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

[Glassed Silver]

I think it's absolutely necessary that not only the comments, but also the articles on Apple blogs reflect on Apple's poor gigs a little more.

If you love Apple, you rub it in when they fail to live up to expectations that they STILL want you to believe in today just as much as when you freshly fell in love with them.

I'll save you guys the usually "Tim Cook this, Tim Cook that" complaining. It's absolutely appropriate to point a finger at him considering the Mac Mini has been out for 5 years (don't kid yourselves), but at this point it's like talking about how the sky is blue.

Glassed Silver:mac

 

[PBRsg]

It's dead. I hope not, but it's probably dead.

I am not sure about that. The Mac Mini seems to be the most neglected product in the Apple line (now that the Apple TV has become more prominent). This just looks like more of the same.

 

[groove-agent]

I have a 2006 Mac mini which runs as a NAS / Plex server. It is a beast. Too bad Apple neglected it for far too long like an orphaned child...
[doublepost=1508220407][/doublepost]Fans will buy anything they put out at any price so it’s ok to keep fumbling and remain complacent. As long as stock is doing well why even try?

Billions in the bank and billions more to come... but hey don’t give our customers what they want. Just up the price and remove some ports...

[doublepost=1508220713][/doublepost]

Years between MBP, years between MINI. Not good enough.

Tony I’ve says they can still innovate. Heck I’d be happy if they can just update their lines in a timely manner with processors and RAM. Instead we have 3 year old computers and new computers with the same memory and disk space as my 2012 MBP.
[doublepost=1508221224][/doublepost]Had to replace my moms Mac mini. I couldn’t justify the price for the crappy specs so we bought a PC. It was a sad day and Apple should be ashamed for their neglect!

But why should they be when stocks are are still doing well?

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.

 

[otternonsense]

Let's face it, Tim Cook is an unmitigated disaster for all things Mac/ OSX.

 

[BGarza]

For me, it's still the ideal conference room computer. Skip brining a laptop and tons of adapters, the Mac Mini mounts under the table, connected to wall mounted displays or projectors. We have dozens of them at my University.

 

[bartvk]

It is sad that this loyal mac customer has to get the intel NUC even though I'd pay double for a nice mac mini.

It's very much a shame. I'm in the same position. I decided to get the Intel NUC7i3BNK and installed Windows 10 on it, just last week actually. Besides 4K, the big advantage of this NUC7 series is that they have hardware acceleration for Youtube's VP9 codec.
[doublepost=1508222254][/doublepost]

It's dead. Time to move on and enjoy life. Better than staying worked up 24/7 about a piece of tech.

Yeah I have to agree here. The thing is, there are excellent alternatives out there. And Windows isn't so bad if you're careful.

 

[EightyTwenty]

So buy the 2014 model. Apple still sells it.

Why should he waste money on outdated crap? Only a complete idiot would buy a 2014 Mac Mini for full price. If they slashed the price by 50%, maybe. But even that would be a bit of a rip-off.

The joke of a computer can't even do 4K properly and comes with only 4gb of RAM glued to the motherboard. What a farce of a machine to be selling in 2017.

 

[MrCrowbar]

My 2011 model is still going strong. It lives inside a soundproof drawer so I don't hear the fan when doing music recording, video encoding or backups. There's also loads of USB drives attached to it so all the house computers back up to them via Time Machine. It's also the media center, most of the time I use youTube or Netflix on the big TV. I'm going to be so pissed when the hard drive dies...

I'd love a new one, a bit more grunt and an SSD. I'm amazed they're still selling it, must be old stock.

 

[EightyTwenty]

My 2011 model is still going strong. It lives inside a soundproof drawer so I don't hear the fan when doing music recording, video encoding or backups. There's also loads of USB drives attached to it so all the house computers back up to them via Time Machine. It's also the media center, most of the time I use youTube or Netflix on the big TV. I'm going to be so pissed when the hard drive dies...

I'd love a new one, a bit more grunt and an SSD. I'm amazed they're still selling it, must be old stock.

I'm sure you know this, but you can easily put a SSD in the 2011 mini.

 

[MIDI_EVIL]

My theory is they're using the Mac Mini as a bridge computer between their own iDevice processors and the Mac. We'll see an update soon, with a fully fledged macOS machine running an Apple designed 'A' processor.

What do you guys think?

 

[Ries]

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

Mac Mini Pro $150 more than now, Half the size, Integrated touch bar, not sure why, half the RAM and the best undercloked 2 core mobile intel tablet CPU money can buy! Comes with two storage SSD sizes, 2GB and 1TB. Ports in line with current models, mini jack + lightning port and USB-A.

 

[Moolani]

My 2012 MAC Mini (quad core) has been a great machine. I just wished Apple would just do a proper refresh. I can’t justify buying 3 year tech that would be worse than the machine it replaces. Surely there have to be some people that still want an affordable, fast, small desktop Mac, right?

 

[vmistery]

Perhaps 2018 will be the year of the mini and 17” MBP ;-)

My real guess is the mini is going to be replaced by something, probably more expensive but still sitting below the MP

 

[thekeyring]

I guess u can have a birthday cake celebrate how long its been without an update..

The Mac Pro was "important" as well and it suffered the same fate basically. So the same time frame could be the same here.

I have Late 2014 model..

Many people suspected Apple had made a mistake with the design of the Mac Pro. Apple publically admitted this was true: they couldn’t put a red hot GPU inside the Mac Pro’s design, and had to go back to the drawing board. They bit the bullet and said this publically, despite the product being over a year away (a first for Apple, unless I’m mistaken?)

So, the lack of updates for Mac Pro wasn’t just down to apathy.

What about the mini?

Like many other late you’d want to upgrade it a current tech spec’d model. Yet Apple is hoping you’d have saved enough over the past 3yrs (recall fist year anniversary is counted 1yr after the product is released) for an IMac.



Damn straight!



Whee the FRAK did you come up with hat BS - Apple’s own Marketinf school?! No such dribble exists in higher education for business.

Very convincing theory from John Gruber’s podcast - The Talk Show.

There’s no need to be so rude, either.

 

[Marx55]

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

“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.”

 

[Wanted797]

Apple probably has some new Mac Mini the size of an Apple TV in the works that every will that when it is finally realised.

 

[MH01]

Mac Mini Pro $150 more than now, Half the size, Integrated touch bar, not sure why, half the RAM and the best undercloked 2 core mobile intel tablet CPU money can buy! Comes with two storage SSD sizes, 2GB and 1TB. Ports in line with current models, mini jack + lightning port and USB-A.

Nah , will come with just USB-C port , so you will have to buy a dongle to even attach an iPhone . Same port will be used for power, so you will again need a dongle to attach something else.

 

[MacFather]

Deleted.

 

[oldmacs]

It really ticks me off when Apple don't update stuff. They have the funds to spec bump it each year.

I'll bet they'll take the other route - don't update for years then design something from the ground up, make it more expensive, compromised, lacking features, etc but declare it revolutionary and people will accept and buy because its Apple.

 

[dilbert99]

What's an Apple Mac Mini?

 

[CmdrLaForge]

This is such an unbelievable joke that I have no words.

 

[Hattig]

Apple's support of their Mac line since Cook took over has been lacklustre at best. The Mac Mini and the Mac Pro are lines that show this most.

Recently they seem to be suggesting that they are aware of this and will fix it. But that's just words until things appear.

Either the next Mac Mini will have decent specifications (finally), but cost more, or it'll be the start of a crossover product using A11 (A11X if next year) with MacOS. It's not a pro machine, so meh if the Pro apps don't work initially. Or maybe it will fade away.

 

[anthorumor]

This is the worst birthday celebrations I have ever witnessed!

 

[TribalG]

3 years, no updates...

 

[Naaaaak]

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.

They have to play catch-up with almost everything Desktop/Laptop.

Do you think the MacBook Air was their last "market defining" product? Sure, they pushed features like "thin" and Retina displays (sort of, the MacBook Air still doesn't have it, ironically). But the last product that really put them in the driver's seat was the MacBook Air, I think.