While it makes sense to make it much smaller--because, let's face it, it's not exactly "mini" anymore--I am dreading the compromises they're gonna inevitably make in the process 🤦🏻♂️😅
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M4 Mac Mini to Become Apple's Smallest Ever Computer With Complete Redesign
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It will run macOS. They just mean it’s the internals of an iPad Pro in a small box.
I imagine the M4 could be fanless. If Apple can sell you the new Mac Mini at the same price as the last one, they’ll take every chance they can get to remove unnecessary components.
If I had to guess, the mini M4 will be the same price and the mini m4 pro will have a price bump.
Worse thermal performance than… the razor thin iPad it’s in now? What are you on about? 😂
This thread is so full of comments about how it will be overpriced, have bad thermals, won't have a fan, will have throttling, will have a fan but it'll be too noisy, it won't have the IO the person wants, it's smaller because penny-pinching, it's a bad product and that's Tim Cook's fault, etc.
It literally doesn't exist on the market yet. All that is known is that a rumor about it was published, and repeated on a rumors site. The reflexive complaining here is just so tiring.
It literally doesn't exist on the market yet. All that is known is that a rumor about it was published, and repeated on a rumors site. The reflexive complaining here is just so tiring.
last gen Apple TV is better for gaming, according to tests and benchmarks, than this gen. Because of fans.
Let's see what thermal dissipation design they come up with, might be nice.
Let's see what thermal dissipation design they come up with, might be nice.
I don’t mind it. It’s cheaper if you already have a monitor. For instance, I just recently built a walnut top for my new Uplift standing desk frame, and on Prime Day I got a nice 27” 4K LG display for around $250 with an arm mount. I have multiple displays in my studio and the standing desk is upstairs. I built it for my wife to plug her work PC laptop into, my kids to plug their M1 iPad Airs into to use with a mouse and keyboard, and for my M3 Max 14” MBP for when I need to get out of the basement and take a standing break. Next year I was planning to get a Mac Mini for my daughter to start using as she enters middle school, and I could hook it up at the same desk. I use an Anker USB-C hub so everything is powered by the one cable which has the KeyChron keyboard and LG display plugged into it with a Logitech wireless mouse dongle. It’s a sweet setup and a Mac Mini is a perfect addition for the kids!
This is exciting, I just hope they do it right.
I’d love to have the same io on the current gen but something tells me they’re going to remove the USB-A ports which will be a shame for my personal situation.
If they have a separate power brick like with the iMac, I’m out. I’d like to be able to power this with one cable coming from my studio display similarly to how I dock my current MBP.
I see people saying there’s no benefit to making these smaller. I think this will be revolutionary for people racking them, especially those racking lots of them. Very cool.
I’d love to have the same io on the current gen but something tells me they’re going to remove the USB-A ports which will be a shame for my personal situation.
If they have a separate power brick like with the iMac, I’m out. I’d like to be able to power this with one cable coming from my studio display similarly to how I dock my current MBP.
I see people saying there’s no benefit to making these smaller. I think this will be revolutionary for people racking them, especially those racking lots of them. Very cool.
Oh that's great a fanless, surface-area-challenged, screenless, low-binned, 8GB, non-upgradable, 256GB SSD box for 800 dollars. LOL.
They'll probably give it with a single USB-C port and load it with iOS, too, since they say it will be an iPad "Pro" [sic].
I'm sure it will sell like hotcakes... (Hot being appropriate).
Ensihttification ensues.
Apple has done this in the past, but their excellent NON compromised MacBook Pro and Studio lineup has increased my confidence that there is still a chance Apple will pull something great out of their hats again.
I didn't see that in the article. That would be cool if true.
Thermal performance is related to surface area. A cube has a smaller surface area than a similar volumed pizza box.
As I mentioned above, there is historical precedence. people remember all their failures so it's natural to doubt.
Moreover, given companies like BMW etc recent penchant for charging $10 monthly additional fees to activate any of the following in car "services" such as heated seats, sunroof activation (really), remote vehicle start up, Qi charging for smartphone (again, really!), bluetooth music connection to smartphone / carplay, pre warming/cooling of the cabin in the morning/afternoon and automatic beam dimming.
In any case, this is a rumour site... If they only published factual articles this site would be called macfacts.com. Talking about rumours is quite litereally (non Millennial version of the word) the purpose of this forum.
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Surprisingly, a lot of people were complaining. The original Intel Mac mini had a ton of stuff in it like a giant heat sink, justifying its size. When they went to the M1, they didn’t change the case and people complained it was so big because it was mostly empty. With fan, power supply, and motherboard, the innards were about 3/4 empty. They could make it so much smaller, saving money on the casing and making it easier for people to hide it away in small places. If you’re building a server farm, that’s a significant space savings.
When they say it has the innards of an iPad Pro, I’m sure they are talking about the logic board. The logic board isn’t all that big, maybe three inches long and probably an inch wide. The rest of the iPad is almost completely filled with battery, something that is useless to a desktop, so they’re not talking about a long slim, flat computer. It’s going to be a box slightly bigger than an Apple TV with a fan, a small heat sink (might just be a sheet of graphene on the M4 version), and a power supply around the iPad Pro’s logic board. There will be a slightly larger logic board for the M4 Pro version which may have a slightly larger heat sink, maybe a small block of aluminum. And yes, it’ll run macOS seeing as it is a Mac.
I have a feeling the remote might come back, as it used to be with MacBooks and iMacs for many years…
It should be soundbar-shaped - like a big USB hub with speakers. Because that's basically what it is.
By making it bar-shaped means that
By making it bar-shaped means that
- it's easy to plug/unplug peripherals
- nice form factor for desks, since it's low profile. Could also be mounted on the bottom of a monitor
- stereo separation for the speakers
- Can be angled to reduce its profile even more.
- Portable. It'll fit in a bag easily
Maybe they aren't having great yield on that binning and need to keep making volumes of chips to collect enough so they have enough for launch. With piles of lesser binned chips around, might as well get those products out first.
Maybe. Certainly a plausible excuse if that's not what is happening
If I were to guess, it’ll be 12GB. The base M4 package built into the iPad Pro has 12GB with only 8GB accessible. Apple has no reason to put 12GB on the M4 if they don’t plan on using it somewhere. Seeing as the chip is only used in iPads and Macs (there will not be an M4 Vision Pro), it’s logical the Macs will have 12GB. I could be wrong, but it would be odd for Apple to never use it, unless they’re secretly using it as dedicated memory for holding their AI SLM, which requires 4GB just for the model.
Good thing you don’t work at Apple - you would probably really advocate for this stuff. Sounds like a typical cheap China-made plastic idea