Is there anyone who is actually excited about the prospect of the Mini coming in an even smaller box? The current one is just fine for me size-wise – I have zero interest in a smaller form factor but plenty of interest in what the new model can actually do...
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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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There’s an awful lot of empty space in the m1 mini now , pretty sure they could squeeze it into a smaller box , I’m sure we’ll see soon enough …
There are the scenarios I considered:
1) They didn't want to bother changing up the chassis, just because it was easier not to.
2) They are going to change the chassis, but are waiting for version 2.0.
3) They kept the larger chassis for a specific reason. However, if that's true, I would guess the reason is not M1. The reason would be for an M1 Pro or M2 Pro.
The M1 simply doesn't need the large size, given that the current M1 Mac mini is currently mostly empty space. Not empty space inside a fan or duct, but just empty space. Furthermore, the M1 Mac mini actually takes up more volume than the M1 Max 14" MacBook Pro, despite not having a keyboard or screen.
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I see no real value in a smaller case if there are any functional compromises at all, including losing ports.
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This has been mentioned elsewhere before but the brand new Mac Studio is the same size as the Mac Mini (but taller).
There’s no way the next Mac mini is going to have a new shape. The Mac Studio is proof of that.
There’s no way the next Mac mini is going to have a new shape. The Mac Studio is proof of that.
Yeah, it was mentioned in this thread. The frame of the Mac Studio is exactly the same width and depth as the existing Mac mini, at 19.7 cm (7.7 inches).
The main difference is the base now has cheesegrater vent holes.
Guaranteed no. But they've already established that one can get a Mac Mini (Intel) with 32GB for under $1700, which is what some of us have been complaining about with Studio vs. Mini and the Missing Link of the M1 Pro on the desktop.
According to the MacRumors Buyer's Guide, it's been 555 days since the last Mac mini update. WWDC is 18 days from today, so that means on June 6 it will have been 573 days, or 1 year 7 months.
BTW, that 1475 day life span for my 2014 Mac mini is always impressive when I see that table.
Yikes!
WWDC 2022 is a perfect time to announce a new Mac mini, but some of the pundits seem to be telling us to temper our expectations on that. The various supply chain and manufacturing delays certainly aren't helping things either.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the J473 M2 and J474 M2 Pro are both currently in testing, although that doesn't really tell us much about the release date, or even if it's going to be released at all. In fact, he claims there is also an M1 Pro J374 being tested but I'm thinking that could have been shelved permanently even if it does exist internally at Apple.
www.bloomberg.com
Ming-chi Kuo had originally said 2022 for a new Mac mini, but back in March he updated that prediction to 2023.
BTW, that 1475 day life span for my 2014 Mac mini is always impressive when I see that table.
Yikes!WWDC 2022 is a perfect time to announce a new Mac mini, but some of the pundits seem to be telling us to temper our expectations on that. The various supply chain and manufacturing delays certainly aren't helping things either.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the J473 M2 and J474 M2 Pro are both currently in testing, although that doesn't really tell us much about the release date, or even if it's going to be released at all. In fact, he claims there is also an M1 Pro J374 being tested but I'm thinking that could have been shelved permanently even if it does exist internally at Apple.
Apple Readies Several New Macs With Next-Generation M2 Chips
Apple Inc. has started widespread internal testing of several new Mac models with next-generation M2 chips, according to developer logs, part of its push to make more powerful computers using homegrown processors.
www.bloomberg.com
Ming-chi Kuo had originally said 2022 for a new Mac mini, but back in March he updated that prediction to 2023.
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As I said the last time this came up based on the current batch of M1 there appears to be a physical limit to the RAM each "level" supports:
*Mx - 16 GB RAM limit
*Mx Pro - 32 GB RAM limit
*Mx Max - 64 GB RAM limit
*Mx Ultra - 128 GB RAM limit
The Mx Pro's 32 GB notebook starts at $2,399.00 so for a $1700 32 GB Mx Pro mini pro to be viable it is going to have to loose $700.
Edit: clarified RAM price point.
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M1 MB Pro 14" starts at US$1999
Yeah. Right now the numbers don't work for an Mini M1 Pro. Only way would be if RAM prices would drop dramatically.
Or if it impinges on cooling like the 2013 Mac Pro throttle bottle.
It’s really over 760 days between the 2018 and the M1 2020. That March 2020 price cut hardly counts as a release/refresh.According to the MacRumors Buyer's Guide, it's been 555 days since the last Mac mini update. WWDC is 18 days from today, so that means on June 6 it will have been 573 days, or 1 year 7 months.
View attachment 2006844
BTW, that 1475 day life span for my 2014 Mac mini is always impressive when I see that table.
WWDC 2022 is a perfect time to announce a new Mac mini, but some of the pundits seem to be telling us to temper our expectations on that. The various supply chain and manufacturing delays certainly aren't helping things either.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman says the J473 M2 and J474 M2 Pro are both currently in testing, although that doesn't really tell us much about the release date, or even if it's going to be released at all. In fact, he claims there is also an M1 Pro J374 being tested but I'm thinking that could have been shelved permanently even if it does exist internally at Apple.
Apple Readies Several New Macs With Next-Generation M2 Chips
Apple Inc. has started widespread internal testing of several new Mac models with next-generation M2 chips, according to developer logs, part of its push to make more powerful computers using homegrown processors.
Ming-chi Kuo had originally said 2022 for a new Mac mini, but back in March he updated that prediction to 2023.
Agreed.
Having said that, I could see Mac Studio designs creeping into Mac mini, such as USB-C ports on the front, unibody rear, and improved ventilation.
I don't really see much need to significantly update Mac mini, unless the redesign would help it achieve lower price point.
My Mac Mini doesn't even appear on the table..... It was the first of two updates in 2009, still on 24/7 (active or sleep), with the original HDD.According to the MacRumors Buyer's Guide, it's been 555 days since the last Mac mini update. WWDC is 18 days from today, so that means on June 6 it will have been 573 days, or 1 year 7 months.
BTW, that 1475 day life span for my 2014 Mac mini is always impressive when I see that table.
That is the 16 GB model; we are looking at 32 GB which upgrading to adds $400 which is where the $2,399.00 came from. Should have made it a little clearer
With supply chains borked they way they are I don't see that happening soon. Also the higher end M1 use the more recent (read more expensive) LPDDR5. It doesn't help that many news sources confuse LPDDR5 (which is correct AFAIK) with DDR5:
14-inch MacBook Pro M1 Pro: 10-core M1 Pro (8 performance and 2 efficiency); 16-core GPU; 32GB of DDR5/6400 RAM; 1TB SSD; Liquid Retina XDR display with ProMotion (120Hz max refresh rate)
14-inch MacBook Pro M1 Max: 10-core M1 Max (8 performance and 2 efficiency); 32-core GPU; 64GB of DDR5/6400 RAM; 4TB SSD; Liquid Retina XDR display with ProMotion (120Hz max refresh rate) — Fact-checking the benchmarks: Intel’s Alder Lake Core i9 vs Apple’s M1 Max
The M1 Pro has 256-bit LPDDR5-6400 SDRAM memory, and the M1 Max has 512-bit LPDDR5-6400 memory. — "Apple's M1 Pro, M1 Max SoCs Investigated: New Performance and Efficiency Heights"
Why don't they confuse DDR4 and DDR5 while they are at it? /s
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Heh. It's 13 years-old now so I'll give MacRumors a pass for not including it.
What do you do with it, considering it's only got an HDD? File server or something like that?
IIRC that's a Core 2 Duo model. I've retired all of my C2D Macs. I found they were getting too frustrating even to just surf with, even with sufficient RAM and SSD. I gave a 2.26 GHz model MacBook Pro with 8 GB RAM and SSD running High Sierra, to my daughter for grade school and it worked for some of her educational programs, but it was still too slow for some web-based educational games, and the lag in some Google apps drove me nuts when I tried to help her with her schoolwork.
So, I retired that one too, and replaced it with a 2015 Core i5 MacBook Pro, again with 8 GB RAM and SSD, running Monterey. It's a night vs. day improvement. It feels like a (relatively) modern machine for basic mainstream usage like surfing, email, video streaming, educational apps, and business apps. I expect to see her using this for many more years.
BTW, regarding the HDD. For my main work machine (business apps), I'm running a 2014 Mac mini. When I bought it last year it had Big Sur or Catalina on it (I can't remember which) but even with 8 GB RAM, I found it completely unusable with its HDD. However, I immediately installed an NVMe SSD, and it runs very well with that. You have no need or desire for an SSD in that 2009 Mac mini? What OS are you running?
The early 2009 Mac Mini is on my desk and used with various apps daily. Sure, they are slow to start, but once open apps generally work OK, with just the odd glitch.Heh. It's 13 years-old now so I'll give MacRumors a pass for not including it.
What do you do with it, considering it's only got an HDD? File server or something like that?
The odd website doesn't play nice with the old version of MacOS (El Captain) and Safari installed, but most I visit are are OK. The main exception is wikipedia, but I can access that through Dictionary.
Was hoping to replace the 2009 Mac Mini with the M1 iMac, but with a change in situation I have put that on hold for now. In the event of failure (most likely the HDD) I might go for an M1 Mac Mini, but really would prefer the Retina Display of the iMac to the 24" 1080P display I am using now.
I have a 2018 Macbook Air (2017 form), which I got when I started to need to take a computer to work daily. Not so at present as Covid hit my sector quite badly. Signs of improvement in the offing now though. I really don't like using laptops, but for now the Air is a fallback for the odd occasion the aged Mini's shortcomings render it impractical.
Most annoying thing is that Pages and Numbers documents from the 2009 Mini are not backwards compatible once they have been updated to the version on the up to date Air. Likewise with Photos.
You can run High Sierra well on that 2009 Mac mini, provided you have an SSD. 4 GB is acceptable but 8 GB is preferred.
I have High Sierra on my 2009 MacBook Pro with good results, but it has 8 GB RAM and SSD.
High Sierra is a vast improvement in terms of browser and app compatibility. Chrome helps with compatibility. I know Chrome runs on El Capitan, but there are significant issues with website support on El Capitan that are solved in High Sierra.
Pages and Numbers are now automatically installed and in the Dock when setting up a new Mac. Both of those apps can be traps for the reason stated: they’ll open up an old file but once you do it’ll get rewritten and no longer will be able to be opened on an older version of that software.
Pages and Numbers pretty much follow OS releases. So if you’re using more than one device- they all have to be running the comparable version of OS — otherwise you can get royally burned.
As nice as Pages and Numbers are to use - they can be “upgrade traps”. If you’re lucky, it’ll just be the OS. If you’re not, gotta cowboy up and buy a new freaking Mac.
Pages and Numbers pretty much follow OS releases. So if you’re using more than one device- they all have to be running the comparable version of OS — otherwise you can get royally burned.
As nice as Pages and Numbers are to use - they can be “upgrade traps”. If you’re lucky, it’ll just be the OS. If you’re not, gotta cowboy up and buy a new freaking Mac.
I personally went to LibreOffice years ago as I found it a far more robust piece of software supporting far more formats. Just compare the two:
Pages:
LibreOffice:
Mac mini BTO specs seem to have crept out to June 20 - seems that the chip shortage is catching up with Apple. I wonder though, if Apple are thinking outside the box a bit - there's an argument to be had for miniaturising the mini to reduce on shipping costs (in containers from China, not in a UPS van to deliver to your door).
I imagine being able to fit more Minis into a container being quite a good thing.
I imagine being able to fit more Minis into a container being quite a good thing.