Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
WOOOHOOO, FINALLY! So glad I manager to wait until now to replace my 2014 Mac mini…

By the way, those that get really angry when someone suggest a redesign of a Mac that’s been the same for 14 years straight: please don’t kill the messenger (or in this case, me, just a random commenter). Go ahead and throw your rage to Apple.

Wow, so happy to have a mini that will be easier to travel with…
 
Dongle hell round 2 here we come. Would not be surprised if they drop the ethernet port on the base model.

That would make sense. The *average* Apple customer just needing a base model Mini would never use it.

Need ethernet, faster CPU, more memory/storage, etc? Simply pay for it. Easy.
 
  • Love
Reactions: _Mitchan1999
My guess is that the keyboard will be the Mac mini.
OOoOoOo...bring back the Commodore Ultimax, the OG computer in a keyboard machine.
hqdefault.jpg

Oh wait. It would just be a laptop without a display.😑
 
Makes sense they will transition everything to M4, especially the M3 Macs given the M4 is on a cheaper 3nm node than the M3 is. Cut as much costs as possible.
 
  • Love
Reactions: _Mitchan1999
What real advantage is there to it being smaller? You still need monitor, keyboard etc.

The current design takes up valuable physical real estate on a desk. I hope Apple goes vertical with this new design though cable management makes this less likely. I’m curious how Apple will add enough heft to prevent cables from potentially making the Mac mini too unstable and prone to moving around and even falling off a desk.
 
That being said, I've already seen an M1 Mac Mini torn apart on YouTube and there's so much room in the chassis, they could have redesigned it in 2020. They waited 4 years for that, don't know why.

The current mini is very popular for colocation, and having maintained chassis continuity from 2010-202x was a nod toward that. That said, my guess is Apple either got feedback of "we're fine if you want to update, we can fit 2 or 3x more per rack with a smaller design" or just decided it was finally time to rip that bandage off.
 
Honestly I would prefer it to be the size it is now, sometimes people just want something more substantial size wise for their money even if inside not every inch is used. It’s like the AV receiver standard, some of those are half air but it’s been rack sized for decades.

If it’s any smaller it’s going to get knocked over or look like some cheesy ornament imo. Even with the Apple TV I wish it was bigger.
 
Of course. Just like with the iPad Pro

Fanless and smaller size = less aluminum and parts/materials used = higher margins

Watch them remove the USB-A and HDMI ports too. They'll justify it because the other consumer-level/non-Pro Macs (iMac and MacBook Air) doesn't have them either.
Wrong...the rumor cleary says it will have M4 and M4 Pro...while M4 family it clearly consume less power than M2 family , it still needs fan, not as big as the current mini but still.
 
I always wondered about this since they started putting M-series chips into iPads. Granted, I would still like decent amount of storage and I/O so the mini isn't then surrounded by a mess of wires, docks and hubs, but the opportunity to make a 'mini' version of the Mini with Apple silicon is there.

Heck - you could mount one to the back of a studio display and get your 5K iMac back that everyone wants!
Exactly. Especially if they are going to be removing more ports. I use almost all the ports on my current minis, USB-A, ethernet, HDMI, line out, plus a couple external USB-C drives, etc.. If they are removing more ports and making it smaller, it doesn't help the situation at all, I'll just have to buy more docks to hook up to it to make it usable.
I do miss the days of a consumer mac desktop that you can open up and add drives, more ports and other stuff. My desk is just a mess of cables and docks now.
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.