What people want is complain, the irony is that is also what people deserve.
A life worth living!!
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple to Debut Low-Cost MacBook Air With Retina Display, Revamped Pro-Focused Mac Mini in 2018
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
What people want is complain, the irony is that is also what people deserve.
A life worth living!!
I used to do this, but realized no, Apple only believes the demand is for throwaway, overpriced, but fashionable toys. So I stopped doing it. I will no longer buy a computer that does not fit my desire, period. macOS is good, was better compared to the competition, but today, after years of neglect, its not THAT much better.
Still in love with my 11 inch i5 MacBook Air. Magsafe, usb2, great keyboard...
This sounds a LOT like what I predicted a long time ago, myself. We're not the only 2 people who thought of it though. There's a blog site I ran across at one point where an engineer tries to debunk this theory, piece by piece -- so clearly, many people have tossed the idea out there.
(His rebuttal got pretty technical about chipsets and bus bandwidth, etc. etc. But the summary is that he felt this wasn't feasible without creating bottlenecks that the "base" Mini would cause for the higher performance "Pro" upgrade components you'd want to stack on top of it when upgrading.)
Honestly though? I would think the "secret ingredient" would be designing a proprietary high speed connection bus that allowed the parts to interact with each other with plenty of bandwidth. If Apple solved that part of the equation, the rest wouldn't be a big issue. Perhaps the "base" Mini would even have a P4 CPU that gets disabled, just like on-board graphics are disabled today when you plug a 3D video card into a PCIe slot on a Windows PC? When the upgraded multi-core Xeon CPU processing box is added on, the base Mini just does the I/O at that point. You might even be using a different type of RAM for the upgraded add-on, so the original RAM is disabled too. A bit wasteful, perhaps? Except it means the system can be disassembled again and the base unit still works stand-alone, at any time.
(His rebuttal got pretty technical about chipsets and bus bandwidth, etc. etc. But the summary is that he felt this wasn't feasible without creating bottlenecks that the "base" Mini would cause for the higher performance "Pro" upgrade components you'd want to stack on top of it when upgrading.)
Honestly though? I would think the "secret ingredient" would be designing a proprietary high speed connection bus that allowed the parts to interact with each other with plenty of bandwidth. If Apple solved that part of the equation, the rest wouldn't be a big issue. Perhaps the "base" Mini would even have a P4 CPU that gets disabled, just like on-board graphics are disabled today when you plug a 3D video card into a PCIe slot on a Windows PC? When the upgraded multi-core Xeon CPU processing box is added on, the base Mini just does the I/O at that point. You might even be using a different type of RAM for the upgraded add-on, so the original RAM is disabled too. A bit wasteful, perhaps? Except it means the system can be disassembled again and the base unit still works stand-alone, at any time.
MacBook Air- I hope they do this- putting a Retina Display into a chassis with all the classic ports as their base model Mac makes a lot of sense as an entry-level solution. What does not make a lot of sense is keeping the name MacBook Air- they should just call the Air the MacBook and label the current 12" MacBook the MacBook Air but the ship has kind of sailed on that. Things seem to be a little wonky with the marketing of those two product lines.
Mac Mini- Apple should to use the Mac Mini as the test pilot for putting the A series processor into a Mac and then releasing it to the public. Make the Mac Mini the size of the Apple TV and use it to start the transition to Arm- see how it does. That would be bold and fun. Or at least just make it the size of the Apple TV- otherwise, it just doesn't make sense as a product.
Mac Mini- Apple should to use the Mac Mini as the test pilot for putting the A series processor into a Mac and then releasing it to the public. Make the Mac Mini the size of the Apple TV and use it to start the transition to Arm- see how it does. That would be bold and fun. Or at least just make it the size of the Apple TV- otherwise, it just doesn't make sense as a product.
HTPC are so 2005 Bozley0621. Back then I had a NAS, today even that NAS has no use. Times have really changed.
Which does not mean we don't care about how much they weigh.
New Mac Mini wish list:
1) Some legacy ports (HDMI, USB, TB) and just one USB-C port.
2) Headphone/Mic Jacks
3) Upgradeable RAM and HD
1) Some legacy ports (HDMI, USB, TB) and just one USB-C port.
2) Headphone/Mic Jacks
3) Upgradeable RAM and HD
A Pro-focused Mini sounds sweet. I still wonder what the heck happened to the Mac Pro that was supposed to come out this year. I have a feeling we're going to see heavy use of TB3 and things like eGPUs to power this stuff. That would a lot of sense because it'd give you a lot of flexibility in your Pro tools. I also wonder if "Pro focused" means servers at all. I have a 2011 Mini and it's just serving up iTunes sharing and Time machine.
I think the odd man out in that setup is the iMac Pro. If you had a Pro Mini and a Pro that were somehow modular, why get an all-in-one?
Likewise, I think the iMac is still the best consumer desktop out there especially for people like my parents (i.e. older, non-technical types). The lack of upgrade options and even the builtin monitor aren't really problematic because we're talking about people who upgrade after many, many years in general.
I think the odd man out in that setup is the iMac Pro. If you had a Pro Mini and a Pro that were somehow modular, why get an all-in-one?
Likewise, I think the iMac is still the best consumer desktop out there especially for people like my parents (i.e. older, non-technical types). The lack of upgrade options and even the builtin monitor aren't really problematic because we're talking about people who upgrade after many, many years in general.
How would that help? Third party hardware vendors can write macOS drivers *today*, and aren't. Are you saying you want Apple to give it away for free to everyone *and* find a way to quadruple the # of drivers?
I’m open to suggestions, but I need something for my owned media that doesn’t include switching to a streaming via internet method.
As with other great Apple products such as the 17" MacBook Pro it is now discontinued.
Over-priced, under-powered...and don’t forget the inevitable cracks in the polycarbonate casing...it was a tempermental pain in the ass and an expensive curio piece - hardly an icon.
Goddamn, was about to pull the trigger on a 21.5" iMac and maxxing the CPU, I guess I can easily wait until October with this news. I already have a 32" screen anyway (1080, but all my videos are only at 1080 anyway)
Perhaps the Mac Mini morphs into a "MacPro Lite". The rumors for the next MacPro point to a very modular, upgradeable design. So, maybe the Mac Mini is, say, half (backplane-wise) of a yet-to-be-released MacPro.
The point I was attempting to get across is there are hoards of people out there who would switch to macOS if it were made available and Hardware compliant without resorting to shady Hackintosh practices.
To be fair, ten years ago, Apple (and the iPhone, specifically) was no where an international success as they are now. Serving a diverse customer base sometimes means offering more options.
I gave Synology server a whirl last year after I sold my iMac. It wasn’t for me. Admittedly, I had issues setting it up and barely enough time to spend troubleshooting. After several calls to the company I gave up. I’m able to figure tech out if given the time, but time is something that I don’t have.
NEW MAC MINI?
Believe it when I see it...
[doublepost=1534811667][/doublepost]
Believe it when I see it...
[doublepost=1534811667][/doublepost]
LOL.. Apple was an international success. Have you heard of the iPod and the Mac.
No company ever was an international success like Apple is NOW.. 
This comment is worth the extra time to type out “ROLLEYES” manually.
Last edited:
"air" became a term because things suddenly got slimmer. these aren't gonna be slimmer than a MacBook. it's just stupid to keep that title. Make the current MacBook $799 and call it a day.
Article Link: Apple to Debut Low-Cost MacBook Air With Retina Display, Revamped Pro-Focused Mac Mini in 2018[/QUOTE]
Assuming it's not stupidly expensive. Current prices for an i7 with 16GbRAM in Australia is almost $2200. I'd love to replace my 2012 i7 but at those prices I doubt I could afford it.
Assuming it's not stupidly expensive. Current prices for an i7 with 16GbRAM in Australia is almost $2200. I'd love to replace my 2012 i7 but at those prices I doubt I could afford it.