What's the most likely release time for a new mini?

Easy answer:

A Tuesday. Other than that I doubt anyone can be more specific...

-JimJ

Tuesday

The single word answer that this thread deserves………

But that would earn another auto rebuke from this forum's powers that be.

February 25

apfelmann said:

February 25

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Yup, a day after Steve's B'day.

New Mac Pro came out on a Thursday

Micky Do said:

The single word answer that this thread deserves………

But that would earn another auto rebuke from this forum's powers that be.

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Why does everyone still say Tuesday?

Tim Cook said they are spending a lot on mac, I am just wondering if they are going to reinvent the mini... Seeing as it could have been updated alongside the pro and air easily if they where not changing designs.

ABCDEF-Hex said:

Why does everyone still say Tuesday?

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Everyone knows, I guess.

There is no likely release date sadly, there are no rumors, no parts leaks, nothing. It's all just speculation until the mini is actually released.

CAWjr said:

I hate to say it, but WWDC seems like the next possible candidate.

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WWDC is the next logical date, the earliest logical date. It will probably be released sometime between WWDC and October. Expect October; I say October due to price vs. power. There is no reason for Apple to rush out a mini until everything else updates with new processors.

We waited for an arbitrary release between Apple/Intel events, but it never happened. Today is Feb 15th and there is no sign of a new mini. It looks almost certain that the mini, like the iPods and other devices, will hit 2-year refresh cycles.

Nobody Reads This Line

I hope it's long before October. My 2008 iMac is as slow as molasses in January, and it's starting to affect my productivity. (I'm self-employed.)

Yes they do!

CoMoMacUser said:

I hope it's long before October. My 2008 iMac is as slow as molasses in January, and it's starting to affect my productivity. (I'm self-employed.)

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Probably some spring cleaning would help in the meantime, but if it gets desperate then you'll need to bite the bullet and buy, you can't let it start affecting your income stream...

Cloudsurfer said:

There is no likely release date sadly, there are no rumors, no parts leaks, nothing. It's all just speculation until the mini is actually released.

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There weren't any rumors prior to the iMac haswell refresh either. They just showed up one morning in the online store along with a press release.

Here's hoping of a "quiet" launch soon. My 2011 server is chugging along nicely but the HD3000 can barely drive my Dell 27" display. I'm not using it for gaming, but I sure would like USB 3.0, PCIe SSD, and 802.11ac wifi.

I still might pick up a refurb'd 2012 model but even that is still pricey given all the last-ten components. Just holding out until March or so.

CoMoMacUser said:

I hope it's long before October.

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If you look at the timeline for Apple releases in the last years, January-May have been sluggish. Aside from iPad updates, there were ATVs and a notebook or two. The real releases begin tumbling forth between late June and early October. That's a four-month span of the year where the majority of their products are released.

There have been stray items like iPads in November, MacPro in December, and so forth, but they were announced in the June-October window. You will be lucky to see a June release, but prudently will await an October reveal.

I'd be surprised to see a non-developer related machine like the Mini introduced at WWDC.

The new Mini has been "coming" since last June or so, so the simple truth is no one has any idea.

Only worth reading this if it says something useful

CoMoMacUser said:

I hope it's long before October. My 2008 iMac is as slow as molasses in January, and it's starting to affect my productivity. (I'm self-employed.)

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It's February now so it should be fine

CAWjr said:

Shot of a silent release, which can happen at any time, what is the most likely opportunity for a new mini to come out? WWDC is in June & it seems that may be the most likely candidate,

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When is Apple's next big 'dog and pony show' and when is the next Mini release are two different things. Unless the new Mini had some synergy with the new developer initiatives Apple was pushing at that WWDC, it is doubtful that it would be coupled to WWDC. There has been no urgent need to do that coupling in the past.


Intel is expected to drop Haswell refresh desktop products in Q2 2014. Perhaps if mini is going to change track toward those. ( the mobile refresh rollout should be done by early Q2, slim good reason to wait till June if tweaking a Haswell laptop design for the Mini. ).

As some have speculated, I would't be surprised if Apple is holding back the update for the Mini until the backlog of Mac Pro orders are fulfilled.

As I would expect an updated Mini would steal quite a few base model Mac Pro orders.

fig said:

I'd be surprised to see a non-developer related machine like the Mini introduced at WWDC.

The new Mini has been "coming" since last June or so, so the simple truth is no one has any idea.

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I am not sure why you say non-developer related machine? It is actually a great little machine for novice to intermediate developers.

is it likely that there will be an update of the mac mini today? or at least next week?

at what local time does the store usually go down, if there is an product update??

cheers!

theSeb said:

I am not sure why you say non-developer related machine? It is actually a great little machine for novice to intermediate developers.

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I'd say it's capable of catering to any skill level. Any beginner can write 20 lines of code to cause a machine to sweat.

I've heard a plausible explanation to the delay of the Haswell Mac Mini, which Apple is deliberately keeping the Mini a generation behind the other big sellers and big ticket items such as the portables and iMac, just to avoid having the low price Mini compete with them and cannibalize sales.

Of course from a consumer's perspective, which I am one and a potential purchaser of an updated Haswell Mini, I don't necessarily agree with Apple's strategy, but I can certainly understand it.

My desired upgrades in the next Mini may not be just the CPU, as for each generation the raw speed increases are at best modest, but the other goodies such as 802.11ac wifi, PCIe storage, and Iris Pro graphics, in addition to Thunderbolt 2 connectivity, will make the overall computing experience much better as well as being more future-proof, not to mention there might also be more storage space for roughly the same price points. These are all things worth waiting for.

sbozdag said:

is it likely that there will be an update of the mac mini today? or at least next week?

at what local time does the store usually go down, if there is an product update??

cheers!

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If you want the exact hour you will need to give a time zone.

Karlitr0s said:

I'd say it's capable of catering to any skill level. Any beginner can write 20 lines of code to cause a machine to sweat.

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That's not really what I am talking about when I mentioned developer levels. If you need to run multiple VMs for databases, testing etc on your development workstation, then a Mini is not very appropriate.

theSeb said:

That's not really what I am talking about when I mentioned developer levels. If you need to run multiple VMs for databases, testing etc on your development workstation, then a Mini is not very appropriate.

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If you need multiple VMs to run databases and test, chances are you're in the wrong market altogether and you'd be looking for a server built to host VMs that your workstation would then connect to.

Being a novice or an intermediate developer doesn't really come into it, hence our confusion. I see what you're getting at, in that a Mini doesn't cater for hosting an entire complex continuous build and database server network though.