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What feature would turn you away if a new mini comes out?

  • Fixed RAM

    Votes: 34 56.7%
  • Fixed SSD

    Votes: 29 48.3%
  • No TB3

    Votes: 11 18.3%
  • Only TB3 ports

    Votes: 11 18.3%
  • No IR sensor

    Votes: 3 5.0%
  • Bigger size

    Votes: 4 6.7%
  • No quad core

    Votes: 36 60.0%
  • Celeron only (no hyperthreading)

    Votes: 17 28.3%
  • Nothing - Bare minimum is OK.

    Votes: 1 1.7%
  • Nothing - I am a fan boy.

    Votes: 1 1.7%

  • Total voters
    60
  • Poll closed .

saulinpa

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Jun 15, 2008
1,284
841
We do a log of complaining here but I am wondering what would really cause Apple to lose your business.
 
Isn't listed but would be miffed if lost the HDMI port as would like to run with a fitheadless4k attached to the HDMI interface. Existing mini 2009 on 24/7 so if lose the monitor for that would be ok with that, and simply connect via RemoteDesktop when need too, attach to TV when absolutely need a monitor attached.

Dual Core 2.3Ghz Kabylake
8Gb RAM
128gb SSD would suit me fine
Ability to connect my Drobo5C is fine so USB3 either A or C connector is fine

So basically the entry 13 Macbook Pro(non TB)/iMac spec would be be perfectly fine for me.

Not a lot to ask for surely.
 
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No HDMI falls under "only TB3" from my thinking. As they used to provide a HDMI to DVI-D Apple could supply a TB3 to HDMI dongle.

I use HDMI for my setup along with the fiberoptic/toslink. Now that I think of it toslink might be a bigger issue for me.
 
Personally, I'd likely be interested again if:

They don't decrease specs again

They have a starting price of $499

They are Kabylake or higher (depending on introduction date) need to be current generation.

The 1.4 GHz CPU's are a laughable concept in a desktop. So they need to drop that, and start at around 2 GHz and higher.

A 3 to 4 GHz option would catch my attention.

Perhaps dual core on base model, and quad cores and up as options.

Memory needs to be user expandable. With options at least to 32 GB and naturally I'd love to see higher options.

A discrete video option would be nice. Even my G4 mini had a discrete video controller inside (I just sold that one yesterday - served me a long time in decreasing roles over the years).

SSD would be nice, but honestly I'd be happy with a 7200 - 10,000 RPM spinner if it offered a Terrabyte of storage.

It should essentially be configurable from a $499 base model comparable to at least the lowest end iMac, to a high end comparable to the most expensive iMac (not including the iMac Pro).

The parts (hard drive, memory, and maybe even CPU) should be user upgradable.

There needs to be a Mac without a screen that serves from entry level to mid range. It doesn't need to compete with the Mac Pro. But it should be configurable to serve the needs of those who needs fall just short of a Mac Pro.

There's a lot of people out there who need something besides an iMac but also don't need Xeons and ECC memory.
 
if its not as comparable as the 2nd or 3rd tier 21in iMac and i say that bc if i have to spend 900-1000 for a maxed out mini to not even come close to the performance on either one of those iMacs then its not even wroth it, bc after you buy the monitor and whatever connections you need, the price might almost be the same if not a little less

basically if the mini has no quad core then forget it, i have been wanting one badly though to replace my 09 iMac
 
We do a log of complaining here but I am wondering what would really cause Apple to lose your business.
Apple already has lost two purchases of mine in the last year, that were slated to be Mac Minis. I've simply given up hope.

Now my interest lies in helping friends and family replace their aging Macs. But if the anti-consumer glue/solder approach, and being stingy with CPUs continues with Apple, then I'll advise everyone to move on.
 
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We do a log of complaining here but I am wondering what would really cause Apple to lose your business.

My 2012 mini is virtually silent and noticeable computer noise would cause me not to buy a new one. I also would not buy one if there was a significant price increase.
 
Several new Mac Mac Minis have come out since I bought the modestly specced one I am using now, my second since 2005. As long as it continues to function OK, I won't be buying a new one. However, come the time that replacement is more cost effective than repair / maintenance, I'll likely buy a new modestly specced Mac Mini.
 
No HDMI falls under "only TB3" from my thinking. As they used to provide a HDMI to DVI-D Apple could supply a TB3 to HDMI dongle.

I use HDMI for my setup along with the fiberoptic/toslink. Now that I think of it toslink might be a bigger issue for me.

Ya, no hdmi would be a problem. Why do you toslink as hdmi from the 2010 Mini and later does audio too. I replaced my toslink with hdmi only when I bought my new TV.
 
I want a headless box that runs macOS without a hack and has designed-in/built-in flexibility so the same basic box can be used to do a lot of different things. And I don't want it to cost mega-$$$ because it has a lot of extraneous crap hung on it that I don't need. I use computers to do things, and I don't want to have to limit or modify what I'm doing to fit what the computer can handle. Apple could do this easily, but it appears to me that they see making such a utilitarian (read plebeian) tool as being beneath them. If it's not sexy and hip, it's not an iPuter.
 
I don't see myself upgrading from my quad i7 2012 any time in the next few years, but it would be nice to have an option from Apple for when it eventually doesn't meet my needs or something important dies on it.
 
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Apple already has lost two purchases of mine in the last year, that were slated to be Mac Minis. I've simply given up hope.

Now my interest lies in helping friends and family replace their aging Macs. But if the anti-consumer glue/solder approach, and being stingy with CPUs continues with Apple, then I'll advise everyone to move on.

I’m with you there. Been speccing out hackintosh builds that are what I want in a mini and I can do it for under $600. Sure it won’t be as small as a mini but I’ll be able to replace all the parts myself and will get a lot more power/$ than Apple will provide me.
 
We do a log of complaining here but I am wondering what would really cause Apple to lose your business.

Well, I haven't spent any money at Apple in eons. I had money in hand to replace my MacPro with a Mini when I heard they were updating them... and then I saw them. So Apple hasn't gotten any of my business in years (though I still only use Macs, and have spent money upgrading what I do have). At some point the straw will come that pushes me over the edge. Currently there isn't a single product I would buy. If nothing changes, I'll probably just build my own machine when my Pro dies.
 
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Why do you toslink as hdmi from the 2010 Mini and later does audio too.
I use HDMI to a projector and toslink to an old receiver that does not do HDMI switching. Not ready to upgrade and used to be a lot of issues with HDMI switching.
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The 1.4 GHz CPU's are a laughable concept in a desktop. So they need to drop that, and start at around 2 GHz and higher.
I thought that 1.4 was a great concept in a low power desktop. It is mainly marketing as with turbo boost it goes to 2.7 and even the 3.0 probably idles at less than 1GHz.
 
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We do a log of complaining here but I am wondering what would really cause Apple to lose your business.
Well, I haven't spent any money at Apple in eons. I had money in hand to replace my MacPro with a Mini when I heard they were updating them... and then I saw them. So Apple hasn't gotten any of my business in years (though I still only use Macs, and have spent money upgrading what I do have). At some point the straw will come that pushes me over the edge. Currently there isn't a single product I would buy. If nothing changes, I'll probably just build my own machine when my Pro dies.
That is what happened to me. Two 2008 iMacs needed to be replaced in the house. I have been waiting for a new mini to do this, for a while now - But nothing!!!

I replaced one(son's) with a 2013 iMac where I got a great deal from someone at work. And for the other(mine), I got a PC that is only Windows/Linux. I've transitioned some items over there - like pictures and videos, as well as photo processing software. The world of gaming has also opened up to me. This thing curb stomps a $4k+ Mac Pro, for less than $1400. It's not small, but then again, I was able to actually CHOOSE what I wanted in The machine, versus being dictated to.

I still have my 2012 15" cMBP, which is mad upgraded. so while I've not left, I'm barely hanging on these days.
 
That is what happened to me. Two 2008 iMacs needed to be replaced in the house. I have been waiting for a new mini to do this, for a while now - But nothing!!!

I replaced one(son's) with a 2013 iMac where I got a great deal from someone at work. And for the other(mine), I got a PC that is only Windows/Linux. I've transitioned some items over there - like pictures and videos, as well as photo processing software. The world of gaming has also opened up to me. This thing curb stomps a $4k+ Mac Pro, for less than $1400. It's not small, but then again, I was able to actually CHOOSE what I wanted in The machine, versus being dictated to.

I still have my 2012 15" cMBP, which is mad upgraded. so while I've not left, I'm barely hanging on these days.

I've ended up going the route of tinkering with the hackintosh idea.

I haven't thrown any real money into the experiment yet. More just practicing on some old hardware I have around.

So, just to get my feet wet, I've dug out an old Dell Optiplex 745 SFF (small form factor) with a 2.13 GHz Core2Duo. I've thrown a 2 terabyte hard drive and 6 gigs of RAM into it. And thrown both Windows 10 Pro and El Capitan onto it.

And admittedly setting it up initially was a pain. But... after a bit of practice (retrying different methods, it's actually gotten fairly simple).

Really the biggest challenge is getting the boot loader to permit swapping between Windows 10 and El Capitan on the same hard drive when I'm not using a UEFI system. I have a GPT / MBR hybrid partitioning setup which is cumbersome. But would be unnecessary on modern hardware.

If I threw modern hardware at the experiment, it would be easier.

But.... I do have El Capitan and Windows 10 both on the machine. Each has 1 terabyte of the hard drive. And I must say, El Capitan runs great on it.

By "feel" it is snappier than the 2012 MacBook Pro i7 machines I've worked on for other people.

And it is very stable.

While I would say it's definitely not as easy as installing OS X on a real Mac, it is easier than installing El Capitan on a 2006 Mac Pro.

Now, if you wanted to experiment with the idea, I would recommend not doing what I did. Instead install OS X and Windows on separate hard drives. I only did it on the same drive due to the machine only having one drive bay (and I didn't want external drives - though external USB installs did prove to work just fine).

The hackintosh option definitely is viable. Just takes a little patience.

I still prefer real Macs. But after tinkering with the experiment, I do see other options if Apple continues to fail to deliver a machine that is both a great performer and competitively priced.
 
I don't see myself upgrading from my quad i7 2012 any time in the next few years, but it would be nice to have an option from Apple for when it eventually doesn't meet my needs or something important dies on it.
I'm in the same situation, upgraded recently from a 2012 i5 to 2012 i7, and if the Mini line continues like the 2014 model it will be the last one for me. The tentative plan is to keep an eye on second-hand "trash cans", hoping the coming of the modular Pro model makes prices drop to affordable levels...
 
I think price should be on the poll. It's not exactly the pinnacle of value now, but if they finally launched a relevant product and increased prices from what they are on now, it'd be a no from me.
 
Parts would have to be serviceable again to catch my eye. Hell I wouldn't even mind going back to the sealed case + putty knife days as long as I could put in my own components at some point. Unfortunately the direction they went with the 2014 Mini was the opposite of what I wanted.
 
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We do a log of complaining here but I am wondering what would really cause Apple to lose your business.
I haven't bought a new mac since 2012...the used ones are good enough for me.
If Im going to pay $3000 for a new mac its going to have some bang for its buck.
Cook is great at making money but has no clue about Macs.
They in effect have lost my business..other than a new iPhone every 3 year..that may be used too!
 
A big external AC/DC power brick would kill it for me. My Mini runs in a safe where storage space is at a huge premium and so it's nice to have it all self-contained.

That's why I don't like all these NUCs that everyone brags about being so small. Sure they're small in pictures, when you omit the big brick and required two cords from the picture. In real life in my safe I'd have to deal with all that.
 
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