Apple Registers Several New Mac Models in Eurasia Ahead of October 30 Event

[jwdsail]

I personally couldn't care less about a new Mac mini, but I'd appreciate them finally upgrading it.

There is a reasonably large niche that desperately wants one and Apple has probably already lost a substantial amount of it.

I think many of us are sitting on our previous gen (pre-2014 upgradable ram/storage) Minis, hoping for at least Quad-core and 32GB (BTO) ram and TB3 (fast ext storage and GPU support) to be available.. at some point? (going back to upgradable ram and storage would be nice, but won't hold my breath)

They're plenty good for what we're using them for, but will begin to die at some point. Just replaced the power supply on the one I have in the entertainment center (again). The mini at the office used for network backups is still humming along nicely.. (knock on wood) Will upgrade both if Apple announces what I've been waiting for... Otherwise, have a hackintosh parts list put together on pcpartpicker that will probably become the entertainment center Mac Mini next year.

 

[td2243]

I'm waiting for a Touch Bar on top of the MacMini.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

Until Tim announces that it's gonna cost $1800
[doublepost=1540376159][/doublepost]I'm just dreading the thought that they're gonna hike the prices on the new iPads.

I'd say that the mini will likely start at $699 (up from $499 for the current entry model), with the most popular configs being $799-$999. It may reach up into the $1200 world when expanded to the max; but I doubt much higher than that. Right now the Mac minis are $499, $699 and $999, respectively.

https://www.apple.com/shop/buy-mac/mac-mini

In fact, they MAY continue to offer one of the "old" Mac minis for awhile to burn off existing stock. And for a LOT of applications, a $350 2014 Mac mini would be more than plenty of computer!

 

[Techwatcher]

I'm waiting for a Touch Bar on top of the MacMini.

You have a dark mind sir.

 

[kissmo]

Nobody else is surprised at the prediction for a bump on the MacBook Pro? They’re like 120 days old! Really?! I mean cool but that one would be a head scratcher.

I am scratching my head. I just posted before that I wanted to buy a MBP 2018 but I am holding back.

To me, such a frequent update on notebooks is a bit scary - especially if they plan to update CPUs.
Although, it could also be possible that they might drop prices a bit on them and then I will be even happier.

However in E. EU lower prices arrive a tad later because.... well re sellers here love making more money trying to push customers to buy older gen HW for the outdated price.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

I will run macOS buddy.

Thief.

 

[Joe The Dragon]

Unlikely, due to the very disparate needs of the Mac mini class CPUs and chipsets that we are most likely to see next Tuesday versus what a potential Mac Pro will end up with when it debuts in 2019.

Chances are we are looking at 28w and/or 45w TDP parts versus 165w TDP with x1 and x2 (330w) CPUs common to the Intel Xeon CPU. The hardest part would be that certain chipsets support certain ports, while others do not and so any CPU module would need to contain DRAM slots, external ports, cooling and power, basically negating your above proposal. Plus, no one looking at a mini wants to pay for Xeon level stuff that would not benefit them.

Apple has not even disclosed what to expect in terms of CPUs for the Mac Pro. Will they continue to use the Intel Xeon W CPU, which is a single CPU solution and ranges from 4-cores all the way up to 18-cores? Or will they move to Intel Xeon Scalable CPUs, which would most likely start at a 10-core single CPU base model, but could support dual CPUs? Will Apple use Xeon Silver, Gold or Platinum or a mix of all of them?

I would much rather see a modular Mac mini, with options specific to it, and a separate modular Mac Pro for the professional user who wants that particular kind of flexibility. Trying to build a one size fits all is bound to compromise too much for all involved.

apple can go amd epyc (and that may just let them have an add an cpu + ram module and an add pci-e module)

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

Not just a downgrade, but they soldered everything inside so the older one was more valuable since you could change the ram and put an SSD inside. I have one with a new fan, ssd, new 16gb ram. Has been working great since I replaced all the insides, before that it was really slow and on the way out. Still can't run basic games at all but it does the job for my mom. I want to see the new one support external gpu, and no soldered parts. But I doubt it.

You'll get your eGPU wish, since it will NO DOUBT be USB-C/TB3-based; but as for "no soldered parts", that ship has sailed, not only for Apple, but a good portion of the rest of the industry.
[doublepost=1540400316][/doublepost]

I hold zero hope for the Mac Mini, I just think they'll make it smaller and remove all the ports beyond x2 USB-C/Thunderbolt 3. The RAM will be 8GB base and it will be a £180 upgrade to 16GB and £360 for 32GB (from base 8GB) - that's going by the current Mac RAM upgrade pricing structure.

Depends if they use DDR4 RAM. It is much more expensive than DDR3.

 

[RumorConsumer]

I am scratching my head. I just posted before that I wanted to buy a MBP 2018 but I am holding back.

To me, such a frequent update on notebooks is a bit scary - especially if they plan to update CPUs.
Although, it could also be possible that they might drop prices a bit on them and then I will be even happier.

However in E. EU lower prices arrive a tad later because.... well re sellers here love making more money trying to push customers to buy older gen HW for the outdated price.

It’s too soon for this. I can’t imagine a reality where they’d drop an update so soon. The last time it was even close to that close I believe was the early 2013 to late 2013.

Update : I stand corrected. Still... we’d be looking at a twice as soon update as the lowest one to date.

 

[Zdigital2015]

apple can go amd epyc (and that may just let them have an add an cpu + ram module and an add pci-e module)

If Apple is going to ditch Intel, then it is going in-house for CPUs and GPUs, not to AMD.

I have a soft place in my heart for AMD, but if Apple wanted to use Ryzen/Epyc, it would have bought them a few years when their stock price was in the tank and acquired everything on the cheap.

Apple is committed to controlling its destiny after years of being held hostage by Motorola (WTF 68060), AIM (PowerBook G5, anyone?) and Intel (Broadwell, Cannon Lake, 14nm+++++++) and I think they want to get back to RISC as well for a variety of reasons.

 

[deeddawg]

Have I missed anything?

#<something>gate

 

[jwdsail]

The Mac Mini, at the very least, needs to be something spectacular, innovative and at a good price point. Methinks that even one out of three is improbable...

I respectfully disagree..

All Apple needs to do, to please the majority of past and potential future Mini buyers, is to take the pre-2014 Mini, add current internals (including decent BTO processor and discrete graphics options), and allow user upgrades of ram and storage.

If the starting price point falls around $999, it'll sell like hotcakes to this group.

I wouldn't be shocked to see a non-upgradable ram/storage "Good" i3 ($799?), "Better" user-upgradable ram/storage i5 with a variety of BTO options, and a "Best" user-upgradable ram/storage i7 with the same BTO options, including i9 and discrete graphics.

Boom, confetti.

I also won't be shocked if Apple gets it all wrong and announces an epoxied together dual-core 16GB ram Mini where the only BTO options are 256GB-2TB SSDs and Space Gray, starting for the low low price of $999.

It is Apple after-all.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

Let's hope the new iMacs look like this:
http://andrewhudsondesign.co.uk/imac-2019.html

Wow! That's a spectacular mock-up!

Nice, Apple-styled "copy", too...

 

[haydn!]

I was thinking that they’d hike prices on every device after they saw it worked just fine with their phones . Start the new entry level laptop at 1500.

To be fair, it started with the 2016 MacBook Pro refresh, not the iPhone X. And they already did iPad when they introduced the standard sized iPad Pro.

 

[jwdsail]

any bets on how much the possible new mac mini will cost? 1799 and up.

The current Mini I'd BTO (if I wanted to ignore the 4 year old internals) would cost ~$1400.

The Hackintosh parts I have in mind for a Mini Hackintosh total around $1300.

If Apple announces a new Mac Mini and I can BTO it the way I want for anywhere close to $1400, I'll buy. I suspect with BTO storage and (hopefully) graphics options, the top price could hit $2799?

 

[case2001]

Of course there will be a new MacBook Air.

I'll be back on here to gloat to all you naysayers. See you next Tuesday!

I would love that...but I seriously doubt it. The Air is dead. The new 13 inch will be form factor of current 12 inch....

 

[Lesser Evets]

We need a 2018 version of this event.

Apple does need that!

Looking back at it, the OS and software was so primitive compare to today--8 years later!

Apple had a giant lead in sales at the time. Now they let it slide, horrendously low, compared to their potential. Apple needs to buy-use other software items to spice up "iLife". They could buy SPARKLE and a few other programs and services to improve their Mac software suite.

Apple's iTunes Store is complete rubbish. Time to clean it up and make it comprehensive.

Should have never ditched book printing.

Should make a software suite that allows publication of iBooks, or ISBN books, and put Adobe InDesign to rest--they have almost all the tools already prepared in PAGES and such.

The propagation of information was Jobs' big, core idea. Apple should be helping people to do that in ALL forms of media; they should publish help articles with illustrations to aid people create better audio-videos-music-books-websites, etc.

We are in an age of DECENTRALIZING MEDIA. Many large dinosaurs are hating that fragmentation in the market, because their money and propaganda soapboxes are eroding, but it is a natural progression away from toxic centralization. Apple would destroy the computer market and dominate if they took that on board with gusto once more.

VR is another big market, and they are lagging. Gaming has been ignored, but now has a chance due to the eGPUs.

Apple, get on board with the future! Your Mac line from hardware to software to services is half-a-decade behind today's standard of excellence.

 

[Joe The Dragon]

If Apple is going to ditch Intel, then it is going in-house for CPUs and GPUs, not to AMD.

I have a soft place in my heart for AMD, but if Apple wanted to use Ryzen/Epyc, it would have bought them a few years when their stock price was in the tank and acquired everything on the cheap.

Apple is committed to controlling its destiny after years of being held hostage by Motorola (WTF 68060), AIM (PowerBook G5, anyone?) and Intel (Broadwell, Cannon Lake, 14nm+++++++) and I think they want to get back to RISC as well for a variety of reasons.

intel --> amd is a very small change vs X86-64 ---> arm

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

LET ME BRING ALL OF YOU THE AWESOMENESS THAT WILL BE REVEALED TO US ON THE 30TH. IT WILL BE SAME MAC MINI WITH INTERNAL SPEC BUMP, NO DESIGN CHANGE WHAT SO EVER!!! AND iMAC WITH THE SAME OLD DESIGN AND ALSO WITH INTERNAL SPEC BUMP!!! ROFLCOPTERZ Flying High!!!!

Wow!

With such stunning insight (and capitalization prowess!), you should have your own Blog...

 

[Zdigital2015]

I am scratching my head. I just posted before that I wanted to buy a MBP 2018 but I am holding back.

To me, such a frequent update on notebooks is a bit scary - especially if they plan to update CPUs.
Although, it could also be possible that they might drop prices a bit on them and then I will be even happier.

However in E. EU lower prices arrive a tad later because.... well re sellers here love making more money trying to push customers to buy older gen HW for the outdated price.

The CPUs in the 2018 MacBook Pro were released in April of 2018. Intel tends to stagger their rollouts over a long period of time. They did not release as many 9th Gen CPUs (three, to be exact) and any additional 9th Gen CPUs will trickle out over the course of 2019 to help pad things out until Cannon Lake yields are high enough to start shipping. There will be no CPU updates to the 2018 MacBook Pro For at least another year, possibly longer than that.

Apple is not dropping prices anytime soon.

 

[deeddawg]

The Mac Mini, at the very least, needs to be something spectacular, innovative and at a good price point. Methinks that even one out of three is improbable...

I disagree. It just needs to be updated to modern chipsets/video as well as TB3/USBC. Innovative / spectacular have zero bearing on most folks who just want a decent little desktop unit to use with their own monitor and a wireless keyboard / trackpad.

... but that's just my opinion.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

It's quite embarrassing that the Mini went this long without an update. Then again, I said the same about the Pro. If Apple truly cared about the Mac line, they wouldn't have saw the need to hold a roundtable apology for the Pro last year. Companies that care about their products don't let these things happen. I'm an Apple fan as much as the next guy, but ffs it's time to get serious and stay serious, or go home.

Apple cares about the Mac line (witness the incredible effort that went into creating the iMac Pro!), but has had other fish to fry in the past few years.

I know everyone looks at Apple's bank account and goes "Why?" But the truth is, even a company the size of Apple cannot juggle an infinite number of balls.

Plus, I think SOME of these Projects were waiting until they got moved into the Spaceship. Ever think of that?!?
[doublepost=1540403078][/doublepost]

Shame on Apple. This truly shows how little they care about the computer lineup...

The upgrade Cycles has become a joke.

Waiting 5 years to upgrade a Mac mini? Really?

It's 4 years, not 5.

MR just had an article on that a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Kabeyun]

The Mac mini has historically been a very port-filled machine.

So, a minimum of 4 USB-C/TB3 ports, and maybe even a USB-A port or two, like on the 2017 iMacs. I'd be not-very surprised to see an HDMI port or dedicated MiniDP, either.

Actually, the original Mini had only two USB and a FW400 (plus Ethernet). LOVED when it had five USB. I’d be happy if they went back to that, but we’ll see. Agree that HDMI is likely. I doubt we’ll have MiniDP now that there’s Thunderbolt. SD would be dumb imo but wouldn’t surprise me. We may well see the audio out jack go away.

 

[MacsRuleOthersDrool]

Can’t wait.

Shame these amazing new Macs will all be anchored down with junk keyboards.

But I’ll buy the new pro iPad in a heartbeat.

Other than the laptops, what "junk keyboards" will Apple be "anchoring" the Desktop Macs with?

You are free to put something like THIS on your nice new iMac Pro, iMac or Mac mini if you so desire...

https://www.amazon.com/Unicomp-Classic-Buckling-Spring-Keyboard/dp/B01M29PYF4

And in fact, other than when truly on-the-road (like on a plane), you can STILL use whatever keyboard on the Laptops, too.

IOW, QUIT WHINING!
[doublepost=1540403370][/doublepost]

If it’s going to have a couple of xeons then I don’t think it’s going to be so mini.

Yeah, but it'd sure be "Pro"!!! ;-)

 

[panther quest]

When the Mac mini is updated can the crowd unleash deafening applause just to make a point.

For 45 straight minutes.