Why no headless iMac equivalent?

[Icaras]

Considering what a poor value the mini is when you pair it with an Apple display, a headless iMac with an Apple display would be a terrible value. The 21.5" and 27" iMac displays are very high quality IPS units (although not immune from QC issues).

Of course, if you have an existing display and you just want a more powerful mini, there certainly is a void between the Pro and mini. I'm just not sure if it would be a profitable venture for Apple.

There may be a solution to this whole headless xMac dilemma, and that it may very well reside that Mac Mini has been that machine all along.

I'm talking about Thunderbolt of course. External GPUs will be entirely feasible now, right? If this ever comes, I think this immediately makes the Mac Mini the perfect headless Mac with great expansive possibilities in terms of graphics and storage. This could completely revitalize the little machine in an entirely new light.

 

[G4er?]

There may be a solution to this whole headless xMac dilemma, and that it may very well reside that Mac Mini has been that machine all along.

I'm talking about Thunderbolt of course. External GPUs will be entirely feasible now, right? If this ever comes, I think this immediately makes the Mac Mini the perfect headless Mac with great expansive possibilities in terms of graphics and storage. This could completely revitalize the little machine in an entirely new light.

If Apple released a Thuderbolt based Mac mini component system where everything matched it would be fantastic. I'll except a little bit of extra size in this type of system. Apple wouldn't have to pack everything in as tightly. This would alleviate concerns some of us have regarding heat.
I understand there was a cooling problem with some of the early Apple TV's and when Apple put the power supply inside the 2010 mini some were worried about a repeat.

A Mac mini system with the main unit, extra hard drive unit, optical drive unit, speaker case unit and iPod/iPhone dock unit on top.

 

[philipma1957]

the 2009 shaped mini was much better for stacking. Maybe thy could make a dock and slide a few 2010 shaped minis into it. would be nice.

 

[Hellhammer]

I'm talking about Thunderbolt of course. External GPUs will be entirely feasible now, right? If this ever comes, I think this immediately makes the Mac Mini the perfect headless Mac with great expansive possibilities in terms of graphics and storage. This could completely revitalize the little machine in an entirely new light.

Thunderbolt is nowhere near as fast as PCIe. PCIe 2.x x16 slot gives you 64Gb/s while TB is limited to 10Gb/s. Low-end GPUs should work fine but faster ones will require more bandwidth and TB will most likely not be able to provide that.

 

[chrismacguy]

The xMac would decimate Mac Pro sales... Especially for students like me, who got a low-end Mac Pro just to have slots for a BlackMagic card (and a future ProTools one).. A headless Quad-Core iMac would've done this just as well... oh whats that... I already have that in a Mac Pro... still far too expensive, but I still couldn't be happier with it, even though it was so insanely expensive at least it is insanely great to match. (Since I use Apple Pro Apps, I didn't really consider any other Machine.. since I have to have said expansion cards to get work done)

 

[Icaras]

Thunderbolt is nowhere near as fast as PCIe. PCIe 2.x x16 slot gives you 64Gb/s while TB is limited to 10Gb/s. Low-end GPUs should work fine but faster ones will require more bandwidth and TB will most likely not be able to provide that.

That's true. Not now then, but I read that TB's potential is capable of up to 100GB/s?

I understand this may not be developed until years later though. Does PCIe have a successor in the pipeline as well?

 

[Hellhammer]

That's true. Not now then, but I read that TB's potential is capable of up to 100GB/s?

That will require a new controller, so it doesn't really matter. Current Macs with TB are and will be capable of only 10Gb/s.

Everything will get faster in future, not just TB. That means GPUs will need more bandwidth too.

Does PCIe have a successor in the pipeline as well?

PCIe 3.0 should come next year. That doubles the bandwidth to 8Gb/s per lane, or 128Gb/s for x16 slot.

 

[Icaras]

That will require a new controller, so it doesn't really matter. Current Macs with TB are and will be capable of only 10Gb/s.

Everything will get faster in future, not just TB. That means GPUs will need more bandwidth too.



PCIe 3.0 should come next year. That doubles the bandwidth to 8Gb/s per lane, or 128Gb/s for x16 slot.

Well there goes my theory of a graphics powerhouse, TB equipped Mac Mini.

Would have been awesome to see though.

 

[BrianBaughn]

There's also the issue of support; if you could just open the box and replace the video cards as well as other stuff, then Apple would have to decide which video cards to support.

I think this is the correct answer. Mac Pro compatibility with video cards and other add-ons is a big enough pain as it is.