Apple's Mac Mini is Now Three Years Old, No Refresh Date in Sight

[DevNull0]

The iMac is more cost effective by the time you get all the missing pieces. Obviously not a hot seller. Why update something nobody buys? Makes no sense.

Except that a decent monitor is good for 10+ years. My mechanical keyboard can last for decades. No reason to upgrade my Apple trackpad.

Yet through 2012, I bought a mini nearly every other year. Computers get out of date fast, the rest just lasts.

That's why I'll never buy an AIW. Why do I want to keep buying mid-range monitors when I can get a high-end every decade?

 

[fischersd]

Macrumors should have a "Captain Obvious" bot that they can use when publishing complete wasteful drivel such as this that everyone is more than aware of. All they're doing is "stirring the pot". Well, I guess increasing the post count to drive your ad revenue up?

 

[macfacts]

I wrote Tim Cook two days ago requesting release of new Mac mini. (Honest) Stated my Early 2009 isn’t doing the job.

I’ll let you all know what he says in his reply.

So buy the 2014 model. Apple still sells it.

 

[mabhatter]

Here come the ‘Apple will discontinue the Mac mini’ comments. You’re wrong!

They might as well discontinue it. They’ve pitifully abandoned Mac Server products, they’re not even good at managing Macs anymore. It’s not remotely powerful enough to run the media creation software Apple sells, because that would compete with more expensive models. They have increasingly locked them down to be difficult to upgrade.. I’d expect any new Mini to be a single board with Laptop CPU and soldered SSD just like the new laptops. They want “appliances” not “computers”.

They don’t even really support Mac as a platform for the back-end of iOS apps anymore... that’s why Swift is ported to Linux. And if you’re already on Linux, doing server stuff, a Mac is just overpriced. Apple doesn’t even use Macs as servers and hasn’t for quite a while.

If Apple has a plan they need to speak up, because they’re not even in the development/server game as a company anymore.

 

[Haswell]

It's embarrassing that they still have it for sale... update the damn processor or something, throw your customers a bone. Most mini models STILL have 5400 rpm HDs in them for cripes sake. Plus DDR3 and dinosaur processors; Apple must have commissioned Intel to keep making these processors or something, I surprised they still even have them available.

Plus it's a dual core processor, and the 2012 model had a quad core option.

 

[jim_at_macrumors]

FWIW, about a month ago, Apple sent me a link to a marketing survey that was all about the Mac Mini (presumably driven by my ownership of one). So they haven’t *completely* forgotten about it...

 

[IG88]

Apple said the Mac mini was in the works on April 2017:

▪ Near the end, John Paczkowski had the presence of mind to ask about the Mac Mini, which hadn’t been mentioned at all until that point. Schiller: “On that I’ll say the Mac Mini is an important product in our lineup and we weren’t bringing it up because it’s more of a mix of consumer with some pro use. … The Mac Mini remains a product in our lineup, but nothing more to say about it today.”

Source:
The Mac Pro Lives
https://daringfireball.net/2017/04/the_mac_pro_lives

How did you glean "in the works" out of Schiller's statement?

 

[FelixDerKater]

Good test case for an A11-based client.

 

[Altis]

So buy the 2014 model. Apple still sells it.

Buying a 3 year old computer with now 4-generation old CPUs, no USB-C/TB3...

... for the same price as 3 years ago, even...

Yikes.

 

[Count Blah]

I'm afraid the problem is that not enough people are interested in buying a Mac Mini.

Link? Doubt to make your claim when the 2014 Mac Mini was a downgrade from the 2012 one, and the machine has not been updated in 3 years now.

So that makes SIX YEARS!!! since the Mac Mini has seen an improvement. Tough to claim you know, when the company itself is purposely gimping the entire product line.

 

[citysnaps]

Only one word describes this: “Courage”

Remember that at Apple, for every “yes” there are a thousand “no”s. Recent “yes” decisions that happened while any Mac Mini update proposal got a “no”:

• Carpool Karaoke show
• Planet of the Apps show
• Notch on a phone
• Beats headphones updates
• Removal of headphone ports
• Steve Jobs Theater handrails carved into the wall
• Animated Emoji
• CEO getting political
• Removing MagSafe
• Touchbar
• Keep the maximum amount of RAM the same
• “Thin”

12000 decisions were rejected in favor of those.

Of course, you neglected many meaningful yes', no doubt intentionally. Jeeez, where do I start? SWIFT programming language and multiple programs to get people programming, AirPods, AR and AR Kit, wide gamut DCI-P3 displays, Apple Pencil, laptops with four ports of prodigious TB 3 I/O, AR and AR Kit, a true depth-sensing precision 3D camera, Apple Watch, Apple Music, HomePod, huge advances in Ax processor chip development, super fast internal SSDs, etc.

 

[Count Blah]

What I don't get is; How difficult is it to update the Mac mini? This is not cutting edge technology. It is an entry level base headless desktop computer.

• Update the processor.
• Increase standard RAM to 8GB.
• Update the HD and allow an option for SSD (which Apple already does)
• Perhaps, replace one of the standard USB ports with an USB-C port.

If a price adjustment is necessary, so be it....but seriously, once in production, how much could these changes cost? This is all off-the-shelf technology and components.

Don't spend millions of product development dollars to create a sleeker and lighter form factor! It's a desktop for goodness sake! It almost never moves!

They don't want to lose the sale of a SINGLE iMac, Mac Pro, nor Mac portable. That philosophy MUST be maintained at all costs.

They made the mistake with the 2012 Mac Mini, and it ended up like this ...

... an affordable, upgradeable powerhouse - Apple must NEVER allow that kind of value to exist again!!! Think of the poor margins!!!

 

[bopajuice]

Whatever happens to the Mini, I don’t think any Apple employee should be allowed to talk about courage, innovation, visions, or ideas for the future, until the fate of the Mini is decided. To sell such an outdated computer at such a premium for a useable model, and at the same time claiming Apple is the leading innovator in computing is almost comical.

 

[macdragonfl]

I'm starting to see huge price drops on Mac pros on resellers sites, might just pick up one of those as an upgrade for my Mini. The base system for $1995. It's more power than I will ever need and you can upgrade it so thinking about that pretty hard now.

 

[scrapesleon]

Can we get a refresh of the Mac mini next year March at least thanks in advance

 

[skitidetdu]

as long as they replace it with a similar model (similar priced) I don't care. I've been waiting for a new model for a long time and I'm definitely not along....

 

[majkom]

to all inac lovers and apple apologists: yeah sure, and 27inch or 21.5 inch must suit everyone... forget those new 32inch 4k monitors, cause sb on this forum said that imac is the best

 

[SteveW928]

And.... to make matters worse, the last couple 'upgrades' were actually downgrades. I think the last good Mini was like 5 years ago. I'd buy a used one of those, but I'm worried it will get dropped in terms of OS support.

I'm not wanting anything all that special either... just quad-core option and updated ports. Heck, I'll even take a dual-core with updated ports so long as the pricing isn't crazy (as it currently is).

 

[redheeler]

Waiting patiently to upgrade my 2012 model. Luckily I see there’s a thread entitled, “The new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming”, so that gives me hope.

Given when the thread you mentioned was started, it already came - that was the 2014 model.

Now... Who knows? I'm starting to give up hope that whatever replaces my (bought used) Mac Pro 5,1 will be an actual Mac and not a Hackintosh or Windows/Linux PC. There's only so much time or leeway I can give Apple to actually care about offering a decent cost-effective desktop, which the Mac mini has not been for three years now.

 

[NY Guitarist]

2012 Mac Mini was the last one worth buying IMO.

 

[doctor-don]

Update my 2012 Mini and my 2008 Mac Pro.
I do NOT plan on buying a "new" Mac Pro that has 4 year old electronics.

 

[cthart]

Intel NUC anyone? That's where the market has headed. Apple could have released an ultra-small form factor Mac mini about 5 years ago and defined the market. Instead Apple now has to play catch-up.

 

[49JC]

Do people want good resale value or tech that is constantly updated so that what you bought 6 months ago is now old. Can't have it both ways.

Tell that to MBA and MBP users. Lol.

So what about the users who aren't ready to buy in 2014 but are in 2016? Am they too still buying for good resale value?

 

[MH01]

Relax people, apple is

1. Trying to work out how to gimp it even more, so the 2012 remains the best Mac mini...
2. Working on a "pro" version, that will throttle and be underclcoked but cost thousands more....

My money is on the pro, pro under Cook = profit

 

[purplehaze0]

Nice device that deserves a refresh