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Apple to Debut Low-Cost MacBook Air With Retina Display, Revamped Pro-Focused Mac Mini in 2018

Time for me to change my mid 2011 iMac since it won't install Mojave and I won't be able to upgrade Xcode eventually.
A new Mini would be great, I love my 27'' iMac but I don't think I need the 5K version and a Mini with an external display would be a cheaper choice.
 
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eVolcre said:
My prediction.

1. The MBA name gets retired for now. Comes back in a year with an ultraportable (even lighter than the rMB) with an ARM chip and 17 hours battery life for might work. Essentially an iPad with an attached keyboard. Or iBook for the ARM notebook. A chrome book competitor.

2. The MBA was never really gimped out even at launch. It was expensive but could work as someone’s primary machine. Maybe they retire the MacBook name. Current 12 and new 13 are the MBA and we have MBP with the 13 and 15. The new lightweight device next year becomes the iBook.

Either way. I agree with most that right now it doesn’t make sense to have both MB and MBA in the lineup when the wright size and portability are so close.
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I have to say that this is one of the most confusing line ups i have seen for the Mac, i'm in the market for a new MacBook and for months i have been going backwards and forwards between the 13" Pro and the 12" MacBook, i love the design of the MacBook i think it looks great but i also want a little more power and a bigger screen, HOWEVER i don't think i need or want the power of the Pro (it would probably be wasted on me) so it is a difficult situation because normally that would leave the Air but with no retina display and having not been updated in years it would be no better (other than SSD speeds) than my current 2011 MacBook Pro that i want to replace.

IF Apple introduce a 13" MacBook or MacBook Air (name isn't really important) that has a retina display and specs that are half way between the Air and the Pro it would be the perfect MacBook for someone like me! also if they offer it in space grey (or the gold, i'm not sure) then that would be great too. :)
 
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dburges said:
I can almost guarantee the Mac Mini won't have a butterfly keyboard. Almost.
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Don't know if you're just playing stupid but he was obviously referring to the Macbook Air, which was also covered in this news article. Did you actually read it?

Capeto said:
Because, unlike the components on your phone or TV, these components on computers have traditionally been able to be replaced/upgraded by the user, and there’s no reason for Apple not to allow it on a desktop computer.
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So because of history, Apple shouldn't change it? That's not Apple's MO...
 
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Dave245 said:
I have to say that this is one of the most confusing line ups i have seen for the Mac, i'm in the market for a new MacBook and for months i have been going backwards and forwards between the 13" Pro and the 12" MacBook, i love the design of the MacBook i think it looks great but i also want a little more power and a bigger screen, HOWEVER i don't think i need or want the power of the Pro (it would probably be wasted on me) so it is a difficult situation because normally that would leave the Air but with no retina display and having not been updated in years it would be no better (other than SSD speeds) than my current 2011 MacBook Pro that i want to replace.

IF Apple introduce a 13" MacBook or MacBook Air (name isn't really important) that has a retina display and specs that are half way between the Air and the Pro it would be the perfect MacBook for someone like me! also if they offer it in space grey (or the gold, i'm not sure) then that would be great too. :)
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Definitely a hole in the lineup , forget the names. The current MBA with a better screen and current internals is really all that’s needed.

Maybe they’ll change the name of the MB to iBook. That can be a gimped out ultraportable so no problem if it’s lighter than the air and can be the test machine for ARM (either OS X or iOS) down the road. Would work for a lot of folk.
 
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This is too good to be true, a Mac mini pro...

Maybe they will gonna use the current Mac Pro cylinder as a case, or something very similar ... not two graphics cards but just one, and a fat ssd slot instead of that second graphics card and one super silent central fan ... and better ports of course, like usb3/ tb3

The current Mac mini looks a little boring. I would prefer a smaller footprint on the desk...
 
TheTruth101 said:
All I know is that in Apple history... every first generation of anything is literally beta testing, you need to get the second revision.
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Maybe ...but

My first Mac was the 12" powerbook G4 which was a first version of a new line. Still works today and has had no issues over the years other than now being obsolete and having the battery replaced. Later I acquired a nearly new first version of the Macbook Air with SSD. Again, still working today and no issues relating to being the first version released. (the single USB was a limitation I agree but never bothered me as this was a portable machine and not one to have many peripherals plugged in to)

I suspect youre making a decent point but are also overlooking experiences to the contrary.
Nothing wrong in buying a first version of a new product, in my experience.
 
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I can smell Phil speaking at keynote about modular mac mini with the end line of “can’t innovate anymore my ass”.
 
pipis2010 said:
The price of all components has dropped over the past 4 years, except NVMe probably. To start a new Mini line with the above specs, perhaps not at $499, but at $599-$649 shouldn’t be an unreachable dream. Don’t forget for the lower priced Mini they could still use an i3, going all the way up to 6-core /8-core beasts for more pro users.

I highly doubt Xeons are able to be used in such a form factor, but can you imagine if Apple released such a beast of a mini?
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I hear what you’re saying, but the fact is Apple is a large company with an equally large overhead. They’ve got 130,000 employees and an R&D spend of over $1.1 billion per month. As a product line, the mini’s got to pull its weight. Its (average) selling price has got to cover its share of Apple’s cost of doing business.

People are often shocked to hear that parts costs are so low compared to selling price. For example, the iPhone 8, selling for $699, has component costs of about $250. Can you imagine trying to build a mini that sells for $699 from $250 in components? Can’t be done.

In the past Apple has eaten the difference. They priced the entry level mini for $499, but that had a 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD and 15W CPU. Realistically, increasing the minimum config is going to increase the selling price. The 8GB/256GB SSD mini currently sells for $899, and I don’t really expect price cuts with an update.
 
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TomOSeven said:
Few weeks? Isn't that supposed to happen in November?
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Rumoured to be announced in September however Apple could have changed the plans for a Mac event to take place in October. They haven’t held one in October since 2016 tho.
 
And what about the average user who wants a Mac mini. I love the form factor but don't need pro spec. I want an average priced Mac mini to replace the one I used to have at the office.
 
iBungie said:
My first Mac was the 12" powerbook G4 which was a first version of a new line. Still works today and has had no issues over the years other than now being obsolete and having the battery replaced.
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One of the best Mac's I've ever owned (and I've had more than a few over the years).

A few years ago one of my kids (who I'd given it to as for me it was unfortunatly obsolete) dropped it down the stairs. It hit and bounced on every stair on the way down. I expected it to just explode with every thump but it seemed to stay together. When I picked it up the metal casing was quite bent on the sides and it had lost a few keys (well just the sliver caps). Thinking it was only good for the bin I applied quite a bit of force bent the metal sides back into shape and popped the couple of keys I could find back on. Then for a laugh I switched it on. It worked! The kids were able to carry on using it for watching their DVDs etc. That computer was amazing.
 
PatriotInvasion said:
To pay more for a 12" MacBook that is less powerful than a 13" MacBook Air is odd.
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Not particularly - Extreme miniaturisation and weight reduction is exotic tech. "Ultraportables" being expensive was a mainstay of the laptop market until junky "netbooks" muddied the waters in the mid-2000s.
 
sidewinder3000 said:
How is it possible to misunderstand such a simple couple of sentences? The guy isn’t dissing Mac Rumors. He’s celebrating the fact that Apple appears to be giving the Mac some much needed love.
[doublepost=1534829195][/doublepost
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You’re obsession with me continues I see. And you do realize the op changed his post right?

Yawn/
 
macduke said:
I had this crazy theory that what Apple meant by modular for the Mac Pro was starting off with a Mac Mini-like base. I wonder if this is what that is or something else entirely. Basically you would have a base "box" which is the processor, RAM, and logic board. It would have Intel integrated graphics and an small SSD blade so it could run on it's own. Then you can stack components on top of this: GPU(s), SSDs, HDDs, capture cards and similar components for both video/audio production. It could all connect with a series of Thunderbolt 4 connectors (perhaps a variant that allows the components to stack together like lego bricks. The thing I'm not sure about is how the power supply would work, such as needing a larger one with multiple GPUs. I'm also not sure about whether Thunderbolt 4 would be fast enough for professional, highest-end GPU work. Isn't it supposed to be around 100Gbps? Perhaps the reason it has taken this long is they've been working with Intel on that standard (or building their own?).

It could start with a six core processor and 256GB or maybe 512GB SSD and you built it up from there. Starting at $1499. Add on bits as you like. I'm also not sure if they would allow CPU upgrades. Surely a modular machine would have a RAM access door.
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That's honestly a great idea, which is just too practical, expandable and user friendly for Cook's Apple to ever release irl.

Most likely it will be a wafer thin Mini with legacy specs, a single USBc port, and always-on Siri.
 
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I would like to see something like this -

Base - 8GB RAM 128GB SSD and Dual Core - £499 (Roughly half the price of a Macbook 12'')
Mid - 8GB RAM 256GB SSD and Quad Core - £749 (Roughly half the price of a Macbook Pro 13'')
Higher - 16GB RAM 256GB SSD and Hexa Core - £999 (Roughly half the price of a Macbook Pro 15'')
+ extra build to order options.

x3 Thunderbolt 3 / USB C ports, x2 USB A ports, HDMI, SDXC and Ethernet.

Can add extra storage via externals and use an eGPU via Thunderbolt 3.
 
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McFreggle said:
Exactly my theory as well!

For the longest time, Apple has been doing mysteriously about the fate of the Mac mini, but they made clear it is of importance to them. And they also told us they were working on a modular Mac Pro. So yes, me too am thinking this Mac mini will be the base of the new Mac Pro. That would be so cool. A stack of Mac-components.
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"One more thing: today we're Introducing the Mac Stack."
 
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iBungie said:
I suspect youre making a decent point but are also overlooking experiences to the contrary.
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Don't give them that much credit... they're a misuser of the word "literally", after all...
 
recoil80 said:
Time for me to change my mid 2011 iMac since it won't install Mojave and I won't be able to upgrade Xcode eventually.
A new Mini would be great, I love my 27'' iMac but I don't think I need the 5K version and a Mini with an external display would be a cheaper choice.
Click to expand...
Don't upgrade from your mid 2011 iMac it is far superior to todays offerings. I recently purchased a late 2015 4k iMac and it is a shadow compared to the older model. Thankfully I still have my mid 2011 iMac which I continue to use as my daily machine. The inability to run Mojave is a small trade off and I will not be sucked in to the Apple policy of planned obsolescence.
 
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