is to kill off all remaining Macs that need to be plugged into an external display.
I rather buy an overly expensive macbook than to spend a single euro on a 3 year old mac mini which is worse than a 5 year old mac mini... Heck maybe it is only beneficial for me that Apple waited so long for a upgrade, as I am not sure whether I might need a macbook in the future (nearly done with university, my future job, if I get one, might not have mac's). Nearly is in comparison with mac mini's update time, and is about half a year xD
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With no certainty that a new mini is coming and a concern I have about purchasing a 5 year old used 2012, I did think linux was the way for me to go, especially as a technical person. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized how tied in to Apple I actually have become. For me, Windows seems like a better transition so that I can run my iPhone and iTunes music on a supported platform. I can reassess after a few months/years.
Unless a new mini comes out this year, I'll probably go with a quad i7 m900 tiny pc from lenovo with Windows 10. I haven't bought a Windows PC in my entire life (I was born in the 80s...)
It just dawned on me —
The last 2010 Mac Mini model was still available to buy new in early 2011. The latest Mac Mini was available to buy new in 2014 but it is still the current model in 2017
That means that the 2010 Mac Mini really is only 3 years old... in Mac Mini years.
The last 2010 Mac Mini model was still available to buy new in early 2011. The latest Mac Mini was available to buy new in 2014 but it is still the current model in 2017
That means that the 2010 Mac Mini really is only 3 years old... in Mac Mini years.
Is that a new mac mini I see ryzen on the horizon?
Not unless you go hackIs that a new mac mini I see ryzen on the horizon?
Is that a new mac mini I see ryzen on the horizon?
No prospect of Thunderbolt there so Apple won't be interested aside from seeing if Intel reduce prices on their existing stuff to compete. Later this year we might see multi-core products (with more than 4 cores) emerge but I think they already know that the desktop niche revolves around high power computing/gaming.
They know they need to do something with the Mac Pro and the top end Ryzen CPUs that have been launched are all 8 core/16 thread models which would be incredibly interesting for video edit fans. Never mind the Vega GPUs that appears to be coming later this year.
If the Mac Pro isn't refreshed with something by Intel later this year Apple will definitely be missing out as a lot of people upgrade their hardware with either a Ryzen or a competing Intel product while the trashcan gets dumped... in a trashcan.
If the Mac Pro isn't refreshed with something by Intel later this year Apple will definitely be missing out as a lot of people upgrade their hardware with either a Ryzen or a competing Intel product while the trashcan gets dumped... in a trashcan.
lol A lot of them already trashed their trash cans and moved on to hacks or Windows workstations.