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News Mac Mini in late july

When do you think the new Mac Mini will be released?

  • Within a few weeks

    Votes: 8 5.4%

  • In late july (together with OS X 10.8)

    Votes: 80 54.4%

  • In August

    Votes: 14 9.5%

  • Later this year

    Votes: 30 20.4%

  • 2013

    Votes: 15 10.2%
  • Total voters
    147
Poki

Poki

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Mar 21, 2012
1,318
903
So, it seems like last year. No new Mini at WWDC, and a OS X update sheduled for late july. Who else thinks it will be updated together with the iMac the same tuesday OS X Mountain Lion gets released? Or what do you think?

One question: If you buy a Mac now, you can download OS X 10.8 and also install it on your other Macs for free. Is there any way to get 10.8 for free when buying a Mac which already comes with it pre-installed?
 
Last edited:
Yep the 2012 Mini will be released by mid-end July. Ivy Bridge, Intel HD 4000 graphics and USB 3.0. The one question is if the high end version will offer an Nvidia GPU. I am guessing/hoping yes.
 
Really hope this, I was thinking about buy a mini 2011 refurb.
But Ill wait a bit longer, my actual desktop is near from its death.
 
belltree said:
The one question is if the high end version will offer an Nvidia GPU. I am guessing/hoping yes.
Click to expand...

I guess the high end model will have this cool 35W 2,1 GHz Quad-Core CPU and a NVidia GeForce GT 640M (LE), as these compnents fit perfectly in the thermal design of the current Mac Mini.
 
belltree said:
Yep the 2012 Mini will be released by mid-end July. Ivy Bridge, Intel HD 4000 graphics and USB 3.0. The one question is if the high end version will offer an Nvidia GPU. I am guessing/hoping yes.
Click to expand...

I didn't remember when Apple put NVidia Graphics chipset in your products, but did now in new Macbook Pro 15". Apple always has used HD Radeon Family. Then, we can hope NVidia in Mac Mini too.

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Poki said:
I guess the high end model will have this cool 35W 2,1 GHz Quad-Core CPU and a NVidia GeForce GT 640M (LE), as these compnents fit perfectly in the thermal design of the current Mac Mini.
Click to expand...

If they want put top-end GPU (i doubt that Apple do this) i dont care in put a external cooler or any device to acomplish thermal condition for equipment. Its better than buy a PC CPU in a "Big Box".
 
The best mini ever

Poki said:
I guess the high end model will have this cool 35W 2,1 GHz Quad-Core CPU and a NVidia GeForce GT 640M (LE), as these compnents fit perfectly in the thermal design of the current Mac Mini.
Click to expand...

If this happens, I will by my first mac mini. And I think it will. Apple obviously does not update the mac pro this year. They focus all the resources on the consumer lines. This will give as the best mini ever in less then two months.

Whooohoo !!
 
marcelmfa said:
I didn't remember when Apple put NVidia Graphics chipset in your products, but did now in new Macbook Pro 15". Apple always has used HD Radeon Family. Then, we can hope NVidia in Mac Mini too.

Actually this is false. Apple goes through stages using AMD for awhile and then NVidia and then back.
Click to expand...
 
Actually this is false. Apple goes through stages using AMD for awhile and then NVidia and then back.
Click to expand...

Exactly. My 2009 MacBook Pro uses two NVidia Chips, and Apple used the GeForce 9400M, GT 120M and GT 320/330M in quite a bunch of their products. Last year, AMD had the better chips, that's why Apple put them inside all of their Macs. This year, AMD simply can't compete anywhere with NVidia, so they'll put NVidia chips inside all Macs again.

(Note: This doesn't include the Mac Pro, as AMD currently supports better support for professional software and codecs, but as it seems this thing won't be updated, this doesn't matter anyways.)
 
The Mac mini I purchased in Dec 2012 had an AMD Radeon Graphics card.
Model Name: Mac mini
Model Identifier: Macmini5,2
Processor Name: Intel Core i7
Processor Speed: 2.7 GHz
Graphics AMD Radeon HD 6630M 256 MB
Number of Processors: 1
Total Number of Cores: 2
L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB
L3 Cache: 4 MB
Memory: 4 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
Boot ROM Version: MM51.0077.B10
SMC Version (system): 1.75f0

I believe they were fitting all of the mini's with "mid-performance" Radeon 6600 series graphics cards. I could be mistaken. I read it somewhere after researching why my mini wouldn't push frame rates in Flight Sim 2004, an 8-year old game!
 
macanaw said:
I believe they were fitting all of the mini's with "mid-performance" Radeon 6600 series graphics cards.
Click to expand...

Why should they? This makes absolutely no sense. The 6000 series is a year old, and now not even close to perfect when it comes to performance per watt. They could use 76xx chips, but what's the point? These are hardly faster than the Intel HD4000, use more power and are more expensive than a faster GeForce GT 640M. Apple ain't that stupid. They know what's best for them (and after all, also for the user).

I like AMD, I'm just saying they can't compete with NVidia this year. Next year, we may see a different story.
 
Poki said:
Why should they? This makes absolutely no sense. The 6000 series is a year old, and now not even close to perfect when it comes to performance per watt. They could use 76xx chips, but what's the point? These are hardly faster than the Intel HD4000, use more power and are more expensive than a faster GeForce GT 640M. Apple ain't that stupid. They know what's best for them (and after all, also for the user).

I like AMD, I'm just saying they can't compete with NVidia this year. Next year, we may see a different story.
Click to expand...

Does anyone actually know what the TDP of the current 6630M used in the Mac Mini? I was always under the impression it was around 11 watts, but even using the 640MLE, you are still looking at a TDP of 20 watts which is a lot more heat. Maybe my understanding of the TDP of the 6630M is wrong...
 
paulrbeers said:
Does anyone actually know what the TDP of the current 6630M used in the Mac Mini? I was always under the impression it was around 11 watts, but even using the 640MLE, you are still looking at a TDP of 20 watts which is a lot more heat. Maybe my understanding of the TDP of the 6630M is wrong...
Click to expand...

Well, the 6630M has 13 watt using DDR3 memory, and 17W using GDDR5 memory. The 640M LE has, as far as I know, 18W TDP using GDDR5 memory, so it should be possible.

And don't forget they could get some more power by using an SSD (probably 2-3 watt) or just a little stronger power plug (should be possible in 2012, shouldn't it?).

I just think that the 640M is the only possible graphic chip that makes sense. It has to be at least 30% faster than the HD4000 or the 6630M to be an advantage, and there's no other solution for this right now.
 
I talked now with customer service in online chat of apple store, but he said that there isnt information about hardware upgrade for mac mini (it was obvious answer, but didnt cost try :wink:), but i was more interested if there was any guarantee or way of exchange my mac mini recently bought in mac mini that can appear in launch of Mountain Lion and the answer was: NO. Only free upgrade to Mountain Lion.
 
marcelmfa said:
I talked now with customer service in online chat of apple store, but he said that there isnt information about hardware upgrade for mac mini (it was obvious answer, but didnt cost try :wink:), but i was more interested if there was any guarantee or way of exchange my mac mini recently bought in mac mini that can appear in launch of Mountain Lion and the answer was: NO. Only free upgrade to Mountain Lion.
Click to expand...

If something happens within thirty days, you can always use the thirty days exchange thing apple has.
 
marcelmfa said:
I talked now with customer service in online chat of apple store, but he said that there isnt information about hardware upgrade for mac mini (it was obvious answer, but didnt cost try :wink:), but i was more interested if there was any guarantee or way of exchange my mac mini recently bought in mac mini that can appear in launch of Mountain Lion and the answer was: NO. Only free upgrade to Mountain Lion.
Click to expand...

Of course they don't. Imagine how many Macs they'd have to take back if they would ... With Macs it's relatively simple - you can guess pretty accurate when they get updated. I'm more afraid of a Thunderbolt Display update after I buy one, but well, with Thunderbolt you can at least always add a second one. ;)
 
Apple... said:
What could we expect in a new Mini?
Click to expand...
Planning on building a VMware ESXi farm with a Mac Mini, as it's a good choice in terms of power consumption and I've also seen talks about succesfully running OSX Lion VMs on the current model. In that context, I'm expecting USB 3.0 (Thunderbolt is still too pricey) for storing slow data externally and 16GB RAM out-of-the-box. Not really interested in dedicated graphics for this type of use, but HD4000 seems to be already much better than HD3000.
 
Late 2012 Mini

If what I've heard is correct, the new Mini will have an upgraded AMD Radeon GPU. What I want to know is....Will IT get the upgrade to USB 3 like the other units sporting the mobile processors along with an additional Thunderbolt port? I have a late 2009 model and have thus far managed to resist the urge to buy an aluminum Mini. Hopefully, this year will change all that.

----------

Calagan, don't waste your money on the extra RAM. You can get it for WAY less from Newegg or OWC and installing it is simple.
 
retrolutionary said:
Will IT get the upgrade to USB 3 like the other units sporting the mobile processors along with an additional Thunderbolt port?
Click to expand...
I would be really, really surprised if Apple didn't put USB 3 on the new Mini. The new CPUs support USB 3 so they would have to go out of their way not to put that on the new computers.

As for the additional Thunderbolt port... that's a toss-up. Apple may not want to leech sales from the Mac Pro with its dual Thunder... oh wait... :rolleyes:
 
retrolutionary said:
If what I've heard is correct, the new Mini will have an upgraded AMD Radeon GPU. What I want to know is....Will IT get the upgrade to USB 3 like the other units sporting the mobile processors along with an additional Thunderbolt port? I have a late 2009 model and have thus far managed to resist the urge to buy an aluminum Mini. Hopefully, this year will change all that.

----------

Calagan, don't waste your money on the extra RAM. You can get it for WAY less from Newegg or OWC and installing it is simple.
Click to expand...

Why would it have AMD instead of Nvidia like the new macbook pro's?
 
I am hoping july. I really would like an upgraded mini. I have no desire to introduce a imac to the mix as I dont have close to enough room.
 
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