I once even got a post deleted/edited and a warning from the mods for posting a similar joke, in all caps and in like 48pt type, in the early Intel days… xDSometimes it’s really easy to spot someone who has been here a LONG time
]It would make sense for Apple to offer a regular, stupidly inexpensive and low-end Mac Mini (think something along the likes of an Intel NUC, except a bit more premium and at the magical sub-$500 pirice point of the original G4 Mini), a Mac Mini Pro (slightly more beefed up, but not necessarily a Xeon machine with ECC memory – I wouldn't bet against it having Core i5 processors at best and soldered-in LPDDR memory, I'm afraid – or upgradeable PCI-X storage – if any, as they are crazy enough to stick a 2.5'' SATA III hard drive in there again, maybe in a Fusion Drive config – or even a desktop-grade GPU – ha, you'll be lucky to get an M-class GPU as opposed to Intel Graphics on the low end), and the real deal, a larger Mac Pro “mini” of sorts (even though it may end up being larger and/or more squarish than the Trash Pro), with the whole n-core Xeon+full size ECC DIMM+desktop-class GPU treatment…
I once even got a post deleted/edited and a warning from the mods for posting a similar joke, in all caps and in like 48pt type, in the early Intel days… xD
[Edit: I can't seem to find it, perhaps because it was indeed deleted, but I think I at least answered the mods publicly, so maybe it was on AI or on the defunct ThinkSecret forum – also a dead giveaway on how long I've been here
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It would make sense for Apple to offer a regular, stupidly inexpensive and low-end Mac Mini (think something along the likes of an Intel NUC, except a bit more premium and at the magical sub-$500 pirice point of the original G4 Mini), a Mac Mini Pro (slightly more beefed up, but not necessarily a Xeon machine with ECC memory – I wouldn't bet against it having Core i5 processors at best and soldered-in LPDDR memory, I'm afraid – or upgradeable PCI-X storage – if any, as they are crazy enough to stick a 2.5'' SATA III hard drive in there again, maybe in a Fusion Drive config – or even a desktop-grade GPU – ha, you'll be lucky to get an M-class GPU as opposed to Intel Graphics on the low end), and the real deal, a larger Mac Pro “mini” of sorts (even though it may end up being larger and/or more squarish than the Trash Pro), with the whole n-core Xeon+full size ECC DIMM+desktop-class GPU treatment…
By this time, most Mac users should have already come to terms with the fact that for Apple “modularity” means external modularity. They will never go back to SATA III 3.5'' hard drives on the high end, and they won't likely go back to dual GPUs because of thermals. Most likely, you'll see a comeback of dual PCI-X flash drives controlled by a T2 chip just like in its AIO sibling, a conventional desktop GPU card slot – apart from the RAM slots, of which there should be many more than in the old model, that'd be as far as they would concede in terms of internal modularity/upgradeability, I'd reckon – and, if you're extremely lucky, an extra slot; that's still very unlikely, though, as Apple will keep the box minimalistic and encourage you to attach external boxes via the provided 6-8 Thunderbolt 3/USB-C 3.1 ports for anything that can be realistically upgraded that way.
I'm also guessing the combo S/PDIF+analog audio in and out won't go away just yet, and you'll hopefully see dual 10 Gbps Ethernet ports (at least a single one on the Mac Mini Pro model would be awesome, though, as it would put it on par with the iMac Pro and Mac Pro connectivity-wise and encourage some large or even small shops to standardize on the entire Pro range… Thunderbolt 3-to-10 Gbps Ethernet adapters are still fairly expensive, after all, and having it standard on the desktop machines could seal the deal).
Overall, the new Mac Pro will elicit a collective sigh of relief from all the pros who've been waiting for years now for a machine they can at least keep current, and will, conversely, be a massive disappointment for those who expect it to be a tower Mac Pro redux or, better yet, a PC box with some T-class chip(s) thrown in and an Apple logo slapped on.
Form factor aside, Apple should offer a Mac mini $599 and up to entice switchers and keep costs down by simply re-using the existing chassis and also offer a “Mac” that falls in line above the mini, intersects with the 21.5” iMac and encroaches enough into the 27” iMac to entice the VR/AR, well, really, the AR crowd with a compact, portable, powerful workstation. I suspect the mini if it is updated will be the 15w and 28w U-series w/ the iGPU only and the Mac will get one flavor of Kaby Lake-G in a slightly taller package than the mini and maybe Space Grey. For Apple, this is a stretch, but is possible. If they are serious about AR, this might be feasible. Unfortunately, Apple’s vision for the Mac has been more like “wandering in the desert”, while they pursued a fairly singular strategy with the iPhone and iOS. Apple needs lower cost machines to equip the next gen of developers to continue the current pace, which makes me think a two box strategy is actually possible. Or one box with two radically different natures.
No, they weren’t. Please doublecheck the ARK, the aforementioned CPUs have a release date of Q3/18. The earlier versions(Q1/18) are Radeon RX Vega, these are called Radeon Pro WX Vega. These are both 65w TDP parts, which might actually make it into a slightly revised Mac mini chassis.
Comparing the ARK entries, there seems to be minimal difference. There are a few differences in the i5 parts.
if intel nuc 2018 999 . mac version nuc should be 1999 and imac will be baseline 1599 .
Intel puts a fairly premium price on all of their NUCs, considering you have to add your own DRAM, storage and OS. SimplyNUC sells the Hades Canyon i7 NUC with Vega GH GPU for $1044.00 with 8GB/256GB, no OS. I think Apple would start the i5 Radeon Pro Vega GL at 8/256 for $1299.00, which is not that crazy, figure +$200 for 16GB and +$200 for 512GB flash storage and with +$200 or +$300 for the i7 upgrade would make a Core i7/16GB/512GB come right in at $1899-$1999 USD, which is what a completely maxed out 2014 Mac mini i7/16GB/1TB SSD currently costs. The 27” iMac will start at $1799 USD as it always has, not $1599. The 21.5” currently starts at $1299 USD.
You're probably right, but I think it is possible that Apple can shoehorn in a 65w TDP package into that chassis with some clever cooling, or a modest rework to make it a bit taller. However, if they decide not to do that, I would be perfectly happy to see them put in Coffee Lake 28W U-Series CPUs and call it a day. At least then we have some decent CPU horsepower in the mini as opposed to that horrendous downgrade from 2012 to 2014. RAM needs to be boosted to top out at 32GB and we need to TB3 ports. Hope springs eternal...I guess, or delusions of grandeur.
Well the current rumors are updated CPU (quad?) and more expensive storage, which I assume means the end of HDD and Fusion options. That probably gets you to $999, not far from the current $899 8GB/256 SSD mini.
My prediction is the new Mac mini tops out at a 6-core i7-8700T which has a TDP when fully clocked at 35W, but is specked to just use 25W with under clocking. The old minis used 35W processors.
Most of the 8th gen i7 mini PCs with up to 6-cores start around $900.
Just a small clarification, if by fully clocked you mean the base frequency of 2.4GHz, then the 35W TDP is applicable. The 4.0GHz Turbo draws something like 80W. The 25W frequency is 1.9GHz.
I think you are likely right, if they stick with the current form factor they will stay with the 15W/28W parts.
