Apple's Next Mac Mini Refresh: Everything We Know

[FaceChart2]

There is no way in hell the Mini will have pro and max chips. If they do, they will be altered (gimped) in a drastic way. Think the difference between a GeForce 3090 TI and 3060. Both 3000 series cards based on the same chip, but drastic hit to performance.

Apple has NEVER allowed the mini to fully compete with the larger MacBook pros and higher end iMacs. This has always been a pipe dream of mini fans for many years, and it’s just not happening.

Apple only has pro and max chips for larger MacBook pros and the new 27” iMac FOR AT LEAST the next 18 months.

There is no way in hell they are going to let their cheapest product (the mini) that has always been a value product cannabinolize sales of their $3000-8000 high dollar premium pro product range.

Just not happening guys. Sorry.

 

[BlendedFrog]

Since the high-end m1 mini is already $1800USD, I'm wondering what a high-end m1max mini would be? Probably north of $2000-2200USD.

 

[SFjohn]

I’m really holding out for HDMI 2.1. I do expect to be disappointed however with Apple adding old lame ports on their top end machines.

 

[brofkand]

Wait, wouldn’t it be a power cable? There’s no battery to charge, right? That makes a magnetic cable (which could pop out fairly easily) kind of pointless here doesn’t it? It’s not like the iMac, which requires such a design because of its absurdly thin profile.

I was hoping the 24" iMac was the last of Jony Ive's influence on Macintosh hardware.

 

[asdfjkl;]

Can we have a Mac Mini in Product Red or Matte/Jet black, please. I really want my Mac Mini to stand out.

Oooohhh, Jet black, yes please!

 

[anthogag]

A smaller mini could have ports on more than 1 side. Having everything at the back (one side) would limit how small overall it can be.

 

[Andrew73875]

I concur. The Mac mini form factor will change, and it will likely go smaller too.

Maybe not. The new MacBook Pro 16-inch is almost as heavy as MacBook Pro 15-inch 2010 with DVD drive.

MacBook Pro 16-inch 2021​	MacBook Pro 15-inch 2010​
(4.8 pounds (2.2 kg)​	(5.6 pounds (2.54 kg)​

And also thicker than MacBook Pro 15-inch 2016.

MacBook Pro 16-inch 2021​	MacBook Pro 15-inch 2016​
0.66 (1.68 cm)​	0.61 inch (1.55 cm)​

So it can also be a bigger and heavier device. And one can only imagine how it would look like considering the latest redesigns. They will probably ditch those elegant rounded corners and make it a square box. And will also add those feet from the MacBook Pro product line:

Talking about design, just visit an Apple Store with a friend or a relative who's not following the Apple news. Show them two iMacs (27-inch and the newest 24-inch) and ask which one is the newest model. They will probably say the 27-inch model. It just looks so much better and so much more modern.

 

[femike]

I hope that rendering is not the design. I prefer a taller machine, with more than adequate cooling and the ability to add an air filter that compliments the design (With the mac mini first gen design you could do this very nicely, as someone did exactly that, and it was so well done that Apple should of sold it in-store, and I'm still using it today).

 

[MBAir2010]

the current one looks outstanding and very sharp, not as shiny as the 2012s, but.....
the proposed one looks like 2007 and will "yeller" in a few years.

 

[swm]

That’s the hard part for me as well. I have a monitor, but will that iMac also have a better one than I do now? If it’s a reasonable separation between what the Mini costs vs what I’d have to pay to upgrade the monitor, it may be the winner. But on the other hand, separating the two allows me to upgrade independently and on their own schedules.

the iMac experience is something you can't reproduce, unless you wanna shell out $6k for a xdr pro display. i still have an apple thunderbolt display that is connected to my MBP, as brightness control is essential... but it's a 10yo device

 

[kfscoll]

Apple has NEVER allowed the mini to fully compete with the larger MacBook pros and higher end iMacs. This has always been a pipe dream of mini fans for many years, and it’s just not happening.

Sure they have. The top 2018 Mac mini configuration (3.2GHz 6-core desktop i7 / 64GB / 2TB SSD) is extremely competitive with the top 2018 MBP configuration (2.9GHz 6-core mobile i9 / 32GB / 4TB SSD).

There’s no way that Apple won’t offer M1 Pro / M1 Max Mac mini options in the next few months.

 

[ZZ9pluralZalpha]

Perhaps Tim Apple will realize that the only display options for his shiny new Mac mini right now are the XDR at 10x the price or your choice of ugly, universally-plasticky third-party monitor…

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Can we have a Mac Mini in Product Red or Matte/Jet black, please. I really want my Mac Mini to stand out.

There are companies that can anodize aluminum from a lot of different sources. Don't know how much it would cost, but it's doable.

 

[HiVolt]

Please, please, please allow 4, 6 or even 8TB of internal flash storage...It's such a great mini server...having a ton of internal storage would be great..so an external can be a backup, not the primary like we have had to do for so many years...

Wouldn't be awesome if it had a trap door that you could just slide in a tray with either a 2.5" SSD or nVME? God knows there's plenty of room inside now.

 

[spatlese44]

Wait, wouldn’t it be a power cable? There’s no battery to charge, right? That makes a magnetic cable (which could pop out fairly easily) kind of pointless here doesn’t it? It’s not like the iMac, which requires such a design because of its absurdly thin profile.

I’ve been saying for a while now I’d like to see a mac mini with a battery. With the power supply external, the mini could be smaller and lighter and you wouldn’t have to shut down. For packing purpose, the current mini is arguably easier than a laptop as it’s less fragile and has smaller major dimensions.

That said, I don’t really love the idea of needing to buy or transport an ext power supplies. Currently, I can unplug two cables on an Apple TV and plug the Mac mini in within a few seconds.

 

[lovehateapple]

Seriously hoping a new reasonably priced display is announced for the incoming mini! ?

 

[EugW]

Maybe not. The new MacBook Pro 16-inch is almost as heavy as MacBook Pro 15-inch 2010 with DVD drive.

MacBook Pro 16-inch 2021​	MacBook Pro 15-inch 2010​
(4.8 pounds (2.2 kg)​	(5.6 pounds (2.54 kg)​

And also thicker than MacBook Pro 15-inch 2016.

MacBook Pro 16-inch 2021​	MacBook Pro 15-inch 2016​
0.66 (1.68 cm)​	0.61 inch (1.55 cm)​

So it can also be a bigger and heavier device. And one can only imagine how it would look like considering the latest redesigns. They will probably ditch those elegant rounded corners and make it a square box. And will also add those feet from the MacBook Pro product line:

View attachment 1957198

Talking about design, just visit an Apple Store with a friend or a relative who's not following the Apple news. Show them two iMacs (27-inch and the newest 24-inch) and ask which one is the newest model. They will probably say the 27-inch model. It just looks so much better and so much more modern.

I and others have posted this before, but the current Mac mini is BIGGER than the 14" MacBook Pro, yet the 14" MacBook Pro includes a battery, a screen, a keyboard, and a trackpad, among other things.

I hope that rendering is not the design.

It says right in the article that is not the design.

I’ve been saying for a while now I’d like to see a mac mini with a battery.

That isn't going to happen... because it would be completely pointless.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

There are companies that can anodize aluminum from a lot of different sources. Don't know how much it would cost, but it's doable.

- Those companies ask too much $
- It also voids the warranty
- Not sure if It meets Apple standards quality, hmm.

 

[BGPL]

Let me summarize this article.

THEY DON'T KNOW ANYTHING.

 

[Realityck]

This is really the blind leading the blind because Apple has this locked away from all prying eyes. I still think you will see this at the late April/early May spring event.

 

[Scoob Redux]

Color options have not yet been confirmed, so Apple could just stick to the standard Mac mini shades.

Translation: Colors options may change, or they may stay the same. What was the value of this sentence?

 

[Merlin100]

The only question then is do you need all of that storage on the expensive (and really fast) Apple SSD. Or can it work just as well on slower/cheaper USB or network attached storage?

Well actually...I have about 10 customers I support with Mini's as their server. Lawyers, graphic artists and marketing companies. Most have between 10 and 30 users hitting the server all day. I usually have a Promise RAID (RAID 5) attached over Thunderbolt to share from, but it's not quite fast enough (according to the end users) to keep up sometimes. So I've been holding out for faster internal storage. Adding a 10GB switch would help also...Most customers have 2-5TB of data to store. The graphics types have huge files, 500mb to 2Gb each and the Law Firms have 10's of thousands of documents to store and spend all day opening and closing word and PDF files. Both are hitting the servers pretty hard and fast. So I keep dreaming of more and faster storage....

 

[rebelrogue42]

Curious how many displays we would be able to connect to a mini with an M1 Max.

 

[Macintosh TV]

They've only been claiming the design would be updated for how many years now? 2012 or even before?

 

[FaceChart2]

Sure they have. The top 2018 Mac mini configuration (3.2GHz 6-core desktop i7 / 64GB / 2TB SSD) is extremely competitive with the top 2018 MBP configuration (2.9GHz 6-core mobile i9 / 32GB / 4TB SSD).

There’s no way that Apple won’t offer M1 Pro / M1 Max Mac mini options in the next few months.

Go look at the benchmarks then tell me that. The mini CPU is as much as 50% slower in certain workloads and the GPU (UHD 630 vs discrete graphics in the MacBook Pro) is completely obliterated.