The real 2014 Mac mini announcement

[Cansalt]

People love Mac mini. It’s a great first Mac or addition to your home network, and the new Mac mini is a nice upgrade packed into an incredibly compact design. What we first did was add 4 torx screws to the case to stop users from opening the mini. Then we removed the extra SATA port to try to stop users from adding their own SSD drive. Of course we soldered on the ram so no memory upgrades, talking of upgrades we have for the first time in computer history have cut almost in half the (multi core) computing power of this next generation mac mini. No other computer company in the history of computers has done all this for its beloved users. Applause...
Thank-you, we at Apple are very proud of this upgrade, it has taken us 2 years, but we think the wait was worth it.
more Applause...

 

[crazzapple]

People love Mac mini. It’s a great first Mac or addition to your home network, and the new Mac mini is a nice upgrade packed into an incredibly compact design. What we first did was add 4 torx screws to the case to stop users from opening the mini. Then we removed the extra SATA port to try to stop users from adding their own SSD drive. Of course we soldered on the ram so no memory upgrades, talking of upgrades we have for the first time in computer history have cut almost in half the (multi core) computing power of this next generation mac mini. No other computer company in the history of computers has done all this for its beloved users. Applause...
Thank-you, we at Apple are very proud of this upgrade, it has taken us 2 years, but we think the wait was worth it.
more Applause...

2014 mini... DOA.

 

[Omega Mac]

2014 mini... DOA.

You forgot about the rename, "Mac iSlab"

 

[phrehdd]

I admit I like Apple for OSX and that is all. After this latest shift to the new can't afford it Mac Trash Can Pro and the castrated Mac Minus, I honestly am considering moving back to PC land (much to my chagrin). I can stomach Windows 7 in classic Windows mode and that will be the end of that. In the meanwhile I'll keep my present Apple stuff until they are no longer useful.

Sorry Apple - some of us just don't fit into your marketing model. Sorry Apple, you are looking for a new client base at the expense of your regular customer base.

Sadly I see just Windows and Linux in my future and no OSX.

 

[crazzapple]

I admit I like Apple for OSX and that is all. After this latest shift to the new can't afford it Mac Trash Can Pro and the castrated Mac Minus, I honestly am considering moving back to PC land (much to my chagrin). I can stomach Windows 7 in classic Windows mode and that will be the end of that. In the meanwhile I'll keep my present Apple stuff until they are no longer useful.

Sorry Apple - some of us just don't fit into your marketing model. Sorry Apple, you are looking for a new client base at the expense of your regular customer base.

Sadly I see just Windows and Linux in my future and no OSX.

Same here... looking at a possible switch to Windows 8.1 or 10 next year. My preference is to stick with osx, so I'll wait to see what kind of mini is offered when Broadwell/Skylake is released. Thought about picking up one of the 2012 i7 minis, but at this point I'm not willing to give apple *any* money. All apple cares about is its lifestyle customers (beats and throwaway crap).

 

[Omega Mac]

Whoa not even losing hardware sales but moving back to Windoze, no way!

I'd pick Linux or whatever open source OS might be over Windoze any day it's not worth it and 10 captures everything you do.

Linuxmint is very nice everyday computing OS that can work on very old hardware and performance is fine.

Heavy Video is a different story. You are at the mercy of your video card.

I also use the Zotac with atom processors, smaller than the mac mini and very upgradable, but the CPU 1.4 atom is not very powerful for all things.

I'm sure the base mac mini iBlock is a bit more capable than my 3 year old zotac but I can't easily upgrade it yet the Zotac no problem so why would I bother moving over to the base model mac mini as I was thinking of for home use. Waste of cash coudl be spent on more ram and large mSSD for the zotac.

iPhone sales will mask the mac mini disgruntlement methinks.

I'm not sure who Apple are competing with here with the Mac mini, other than they're own previous Mac mini models.

 

[Crosscreek]

I admit I like Apple for OSX and that is all. After this latest shift to the new can't afford it Mac Trash Can Pro and the castrated Mac Minus, I honestly am considering moving back to PC land (much to my chagrin). I can stomach Windows 7 in classic Windows mode and that will be the end of that. In the meanwhile I'll keep my present Apple stuff until they are no longer useful.

Sorry Apple - some of us just don't fit into your marketing model. Sorry Apple, you are looking for a new client base at the expense of your regular customer base.

Sadly I see just Windows and Linux in my future and no OSX.

Yeh, same here. When Skylake PCs start making an appearance I will be investing in one.

Screw Apple and their hardware that always behind the curve. I like OS X but they have no headless desktops to run it on.

I'll keep my 2012 Mini until it dies but I don't see them building anymore powerful Minis like the 2012s

I felt a need to edit this and say that Apple does make the best laptops but their one headless consumer desktop is pitiful this year.

 

[scottsjack]

I couldn't agree more with some of the main ideas in this thread. I did just buy a quad 2.6 for OSX so I can have W8.1 only on my quad 2.3. I too considered whether I wanted to spend any more money with Apple.

I guess it's true with me to, what I really like about Apple is Mac OSX. My opinion of the lifestyle stuff varies from not interested to just plain worthless to me. Don't even get me going on Beats

The following will be really important to me deciding which direction I am going to go in the future; The next Mac mini, how Windows 10 turns out and the state of smaller PC into Broadwell and beyond (example; the smaller form factors of the HP EliteDesk 800).

 

[dandingo]

Let me first say that I know and feel that Apple has the absolute right to do whatever they want with regards to designing and pricing their products. That being said, we also have the right to voice our disappointment in their products.

I'm an ex-OSX user and about a year ago decided to return to Apple to complement my photography work. Last Thursday, I had a shoot during the presentation but, when I got home, I literally had my credit card out and was ready to buy a new i7.

I was floored when I saw that only dual-cores were available. I immediately put my credit card away and realized that not only did Apple lose a revert, but I was planning on upgrading my and my wife's laptops and tablets to Apple as well as my extended family.

The sad thing is that Apple will never realize how many people they alienated because the Mac Mini is such a small part of the Mac lineup.

 

[Cansalt]

Let me first say that I know and feel that Apple has the absolute right to do whatever they want with regards to designing and pricing their products. That being said, we also have the right to voice our disappointment in their products.

I'm an ex-OSX user and about a year ago decided to return to Apple to complement my photography work. Last Thursday, I had a shoot during the presentation but, when I got home, I literally had my credit card out and was ready to buy a new i7.

I was floored when I saw that only dual-cores were available. I immediately put my credit card away and realized that not only did Apple lose a revert, but I was planning on upgrading my and my wife's laptops and tablets to Apple as well as my extended family.

The sad thing is that Apple will never realize how many people they alienated because the Mac Mini is such a small part of the Mac lineup.

Exactly! We are a Apple household, my wife needs a laptop upgrade. I need a Mac Mini upgrade. and the kids get the last generation stuff. but with the mac mini downgrade and the gpu motherboard catastrophe on my 2011 macbook Pro - we are leaving apple. My computer is the hub of the whole system so the mac mini failure will lead to zero apple spending in the future (phones/tablets etc).

 

[Cape Dave]

I couldn't agree more with some of the main ideas in this thread. I did just buy a quad 2.6 for OSX so I can have W8.1 only on my quad 2.3. I too considered whether I wanted to spend any more money with Apple.

I guess it's true with me to, what I really like about Apple is Mac OSX. My opinion of the lifestyle stuff varies from not interested to just plain worthless to me. Don't even get me going on Beats

The following will be really important to me deciding which direction I am going to go in the future; The next Mac mini, how Windows 10 turns out and the state of smaller PC into Broadwell and beyond (example; the smaller form factors of the HP EliteDesk 800).

Beats sucks. Hard. Glad I am not into the young "lifestyle" thing. How embarrassing for those who are.

It is a shame but you are right. Win10 and the next mini are going to be the updates to pay attention to. A shame we waited so long and now have to wait some more.

----------

Let me first say that I know and feel that Apple has the absolute right to do whatever they want with regards to designing and pricing their products. That being said, we also have the right to voice our disappointment in their products.

I'm an ex-OSX user and about a year ago decided to return to Apple to complement my photography work. Last Thursday, I had a shoot during the presentation but, when I got home, I literally had my credit card out and was ready to buy a new i7.

I was floored when I saw that only dual-cores were available. I immediately put my credit card away and realized that not only did Apple lose a revert, but I was planning on upgrading my and my wife's laptops and tablets to Apple as well as my extended family.

The sad thing is that Apple will never realize how many people they alienated because the Mac Mini is such a small part of the Mac lineup.

Yes, I agree. They underestimate the power of the mini. Totally.

 

[torquer]

LOL @ "Windoze." Makes me feel like its 1999 all over again. Do you refer to them as "M$" as well? Got a Bill Gates Borg wallpaper too?

I feel for you content creation folks, I really do. But, as long as you're married to OSX you're stuck with whatever Apple decides to feed you, even if its a ***** sandwich.

I would guess that for those of you who don't "need" a hardware upgrade today, you'll find Mac Pros or Quad iMacs going used and refurbed for much cheaper in 2 years' time.

 

[Silver78]

Yes "planned obsolescence" sucks but if 95% of mac mini users never open their mac mini anyway the removal of sata, soldered ram would have a positive impact on enviroment? More ram and ssd can not buy your mac mini longer lifespan?
As for the 4 screws...well if you do not need to open it anymore?
As for the cpu downgrade most users does not use full potential of mac mini anyway... I will use as server and htpc so new mac mini is just perfect for that...running 24/7 it will save me enough power to buy a new mini in 3-5 years?
For Rendering you could buy one with bigger cpu ...yes its not 4 cores i know.
As someone said to me "apple is not your friend" so they would want people who render or use cpu heavy programs to go for imac or mac pro.

 

[Wild-Bill]

People love Mac mini. It’s a great first Mac or addition to your home network, and the new Mac mini is a nice upgrade packed into an incredibly compact design. What we first did was add 4 torx screws to the case to stop users from opening the mini. Then we removed the extra SATA port to try to stop users from adding their own SSD drive. Of course we soldered on the ram so no memory upgrades, talking of upgrades we have for the first time in computer history have cut almost in half the (multi core) computing power of this next generation mac mini. No other computer company in the history of computers has done all this for its beloved users. Applause...
Thank-you, we at Apple are very proud of this upgrade, it has taken us 2 years, but we think the wait was worth it.
more Applause...

Well said. They pissed off a lot of people by doing this. Sales will suffer, but that will just give them the excuse they need to kill it off permanently.

The only sales that will be going up will be that of previous years' refurbs.

This Mac Mini "update" is an abomination.

 

[BJonson]

Picked up my last mac, a 2012 2.6ghz quad core. Gonna burn this thing out until apple wakes up. 2014 is pure trash.

Several months ago my kids last imac started having overheating power supply issues, the one before that had screen issues and the one before that the video card died and the one before that the cpu died. I gave up and bought all 3 of my kids Lenovo W530 laptops and they couldn't be happier. Got myself one too. Love it. All run windows 7. Windows 8 sucks hard. I still love macs and OS X but I think their time has come. Just glad to have gotten the last great mac.

 

[YanniDepp]

If you're thinking about switching to another OS, I highly recommend you keep an eye on Elementary Linux.

It's still early days, so a lot of the built-in apps are lightweight and don't have much to customise. But it's got the "pre-Yosemite" OS X aesthetic in a good way, not a "skin on a crap interface" way. It's based on Ubuntu, so it's got decent software support. But you won't be syncing an iPhone to it

It's totally worth checking out before you make the jump to "big blocks and tiles" Windows 8. Especially since it's free.

Screenshots attached.

 

[Miat]

Yes, I agree. They underestimate the power of the mini. Totally.

I suspect the problem is the opposite.

Apple know full well just what the thermally constrained Mini could do with the cooler Haswell chips, so they deliberately crippled it, processor wise, to avoid eating into iMac and Pro sales.

Haswell quads in a Mini. It's a nice thought.

Can't say I am too impressed with the prices for the top processor/RAM combination, a dual-core i7, 16GB. Dual core. OK price for a quad, but not a dual.

Makes a man want to switch to a Linux box.

 

[bjewett]

The new mini (not)

I was looking hard at getting one. But the off-ing of the quad-core option just kills it.

The justification one finds in the media is absurd - it is SO expensive to design another motherboard for the quad-core haswell. Please.

Let's remember that Apple is said to have "bet the company" on the iPhone when it came out. That means all those mac (and iPod) sales were to support a major creative and technological investment. Worked out, I'd say!

I would like to see a little courtesy in the other direction. Apple has the technical know-how, design expertise/excellence - and finances - to design the best PCs in the world. I would rather they went after much of the market, to grow market share so, in a decade, they have much of it wrapped up. That means machines for kindegarten schools, high schools, higher ed, and businesses. But instead ...

Quad-core isn't just for power users. I use supercomputers with hundreds of thousands of processors. Quad-core isn't new anymore, and *offering* it will draw people - some of whom are using quite-constrained laptops with not enough cooling, cores, or memory - to the Apple ecosystem. It is a worthwhile investment on Apple's part.

This was a poor business decision in my view. Give me a month on the committees that make these decisions...

 

[Acorn]

I was ready to pull the trigger on the mini until I saw no quad core. If i want a small duel core device ill buy a laptop. No quad core then thats a shame. I dont think it will make me run and switch to windows 10 just yet but I will reconsider my workflow for sure and see if osx is still an option in the future. I dont think apple has the same direction in mind anymore.

 

[cinealta]

I would like to see a little courtesy in the other direction. Apple has the technical know-how, design expertise/excellence - and finances - to design the best PCs in the world. I would rather they went after much of the market, to grow market share so, in a decade, they have much of it wrapped up. That means machines for kindegarten schools, high schools, higher ed, and businesses.

Desktop PC sales are declining worldwide. It's a losing market. Everyone is going mobile. Quad, Hex, Octo -cores are readily available...just get a workstation with Xeon CPUs. Can't have everything. We're not going to get workstation class in a $500 box with OSX.

 

[mripadmini]

Picked up my last mac, a 2012 2.6ghz quad core. Gonna burn this thing out until apple wakes up. 2014 is pure trash.

Several months ago my kids last imac started having overheating power supply issues, the one before that had screen issues and the one before that the video card died and the one before that the cpu died. I gave up and bought all 3 of my kids Lenovo W530 laptops and they couldn't be happier. Got myself one too. Love it. All run windows 7. Windows 8 sucks hard. I still love macs and OS X but I think their time has come. Just glad to have gotten the last great mac.

i needed a laptop so i bought myself a Lenovo W530.

 

[AndyJapan]

Yes "planned obsolescence" sucks but if 95% of mac mini users never open their mac mini anyway the removal of sata, soldered ram would have a positive impact on enviroment? More ram and ssd can not buy your mac mini longer lifespan?
As for the 4 screws...well if you do not need to open it anymore?
As for the cpu downgrade most users does not use full potential of mac mini anyway... I will use as server and htpc so new mac mini is just perfect for that...running 24/7 it will save me enough power to buy a new mini in 3-5 years?

Not having quad-cores anymore is disappointing, but using soldered RAM while charging ludicrous prices for RAM upgrades is simply rip-off. Apple products are becoming appliances that are not designed to be repaired or upgraded, but replaced with a new Apple-liance.

For Rendering you could buy one with bigger cpu ...yes its not 4 cores i know. As someone said to me "apple is not your friend" so they would want people who render or use cpu heavy programs to go for imac or mac pro.

The problem is that not everybody (including me) likes all-in-one computers with glossy displays and Mac Pro is overkill for most users. I think Apple is leaving money on the table by not having a headless computer except the now crippled Mac Mini.

 

[BJonson]

I would love to hear Tim Cook explain why they won't make a regular headless Macintosh.

 

[Silver78]

Not having quad-cores anymore is disappointing, but using soldered RAM while charging ludicrous prices for RAM upgrades is simply rip-off. Apple products are becoming appliances that are not designed to be repaired or upgraded, but replaced with a new Apple-liance.



The problem is that not everybody (including me) likes all-in-one computers with glossy displays and Mac Pro is overkill for most users. I think Apple is leaving money on the table by not having a headless computer except the now crippled Mac Mini.

But you will end up buying it anyway right? I have allready invested in applesmack and is now hooked.. I will buy that smack nomatter how pure:-/ sad to say.

 

[AndyJapan]

But you will end up buying it anyway right? I have allready invested in applesmack and is now hooked.. I will buy that smack nomatter how pure:-/ sad to say.

Nope! I am a Windows 7 & OS X/iOS user and waited for the new Mac Mini to fully convert to Mac as I am currently only using a Mac Mini as HTPC. However, I scrapped this plan as the new Mac Mini is in my opinion poor value. I am not hooked to any brand and won't buy products that are not worth the money. The new Mac Mini falls into this category. No buy!