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2011 Mac Mini - Speculation

I suspect that the iMac and Mac Mini will receive an upgrade in April, some time soon after the iPad 2 ships (which should also be around the same time as the new Final Cut Studio).

Based on the leaked info though about the 13" Macbook Pro, I really do not think I can buy a Mini with Intel graphics in it.
 
The new MBP 13" specs, that are probably very close if not exactly what the next mini specs will be, kind of put me in a weird place. I don't want to go with another dual core machine, and especially one with that awful Intel HD 3000 integrated video. On the other hand, I hate paying the $250-300 premium for the monitor built into the iMac.

I'm really hoping that they announce the Mac mini before the sandy bridge motherboard fiasco takes care of itself. Sitting on a five year old MacBook Pro here, and the speed (or lack thereof) is really starting to get to me.

Crossing my fingers for a BTO option of i5 quad.
 
Is the Intel HD3000 video really that bad? I'm kind of waiting on picking up a Mini hoping that updated cpu will come soon.. Really don't intend to do any gaming on the thing. Would day to day tasks, photo editing, some video editing be affected by a lesser gpu?
 
profets said:
Is the Intel HD3000 video really that bad? I'm kind of waiting on picking up a Mini hoping that updated cpu will come soon.. Really don't intend to do any gaming on the thing. Would day to day tasks, photo editing, some video editing be affected by a lesser gpu?
Click to expand...

Actually, the HD 3000 is about the same speed as the 320M, depending on whose benchmark you read one or the other comes out ahead.
See http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-3000.37948.0.html for one.

The problem with HD 3000 is it has no CUDA support. For graphics it's just fine, but it does not support using the GPU as a coprocessor.
 
spinkham said:
Actually, the HD 3000 is about the same speed as the 320M, depending on whose benchmark you read one or the other comes out ahead.
See http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-3000.37948.0.html for one.

The problem with HD 3000 is it has no CUDA support. For graphics it's just fine, but it does not support using the GPU as a coprocessor.
Click to expand...

Ahhh, I see. That means that OpenCL is a no go with HD3000 then? Would Apple make use of these in Mini or MBP if its not going to support OpenCL?

Sorry for the questions, but I guess since 10.6 they've supported OpenCL for the 320M?
 
profets said:
Ahhh, I see. That means that OpenCL is a no go with HD3000 then? Would Apple make use of these in Mini or MBP if its not going to support OpenCL?

Sorry for the questions, but I guess since 10.6 they've supported OpenCL for the 320M?
Click to expand...

Right, sorry.
CUDA is the proprietary programming interface for Nvidia GPUs.
OpenCL is the open standard used by Apple.
As an aside, AMD uses OpenCL cross-platform as their primary interface, while Nvidia kinda supports OpenCL but still mostly pushes CUDA for their cards on non-Apple platforms.

After a bit more research, HD 3000 and all other Intel GPUs have no public OpenCL support at the moment. There is some indication Intel has been working on it, but no official word. It is entirely possible that Apple will get support first, as there's no reason that the hardware is incompatible with OpenCL. Who knows.

http://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/showthread.php?t=79766&o=a&s=lr
 
profets said:
Ahhh, I see. That means that OpenCL is a no go with HD3000 then? Would Apple make use of these in Mini or MBP if its not going to support OpenCL?
Click to expand...
They could support OpenCL in the CPU, which would be asinine (the whole point of OpenCL is to move processing *off* the CPU). But it would provide a backstop of compatibility for the apps that might actually support OpenCL (whenever that actually happens).
 
Today is the day we officially find out the guts of the new MBP.

Hopefully the mini is next.
 
Hopefully the 2011 Mini gets a Core i5, before moving to a quadcore in 2012 or 2013. I think I may wait for a Mini with a quadcore but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
 
So.. dual core i5 with Intel HD3000. Is that likely in a Mini? Maybe the mini display port will be updated to TB/DP? Have to wait and see I guess..
 
Well, there it is. If the MBP to Mini happens, we'll have a Intel Sandy Bridge i5 2.4ghz, AMD Radeon HD 6000M, 4gb of ram and the same 320gb HD.

If that's indeed the new mini, I'm in.
 
profets said:
So.. dual core i5 with Intel HD3000. Is that likely in a Mini? Maybe the mini display port will be updated to TB/DP? Have to wait and see I guess..
Click to expand...

Not sure about the processor and graphics, but I do reckon the MDP would be updated to be a Thunderbolt/MDP port. I wonder whether they'll replace the HDMI connector with another Thunderbolt port. I'd like them to keep it as a HDMI port, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Probably not on the 2011 release, but perhaps at the next redesign they'll go back to one connector for displays but make the thunderbolt port capable of working with multiple displays like it can on the new 15" and 17" MBPs.
 
As someone fairly new to macs, how far in advance to we actually hear about refreshes?

At this point I'm really tempted to buy a MBP because I wouldn't mind having a laptop and I think the price is very reasonable for the specs. But I think I'd feel a little bummed if the Mini released with those same specs which is what I really wanted.
 
I have just noticed that the Mac Mini prices have dropped in the UK, Does this mean that there is going to be an update soon?
 
xheathen said:
Well, there it is. If the MBP to Mini happens, we'll have a Intel Sandy Bridge i5 2.4ghz, AMD Radeon HD 6000M, 4gb of ram and the same 320gb HD.

If that's indeed the new mini, I'm in.
Click to expand...

Hopefully we will be able to select the i5 or i7 processor along with the HardDrive size. I am willing to pay a little extra to get a more updated mini that might last me a little bit longer.

Also I hope they do not change the design since I would plan to upgrade the RAM myself and it looks pretty easy to do in the 2010 models.
 
mdgm said:
Not sure about the processor and graphics, but I do reckon the MDP would be updated to be a Thunderbolt/MDP port. I wonder whether they'll replace the HDMI connector with another Thunderbolt port. I'd like them to keep it as a HDMI port, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Click to expand...

A mini with the Thunderbolt connection to a media disk array would be all kinds of awesome! :cool:

No reason to lose the HDMI port, IMO. Though I'm sure the "breakout box" connectors from Thunderbolt to HDMI won't be far behind.
 
I think you're right that the next revision will be similar to the MBP 13". I don't think we'll see quad core minis until 2012. By then I think we'll see 6 core iMacs.

Gakusei said:
The new MBP 13" specs, that are probably very close if not exactly what the next mini specs will be, kind of put me in a weird place. I don't want to go with another dual core machine, and especially one with that awful Intel HD 3000 integrated video. On the other hand, I hate paying the $250-300 premium for the monitor built into the iMac.

I'm really hoping that they announce the Mac mini before the sandy bridge motherboard fiasco takes care of itself. Sitting on a five year old MacBook Pro here, and the speed (or lack thereof) is really starting to get to me.

Crossing my fingers for a BTO option of i5 quad.
Click to expand...
 
It's only natural that the new processors will work their way into the mini sooner or later. There's nothing preventing them for doing so.
 
How about GUI acceleration and h.264 decoding with the Intel HD3000? If the Mini got that one, would it still be as nice as a mediacenter hooked up to a TV? (Which is my plan! ;))
 
Wongers said:
I have just noticed that the Mac Mini prices have dropped in the UK, Does this mean that there is going to be an update soon?
Click to expand...

The prices have not changed on the Apple store. :confused: Where are you seeing this price drop?
 
Argh, wish we knew at least when they were gonna announce something.

I am ready to go out there and get a mac mini but will be very peed off if they release a new one right after so I better wait.

I hate waiting!
 
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