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It is a sad day: Mac mini update highly unlikely.
- Thread starter gladoscc
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I think Apple is just trying to satisfy the demand for updated computers with their higher end models. Once the first adopters go out and buy the expensive stuff, they will probably offer a new Mini. Why canibalize any of their sales w/ their least expensive product, when demand is pretty bottled up and should be quite robust. Certainly it will tip people toward more iMac purchases if the iMac is a generation ahead of the Mini plus a monitor.
They have very reliably been wrong
Ironically
If apple refresh the Macbook Pro and Macbook Air lines it would stand to reason they'd also update the Mac Mini. I think Apple are in a different position now where they need to go with what Intel can provide at a good price point and availability thus the likely to see Sandy Bridge Mac Minis sooner rather than later.
Ironically
If apple refresh the Macbook Pro and Macbook Air lines it would stand to reason they'd also update the Mac Mini. I think Apple are in a different position now where they need to go with what Intel can provide at a good price point and availability thus the likely to see Sandy Bridge Mac Minis sooner rather than later.
Don't be surprised if the Mini refresh is delayed a bit. Last year the MBP was released in February. The Mini came out in the summer, even though it used the exact same CPUs that were in the MBP.
It still manages to perform and runs cooler than the equivalent MBP with the same CPU.
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I don't think they'll update the Mac Mini until October... and TBH they don't need to, the current Mac Mini is perfectly fine.
As Intel has only released the dual core CPUs that go in the Mac Mini in the last week or so, whereas the Quad Core CPUs were released at the end of April it seems unlikely that the MacBook Air and Mac Mini will see updates before July.
I continue to be amazed that people comment on the profitability or lack thereof of specific Apples products with absolutely no evidence to back it up!
The Mac Mini has no real competitors in the Windows world, that isn't true of the MacBooks. That is usually a recipe for very high margins.
I continue to be amazed that people comment on the profitability or lack thereof of specific Apples products with absolutely no evidence to back it up!
The Mac Mini has no real competitors in the Windows world, that isn't true of the MacBooks. That is usually a recipe for very high margins.
Performance-wise, Ivy Bridge will just be an incremental update anyway. It's not like the Mini is going to get redesigned with a Retina display like the upcoming laptops.
HD4000 will be much better than HD3000, but the people who need a faster GPU would already have the Radeon.
We'll see what the 2013 version has to offer, that should be pretty spectacular. I may swap out my C2D macbook pro with an Ivy Bridge Air though.
HD4000 will be much better than HD3000, but the people who need a faster GPU would already have the Radeon.
We'll see what the 2013 version has to offer, that should be pretty spectacular. I may swap out my C2D macbook pro with an Ivy Bridge Air though.
I am not concerned. Last year in fact it was the Mini and Air that lagged the rest of the line in updates (well, and the Pro obv) but when they got bumped in July they got HUGE performance boosts -- the Sandy Bridge Minis and Airs just SCREAMED compared to their predecessors.
I'm an iMac guy myself but for my business I am about to refresh various Macs so I am watching all three desktop lines with interest. I've owned a Mini before and it made a great media server.
I'm an iMac guy myself but for my business I am about to refresh various Macs so I am watching all three desktop lines with interest. I've owned a Mini before and it made a great media server.
The mini isn't going anywhere.
It sells well to businesses. In fact with Thunderbolt on the mini now it mades a great, albeit expensive, front end to a low end JBOD enclosure.
Now when Ten's Complement gets around to shipping Zevo their zfs filesystem for OS X we'll be able to create a pretty powerful and fault tolerant storage system with the mini as the head.
I wouldn't even mind a $499 Mac mini based on AMD hardware. That's just me dreaming though.
Don't be surprised if the mini has an ARM option in 3 years.
It sells well to businesses. In fact with Thunderbolt on the mini now it mades a great, albeit expensive, front end to a low end JBOD enclosure.
Now when Ten's Complement gets around to shipping Zevo their zfs filesystem for OS X we'll be able to create a pretty powerful and fault tolerant storage system with the mini as the head.
I wouldn't even mind a $499 Mac mini based on AMD hardware. That's just me dreaming though.
Don't be surprised if the mini has an ARM option in 3 years.
I want a refreshed mini as much as anyone, but I don't believe that they will refresh with the rest of the line this time. Heres why.
You have to think, from Apples perspective, they need variety, and the mini has been chosen as the "low end" model, whether you believe it is "low end" or not. For me, the amd6630 model handles everything I do on it (Only games were WoW and LeagueOfLegends). So to me and many others, it is a very high spec machine, even for those without an SSD.
Apple would have to be crazy, from a business stand-point, to put any more power behind this machine right now. The 2011 refresh, IMO, was one of the strongest changes the line has received. The i5 is a beast and the graphics capabilities are several times higher than before.
I love the minis, have had almost all of them, and I honestly think Sandy (Yes, I named her. Yes, Sandy is a girl) will be my newest for a a little while longer, and I am not mad about that at all.
You have to think, from Apples perspective, they need variety, and the mini has been chosen as the "low end" model, whether you believe it is "low end" or not. For me, the amd6630 model handles everything I do on it (Only games were WoW and LeagueOfLegends). So to me and many others, it is a very high spec machine, even for those without an SSD.
Apple would have to be crazy, from a business stand-point, to put any more power behind this machine right now. The 2011 refresh, IMO, was one of the strongest changes the line has received. The i5 is a beast and the graphics capabilities are several times higher than before.
I love the minis, have had almost all of them, and I honestly think Sandy (Yes, I named her. Yes, Sandy is a girl) will be my newest for a a little while longer, and I am not mad about that at all.
Funny! That's people, never satisfied...
Indeed - the fan noise of my Mini i7 is horrible when under a bit of load, compared to my old c2d Mini and trying to throttle the cpu to avoid the noise should not be required. For now I use cputhrottle from terminal, but this should be possible right from activity monitor...
So, I would very much like a new Mini with CPUs with lower TDP.
I must say that I can't hear my Mini at all... I have the mid one, with Radeon
graphics, and the only time I can hear the fan is when I do some video converting. Then it cranks up to 4500 RPM and is audible, but it is not unbearable.
Really? I haven't noticed that much fan noise even when running full-out (i.e. Cinebench rendering test). My macbook pro is much, much louder when it spools up. The macbook sounds like a jet engine, the mini sounds more like a distant "whoooosh". At idle I can't hear it at all over the home AC.
I saw some thread a while back that indicated Apple switched to a different fan design sometime recently.
One thing my Mac fans and I agree with is that the Mac Mini is pretty doggone close to being a bargain, and for people who want to get a full Mac experience without investing the college fund for their kids, it's a great little machine. My first Mac last summer was the current Mac Mini, base model. I love the little thing! It's not a screaming hot machine, but it sure does get the job done.
I totally agree! I have 3 for gosh sakes and will upgrade to the 2012 model (should they release another discrete GPU option!). They are great machines and I believe they will get Ivy Bridge. This thread just makes it sound like if it doesn't happen at WWDC it won't happen which I believe is completely false. I just believe it won't happen at WWDC but later in the summer. The dual core chips to be used in the Mac Mini were just released by Intel a week and a half ago, so my guess is that we probably won't see an update to the Mac Mini until later this summer (my guess is the initial supply of dual core chips will go to the 13" Macbook Pro).
This is completely speculative.
I am really hoping beyond hope that we will see a refresh on Monday. If not I think I am going to just get one.
I am going to use it as an HTPC so I really don't need a more powerful machine, it's just if it comes out tomorrow why not get a better machines for the exact same price?
I am going to use it as an HTPC so I really don't need a more powerful machine, it's just if it comes out tomorrow why not get a better machines for the exact same price?