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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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Now that they updated all the iGadgets today in one shot, the next event should be entirely Mac focused. The new mac mini is almost certainly coming.
I miss Macs not having audio input and output ports.
I use to record audio directly from the two ports on my old iMac.
Hope Apple puts more ports back in the next mini.
I am almost interested in a used mini, just for the audio ports. Buying a used computer makes me nervous.
I use to record audio directly from the two ports on my old iMac.
Hope Apple puts more ports back in the next mini.
I am almost interested in a used mini, just for the audio ports. Buying a used computer makes me nervous.
I love how this thread has been the same since 2013....
Plenty of Apple refurb 2018 Mini's available with lots of ports (but no audio input). Same warranty as new, prices start at $679.
Uh, the M1 Macs so far have an audio output port in the form of a 3.5 mm headphone jack. As for an audio input port Macs stopped having those years ago - I had to use a USB mic with my 2013 iMac.
I'm talking line level audio input, not microphone. A 3.5 male to male cable. Very low cost, versus Audio Hijack.
My 2015 Dell AIO has everything, including optical drive, audio in/out and HDMI in/out.
Okay, I seldom use the optical drive. I do use audio out for a sound bar all the time. Use the HDMI in for my Roku. Odd but true.
Some of this is available for a Mac with extra products. I guess OWC likes it that way.
My 2015 Dell AIO has everything, including optical drive, audio in/out and HDMI in/out.
Okay, I seldom use the optical drive. I do use audio out for a sound bar all the time. Use the HDMI in for my Roku. Odd but true.
Some of this is available for a Mac with extra products. I guess OWC likes it that way.
I have a couple audio interfaces for when I need to get sound into my Mini, I'm sure they are of much higher quality than the built-in interfaces on the old Macs. Last I checked, there were very inexpensive USB interfaces if you aren't picky about the quality. Two USB-A and four USB-C ports on the 2018 Mini always seemed very generous to me. I have three 2tb Samsung T7 SSD's and my display connected to the USB-C ports on mine, a mouse is on one USB-A port and the other is used as needed for phone, iPad, etc.
Have a pair of JBL studio monitors connected to the audio out and a Sony production monitor connected to HDMI for video editing. Optical drive... I have an external that I might connect once a year, originally got it to rip my DVD collection back in 2014.
Anyway, this is a very good fit for my needs. What's disappointing is the lack of ports on the M1 Mini (and evidently the USB 3 speed is also limited). Presumably the new Mini will address all of this, but of course the question is... at what cost?
Have a pair of JBL studio monitors connected to the audio out and a Sony production monitor connected to HDMI for video editing. Optical drive... I have an external that I might connect once a year, originally got it to rip my DVD collection back in 2014.
Anyway, this is a very good fit for my needs. What's disappointing is the lack of ports on the M1 Mini (and evidently the USB 3 speed is also limited). Presumably the new Mini will address all of this, but of course the question is... at what cost?
Boyd01 ... You must be a Rockefeller.
I rub 2 nickels together.
Doing things the Apple way is normally out of my budget. So I'm still a Windows/Android guy, and yes, a really affordable Amazon tablet.
Yeah, I've been through all this over a decade ago on the AI forum, where I was considered a Windows fanboy and troll. Not exactly, just poor.
I rub 2 nickels together.
Doing things the Apple way is normally out of my budget. So I'm still a Windows/Android guy, and yes, a really affordable Amazon tablet.
Yeah, I've been through all this over a decade ago on the AI forum, where I was considered a Windows fanboy and troll. Not exactly, just poor.
LOL... hardly, I'm retired on a modest fixed income. Replaced my 2012 Mini with a 2018 Mini and replaced an iPhone 6s Plus with a 12 Pro Max last year. I don't upgrade often so I try to buy something that will meet my needs for a number of years.
Just pointing out that a refurb 2018 Mini seems to have what you want (including warranty) with the exception of audio input. You could get a USB audio interface for $20 at SweetWater, probably even cheaper on Amazon. But if that's still too expensive there are used 2012 and 2014 Mini's that do have audio input. I got my used 2012 Mini from OWC (aka MacSales) because they offer a 90 day warranty. But IMO the 2018 is a better value now and will be supported for much longer.
Amazon is discounting the base model M1 Mini by $100. So for $600 for the current model isn't too shabby. A Logitech K400r wireless keyboard with touchpad sells for $20 at Walmart. You can hook up the Mini to any monitor or TV with HDMI.
I currently have a 2012 i5 Mini that's still in service so it's pushing 10 yrs of service and that cost me $499 at the time. My 2018 Mini was around $700 but I already had the monitor and keyboard/mouse and that will take me to around 2028. So it depends what you want but their are certain things Apple sells that aren't really that pricey.
And I'm also retired as the previous poster.
This is a very sensible approach, which I adhere to.
I really don't see the need for upgrading phone/iPad/Mac every year or two.
Hopefully they get launched at the same time...
I was never nervous to get something electronic second hand. I got all my photography equipment like that, until recently. And I'm an IT guy, so I thought - what could go wrong? Then I bought myself a refurb 16" and it turned out to have the crashes of the early machines. It was complete hell to get a replacement from Apple for a problem that was clearly theirs. Fortunately, I'm quite used to documenting problems like this so I bombarded them with logs and info, which worked in the end. I got a brand new one, which is nice seen that I paid for a refurb. But the process to get there was so unenjoyable that I'd rather not go through it again.
I don't understand this mentality in the Mac world (PC world I could understand) especially as Apple itself has a refurbished programs and with the way hardware requirements seem to increase it doesn't make sense to get anything over 3 years old.
I was not thinking refurbished, but used. Yes, those minis are 2014 or older on OWC.
You have to wonder if it is foolish to buy something that old, why are they for sale?
I want a mini in the old eMac box.
My old G3 iMac was wonderful. A 15 inch CRT. I dropped the resolution down a peg to suit my vision needs and it worked great. I'm pretty sure this is a 17 inch. Tell Timbo I want a 19 inch.
I'm willing to pay that $999 price with the right configuration.
Hey, it looks like Leopard on that G4!
Once I came to the understanding that basically every add-on for the Mac Mini is at an additional cost of a third-party product it opened up a lot of doors for me. 3 USB hubs, one external DVD-R, one eGPU, Logitech mouse, BlueTooth remote dongle, etc. later and I'm very much all set. The external stuff all works great and can be purchased very reasonably if you look closely!
The new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming at a cycle of several months to several years, as it has consistently done since 2005.
The new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming, eternally, at varying intervals & this thread will almost certainly reach 1,000 pages, sooner or later.
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Especially, if you buy used mac laptop, they have been very consistently faulty for about the whole intel era: regardless of the vintage, you'll get faulty gpu, faulty display or faulty keyboard.
Mini does not have a faulty display or keyboard.
And dgpu is egpu, so you can swap that too.
Btw, is somehow having egpu's in future M-macs ruled out also?
What is the technical reason? Or is just a software barrier?
I have the 2018 and am ecstatic with it. Rock solid on Mojave. But being a bit of a tech lover, would love to see the M2 mini with usable Bluetooth that doesn’t drop my AirPods every so often nor drop hdmi every so often. It can make zoom calls interesting. Is that version coming soon? I realize I’m asking too much. 🙄
Apple's been writing the kexts (GPU drivers) all the time I believe. Of course with the help of the HW provider and in close co-operation that must be.
They probably don't want to write kexts for the competition anymore, at least not in the consumer sector. In the Pro market - well, that's a mess right now. Who knows.
But wouldn't that (writing kexts for the competition) cut their prospective revenue too. if they did write the kexts for AMD and, for the xxx sake, for nVidia too, that would be awesome. Not gonna happen I'm afraid.
I do like competition. Tuff competition is good. That's mostly good for the consumer and at the same time for all the buying customers. This time I don't know really what's gonna happen.
ps. if M1 did have eGPU support (AMD at least), I would have evaluated a M1 set up already.
They probably don't want to write kexts for the competition anymore, at least not in the consumer sector. In the Pro market - well, that's a mess right now. Who knows.
But wouldn't that (writing kexts for the competition) cut their prospective revenue too. if they did write the kexts for AMD and, for the xxx sake, for nVidia too, that would be awesome. Not gonna happen I'm afraid.
I do like competition. Tuff competition is good. That's mostly good for the consumer and at the same time for all the buying customers. This time I don't know really what's gonna happen.
ps. if M1 did have eGPU support (AMD at least), I would have evaluated a M1 set up already.
Still some years to reach that goal. But, let's hope so, that this forum, its' users (we) and other things will last until that 🤞