That actually makes a lot of sense and very environmental
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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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That actually makes a lot of sense and very environmental
I hope your collective vigil is rewarded with a new Mac mini, which is almost certainly coming. My watch has ended. The Elitedesk 800 G3 mini arrived today. Geekbench 4 64 bit scores are 4659 for single core, 15725 multi-core, and Open CL compute is 22030. That compares to 3452, 6414, and 18552 respectively for the 2.8Ghz i5 2014 Mac mini with fusion drive. The HP's footprint is smaller, but it has an external power brick. The fan noise is slightly louder and higher pitched than the Mac mini, but it is not too annoying. Windows 10 is bearable, but it is not where I want to be. I wish Apple would offer a screen-less desktop that contains modern components. I would have continued to be a customer, if I thought they were committed to macOS desktops. You would think that was table stakes for a computer company.
Will Apple ever give us a 2017/18 Mac Classic like the "Nintendo NES Classic"?
Apple release the Mac Classic way back in 1990.
I'd take a retro Mac Mini instead of a new Mac Classic where we can BYOKMD+SSD+MEM.
Look at your car ... as an x-carbuff it's clear the engine room is off limits these days and yeah .. I can VAG but when a pollen sensor causes a shutdown or a clogged pollen drain causes water to corrode a cable-bundle so the car can't be taken out of Park you begin to understand the chip integration is complete and you are kinda lost no matter what - so the good-ole days are gone. So it is with MAC computers more and more packaged functionality with no user access. The MacPro highlights how Apple garnered every bit of profit to the point of limitation - had they permitted upgrades lawsuits would be endless.
The box is no longer the playground.
The box is no longer the playground.
...in the Mac world. In the rest of the world, people are having fun playing with their boxes.
Which I why I specified 2 USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 ports on the rear. That would put it on par with the 2016 15-inch MacBook Pro in being able to support 2 external 5K monitors.
Of course I was assuming (dreaming) that Apple would actually look at the range of common use cases and realize that including additional USB 3.1 Gen 1 Ports instead of requiring dongles to use a desktop would be a really good thing to do, and that it wouldn't hurt the adoption of USB-C.
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What's funny is that I thought to check that right after I posted. Intel hasn't seen the demand to make the 4+3e die version for Kaby Lake, probably in part to low adoption of the Skylake versions. I am certain though, that if the Apple said "we would like a few million 4+3e 45 watt TDP parts over the next couple years", Intel would happily oblige.
But other than that, if you just replaced those two SKUs with the 6770HQ and 6870HQ (given the chipsets support both), that Imaginary List would be 100% full of real components that would work with the shape, volume, power and cooling constraints of the current Mac Mini.
It was just a thought exercise to see if an evolutionary iteration on the Mac Mini could be enough to make it desirable or exciting again.
End of Life and Manufacture Discontinued have new meaning when new software won't run on your device and the device still works but cannot remain in the ecosystem - when I invest my energies I want my energies to decide when its time to retire said equipment (within reason). Apple has destroyed my faith in this regard - you never know what they will do next - in this manner my playground has been closed.
Not really sure how this has changed, when Apple switched to OSX they offered "Classic Mode" for a few years, but eventually they moved on and you couldn't run your old software on newer machines. Same thing when they moved to Intel and offered Rosetta which was later dropped with MacOSX 10.7.
I am still running some expensive 10 year old software (Strata 3d CX, Vue Infinite, Final Cut Pro 6, etc) on my 2012 Mini and 2013 MacBook Air and they work great, much, much faster than they ran on my old computers. If I upgrade to a new Mac or new version of MacOS then they may no longer work, but I've gotten my money's worth.
As far as new software not running on old computers, hasn't it always been like that? My computers still support all Apple's ecosystem that I want to use and I'm sure they will continue to do so for several more years.
I know how we can get Jony and Co. interested in the Mac mini again. Tell them to rethink the laptop, and see what useful features they can arbitrarily remove. The butterfly keyboard is just too bloated to remain. Who's impressed by that keyboard's half millimeter z height when x and y are so wide. It's just embarrassing. The screen must go since it juts up at jarring angles, distracting from the focus from the object and its perfectly sparse surfaces and meticulously chamfered edges. The battery weighs too much and must go. Just imagine the giddiness those cuts would bring the team. With all of the weight and space savings, they could reduce the volume to truly minuscule proportions. Minuscule, I like the sound of that, but the word is just too long. Mini, yes that is it. Mac mini, the ultimate reduction achieved.
I can see it now.... A silver disk (or space gray, rose gold, cosmic blue or mint green), just 3.14159 inches in diameter, and one inch tall, sitting on a tiny base you can't see. Edges beveled and polished so fine you can't see where it begins or ends. And the crowning achievement -- a single USB-C port in the top center. The current design team has reached... perfection. With this achievement can they finally say their mission in life is complete.
Close. No openings in the case at all. Power is obtained by placing the disk on a induction charging station. All comm is handled via WiFi or Bluetooth. Display is a holograph projected into the area above the disk via a small ruby/sapphire laser set in the top of the unit. All data are stored in the iCloud. In the 2020 upgrade, there is no way to power the unit. Once the initial charge is expended you throw the unit out and buy a new one. Ultimate nirvana has been reached.
But you can't actually buy one of these beauties. It's a subscription service. An induction charge lasts the typical user about a month, and once a month you received a replacement, and you send the old one back (only to receive it again next month). If you are not a typical user, GFY.
Sounds like Apple has an excess of Visionaries over engineers:
Production WOES Means No iPhone 8 Release Date In 2017
If they can't get their Flagship product out the door in a timely fashion, what extra resources do they have to devote to our lowly desktops?
Makes me wonder what that $250 billion cash reserve is up to. Sitting around in foreign CD's at 1.5% interest?
Production WOES Means No iPhone 8 Release Date In 2017
If they can't get their Flagship product out the door in a timely fashion, what extra resources do they have to devote to our lowly desktops?
Makes me wonder what that $250 billion cash reserve is up to. Sitting around in foreign CD's at 1.5% interest?
Reminds me of the old Gary Larson cartoon labeled "Too many scientists and not enough hunchbacks" which showed complete and utter confused turmoil by a bunch of white-coat-wearing Larson scientist types.
Actually, I picture something like the huge vault that Scrooge McDuck kept all his money in. That new spaceship Hq they've built is just a big empty donut filled with money, and the Apple execs all take turns swimming laps in it. Keeps them thin.
What I would like to know is will Apple offer a new Mini with some performance? Specs similar or even better than the macbook pro line
Best Buy has the mini on sale as of 5/9. The base is $399 and the next one up is $599.
I could not resist. Picked up the 2.6ghz model with 8mb and a 1TB drive. So far so good.
I could not resist. Picked up the 2.6ghz model with 8mb and a 1TB drive. So far so good.
I hope that was 8GB
Ha. I remember when 8mb was huge! And a 1GB hard drive was state of the art.