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Mac Mini Shipping Times Slip to 5-7 Days on Apple Online Stores, Possible Refresh Ahead?
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dedicated GPU and SSD drive standard would be nice. If that were the case I'd buy it in an instant.
Funny but I can see many reasons and we have the new Mac Pro as a prototype. Imagine a Mini using that tower box with the "CPU" card on one side of the devices and an option slot on the other, with the Apple option being a GPU card. Obviously the integrated heat sink isn't viable here but that just means conventional heat sinks are used. Done right there is plenty of room for the CPU heatsink, RAM and even the SSD on one side. The "tower" would have to be a bit taller but that is no big deal. Even if they had to put the SSD on the other side of the divider you still get a compact design with great cooling potential.
The reality is this, the electronics gets smaller every year. Haswell dramatically lowers power considering what you get in each chip and that only will become more dramatic in the future with the process shrinks to 14nm and much higher integration.
This pic says it all:
http://www.tekrevue.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/20130614_airportextremeac-10.jpg
Note too that the decider that separates the chassis into two parts is really an insert. As such it could be adjusted in a number of ways to accommodate the guts of a Mini. We have what is close to 3.75" square inches of floor space in an extrusion that can be as tall as Apple needs. The diagonal would allow for a PC board almost 5" wide.
If there isn't room in the base for a power supply, it could always be placed on the other side of the diagonal. I would prefer that space be allocated for a GPU card option though. In any event this is the perfect chassis for a Mini replacement effectively being a Mini Mac Pro from the cooling standpoint.
For many users that foot print would be a huge space saver. Honestly I'm not sure if Apple could maintain the same height but that would only server to distinguish the Mac from the other products. On a bookshelf above a desk you would be saving lots of space. Not to mention that thermally the design should be more efficient hopefully leading to quieter operation.
Yeah this is a problem. I'd love to see such in the Mini, especially if Apple and a intel continue to drag feet on OpenCL on Intels GPUs. Realistically though I'm not certain we will ever again see a Mini with a discrete GPU. By 2015 the integrated GPUs should solve the needs of most Mini users. Well maybe, OpenCL is a big factor here and it is coming on like gang busters. Optional support for the GPU might be the best solution.
Sorry, I just can't take a "Mac Mini" "server" seriously.
Outside of a home or small business environment, hot swapping would be a joke (maybe this is why the developer portal is still down, all those Mini's need replacing lol j/k). Sonnet has a RackMac Mini Server "Enclosure", but for the price and trouble you're better off getting an actual server.
Outside of a home or small business environment, hot swapping would be a joke (maybe this is why the developer portal is still down, all those Mini's need replacing lol j/k). Sonnet has a RackMac Mini Server "Enclosure", but for the price and trouble you're better off getting an actual server.
I think this is more for media types who need a device that runs OS X integrated, as shown in the picture. Not for actual rack servers.
glad to hear
Always good to hear about Mini updates. And where there are minis, other Macs to follow.
Make it so Apple!
Always good to hear about Mini updates. And where there are minis, other Macs to follow.
Make it so Apple!
Sure, electronics get smaller but (for the most part) ports don't. I don't see how you can go to an AirPort/TC footprint and fit all of the needed ports on the back of the mini. Well, not without making it tall like a new MP. Just don't think Apple would spend all the effort to design, build, and test something like this when all we're talking about is what I'm sure they view as "just a cheap box".
I've been looking forward to a Haswell i7 mini, but if they make it proprietary SSD only I guess I'll be buying a refurb Ivy as my last mac for many years.
And don't say how great an SSD is, the first thing I'd do is add an internal to go along with the 1TB spinning drive.
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Apple has already announced a "tall" mini. It's the iTrashCan. Can't imagine why anyone would buy one though.
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4 Thunderbolt (10 gigabit) ports, a power plug, and nothing else?
the 6630m in the 2011 mini was crippled with only 256mb of vram and fourth of the memory bandwidth. I hope apple stops using binned parts but they probably still will.
I have the 2012 Mac Mini and I am very happy with it. Lots of I/O ports and adequate performance for general usage. It is our "house" computer. I am hoping Mavericks will give it a bit of a boost.
In my music studio my trusty 2007 MBP (SL and LP 8) is still chugging along. But when that new MP comes out I will most likely pick one up unless the price or upgradeability are issues (and of course everyone has a different line in the sand on THAT one!!)
Gonna keep my 2007 MBP on Snow Leopard because it has a super drive and I can still record DVDs on my Mac with 10.6. Starting with 10.7 Apple took away the ability to record video from DVDs (private or otherwise).
In my music studio my trusty 2007 MBP (SL and LP 8) is still chugging along. But when that new MP comes out I will most likely pick one up unless the price or upgradeability are issues (and of course everyone has a different line in the sand on THAT one!!)
Gonna keep my 2007 MBP on Snow Leopard because it has a super drive and I can still record DVDs on my Mac with 10.6. Starting with 10.7 Apple took away the ability to record video from DVDs (private or otherwise).
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A Haswell upgrade to the Mini is going to be amazing, because it will directly target the 2 weakest points of the 2012 one: the GPU performance and temperature (and as a result, noise levels at high load). Bought the 2012 one about a month ago knowing full well a Haswell bump is almost inevitable, but I am happy with my purchase regardless.
Apple are constrained to choose from among the chips offered by Intel. Intel do not offer any quad-core chips with HD 5000 graphics, nor do they have any announced plans to do so in the future.
If Apple give up the existing Mac Mini case, then they may be able to include higher power chips including those with the Iris Pro 5200 graphics.
