But how many average uses are going to have 200+ tabs open for general browsing project management? The mini is an entry level Mac. If you need that kind off power that is what the Studio is for. 
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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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Never saw that. The thread you linked to talks a lot of about Outlook, Office, Teams, etc. I never touch any of those. Pretty much the only thing I do in Windows is run Globalmapper, a GIS application, where I frequently load ~100gb of raster imagery and export it to millions of small PNG map tiles.
I also need that kind of power but I need a MacBook Pro with at least 16-inch and M1 Ultra chip.But how many average uses are going to have 200+ tabs open for general browsing project management? The mini is an entry level Mac. If you need that kind off power that is what the Studio is for.
Dunno about 16 inch MacBooks, but the new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming.
That idea isn't getting much love over in the Silicon forum...
Whatever is inside it, there is still the desktop model A2686 left from the three new products Apple registered with the Eurasian regulatory database* back in February that has yet to be revealed.
* - A2615 is the Mac Studio (in both Max and Ultra configuration) and A2681 is a laptop, so that has to be the M2 MacBook Air. The 13" M2 MacBook Pro will keep the same A2338 as the M1 version as the model number changes only when the chassis changes and the M1 and M2 chassis are identical.
* - A2615 is the Mac Studio (in both Max and Ultra configuration) and A2681 is a laptop, so that has to be the M2 MacBook Air. The 13" M2 MacBook Pro will keep the same A2338 as the M1 version as the model number changes only when the chassis changes and the M1 and M2 chassis are identical.
Assuming supply issues stabilise and do not get worse, it has to be alongside a revised iMac in October/November, surely? A simply bump. It could... even be before in a press release, but I suspect Apple would happily wait to announced it at an event.
No disrespect to the mini or it's customers, but I don't see the model as being worthy of its own event so I agree it would have to be released alongside something else.
The most logical and likely option would indeed be at a dedicated Mac event alongside the M2 iMac 24" and/or Mac Pro announcement. If the M2 version of the 24" iMac is in the same chassis as the current M1 model, then it would likely keep the same product ID as the current model and the lack of a EEC filing would not be suspicious.
Other options could be as a "one more thing" at the end of the iPhone event or as part of a wider Watch / iPad / HomePod / AppleTV event separate from the iPhone event.
When someone starts off a sentence with no disrespect, that means someone is about to get disrespected. 😅
Fair point, but I stand by my belief the Mac mini would not get its own event (physical or virtual).
That it has not been handled via a Press Release does imply that the next model will have a different case than the current M1 model as Apple seems to want to be able to talk about it to some length.
Usually true. However in this instance, I think it is used correctly.
Haha, no worries. I wasn't implying it would be announced as the primary product at an event. Not a chance in hell. I agree with your October/November theory.
September 2022:
- iPhone(s) 14
- M1 iPad
- M2 iPad Pro(s)
- Apple Watch 8
- M2 Mac mini
- 24" M2 iMac
- ASi Mac Pro preview
Not sure that's a reason. I don't see any practical reason why Apple couldn't have released a M2 24" iMac at WWDC either, and that doesn't need a different case. The 13" MBP didn't get a different case either and that got a WWDC launch.
So why the delay? Well, both a M2 Mini and M2 24" iMac would be in contention with the recently launched Mac Studio Max. I don't mean that they're equivalent products, but you don't have to look far on these forums to find people deliberating between a tricked-out Mini or 24" iMac and a base model Studio - and Apple would much rather they bought a Studio. A ~20% faster M2 version of the Mini or iMac with 24GB RAM would tip the balance for many people, and a M2 Max Studio that would re-establish the margin is a long way off in the future.
As for a new case for the M2 Mini - I think the Studio throws that into doubt, since it uses pretty much the same design language as the old Mini (OK, the back panel is silver instead of black... that wasn't going to bring the house down at WWDC) - not even an acrylic lid (which would have been a total throwback to the G4 Mini) for WiFi, no iMac-style power brick with Ethernet. The only external design changes were to accomodate the extra ports that a M1 Max can drive (AFAIK the M2 doesn't support any more than the M1) and extra cooling (needed for the M1 Ultra, worth having for the M1 Max, probably not needed by a base M2). Same footprint as the Mini - which is good because there are several 'stackable' hubs and drive enclosures available. In the case of the Mini itself, significantly changing the design would also break all those Mac Mini rackmount systems, which seem to be a significant 'niche' for the Mini, and the closest Apple come to 'high density computing'.
I guess people ought to moderate their expectations as to if/when we'll see a M2 Mini at all - Apple don't have a very proud history of supporting the Mini (hence the age/length of this thread) and the apparent resurgence of Mini love might just have been a pressing need for something cheap to replace the very short-lived Developer toolkit for the early days of the transition. The Studio is probably the go-to desktop development machine now - supports lots of displays, compiles code and transcodes video in nothing flat...
As a development machine, I suspect the Mac mini will outsell the Mac Studio by several fold. No contest.
For a lot of developers, neither M1 Max nor 32 GB RAM are mission critical. Apple is going to want to capture those developer sales, since the Mac Studio simply costs too much for a large chunk of the audience. They'll milk M1 (and push the upgrade to Mac Studio) for as long as they can, yes. However, I don't see the Mac mini staying with M1 past early 2023, and I could see it coming out as early as October 2022. Remember, M1 came out in 2020, so early 2023 would represent severals years on M1.
Although developers can - certainly post Apple Silicon - do their job on a base model Mac Mini or MacBook Air, most could justify and benefit from a higher-end Mac... but even if you're perfectly happy developing on your Mini, Apple would certainly rather sell you a more expensive Mac. I'm sure the 14/16" MacBook Pros sell well to developers and - in the past - the 5k iMac (which has now been 'replaced' by the studio).
(Also, whatever the requirements for writing and compiling code are - you still need to be able to run whatever you are developing - as well as being able to at least tweak and convert graphics, video and audio assets).
If the M1 Mini was partly "for the developers" I don't think it was about longer term sales: rather, developers needed a M1 machine to get started on development but, at the time, there were no "higher end" M1 machines available - it's in Apple's interest that developers started supporting M1 so something like a cheap Mini was needed as a short-term solution. Now, Apple have MacBook Pros and Studios that they'd quite like to sell you instead.
I’d guess that even during the recent Intel Mac era, the #1 selling developer Mac laptop was the MacBook Air, and the #1 selling developer Mac desktop was the Mac mini, simply because they were the cheapest.
I can tell you that at some workplaces where they standardized on a single model for department wide purchases for developers on staff, that model was the MacBook Air. Yes, this is anecdotal, but I think some here underestimate just how prevalent the “consumer” models are.
But the 13" MBP was really just an addendum to the M2 MacBook Air announcement. The Air was what Apple wanted to showcase. And, frankly, if the M2 Mac mini was going to be in the same case as the M1 model, Apple would have announced it at WWDC. That they did not is even more strong evidence to myself that the M2 Mac mini is going to be in a different case and Apple is going to want to talk about it.
Max Tech has noted that Apple is focusing on one new Mac design at a time. Spring 2022 was the Mac Studio and WWDC was the MacBook Air. So this, again, is strong evidence to me that the M2 Mac mini will be a new design and Apple will want to talk about it, if not by itself, in a situation where it can be focused on in depth.
The next best option, IMO, is an event dedicated to the Mac Pro and Mac mini. Open it with the Mac mini, maybe mention the same 24" iMac with M2 (like they did with the 13" MBP at WWDC) and then finish with the Mac Pro.
But if it will be the same case as the M1 mini, why not launch it alongside the M2 MacBook Pro 13", which is also unchanged?
And an unchanged Mac mini means we have a desktop Mac with an all-new form factor coming (A2686). That could be the Mac Pro, but if Apple was ready back in February to record the model, then why was it not launched at WWDC?
The Mac mini is the Mac for those market niches that no other Mac really works for and they still sell enough to keep it in the lineup, even if they don't sell enough to justify updating it more than every few years. So I do believe they will keep it in their lineup and I do believe it will be updated to the base M2 SoC.
And if they offer it with more ports (as the latest renders claim), then that would be similar to what Apple did in 2018 when they launched the Space Grey Mac mini with more ports than the silver one (which still stayed in the lineup).
So I could see the M1 Mac mini sticking around to anchor the low-end at $699 and then this newer M2 Mac mini with more ports clocking in at $999 or $1099.
That being said, I do think the belief that it will come in a rainbow of colors is now incorrect. I think it will be Space Grey only (to compliment the silver M1 model).
I believe the Mac Studio + Apple Studio Display is the replacement for the 27" iMac and 27" iMac Pro. Yes, it's a lot more money than the former, but it is also a lot less money than the latter.
Why must it be launched alongside the M2 MBP? This is a marketing decision. Maybe this time around they felt it made more sense to wait for an M2 iMac or something.
It's not uncommon for Apple devices that were registered in the database not to show up for half a year or longer. This is not new. While I'd love to see a new Mac mini with new form factor, that database timing argument is not a good one to support this.
The new MacBook Air was rumored for close to a year before it finally dropped at WWDC and the new Mac mini rumors are almost as old. It sounds like Apple has been trying to get these two models out for months and now finally has the supply chain bandwidth to do so. So why not launch it alongside the M2 Air and MBP if it is the same case just with a different systemboard like was done with the 13" MBP?
But if it does have a new design, then based on how they launched the Mac Studio and the MacBook Air (and did not announce the Mac Pro), Apple wants to be able to discuss it without it getting lost in a torrent of other Mac announcements. And the next, best, option for that would be a Fall Mac event. And since it is a desktop, pairing it with a Mac Pro makes sense as Apple can showcase how each model fits into overall pro development workflows.
I am not saying that timing is a clue, but that Apple registered two desktops and one laptop. We now know one of the desktops (Mac Studio) and I am 100% confident that when the MacBook Air model number comes out, it will match A2681.
So that leaves one new desktop model with a new physical design yet to be revealed. And as I noted, that could be the Mac Pro (though if it is, that implies it will not be rack-mountable since that is a different model number for the 2019 edition), it could be the larger iMac many are clamoring for, or it could be a new Mac mini design. Since the rumors of a new Mac mini design have been hot and heavy for so long now, that is the most logical option for what A2686 is referring to in my mind.
It was announced.
It didn't have a new case.
Why would different logic apply to the Mini?
...and, frankly, so what if the Mac Mini is in a new case? It's a box that you tuck under your display. There's not much to talk about.
...which is a better theory why they haven't made a M2 Mac Mini yet - P.s. we don't know that the M2 is a pin-compatible drop-in replacement for the M1. Making even minor changes to the logic board to accomodate M2 is still "design".
The range of ports on the M1 Mini were constrained by the capabilities of the M1 SoC. As far as we know to date, the M2 has exactly the same I/O capability as the M1 so there's no reason to believe that the M2 Mini could support any significant increase in available ports. Those "renders" were all mixed up with rumours of M1 Pro & Max Minis & the Mac Studio (and also included less than convincing details like the USB-C ports being too close together to be usable - not the case on the Studio).
A Studio Max + Studio Display is spookily close to the former price of a 27" iMac with 10-core i9 and 32GB RAM.
What's "missing" is a replacement for the $1099/$1299 higher-end Minis (currently still on Intel i5/i7) that could be combined with the Studio Display (or a cheaper 3rd-party option) as an alternative to the mid-range 27" iMacs. That would be roughly where an M1 Pro Mac Mini or Studio Lite would land (I think the M1 Pro/16GB -> M1 Max 32GB 'upgrade' for a MBP is about $800).
Because I believe the M2 Mac mini will have a new case and Apple appears to not want to mix announcements of new laptops and desktops in the same event based on the 14/16" MacBook Pro and Mac Studio events.
So they would not announce a new Mac mini design at WWDC because it is a desktop and the MacBook Air and 13" MacBook Pro are laptops.
And they did not announce it at the Mac Studio event because they wanted to focus on both it and the M1 Ultra (and I expect they wanted the Air to be the first M2 model announced).
One could argue the 2018 Space Grey Mac mini was "just a box that you tuck under your display" and yet Apple spent ten full minutes discussing it at the October event.
The M2 looks to be a physically larger die so it will have a different systemboard, just as the 13.3" MBP M2 systemboard is almost assuredly a bit different than the M1 model. But board design is not relevant to end-users since they never see it. When I say "design" I am referring to the physical design of the case and screen.
Apple could conceivably add additional USB4 ports via an external controller. The Mac Studio Max Edition has two front-facing USB4 ports in addition to four TB4 ports and I am not sure the Max can support 2xUSB-A, 2xUSB4 and 4xTB4 so those two USB4 ports might need to be driven by an external controller (the Ultra Edition has 8 TB 4 controllers so that is why the front ports are TB4).
I think if Apple was going to release an M1 Pro in a Mac mini, they would have done so. I believe the M1 family line is now complete and now all the new and updated Macs will be on M2 family SoCs.