The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

[Boyd01]

I got an Apple ][ in 1978, replaced it with an 512k Fat Mac in 1985 and have continued using Macs since then. Apple is far from perfect and there have certainly been some disappointments along the way. But all in all - especially during the past 10 years - I'm a satisfied customer and feel I've gotten my money's worth from the many Apple products I've owned.

No complaints about Apple dropping support, currently use a 2018 Mini with a 2014 Mini as media server and 2012 Mini as file server. Still have a 2008 MBP and 2013 MBA that work but no longer use them. My two Apple TV HD's are fine, iPhone 12 Pro Max is great and iPhone 6s Plus is still used for occaisonal video shoots and testing a web app.

Sorry if your experience has been different.

 

[sublunar]

Wouldn't count on that unless you have it in writing from Tim Cook.

What's the current ethos at Apple? They'll sell you a brand new Apple Watch S3 right now, which is a product that's getting zero more OS updates!

There’s always some exceptions, but my general point applies.

the good thing is we are aware of the issues.

 

[sublunar]

Below is a copy of my post in a different thread proving my point about UK exchange rates increasing prices for Apple gear:

Never mind the colours - there's been an effective UK price increase for all iPhones - not just the 14.

You'd have expected mid spec phones to drop £100 but that hasn't been the case this time - it's just a £30 drop for 12 and 13 models while the SE 2020 has had a straight up price increase because it hasn't moved in the lineup - the iPhone 11 has been discontinued.

iPhone SE 2022 64Gb (Launch Price £419, Post iPhone 14 Price £449) [Still $429]
iPhone 12 64Gb (2021 Price £679, Post iPhone 14 Price £649) [now $599]
iPhone 13 Mini 128Gb (Launch Price £679, Post iPhone 14 Price £649) [now $599]
iPhone 13 128Gb (Launch Price £779, Post iPhone 14 Price £749) [now $699]

The iPhone 14 128Gb costs from £849, which is an £80 increase on the iPhone 13 launch price.
The iPhone 14 Pro 128Gb costs from £1099, which is a staggering £150 increase on the iPhone 13 Pro launch price.

The 14 Pro getting a price increase was expected but look at what's happened to UK prices and coincidentally a BBC story says the £ is now the lowest it's been against the $ since 1985.

As Doc Brown would say: "Great Scott!"

Now - the on topic bit:

Apple are doing a full price re-alignment - UK (and by extension Europe) are paying for the poor exchange rate.
Not even stuff which was expected to get a $100 price cut has escaped.

Bearing in mind that the base Mac mini costs $699, it appears that an October price re-alignment might make a base M1 Mini cost £749 (up from £699).

And in that case we've gone beyond Apple keeping existing models at the old price - I think Apple will need to put the M2 out and replace the whole lineup otherwise it's just a straight-up price increase like the iPhone SE 2022 got.

The M2 Mini $899 SKU might cost the same as an iPhone 14 Plus which in the UK will cost £949
A $1099 M2 Mini would cost the same as an iPhone 14 Pro Max at £1199.

The scary bit is that I think the Mac Studio will just get a straight up price increase $1999 should translate to roughly £2099 up £100 - there's a chance that the M2 Pro/Mac CPUs will be available for the 14" and 16" MacBook Pros but the point is that I think UK/Euro price increases are coming by October.

I'd hope that any existing M2 products will retain their existing prices but the iPhone SE 2022 came out in March 2022 - before the M2 MacBook Pro in June 2022. It's not unprecedented that Apple just put the prices up in the UK or Europe...

 

[saulinpa]

The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming. Just not today. 😥

 

[EugW]

Apple are doing a full price re-alignment - UK (and by extension Europe) are paying for the poor exchange rate.
Not even stuff which was expected to get a $100 price cut has escaped.

Bearing in mind that the base Mac mini costs $699, it appears that an October price re-alignment might make a base M1 Mini cost £749 (up from £699).

And in that case we've gone beyond Apple keeping existing models at the old price - I think Apple will need to put the M2 out and replace the whole lineup otherwise it's just a straight-up price increase like the iPhone SE 2022 got.

The M2 Mini $899 SKU might cost the same as an iPhone 14 Plus which in the UK will cost £949
A $1099 M2 Mini would cost the same as an iPhone 14 Pro Max at £1199.

The scary bit is that I think the Mac Studio will just get a straight up price increase $1999 should translate to roughly £2099 up £100 - there's a chance that the M2 Pro/Mac CPUs will be available for the 14" and 16" MacBook Pros but the point is that I think UK/Euro price increases are coming by October.

I'd hope that any existing M2 products will retain their existing prices but the iPhone SE 2022 came out in March 2022 - before the M2 MacBook Pro in June 2022. It's not unprecedented that Apple just put the prices up in the UK or Europe...

I wasn't sure if the iPhone 14 Pro and Pro Max would get a price increase or not, but I was worried that would happen. However it didn't get a price increase in USD ($1099), and it didn't get a price increase in CAD either ($1549). It's still more expensive than in the US (since CA$1549 works out to about US$1181), but not as bad as I was expecting.

Thus, I may end up buying an iPhone 14 Pro Max for the wife instead of the iPhone 14 Plus I was originally planning on. So:

iPhone 14 - CA$1099 (US$837.74) vs US$799 (4.8% difference)
iPhone 14 Plus - CA$1249 (US$952.16) vs US$899 (5.9% difference)
iPhone 14 Pro - CA$1399 (US$1066.48) vs US $999 (6.8% difference)
iPhone 14 Pro Max - CA$1549 (US$1180.76) vs US$1099 (7.4% difference)

OTOH, perhaps it's time they price the Canadian iPhone Pro Max at CA$1499, since that's US$1142. I guess the good news is we still get the physical SIM tray in Canada, along with dual eSIM support.

Here's hoping that the Mac mini stays the course for pricing in Canada... whenever it gets released.

 

[Boil]

Now we wait for an October Mac Event announcement...?

 

[crowe-t]

If you need a new Mac Mini now, I suggest you buy one now. If not, I suggest you wait. Whatever you do, the new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming..... eternally for the time being.

Disclosure: I bought my third new Mac Mini (M1, 8GB RAM, 1TB SSD) about six weeks ago. It has replaced my early 2009 Mini, which replaced my 2005 original. I guess my next new Mac Mini will be coming about 2030 or so.

I'm about to replace my first Mac Mini which is also an early 2009 Mini. I'm way behind everyone else. lol

 

[EugW]

I'm about to replace my first Mac Mini which is also an early 2009 Mini. I'm way behind everyone else. lol

Is that your primary machine? If so, what are the specs and what OS? I'm just curious.

I stopped using my 2009 MacBook Pro several years ago, because the thing was painfully slow... unless I stuck with older OSes. In fact, I gave it my elementary school age daughter and it was too slow for even her browser based educational apps.

2009 MacBook Pro 13" with 8 GB RAM, SSD, and 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo.

So, I bought her a 2015 MacBook Pro last year and she loves it. Everything works great on it.

 

[Boil]

I'm about to replace my first Mac Mini which is also an early 2009 Mini. I'm way behind everyone else. lol

I would wait to see what a possible October Mac Event might bring...

Fall 2020 gave us the first ASi Macs; the 13" M1 MacBook Air & MacBook Pro laptops, and the M1 Mac mini headless desktop...

Spring 2021 gave us the 24" M1 iMac AIO desktop...

Fall 2021 gave us the 14" & 16" M1 Pro / Max MacBook Pro laptops...

Spring 2022 gave us the M1 Max / Ultra Mac Studio headless desktops...

Summer 2022 gave us the 13" M2 MacBook Air & MacBook Pro laptops...

Fall 2022 should give us the M2 / M2 Pro Mac mini headless desktops...?

 

[crowe-t]

Is that your primary machine? If so, what are the specs and what OS? I'm just curious.

I stopped using my 2009 MacBook Pro several years ago, because the thing was painfully slow... unless I stuck with older OSes. In fact, I gave it my elementary school age daughter and it was too slow for even her browser based educational apps.

2009 MacBook Pro 13" with 8 GB RAM, SSD, and 2.26 GHz Core 2 Duo.

So, I bought her a 2015 MacBook Pro last year and she loves it. Everything works great on it.

It has a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3. The OS is 10.6.8.

It's a dinosaur. lol It's my only Mac. I have Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop on it I still use.

I do have an HP Pavilion laptop I use for recording TV shows. It's connected to a Hauppauge HD PVR 2 for capturing video. Lately I've been using the laptop when using the internet.

 

[crowe-t]

I would wait to see what a possible October Mac Event might bring...

Fall 2020 gave us the first ASi Macs; the 13" M1 MacBook Air & MacBook Pro laptops, and the M1 Mac mini headless desktop...

Spring 2021 gave us the 24" M1 iMac AIO desktop...

Fall 2021 gave us the 14" & 16" M1 Pro / Max MacBook Pro laptops...

Spring 2022 gave us the 13" M2 MacBook Air & MacBook Pro laptops...

Fall 2022 should give us the M2 / M2 Pro Mac mini headless desktops...?

I'll wait until October to see if Apple announces anything about a possible Mac Mini upgrade. After that I'll just buy an M1 Mini. I really need a new Mac but I can wait another month.

 

[EugW]

It has a 2.53 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB 1067 MHz DDR3. The OS is 10.6.8.

It's a dinosaur. lol It's my only Mac. I have Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop on it I still use.

I do have an HP Pavilion laptop I use for recording TV shows. It's connected to a Hauppauge HD PVR 2 for capturing video. Lately I've been using the laptop when using the internet.

Wow. I couldn't use 10.6, due the browser incompatibilities. I had to retire my 10.7 MacBook 2008 several years ago for that reason. Even 10.11 was a problem starting last year. Minimum is 10.13 - which is what I have on my 2010 iMac that the kids use.

macOS 12 Monterey has been a pleasure, even on my 2014 Mac mini.

 

[gusping]

Below is a copy of my post in a different thread proving my point about UK exchange rates increasing prices for Apple gear:



Now - the on topic bit:

Apple are doing a full price re-alignment - UK (and by extension Europe) are paying for the poor exchange rate.
Not even stuff which was expected to get a $100 price cut has escaped.

Bearing in mind that the base Mac mini costs $699, it appears that an October price re-alignment might make a base M1 Mini cost £749 (up from £699).

And in that case we've gone beyond Apple keeping existing models at the old price - I think Apple will need to put the M2 out and replace the whole lineup otherwise it's just a straight-up price increase like the iPhone SE 2022 got.

The M2 Mini $899 SKU might cost the same as an iPhone 14 Plus which in the UK will cost £949
A $1099 M2 Mini would cost the same as an iPhone 14 Pro Max at £1199.

The scary bit is that I think the Mac Studio will just get a straight up price increase $1999 should translate to roughly £2099 up £100 - there's a chance that the M2 Pro/Mac CPUs will be available for the 14" and 16" MacBook Pros but the point is that I think UK/Euro price increases are coming by October.

I'd hope that any existing M2 products will retain their existing prices but the iPhone SE 2022 came out in March 2022 - before the M2 MacBook Pro in June 2022. It's not unprecedented that Apple just put the prices up in the UK or Europe...

As time goes on, the 14in M1 Pro MBP for £1700 is looking like a better deal by the day.... With the re-pricing, an M2 Pro will be not far off an M1 Max Studio. Certainly much closer than previously thought.

 

[Micky Do]

The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming. Just not today. 😥

Eternally, occasionally.

 

[EugW]

Ming Chi Kuo's later rumour is that M2 Pro/Max MacBook Pro projections are much lower than originally expected, due to everyone buying M1 Pro/Max early on and work-from-home ending. It would be nice if this meant that they could release an M2 Pro Mac mini at the same time with decent supply.

 

[gusping]

Ming Chi Kuo's later rumour is that M2 Pro/Max MacBook Pro projections are much lower than originally expected, due to everyone buying M1 Pro/Max early on and work-from-home ending. It would be nice if this meant that they could release an M2 Pro Mac mini at the same time with decent supply.

Fingers crossed! I would like to know now if they don't plan on making an M2 Pro, so I can just suck it up and buy a MBP or Mac Studio .

 

[EugW]

Fingers crossed! I would like to know now if they don't plan on making an M2 Pro, so I can just suck it up and buy a MBP or Mac Studio .

I've been thinking again about why the M2 Mac mini hasn't appeared yet, despite the fact that the M2 MacBook Pro and M2 MacBook Air have been here for months now.

The optimist in me is thinking that they want to release the M2 Mac mini alongside an M2 Pro Mac mini, but the M2 Pro Mac mini won't come out until the M2 MacBook Pro comes out.

That may just be wishful thinking though.

 

[CWallace]

IMO, the reason we have not seen an M2 Mac mini yet is probably a combination of Apple prioritizing M2 SoCs for the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13" and just their general "enlightened disinterest" in the platform. They will get around to announcing it eventually - likely as a Press Release after an event (as I continue to believe we will not see the Mac mini on anything other than the "baseline" SoC so in Apple's eyes it does not warrant being part of an event).

For example, the upcoming October event where the iPad Pro is rumored to be moving to the M2 SoC could be a good candidate for an M2 Mac mini Press Release announcement afterwards.

 

[gusping]

I now have a sudden urge to by an M1 Max Mac Studio all of a sudden. Someone talk me out of it. There's definitely an M2 Pro mini around the corner, right....?

 

[Micky Do]

I now have a sudden urge to by an M1 Max Mac Studio all of a sudden. Someone talk me out of it. There's definitely an M2 Pro mini around the corner, right....?

The M2 Mac Mini is almost certainly coming..... sooner or later. The lineup may or may not include a Pro version.

If a Mac Studio is a fit for your needs, you will almost certainly not be content with a mere Mac Mini.

 

[EugW]

If a Mac Studio is a fit for your needs, you will almost certainly not be content with a mere Mac Mini.

FWIW, a friend of mine bought the Mac Studio simply because he wanted 32 GB RAM. (He says 16 GB is workable for him, but 24 GB is preferred, and 32 GB is even better for future proofing purposes.) However, he doesn't need that much CPU performance or many ports. So, the aside from the 32 GB RAM, the Studio is total overkill for him.

 

[Boil]

I now have a sudden urge to by an M1 Max Mac Studio all of a sudden. Someone talk me out of it. There's definitely an M2 Pro mini around the corner, right....?

The M2 Mac Mini is almost certainly coming..... sooner or later. The lineup may or may not include a Pro version.

If a Mac Studio is a fit for your needs, you will almost certainly not be content with a mere Mac Mini.

They were not talking about a M2 Mac mini though, they were clearly talking about a M2 Pro Mac mini...

 

[sublunar]

IMO, the reason we have not seen an M2 Mac mini yet is probably a combination of Apple prioritizing M2 SoCs for the MacBook Air and MacBook Pro 13" and just their general "enlightened disinterest" in the platform. They will get around to announcing it eventually - likely as a Press Release after an event (as I continue to believe we will not see the Mac mini on anything other than the "baseline" SoC so in Apple's eyes it does not warrant being part of an event).

For example, the upcoming October event where the iPad Pro is rumored to be moving to the M2 SoC could be a good candidate for an M2 Mac mini Press Release announcement afterwards.

I wonder if supply is being reserved for an M2 iPad Pro which I think is more likely to be released in October and reserve supply for Q4 - hence leaving M1 Mac mini alone until spring.

I don't recall any recent rumours about new features for an iPad Pro though - they could upgrade the 11" with the Pro Display XDR mini LEDs (a report which Ross Young doesn't concur with as the technology is pricey and the 12.9" sells well enough with the better screen) but what do they do with the 12.9" which already has it?

A better camera system just seems less relevant for iPads - what would interest them is a 14.1" variant. If it comes with MiniLED displays would it tempt 12.9" users to upgrade?

Either way price increases in the UK are likely again.

 

[Boil]

October Mac Event 2022

Tim Cook opens, others present assorted sections of info dump...

"Blah, blah, blah; M2 in 13" MacBook Air & 13" MacBook Pro laptops..."

Blah, blah, blah; M2 SoCs now in new products..."

M2 Mac mini
Talking & Videos

24" M2 iMac
Talking & Videos

11" M2 iPad Pro
12.9" M2 iPad Pro
Talking & Videos

"One more thing..."

M2 Pro Mac mini
Talking & Videos

Closes with teaser statement about a Spring 2023 preview of the first ASi Mac Pro...?

---

Spring 2023 would deliver the aforementioned ASi Mac Pro preview (featuring a Full Metal Blender demo), as well as new M2 Pro / Max 14" & 16" MacBook Pro laptops and M2 Max / Ultra Mac Studio headless desktops...

---

Then the transition is truly complete with the release of the M2 Ultra / Extreme Mac Pro headless workstations at WWDC 2023...

WWDC 2023 - Tim Cook will start with a reference to the Spring 2023 preview of the ASi Mac Pro, then others will talk & show videos about the new ASi Mac Pro, and how it was crucial to the development of another new Apple product which they will talk about later...

And in these talks & videos, you cannot help but see variants of mixed reality glasses/goggles, total "What glasses/goggles...?" kinda vibe going on though...

Then obviously the ASi Mac Pro portion of the dog & pony show is over and the assorted OS stuff is over, THEN Tim Cook hits us with "one more thing...", and we get a brief preview of the mixed reality glasses/goggles with "more to come..." in relation to seminars or whatever thru the week of WWDC...

Obviously actual available glasses/goggles would be "for another day"... ;^p

---

Exciting times...!

 

[Boil]

@Cape Dave

LOL, you "Loved" a totally different first edition of my post...

For others, the gist of it was Mac mini specs...

M2 Mac mini

• M2 SoC
• 8-core CPU (4P/4E)
• 10-core GPU
• 8GB RAM
• 512GB SSD
• $999

M2 Pro Mac mini

• M2 Pro SoC
• 12-core CPU (8P/4E)
• 20-core GPU
• 24GB RAM
• 512GB SSD
• $1499