Constrained Supplies Suggest Mac Mini Server and Mac Pro Server Headed for Refresh

[mdelvecchio]

I think Apple just has horrible strategists and they're too full of themselves to care about what the market demands.

er, what? sorry bud, you dont get to be the #1 valued tech firm and the #2 valued company anywhere by being horrible strategists and ignoring the market. to the contrary.

So maybe in 5 years we will see some real competition to Apple and they will be forced to listen to the consumer with an open mind again.

what? dude, they have PLENTY of competition. go look up the market shares.

and there is nobody selling computing hardware w/ as open a mind as apple. get real.

 

[mdelvecchio]

Remember that the 2005 $499 Mac Mini was intended as an inexpensive way for PC owners to try out, and switch to, the Mac. While PC prices have since plummeted, the Mac Mini prices, by contrast, have gone up by 40%. Apple has some serious momentum right now and a $499 Mac Mini would attract a lot of Windows users who view all of the current Macs as interesting, but too expensive.

yeah, it always bothered me that the $500-mac became a $700-mac, while the rest of the industry got cheaper. the mini *used* to be the perfect computer...i recommended it all the time. its a lot harder to do now. still do, but its not the sure fire sell.

 

[KingCrimson]

yeah, it always bothered me that the $500-mac became a $700-mac, while the rest of the industry got cheaper. the mini *used* to be the perfect computer...i recommended it all the time. its a lot harder to do now. still do, but its not the sure fire sell.

Yeah they keep peddling this underpowered C2D Mini for another year, Dell just might pass them by on that segment!

 

[MCIowaRulz]

Ah How I miss the $499 MacMini... Now if /when they are updated next month MacMini or iMac What are the possible spec list for the new Mini?

 

[KnightWRX]

Apple wants to convince you that they aren't consumer grade machines (and keep the price up)...but if the performance is the same or worse than other "consumer grade machines" I'd argue that's exactly what they are.

By your definition of consumer grade, a lot of my servers are consumer grade machines.

Hint : Consumer grade is not a measure of performance. I know damn well I don't want non-ECC memory in my servers and I'm sure a studio out in California doesn't want non-ECC memory in their editing stations. They don't give a damn that it would be much cheaper for the same performance.

The Mac Pro is what it is, a Xeon workstation class machine with workstation features. If you're not in the market for such a beast, you shouldn't be buying it and complaining its expensive.

 

[MattyO]

owned ...

Ideally, they would want everything on the cloud and controlled by them. However, I prefer to OWN my content.

I totally agree. Call me paranoid, but this cloud thing just seems like another way of apple reeling you in and being in control of you, your software, music, and movies. Apple will soon be the hub of the home electronics and entertainment.

 

[ThomasJL]

I think that the Mac Mini has a lot of potential. I used to look down on them until I started reading a lot of the posts here at MR by owners. One of the things that I don't understand (and there are a bunch) is why does Apple limit the potential of these machines by using laptop components? Yeah, I do realize that it is small, but why is it that small. This is a desktop computer. Why not make something the size of the G4 Cube and use some real and less expensive components? I read a comment recently where someone was talking about the current iMac and making suggestions on how they could make the iMac 50% thinner! I don't know why it is as thin as it is now. These are desktop computers, they do not need to be so small that they can fit into a woman's purse! These are desktop computers and desktop computer buyers want as much performance as possible. So stop hobbling these computers for the sake of style over substance.

Well said, LarryC.

Apple's catering to fanboys' and superficial women's preference of form over function limits the potential of most of their hardware, especially their desktops. As you mention, more powerful desktop components are less expensive than laptop components. It's a shame that Apple chooses to use laptop components in the Mac Mini.

 

[LarryC]

Well said, LarryC.

Apple's catering to fanboys' and superficial women's preference of form over function limits the potential of most of their hardware, especially their desktops. As you mention, more powerful desktop components are less expensive than laptop components. It's a shame that Apple chooses to use laptop components in the Mac Mini.

Thank you.

 

[scottsjack]

Apple wants to convince you that they aren't consumer grade machines (and keep the price up)...but if the performance is the same or worse than other "consumer grade machines" I'd argue that's exactly what they are.

I can't figure out why so many people think the Mac Pro is less of a machine than an iMac because the maxed out iMac can top the Mac Pro in a few tests? That's like rating automobiles by their zero to sixty speed. There's obviously a lot more to cars than how fast they can reach 60/mph.

It's the same with a Mac Pro. It can do so much more than an iMac in many categories. They are two very different machines. If the iMac works for a user and they don't need all the features of a Mac Pro then the choice is simple. Get the iMac.

 

[AidenShaw]

It is so compact.

LOL - the needs the picture.

Still no price (and "summer" up here is less than two weeks away).

 

[FluJunkie]

The idea that this means a refreshment of the line, rather than "Need a server? Buy a Mac. Then buy Lion Server." is puzzling to me.

 

[munkery]

No, you'd plug your ethernet cable into a TBolt dongle - what's the benefit (other than somebody made a bunch of money selling you the TBolt to GbE dongle)?

Obviously, it would have both ethernet ports and a thunderbolt port. No need for a dongle as you suggest.

Is thunderbolt even relevant to most users? I imagine the need for such peripherals only applies to the professional settings, such as audio/video, where the technology would be a benefit and Macs are often used.

It won't work.

It will work.

 

[Mord]

Well said, LarryC.

Apple's catering to fanboys' and superficial women's preference of form over function limits the potential of most of their hardware, especially their desktops. As you mention, more powerful desktop components are less expensive than laptop components. It's a shame that Apple chooses to use laptop components in the Mac Mini.

Hey, don't blame women for this, it's steve jobs' obsession.

Who the hell puts a mac mini in their handbag!? I owned a G4 cube and I wish every bit as much as you that apple would return to that form factor, use a desktop chipset with a proper pci-e graphics card and a 3.5" drive bay.

 

[KnightWRX]

Is thunderbolt even relevant to most users?

Of course not. But Apple is going to shovel it everywhere and hope the consumers buy into it and buy all those "made for profesional" peripherals (which are mostly expensive as hell since they're aimed at a niche market like you stated) and claim it's superiority in a bid to outdo USB3.

In the end, it'll fizzle away like FW, USB3 will be ubiquitous and Mac users will again have paid the price for Apple trying to do things differently.

 

[Sackvillenb]

Well... maybe with the refresh, the $2500 Mac Pro will come with more than a measly 3 Gb of ram....

 

[arkmannj]

I've said it before and I'll say it again.
Here's what I want from the next Mac Mini


Yeah, I posted this in another forum, but I'm to lazy to type another similar one


For me it depends on which Mini, Desktop or Server. Right now I have my sights set on a server, but I'll wait for Lion if they really are combining Server and client all into one.

But as for the server hardware, here's what I'd like to see (sorry, it's a really quick mock up, and I'm no photoshop wiz.)

Basically,
Replace the HDMI and Display ports with 3 Thunderbolt ports (each on their own bus)

• Move the SD Card slot to the front
• Add an Ethernet jack
• move the Power Supply to the outside (for easier replacement since this is a server after all, plus that should make the internals slightly cooler
• Upgrade the processor/RAM/Video Card
• USB 3 would be nice, but it's not a deal breaker for me.
• Power button on the front
• Better Ventilation
• Bootable Thunderbolt ports

Oh and the i7 sticker is representing the processor upgrade, not that I actually want a sticker on it. (but for a server I don't care, I"ll just peel the stupid thing off before I send it to a colocation facility or shove it in a closet.

--------

For the desktop version, I'd like similar, but I'm indifferent on where the power supply is, and I'd either like an optical drive, or a reduced price on an external firewire drive that matches the look/style of the mini.
a Thunderbolt to HDMI Dongle or a dedicated HDMI port would be nice to have included.

 

[linux2mac]

The Mac Mini used to be one of the most attractive Macs from a price/performance standpoint. The price has steadily been creeping up from the original $499 list to $699. Add a keyboard, pointing device, and monitor and you are into the low-end iMac territory -- with significantly worse performance.

Remember that the 2005 $499 Mac Mini was intended as an inexpensive way for PC owners to try out, and switch to, the Mac. While PC prices have since plummeted, the Mac Mini prices, by contrast, have gone up by 40%. Apple has some serious momentum right now and a $499 Mac Mini would attract a lot of Windows users who view all of the current Macs as interesting, but too expensive.

Its still worth the extra couple hundred bucks to not have to deal with buggy Windows.

 

[munkery]

In the end, it'll fizzle away like FW, USB3 will be ubiquitous and Mac users will again have paid the price for Apple trying to do things differently.

When are Macs getting USB3?

Do USB3 peripherals work with USB2? If yes, then this is really not much of an issue.

How often does a typical user move around large amounts of data to peripherals? Maybe during initial set up of a backup drive or etc, but not much after initial set up so connection speed to peripherals really doesn't impact the average user tremendously.

For professionals, faster is better. So, Thunderbolt is better than USB3. It makes sense to use the better technology when it impacts professionals but does not really make a difference to the typical user.

If my older USB peripherals are working when I upgrade to a machine with USB3, I am still going to use those older peripherals. Users that upgrade for the sake of upgrading most likely won't mind dropping the extra dough for Thunderbolt peripherals.

 

[KnightWRX]

For professionals, faster is better. So, Thunderbolt is better than USB3. It makes sense to use the better technology when it impacts professionals but does not really make a difference to the typical user.

Very few Macs are sold to professionals these days.

 

[munkery]

Very few Macs are sold to professionals these days.

Mac market share is growing so a smaller percentage of Mac users are professionals but that number is still growing as well.

None of this negates the fact that most users are not impacted enough by the transfer speed of data to peripherals to really worry about it.

So, it makes sense to cater to the group of users that are impacted by the issue given that it makes no difference to most other users.

 

[caspersoong]

Major changes please... Or I will just have to wait again.

 

[rquick]

It's such a crying shame Apple deliberately cripples the mini so badly. I think they desperately need a desktop alternative, but they just don't want to make a box to compete with the higher profit iMac. Everyone who wants an Apple desktop is forced to buy a new display, whether they need it or not, or a full workstation class machine, whether they need it or not. They also constrain the cases so that fewer people are tempted to buy and install non-Apple parts where Apple doesn't get their enormous markup. I like to upgrade often as tech improves, but I am not willing to junk the display or prevent myself from installing the parts I want. Displays don't improve as fast as other hardware so it makes no sense for me to tie them together. Otherwise I would be fine with buying a Mac desktop every year or so and pass them down to my family. As it is, I just assemble my own with non-Apple hardware with Windows 7 and it works fine. I guess Apple loses and I win. And before everyone thinks I am an Apple hater, I'm working in OSX on a 2010 MBP 17" right now. But I'm going upstairs to play Metro 2033 on my windows rig. Just kinda silly there is no real Mac alternative for that.

 

[xheathen]

Very few Macs are sold to professionals these days.

I think this is slightly misleading. Few Macs are being sold in the corporate environment, but nearly every person I know in my company (which is pretty large) has a Mac at home. And Macs are generally field-specific. So like web and graphic design shops generally always utilize mac, while networking and technology consulting maintain PC to be on the same platform most of their clients use.

Seeing that the Air looks like it'll be refreshed this coming week and the rumored constraints on the mini, I hope the two end up coming out along side one another this week.

 

[twoodcc]

Maybe this Wednesday too?

 

[KnightWRX]

I think this is slightly misleading. Few Macs are being sold in the corporate environment, but nearly every person I know in my company (which is pretty large) has a Mac at home.

I don't use my home Mac to run a dedicated SAN over FC and process tons of e-Commerce, ERP, CRM and other basic business transactions though. The machines I buy professionally do that stuff. My home Mac does consumer, home stuff.

So going with context of the sub-thread you are responding to, this is a ridiculous notion. The professionals that buy Macs for home don't do so in a professional context hence they don't need niche stuff like the Thunderbolt peripherals that are announced.

There has yet to be a mass of consumer thunderbolt stuff announced. It does look like right now that TB won't be a very consumer friendly technology, but a few Mac heads with too much money and too little sense will buy those 5 disk RAID arrays for a few thousand $.