I think it’s a bit too simple to count the sheer amount of fans. It’s much more about the amount of air that gets pushed and the static pressure created, by whatever fans are present.
The fan on the mini is more substantial and should be able to move much more air than a single fan on the MBP. The outward vent is also much thicker compared to the thin vents on the notebook.
I think it’s a bit too simple to count the sheer amount of fans. It’s much more about the amount of air that gets pushed and the static pressure created, by whatever fans are present.
The single fan in the Mac mini could even be better in the cooling department than his “colleagues” in the MBP, e.g. for space reasons, blade design, component heat dissipation etc. I don’t know whether it actually is, but there’s more to it than just counting the number of fans
"It turns out that figure is a slight underestimation, as Apple has now published the power consumption and thermal output numbers for the new Mac mini with 16 GB of RAM and a 2 TB SSD. Idle power consumption is rated at 6.8 watts, with a maximum of 39 watts under full load. These were also measured at the wall, factoring in all components such as the motherboard, storage controller, NAND chips, and power supply losses.
There is a problem with your underlying assumption - that the cooling of the 2018 Mac mini was adequate.
I don’t see Apple doing anything like any of those accessories. These are highly niche accessories on an already-niche Mac. I just don’t see Apple committing resources to solving those problems. And in any case, don’t those things already exist today from third parties? So why would Apple go through all the hassle of a redesign to enable them? Doesn’t make sense.
Depends how you define “significant”. Apple have had this chassis for almost 12 years which suggests that it’s not significant enough to be a priority.
I think that is still not reliably proven. Could as well be RF interference from USB3 and/or 2.4GHz WLan.
Correct. The M1 is a ~20W chip (39W max) But the current mini design with the one fan is capable of handling a ~65W chip (122W max) meaning it should be able to handle the M1 Pro/Max under load no problem as it will never reach that thermal capacity. The vent being under the ports is not a concern for me. It’s not going to get hot enough to do any major damage.
Who said anything about Apple making those accessories? Nobody. That was just your own mistaken assumption.
That doesn't make much sense. Apple has been redesigning their other Macs for Apple Silicon, and it would stand to reason the Mac mini will not be an exception, esp. considering the Mac mini design is over a decade old. There are several technical reasons to upgrade the form factor, but even if there were zero technical reasons, just the age alone is reason enough to update it.
Package power (CPU + GPU) for the M1Max is said to be up to 86W (CPU alone 29W) but that’s still a good chunk below the 122W TDP for the i7.
Sorry to be a buzz kill, it came up at work a while ago and was a resounding "no chance that's touching a corporate machine". It's all a personal choice though. Grammarly might be doing nothing sinister, but it only takes a data leak or a security flaw for it to become an issue. The recent log4j issue highlights that.
Any design update comes with cost involved (development, testing, tooling, spare parts, technician training etc.), so the age alone imho is not a sufficient reason to update just for the sake of it.
You guys seem stuck in the past, despite the fact Apple has already showed its hand. It's going on all-in with design changes, as a hallmark of a new era of Macs, that being Apple Silicon. This is not wishful thinking, since ironically, I'd be fine if they kept the same or similar form factor, and actually told us that they were going to keep it for a number of years. However, I'm just not foolish enough to count on Apple being lazy and sticking with the same form factor when all signs point to a new one, which is why I'm waiting before buying an Apple Silicon Mac mini. I'm not going to make the mistake of buying the old form factor for the reasons already stated. BTW, a colour change doesn't count.Any design update comes with cost involved (development, testing, tooling, spare parts, technician training etc.), so the age alone imho is not a sufficient reason to update just for the sake of it.
A (mandatory) technical reason for a form factor change is not obvious to me as well, as the current case offers enough room for relevant ports and cooling.
That leaves marketing as sole driver for a design change. In that case, you could argue that Apple actually changed the design only 4 years ago, when they introduced Space Grey as case color for the technically significantly changed 2018 minis.
They could have changed the form factor back then and even could have argued with technical necessities. They choose to not do that, but instead just updated the proven form factor, but to keep the minimalist design. So why should they invest a huge amount of money to change the form factor for one of their lower-priority machines, if there’s no requirement to do so?
Unless - of course - there are technical changes that are yet unknown to the rumor mills, such as some kind of new modular system to be introduced, where you could plug-and-play additional modules with e.g. an additional CPU node, a storage container, a Raid box etc. onto a base unit.
But if they would indeed plan something like this, I would expect them to use the Mac Pro (Cube) platform for this and not the more price-sensitive mini platform.
So to me a form factor change sounds more like wishful thinking on your part - sorry to say that! I’m just failing to see the real necessity for such a change that could convince a rational guy like Tim Cook to approve significant spending on a proven platform that could easily house the next generation of electronics in its current form. Guess we’ll see in a couple of weeks
Well then you’ve lost me I’m afraid because you talked about a redesign meaning new accessories that would not be compatible with the previous models, and suggested that as a reason why Apple would (or should) redesign the chassis, but I still don’t understand that. To me it’s the opposite of that - breaking compatibility typically hurts an ecosystem. But in any case, my feeling is that Apple probably doesn’t care one bit about those accessories you used as examples either way. Could be wrong of course.
Third parties will make accessories that they believe will sell. That’s what will motivate them. So as long as there is a substantial market of existing Mac mini’s to sell to, I would expect third parties to offer them accessories. It’s why there are still plenty of people selling new cases for old iPhone models.
That’s based on believing that Apple is redesigning the other Macs because of Apple Silicon, and therefore the same will apply to the mini. But that may not be true. The other Macs were very widely recognised as needing redesigns for other reasons anyway. The same is not the case for the mini.
That design is expected to be replaced this year when they unveil the new larger iMac. They already replaced that design on the smaller iMac with the new thin and colorful iMac 24”
That's a bit subjective, no? There are very small computers in the market today, so one could argue that the Mac mini isn't so mini anymore compared to the competition: thus giving Apple a reason to want to update the design. I think based on what I know about the current mac mini, and the internals of the MacBook Pro's, the current mini could definitely be shrunk down. I think Apple could retain the thermals of the mini design (which would accommodate for M1 Pro/Max) and still reduce the volume. Otherwise the Mac mini in my book is sort of the "Mac-kind-of-mini"
Yes. Another option would be to use as many internal components from the MBP as possible in the mini, including the cooling system. This would be better at all stages for Apple, including having to carry fewer different components at repair centres. Remove the screen, batteries and keyboard from a MBP and the result is a very small computer. They could even have a bit of extra room for cooling compared to the MBP and still have something much smaller than the current mini.
