The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

[0388631]

If I recall correctly, the first mini I tried out was one of the PowerPC ones. But yeah, the move to the Intel "Core" CPUs was a superb decision, and when they made that move I started touting the benefits of this device to friends and family.

But yeah, I kinda stopped doing that after a while. Apple took the mini (and honestly, all the rest of their desktop computers) in a direction I didn't really like.

While Apple has been turning all their computing devices into "boutique" works of art where form trumps function, other manufacturers have gotten into the game and are moving the SFF forward, as you note.

Perhaps what Apple needs to do is, just once, develop an "ugly Mac". Forget about aesthetics for a single dang moment, and produce a device that is designed to get work done, not just sit there and look pretty...

SFF isn't bad as long as PC OEMs and DIY kits don't go the route of Apple and solder everything to the damn board.

I think the next Pro is going to be an "ugly" model, just so it stays ahead of the competition. The Z800 is not a pretty machine, but it can be bought with just about every option a professional may need or want. We may see optical discs come back in the future. Research is still going on to make them smaller, faster and to hold far more data than is possible today, even with bleeding edge tech. The idea of getting everything from the internet is fantastic provided the speed makes it doable and there isn't limit in place.

 

[opeter]

Don't bother buying a computer for XP. Just install VirtualBox on everything you want to run on and install WinXP on that. After install, disable the networking on the VM

All you need is dege's Voodoo (or dgVoodoo) and most of these old games will work without problems on modern Windows operating systems.

Also, many of the games play their music directly from the CD / Redbook Audio.

You can make a CD image (.iso, .bin etc.) and open this with the built-in opener in Windows 10 or install something like
WinCDEmu or similar and open the image. The music will work. In most cases.

Last time I tryed FX Fighter Turbo and it did work without problems under Windows 10 64-bit.

 

[SpacemanSpiffed]

I think as a game developer your going to really appreciate that new EN1060. As far as XP goes, that's definitely some virus prone OS. Try to keep it off the internet.

@Crosscreek - and look what's here today ...

My 2011 mini next to it's spiritual replacement (since both have dedicated GPUs).

I thought about getting the EN1070 but summing up the various reviews, it seems that it might be noticeably noisier - probably due to thermals as the MXM GTX 1070 module defiantly increases the power draw over the 1060 module. Not to mention almost 50% more expensive. (got this for US $799)

I am going to attempt a CPU upgrade (i5-6400T 2.2 to i7-6700T 2.8) which should make the overall system much more balanced on demanding games and noticeably better making builds, etc. I'm thinking of documenting the process and putting it on youtube.

I guess I need to find a new home for the 2011 Mini as it's nicely configured. I'd rather offer it here, but I only have about 1/3 the posting history needed to access the Marketplace forum, so I guess it's off to eBay. Look for it with original box and accessories.

 

[Crosscreek]

@Crosscreek - and look what's here today ...

Very nice .....

 

[dogslobber]

Is that a 2017 Mac Mini in those WWDC tarpaulins?

 

[Miat]

Is that a 2017 Mac Mini in those WWDC tarpaulins?

Almost certainly, or almost certainly not?

That is the question.

 

[opeter]

Is that a 2017 Mac Mini in those WWDC tarpaulins?

Where? Where? Can't see it

 

[fokmik]

the mac mini 2017 will come in fall with Intel CL, up to 16 gb RAM DDR4, 4xUsb-c/TB3, ethernet port,headphone jack and sd card

 

[opeter]

the mac mini 2017 will come in fall with Intel CL, up to 16 gb RAM DDR4, 4xUsb-c/TB3, ethernet port,headphone jack and sd card

Yeah? Almost certainly for real?

 

[Crosscreek]

If it almost certainly comes it won't have "covfefe".

 

[dogslobber]

Where? Where? Can't see it

If you squint and shine a torch in your eye then you'll see it!

 

[Sam Luis Obispo]

If you squint and shine a torch in your eye then you'll see it!

Yeah! That dark spot in middle of the bright light is vaguely apple shaped...

 

[janitor3]

If it almost certainly comes it won't have "covfefe".

It's an Optional Extra.

 

[lsutigerfan1976]

If it almost certainly comes it won't have "covfefe".

They will wait till 2018-2019 to introduce that feature. Apple likes to be fashionably late when it comes to introducing new things!

 

[navaira]

COVFEFE LAKE

You heard it here first.

 

[bopajuice]

Next Monday's the day. If there is a new Mini and it isn't ridiculous, it's likely I'll get it. I know it seems silly to fantasize about it, but what kind of specs do you guys want?

I would like to see something with upgradable memory and hard drive. Anything with a current spec'd CPU would satisfy me. SSD, M2, PCIe, anything reasonably fast. Latest USB,

A form factor slightly smaller than the current mini, or even a larger micro ATX sized case with user serviceable parts. Something different yet practical. I don't care.

And keep the price close to where it is now. $500 to $600 seems reasonable to me for an everyday machine. I don't want to spend $1500 for a desktop just to type, do some research, and light video editing.

Most importantly, keep it up to date, and refreshed on a regular cycle.

 

[RyanXM]

All I really want is an updated Quad Core....my 2012 is getting a little long in the tooth.

 

[brendu]

I want a quad core mini with a very easily user replaceable 2.5" Storage drive. If they want to keep using hard drives, fine. But make it super duper easy for me to put my own ssd in it. Also, give me thunderbolt 3 so I can run an external GPU for gaming. I keep my macs for around ten years. I want to be able to swap graphics cards more often than that.

My dream mini (that won't happen) is a Ryzen powered 8 core mini with an AMD RX560/570 GPU. Apple could license and include thunderbolt.

 

[Cape Dave]

If it is not NVMe storage, I will not buy.

 

[DesertSurfer]

Must be in the form of a trash can Maybe it will be slipped into the Siri Speaker, rumored to have the trash can design.

 

[SpacemanSpiffed]

If it is not NVMe storage, I will not buy.

Generally speaking, that's one thing Apple has at least been doing right. They've been early adopters of faster disk I/O.
[doublepost=1496611240][/doublepost]

Very nice .....

Wouldn't you know it - that old rule is still in effect: As soon as I buy something, a newer model (or models plural) comes out That's the story of my computing life.

Looking at the news, Zotac only added a GTX 1050 model in that smaller case. The other 4 new ZBox machines they announced use the much bigger case from the EN1080, and pack their mini desktop cards instead of the Mobile MXM modules. 2 AMD CPU models - I'm curious to see how those compare.

From re-reading all the reviews, I'm pretty confident that going with the EN1060 instead of the EN1070 was the right decision - it looks like the small chassis ZBOX-EN systems are on the edge for maxing out thermals and the EN1070 has to throttle down the GPU clock quite often when pushed while being a lot nosier compared to the EN1060. Given it was 50% more expensive (US $1199 vs $799), with the only difference being the MXM GPU module, I'll live with it despite my tendency to always want to max out my systems (which is why my minis are the 2011 2.7 and 2012 2.6 models with 16GB and 2.5 and 3TB respectively) Still, I'm going to be out over $2K when finished with it. Better hope the E3 reviews on my new game are good .

 

[Crosscreek]

Wouldn't you know it - that old rule is still in effect: As soon as I buy something, a newer model (or models plural) comes out That's the story of my computing life.

I understand your frustration and that's why last year I decided to build my own system with quality parts that I could change out at any time. I did use Hackintoshable parts but was unsure if I would do it because I already owned a copy of Windows 10. After building and trying the hack rout it worked so well that I was not sorry I went through the trouble of fine tuning it.
My only problem at that point was I did not know what to buy for a GPU since the Nvidia 10 series did not have drivers for macOS so I tried a AMD RX 480 which worked great in Windows 10 but Apple made half as drivers for macOS and I wasn't impressed enough to sacrifice for a Nvidia GTX 1070 for Windows gaming.
So I sent it back and paid the restocking fee and ordered the 1070 and I'm now glad I did since Nvidia is making drivers for Sierra and now I have the best of both worlds.
The point I making is I got off the merry-go-round of propitiatory builds by building my own machine.
Zotac makes excellent PCs and GPUs aand I don't mean offence.
I think you bought a nice PC and it's SFF unlike mine that is mid tower. I really didn't care any more as long as it would be quiet which mine always is although if I set my games to 4K I can hear the fans on my GPu rev up but still tolerable.

 

[SpacemanSpiffed]

The point I making is I got off the merry-go-round of propitiatory builds by building my own machine. Zotac makes excellent PCs and GPUs aand I don't mean offence.
I think you bought a nice PC and it's SFF unlike mine that is mid tower. I really didn't care any more as long as it would be quiet which mine always is although if I set my games to 4K I can hear the fans on my GPu rev up but still tolerable.

I know I'm pretty extreme these days when it comes to size and noise of my PCs. Somewhere along the way I got OLD, and tired of moving heavy machines and hearing fan noise. When I was younger I had plenty of self-built towers, but a few years back I got on the small & quiet kick like it was religion.

I've got 6, soon to be 7 again with the EN1060, computers within 6 feet of where I am sitting, all of which serve in difference capacities. They share 3 monitors and 2 keyboards on an 'L' Shaped glass desk (2 Zboxs, 2 shuttle XPCs, one Mini, one 13" rMBP , and a mini file server which sits below the desk) that looks out over the deck outside. So many machines, because I work from home, and as a game developer I bounce around between different environments and HW/GPU configurations. My current game is going to be announced at E3, and it'll be on just one platform, but the one we have planned to follow it will be full cross play on Steam between Windows / OSX and Linux on a bespoke engine.

I'll admit that sometimes, I replace a machine with something newer just out of techno-lust. Thank goodness my wife is a developer - as long as I keep her in nice hardware, she doesn't worry about what I get.

 

[Cape Dave]

I know I'm pretty extreme these days when it comes to size and noise of my PCs. Somewhere along the way I got OLD, and tired of moving heavy machines and hearing fan noise. When I was younger I had plenty of self-built towers, but a few years back I got on the small & quiet kick like it was religion.

I've got 6, soon to be 7 again with the EN1060, computers within 6 feet of where I am sitting, all of which serve in difference capacities. They share 3 monitors and 2 keyboards on an 'L' Shaped glass desk (2 Zboxs, 2 shuttle XPCs, one Mini, on 13" rMBP , and a file server which sits below the desk) that looks out over the deck outside. So many machines, because I work from home, and as a game developer I bounce around between different environments and HW/GPU configurations. My current game is going to be announced at E3, and it'll be on just one platform, but the one we have planned to follow it will be full cross play on Steam between Windows / OSX and Linux on a bespoke engine.

I'll admit that sometimes, I replace a machine with something newer just out of techno-lust. Thank goodness my wife is a developer - as long as I keep her in nice hardware, she doesn't worry about what I get.

1000 Amen's! "When I was younger I had plenty of self-built towers, but a few years back I got on the small & quiet kick like it was religion."

 

[SpacemanSpiffed]

1000 Amen's! "When I was younger I had plenty of self-built towers, but a few years back I got on the small & quiet kick like it was religion."

I think the other things is that I no longer feel a significant 'advantage' to having the absolute top of the line hardware (in addition the fact that I know it's a never ending treadmill of newer parts coming out). 25 years ago, having a 486-66, or a specific brand of VGA card was a bigger deal. Same a few years later when CPUs were making huge clock speed leaps in the race to 1Ghz. But today? the difference between cutting edge and sweet spot just isn't that big. Small and quiet can get close enough to be very productive and play the games . Granted I'm not doing any VR work or other bleeding edge stuff.

Several years ago I was working on the OSX port of multiple games, including everyone's favorite mute, crowbar wielding protagonist. The main machine I used for the task was a 2009 Mac Mini, which I was also using to test the first generation Segate XT Hybrid HDD (it was only good for 5-10% overall speedup on OSX). It's wasn't a Mac Pro (though we did have plenty of those around), but it was got the job done.