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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

I have a bad feeling the M2 Mini is going to come with a big price hike, while the already 2-years old M1 Mini stays around at its current price.

That seems to be Apple’s strategy these days. Massively increase the price of the new base models, while keeping old versions around for years and years.

- 9th gen iPad
- M1 Macbook Air
- M1 Mac Mini?
 
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staypuftforums said:
I have a bad feeling the M2 Mini is going to come with a big price hike, while the already 2-years old M1 Mini stays around at its current price.

That seems to be Apple’s strategy these days. Massively increase the price of the new base models, while keeping old versions around for years and years.

- 9th gen iPad
- M1 Macbook Air
- M1 Mac Mini?
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10th gen iPad and M2 MacBook Air don't count, because they both had major overhauls, unless you think the M2 Mac mini gets a major overhaul too, such as that plexiglass top... and DL-DVI. ;)
 
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EugW said:
10th gen iPad and M2 MacBook Air don't count, because they both had major overhauls, unless you think the M2 Mac mini gets a major overhaul too, such as that plexiglass top... and DL-DVI. ;)
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That’s buying into Apple’s marketing PR. Technology has always come with periodic “major overhauls”. These are just standard price hikes.
 
grandoflex said:
Brilliant! I've been waiting for a new Mac mini with a DVI connection for ages. Hopefully it might even come with as much as 256MB of RAM!
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But why don't they bring back the VGA (D-SUB 15) connection? Don't they know how many old monitors are still in use around the globe? Also, many new monitors have this analog connection. It is the industry standard before HDMI.
 
pshufd said:
A way to get around fixed computers is to combine them together
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Use whatever works best for you... but that is my idea of pure hell, I get a headache just looking at that picture! After all these years, I've decided I'm most productive with just one big screen. After reading about all the issues with integrated graphics on the 2018 Mini, I went with a single 32" QHD monitor and still love it two and a half years later. Have considered upgrading to a single ~45" 4k screen and running it at native resolution but not quite brave enough to do that yet. I also have a Sony 1080p production monitor but only plug it in for timeline preview when I edit video.

gusping said:
Mac OS Monterey killed my HDMI port once and for all. It was always finicky since I bought the mini back in 2018
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Stayed on Catalina until recently and finally upgraded to Monterey a few weeks ago. Went smoothly and has been fine ever since. My only real complaint is the horrible brightly-colored startup screen which (apparently) can't be changed.

My 2018 Mini is arguably the best computer I've owned (going back to an Apple ][ in 1978 and 512k Mac in 1985).
 
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Boyd01 said:
Use whatever works best for you... but that is my idea of pure hell, I get a headache just looking at that picture! After all these years, I've decided I'm most productive with just one big screen. After reading about all the issues with integrated graphics on the 2018 Mini, I went with a single 32" QHD monitor and still love it two and a half years later. Have considered upgrading to a single ~45" 4k screen and running it at native resolution but not quite brave enough to do that yet. I also have a Sony 1080p production monitor but only plug it in for timeline preview when I edit video.
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I'm currently running with four 27 inch monitors, 2 at native 4k resolution. Two for production and it's really dense data, and the other two for everything else. I love the screens on 5k iMacs. My setups are usually 4 monitors; and sometimes 5. It depends somewhat on what I'm trying to do and what I'm experimenting with.
 
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Monterey was pretty buggy early on, but it's been very solid in the later versions. Performance on my 2014 Mac mini is very good too (with SSD and 8 GB RAM).

In my house, the bare minimum OS is 10.13 High Sierra, and anything older than that is retired, but I'm fortunate (or prescient?) enough that all my 5 newer machines officially support Monterey. My 2014 Mac mini won't support Ventura, so an M2 / M2 Pro Mac mini will fill that void, running alongside my 2017 iMac and 2017 MacBook with Ventura.
 
EugW said:
Monterey was pretty buggy early on, but it's been very solid in the later versions. Performance on my 2014 Mac mini is very good too (with SSD and 8 GB RAM).

In my house, the bare minimum OS is 10.13 High Sierra, and anything older than that is retired, but I'm fortunate (or prescient?) enough that all my 5 newer machines officially support Monterey. My 2014 Mac mini won't support Ventura, so an M2 / M2 Pro Mac mini will fill that void, running alongside my 2017 iMac and 2017 MacBook with Ventura.
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I would agree that Monterey is much better now but there's still one bug that really annoys me requiring me to reboot once every day or two. It was also apparently backported to Big Sur but resolve in an update several months ago. It was apparently fixed in 12.5 but came back in 12.6. I am hoping that it is fixed in Ventura. I plan to install Ventura next week but I'm not sure which machine I'll put it on. I might try it on an external SSD or a virtual machine first.
 
Boyd01 said:
Stayed on Catalina until recently and finally upgraded to Monterey a few weeks ago. Went smoothly and has been fine ever since. My only real complaint is the horrible brightly-colored startup screen which (apparently) can't be changed.

My 2018 Mini is arguably the best computer I've owned (going back to an Apple ][ in 1978 and 512k Mac in 1985).
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I have had all the bad luck possible with my mini, so hopefully it is smooth sailing with my next Mac.... he says, full of confidence.
 
pshufd said:
I moved a Dell 4k 27 from the mini to a Plugable DisplayLink adapter and the regular drivers didn't support a lot of resolutions but the beta drivers do. So DisplayLink beta drviers get the job done because Monterey (and Big Sur) don't. I get the high resolution from the USB-C port on my M1 mini but not on the HDMI port. My guess is that the HDMI report doesn't support the high resolutions that the USB-C port does.
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The M1's built in HDMI simply doesn't work with many older monitors. It's not just high resolutions and it is not the OS as the boot up apple is distorted as well. Even basic resolutions like 640x480 and 1024x768 give rainbows on my display. If I use a USB-C to HDMI adapter it works fine.
 
saulinpa said:
The M1's built in HDMI simply doesn't work with many older monitors. It's not just high resolutions and it is not the OS as the boot up apple is distorted as well. Even basic resolutions like 640x480 and 1024x768 give rainbows on my display. If I use a USB-C to HDMI adapter it works fine.
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I do have some older VGA/DVI monitors in my households but they are in use by other family members. I have one really old one but I don't want to have to take apart my desktop to test it. My Windows desktops have DVI ports on them so it's not a problem on those systems. It is possible that there are problems with the hardware and operating systems.
 
saulinpa said:
The M1's built in HDMI simply doesn't work with many older monitors.
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Whilst I am not having issues due to using an old monitor, one of my main concerns with buying an M2 mini, is that if the HDMI port breaks due to software like it has on my 2018 mini, I can only use one monitor. Name a more irrational fear, I will wait ;)
 
I think when John Ternus said that there's "just one more product to go: ‌Mac Pro‌," before adding "that's for another day." he conceding that the 2 year transition target was going to be missed.

When the AS Mac Pro is introduced, then Apple will drop the Intel Mac mini at the same time and release the Mx Pro min; thus completing the transition.

So, you Mini Mx Pro watchers, keep your eyes on the Mac Pro.
 
GLTirebiter said:
Got tired of waiting… Now enjoying a Mini 16G/2TB SSD. couldn't be happier! I wasted so much time on a 2012 iMac, hoping for the perfect replacement.
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gusping said:
Announcement next week confirmed. TYVM!
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@Amethyst, who I believe has provided accurate info in the past, states that the 14" & 16" MacBook Pros and the M2 Mac mini have passed testing. There will be price hikes, "outside the US". M2 Mac mini is an M2 drop-in update, and there was no mention of an M2 Pro Mac mini. M2 iMac is still far off.

 
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EugW said:
@Amethyst, who I believe has provided accurate info in the past, states that the 14" & 16" MacBook Pros and the M2 Mac mini have passed testing. There will be price hikes, "outside the US". M2 Mac mini is an M2 drop-in update, and there was no mention of an M2 Pro Mac mini. M2 iMac is still far off.

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Do we know what kind of time delay there is between passing testing and release to the public?
 
To play wild speculation on the pricing, given the recent increase in iPad pricing, I can see a scenario when the UK Mini goes from 699 to 799 - an increase of 14%. (This is assuming it stays in the line up as a base model.) That would put the M2 at 1,049, based on the 250 jump up from M1 to M2 MacBook Air. So if you were to push that to (say) 1TB/24GB the price could be around 1,849. While there’s no doubt this would be a capable machine, it could be more of a decision for folks given that the Studio starts at 1,999. Feels like it could potentially enter the kind of debate like we see over a specced up M2 MBA vs a base MBP. Obviously this is thinking that the M1 is still around, and there is some scope for the M2 to completely replace the M1 which might keep the price lower.

Naturally Apple is a premium brand so how keen they are to maintain a budget friendly offer will be interesting to see.
 
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darkanddivine said:
To play wild speculation on the pricing, given the recent increase in iPad pricing, I can see a scenario when the UK Mini goes from 699 to 799 - an increase of 14%. (This is assuming it stays in the line up as a base model.) That would put the M2 at 1,049, based on the 250 jump up from M1 to M2 MacBook Air. So if you were to push that to (say) 1TB/24GB the price could be around 1,849. While there’s no doubt this would be a capable machine, it could be more of a decision for folks given that the Studio starts at 1,999. Feels like it could potentially enter the kind of debate like we see over a specced up M2 MBA vs a base MBP. Obviously this is thinking that the M1 is still around, and there is some scope for the M2 to completely replace the M1 which might keep the price lower.

Naturally Apple is a premium brand so how keen they are to maintain a budget friendly offer will be interesting to see.
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Yea…. It’s a tough one. It will go up at least £100, maybe £150. I’m still getting over the iPad Pro 12.9 being £1,250!

I am now 80% set on the base model Studio as I want an M2 Pro mini over an M2 mini. But even if it does come out soon, it will be pretty close in price I suspect and have less RAM.
 
darkanddivine said:
To play wild speculation on the pricing, given the recent increase in iPad pricing, I can see a scenario when the UK Mini goes from 699 to 799 - an increase of 14%. (This is assuming it stays in the line up as a base model.) That would put the M2 at 1,049, based on the 250 jump up from M1 to M2 MacBook Air. So if you were to push that to (say) 1TB/24GB the price could be around 1,849. While there’s no doubt this would be a capable machine, it could be more of a decision for folks given that the Studio starts at 1,999. Feels like it could potentially enter the kind of debate like we see over a specced up M2 MBA vs a base MBP. Obviously this is thinking that the M1 is still around, and there is some scope for the M2 to completely replace the M1 which might keep the price lower.

Naturally Apple is a premium brand so how keen they are to maintain a budget friendly offer will be interesting to see.
Click to expand...
In Canada, the 9th generation iPad went up 4.7% in price, to account for currency exchange differences.

Paradoxically though, the 10th generation iPad after currency exchange is 3% cheaper in Canada than in the US.

Current M1 Mac mini prices in Canada are as follows:

$899 - 8 GB / 256 GB
$1149 - 16 GB / 256 GB
$1149 - 8 GB / 512 GB
$1399 - 16 GB / 512 GB
$1649 - 16 GB / 1 TB

I could see them just increasing the base price by $50 and then keeping the upgrade increments the same:

$949 - 8 GB / 256 GB
$1199 - 16 GB / 256 GB
$1199 - 8 GB / 512 GB
$1449 - 16 GB / 512 GB
$1699 - 24 GB / 512 GB
$1699 - 16 GB / 1 TB
$1949 - 24 GB / 1 TB

A hypothetical 32 GB / 512 GB SKU would be $1949, but I don't think they would release this.

For reference, the current base Mac Studio is still considerably more pricey:

$2499 - 32 GB / 512 GB
$2749 - 32 GB / 1 TB

For the Mac Studio, I could see them raising the base price by 4% or $100, and then keeping the upgrade increments the same:

$2599 - 32 GB / 512 GB
$2849 - 32 GB / 1 TB

That provides sufficient room for a single M2 Pro Mac mini option with a couple of extra ports for say an extra $300, but I'm not optimistic about that. However if they did offer it, it could be as follows:

$1499 - 16 GB / 256 GB
$1749 - 16 GB / 512 GB
($1999 - 24 GB / 512 GB)
$2249 - 32 GB / 512 GB
$1999 - 16 GB / 1 TB
($2249 - 24 GB / 1 TB)
$2499 - 32 GB / 1 TB
 
gusping said:

So… just the M2 mini in November or also M2 Pro mini?
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I'm not why they published that article, since MacRumors already published those same rumours from Gurman in the past week. In fact, they even quote their own articles about this.

Or are they now saying the Mac minis are definitely coming in November? It didn't seem too clear to me. The previous Mac mini article just stated the Mac minis were coming at some point.
 
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gusping said:

So… just the M2 mini in November or also M2 Pro mini?
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I actually didn’t see the M2 Pro Mini mentioned in Gurman’s (free) newsletter last week. I suspect we won’t see one next month, and that if there is one, we’ll see it the same time the Studio is updated when those chips come to the desktop segment so as not to compete with the M1 Mac Studio in the interim.

Ah… if I could just get an M2 w/ 32gb I’d be set.
 
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