The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

[now i see it]

Probably because selling 612 million iPhones over the last three years requires all their attention.

BTW, that's 558,904 iPhones sold every single day for the last three years.

 

[toke lahti]

I was thinking of the Mini. Here in the US it starts at $500 and the top of the line model with a big SSD is something like $1500. But did you also notice the "smiley" at the end of my comment?

Sorry, missed the smiley.
I've been thinking about buying a mini from 2013.
Late2012 doesn't support 4k (TB1 is only dp1.1 and lame intel4000). Late2014 has soldered ram (and lame intel5000).
I'm just worried, if there even is a new model, it will have soldered ssd.
Then I'm not waiting for any mac anymore.
AFAIK, Apple is against eGPU's also, even when TB3 could make this cost effective, if other industry also adopts the idea.

Just praying that Apple will sell or split macOS to a company, that needs to sell more desktop macs not just to iOS developers.

I got into macs about 15 years ago, because they were powerfull and longlasting (ie. ecological, it-waste has a very bad carbon footprint). Price was high, but price-quality ratio was good. I wasn't angry when Apple ditched pro hardware and software, but when they ditched matte screens from macs, I promised I will never buy a desktop mac with that ugly glassy mirror as a screen. Now it seems that this über-form-over-function desktop (imac) is the only desktop they still develop.

If hp's (or others) all-in-ones or mini-boxes (or real workstations) had a macOS, I wouldn't look for Apple for a second nowdays.

 

[Fishrrman]

toke wrote:
"I've been thinking about buying a mini from 2013."

There aren't any "2013 Minis".
They don't exist.

There are only "late-2012" Minis, and
late-2014 Minis.

NO Mini can support 4k @60hz.

 

[now i see it]

The reason apl licensed MacOS in the nineties was because:

1. Steve Jobs just got fired
2. Apple was in a death spiral and the new management believed the only way forward was to become a Microsoft.

Well we all know how that turned out (The clone years were the best & most exciting time for a mac user) but Apple is a different company now and they will NEVER NEVER NEVER license MacOS ever again. That experiment failed miserably for Apple.

Just think about it for one second. Who would ever willingly choose one of Jony Ive's retarded, user hostile designs over an expandable, easy to access, upgradable, user friendly chassis? Nobody.

 

[Crosscreek]

I don't think there would be much demand for it anyways. Most people that buy Macs want a tinker proof device and macOS doesn't support that much off the self hardware especially GPU's.

You might see a lot of Hackintoshers buy it like me but as far a regular users that needs support, I'm sure Apple would say good luck with that.

If they open sourced the OS like Linux people could write drivers and apps which may make it more popular.

 

[Andres Cantu]

http://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-elitedesk-800-35w-g3-desktop-mini-pc-(energy-star)-p-1fy84ut-aba--1

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/optiplex-7040-micro-desktop/pd?ref=PD_Family

At least HP and Dell show interest in the small form factor area...

 

[toke lahti]

toke wrote:
"I've been thinking about buying a mini from 2013."

There aren't any "2013 Minis".
They don't exist.

There are only "late-2012" Minis, and
late-2014 Minis.

NO Mini can support 4k @60hz.

Yeah, in 2013 I was thinking about waiting the next model and when it came out, I couldn't decide which is less bad.
Are you sure that 2014mini can't drive single 4k@60Hz?
Apple forgot the mini from their doc: https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT206587 , but TB2 = dp1.2 = 17.28Gbit/s, which should be enough...

EDIT: Oh, well that intel5000 limit again... nice...

If I buy new mac in 2017, I want to use it at least 5 years, more like closer to 10.
Already the rest of the industry is moving from dp1.3 to dp1.4 and next dp will arrive later this year. Hdmi is at 2.1 now. Macs are at dp1.2 and hdmi1.4. And mini can't even use full dp1.2, because of intel5000. State-of-the-art devices from the greatest of all! Ans sold "as new"...

 

[now i see it]

Are you sure that 2014mini can't drive single 4k@60Hz?

It can't

 

[toke lahti]

It can't

Yeah, that was one of the reasons, I was hesitant to buy it 3 years ago. Theoretically widespread use of usbC could lead to a situation, where eGPU could become economical just like external hard drives are now. Then with adapter to tb2, you could use mini2014 with 4k@60Hz.

 

[spacebro]

Yeah, that was one of the reasons, I was hesitant to buy it 3 years ago. Theoretically widespread use of usbC could lead to a situation, where eGPU could become economical just like external hard drives are now. Then with adapter to tb2, you could use mini2014 with 4k@60Hz.

Apple could have released an external gpu long ago. It is clear now they intend to never have this. They would have released one along with the usb-c-only MacBooks. Someone with too much power at apple probably declared one day "apple will never do egpu because it conflicts with our form over function philosophy" and this declaration is inscribed on a rock in their top secret design philosophy vault. The egpu is never coming.

 

[Bubba Satori]

http://store.hp.com/us/en/pdp/hp-elitedesk-800-35w-g3-desktop-mini-pc-(energy-star)-p-1fy84ut-aba--1

http://www.dell.com/us/business/p/optiplex-7040-micro-desktop/pd?ref=PD_Family

At least HP and Dell show interest in the small form factor area...

HP, Dell and everybody else.
http://hothardware.com/news/corsair...gtx-1080-ti-powered-ultra-quiet-sff-gaming-pc
SFFs are experiencing tremendous growth.
There's a score of fast, expandable and affordable mini computers available.
Don't drink the PCs are dead kool-aid.
The roadmap is a joke.
The Timinator doesn't give a hoot about computers.

Our crack engineering team made an emoji for you.

 

[bigfatipod]

Pulled the trigger on a maxed out late 2012 from ebay. Not the ideal solution, but the best decision I felt for my circumstances. Next device will either be a future unreleased mini or, more likely , a Windows machine.

 

[Count Blah]

Pulled the trigger on a maxed out late 2012 from ebay. Not the ideal solution, but the best decision I felt for my circumstances. Next device will either be a future unreleased mini or, more likely , a Windows machine.

Sad that Apple has forced us into this position.

They lost a sale from me as well, since I went with a used late 2013 iMac.

 

[Boyd01]

Still loving the 2012 2.6ghz quad that I got last summer.

 

[robotica]

Why doesn't Apple want my money?

 

[Cape Dave]

Why doesn't Apple want my money?

The thing is, they do want your money. They just want to give you watch bands in exchange

 

[bigfatipod]

Still loving the 2012 2.6ghz quad that I got last summer.

Glad to hear it. That's the one I picked up, with a 2tb fusion.

I'm coming from a 2011 mini with 8gb ram, two cores, and 1tb sshb, and usb 2.0 - so i am hoping for a quality upgrade, despite being a five year old machine. I think the usb 3.0 will be a big boost, since all my external drives have been bogged down by the old 2.0 standard.

 

[robotica]

The thing is, they do want your money. They just want to give you watch bands in exchange

So true, shame I can't run Mac OS on a watch band or connect it up to a 4K tv!

 

[Boyd01]

I think the usb 3.0 will be a big boost

Yes, USB 3.0 is nice. That is going to be a great upgrade for you!

I have a 1tb Samsung T3 external SSD that I use for my current video project that gets about 400MB/sec write and 430 read. Also four 5TB Seagate drives that clock around 180MB/sec. My old machines with USB 2.0 top out somewhere around 35MB/sec.

Not so crazy about the fusion drive concept so I opted for machine with the original 256gb Apple SSD. It's fast (but not as fast as the 2014 SSD), about 450MB/sec write and 520 read. I don't need a big internal drive on this machine, only using it for video and all my media is on the external drives.

 

[sorcery]

Pulled the trigger on a maxed out late 2012

Still a great machine, I'd buy another one, for backup, if they were a little cheaper.

 

[toke lahti]

Apple could have released an external gpu long ago. It is clear now they intend to never have this. They would have released one along with the usb-c-only MacBooks. Someone with too much power at apple probably declared one day "apple will never do egpu because it conflicts with our form over function philosophy" and this declaration is inscribed on a rock in their top secret design philosophy vault. The egpu is never coming.

I'd say this is more about planned obsolescence. If you can boost gpu power with egpu, you buy another mac less often. Apple wants to cut all upgradeability out and egpu is one form of this.

 

[toke lahti]

Still a great machine, I'd buy another one, for backup, if they were a little cheaper.

Moneywise Apple is genious. Maxed 2012 mini costs about the same than then...

 

[philipma1957]

Um, really? The iPad is a content consumption device, not a content creation device. If you want to be productive, get a real computer, not an iPad.

Yeah iPads suck. You need to have the ability to have two screens for a lot of the work I do.

I post thousands of how to do it posts on many sites. I click and drag so much info from screen a to screen b It is amazing. Ipads don't let you do that as well as a mac mini and a big screen tv.

I can't begin to say what I think of Apples choice to kill the desktop. ( it is what they did)

I have thousands of posts here from back in the day.

No more do I do 10 posts a day here.

Now on bitcointalk I do 20 posts a day mosy on how to set up and use pc/gpu to mine coins.

Another place that apple missed the boat as it is a growth industry.

 

[Tigerman82]

I officially gave up on the Mac Mini waiting and bought a Kaby Lake Intel Nuc (i3) with a new high quality Dell display. The total after additional stuff like RAM is less than what the mid range Haswell Mac Mini costs right now... You know, by itself. I would've really liked to have continued using Apple desktops but the lack of updates together with high price and the use of old bottleneck tech (5400rpm HDDs unless you pay premium for Apple SSD/Fusion drive) made this decision a no-brainer. Sure, I'm going to miss the simplicity and stability of OS X (do not want to experiment with Hackintosh) compared to Windows, but it is clear to me that Apple is no longer giving its all in the desktop field.

This decision also means that, within a few years as my Mid-2010 machine still has ways to go, I will not be using an iMac as my work computer and will get an i5 NUC with a WQHD display instead. Currently, Apple has my attention only with their iPads (which I feel are the best tablets) as I never wanted to be an iPhone guy.

I get that the mobile market is hotter than ever but, from a business standpoint, I don't get Apple as if they released new desktops (especially with SSDs as default), people would absolutely buy them (even at Apple prices).

 

[Neodym]

[...] 2011 mini with [...] usb 2.0

Never tried it myself, but shouldn't you be able to attach a Thunderbolt dock to a 2011 mini and get USB 3.0 via that dock?

Moneywise Apple is genious. Maxed 2012 mini costs about the same than then...

Moneywise Apple is stupid. That maxed 2012 mini's bring exactly zero dollar into Apple's balance today. What they do is to show the demand for such a machine - and Apple is simply ignoring that. Oh well, I'm sure Apple will eventually establish the iPad as Mac mini replacement. Can only be 10 years away or so ...