Why no discreet + Quad Core? Trying to mess with us?

[Lokheed]

I'm confused. The 15" mbpro has a quad core + gpu, uses an 85w psu and it powers an optical drive and display. The mini has an 85W adapter and doesn't have enough juice for a quad core + gpu and keep all it's ports

Good call bro. Clearly it has to mostly to with market constraints. People that buy it to be used as a server, don't care about video. CPU is more important. And those that buy it for a hardcore desktop, can probably suffice with the dual core i7. I mean, it wouldn't make much sense to make one that retails for $1,199. Might as well just pick up an iMac for that, can get a DVD drive and a screen, and a keyboard, and a mouse...

Don't think Apple is going to introduce a line for 5 people.

 

[Ice Dragon]

Price is a factor.

Quad core + integrated graphics for $1,000 for the Mini vs. Quad core + discrete graphics for $1,800 for the 15" MBP.

If they did add an AMD chip, people would complain it's not powerful enough. : /

 

[philipma1957]

I'm confused. The 15" mbpro has a quad core + gpu, uses an 85w psu and it powers an optical drive and display. The mini has an 85W adapter and doesn't have enough juice for a quad core + gpu and keep all it's ports

I can break it down macbookpros can't run 24 /7 under heavy loads without killing the battery. this is a simple matter of math . when you exceed the 85watt psu on the mic mini it shuts down. when you exceed the 85 watt psu on the mbp the battery drains.

what is a heavy load?

hand brake and playing a game at the same time will not do the trick. but they will max the cpu and the gpu about 44.5 watts for the cpu and 11.5 watts for the gpu. that is 56 watts out of 85 watts. 29 watts head room. plug in 4 usb jacks about 11 watts now you are at 18 watts head room. plug in your fw800 drive AT 9 TO 11 watts you are at 7 watts. now the fan is screaming s it is pulling around 1.5 watts gives you 5.5 watts left . THEN 2 hdds pull 6 to 7 watts and under powered by .5 watts to 1.5 watts.


at this point the macbook pro just starts to drain the battery.

I have not added in the 2 view screens that you drive as the video ports use energy. i have not added in the airport express if you are running wireless. the mini psu runs out of gas. same psu runs out of gas on an mbp but the battery is there for your overhead.

SIMPLE MATH NO BRICK NO BATTERY = NO QUAD CPU + GPU

why is this selling a piece of gear with an obviously underpowered psu brings class action lawsuits so apple said let just keep the quad away from the discrete gpu.




the simple fact is apple can't do this without a brick psu of about 110 watts or an add on battery base. no mystery.

now add a brick as a bto and you get your quad and gpu.

OR INVENT A 35 WATT QUAD CPU WITH AN 8 WATT GPU then you can get what you want.

NO MACHINE in the world today has what you are asking for without a battery or a brick or both.

 

[Adamantoise]

Price is a factor.

Quad core + integrated graphics for $1,000 for the Mini vs. Quad core + discrete graphics for $1,800 for the 15" MBP.

If they did add an AMD chip, people would complain it's not powerful enough. : /

You're just going to ignore the fact that one is a desktop and the other a notebook?

 

[jwhazel]

I have not added in the 2 view screens that you drive as the video ports use energy. i have not added in the airport express if you are running wireless. the mini psu runs out of gas. same psu runs out of gas on an mbp but the battery is there for your overhead.

This is simply not true. The SMC uses a shunt regulator to monitor current from the charger side. Adapter either powers the unit *and* charges/floats the battery or shuts it off and runs from battery. One or the other, not both. Easily observable on a 85w unit running from a 60/40w adapter under mild load. 85w is more than enough to power an mbpro for *anything* you throw at it.

NO MACHINE in the world today has what you are asking for without a battery or a brick or both.

Then allow me to present to you the machine that doesn't exist:

http://tinyurl.com/3v7ezzw


Thats an early 2011 15" MBpro (MC721LL/a). All 8 cores loaded, streaming some flash video wirelessly, some openGL going on to the right, backlight at brightest level, not pictured: keyboard light on full, disc spinning in the optical drive, 2.5 external usb drive plugged in, apple mighty mouse in other port. All of this done for over an hour (time and load averages in the center terminal screen) without having a battery plugged in. Same behavior on a 17" which has a faster cpu and more backlight to power (sorry I didn't have one today to demonstrate on).

Theres absolutely no technical limitations stopping apple from building a quadcore+gpu mini. Theres technical issues that may make it financially unfeasible to release one this time around, most of them already highlighted by others in this thread. But no actual technological limit from cramming current 2ghz quad core into the 6630m with only an 85w supply and a slightly tweaked heatsink.

 

[Demosthenes X]

This simply isn't the only reason, if a reason at all.

The Mac mini Server is a server. Even if non-server customers purchase the machine in large quantities, that doesn't change the model's purpose. Since when do server models -- run as servers -- need discrete graphics cards? Right - never.

That's the real reason. It's not about "can't be done." Users who want dedicated graphics are expected to purchase the non-server model. Apple isn't going to put AMD graphics in the server model to please non-server clients who want a Quad Core and dedicated graphics together in a Mac mini. They expect you to buy an iMac if you want that combination.

This is just an argument of semantics. You've answered "why doesn't Apple sell a Mac mini server with discreet graphics?". But it completely fails to answer "why doesn't Apple sell a Mac mini with a quad-core CPU and discrete graphics".

The machine being discussed is the same. The name is different. So you haven't really answered why they don't sell one. Although I do agree in principle about why they won't sell one and call it a server.

IMO, the biggest reason Apple won't do this is price point. The quad-core Mac mini is already $999. Adding a discrete GPU would probably take the price point to $1199 - too high for a mini. At that point you can buy an iMac...