Fake Mac Mini Images Circulate

[illegallydead]

[...]
The new mini will use integrated nvidia graphics, 4 usb ports, and a single firewire 800 port.

No way. Only the Mac pro has more than 4. There is no way the Mini will have that many. Apple is not one for convenience, just for aesthetics. You're thinking too PC-ish
Oh, and absolutely no way it will have FW800. I doubt even FW400, as we have seen with the new MB, that is beeing phased out of all but "Pro" machines.

As before, there will be two configurations, at $599 and $799 respectively. Both will sport a super drive (combo drives finally go away) and 2GB RAM expandable to 4GB. Differences in the two models will be in processor speed and hard disk capacity. There will not be a blueray disc option as some have speculated.

That sounds believable. Having the combo drive just means they have to make/order multiple drives, making economies of scale harder to realize.

HAHA.
[...]
dumb joke, but honestly i think they should just push to make the mini as cheap as cheap. they introduced this as a bridge from pc. it's small enough, now make it ultra cheap. i'm thinking $200

Again, this IS apple we are talking about. They ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT make a Mac that cheap. They very easily could, simply by cutting profit margins a little, but, like I said, this is Apple. If you cannot afford a Mac you are not cool enough to have one (in their/their CMO's mind), so tough luck.
Apple has never (at least in the last decade or so, which is all I can speak definitively about) catered to the cheap. They never will. Their only reasonably priced piece of hardware is the iPhone and that is only because they and AT&T will be able to bend you over for two years to make up far more than the amount they subsidized.

 

[illegallydead]

The fake images have started circulating.

Why does it need the Macbook-like gap in it. I think without that it looks pretty damn spot on.

Because it was photoshopped in like 5 minutes going off of an existing MB. My dog could do a PS job like that

Expect better images (either PS'd with more time/effort or actually leaked) as we getter closer, if this does ever materialize. One way or another though, I see apple doing something to the Mini, whether they update it or axe it...

 

[kolax]

No way. Only the Mac pro has more than 4. There is no way the Mini will have that many. Apple is not one for convenience, just for aesthetics. You're thinking too PC-ish
Oh, and absolutely no way it will have FW800. I doubt even FW400, as we have seen with the new MB, that is beeing phased out of all but "Pro" machines.

I guess in your own arrogance you failed to realise that the current Mac Mini has 4 USB ports and a FireWire 400 port...

They may not all run on independent buses, but never-the-less, 4 USB ports..

 

[weckart]

I could go both ways on this. I'd have my Mini in an entertainment center under my TV, so power cord tripping wouldn't be an issue. If I did have the Mini in an area where the power cord would possibly be in somebody's path, I'd rather have it unexpectedly turn off than have my computer crash to the floor.

Maybe the new Mini could have a battery for these instances, although, I admit, that seems unlikely.

Yes, that makes complete sense. Add on a pointless Magsafe connector and then bulk up the base unit further with a battery pack to compensate for the increased risk of power disconnects. That will cut productions costs enough to incorporate the nVidia components with no price hike for the consumer to gripe about.

And by the way, the power pack on the mini has always been external (and ridiculously large), not just recently. If Apple needed to slim down on somewhere, then it should have turned its attention that first of all.

 

[karterius]

Mini in my Car

I cannot wait until this comes out. I hope it is actually smaller, as I have been saving uo to put a mini in my car.

I also hope they finally integrate a wireless N chipset in.

A plus would be the external power supply too, as it would allow for easier integration into the Carnetix power Supply.

I just need a good screen to out in there and I'm good to go.

My dream is to have my iTunes libraries sync with each other every time I pull in the garage, and through EV-DO have internet everywhere.

 

[karlfranz]

No way. Only the Mac pro has more than 4. There is no way the Mini will have that many. Apple is not one for convenience, just for aesthetics. You're thinking too PC-ish
Oh, and absolutely no way it will have FW800. I doubt even FW400, as we have seen with the new MB, that is beeing phased out of all but "Pro" machines.

Ummm, you do realize the existing Mac mini already has 4 USB ports, right? FW is not being phased out, it was not included on the Macbook because there was no physical space to put the connector on the new unibody. The larger dimensions of the MacBook Pro allowed them to include the single FW800 port, but they had to do away with the FW400.

Replacing the DVI/VGA port with displayport means there is even more space in the back than on the outgoing model. The Mac mini has enough space for FW on the back and FW800 is backward compatible, so no need for the FW400 port.

 

[mikeinternet]

Again, this IS apple we are talking about. They ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT make a Mac that cheap. They very easily could, simply by cutting profit margins a little, but, like I said, this is Apple. If you cannot afford a Mac you are not cool enough to have one (in their/their CMO's mind), so tough luck.

i agree that apple makes a premium product at a premium price. i just think at this point a 200 dollar mini would kill and the more people on mac the better.

 

[FF_productions]

How does $599 for 2 GHz, 1GB of RAM, and a 9400M sound?

LOL....that really will be the specs. Oh Apple, what era are you guys in? So innovative, such stupid specs. Amazes me, it's nearly 2009, they are offering 1 gig of ram with their expensive low-end machines.

 

[ingenious]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5G77 Safari/525.20)

Honestly, at this point, I just want them to release some new Mac minis, no matter what they look like...

 

[ingenious]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5G77 Safari/525.20)

When you zoom in on the button thing on the second image, you can clearly see the pixel difference

Those are artifacts of excessive JPEG compression, not a photoshopping booboo.
And the, ahem, photoshopper forgot the "beauty" spot (IR) port -- or rather, I'm assuming the white circle is the "power" button. Imagine that. Putting the power button on the front where folks can find it. Almost as simple as putting it next to the keyboard on the laptops.

If the Mac mini does get an update, surely it won't be aesthetically more than changing that white plastic top to black "glass"... but will probably have the same mag safe connector as the laptops so you can use the 24" LED "Cinema" display... or maybe they haven't thought of that yet...

MagSafe on a desktop is a bad idea... What if you trip on the cord?

 

[ColinEC]

I'm thinking we'll basically just get a headless MacBook.

Maybe something like this...

2GHz or 2.4GHz Core 2 Duo
2GB or 4GB of RAM
160GB or 250GB or 320GB HD
GeForce 9400M Graphics or GeForce 9600M 256MB

 

[cloudnine]

okay, let's sum up all of the responses here:

1. omg it's totally fake.
2. omg they're so cool i'm buying one when it comes out.
3. omg wtf why can't i upgrade it easily?
4. omg too thin.
5. omg it's still too expensive.
6. omg omg omg.

 

[cloudnine]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPod; U; CPU iPhone OS 2_2 like Mac OS X; en-us) AppleWebKit/525.18.1 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/3.1.1 Mobile/5G77 Safari/525.20)

MagSafe on a desktop is a bad idea... What if you trip on the cord?

if your desktop's power cable is somewhere where someone could trip on it, there's a problem.

 

[kolax]

if your desktop's power cable is somewhere where someone could trip on it, there's a problem.

It'll pop out if you got a USB cable tangled with it.

Or if you stretched your foot out under the desk, it might yank the cord slightly and pop it out.

Using MagSafe on a desktop is an idiotic idea.

 

[kjs862]

Its interesting to see if Apple will use the mini display port on the new mac mini because the mini is targeted to new mac user that already have an external monitor - remember bring your own display, mouse, and keyboard.

 

[cloudnine]

Ummm, you do realize the existing Mac mini already has 4 USB ports, right? FW is not being phased out, it was not included on the Macbook because there was no physical space to put the connector on the new unibody. The larger dimensions of the MacBook Pro allowed them to include the single FW800 port, but they had to do away with the FW400.

Replacing the DVI/VGA port with displayport means there is even more space in the back than on the outgoing model. The Mac mini has enough space for FW on the back and FW800 is backward compatible, so no need for the FW400 port.

in all fairness, i see your point, but i do believe that firewire is being "partially" phased out... at least until usb 3.0 is released (next year, i believe? someone correct me if i'm wrong), at which point, i don't see why it wouldn't be phased out completely. firewire sync'ing and charging was included in all ipods up until recently... now the iphone, ipod touch, ipod classic and nano only charge/sync via usb. and with the introduction of the macbook air, there was no firewire... new macbook, no firewire (their most popular notebook, btw). it wouldn't surprise me if, in another year, firewire was phased out completely in favor of USB 3.0, which has speeds that put 2.0 and FW to shame.

 

[cloudnine]

It'll pop out if you got a USB cable tangled with it.

Or if you stretched your foot out under the desk, it might yank the cord slightly and pop it out.

Using MagSafe on a desktop is an idiotic idea.

I agree completely. My point was only that if your power cord is somewhere that would allow for it to be tripped over, you're doing it wrong, and you fail.

 

[NT1440]

Its interesting to see if Apple will use the mini display port on the new mac mini because the mini is targeted to new mac user that already have an external monitor - remember bring your own display, mouse, and keyboard.

Oh itll deffinatly be there, seeing as steve said they will be on all the new apple products. I doubt it will be the only connection tho

 

[kjs862]

Oh itll deffinatly be there, seeing as steve said they will be on all the new apple products. I doubt it will be the only connection tho

Yeah good thinking. However instead of adding addition display ports, maybe Apple can only include the mini display port to save space, and instead supply a universal adapter to accommodate customers accordingly.

 

[spatlese44]

Any hopes for an eSATA port?

I've been looking for external drive enclosures. USB is the most common connector. eSATA is second most common. Firewire is only available starting around $65.

 

[kjs862]

esata would be nice, isn't it the faster than FW800?

 

[MacFly123]

That's pretty cool, although I don't think Apple would have a glowing Apple logo, do you? I think it will a shiny black Apple like Time Capsule has.

I think it will be black too, but Time Capsule does not have a black Apple logo, it is chrome.

 

[fleshman03]

Its interesting to see if Apple will use the mini display port on the new mac mini because the mini is targeted to new mac user that already have an external monitor - remember bring your own display, mouse, and keyboard.

They will either give an adaptor or make the consumer buy one. That's Apple for ya.

 

[TheSeanWilson]

Rumours suck

It would be more realistic if we got images and information at the same time. As it happens though, Photoshoppers all hear the same rumour, and within a week, you have five different designs that are just cut-and-pasted from other Apple products (cough click-wheel iPhone?).

 

[Schtumple]

It would be more realistic if we got images and information at the same time. As it happens though, Photoshoppers all hear the same rumour, and within a week, you have five different designs that are just cut-and-pasted from other Apple products (cough click-wheel iPhone?).

It's very un-inspired isn't it. Although I have seen a few mockups that were deadly close to the final product, unibody Macbooks was the most recent one.