The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

[dblissmn]

I have to assume that whatever else they do they have to make sure they're ready for back-to-school orders. The fact that almost all the desktops are sold out suggests to me they're trying to have at least something M5 desktop-related during the summer, but note they're significantly backordered even on higher memory laptops at this point with the 128GB CTO models now backed up about three weeks or more and not a silver in stock anywhere. I would be astonished if M6 devices show up before next spring, especially the Pro or Max ones. And, if the AI agent pivot is primarily responsible for the shortage of minis rather than simply equally responsible with EOLing the M4, and their yield of M5 chips is anywhere short of ideal, then yes, they'll miss back-to-school on M5 minis.

They're also going to need to pivot the Neo to the next generation of iPhone processor and bump the price a bit accordingly; I think they're running out of those faster than they'd expected and as it's a binned chip the supply is somewhat finite.

So I think this back-to-school cycle will be laptops.

 

[Time89]

Very good points and make a lot of sense

 

[Boil]

So I think this back-to-school cycle will be laptops.

With the advent of AI these days, I wonder if we might see a move towards a laptop for taking to classes and a Mac mini for sitting in the dorm room crunching AI stuff...?

 

[weaztek]

With the advent of AI these days, I wonder if we might see a move towards a laptop for taking to classes and a Mac mini for sitting in the dorm room crunching AI stuff...?

The college students I know wear shorts in the winter because they only have one pair of jeans. Not even close to having the resources for two computers and space for a setup in the dorm.

 

[ivnj]

No, Apple sold out at $599. Even at $799, the Mac mini isn't in stock.

There's no reason for Apple to do a Neo.

Bestbuy has plenty.

 

[ivnj]

Walmart market place has one for 750.

Walmart

 

[Populus]

I’ve read rumors/leaks that say TSMC is increasing the price of its 3nm process for the second half of the year. Starting in June, I guess. The price increase is said to be of 15%.

This means that all current products using the 3nm process could experience a price increase. The Neo would be the first to suffer this due to it’s low margin but probably other products will follow.

The M5 Mac mini, when released, is probably going to be more expensive… I think I’ll order a full specced M5 MacBook Air before it is too late. I’d wait for the bank to school promo but, honestly, I fear it will be too late and Apple raises the prices of both the product and the NAND and RAM upgrades.

 

[awsom82]

The M5 Mac mini, when released, is probably going to be more expensive… I think I’ll order a full specced M5 MacBook Air before it is too late. I’d wait for the bank to school promo but, honestly, I fear it will be too late and Apple raises the prices of both the product and the NAND and RAM upgrades.

Apple have strict fixed contracts for years ahead. So, no worry – wait with confidence.

 

[sublunar]

I’ve read rumors/leaks that say TSMC is increasing the price of its 3nm process for the second half of the year. Starting in June, I guess. The price increase is said to be of 15%.

This means that all current products using the 3nm process could experience a price increase. The Neo would be the first to suffer this due to it’s low margin but probably other products will follow.

The M5 Mac mini, when released, is probably going to be more expensive… I think I’ll order a full specced M5 MacBook Air before it is too late. I’d wait for the bank to school promo but, honestly, I fear it will be too late and Apple raises the prices of both the product and the NAND and RAM upgrades.

The price of the SoC will dictated in larger part by future prices of ram and storage but transport costs may increase later this year.

The direction of travel of pc costs is only ever going to go up in the short term and to hide price increases you do fear that Apple will do more spec bumps to standard skus but it would be a major move to reprice the cost of custom ram and storage upgrades. Based on recent moves by Apple they’re more likely to remove upgrade tiers altogether.

I’d agree with the advice to buy now in that event but to try and find an off the shelf device that contains the spec needed.

At what point does the iMac become worth buying as those seem to be in less short supply despite being still on m4 like the mini.

Back to school promos may simply exclude non laptops from their deals now the Neo is here.

 

[sublunar]

Apple have strict fixed contracts for years ahead. So, no worry – wait with confidence.

We’re about to find out just how far ahead these contracts go - they may be dwarfed by the size of the AI deals.

 

[Yvan256]

No, Apple sold out at $599. Even at $799, the Mac mini isn't in stock.

There's no reason for Apple to do a Neo.

If Apple had been out of stock of all MacBook Pros and MacBook Airs last year, would you have advised them to never release the MacBook Neo?

Just because they're out of stock of Mac mini doesn't mean there's no market for a lower-priced Mac Neo. Imagine the same hardware specifications as the MacBook Neo but without a display, battery, keyboard, trackpad or camera. IMHO they really should release such a Mac to lower the barrier of entry even more.

Macs are expensive, even more so in other countries where people don't earn as much as Americans and where their currency is even weaker on top of it.

More Mac users equals potentially more people subscribing to monthly/yearly Apple services which have a much higher profit margin.