Why MacMini wasn't updated in 2013

[Rodster]

I'm hoping they don't mess with the current form factor much. There is the "smaller is better" fanboy crowd in here. No size reduction is warranted for the Mini -- any smaller and they'll have to cut the number of ports on the rear. They should make the shell two-pieces, instead of one -- have a removable "top plate" to give easy access to the internal drives, without having to pull the motherboard for full access...

As many have said in the past that the chances of Apple including the latest tech in the Mini is slim to nil because it would crossover into their other products.

Apple tends to segregate their product lines so the customer isn't left confused thinking, why should I buy this product at a premium price when I could get almost the same at a much cheaper price?

 

[CausticPuppy]

I'm personally hoping that the Mini is undergoing some more significant updates and not to just stall for another product.

Likewise, keep in mind that even though Geekbench gives a general feeling for computing power, its not a complete picture. It's like having two 300hp cars: Ford and Audi. On paper they seem like they'll be identical due to specs, but take them out on snowy roads and you'll see the Audi outshine the Ford (granted at twice the price).

In any case, I am eagerly awaiting updates to the Mini line!

...but if your job is to haul manure, you don't want to use the Audi.

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You're right!

In terms of graphics performance, expandability, etc... the Mac Pro winds hands down.

But in terms of raw processing power, for like video rendering/encoding, you could get a $1000 Mac Mini with the same processing power as the entry nMP. Right?

No, because if you're running a long rendering or encoding job, the Mac Mini is eventually going to throttle the CPU when it hits the thermal limit. The Mac Pro will maintain a much higher speed in the long run.

The Geekbench test doesn't exercise the CPU long enough to get the CPU hot, so all you're seeing is the short-term speed that TurboBoost gets you.

 

[paulrbeers]

Apple didn't update the Mini because the difference in a desktop environment between Ivy Bridge and Haswell is almost nothing. Haswell (and Broadwell for that matter) are more about pushing the GPU and reducing power usage. Yes the GPU would be nice, but the power usage is next to worthless on a desktop.

We would all love to get an Iris Pro GPU in a Mini, but that's about the only real advantage of Haswell. Even the HD4600 hasn't proven to be much of an advantage over the HD4000 so it really takes the HD5000 or better to be a true "upgrade" for a desktop.


What I want from the next mini: Dual Thunderbolt ports. Let me run both my Displayport monitors on my Mini at the same time at full resolution without a USB 3.0 Display driver or some kludgey external GPU setup.

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I posted that Apple wouldn't release the Mini prior to shipping the new Mac Pro -- for fear of impacting sales of the Pro model.
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You really think that a Haswell mini that would get maybe 500 points more on Geekbench and a marginally more powerful GPU would somehow eat away at the new Mac Pro with it's Dual GPUs, able to run up to a 12 core processor, power something like 6 monitors, 64GB of RAM, and Multiple Thunderbolt 2 ports?


Even if they went to the Iris Pro GPU but kept the same form factor, you aren't going to pull a Professional from the Mac Pro to the Mac Mini. There is no way no how. Without the ability to natively run multiple 1440P monitors, that a Professional is going to go the route of a Mac Mini. The iMac, with its ability to use as fast of a 4 core processor as the Base Pro, and run 3 1440P monitors (include its built in display) is the real competitor to the Base Mac Pro.

 

[johngwheeler]

I'm hoping they don't mess with the current form factor much. There is the "smaller is better" fanboy crowd in here. No size reduction is warranted for the Mini -- any smaller and they'll have to cut the number of ports on the rear. They should make the shell two-pieces, instead of one -- have a removable "top plate" to give easy access to the internal drives, without having to pull the motherboard for full access...

What I would like to see is improved thermal design that uses some of the currently empty space in the Mini to add a more efficient fan that would allow the use of higher TDP processors.

The Gigabyte Brix Pro (half the volume of the Mini) manages to squeeze in a quad-core i7-4770R (65W TDP), which includes Iris Pro 5200 graphics and is only about 5% slower than the standard i7-4770 desktop CPU.

This CPU would really cross the divide between the laptop and desktop components. I think a lot of people would think "why get a desktop tower when I can get the same power in a Mac Mini?". It's probably good enough for gaming too (the Gigabyte Brix will be a SteamBox).