Evidence that Next iMacs and Mac Minis to use NVIDIA Chipsets

[MacRumors]

Configuration files buried within some versions of Mac OS X show evidence that the next iMac and Mac Mini will indeed be based on the NVIDIA MCP79 chipset. Apple recently switched their MacBook, MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models to the NVIDIA chipsets in October. Amongst other benefits, the new notebooks have much improved graphics card capabilities, which make them more suitable to take advantage of OpenCL technologies coming in Snow Leopard.

Apple will apparently be bringing these improvements to both the new iMac and Mac mini. While many have expected the iMac to receive these upgrades, the fate of the Mac mini has been less certain.

A configuration file found in the Mac OS X version that ships with the new MacBook and MacBook Pros reveal entries referencing an unreleased "MacMini3,1" and "iMac9,1" models. The relevant lines have been excerpted here:

<dict>
<key>Desc-Key</key>
<string>CFG_MCP79</string>
<string>Macmini3,1</string>
</dict>

<dict>
<key>Desc-Key</key>
<string>CFG_MCP79</string>
<key>model</key>
<string>iMac9,1</string>
</dict>

The CFG_MCP79 appears to refer to the NVIDIA MCP79 chipset found in the newest laptops. The findings were originally described in a forum post that we've subsequently verified.

Article Link: Evidence that Next iMacs and Mac Minis to use NVIDIA Chipsets

[Konradx]

Have had the money saved up and waiting for a long time for the mini! The second it comes out i'll be ordering it! Finally a mini with a vid card!

[Motley]

Originally Posted by Konradx

Have had the money saved up and waiting for a long time for the mini! The second it comes out i'll be ordering it! Finally a mini with a vid card!

Finally the return of a mini with a vid card (or at least not integrated graphics).

[talkingfuture]

Mini with better graphics will be good. Lets just hope it has some other exciting features too.

[JGowan]

Aside from the slick menus to download movie rentals and watch Flickr, are there any other REAL benefits from getting an AppleTV over a MacMini?

[jaw04005]

Originally Posted by JGowan

Aside from the slick menus to download movie rentals and watch Flickr, are there any other REAL benefits from getting an AppleTV over a MacMini?

Hummmm.

1. $370 less than low-end Mac mini.
2. Has HDMI and Component ports.
3. Outputs correct resolutions for your HDTV.
4. Has HD movie rentals (not available on Mac/PC).
5. Built-in iTunes store (not in Front Row).
6. Built-in Podcasts streaming (not in Front Row).
7. iPhone remote support.

[rstansby]

Originally Posted by JGowan

Aside from the slick menus to download movie rentals and watch Flickr, are there any other REAL benefits from getting an AppleTV over a MacMini?

It is simpler- which makes it easier to use for the wife and kids.

[Count Blah]

Originally Posted by talkingfuture

Mini with better graphics will be good. Lets just hope it has some other exciting features too.

Like a lack of Firewire? The 100+ pages on the firewire missing from the macbook tells us that people are excited about it.

[Sehnsucht]

Originally Posted by talkingfuture

Mini with better graphics will be good. Lets just hope it has some other exciting features too.

"Of course it will, if you can call LACK OF FIREWIRE an 'exciting feature'!!!!!!!" Sorry I couldn't resist. I'm sure the FireWhining is gonna kick up something fierce in this thread. Oh well...NVIDIA yaaayyyy!!!

[hiimamac]

Originally Posted by Sehnsucht

"Of course it will, if you can call LACK OF FIREWIRE an 'exciting feature'!!!!!!!" Sorry I couldn't resist. I'm sure the FireWhining is gonna kick up something fierce in this thread. Oh well...NVIDIA yaaayyyy!!!

I know, makes too much sense to release firewire.

Why are people PINHEADS? Especially fan boys lifers? I remember saying DEDICATED GPU and got answers like
maybe Apple doesn't care about gaming market" - I then went on to state that it was larger than music biz, then it came out and NO FIREWIRE impounded my "AFRAID OF PRO MARKET, even though less than 1%, only no FIREWIRE hurt not only PROS but MOM AND DAD CAM CORDER, millions of musicians, IT who used target mode, and many more. Okay fanbot have another. It wasn't until Steve pulled out of MW that the lifers got a taste of how it feels to be excluded. About time.


A mini should be a mid range machine, not the low end piece of crap headless macbook.

Don't mean to sound well, negative, just sick and tired of APPLE making MORON moves all timid and afraid, all worried and BOYZ not reading between lines and realizing things like lack of FIREWIRE was to keep PRO users from having a cheap solution yet this time it hurt a larger audience. Makes me crazy that Apple does such stupid things for stupid reasons. If they did there research, they would find users would own both HIGHEND and lowend and would sell MORE machines, not less. There marketing department is one person, Jobs, and glad he will be stepping down soon.

Apple will make more $$$ once Jobs steps down.

[tonyl]

Originally Posted by Motley

Finally the return of a mini with a vid card (or at least not integrated graphics).

Probably integrated, same as Macbook, but it'll be better than Intel one.

[Maxington]

Good news indeed if it tis true.

[richthomas]

1. New Mac Minis coming!
2. Big Phily will release Mac Minis at Macworld 09
3. Who the hell finds this stuff?

[gnasher729]

Originally Posted by Motley

Finally the return of a mini with a vid card (or at least not integrated graphics).

It _is_ integrated graphics. It is just much, much, much, much better integrated graphics

I wouldn't be surprised of future MacPro's would get the same graphics, so you can use this to handle the screen, while four GPU cards can be plugged in for use with OpenCL to turn the MacPro into a supercomputer.

[MvdM]

Originally Posted by Konradx

Have had the money saved up and waiting for a long time for the mini! The second it comes out i'll be ordering it! Finally a mini with a vid card!

And also a mini with a mini display port, which can not directly be connected to your current display.
And also a mini with no firewire.
I wouldn't be surprised if it also lacks an optical drive and replaces the Apple TV.

[gkarris]

Originally Posted by MvdM

And also a mini with a mini display port, which can not directly be connected to your current display.
And also a mini with no firewire.
I wouldn't be surprised if it also lacks an optical drive and replaces the Apple TV.

You have to buy an adapter. No, it will have an optical. The Ethernet port, I'd say, is another in question, at least in the "budget $499" model...

[dal20402]

Originally Posted by gkarris

You have to buy an adapter. No, it will have an optical. The Ethernet port, I'd say, is another in question, at least in the "budget $499" model...

It'll have an Ethernet port; there's not the same extreme lack of space there is on the Air.

The question in my mind is whether the optical will be optional. Lots of people use minis as servers. If you could "officially" replace the optical with another 2.5" hard drive -- or even better, put a 3.5" hard drive in the space where the optical AND the first 2.5" drive would normally fit -- the mini-as-server people will be overjoyed. (I would too!)

[infernohellion]

*craving for the new 17" unibody MBP w/ any graphic card that is better than 9600M GT*

[Warbrain]

Originally Posted by dal20402

It'll have an Ethernet port; there's not the same extreme lack of space there is on the Air.

The question in my mind is whether the optical will be optional. Lots of people use minis as servers. If you could "officially" replace the optical with another 2.5" hard drive -- or even better, put a 3.5" hard drive in the space where the optical AND the first 2.5" drive would normally fit -- the mini-as-server people will be overjoyed. (I would too!)

That would be great. And if absolutely necessary buy the external Superdrive and connect it over USB. I'd buy one.

[dXTC]

Originally Posted by MvdM

And also a mini with a mini display port, which can not directly be connected to your current display.
And also a mini with no firewire.
I wouldn't be surprised if it also lacks an optical drive and replaces the Apple TV.

I would expect a mini DisplayPort, sure, but as the Mac mini is an entry-level item, it may a bad idea for Apple to force the issue, and would keep away potential switchers hoping to use their current keyboard/mouse/monitor combo. Perhaps a MiniDP-to-DVI adapter tossed in for free?

Firewire might indeed be left off, as in the new MacBook. That might tick off the digital camcorder and pro audio crowd. But quite a few cam users are getting HD-or-Flash based video cameras nowadays, and pro audio enthusiasts are better off with an iMac or Mac Pro so they can run more softsynths and audio effects. I dabble in electronic music myself, and for this particular reason I chose my iMac over the mini.

Optical drive? Sure, leave it off. This would be a very smart move, in fact. Removing the internal optical drive would allow room for higher-capacity 3.5" hard drives. All Apple would have to do is allow the MacBook Air's Superdrive to be compatible with the new mini, for those who need to install applications from DVDs.

EDIT: I see that dal20402 and Warbrain were thinking along the same lines.

[Michael CM1]

Originally Posted by dXTC

Optical drive? Sure, leave it off. This would be a very smart move, in fact. Removing the internal optical drive would allow room for higher-capacity 3.5" hard drives. All Apple would have to do is allow the MacBook Air's Superdrive to be compatible with the new mini, for those who need to install applications from DVDs.

I know people are going to throw the removal of the floppy at me, but WHAT IS THE OBSESSION WITH KILLING OPTICAL DRIVES? I get it (kinda) on the MacBook Air, but otherwise it is the dumbest frickin' idea on the planet. Nobody, and I mean nobody, is going to pay $500 for a desktop without an optical drive.

I know there is a fantasy world that some people live in where optical drives are useless. I can only assume that they don't know how much more likely hard drives are to fail than optical discs. I'm not smart to not have a DVD backup of all of my iTunes songs because a power surge or something could easily kill my internal and networked HDDs.

Let me also point out that you can't buy most software via download. You can do tax programs and this and that online, but OS X, iLife, Creative Suite, etc. are disc-only. Why would people pay an extra $100 to have such a basic function? Way more people buy a Mac Mini as a solo computer compared to the MBA. Therefore, none of that network install.

I would lay money that you'll see a Mac desktop with Blu-ray before you see one sold without any optical drive.

[NT1440]

its because optical is dead in less than or equal to 5 years. Assuming this country gets its crap together and improves its laughable connectivity.

[sighlent]

Originally Posted by MvdM

And also a mini with a mini display port, which can not directly be connected to your current display.
And also a mini with no firewire.
I wouldn't be surprised if it also lacks an optical drive and replaces the Apple TV.

there are minidisplay port to dvi and vga adapters homeslice. you just can't use a monitor (LED Cinema Display) with an older computer without displayport.

[tr0jan]

new mini with nvidia chip would be great for my home theatre (watching full hd)

but without a dp-hdmi adapter i cant connect the mini to my TV.. so im happy to have an old one


btw this would be nice:


with magsafe..

[zorinlynx]

Originally Posted by tr0jan

new mini with nvidia chip would be great for my home theatre (watching full hd)

but without a dp-hdmi adapter i cant connect the mini to my TV.. so im happy to have an old one


btw this would be nice:


with magsafe..

Magsafe is a bad idea on the Mini.

On a laptop, you have the battery, so if it gets unplugged by mistake it's no big deal; just plug it back in and keep computing.

On a desktop like the Mini, no battery. Unplug it by mistake and... darkness and possible lost data.

So yeah, no Magsafe please on anything that's not a laptop.