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A smaller Mac mini

H

Hexley

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Original poster
Jun 10, 2009
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Late 2020 Mac mini has a volume of ~1.4 liters. If you open it up it's mostly empty air.

Do you think Apple would shrink its volume down to say half? Like to ~0.7 liters or smaller?
 
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Ya know, I wouldn't be upset if they did this. :D

Mini Mini Pro.jpg
 
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Hexley said:
Late 2020 Mac mini has a volume of ~1.4 liters. If you open it up it's mostly empty air.

Do you think Apple would shrink its volume down to say half? Like to ~0.7 liters or smaller?
Click to expand...
Eventually, maybe :)
 
Hexley said:
Though meant in jest I'm sure many rack mounting persons will not like this
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know - lots of people using Mini's in DC's. Heh. Maybe these would stack better if you removed the feet and handle (hell, Apple could have a SKU for that, saving those buying them for DC's $). :)

They could also provide racking that has about a dozen of them side by side :)
 
Abazigal said:
I wonder how feasible it will be to one day shrink the Mac mini down to the size of the current Apple TV.
Click to expand...
I thought a new AS-based egpu or other external accelerator could be in this form factor.

If a new AS Mac Mini retained the current size / shape, a short TB3 in and then out to a monitor would be pretty cool.

Perhaps they could even be daisy-chained.
 
I could see Apple shrinking the mini because of the cooler temperatures of the M series, and especially if they make a smaller version of the Mac Pro which I believe was rumored. And with a redesigned M2 MacBook Air being rumored, and the M1 24” iMac getting a redesign, perhaps there is a redesigned M2 mini right around the corner.
 
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I think this case is good, especially if the future Mac minis get upgraded components.

And what will the guys like Macstadium and Macminicolo do, if Apple changes the size of the case? 😉
 
I sure hope they don't.

Having had to work with Minis from 2010 till now, I rely on the same cuboid shape for integration into our server racks.

We use tons of Minis and our latest round we have over 30 to manage (2020 i7 6 core w/ 10GBe & 64GB RAM & 40TB external TB3 storage).

They are in MDF server racks as caching and user profile storage.
 
Hexley said:
Late 2020 Mac mini has a volume of ~1.4 liters. If you open it up it's mostly empty air.

Do you think Apple would shrink its volume down to say half? Like to ~0.7 liters or smaller?
Click to expand...

It is a bit ironic that as all-consumed as Apple is about product thinness, the Mac Mini has managed to basically remain unchanged from the original design. It's currently slightly shorter that the original, and sans a CD/DVD slot... and the number and types of ports has varied over the years... but the footprint is still pretty much the same as the original.

It's one of those things that are not like the others.
 
dwfaust said:
It is a bit ironic that as all-consumed as Apple is about product thinness, the Mac Mini has managed to basically remain unchanged from the original design. It's currently slightly shorter that the original, and sans a CD/DVD slot... and the number and types of ports has varied over the years... but the footprint is still pretty much the same as the original.

It's one of those things that are not like the others.
Click to expand...
The current design of the Mac mini came out in 2018. Same with the MBA.
 
Hexley said:
The current design of the Mac mini came out in 2018. Same with the MBA.
Click to expand...
The current design came out in 2010. It has changed internally since then, but as this thread is about a smaller Mac Mini, it is useful to note the dimensions and outward features (except for the CD slot that disappeared in 2011, and port changes) have not changed for almost 11 years (it will be 11 years about the time of WWDC), only the colour.
 
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dwfaust said:
It is a bit ironic that as all-consumed as Apple is about product thinness, the Mac Mini has managed to basically remain unchanged from the original design. It's currently slightly shorter that the original, and sans a CD/DVD slot... and the number and types of ports has varied over the years... but the footprint is still pretty much the same as the original.

It's one of those things that are not like the others.
Click to expand...

Hexley said:
The current design of the Mac mini came out in 2018. Same with the MBA.
Click to expand...

Moonjumper said:
The current design came out in 2010. It has changed internally since then, but as this thread is about a smaller Mac Mini, it is useful to note the dimensions and outward features (except for the CD slot that disappeared in 2011, and port changes) have not changed for almost 11 years (it will be 11 years about the time of WWDC), only the colour.
Click to expand...

As you can see from the specs below, the Mini has actually gotten a larger footprint since the original. It has, however, gotten slightly shorter and slightly lighter. I stand by my statement that for all intents and purposes, the size has not changed since the original design, released in January 2005. It MAY eventually get smaller, but don't hold your breath.


ORIGINAL (from Apple's website)
Size and weight
Height: 2 inches (5.08 cm)
Width: 6.5 inches (16.51 cm)
Depth: 6.5 inches (16.51 cm)
Weight: 2.9 pounds (1.32 kg)

CURRENT (from Apple's website)
Size and Weight
Height: 1.4 inches (3.6 cm)
Width: 7.7 inches (19.7 cm)
Depth: 7.7 inches (19.7 cm)
Weight: 2.6 pounds (1.2 kg)

* Source: https://support.apple.com/kb/SP65?locale=en_US
 
dwfaust said:
It is a bit ironic that as all-consumed as Apple is about product thinness, the Mac Mini has managed to basically remain unchanged from the original design. It's currently slightly shorter that the original, and sans a CD/DVD slot... and the number and types of ports has varied over the years... but the footprint is still pretty much the same as the original.

It's one of those things that are not like the others.
Click to expand...
Basically unchanged? No.
 
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If they were to use an external power supply they could make the next Mac Mini case even smaller than the current AppleTV. It could conceivably be shrunk down to a similar size of the Raspberry Pi.

6 months ago I would have said that ain't gonna happen but with the new iMac having an external power brick I would not be surprised. The biggest issue now with size is the I/O, unless you eliminate ports there is going to be a tough time reducing the size of the box. Never underestimate Apple in this regard, imagine a smaller box with just a power jack and a couple TB4 ports...

I am a huge fan of the Intel NUC, I have a couple and they are great computers for what I use them. Their size is based primarily on the ports provided. On my Hades Canyon box, it is a bit larger than the Mini but has many more ports front and back. Even my smaller 4 inch NUC has 2 DP, 6 USB, Ethernet and more in a box much smaller overall than the Mini.

I like the idea of an AppleTV sized case, especially if they can retain the Ethernet, USB-1 and HDMI and get 4 TB4 ports. Without the need for the big cooling vent on the current box I think that is doable.
 
N9JIG said:
If they were to use an external power supply they could make the next Mac Mini case even smaller than the current AppleTV. It could conceivably be shrunk down to a similar size of the Raspberry Pi.

6 months ago I would have said that ain't gonna happen but with the new iMac having an external power brick I would not be surprised. The biggest issue now with size is the I/O, unless you eliminate ports there is going to be a tough time reducing the size of the box. Never underestimate Apple in this regard, imagine a smaller box with just a power jack and a couple TB4 ports...

I am a huge fan of the Intel NUC, I have a couple and they are great computers for what I use them. Their size is based primarily on the ports provided. On my Hades Canyon box, it is a bit larger than the Mini but has many more ports front and back. Even my smaller 4 inch NUC has 2 DP, 6 USB, Ethernet and more in a box much smaller overall than the Mini.

I like the idea of an AppleTV sized case, especially if they can retain the Ethernet, USB-1 and HDMI and get 4 TB4 ports. Without the need for the big cooling vent on the current box I think that is doable.
Click to expand...
I'm sure it's already been said in here but it's believed that co-location guys have a huge say in this low volume product because they put so many orders in themselves. They will want the unit size to remain unchanged, with built in power supplies, so it fits nicely in their data centres with a minimum of mess.

If there ever was to be a redesigned Mac mini they'll be involved.

And if you were to point out that the current case is over engineered for an M1 CPU, don't forget that Apple have full transitioned the mini to ARM yet - I daresay they'll be able to fit an M1X in that case along with an extra Thunderbolt port and maybe an SD slot too.

So power users ought to take an interest in an upper SKU Mac mini if it arrives this year.

The external PSU for the iMac as been said to be over specified for the M1 iMac too - suggesting than an M1X iMac would also have a case too thin for a built in power supply.
 
I agree that the AppleTV-sized Mini is not in the cards, its one of those things that Apple COULD do rather than SHOULD do.

I think what is more likely would be a case that is less deep and/or less tall, one that would still fit the slots at the server farms etc. that use these in bulk but would allow Apple to have a more mini Mini.

I don't know how much larger an M1X or M2 CPU would be than the current M1 but I cannot imagine that its physical size or heat sink requirements would be dramatically larger as to cause space issues in a new machine, even if it were to be a reduced form factor of some type.
 
Mac mini in Apple TV size
With 4gb ram
M1
For $299

would anybody here buy this if it came out tomorrow?
 
N9JIG said:
If they were to use an external power supply they could make the next Mac Mini case even smaller than the current AppleTV. It could conceivably be shrunk down to a similar size of the Raspberry Pi.

6 months ago I would have said that ain't gonna happen but with the new iMac having an external power brick I would not be surprised. The biggest issue now with size is the I/O, unless you eliminate ports there is going to be a tough time reducing the size of the box. Never underestimate Apple in this regard, imagine a smaller box with just a power jack and a couple TB4 ports...

I am a huge fan of the Intel NUC, I have a couple and they are great computers for what I use them. Their size is based primarily on the ports provided. On my Hades Canyon box, it is a bit larger than the Mini but has many more ports front and back. Even my smaller 4 inch NUC has 2 DP, 6 USB, Ethernet and more in a box much smaller overall than the Mini.

I like the idea of an AppleTV sized case, especially if they can retain the Ethernet, USB-1 and HDMI and get 4 TB4 ports. Without the need for the big cooling vent on the current box I think that is doable.
Click to expand...
It makes sense in regards to their environmental policies, if they could have a universal power adapter across a couple of product lines (iMac, Mac mini and MacBook) you could then just sell the power adapter separately or have a add on check mark on the Apple Store. Hoping they don’t change the design of the power supply every two years though!
 
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