The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

[Kentuckienne]

IMO, the 2012 Mini's have gotten so cheap that it doesn't make sense tinkering with a dead one unless you enjoy that kind of thing. At MacSales (OWC) you can get the base 2012 Mini for about $60 including a limited warranty (I'm sure there are other places to find them too). If you max it out as a 2.6ghz quad with 16gb RAM and a 256gb SSD, that's still only $280 in "excellent condition" with warranty. I paid $1300 for that exact same machine from MacSales in 2016!

It was such a great machine until it wasn't. I added an SSD drive and installed the OS on that, with the 1 TB spinner for data. Booted quickly and was still working well for me when the video started failing. First everything would turn orangish... then would get better. Then the display started being interlaced with black vertical lines, like looking through vertical blinds. I managed to get it where I could see well enough to be sure all was backed up to external drives. I was using an LG monitor and I think HDMI, could have been mini-display port. The setup has been dismantled a while and I moved the cables.

Update: I remembered I had an external drive enclosure and I might be able to pull the HD out of the dead Mini too check the file structure - long story - and I impulsively hooked the thing up to the monitor using the Mini DisplayPort cable I bought just for the LG monitor. Lo and behold, it booted. The video is fine. I'm making one last desperate file copy which will hopefully finish before the power goes out again. Storms. Pray for me.

 

[weaztek]

It will be super interesting to see how a potential M4 Mini benchmarks against a Mini M2 Pro which goes on sale regularly (16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) for $1100. I'd say it's a good time to be a fan of the Mini.

 

[Corefile]

The M4 Mini will be an 8/256 config for base model.

 

[turbineseaplane]

The M4 Mini will be an 8/256 config for base model.

They should go down to 4 GB of ram and 128 storage
… just for the fun of watching some folks defend it

You know someone would defend it - lol

 

[Chuckeee]

It will be super interesting to see how a potential M4 Mini benchmarks against a Mini M2 Pro which goes on sale regularly (16GB RAM, 512GB SSD) for $1100. I'd say it's a good time to be a fan of the Mini.

But will there be an M4Pro mini? I am not sure if that is a sure thing

 

[weaztek]

But will there be an M4Pro mini? I am not sure if that is a sure thing

Everything M4 (other than the announced iPad Pro) is speculative at this point. But Max Tech did bring up some good points about how we probably won't see an M3 Mini if the M4 chip drops today (it did).

This is quite good news because if he's right (about Mini's skipping over the M3) we'll get a somewhat larger performance bump going straight to an M4.

I feel i'm in a pretty good position because my 2018 i5 Mini is holding up really well for what I do. So I can wait this thing out and perhaps grab an M2 Pro, an M4 (speculative), or an M4 Pro (speculative) in a year or more when it's sorted out.

 

[Micky Do]

The M4 Mac Mini is almost certainly coming !

Some time, almost certainly... but not this time.

 

[spiderpumpkin]

My guess is the Mac Mini will get M3 and M3 Pro, and the Mac Studio will get the M4 Max and M4 Ultra.

 

[Corefile]

So looks like I was correct in predicting no new M3 Minis and for predicting new Minis at WWDC.

 

[sublunar]

Everything M4 (other than the announced iPad Pro) is speculative at this point. But Max Tech did bring up some good points about how we probably won't see an M3 Mini if the M4 chip drops today (it did).

This is quite good news because if he's right (about Mini's skipping over the M3) we'll get a somewhat larger performance bump going straight to an M4.

I feel i'm in a pretty good position because my 2018 i5 Mini is holding up really well for what I do. So I can wait this thing out and perhaps grab an M2 Pro, an M4 (speculative), or an M4 Pro (speculative) in a year or more when it's sorted out.

I wonder if the reason why we haven’t had the M3 CPU in more products is because Apple don’t intend for it to linger too long in the supply chain due to its experimental N3B node size (So called evolutionary Dead end).

Therefore the A17Pro probably won’t go into next years iPhone 16 (non pro) but we will get a variant of it on a more common node and potentially cheaper to make with better yield (there will be room to do the usual deactivate a single GPU core to up the valid CPUs).

it could in theory allow the iPhone 16 to be a bit thinner than the 15 because of the more efficient process. Kind of like how the M4 iPads are so much thinner than the M2 ones.

back to the mini though, the M4 makes the more sensible choice as cpu over the more expensive and difficult to make M3 cpu due to the N3B process used. It may explain why Apple aren’t using the A17 pro in the iPad mini - a smaller process but cheaper to make A17 (non pro) makes more sense in the iPad mini but we might not see stocks of that till October due to iPhone 16 getting first dibs on it And Apple wanting people to pull the trigger on the m4 iPads instead.

 

[nobullone1964]

If the M4 Mini is expected then they must introduce the M4 Pro chip.

 

[Chuckeee]

If the M4 Mini is expected then they must introduce the M4 Pro chip.

it certainly would be nice but I don’t think that is a certainty. I think the release of a mini M4 pro is tied to M4 Studio which in turn is linked to the successor to the M2Ultra (Whatever it might be called)

 

[nobullone1964]

it certainly would be nice but I don’t think that is a certainty. I think the release of a mini M4 pro is tied to M4 Studio which in turn is linked to the successor to the M2Ultra (Whatever it might be called)

We'll see. The Studio starts with a Max chip and ends with an ultra. Remember that the M1 Mini didn't have a pro chip. That was added with M2 and I don't think Apple will drop that spec from the Mini. The Mini can be introduced with the laptops when they are announced because of the pro chip those laptops use.

 

[slowfoot]

With WWDC coming up and Apple's push to AI, the Mac mini M4 has to come during the event. How else would one start developing AI apps without a M4 desktop (or laptop)? It can't be just an iPad Pro M4 with MK.

 

[turbineseaplane]

With WWDC coming up and Apple's push to AI, the Mac mini M4 has to come during the event. How else would one start developing AI apps without a M4 desktop (or laptop)? It can't be just an iPad Pro M4 with MK.

I sure hope so

The new Microsoft+Snapdragon hardware is so compellingly competitive with M1-M3 that I think Apple needs to be rushing out M4 across the lineups

 

[roundski]

I sure hope so

The new Microsoft+Snapdragon hardware is so compellingly competitive with M1-M3 that I think Apple needs to be rushing out M4 across the lineups

qualcom x elite, PC mini, 32GB ram, wifi 7 $899, 18th June

 

[Corefile]

Max Tech says no new M4 Mini at WWDC.

 

[Chuckeee]

Max Tech says no new M4 Mini at WWDC.

And what does the Magic 8 Ball say?

 

[Populus]

If there’s an M4 Mac mini during WWDC and it comes with a minimum of 12GB of RAM, I am at the risk of buying one as soon as they are available…

 

[nobullone1964]

If there is an M4 Pro and Max available there will be a Mac Mini. Also, there will be the MacBook Pro lineup. The Mac Mini is reliant on the pro chip's introduction. The only available desktop right now if offered?.......iMac.

 

[sublunar]

If there is an M4 Pro and Max available there will be a Mac Mini. Also, there will be the MacBook Pro lineup. The Mac Mini is reliant on the pro chip's introduction. The only available desktop right now if offered?.......iMac.

The iMac PSU is known to be overspecified for the Mx series CPUs - maybe it's capable of handling an M4 Pro? Makes you wonder why Apple wouldn't have pulled the trigger on adding an M1 Pro or M2 Pro SKU though? The Mac mini could handle a 65w CPU which is why the Pro series CPUs were added.

The iMac cooling solution ought to be able to handle M4 Pro I'd have thought, maybe it runs cooler than M1 Pro and M2 Pro?

However, the M4 Pro is surely more likely to be around for the October MacBook Pro launch - it's the more logically consistent call.

If Apple decided to bring the M4 Pro CPU forward in enough quantities to make it available in a top SKU Mac mini it might be feasible if they deemed it important enough for a WWDC launch - for developers for example as Apple prioritise AI development.

 

[Chuckeee]

The iMac PSU is known to be overspecified for the Mx series CPUs - maybe it's capable of handling an M4 Pro? Makes you wonder why Apple wouldn't have pulled the trigger on adding an M1 Pro or M2 Pro SKU though? The Mac mini could handle a 65w CPU which is why the Pro series CPUs were added.

The iMac cooling solution ought to be able to handle M4 Pro I'd have thought, maybe it runs cooler than M1 Pro and M2 Pro?

However, the M4 Pro is surely more likely to be around for the October MacBook Pro launch - it's the more logically consistent call.

If Apple decided to bring the M4 Pro CPU forward in enough quantities to make it available in a top SKU Mac mini it might be feasible if they deemed it important enough for a WWDC launch - for developers for example as Apple prioritise AI development.

The iMac “Mac on a stick” board is not wide enough to accommodate an MxPro chip and its associated heat sink. In addition the iMac fans are much smaller than the fans on the Mac mini and the MBP, it is unlikely they can provide sufficient air flow to cool an MxPro chip.

Although if the M4Pro chip is significantly smaller with an appropriately smaller heat sink it might be feasible but I seriously doubt it.

The other possibility is to redesign the iMac, making either a larger chin and/or thicker body but I think that is also unlikely for the upcoming M4 iMac update.

 

[sublunar]

The iMac “Mac on a stick” board is not wide enough to accommodate an MxPro chip and its associated heat sink. In addition the iMac fans are much smaller than the fans on the Mac mini and the MBP, it is unlikely they can provide sufficient air flow to cool an MxPro chip.

Although if the M4Pro chip is significantly smaller with an appropriately smaller heat sink it might be feasible but I seriously doubt it.

The other possibility is to redesign the iMac, making either a larger chin and/or thicker body but I think that is also unlikely for the upcoming M4 iMac update.

A significant process shrink might help with engineering costs, they’d have to allow 4 thunderbolt ports on an m4 pro mac.

Seems more likely that they’d stick with adding m4 pro to the mini lineup to replace the existing SKU rather than create a whole new one.

 

[weaztek]

If Apple decided to bring the M4 Pro CPU forward in enough quantities to make it available in a top SKU Mac mini it might be feasible if they deemed it important enough for a WWDC launch - for developers for example as Apple prioritise AI development.

Gosh, if they do introduce an M4 Pro Mini soon, what specs would they have to put on the next Mac Studio to keep it selling?

 

[icemantx]

I for one would love for the Mac mini and Mac Studio to make a baby and put accessible ports on the front on the mini. It’s not like the case of the mini does not have the room.