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Apple Developing 'Mac Studio,' Described as a Mac Mini and Mac Pro Hybrid

Pfft...

Quad M1 Ultra SoCs, 1TB RAM, & 16TB SSD in a new Cube, with built-in 8K high-refresh rate digital video projector (all for US$10k) or forget about it altogether...! ;^p
 
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SpotOnT said:
Sounds good to me. There is currently a huge gap in their desktop lineup between the $1k Intel Mac Mini and the $6k Mac Pro.

I also kind of wonder if the M1 Max could even fit into a slimmed down Mac Mini without significant thermal throttling.
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If it fits in a MacBook Pro I’m sure there’s no problem. The Mac mini actually has a big heat sink, really nice active cooling and a power supply much more powerful than needed.
 
Boil said:
Rumors are there may well be a final refresh for the 2019 Mac Pro:
  • New motherboard (because new Xeon demands new socket)
  • Ice Lake Xeon CPUs
  • Faster RAM (3200MT/s...?)
  • W7000-series (aka RDNA3) MPX GPUs
  • PCIe Gen5 expansion slots
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no gen-5 Xeon yet
but for mini mac pro need apple cpu
add apple disk slots
dual 10-gig-e
MAYBE SFP+
base ram 16-32 up to max of 128-256?
2-3 TB channels over 4-6 ports
USB A ports
HDMI and DP ports
nice to have an m.2 slot but apple being apple they will want to use apple disk slots at X2-X4 the price.
 
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Kuckuckstein said:
My feeling is that they might keep the Pro model for Intel / major graphics card compatibility, and introduce a new model to have it Apple silicon only.

Performance wise they can probably do something that easily matches grown up desktops in a much smaller package. But not everybody may be ready / not all use cases might be supported (e.g. support for tons of monitors)
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I don't really think Apple would do that. That would definitely stall Apple Silicon native app transitions and keep forcing us to use Rosetta for all the more demanding apps out there. I am already disappointed with the speed of Apple Silicon native apps and having some Intel models around would not help speed it up.
 
Unregistered 4U said:
Well, they would certainly add more I/O as the MBP only has 3 USB-C type ports and if they only cater to memory options not available in the MBP (start at 64 and go to 128?) and higher end storage options, then that’d be surely more expensive.
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Isn't the IO determined by the SoC? So using the same M1 Max as the laptops, the same IO will apply wouldn't it?
 
Something I think I would like to see is an OS level Master/Parent Slave/Child. Why can’t I daisy chain two or more Mac Minis and the OS could just treat them like one machine. Would even be nice if it would work for the old Intel Mac mini’s and the new M* series units.
 
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This is sooooo overdue. Speaking as a graphic designer, the $7000 entry price is way beyond reason for 2D needs; the Mini is too limited to rely on for every application; and many Cintiq users prefer not to be permanently wed to an iMac screen. This has been a giant hole Apple's lineup for quite a while. Most have either opted for a tricked out iMac or a MPB, but each have their drawbacks. I suspect many likeminded professionals will be extremely happy for a third option.
 
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teejaysplace24 said:
This is sooooo overdue. Speaking as a graphic designer, the $7000 entry price is way beyond reason for 2D needs; the Mini is too limited to rely on for every application; and many Cintiq users prefer not to be permanently wed to an iMac screen. This has been a giant hole Apple's lineup for quite a while. Most have either opted for a tricked out iMac or a MPB, but each have their drawbacks. I suspect many likeminded professionals will be extremely happy for a third option.
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Sounds like a M1 Pro/Max Mac mini might work, unless you need the extra cores & RAM a multi-SoC solution would provide...?
 
honestly, if apple was smart and i know they're making the same mistake they did with the trash can...

They would do the one thing that would convince any demand for the current macpro off...

Make official...PCIX 4.0/5.0 EXTERNAL enclosure with a special connection to that mac studio (potentially pci based, maybe new thunderbolt 5)

they won't do it and that mac studio won't catch on.
 
Perhaps this Mac Studio is replacing the 2018 Intel Mac mini that they still sell.

Would be interesting to see if Apple still sell a full size SoC Mac Pro but with PCIe slots. I guess it would end up being even more of a vanity project than the current one since the performance probably wouldn’t be a selling point, but expandability at an eye watering price.
 
SpotOnT said:
Sounds good to me. There is currently a huge gap in their desktop lineup between the $1k Intel Mac Mini and the $6k Mac Pro.

I also kind of wonder if the M1 Max could even fit into a slimmed down Mac Mini without significant thermal throttling.
Click to expand...

Current Intel CPU in the mini has a TDP of 65W and tops out at 115W… which is about the same as the M Max.
 
Unregistered 4U said:
The vast majority of Apple’s customers aren’t interested in a desktop of ANY kind, though… 80%+ of Mac buyers are buying mobile systems. And, of those that want desktop systems, the vast majority actually prefer the iMac line. There’s probably a single digit percentage of anything that’s not mobile and not an iMac being sold.
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If that were the case the Mac Pro and Mac Mini wouldn’t have existed through several iterations spanning several years now, this new Mac could fill a hole and boost those desktop sales.
 
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alexe said:
Now that sounds interesting, especially the part with the 7K display. Although when I hear 7K, I hear "it's gonna cost you", and we really don't need another Pro Display XDR for 6000 dollars.
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You don’t, I don’t, but some people do. There are a lot of professional monitors that cost more than $6,000. Not every product is designed for every user.
 
Pezimak said:
If that were the case the Mac Pro and Mac Mini wouldn’t have existed through several iterations spanning several years now, this new Mac could fill a hole and boost those desktop sales.
Click to expand...

One could argue that the low-single-digit percentage of sales the Pro and mini account for is one of the reasons Apple takes so long to update them as they want to milk each generation for as long as they can to improve RoI. (The other being Intel's extended release cycles for the B-Series CPUs used in the mini and the Xeons in the Pro as they tend to be updated every other Generation.)
 
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LonestarOne said:
You don’t, I don’t, but some people do. There are a lot of professional monitors that cost more than $6,000. Not every product is designed for every user.
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Yeah, but the current offering is a minimum US$5.2k unless you plan to lean it against the wall...

A more reasonably priced display, like Apple offered in the (distant) past, would be more appealing to the masses...
 
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