Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple to Launch New Mac Mini at Next Week's Media Event?

mganai said:
That, and they can actually house PCIe cards. It'll take some time to come down in price and for optical cables to become standard, but when those happen, consumer Macs will no longer be limited to their pre-config'd graphics.
Click to expand...
I think the standard TB is copper, not optical. From Wikipedia:

The interface was originally intended to run exclusively on an optical physical layer using components and flexible optical fiber cabling developed by Intel partners and at Intel's Silicon Photonics lab. The Intel technology at the time was logically marketed under the name Light Peak, after 2011 referred to as Silicon Photonics Link. However, it was discovered that conventional copper wiring could furnish the desired 10 Gbit/s Thunderbolt bandwidth per channel at lower cost. Optical Thunderbolt cables were introduced in mid April 2012 by Sumitomo Electric Industries.
Click to expand...


----------
AidenShaw said:
Remember this?


Dude, you're getting the Dell with that T-Bolt erector set monster!
Click to expand...

Having a lot of ports reduces or eliminates the use of hubs. My iMac was basically that Dell; it had 2 USB hubs and multiple FireWire devices daisy-chained together. It also had an iSight camera on top of it in addition to the built-in one (I previously used it on my 2004 G5). The speakers were a little lame, so I used external ones. I had to connect SATA drives using a SATA to USB adaptor I got from China.

My big fat Mac Pro setup is a lot cleaner than my iMac setup even though the monitor and computer are separate.
 
I love this article; shouldn't the title read "If Apple has a media event, it might be next week, at a location unknown, on a date unknown at a time which is also unknown, where Apple may or may not introcude new or updated products"

According to sources...

Now, if the invitations go out this week then we should start getting interested in what may or may not be announced....
 
flopticalcube said:
No. The brand damage from making Macs more competitive is not worth it. PCs are losing out to mobile devices in sales now so Apple has transitioned to where they can maximize profit. They are no longer even called Apple Computer, Inc.
Click to expand...

iPods, iPhones, and iPads are all computers. "Apple Computer" might have been changed to "Apple" just to simplify it, just like how the logos and names of other businesses have become simpler over the years.
 
barkmonster said:
If they can get a Mac Mini out the door with 10000+ Geekbench score that isn't half the price of a Mac Pro, they're onto a winner.
Click to expand...

My current Mac Mini server updated with Ssd's and 16GB RAM Geekbenchs right around 10000 now. I'm holding off for a Haswell in 2013, any upgrade now is essentially just a speedbump with better integrated graphics, woop dee doo.....
 
I don't even care about an event. And I don't think a new mini or a new iMac really even warrants an event. It's obvious that those of us wanting a new mac desktop are keeping an eye on this stuff. Having some huge event won't sell them any more desktops than a silent refresh on their website.

I'm still hoping we see a new iMac this month. It would be really stupid of them not to put out a desktop soon since Windows 8 is about to drop and a lot of PC makers have some pretty sweet machines ready to go in the next couple weeks that are pretty much built for Windows 8. I'd rather get a new iMac and just dual boot Widows on to it to keep the girlfriend happy.
 
macchiato2009 said:
rumors these days have started to become quite ridiculous...


12 models for the iPad Mini... to be launched at the same time as a new iMac, and a new 13" MBP Retina and now a new Mac mini...


yes, there will probably be some new products coming during Q1, but not during a single event :rolleyes:
Click to expand...

It's quite possible the Mini would be updated without Cook going all "One more thing" on the stage. Apple often quietly updates other products straight after a media event.
 
The Mini is only about 6 months late, Ivy Bridge is getting long in the tooth. May just buy the Intel NUC with T-bolt instead, lot cheaper.
 
animatedude said:
this is slowly becoming a Mac line up event than iPad event.I guess Apple wants to include them both in one magical event....;) $10 we will see the new iMacs announced too.
Click to expand...

If at all, my money is on a spec bump, like Ivy Bridge, for the holiday quarter.

Aidan5806 said:
At this point im starting to feel like it would be more worth the wait if apple went straight to haswell processors instead of going to ivy bridge only 4-5 months before haswell goes public. It would be great if they got prerelease haswell processors, but if not, im willing to wait.
Click to expand...

I'm with you on this one, especially with Haswell's greatly improved graphics, twice as fast as Ivy Bridge's HD4000. HASWELL is said to be out by April 2013, and by that time APPLE will hopefully also implement 802.11ac.
 
Aidan5806 said:
At this point im starting to feel like it would be more worth the wait if apple went straight to haswell processors instead of going to ivy bridge only 4-5 months before haswell goes public. It would be great if they got prerelease haswell processors, but if not, im willing to wait.
Click to expand...

Processors go largely underutilized anyway, a redesign with Ivy Bridge will be sufficient for another couple of years. It would be great if Haswell was ready now, but I don't think they should base the iMac refresh on that processor alone.
 
Yup :)

Mac Mini the size of 3 iPhone's stacked on top of each other (About the size of the Apogee Duet).

You can take it anywhere you want to go (fits in your back pocket)

it will include i7 and up to 16GB RAM, 2x USB 3.0 2x Thunderbolt (yes only those 4 which is enough for 98% of the cases)

The only downside would be the video card. (but we're kinda used to it by now)

That's what I'm expecting for the new Mac Mini. :)
 
Negritude said:
No one buys them because they haven't updated them, nutjob.
Click to expand...

Actually no-one buys them, relatively, because Apple is selling more of everything else. It just isn't important to Apple anymore, like the 17" laptop. It'll be going the way of that machine soon enough. If you want one buy one now before they discontinue it.
 
faroZ06 said:
The advantage of Thunderbolt drives is that you can daisy-chain them together and that TB and FW devices don't use as many computer resources. TB is, of course, great for hubs. They work well for ethernet and digital video, too.
Click to expand...

Modern computers don't even feel the software required to drive USB 3.0, the "ressources" are a total non-issue. And you can daisy chain USB too. You keep talking about things you don't know about.

I told you why USB is winning : it's superior from a consummer stand point. The overengineered solution with more bandwidth is not superior, Thunderbolt is not superior just because it looks like it on paper.

USB 3.0 provides backwards compatibility, has enough bandwidth and is cheap. What does Thunderbolt do better ? More bandwidth ? At the cost of a new port not compatible with old devices, and makes the devices more expensive, in turn making vendors only adopt it for higher end devices...

For consumers, USB 3.0 is the superior technology and now some Macs have it.
 
The MIP Mac

With all that said, there's only one thing missing.
The cherry on top of the cake.
Then this event would perfect.

Mac Pro where are thou?
It was last reported MIP (Missing In Production).

Unfortunately I don't believe in perfection...
 
How can it be done?

KnightWRX said:
Modern computers don't even feel the software required to drive USB 3.0, the "ressources" are a total non-issue. And you can daisy chain USB too.
Click to expand...

I suspected one could do that, just like in FW and TB, but I never figured it out.

Apologies in advance for my ignorance.
Can you share with us exactly how to daisy chain USB devices?

Thanks in advance, as well.
 
KnightWRX said:
What's inferior about USB 3.0 ? I'd say it's superior due to reduced cost, complexity and the backward compatibility it provides. Thunderbolt is mostly an over-engineered/overkill solution for consumer peripherals.
Click to expand...

If to you, there isn't a difference between the two, then obviously you haven't a need for TB. Those of us that do see the difference, are happy to have it. Since Apple is providing USB 3.0 as it upgrades the mac line, I guess you are happy as well. Even just as a dock on an Apple display, TB is a worthwhile addition for consumers.

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us...thunderbolt/thunderbolt-technology-brief.html

For people that are processing live video and audio, the low latency and isochronous capabilities of TB are quite superior to USB 3.0.
 
iSayuSay said:
Mac Mini + Thunderbolt Display = Spend more, get less ..

So .. no thanks ;)
Click to expand...
Until Apple says you need minimum specs for something new (like Airplay desktop). Then you're stuck with an iMac that can't do it. The Mac mini can be replaced with another headless Mac. AIOs are never a smart investment that way.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back