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Apple to Debut Low-Cost MacBook Air With Retina Display, Revamped Pro-Focused Mac Mini in 2018
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I'm an iOS developer and I really need the latest Xcode so I'll upgrade as soon as Mojave will be require to install the latest version.
I don't want to spend a lot of money in an iMac pro or an iMac 5K so if the new Mini will have a reasonable price I'll go for it
I wonder if it's simply a redesign of the current retina Macbook. I mean it's interesting that Apple has not updated that yet.
I'm hoping for a less expensive retina Macbook with a touch of more ports. I'm all for USB-C and wireless, but the world has not moved as fast compared to floppy/CD. Unlike floppy/CD, USB-A is not "inferior" to USB-C as the standard is the same. It's just the shape of the connector. Heck, look at phones where you would think USB-C would be adopted super fast. Many is still putting microUSB.
So a redesigned cheaper retina Macbook with maybe two USB-C ports (one on each side) could be a nice update.
Remember the original Macbook Air? People forgot about it. It came with a slow hard-drive and just a single USB-A slot. Then Apple updated it to the Macbook Air we know and love with two USB ports. I can see the same thing happening again here.
I'm hoping for a less expensive retina Macbook with a touch of more ports. I'm all for USB-C and wireless, but the world has not moved as fast compared to floppy/CD. Unlike floppy/CD, USB-A is not "inferior" to USB-C as the standard is the same. It's just the shape of the connector. Heck, look at phones where you would think USB-C would be adopted super fast. Many is still putting microUSB.
So a redesigned cheaper retina Macbook with maybe two USB-C ports (one on each side) could be a nice update.
Remember the original Macbook Air? People forgot about it. It came with a slow hard-drive and just a single USB-A slot. Then Apple updated it to the Macbook Air we know and love with two USB ports. I can see the same thing happening again here.
You know how I know this is BS? They said there is a new mac mini coming. Mac mini is dead. Apple doesn't make cheap products for plebs anymore. It's all about $100+ leather cases or Gold watches. $5000+ laptops with yesterdays hardware, and thousand dollar plus phones. Not to mention 99c "free trials".
You a pleb and an Apple fan? Sucks to be you. Don't hold your breath for an affordable Apple.
You a pleb and an Apple fan? Sucks to be you. Don't hold your breath for an affordable Apple.
Was going to post this myself, but it's probably too late now. But of course, taken to ludicrous (self-satirising) extremes by the "Rocketship Risc PC", which literally included the kitchen sink: http://www.john-ward.org.uk/personal/john/computers/html/rocket.html
It's gonna be so awesome to see all the posts from the people who have been pounding Apple for years for not updating the Mac Mini post about how lame the update is and how they're not going to buy it. You know it's gonna happen. 
Yeah. Especially since you can get a PC with *A LOT* of compute power for what the Mac Minis already cost today.
And now they're talking about a Mini "Pro" -- what the heck could make a Mini/Intel NUC-sized machine a "Pro" computer...?! An Octa-Core Xeon CPU with gigantic heat problems in such a small case and zero extensibility?
Well, maybe we'll get it to see this year. Or maybe not. The world won't stop spinning either way.
2017 rumors suggested Apple was working on a Mac mini that "won't be so mini anymore," which would be in line with a machine that has more powerful, less compact components.
If true that may be good news. Tiny desktop computers are a needless pain. An earlier, PowerPC Mac mini I owned was so tight for space that after replacing the hard drive I could never get the case back on. And my current 2012 high-end Mac mini is so absurdly designed that when I thought of replacing the clock battery, I discovered from iFixit that the replacement, which should take seconds, would take two hours. Engineering that poor stinks.
Bigger isn't the real issue. Versatile is. Apple needs to make a desktop that's as clever as Drobo file servers. Make adding, upgrading, and fixing easy. Make it so that adding a new HD or SSD takes mere seconds—simply slide the drive in followed by a window asking how that drive is to be formatted and used. Those who work with videos would love that.
Others are right to suggest that price will be a major factor in its popularity. I do book layout with InDesign and my existing i7 Mac mini with a large SSD and 16GB of RAM is more that adequate for that. Since it is six years old, I worry about it dying suddenly, but if it did I have multiple backups of my work and could get a replacement the next day. It will take a lot to get me to upgrade when I see no need to do so. Both the feature set and the price will have to be appealing to get me to buy.
If true that may be good news. Tiny desktop computers are a needless pain. An earlier, PowerPC Mac mini I owned was so tight for space that after replacing the hard drive I could never get the case back on. And my current 2012 high-end Mac mini is so absurdly designed that when I thought of replacing the clock battery, I discovered from iFixit that the replacement, which should take seconds, would take two hours. Engineering that poor stinks.
Bigger isn't the real issue. Versatile is. Apple needs to make a desktop that's as clever as Drobo file servers. Make adding, upgrading, and fixing easy. Make it so that adding a new HD or SSD takes mere seconds—simply slide the drive in followed by a window asking how that drive is to be formatted and used. Those who work with videos would love that.
Others are right to suggest that price will be a major factor in its popularity. I do book layout with InDesign and my existing i7 Mac mini with a large SSD and 16GB of RAM is more that adequate for that. Since it is six years old, I worry about it dying suddenly, but if it did I have multiple backups of my work and could get a replacement the next day. It will take a lot to get me to upgrade when I see no need to do so. Both the feature set and the price will have to be appealing to get me to buy.
Maybe the rumour is actually referring to the new Mac Pro? It seems implausible that they'd release a powerful "Mini Pro" with the Modular Mac Pro promised for next year.
If the mMP turns out to be a mini-tower with PCIe slots then, great as that would be, people will be asking "Who are you and what have you done with the real Jony Ive?" so I think its safe to assume that its going to be a mini PC of some flavour.
I think the current Mini demand is from people who want something a bit more "pro" to replace their tricked-out quad-i7 2012 Mini. If you just want a $500 Mac for email and facebook the current Mini would do fine...
They haven't updated the non-Touchbar MacBook Pros yet, either, and they're the closest thing to a Retina Air in the current lineup, so maybe they're going to shake down the lineup into something that makes sense. If ever a product description needed to die its "Retina MacBook Pro without TouchBar".
A new "13" retina Air" could really be one of three things:
* A 13" version of the 12" MacBook (but if its low cost, whither the premium-priced 12"?)
* A lower-cost version of the non-touchbar MBP (which wasn't updated in July, either)
* A "classic" design based on the current Air recognising it as the Porche 911/Kenwood Chef/Coke bottle of laptop computers.
Personally, I think the best future for the Air would be to just put in a newer CPU and maybe a better nonretina display (maybe you could shoe-horn a 14" 1680x1050 display into something close to the current design) seeing as most of its immediate PC competition only have 1080p displays. Although, frankly, the existing display isn't nearly as terrible as some people here make out (it isn't for pro graphics, folks!)
The early gen Mac Mini's weren't great to take apart - but if the HDD was the same physical size then refitting shouldn't be a problem.
With regards to the 2012 mini - it doesn't take 2 hours to strip it down and rebuild - I've done a few. The engineering isn't poor, if it was poor then it wouldn't work. These are not the easiest of devices to work on, but if you want a small desktop compromises are inevitable.
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I know I’ve been guilty of writing a few negative posts in my time but I’m kinda shocked at the negativity in this thread.
Is it that there’s lots of people who have become really disappointed with Apple in the past few years?
Or is it that public online discourse in 2018 has become relentlessly negative?
Or maybe a bit of both.
Ok the proof is when these products are announced by Apple, but c’mon, it sounds really promising:
A new ‘Air’ that’s going to be retina and ‘cheap’ (I’d suspect that this means $899-999 at entry level).
Yes it’s likely to have soldered memory and SSD and USB-C only but that’s what you’d expect from the Air - it’s never been a pro computer.
And c’mon the Mac Mini sounds really exciting. If it’s aimed at Pros and is not exactly going to be mini anymore there’s a reasonable expectation that’s it’s going to have enough room for an i7, lots of ports (TB3, USB-A and ethernet ie just like the iMac) and will still have user serviceable SSD & RAM.
I dunno, we’ve all been aggrieved at the state of the Mac and suddenly we have some credible rumours of some Macs likely starting at the sub $1000 range. That’s pretty cool in my book.
Is it that there’s lots of people who have become really disappointed with Apple in the past few years?
Or is it that public online discourse in 2018 has become relentlessly negative?
Or maybe a bit of both.
Ok the proof is when these products are announced by Apple, but c’mon, it sounds really promising:
A new ‘Air’ that’s going to be retina and ‘cheap’ (I’d suspect that this means $899-999 at entry level).
Yes it’s likely to have soldered memory and SSD and USB-C only but that’s what you’d expect from the Air - it’s never been a pro computer.
And c’mon the Mac Mini sounds really exciting. If it’s aimed at Pros and is not exactly going to be mini anymore there’s a reasonable expectation that’s it’s going to have enough room for an i7, lots of ports (TB3, USB-A and ethernet ie just like the iMac) and will still have user serviceable SSD & RAM.
I dunno, we’ve all been aggrieved at the state of the Mac and suddenly we have some credible rumours of some Macs likely starting at the sub $1000 range. That’s pretty cool in my book.
Agree!
I always thought that the great thing about the mini was that if you’re at an office where you’re all using macs it’s a cheaper way to outfit people who might be using the Mac for just productivity and dev tasks ie they can just use exiting standard monitors, keyboards and mice. Not everyone needs a screen with te fidelity of the iMac
Also mini towers are easier to secure than laptops!
And again, it was a great device to replace the PC at home, reusing the existing monitor and mouse. Not everyone wants a laptop (they might instead have an iPad) and many still prefer the experience of sitting down to work at a home office or cubbyhole.
Actually we already have a pretty good idea of how potentially powerful the new Mini Pro will be - Apple focuses on AR, AI and ML currently, right? So, that means that we should get:
1) powerful CPUs (for sure 4/6-cores, even 8-core?) - desktop or laptop cpu it remains to be seen
2) Up to 32 or 64GB RAM
3) eGPU support via TB
I would imagine a spec’d out Mini Pro to go up to $3-$4k. Then for even more demanding applications one would choose a MacPro. I highly doubt the iMac Pro will exist, once the new modular MacPro is released in 2019.
Regarding storage it should be all flash-based. I am not convinced that we will be getting user-upgradeability though, but with enough TB and USB ports, it should be adequate...
1) powerful CPUs (for sure 4/6-cores, even 8-core?) - desktop or laptop cpu it remains to be seen
2) Up to 32 or 64GB RAM
3) eGPU support via TB
I would imagine a spec’d out Mini Pro to go up to $3-$4k. Then for even more demanding applications one would choose a MacPro. I highly doubt the iMac Pro will exist, once the new modular MacPro is released in 2019.
Regarding storage it should be all flash-based. I am not convinced that we will be getting user-upgradeability though, but with enough TB and USB ports, it should be adequate...
In a year or two I'll probably want a new computer. I don't need one right now, however. I currently have two MacBook Air machines – an eleven inch and a thirteen inch model. The latter I am using as a desktop machine plugged into an external monitor.
If the Mini is updated then that would almost certainly be my first port of call, next time I'm spending money. My work is text-based in nature so I don't need high-end anything really, just enough to keep up with the current and future software and OS demands of the CPU and video card.
That's assuming the Mini is given a meaningful overhaul. I've always considered it to be an ideal desktop machine for my uses. Never bought one due to its more recent limitations, though.
While I did buy a G3 iMac a good few years ago, the prices were decent for what you got. I am not too inclined to get any of the current iMac models. These Mac Mini rumours are a positive development, for sure.
If the Mini is updated then that would almost certainly be my first port of call, next time I'm spending money. My work is text-based in nature so I don't need high-end anything really, just enough to keep up with the current and future software and OS demands of the CPU and video card.
That's assuming the Mini is given a meaningful overhaul. I've always considered it to be an ideal desktop machine for my uses. Never bought one due to its more recent limitations, though.
While I did buy a G3 iMac a good few years ago, the prices were decent for what you got. I am not too inclined to get any of the current iMac models. These Mac Mini rumours are a positive development, for sure.
iOS developers, I suppose, who otherwise don't have a lot of investment in Apple/macOS. Not all want to futz around with hackintoshes and any other Mac costs more.
Maybe it was a typo
He meant underpowered and expensive
[doublepost=1534856104][/doublepost]I want all new minis
New Mac Mini
New iPad Mini
New iPhone Mini (AKA SE or even iPhone 4 size)
Just give me a miniaturized cheese grater Mac Pro like Steve has in this pic (look just to the left of the monitor): https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.re...t1/is_that_a_mac_pro_mini_on_steve_jobs_desk/
With a six core processor, 16 gigs of ram as base and either an SSD or at the very least a 7200RPM hard drive with and a decent gpu that can run photoshop and play games at medium/high settings and I’ll be happy.
With a six core processor, 16 gigs of ram as base and either an SSD or at the very least a 7200RPM hard drive with and a decent gpu that can run photoshop and play games at medium/high settings and I’ll be happy.