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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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No need for 2000th post anymore. It will not top this post! Nicely played! We can now end this thread knowing we have accomplished...
Mini Haiku
I really want to see 2000 posts. How about a Haiku slam?
Mini computer
Least expensive Macintosh
How we long for you!
Almost certainly,
square aluminum machine,
you will come. Or not.
I really want to see 2000 posts. How about a Haiku slam?
Mini computer
Least expensive Macintosh
How we long for you!
Almost certainly,
square aluminum machine,
you will come. Or not.
Even at $999 USD it would be well over $1000 down here so such a statement wouldn't have the same impact down here.
These are suppose to be for Apples "emerging markets."
China, India Ect.
I don't buy this because it seems the Mini would be a better source.
They could supply their own monitors and keyboards much cheaper.
What would have been a good idea for Apple would have been to bring those new cheaper IMac's out when XP support ended.
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You have to look at profit margins and dynamics. The new iMac is made for Asia primarily where AIOs are a huge market driver due to space and styling. Sure, it will also be big for the US education market where, despite what power users here think, money for an AIO at this price is much easier for districts to propose and approve. Also, most that would buy it have no intention of ever adding RAM after purchase so it makes sense for Apple to protect the higher priced systems by locking this new one down.
For those that think the Mini is such a big seller and therefore is long overdue for an upgrade, you're not thinking the way Apple does. They look at the Mini as a utilitarian machine above all else and for those purposes and the target audience, it still competes with the competition (m93p, 800g1, etc) and is still the lowest cost entry point to the ecosystem for newbies. The target audience (not power users on a budget) won't benefit nearly as much from what the upgrades would be to justify it at the moment (ie 4000 GPU vs 5000 or 5200 and slight proc bump).
I love the iMac and the Minis but you have to know what the target audience is, what sells, and what updates would be available. I would love a new Mini right now and will buy a new one when released, but I'm not going to sit here like most and pretend that Apple is stupid for going so long without a refresh. Those that state the Mini is so important because people use them in the HTPC or rack mount configs, well truth be told the actual number of units sold overall are low to begin with, and only a very small single digit percentage would use them for those purposes.
The Mini will live on, but it won't be because of, or targeted at, HTPC or rack mount buyers, that is just a secondary benefit of the current form factor.
For those that think the Mini is such a big seller and therefore is long overdue for an upgrade, you're not thinking the way Apple does. They look at the Mini as a utilitarian machine above all else and for those purposes and the target audience, it still competes with the competition (m93p, 800g1, etc) and is still the lowest cost entry point to the ecosystem for newbies. The target audience (not power users on a budget) won't benefit nearly as much from what the upgrades would be to justify it at the moment (ie 4000 GPU vs 5000 or 5200 and slight proc bump).
I love the iMac and the Minis but you have to know what the target audience is, what sells, and what updates would be available. I would love a new Mini right now and will buy a new one when released, but I'm not going to sit here like most and pretend that Apple is stupid for going so long without a refresh. Those that state the Mini is so important because people use them in the HTPC or rack mount configs, well truth be told the actual number of units sold overall are low to begin with, and only a very small single digit percentage would use them for those purposes.
The Mini will live on, but it won't be because of, or targeted at, HTPC or rack mount buyers, that is just a secondary benefit of the current form factor.
A voice of reason. How refreshing.
The one thing is, and no one really admits this, but in some sense Apple kind of owes us an update. We, the customer, keep them in business. It is a give and take relationship. We buy their stuff. Make them HUGE profits. We want an update. Not weekly, but within a reasonable time frame. We do not get it, and there is a decent chance some/many will leave the ecosystem to get the latest tech.
Seems to me that is the last thing Apple would want. And yet by not updating, they insure that will happen.
I never thought I would see a cheap product from Apple - meaning a IMac with soldered ram and light weight mobile processor - but....well you know the rest.
A throw away IMac.
I hope this isn't a indication of what may happen to the Mini.
A throw away IMac.
I hope this isn't a indication of what may happen to the Mini.
I laughed at all the Arm Mac rumours on the site, "no way would apple take a step back and ditch intel" i said.
After seeing todays iMac, maybe the new Mac Mini is the ATV4. This is like a really bad version of Back to the future. An iMac has not had a CPU in the 1.4 Ghz range since 2004 nor a dual core under 2 Ghz since 2006. I hope Apple is not waiting for a quad core A8 to put in the mini.
Before the release of the late 2013 MP the iMac was more or less the power house of the Mac fleet due to the dated Mac Pro. Now the first New iMac of 2014 is based on a 2013 Macbook Air. I think iOS, Mac Os,iPhone, and Mac are going to converge faster then we thought!
Quite to the contrary. With continuity, Apple is showing that it doesn't believe the Mac OS and mobile iOS should be one in the same, but rather work together in harmony when switching between them. Sure, the icons and feel may get closer, but that be it.
You also have to keep remembering that the new iMac isn't targeted to anybody on his thread, or even this section of MR. It's targeted towards the average buyer who shops at BestBuy based on price and design, the Asian market where price, size, and design are the magic trifecta of purchasing power, and to the education market where a fixed AIO makes sense. No, it won't be doing a lot of Final Cut editing, but it's not intended to ever see that sort of workload. The specs, even on the low end for us here, are quite good for what most people these days would push.
After that POS iMac just came out, which nobody wants, and nobody cares about, it is very clear that the Mini is dead. Apl ju$t doesn't care about it.
For post number 1988 (I think), I checked the too 10 tunes from 1988 (US). They were apparently mostly about the Mini, for example: "Got my mind on you" (George Harrison); "Faith"; "Need you tonight"; "Never gonna give you up"; "Sweet child of mine"; "Roll with it." I know Kentuckienne can work with these. No refresh is likely soon, but the power of 2000 has temp yet to be tested.
So I'm sure Apple will warn users of the POS iMac of that fact before they drop $300 on FCPx. Get your head out of the sand. By releasing an iMac with mid-2000 specs, they create the opportunity for disappointment.
Those same "best buy" shoppers you mentioned will be back to return it just as quickly. No matter how people keep spinning this move, or talk about how this iMac isn't for us, or whatever ********* you want to spin, this is NOT a good move by Apple.
The Mini update is desperately needed. This new iMac does not fill the space for an inexpensive Mac, it's just an awful deal at $1099. I saw a refurb 27" with quad core i5 2.7 GHz and twice the hard drive as that machine for $1129 on Apples site today, heck even the 21.5" with the same specs as the 27" i just mentioned is $50 cheaper at $1049.
Why would anyone buy this machine? Only reason I can see is that someone MUST have a new all in one machine for the lowest current price.
Why would anyone buy this machine? Only reason I can see is that someone MUST have a new all in one machine for the lowest current price.
As if that matters. It's actually £499 for the 2.5Ghz Dual i5 Mac Mini, £899 for the 1.4Ghz Dual i5 iMac and £1049 for the 2.7GHz Quad i5 iMac. It's still rediculously expensive and underpowered. It's nothing more than an all-in-one desktop equivalent of the cheapest Macbook Air they sell minus the advantage of PCIe SSD.
That iMac is paving the way for the newer MacMinis coming this year or next--soldered down and inflexible. I suspect the mini will become something akin to the Apple TV, in exterior design.
The mini is the lowest of low-end desktops at Apple. Don't expect it to remain customizable. They are seen as 3-year or 4-year machines to be replaced with better models every other release cycle.
Agreed. This is the simple thing that seems to escape folks on tech forums, not just RM. Perhaps a bit of an echo chamber effect where surrounding oneself with techies leads to forgetting the majority of buyers are not propeller heads.
For non-techies, all-in-one systems offer a fairly clean package. No worries about which monitor to buy, how to hook it up, etc.
Yeh, we are mostly techies and we take offense to glue and solder.
This may be the perfect machine for schools and businesses that need a terminal all-in-one.
An average consumer that just wants to plug something in to use OSX in combination with his other devices with no hassles may be the perfect device.
But I still think this could be a trend for a new Mini also with glue and solder and as Lesser Events suggest the size of a ATV.
New Price old machine....
I guess the change in Mini's price is a stalling tactic. Don't think they would bother if they were gonna launch a new machine in the next 2/3 months.
If a new Mini is 3 months away it will probably have a Broadwell processor by then, missing Haswell entirely.
Not sure when they are going to push (TB) Thunderbolt 2 down to the non pro machines. They are playing a dodgy game there as they need to push out TB 2 to make TB succeed but at the same time they use the higher spec TB as a feature of the Pro machines to make them worth the extra money.
The technology price/performance stars are aligning. Looks like there is a good chance we might see the following later in the year.
Broadwell processor machines.
Mac Mini
4K/Retina iMac
4k Thunderbolt external monitor
4k Apple TV
Retina MacBook air
iWatch
hmmmmm.....
I guess the change in Mini's price is a stalling tactic. Don't think they would bother if they were gonna launch a new machine in the next 2/3 months.
If a new Mini is 3 months away it will probably have a Broadwell processor by then, missing Haswell entirely.
Not sure when they are going to push (TB) Thunderbolt 2 down to the non pro machines. They are playing a dodgy game there as they need to push out TB 2 to make TB succeed but at the same time they use the higher spec TB as a feature of the Pro machines to make them worth the extra money.
The technology price/performance stars are aligning. Looks like there is a good chance we might see the following later in the year.
Broadwell processor machines.
Mac Mini
4K/Retina iMac
4k Thunderbolt external monitor
4k Apple TV
Retina MacBook air
iWatch
hmmmmm.....
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I think its funny that every time apple releases an under powered, overpriced piece of junk its intended for education or emerging markets. LOL. Emerging markets are not going to spend $1100 on a clunker when there are so many faster cheaper alternatives. The bottom line is that apple expects a 600% profit on anything they sell and to sell something cheaper means to reduce their cost by the equivalent amount period. Its no different than buying a car and saying you want an extra thousand off and them saying no problem, we can take out the radio. That is not a discount.
I have to disagree as far as if they want OSX they will pay the price for entry level.
Apple is definitely changing for the worse
The new iMac is really making me lose hope that Apple will release any decent machine in the next few years.
They're pushing to smaller less powerful, more iToy like machines and away from general purpose computers.
I'm already on the fence between waiting for a refreshed mini or building a high-end i7 based windows machine (I still have an unused windows 7 license since windows 8 is a dealbreaker). As someone who couldn't care less about iToys and thinks the flat version of OSX looks like a throwback to windows xp with a bit of windows 8 mixed in Yosimite really has nothing to offer me.
I think Apple really is trying to actively push away computer users and stick with iToys users. I wonder how long until they have to open the iOS dev tools to Windows just to keep their ecosystem viable.
The new iMac is really making me lose hope that Apple will release any decent machine in the next few years.
They're pushing to smaller less powerful, more iToy like machines and away from general purpose computers.
I'm already on the fence between waiting for a refreshed mini or building a high-end i7 based windows machine (I still have an unused windows 7 license since windows 8 is a dealbreaker). As someone who couldn't care less about iToys and thinks the flat version of OSX looks like a throwback to windows xp with a bit of windows 8 mixed in Yosimite really has nothing to offer me.
I think Apple really is trying to actively push away computer users and stick with iToys users. I wonder how long until they have to open the iOS dev tools to Windows just to keep their ecosystem viable.
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