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

Freida said:
Don't wanna sound mean, but Apple positioned themselves to a higher class so not everyone can have Apple notebook. They are just very pricey. Good built (or at least used to be until they introduced the nonsensical touchbar and super useless keyboard) and last long but its quite expensive.
Lamborghini doesn't sell a car under $50k but I still want to own one, does that mean that it should be there?

I agree with you though, there should be an affordable option but knowing Apple, we won't get much for it anyway.
I kinda hope that the iPhone will soon fail to the point that it will no longer be their cash cow and they will need to adjust their business accordingly. The amount of tech they spend and fit into their phones would really be useful in Mac lineup too. 3 notebook products would be all we need. Light, Mid, Pro - it would cater all audiences pretty much and the light would be their entry level so it would also be reasonably priced. We don't need the jungle that they have now.

And for crying out loud, if they are making iPhones bigger that my small hands can't take, why can't they apply the same mentality to their computers? I'm sure bigger iMac would be appreciated 30-32" and please 17" notebook would be too.

Anyway, lets see what happens in 2 months time ;)
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Lamborghini doesn’t sell a car under 50k. The cheapest huracán is 200k and it performs (almost) like a 200k car should. Apple? More like a Hyundai with a Lamborghini bodykit.
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mmmmMac said:
I hope so! There is a giant hole in the Apple lineup where people want to buy a mac desktop. I want a Mac Desktop that doesn't force me to buy a monitor (sorry iMac), or cost $5,000 and come with server level CPUs. It shouldn't be so difficult to get a quad core i7 mac with a 4-8 GB video card.
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A consumer Mac tower with 65/95w cpu and 150/250w consumer grade gpu is everything many people want.
 
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jwdsail said:
...

I suspect that if the MB/MBP case/keyboard isn't replaced with a design that users don't hate w/ a fiery passion of a thousand burning suns, and is far more reliable and comfortable to type on, the MBP will be a very very silent processor update... Perhaps done at the same time as the Updated Air/Affordable Notebook announcement? If Apple makes a case/KB design change, all three will be very publicly announced at a Mac laptop event. The words, we heard you, we fixed it, may even be possible? I'm not holding my breath on that, but hope springs eternal?

...

And, yes, I still expect disappointment.
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Silent update it is.

A "quieter" keyboard?

Sigh.

Yup, that's what we all hated about it. It was too *loud*. Not that it had a flawed design that allowed it to fail due to common amounts of dust found in most homes or offices, not that the lack of key travel is actually painful for some who were brought up as a touch typists and perform a lot of data input. Nope, we thought it was just too damn loud. Yup...

So, now the new maxed out price for the 15" is $2400 higher, the 2TB option w/ max processor/ram went up $400 (now $4699), the new full-tilt maxed out price is $6699, and it still comes with the crappiest keyboard Apple's ever made.

Yup.

For that much it better come w/ a three year supply of whatever they're smoking at the mothership these days.

I have a idea.

I'll pay that plus a premium to anyone that can put the new screen and internals into a 2012-non-retina style case w/ it's original keyboard. Understanding that the ports will need to be modified for the TB3, and lack of USB2/3 etc. I just want to keep my KB. This could be modifying a customer supplied case, or custom fabricating an updated 2012-non-retina case that would accommodate both the 2012 KB and new LCD/internals...

Who's with me?
 
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How much does Apple pay that guy (the imore guy)? It's like he's reading from a marketing script. "Never hit that limit" is what they say with every significant processor or graphics upgrade, but that's only until the projects become more complex and then suddenly they're at a limit and you need the next update. :D
 
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asdavis10 said:
A user-upgradeable Mac mini would be an instant buy for me. I have two that are on their last legs. ...

Apple can show Mac users they are serious about the Mac by giving us a great Mac mini again.
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Yep, same here. I have two Minis as well, both venerable old beasts.

I feel your pain, but it's like a relationship that once was fresh and new, and has now gone sour. At first the updates kept coming; we sat by the computer, eagerly waiting for the next. We loved Apple, and they seemed to love us in return. But then the updates became rather more perfunctory, and they came less and less often. As in many relationships, they won't actually tell you it's over; you're supposed to guess. Maybe someone needs to say: "Actually, they really aren't that into you." Nor me either.

I've known that since they started selling the watch. The iPad i could understand. And maybe the iPhone. But with the watch, their transformation into a company that sold fashion accessories was blatant. It became very clear that this was no longer a computer company. It was a company that, as part of marketing what we must call a "lifestyle", just happened to sell computers. The distinction is not a trivial one.
 
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simonmet said:
How much does Apple pay that guy (the imore guy)? It's like he's reading from a marketing script. "Never hit that limit" is what they say with every significant processor or graphics upgrade, but that's only until the projects become more complex and then suddenly they're at a limit and you need the next update. :D
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They don't need to pay him, he is a Mac enthusiast. He is honest with what he sees as issues, but he is not someone that dwells on issues that are just business decisions. This is really the first look, the real reviews take time.
 
Icy1007 said:
lol, most of these are just fantasies that won't happen. We'll get some refreshed MacBooks and MacBook Pros along with the obligatory new iPhones/iPads, but that is about it.
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I think the Mac mini will get an update. The HDMI port will (should) get version 2.1, the two Thunderbolt 2 Mini DisplayPorts will become two Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports and the four USB-A ports will get USB 3.1 specs.

Whatever Apple does to the Mac mini, they need to do it before they release macOS Mojave so people that are still using 32-bit applications will be able to run them on new hardware.
 
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NomadicTy said:
My mac mini's are in their last legs. One I had to revert back to Sierra after it almost got bricked trying to upgrade to High Sierra. However, I mainly use them as a Photos server for my apple tv's, and as a CardDAV and CalDAV servers. For me, these are private data that I would not, and cannot (via NDAs) put in possession of third parties. But since Server is now dead, I'm not sure I'll upgrade my mini's.
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How did you brick it? I've upgraded dozens of current and previous gen Minis to SSD and 10.13. Genuinely curious
[doublepost=1531419567][/doublepost]As to the watch, how many people actually have these things? Amongst my friends and clients, mainly affluent, often fashion-conscious, not a single one has an Apple watch. (I'm happy with my Roly, thanks!)
 
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orangehand said:
How did you brick it? I've upgraded dozens of current and previous gen Minis to SSD and 10.13. Genuinely curious
[doublepost=1531419567][/doublepost]As to the watch, how many people actually have these things? Amongst my friends and clients, mainly affluent, often fashion-conscious, not a single one has an Apple watch. (I'm happy with my Roly, thanks!)
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I am not the target audience - would never buy a watch... at least not since I was younger... Never had a watch last more than a week... even ones built for sporting...
 
SoyCapitanSoyCapitan said:
The new CPUs are such a massive step up over previous and next year it will be mind boggling still.
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Coffee Lake is not THAT big of a jump over Kaby Lake. It is better, but not exponentially so.
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Emeraldsmines1990 said:
I hope that the new MAC mini is based on AMD Ryzen APU , and not with intel stupid internal graphics
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Apple will never use an AMD processor.
 
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orangehand said:
As to the watch, how many people actually have these things? Amongst my friends and clients, mainly affluent, often fashion-conscious, not a single one has an Apple watch. (I'm happy with my Roly, thanks!)
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Millions of people who are not your friends and clients. :)

(Estimate is 33 million sold).
 
Freida said:
I'm not against low cost, im against the messy lineup. Macbook and Macbook Air are fairly low cost. We don't need another product that is crippled and low cost. We need Macbook and Air to merge and have one low cost laptop.
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If Apple wants to get secondary school systems to adopt their laptops as bulk purchase items, they need to be able to compete price wise with Chromebooks and PCs. Right now, Apple laptop prices, combined with very few ports, sets them at a disadvantage in that market. Perhaps Apple is no longer interested in that market, and if that's the case, there will be a whole generation of kids never exposed to Apple laptops and MacOS. They will likely continue to use products with which they are familiar as graduates and adults. Along that vein, I'm starting - particularly as of this summer - to see a LOT of college students with new Dell XPS-13 and XPS-15 laptops. Up until 3 or 4 years ago, the majority of students purchased MB and MBP laptops. A combination of affordability, good performance and practical ports, and the possibility of no familiarity with MacOS, might have led to these purchases. Ports are particularly valued at the college level, as USB thumb drives and connectors, as well as SD cards are in common use in conjunction with their laptops, especially with the decline of builtin CD/DVD RW drives. In the last 3 or 4 years, with QC issues and dropping of ports, Apple laptops don't appear to be worth a long term investment (as per buying a laptop which will last 3 or 4 years while in college).
 
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curtvaughan said:
If Apple wants to get secondary school systems to adopt their laptops as bulk purchase items, they need to be able to compete price wise with Chromebooks and PCs. Right now, Apple laptop prices, combined with very few ports, sets them at a disadvantage in that market. Perhaps Apple is no longer interested in that market, and if that's the case, there will be a whole generation of kids never exposed to Apple laptops and MacOS. They will likely continue to use products with which they are familiar as graduates and adults. Along that vein, I'm starting - particularly as of this summer - to see a LOT of college students with new Dell XPS-13 and XPS-15 laptops. Up until 3 or 4 years ago, the majority of students purchased MB and MBP laptops. A combination of affordability, good performance and practical ports, and the possibility of no familiarity with MacOS, might have led to these purchases. Ports are particularly valued at the college level, as USB thumb drives and connectors, as well as SD cards are in common use in conjunction with their laptops, especially with the decline of builtin CD/DVD RW drives. In the last 3 or 4 years, with QC issues and dropping of ports, Apple laptops don't appear to be worth a long term investment (as per buying a laptop which will last 3 or 4 years while in college).
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Yes, true. But I'm not surprised. Apple is expensive, always was and always will be. When I compared the price of latest iPhone few years ago it was 519 pounds for their flagship device and I think that was with upgraded storage now you can't get their flagship device for that money. People defend that as inflation etc. but people then don't apply the same mentality to their notebook line.
They expect the entry level to be cheaper than it is now. I get them, there should be a type of computer just like the old plastic one was. Reasonably priced, had all the needed ports and it was a great choice for students.
There is no such device these days. Air is useless unless you do text only or emails, macbook is just ******** (one port? come on) and macbook pro is very expensive. Result? We all know.
I think Apple is pushing iPads to education and gave up on notebooks.

I really hope the iPhone will fail in few years time. We need more focus on mac as that is centric to their system in the long run. Ignore mac => lose a lot of people eventually.
 
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Freida said:
I really hope the iPhone will fail in few years time. We need more focus on mac as that is centric to their system in the long run. Ignore mac => lose a lot of people eventually.
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I don't think the iPhone will fail that soon, though I suspect it will decline, as has the Mac, and for similar reasons - high price, lack of convenient ports (esp. the 3.5mm jack), increasingly competitive Android phones, and with the decline of the Mac the "walled garden" is becoming less of a plus. Apple, since the death of SJ, has put itself on a long term course of being a luxury phone / iOS device company. The Mac, with its practical ports, upgradable hardware, and OS finely tuned to that hardware, has become the ugly stepsister in Apple offerings. I will be very surprised if the Mac, at least as manufactured by Apple, exists in 5 years. Perhaps they'll license it out to a subsidiary, but I suspect not. In the meantime, I'm at least encouraged by the relative health and improvement of PC and Android mobile offerings, and with the creative health of the Linux OS desktop. I miss the old Apple, I don't miss Windows domination of the PC, but am intrigued by the potential for PC/Linux platform to excel, at least among the performance computing crowd - scientists, engineers, and other such professionals. Perhaps tablets and mobile phones are sufficient for others.
 
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Icy1007 said:
Coffee Lake is not THAT big of a jump over Kaby Lake. It is better, but not exponentially so.
[doublepost=1531421190][/doublepost]
Apple will never use an AMD processor.
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Apple is already using AMD Graphics .. I dont think they cant use AMD CPU.
[doublepost=1531479560][/doublepost]
geromi912 said:
Or superior nvidia graphics.
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Mac mini will never have superior Graphics , it will kill the iMAC line ...

Most people will just buy a cheap monitor and Mac Mini and ignore the iMAC altogether if Apple made MAc mini Graphics the same level.
 
Emeraldsmines1990 said:
Apple is already using AMD Graphics .. I dont think they cant use AMD CPU.
[doublepost=1531479560][/doublepost]

Mac mini will never have superior Graphics , it will kill the iMAC line ...

Most people will just buy a cheap monitor and Mac Mini and ignore the iMAC altogether if Apple made MAc mini Graphics the same level.
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Lol the reason why many people buy macs is FCPX, and it’s only faster than adobe premiere because of intel quick sync. Using AMD processors will completely destroy that. Also they will have to explain the massive drop in single core performance. And ALL macs should use nvidia cards. Absolutely no reason why the iMacs don’t have Max Q 1050, 1050 TI, 1060,1070 and 1080 at that price for similar TDP with the much slower ATI 555, 560, 570,575 and 580 rubbish cards. The Mac mini should have a GT 1030 or Max Q 1050.
 
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