Mac mini 2019 refresh coming this week?

[ryne275]

What is the likelihood (serious) of the 2018 Mac mini receiving a quiet refresh? AirPods Pro just dropped. Any chance of it happening? Maybe they could add i9 processors?

Looking to buy the Mac mini 2018 soon, but was wondering what the current consensus is about Apple possibly updating last years iteration

 

[mircle]

Came here for this. Considering the anticipated 16" mbp and AirPods Pro, I'm waiting in case they sneak in a Mac mini refresh.

 

[Ploki]

doubt it, but maybe they'll surprise us

 

[playaproved]

I hope so, but at the same time, I’m supposed to pick up my new mini tomorrow. So if it’s going to happen, hopefully it happens in the next two weeks.

 

[dwfaust]

What is the likelihood (serious) of the 2018 Mac mini receiving a quiet refresh? AirPods Pro just dropped. Any chance of it happening? Maybe they could add i9 processors?

Looking to buy the Mac mini 2018 soon, but was wondering what the current consensus is about Apple possibly updating last years iteration

I am not expecting anything for quite a while. Remember, it was over 4 years between refreshes from the 2014 Mini.

 

[hagjohn]

None, IMO.

 

[gavroche]

I hope so, but at the same time, I’m supposed to pick up my new mini tomorrow. So if it’s going to happen, hopefully it happens in the next two weeks.

My order has been "in process" for three days. Seems odd that it would take them that long, as there aren't a lot of configuration choices. Does the two week window start once it is delivered to me, or when it ships....?

 

[- rob -]

My order has been "in process" for three days. Seems odd that it would take them that long, as there aren't a lot of configuration choices. Does the two week window start once it is delivered to me, or when it ships....?

Mine was an i7 and it also took a while. In my experience, they give you two weeks from when it was delivered. I believe there is extra wiggle room if the product was a gift or if there are known issues with the device. (Such as the mbp battery issues w the first touchbar)

I think it is somewhat in the judgement of the Apple store employee.

 

[Miat]

Possible, but unlikely, and if it did happen at this stage it would most likely be incremental compared to the big step of the 2018 upgrade.

The Mini is not a high priority for Apple.

 

[Wolf1701]

I think that they are stuck with intel (lack of) improvements. 10th generation is either 14+++ (more power hungry) or not yet, if ever, available (10nm).

9th generation is a bit in a thermal corner with a macmini... maybe a little price adjustment would be more likely (intel has cut some prices to compete with amd new cpu's).

But the production of the actual 8th gen is scheduled to be stopped in H1 2020... there is still hope.

 

[weaztek]

The Mini is not a high priority for Apple.

This right here.

Sometimes I look at the perfect technological innovation of my iPhone and iPad and wonder how it's even made by the same company that released Catalina/Mini.

 

[LeeW]

Whilst I am fairly sure the new Mac Mini has been quite popular I cannot see it getting a refresh until closer to 2021 at the very earliest and I seriously doubt it will happen then. All we are talking about would be a fairly silent CPU upgrade when the time comes. There is absolutely no compelling reason for Apple to care about the Mini right now.

 

[Fishrrman]

Question:
"What is the likelihood (serious) of the 2018 Mac mini receiving a quiet refresh?"

Answer:
0.

 

[StellarVixen]

It deserves CPU refresh if nothing else. 8th gen Intel Core CPUs are getting stale... Why would anyone buy machine with i7-8700 in 2020?


If now, then at least early 2020.

 

[LeeW]

Why would anyone buy machine with i7-8700 in 2020?

Plenty were buying the 2014 mac mini even in 2018 so..

 

[StellarVixen]

Plenty were buying the 2014 mac mini even in 2018 so..

That disgrace shouldn’t happen ever again.

 

[Zdigital2015]

I think that they are stuck with intel (lack of) improvements. 10th generation is either 14+++ (more power hungry) or not yet, if ever, available (10nm).

9th generation is a bit in a thermal corner with a macmini... maybe a little price adjustment would be more likely (intel has cut some prices to compete with amd new cpu's).

But the production of the actual 8th gen is scheduled to be stopped in H1 2020... there is still hope.

Incorrect, Kaby Lake (7th Gen) is slated to stop production in 2020 - https://www.anandtech.com/show/14968/intel-to-discontinue-nearly-all-desktop-kaby-lake-cpus

Coffee Lake still has lots of life left in it.

 

[Wolf1701]

Incorrect, Kaby Lake (7th Gen) is slated to stop production in 2020 - https://www.anandtech.com/show/14968/intel-to-discontinue-nearly-all-desktop-kaby-lake-cpus

Coffee Lake still has lots of life left in it.

My bad, too many lakes I suppose, thank you

So... no hope.

 

[sublunar]

Looking at the recent 16" MacBook Pro I would forecast a possible refresh of the Mini at the same time as any refresh of the iMac which uses the same CPUs. This could happen next summer - for instance - but the most interesting thing about the 16" MBP is the doubling of the standard storage for what looks like no additional cost uplift from 256Gb and 512Gb to 512Gb and 1Tb.

If Apple have negotiated such good NAND prices they may wish to make a 2020 Mini attractive by offering exactly the same if and when the iMac gets updated - for the purposes of economy of scale. The down side is there's no desktop class processors on the immediate

This could be because in my opinion a refreshed iMac is yet to go full SSD with T2 CPU and this could mean a reconfiguration of iMac prices for 2020. At the very least I would assume 1Tb Fusion Drives to be replaced with 256Gb SSD and T2 CPU across the board for no extra cost.

 

[dwfaust]

What is the likelihood (serious) of the 2018 Mac mini receiving a quiet refresh? AirPods Pro just dropped. Any chance of it happening? Maybe they could add i9 processors?

Looking to buy the Mac mini 2018 soon, but was wondering what the current consensus is about Apple possibly updating last years iteration

No. Just no. No Mac mini refresh coming any time soon.

 

[opeter]

But the production of the actual 8th gen is scheduled to be stopped in H1 2020... there is still hope.

Not for Apple. They had the Haswell CPUs (Mac mini 2014) in production for at least 4 years!

In 2018 we already had more than 4 additional generation of intel CPUs (not ot speak of AMD).

I think we won't see any updates in two years, that means before the end of 2020. Like it was the case with the 2012 -> 2014 Mac minis upgrade cycle. Or it can happen, that there won't be any upgrade before 2021/2022, especially if Apple wants to swap the intel CPUs for their own ARM-variant.

Before that, the Mac mini had mostly at least one upgrade/year (or even more):
2005 (the original PowerPC, it had three upgrades in that year!),
2006 (the first with intel CPU, that year it had two upgrades!),
2007 (the first Core 2 Duo),
2009 (two upgrades!),

... 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014,

... 2018

..?

 

[oldtime]

If I were a betting man I would say an every-other-year upgrade cycle will be what we get with the MM.

 

[sublunar]

If I were a betting man I would say an every-other-year upgrade cycle will be what we get with the MM.

Even a doubling of storage for no extra cost would go down as a spec bump for many

 

[Spectrum]

As others have said, the only possible near time thing I foresee is a price reduction...or rather, a doubling of storage to 256 in base and 512 in mid at no additional cost. Same as what happened for MBPro 16 inch.

There are no other suitable 65W chips available. And sadly, Apple doesn't seem interested I putting the 9th Gen MBPro laptop chips inside the mini case. To be honest, though, the coooling in the new mini just isn't up to cooling anything with a higher peak power draw than the current 8700B.

 

[jinnyman]

There has been zero rumor on this topic. I doubt it