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High-End Mac Mini Said to Feature Thinner Design With 'Plexiglass' Top, Magnetic Power Port
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I understand for a laptop, and I can understand for heat management, but I still despise power bricks.
That being said, I stick the ****ers behind my desk with 3M command strips.
That being said, I stick the ****ers behind my desk with 3M command strips.
Lol.... no fan... only if you only want to get 50% of your CPU power out of it. The new M1 Air throttles pretty quickly under load, even the new M1 Pro has some throttling (although way less than before).
The high end Mac Mini tends to be used in rack mounting or other high density uses... those people buy thousands at a time. With no fans the whole rack of them would throttle at once. That's unacceptable. (although totally an Apple thing to say you're using it wrong).
I wouldn't mind external power if it was just via USB-C like on the MacBooks. Then you could also use a little "docking station" for fast ethernet and display connection so you just have a single cable.
Maybe there's no Mac Pro at all and you just daisy-chain Mac minis with one cable and they manage the processing among themselves.
If I was having my way, I'd have something in the old Mac mini form factor, a SATA slot for a 3.5" drive, a slot for an M2 drive and a slot for the "compute unit", e.g. an M1 with I/O and cooling. Apple could sell you upgraded compute units every year or if you want the power now, you just stack a bunch of the things, they align magnetically and you just connect one cable.
Maybe there's no Mac Pro at all and you just daisy-chain Mac minis with one cable and they manage the processing among themselves.
If I was having my way, I'd have something in the old Mac mini form factor, a SATA slot for a 3.5" drive, a slot for an M2 drive and a slot for the "compute unit", e.g. an M1 with I/O and cooling. Apple could sell you upgraded compute units every year or if you want the power now, you just stack a bunch of the things, they align magnetically and you just connect one cable.
This doesn’t look like it’s wasn’t thought out well for a rumor. Just because space is cramped for the 24” iMac so they put the power supply external, why do it with a more powerful Mac Mini?
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Why not get it over with and move the Ethernet, USB, HDMI, Audio, SD Card Slot and Power button to the power brick. 
And if you move the M1 to the power brick as well then you can get rid of the computer. Oh wait we’re back to the original design for the mini.
And if you move the M1 to the power brick as well then you can get rid of the computer. Oh wait we’re back to the original design for the mini.
Just the thought of the Mini being updated within a year is exciting enough. The gap between the 2014 and 2018 refresh was unacceptable.
At least the power brick is smaller than the one on the original Mac mini
I don't think the magnetically attached power cord is "easily-removable".
Because the mac mini has an option for 10 GB ethernet. That requires extra hardware that probably can't fit on the power brick.
The device you are looking for, is called a laptop.
Not only does it have a battery inside, it also has a built in display.
What is it with people suggesting desktops need batteries?
PLEASE, can we start having some Macs that supports 120hz-240hz displays? That is my hope and pending disappointment.
The Plexiglass top will be to allow for better antenna signals.
Why are people so frustrated by this? The cables Apple used to provide are always WAY TOO SHORT.
I don’t see this as an update to the M1 as much as it would be an update to the high-end 2018 Intel model that’s still being sold.
theoretically, wouldn't the ethernet port be in the power brick.. like the iMacs? (hopefully more room for more ports!)
Sorry wait a Mac mini doesn’t have a battery, so if the magnetic cable gets knocked out, it’ll kill the computer.. can someone explain?
My thoughts too. The mini isn’t a show piece, and that’s always been part of its genius. Whatever the next one is, I’ll buy it immediately, but still, a really good design doesn’t get dated, and I think that’s where we are with the mini.
Prosser the toss... er... so-called leaker is making educated guesses that check off all the points, and yes, it comes with a pretty picture. In fact, that render mirrors almost exactly what I was thinking for a new Mac mini. Thinner with a proper bunch of ports. The main thing that render added that I wasn't predicting was the polycarbonate top.
Like on the iMac, this is not MagSafe. It apparently takes quite a bit of force to remove the plug. Think about it this away: On the old regular plug Macs, if you pulled the cable hard enough, it'd come out too.
The iMac is now an all-in-one except for the power supply of course.
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Eh, the new iMac does not have an integrated power supply for the first time ever in the history of iMac. That is not a rumor, nor a mismanagement of design engineering. That was an intentional decision made by someone at Apple, and in my opinion, a very bad decision for many technical reasons. But also, on a marketing / culture basis, it also goes against Apple's ethos of having everything integrated and all-in-one.
They could have made a power supply small enough and thin enough to fit in that chassis. They chose not to.
Because it takes up less horizontal space if they're mounted vertically. Why would you care about the 'look' of the ports being dumb when you should be looking at the monitor?
The M1 iMacs don't have it because 1] the chassis is too thin, and 2] Apple is currently positioning USB-A as a more pro-orientated interface, if current hardware is to go by.
No, because 10gb ethernet requires additional hardware. You also don't know that the power supply is the same, only that the connector appears the same.
The renders are from a development unit that has been confirmed may-or-may-not be released; so Apple could be in two minds about its addition. I honestly wouldn't blame them if not, given the volume of orders that go to server farms.
It's literally the first iMac without an integrated power supply. Did it not need to be there before?
Also, what is iMac? Is it an all-in-one? Or an all-in-one except for the power supply?
If it weren’t for this guy I would find it credible… and a see through top would be something new and cool
Worse than that — the 2014 topped out at dual core, and then Apple went through a phase of utter indifference to the headless desktop. We were worried that the mini was being phased out altogether, which would have been criminally stupid but at a time Apple was being criminally stupid about a lot of things.