The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

[TahoeBlue]

I'm pretty sure the difference is huge...

I have both. In real world performance without anything crazy, it's not a huge difference between HD 4000 and Iris graphics in a mobile processor. They are integrated graphics and remain a bottleneck, but said bottleneck isn't as bad as it was say five generations ago. Civ 5, I use the same exact low settings I use on my HD 4000 MacMini, and the fans kick in right at the same time on my Iris rMBP 13". I get maybe +2-5 FPS increase on my Iris if I'm lucky. You aren't going to get magnificent 3D rendering times either, so I guess you're thinking of Iris PRO available on the 21" iMac & base rMBP 15" right now.

Iris graphics isn't enough to kickstart sales of the MacMini. It's 2013 tech, and the MacMini should've already had it last year. Apple has to do more if it wants the MacMini to bring in proportional gross margins and sales to the iMac line. Since they don't sell a whole hell of a lot of them, they either need to figure out how to sell more units with attractive tech and value that makes a good chunk of their target market jump out of their seats to buy it, or EOL it. It can go either way at this point.

I stand by my prediction we won't see a new MacMini until 2015, and this is all at the feet of Intel.

 

[AnalyzeThis]

Sorry, was too tempted to post 1000th reply. It seems to become endless saga...

 

[TahoeBlue]

If a Haswell MacMini appeared next Tuesday, I'd venture to guess the majority of people in the market for one, will jump on it asap.

The majority of people in the market for a MacMini are buying the current generation MacMini.

I still don't think Apple would put out a MacMini with a worse processor and graphics (Iris) than the base current gen 21" iMac. Desktops don't need to worry about battery life.

You are simply assuming way too much. Apple has not updated this product line very frequently. If there is a Broadwell MacMini in the pipeline, it might very well appear late 2015 or even 2016.

Recent history dictates when there is this much of a gap between refreshes to current tech (not OLD tech that generates yawns), it indicates something major is about to happen and Apple will wait if waiting results in increased demand and sales. See the new MacPro for an example.

 

[chelch]

There's as much chance of a Broadwell refresh in early 2015 as there is a mini refresh next Tuesday. The first block of new Haswells from Intel are being released on May 11th with the rest, the Haswell-e chips, coming Q3.

A refreshed mini could come out any time. There were the leaks in January. But since nothing has appeared I think they're now waiting to release a redesigned mini sometime after May 11th. It will follow the trend started by the airport express and move from flat and wide to tall and thin. It will have an HD4600 iGPU. Hopefully there will be a dGPU option.

Debating about waiting for Broadwell or not seems silly to me as there's no timeline yet and it may be Q3 '15 or later by the time all the Broadwell chips are released necessary to refresh the mini again. It took until Q4 '13 to release the Haswell I5 after the I7s were released in Q2 '13.

 

[talmy]

A refreshed mini could come out any time. There were the leaks in January. But since nothing has appeared I think they're now waiting to release a redesigned mini sometime after May 11th. It will follow the trend started by the airport express and move from flat and wide to tall and thin. It will have an HD4600 iGPU. Hopefully there will be a dGPU option.

Apple is never in a hurry to update the mini.

I disagree about the "trend". The Airport Extreme (not the Express, which is flat) is shaped as it is to house the 802.11ac antenna array. It's the only Mac product that stands taller than its predicessor by a noticeable amount.

 

[apfelmann]

Now it all makes sense:

This is the reason we had to wait for a new mini so long, a new GPU for the mini:
http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/25/nvidia-titan-z-gpu/

 

[scottsjack]

Now it all makes sense:

This is the reason we had to wait for a new mini so long, a new GPU for the mini:
http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/25/nvidia-titan-z-gpu/

Forget it. That would another couple hundred dollars to the price of a mini.

 

[spatlese44]

Over 1000 posts and counting...

 

[mvmanolov]

I have both. In real world performance without anything crazy, it's not a huge difference between HD 4000 and Iris graphics in a mobile processor. They are integrated graphics and remain a bottleneck, but said bottleneck isn't as bad as it was say five generations ago. Civ 5, I use the same exact low settings I use on my HD 4000 MacMini, and the fans kick in right at the same time on my Iris rMBP 13". I get maybe +2-5 FPS increase on my Iris if I'm lucky. You aren't going to get magnificent 3D rendering times either, so I guess you're thinking of Iris PRO available on the 21" iMac & base rMBP 15" right now.

Iris graphics isn't enough to kickstart sales of the MacMini. It's 2013 tech, and the MacMini should've already had it last year. Apple has to do more if it wants the MacMini to bring in proportional gross margins and sales to the iMac line. Since they don't sell a whole hell of a lot of them, they either need to figure out how to sell more units with attractive tech and value that makes a good chunk of their target market jump out of their seats to buy it, or EOL it. It can go either way at this point.

I stand by my prediction we won't see a new MacMini until 2015, and this is all at the feet of Intel.

I tend to agree with you completely here.
the only other thing that i'd add, by way of expanding the field of speculation beyond what has already been said a zillion times is the possibility for integrating a the mini and apple tv lines. into a single unit for HTPC use and keeping a separate mini server line for the enterprise folk...

 

[squirrrl]

I tend to agree with you completely here.
the only other thing that i'd add, by way of expanding the field of speculation beyond what has already been said a zillion times is the possibility for integrating a the mini and apple tv lines. into a single unit for HTPC use and keeping a separate mini server line for the enterprise folk...

I can see them adding apple TV integration into the mini, but total integration is crazy. Apple TV costs $100, mac mini costs $600 base. Now if apple rejiggers the whole thing and turns apple tv into a usb type dongle (ala chromecast) then adds apple TV integration into it's desktops, that's a whole other thing.

It would make more sense for apple to offer an apple TV with airport express/extreme than integration into the mac mini.

 

[talmy]

I can see them adding apple TV integration into the mini, but total integration is crazy.

They had the Front Row application but then dropped it, so it doesn't seem to be at all where they are heading.

 

[hleewell]

Over 1000 posts and counting...

Apple can of whatever they want to do but I sure hope they are reading their thread

 

[Alekto]

I was under the impression the new Intel chips would drop in April? Am I mistaken?

 

[shawcroft]

The endless wait for a new Mac Mini

I am not as technically savvy as are many of the folks who post here. Looking at the time since the last refresh of the Mini (about 515 days), I thought the next update would likely feature a bunch of newer and great stuff.....
One of these days, we will ultimately find out....
I've waited this long....I can wait some more.
Shawcroft

 

[Santabean2000]

I can see them adding apple TV integration into the mini, but total integration is crazy. Apple TV costs $100, mac mini costs $600 base. Now if apple rejiggers the whole thing and turns apple tv into a usb type dongle (ala chromecast) then adds apple TV integration into it's desktops, that's a whole other thing.

It would make more sense for apple to offer an apple TV with airport express/extreme than integration into the mac mini.

This would be something I'm interested in. Esp if a smaller ATV form factor could be maintained.

I'm still in for a new mini too though. Something that could push 4K please.

 

[talmy]

Apple can of whatever they want to do but I sure hope they are reading their thread

But this isn't their thread. Discussions.apple.com perhaps, but MacRumors? If you want to tell Apple something, go to apple.com/feedback/macmini.html

 

[dudedude]

Got my new i5 last night. Threw in the M500 480GB SSD and 16GB of Crucial RAM. Got Mavericks re-installed using internet recovery.

I was a bit surprised by the mini and taking it apart. I've built plenty of computers but the mini really is using all the available space. Taking it apart and putting it back together was easy enough but those tiny connectors for the fan and wireless were a bit nerve-wracking. I guess I'm not used to working with such small connectors.

I actually had an issue on boot where it was only seeing 8GB of RAM. It seems the top slot of memory will actually "click" into place even without it being seated all the way in. I actually had to shut down 2 times to get it right which usually never happens to me. In any event I felt the fan blowing air out the back, the system is recognizing all the RAM, and I'm happy to have it all up and running.

I didn't bother with a data doubler because I'm using a NAS for storage these days but honestly I feel as if the logic board removal or "second half" of the data doubler install would be the easy part.

I'm guessing if I had to do it again it would all go a lot easier now that I'm more familiar with it.

Can't wait to put the machine through its paces.

 

[talmy]

I was a bit surprised by the mini and taking it apart. I've built plenty of computers but the mini really is using all the available space. [...] I didn't bother with a data doubler because I'm using a NAS for storage these days but honestly I feel as if the logic board removal or "second half" of the data doubler install would be the easy part.

The close packing has me wondering about the wisdom of a second drive (either added or via the Server Mini). At least with the old white mini the second drive was a substitute for the DVD drive but here this adding to the heat.

 

[chrfr]

The close packing has me wondering about the wisdom of a second drive (either added or via the Server Mini). At least with the old white mini the second drive was a substitute for the DVD drive but here this adding to the heat.

Keep in mind that unlike the older Minis, the entire outer surface on the 2010+ works like a heat sink. I am using a few of these with two drives as servers which run 24/7 and they don't get significantly hot.

 

[scottsjack]

Got my new i5 last night. Threw in the M500 480GB SSD and 16GB of Crucial RAM. Got Mavericks re-installed using internet recovery.

I was a bit surprised by the mini and taking it apart. I've built plenty of computers but the mini really is using all the available space. Taking it apart and putting it back together was easy enough but those tiny connectors for the fan and wireless were a bit nerve-wracking. I guess I'm not used to working with such small connectors.

Same here. I put an M500 and 16GB RAM in my 2012. To me the current mini was tougher to work on than my 2009 mini or a 2010 iMac that I replaced the HDD and ODD on.

 

[Serelus]

Does anyone think we'll ever see a dedicated GPU in the mac mini, still deciding if I should get a mac mini for simple iPhone development/Media storage.
As the macbook pro is used for other stuff.

 

[ElectronGuru]

Does anyone think we'll ever see a dedicated GPU in the Mac mini.

Apple made it clear 3 years ago that integrated was the way it's going to be. However, that was before 4k. If they want to drive 4k and it can't be done with intel, they will have to go back to dedicated, are least at the high end.

 

[Serelus]

Apple made it clear 3 years ago that integrated was the way it's going to be. However, that was before 4k. If they want to drive 4k and it can't be done with intel, they will have to go back to dedicated, are least at the high end.

Here's to hoping that's sooner than later.

 

[MrTed]

Can someone at Apple risk his job and tell us when is macmini released ?
thank you

 

[Crosscreek]

Apple made it clear 3 years ago that integrated was the way it's going to be. However, that was before 4k. If they want to drive 4k and it can't be done with intel, they will have to go back to dedicated, are least at the high end.

IMO Broadwell will be the key to driving 4k and Apple would be wise to wait until the release next year and put them in the Mini which would future proof it for another 3 year refresh. Iris Pro will run 4k but it's really pushing it. The thermals would be really bad.