Mac Mini Refresh, New Low-Cost Notebook, Apple Watches With Larger Displays and More Coming This Fall

[jonnysods]

Man, I landed on the MR page, saw all the products bundled together and thought Apple had done something amazing...

.... and then I lapsed back into my cautious optimism that some of these products may finally see an update...

 

[Zdigital2015]

I wonder what upgrades are in store for the 12" Macbook? While 8th gen core processors have long been available for most of Apple's mac lineup, the 7th gen Core M (yes I realize they now market some of them as Core i5 and Core i7) that is in the 12" Macbook is still the latest chips available from Intel in the 4.5 W TDP. Perhaps Apple will actually be one of the first to get (Cannon Lake) 10 nm chips?

As I see it, there's basically three ways this can go -

1. Intel announces Coffee Lake 5w TDP Y-Series CPUs between now and October. Apple sticks with this series of CPUs in order to keep fans out of its shiny new 13" MacBook; the 12" MacBook is dead as soon as the 13" is introduced.
2. Intel announces Cannon Lake 5w TDP Y-Series CPUs between now and October. Apple sticks with this series of CPUs in order to keep fans out of its shiny new 13" MacBook; the 12" MacBook is dead as soon as the 13" is introduced. Despite the fact that the CPU can address 32GB of LPDDR4, Apple will restrict it to 16GB. Why? Because Apple is not going to sell their entry level notebook with more RAM than their Pro notebook...EVER. That and the motherboard won't be big enough to support that many DRAM chips.
   
3. Apple ditches the 5w TDP Y-Series altogether and puts Coffee Lake 15w TDP U-Series CPUs in the 13" MacBookand somehow keeps it fanless, which could be the reason for the hold up in releasing the computer as it was rumored for release at WWDC.

My hope is for number 3, but I am skeptical Apple can keep a 15w CPU fanless, although they would not be the first to do it as Huawei introduced the Matebook X last year - http://www.asianage.com/technology/gadgets/240517/huawei-launches-matebook-x-fanless-notebook.html. It's not that I think Apple is incapable of building a fanless laptop with a 15w CPU, it's that I am skeptical they can do it at the thinness they desire without the CPU having to throttle back excessively. Time will tell.

 

[ChrisChaval]

if true:

iPhone SE discontinued (expected)
iPad mini discontinued (expected)
MB Air discontinued (expected)
Mac mini d ...

what about the Mac Pro ??

 

[techwhiz]

No more of my money on Macs until I get a new Pro.

 

[The Game 161]

Be interesting what the lcd iPhone will be called

 

[TVreporter]

Well this puts the sudden brakes on my plan to buy a 2017 iMac (2011 toasted thanks to High Sierra).

Guess I can hold out a couple more months and see what Apple offers. If anything, the 2017s will dip in price I hope!

 

[Greenmeenie]

The MacBook was obviously created in anticipation of 10 nm processors that would be faster & cooler - and would sell in higher volumes and thus lower prices - than what’s now available for Apple to use.

For that reason it’s time to give the MacBook a rest. It’s a lovely computer but horribly overpriced for what it is.

That’s what i’m Saying...lower the price of the MacBook. Problem solved.

 

[travelsheep]

Er, what? The article does predict a refreshed MacBook Pro as well.

Processor upgrade. That's like color change. What about adding ports? Magsafe? Better keyboard? Smaller bezels? Upgradable SSD drive? Upgradable memory? Better Webcam? Fingerprint sensor without touchbar? etc!

 

[bluecoast]

That’s what i’m Saying...lower the price of the MacBook. Problem solved.

I’m not sure what Apple are paying intel for those processors but I expect it’s more than they expected to as I’m assuming Apple thought that the MacBook would start to sell like hot cakes when intel started producing 10 nm chips... in 2016.

 

[travelsheep]

Apple kids need the lineup of the biggest company in the world clean. Apple can't be like Nestle, with 10,000+ products. Apple should be like Volkswagen in 1940. One phone model. Maybe one iPad model and at most one computer model. End. / clap clap clap... Apple kids can buy all 3 products. Apple kids can say owns everything from Apple. Apple kids happy.

 

[aliensporebomb]

so they will put 8 gen cpus in the fall of 2018 and within a few months gen 9 cpus will be out ... pathetic.

Which won't be available for months after the gen9 is announced like usual. At my day gig we're still receiving and building up Gen7 machines for our employees. We haven't seen a single Gen8 cpu yet. This is in a big Dell/Windows
shop.

 

[pl1984]

"Kuo didn't have a lot of information to share on the Mac mini, but he says a processor upgrade is expected."

Come on 80386DX!

 

[bladerunner2000]

This is all that matters, if the hard drive, or ram are not easily changeable it won't matter. My Current mac mini has an ssd, new ram, new fan. Has been working it for quite a while. You would think a new mac mini could connect to an external gpu. I expect to see this, I would sell my mac pro if that were the case and go Nvidia + modded mini.

That would make for a pretty good gaming machine via Windows. You'd get best of both worlds.

 

[jpn]

If I am gonna take the plunge for the iPad Pro with Face Id this year ! Apple promise me, you guys won't come out with the OLED Display iPad Pro until 2022 ! Will be too broke till then to buy a new one !

if truth be told, the year to do massive across the board upgrades is 2020.
iPhone:
- 5G
- Face ID cameras finally under the screen (goodbye notch)
MacBook Air:
- running an AMD processor
- cross platform apps
[doublepost=1531340344][/doublepost]

Be interesting what the lcd iPhone will be called

9

 

[nihil0]

So basically they will drop pricing on MB? Eg. Entry level MB from 1299$ to 999$?

 

[theluggage]

It'd be funny if all the Mac Mini got was a spec bump.

I take it by "spec bump" you mean some trivial increase in RAM or SSD?

Because a "spec bump" to a decent up-to-date CPU and GPU, swapping the TB2 ports for TB3 and updating the HDMI is exactly what it needs and all it needs. Otherwise, its already a nice, small box (smaller PCs are available but they mostly need external power supplies that are as big as the computer) with a row of ports on the back - exactly what a Mac Mini should be. OK, so the box dimensions are a legacy of the days when the MINI had an optical drive - but if there's spare space inside use that to make room for better cooling so it can take more powerful CPU/GPUs...

The last thing it needs is "re-imagining" by the form-over-function/nickel-and-dime geniuses that bought us the butterfly keyboard and "pro" laptops with no USB-A.

 

[dwaite]

I desperately need a new MBP but I'm not buying one until they fix the keyboard.

Apple appears to be qualifying the keyboard issues as a manufacturing defect (hence the repair program rather than a recall). It is doubtful they would start a repair program before they fixed said issue in manufacturing.

 

[NMBob]

If the mini had been updated every time there was a rumor we'd all have HAL9000's sitting on our desks and under our TVs. Have we been careful about what we've asked for?

 

[dgeviper]

I'll believe it when I see it. As of now, you can still buy a 2013 Mac Pro and a 2014 Mac Mini. Absolutely disgraceful.

 

[pl1984]

I take it by "spec bump" you mean some trivial increase in RAM or SSD?

Because a "spec bump" to a decent up-to-date CPU and GPU, swapping the TB2 ports for TB3 and updating the HDMI is exactly what it needs and all it needs. Otherwise, its already a nice, small box (smaller PCs are available but they mostly need external power supplies that are as big as the computer) with a row of ports on the back - exactly what a Mac Mini should be. OK, so the box dimensions are a legacy of the days when the MINI had an optical drive - but if there's spare space inside use that to make room for better cooling so it can take more powerful CPU/GPUs...

The last thing it needs is "re-imagining" by the form-over-function/nickel-and-dime geniuses that bought us the butterfly keyboard and "pro" laptops with no USB-A.

IMO it also needs to return to upgradeable memory and storage.

 

[ersan191]

Apple appears to be qualifying the keyboard issues as a manufacturing defect (hence the repair program rather than a recall). It is doubtful they would start a repair program before they fixed said issue in manufacturing.

I don't mean about them breaking, I mean about them being really crappy to type on.

 

[dwaite]

The last thing it needs is "re-imagining" by the form-over-function/nickel-and-dime geniuses that bought us the butterfly keyboard and "pro" laptops with no USB-A.

I can't imagine them going all USB-C on the 'switcher' desktop, although admittedly it is still more likely than them embedding a keyboard

 

[navaira]

"Kuo didn't have a lot of information to share on the Mac mini, but he says a processor upgrade is expected."

Come on 80386DX!

Careful. They'll find a way to stick a single core processor in, even if Intel has to dig them out of a basement somewhere.

 

[azentropy]

I'd be shocked if they substantially update the Mac mini. Not only has it been lagging for years, the last updates were awful by taking away quad-core options and the ability to update RAM. I'd love to see a 6-8 core CPU and user upgradable memory/drives come back, but just don't see that happening.

 

[aliensporebomb]

Complain that with Google.

It's Google limiting Macs to 1080p.

All other video sites (e.g. vimeo and twitch) offer 4K on the Mac.

Are you sure it isn't Safari? I'm able to use Opera and get 4k on the Mac to youtube just fine.