Mac Mini 7,1 release date with Haswell i5 Processor

With you being a new mac user, you might want to wait for the next refresh of the mac mini. I bought the 2012 model and was one of countless folks that encountered the black screens, washed-out finder windows, etc using the HDMI port.

I'm used to apple taking its sweet time fixing issues and so waited and waited and finally the fix came in December of last year, but still to this day there are folks still having issues with their mac video.... certainly you don't want to deal with this?

I'd wait for the next refresh. When will that be? I'll hazard a guess and say early November (We are coming up on a year now since the 2012 mac mini was released), so it makes sense for the product cycle to be refreshed, although I'm wondering if maybe a more realistic release date might be March 2014?

These are just 'guesses'.

There are a lot of threads on this, but perhaps these current ones will help.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1632537/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1621475/

It's all guesswork... with very diverging opinions.

Honestly for those purposes there's little point in waiting for Haswell. It's not running on batteries and Wireless N

Get yourself a 2012 or even 2011 model from the refurb store.

Who knows when the next Mini will come out with the latest bits?

We can safely guess that the present Mini will be good for OS updates for a good while yet. It will be perfectly functional; all that will be missing is bragging rights to the latest when something new comes along.

Basic needs don't call for fancy specs. Go for what you can afford, and update as your budget allows. Even the base current model should see you right for a good few years.

The first computer I owned was the base model 2005 Mini, which I got soon after it came out. When the HDD gave up, repair seemed pointless with the move to the Intel chip, and some other factors.

I replaced it with a base model early 2009 that could run Snow Leopard. I did upgrade the RAM (added another 4 GB) and installed Mountain Lion last year. It looks like it will be good for a good while longer, possibly with a new HDD (or SSD replacement) another 4 GB of RAM (to bring it up to 8 GB) and an update to Mavericks.

The prices for 2012 models will only drop after Haswell launches. I wouldn't buy any Apple product right now other than the Air.

If you _have to_ buy a Mini now, I'd suggest that you don't buy "the cheapest one".

Pick up the i7 from the Apple refurbished online store.

It will serve you 'way better.

Best option, IF you can hold out until after the new year, is to wait for the Haswell version of the Mini. I would expect it to arrive in late January, or February...

Fishrrman said:

If you _have to_ buy a Mini now, I'd suggest that you don't buy "the cheapest one".

Pick up the i7 from the Apple refurbished online store.

It will serve you 'way better.

Best option, IF you can hold out until after the new year, is to wait for the Haswell version of the Mini. I would expect it to arrive in late January, or February...

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Given that the OP's needs are fairly basic, how so?

Twice now "the cheapest one" has been a good choice for my own simple needs. Going higher in the line-up would only have given me a gain in bragging rights. There would have been no significant benefit in use.

NewbieCanada said:

Honestly for those purposes there's little point in waiting for Haswell. It's not running on batteries and Wireless N

Get yourself a 2012 or even 2011 model from the refurb store.

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Not true, assuming the mini will use the intel HD 5000, because people might want to game on a mini and that is harder with an HD 4000.

Ok.....

with the today event focused in mobile tech, Apple still have to announce when will deliver Mavericks (Mac OS X 10.) and the iCan (pardon me, the revamped Mac Pro), so, as the deadline imposed by Apple itself, we can expect an October or late fall announcement to be made, about the two things I said above. Maybe a refresh in some hardware lines can slip......

The mid-range Haswell chips won't be much of an improvement over Ivy Bridge when used for desktops. I was reading a review that for some of the Haswell chips and using some applications the performance ends up benchmarking slightly lower than many Ivy Bridge chips at the same clock speed. Meanwhile Intel is releasing special higher performance Ivy Bridge-E processors for desktops.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2048...-e-extreme-edition-processors-hit-retail.html

The main advantage for the mid-range Haswell chips will be marginally improved graphics performance and significantly lower power usage to extend battery life on notebooks and tablet devices. This could mean that the new Minis that use Haswell might have a different form factor. They will be able to use a smaller power supply and it's possible that the aluminum case will be changed in favor of a less expensive design. I hope they keep using the current aluminum case design.

53kyle said:

Not true, assuming the mini will use the intel HD 5000, because people might want to game on a mini and that is harder with an HD 4000.

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SOME people might want to game on it, but the OP said specifically what he wanted to do with it and an HD 4000 is perfectly fine for that.

Micky Do said:

I replaced it with a base model early 2009 that could run Snow Leopard. I did upgrade the RAM (added another 4 GB) and installed Mountain Lion last year. It looks like it will be good for a good while longer, possibly with a new HDD (or SSD replacement) another 4 GB of RAM (to bring it up to 8 GB) and an update to Mavericks.

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And once there are no longer any updates being released for Maverick then you can switch to Windows 8 which will be supported until Jan 2023.

MJL said:

And once there are no longer any updates being released for Maverick then you can switch to Windows 8 which will be supported until Jan 2023.

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You are being facetious, of course.

Given your needs, the only possible advantages to you with the Haswell upgrade will be Wi-fi ac, and maybe a second TB port (at the expense of losing the Ethernet port).

If you are not doing anything that needs high level graphics (advanced gaming, serious video work, multiple large screens), then Haswell offers little advantage because the main processing upgrade this time around is probably going to be in the graphics capacity, like what happened with the recent 2013 Air upgrade.

(I have a 2012 Air with HD4000 graphics, and it plays hi-res, high bitrate videos no problem at all on a 2560 x 1440 external screen. Even after several hours of that level of video work the CPU/GPU temperatures are still only around 60 C. )

If you don't need these features, then a refurb current model is a very good buy, especially for those with limited funds.

I am in Australia and I just picked up a refurb current model (2012) quad i7 Mini (non-server version) for about 17% discount off new price. That is only $50 more than the non-refurb current model 2.5GHz dual-core i5 Mini. (ETA: This dual core model is also now listed on the Aust. refurb page for $110 off new price.)

Does depend on the right refurb being available in your country, of course.

Micky Do said:

You are being facetious, of course.

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Not at all - an OS is an OS and it does not matter to me as long as it does the job. In this case it is squeezing the maximum life out of hardware.

Gone are the days that a new version of laptop (or desktop) 10 months later was twice (or even more) as fast in comparison to the previous model. The road forward appears to be focused on reducing power consumption which is non-issue in desktops. I am running my computer at about 6 - 8% load 24 hours 5 days a week. A 5, 10 or 15% performance improvement makes no difference.

I just upgraded my 2010 server to the 2012 base model and have changed the drive to two SSD's. This was done so I can in due time load Windows 8 on it (at the present running 7). A bonus is the USB 3. My 2011 has a genuine Apple (Samsung) and a Samsung 830 in it and is running Windows 8 (development / backup production machine).

Reflecting on the iPhone 5s launch and no definitive roadmap for the MacPro: they are sleeping at Apple. Don't expect anything this year. What did the stock do after yesterday?

blanka said:

Reflecting on the iPhone 5s launch and no definitive roadmap for the MacPro: they are sleeping at Apple. Don't expect anything this year. What did the stock do after yesterday?

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The Mac Pro will see a release this fall. Fall doesn't start and end on September 1st. Not sure why that is so hard to comprehend.

just wait one more month or two. buy the base model, no need for you to get quad core or dual i7. who knows what other features will be there?

get a RAM after you buy mini from other vendor and upgrade to 8gigs, makes it smoother experience.

hehe iBook G4 is pretty nice computer. i wouldnt call it paperweight. it is still good for taking with you on the road, writing text documents and doing some light web surfing in Ten four fox. maybe max the RAM? these models can go up to 1.5 gigs. if your iBook is over 1ghz, install Leopard (you can still run heaps of older software with it). Also putting in IDE base SSD will speed things up. you can get those cheap ones with only 16 or 32 gigs.

I recommend a PowerMac G5 Quad that dual boots with OS X 10.5 and Debian 7.10
Get a powerful PC, not a powerless one.

If you're not going to wait, get the 2.6GHz Core i7. That's the top of the line model. Forget the "server" (unless you -need- a server). I dropped 16GB of RAM, an SSD and a 7200 RPM 1TB HD into mine and it's very fast (and quiet).

rumplestiltskin said:

If you're not going to wait, get the 2.6GHz Core i7. That's the top of the line model. Forget the "server" (unless you -need- a server). I dropped 16GB of RAM, an SSD and a 7200 RPM 1TB HD into mine and it's very fast (and quiet).

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there really is no benefit for him to get dualcore i7 model. in past, at least they gave you some GPU option, now it's only bigger harddrive. not worth 200 USD in my opinion.

The Haswell i5 and i7 processors with Iris and Iris Pro graphics are available right about now for Apple to use which I hope they do. The standard voltage processors with Intel HD 4600 graphics for i5 will be available around next month.

Best Guess

Wait if you can, they may roll out new hardware with the Maverick release in October (they have done so in the past). Then you can either buy new, or if the specs haven't improved much, get a used/refurbished at a discount.....

blanka said:

Reflecting on the iPhone 5s launch and no definitive roadmap for the MacPro: they are sleeping at Apple. Don't expect anything this year. What did the stock do after yesterday?

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The stocks did what it has always done - go up on anticipation, drop on announcement day, go up again at quarterly earnings.