Apple CEO Tim Cook: Mac Mini Will Be 'Important Part' of Future Product Lineup

[NickTuesday]

Apple is struggling to find further ways to cripple the Mini. That's the hold up. What else can they take away or make inconvenient?

 

[kingtj]

As long as everything's taking? Apple could simply rename the existing Mac Pro trash-can as the new Mini, drop the price, and be done with it!

But seriously? I have a suspicion the new Mac Mini is going to double as the "base" portion of a modular, configure as you like it, Mac Pro tower -- and that's why we're seeing this long delay in what should otherwise be an easy/quick thing to refresh.

probably going to reuse the Mac Pro trash can but shrunk slightly

 

[lordofthereef]

I’ll wait to get excited until they give me a price and specs. If it’s cost effective, can output in 4K, I might replace my home theater pc with one.

 

[kyykesko]

Nice to see they at least consider the mini still, but the only mac I'm interested in is a real macbook pro. It seems they got at least something right with the coming iMac Pro, now I'd like to see a Macbook pro with enough ports, big enough battery to live through the day even if you don't just idle all the time and a keyboard that doesn't make strange noises or have sticky keys. Not that I expect that to happen in the next decade or so. At least there's the Surface Book 2 as an option.

 

[esk]

I'm absolutely sure apple will find a way to brick the mac mini.

 

[Peperino]

I don’t know if he's lying our not, but he sure is out of touch with his customers. Making profits is at a higher priority for him than satisfying needs. That’s my observation.

The only thing Cook cares is about making money. That is why Apple turned all resources into the iPhone which brings over 65%+ of Apple revenues. all the computer line up start looking outdated and like a joke..

Mac Pro, Macbook pro, iMac, etc. Although internals have been updated, no major re-design has been done.

Innovation is certainly dead....

 

[mr.steevo]

This guy got lucky to get a response. Several of my colleagues have tried several times to no avail. Maybe the new Mac mini is coming? ...

Most certainly
[doublepost=1508449124][/doublepost]

I'm starting to think the new Mini will be pocket-sized, fan-less, and run on ARM. It's 'important' because it will be first to test market reaction to OS X on ARM.

That's also why there's been no update in going on 4 years. Make users desperate enough to give the ARM Mini a fair shot, and allow the A-series chips to become so much faster than the old Mini that the ARM model can boast a big performance advantage.

I think (don’t quote me) last year I suggested the Mini was going to be a thumb drive.

 

[Wowereit]

You need an understanding of the PC industry in general right now to understand why Apple isn't releasing new machines in the way they use to.

The entire industry has seen a big slowdown in sales. There are less and less desktops and laptops being sold. Because of this, it doesn't make financial sense to invest heavily in releasing a steady stream of new machines as they've all done in the past. They'd be wasting their money trying to capture buyers from a smaller and smaller market. You don't invest where the market is drying up.

Instead, they've put their resources where the money and sales growth is. Smartphones and even tablets.

There's a reason Apple is the richest company in the world and you're not a CEO. They understand where to invest their resources for the best return.

While you are right, one of Apple's key strengths is delivering a complete ecosystem.

Developing a new Mac mini isn't that resource intensive either.
It's not an ultra-thin notebook or smartphone, where you have to over-engineer and miniaturize everything to the max.
They already have a working Mac mini which just needs new board designs for processor updates and some new IO.
To prevent ****** performance from damaging the brand name, kick out the HDD-only base model and replace it with a fusion drive. Additionally it should start with 8 GB of RAM like all other modern Macs.

 

[Appleaker]

Because the Mac mini will be updated after three years?

Way to aim high with those expectations.

No. What makes you think I would say that because 1 Mac is being refreshed (although personally I do think that is exciting in the context of the Mac mini). As i've said numerous times, there will be significant upgrades across the lineup, some more exciting than others.

 

[SSDGUY]

Designers aren't the intended audience for the Mac mini. Many may us it for such but it's certainly not at all who Apple is targeting with that product.

Just look at the Mac mini page on the Apple site if you want to see who it's targeted at. There's nothing about it being great for graphic design, etc. Instead they simply make it clear it's for those that want a simple desktop computer. The general consumer. And that's who buy the most of them, and still are buying them. They clearly don't care that it hasn't been updated in a while and doesn't offer current specs. That's not what the people looking to buy these things care about.

"Mac mini is an affordable powerhouse" (Mac Mini page at Apple.com)

"Powerhouse" doesn't exactly make me think social media or reading news sites. So who's this "they" you speak of? I see plenty of folks on Macrumors (and I know a few in my area) who like the form factor but DO care that they're not at current/expected specs. Let's be honest, any computer that has not seen any refresh in 3+ years is very outdated. Obviously Apple doesn't much care about this in regards to the Macmini or MacPro. They're selling enough laptops and phones, so why bother with keeping all their products up to a reasonable spec level?

 

[mazz0]

They could use the current Mac Pro design for it. Still pretty mini, but let’s it be quite powerful.

 

[QCassidy352]

Given how little the Intel Chips have changed, save for graphics, there hasn't been a need to update. Hopefully, the fall refresh will be the impetus for an updated mini, with USB-C/Thunderbolt3, but without removing the HDMI port, to make thing easy for the BYODKM machine.

Disagree. First, the chips have come pretty far. Second, "save for the graphics" is a pretty big exception, as the changes in graphics have been massive (the 2014 can't even drive 4K @60 hz). Third, as you note yourself, how about ports? Fourth, how about upgraded base storage, and faster BTO storage options?

By your logic, they might as well have not upgraded the MBP since then, either (2014 13" also had dual core haswell chips)... and yet they've done so, three times.

 

[dilbert99]

I thought important meant something else if it were important, there would not be a 3+ year gap.

 

[Appleaker]

No what I believe is that they will update it, then we'll have to guess again when the next update is to take place, will it be 3 years again, or because it is so important will be 5 years to the next update, or will they wait 4 years to tell us that was the end of the line. There is absolutely no way to know if Apple's lack of attention is because the product is dead, if Apple is just being lazy, or if Apple does not care.

A combination of Apple being lazy and Apple not caring, due to sales and the fact they could milk the Mac mini sales (which is a nasty habit that's grown under Tim Cook), and a load of other things. A major reason that very few people seem to consider is the scheduling with the rest of the product line. Turning their attention to the Mac this way, where they are now focused on getting the products to market does suggest more organisation regarding the lineup. Whether that will remain or not is yet to be seen and somewhat dependant on demand.

 

[HippyRabbitFish]

“The Mac Mini is very important to us. We need to have at least one product that’s not been updated for three years in our lineup.”

These all come to mind:

• Mac Pro
• AirPort Extreme
• AirPort Express
• AirPort Time Capsule

If the new Apple thinks the mini is a mix of consumer with some pro use then that speaks volumes about what Apple considers pro... there is nothing pro about the mini.

How many Mac Mini server farms are out there? Hmm?

I was just playing with the Apple configurator for the Mac Mini: with i7, 16 RAM and SSD. I know it's older generation intel but how bad would that Mac be? Sounds like it would be reasonably capable?

Depends on what you're trying to do with it. That i7 is dual-core only. I'd take 2012 i7 mini over a "maxed out" 2014 mini every day of the week.

 

[citysnaps]

Yes, based on Apple's current design trend, I can imagine what the new Mac mini will look like -- "PRO" badge, half-inch thick, Xeon 1.4 GHz processor, 8gb RAM (not upgradable), 128gb SSD (not upgradable), two USB-C ports, case welded shut, and only $5,000.

Astonished you really believe that.

 

[Appleaker]

I swear you all are quite easy to make happy. The Mac Mini is not a complex product. Any normal computer company would have refreshed it 2-3 times since it was last updated. Tim makes a "just trust us" comment and everyone is ready to go "see, they do care". Tim actually talked to a customer... wow... really??? So if they update it, how long will it be before its updated again... 5 years???

Given Apple's current direction, I wouldn't' be shocked if they produces a Mac Mini that only ran iOS.

Who said I am made happy by this? I knew that a "new Mac mini is almost certainly coming". The reason I am happy is because it is official confirmation to those who were saying they have ditched the Mac mini. I have already talked about the update situation in previous posts but I won't talk about it again. No, it won't be 5 years before it's updated again.

 

[theanimala]

Still happy with my late 2012 Mini. Unlike the last update I was able to upgrade mine to 16GB of Ram, a 1TB SSD and a 2TB HD inside. You can bet that the next one will have no ability to upgrade.

 

[teejaysplace24]

I think Apple should jettison both the Mini and Pro and create a single, scalable desktop solution. The last Mac Pro could have been that, but it was too expensive, too self-contained, and not upgradable. I know the Mini has its fans, but I can't imagine there is a significant market for them and, with the right upgrade to the Pro, that market could be even smaller. Apple should pick one thing and just do it right instead of offering consumers so many half measures.

 

[HippyRabbitFish]

Having purchased my first Raspberry Pi 3 recently, a whimsical thought passed through my head regarding the mini/nano/mini Pro/Pro mini:

I wonder if Apple would ever consider going back to the days of Woz and issue some form of low-cost product for homebrew enthusiasts. I like the idea of an "Apple Pi" over a Raspberry Pi.

I could see an Apple logic board with an Axx SoC, soldered RAM and an SD card slot with a variety of ports that runs Darwin and some variant of iOS/macOS that enables us to invent our own uses for it so Apple could then latch onto the best ideas and make them better.

It would never happen. But a dreamer can dream, can't I? "Blame it on my ADD, baby."

 

[teejaysplace24]

As long as everything's taking? Apple could simply rename the existing Mac Pro trash-can as the new Mini, drop the price, and be done with it!

But seriously? I have a suspicion the new Mac Mini is going to double as the "base" portion of a modular, configure as you like it, Mac Pro tower -- and that's why we're seeing this long delay in what should otherwise be an easy/quick thing to refresh.

Exactly what I was thinking. (See above.) Kill two birds with one stone and then you can steer consumers to one destination, with a clear upgrade path. Apple's product portfolio has become frustratingly unwieldy.

 

[Haswell]

How far into the future is the big question.

I am sick of waiting on Apple to release a new Mac Mini. So I am just going to make a hackintosh and be done with it. I was able to save about $150 by going with Skylake over Kaby Lake. Since there's really isn't much difference. One of the main benefits of building my own system is that I am using a full desktop quad core CPU. Instead of a dual core laptop CPU. I already have an M.2 SATA hard drive and a Corsair RM550x PSU. The PSU will be outside of the case, and it's about the same size as the case; but I already had it and I always use a high quality PSU.

Intel i5-6500
Asus Z170I Pro Gaming
Corsair CMK16GX4M1A2400C16
Noctua NH-L9i
Streacom F1C-WS Case

 

[Tech198]

if Tim reckons the mini "isn't gonna be so mini" in the future, then that must mean it'll get 4K.

They'll have to make room for the extra large fan they'll need.

 

[travelsheep]

I'm scared of Tim Cook. I see a Mac Mini, a sealed box with just 2 USB-C ports coming.

 

[petsounds]

The most surprising part of Tim's email is that he kept referring to "Mac mini" without the definite article "the" before it. Looking at Apple's website, it's sort of a mixed bag. On the MBP page I see many uses of MacBook Pro without the definite article (i.e. "MacBook Pro elevates the notebook..."), but a few that use "the" before it (i.e. "The 15-inch MacBook Pro features..."). It seems that the only time they use "the" is when they're describing a specific model (15-inch). I don't know if this was always the way they referenced Mac products, but it sounds extremely awkward.