Mac Mini to be Discontinued?

[MagicWok]

Did anyone bother to read this? Steve clearly says NO! $500 junk box meaning no he will not give the green light for a new Mini in the $599 $600 range.

One thing I've learnt being an Apple user and a member of this forum... is that never take what Steve says on face value. When he says yes, it doesn't mean it's going to happen (blu-ray burner in 1 year at MW2005 comes to mind), and when he says no doesn't mean he has something else up his sleeve in a new/different direction or take on the genre.

The Mac Mini can sell lots - if Apple wants it to. Simply put, the Mini has received little to no marketing or upgrade attention since it was introduced, which seems to me like it was a product of neccesity or by force - and not by will from Apple. They're clearly not interested in it - but it doesn't mean it's a bad product and hasn't sold in decent numbers up till now.

 

[biocide]

Did anyone bother to read this? Steve clearly says NO! $500 junk box meaning no he will not give the green light for a new Mini in the $599 $600 range. If you ask me his mind is made up! if you want Apple products then you better pony up some cash! like it or not his tone seems a bit harsh towards the average Joe on a budget if you ask me. Personally I don't like his tone at all after reading this from top to bottom with a fine tooth comb.

https://www.macrumors.com/2008/10/21/apple-reports-1-14-billion-profit-for-q4-2008/

Steve says: "There are parts of that market we choose not to play in. We choose to be in certain segments of the market, and choose not to be in certain segments."

Clear enough. But I think they're miscalculating what's happening now. One of the reasons that Apple has such a strong standing is, in my opinion, that people have been associating the Apple brand with "cool people" - that is, musicians, writers, academics, photographers and so on. You loose these people = you also loose some of the mac lure.

The crisis that we're currently in will affect the "creative people" to a large degree. When the economy goes well it's possible to make a decent living out of creative activities (I know this from my own experience as a writer here in Norway). When the economy doesn't go well the creative people earn less, since consumers and firms tend to focus on the 'basics'. Smaller income = smaller willingness to pay the Apple tax.

The affluent people who work in not-so-artsy occupations will not be affected by the crisis to the same degree, even if they also will feel its impact. So they'll still be able to buy over-priced macs. But that leaves Apple with a customer base that is - in a way - less cool.
(my apologies, I hope I'm not offending anyone!)

In the long run that will have a negative impact on Apple's brand name.

 

[opeter]

Maybe Psystar will release one.

Maybe Apple will give license for Psystar to build official Apple desktops? Who know?

Or is there the time for a hack?

Apple, f*ck you!

 

[bergmef]

I don't see Apple allowing Psystar to continue operating. It would be a company that is out of their control. Also, I thought Psystar was just assembling the box and adding a 'version' of OS X?!? Wouldn't Apple require them to put it in a mini chassis? Or an Apple approved housing? Who will design the motherboard then? The new Macbook motherboard is now designed by Apple. Will they have any interest in helping Psystar if they have no interest in doing it themselves?

I just don't see it happening. On a side note, I would love one more release so I can make it my media server. I have no issues with a mini/Apple tv merge if and only if that mini can serve multiple apple tvs.

 

[relimw]

Ready and waiting for the "OMFG YOU'RE AN IDIOT I USE MATTE AND MY FRIEND WHO DOES PRO WORK SAYS GLOSS IS ****!!11111" responses

OMFG You're an Idiot! The Mac mini doesn't even have a screen!

Had to be said....

 

[jim.arrows]

Promising MB from Nvidia

Not sure if this has been posted in the thread yet, but this looks encouraging:

http://www.macworld.com/article/136288/nvidia_macmini.html

 

[Shivetya]

Sometimes I think Apple is not interested in the Mac Minis, the Minis aren't receiving enough promotion and they're the last to receive update or then they aren`t upgraded. I can`t understand this behavior, the Mini is the
computer of the masses and if to receive the adequate updatings would be the appropriate secret weapon to enter every household around the world.

Lately, I think Apple is acting in an arbitrary manner. First they are elimanating fireWire and now they want end with the Mac Mini. What will be the
next? And what about users?

Well my Best Buy doesn't have Minis. Do others? I would go by what Apple chooses to place in the open retail channel as to what they intend to keep

 

[gkarris]

Well my Best Buy doesn't have Minis. Do others? I would go by what Apple chooses to place in the open retail channel as to what they intend to keep

No, because they have the $399 Dells and Compaqs...

Which, btw, after you add anti-spyware, and all the "Geek Squad" stuff, comes to $900....

 

[bstreiff]

- FireWire devices are more expensive to build, because the device needs to fully have the ability to communicate rather than just naively respond to requests with chunks of data.
- FireWire does NOT offer anything that USB cannot. If your USB devices are slower, this is due to cost cutting and using cheap chips, memory and manufacturing techniques. This cost cutting is probably the main reason FireWire has not become an industry standard.

If your USB devices are slower, this is due to communication overhead, polling, and how every piece of data has to go through the CPU to get where it's going.

I've found that my USB/Firewire hard drive enclosure gives slightly worse performance and noticeably higher CPU usage when on USB. Oh, and there's also the annoyance of it taking up two USB ports that way (one for data, one for power), whereas it can power itself entirely from the single Firewire cable.

- Target Disk Mode is no longer necessary over FireWire because Ethernet can do the same thing (but potentially at gigabit speeds)... I don't know the precise details of this, but it's a completely plausible option and makes sense.

Not quite. To replicate Target Disk Mote, you'd have to add support for TCP/IP, DHCP, probably Bonjour, oh, and some sort of filesharing protocol into EFI. (Some of this is already present in the MacBook Air.)

But wait, there's more! Target Disk Mode makes the entire drive accessible to the host machine; that is, it appears as an HFS+ block device. You can reformat it, repartition it, whatever; you're directly accessing the hard drive.

For a theoretical Ethernet Disk Mode to work and to be as fully-featured, you'd need to have a special network block device driver of some sort; sharing over AFP/SMB wouldn't cut it. Oh, and the concurrency issues of having multiple people connected would be fun, too.

 

[bigwig]

- FireWire does NOT offer anything that USB cannot. If your USB devices are slower, this is due to cost cutting and using cheap chips, memory and manufacturing techniques. This cost cutting is probably the main reason FireWire has not become an industry standard.

FW isn't better than USB? Since when?

How about isochronous timing? Low CPU usage? High sustained speed?

 

[WCWalker]

Demise of the Mini?

If Apple discontinues and does not replace the Mini with a similar entry level computer they'll be making a big marketing blunder.

I suspect that a lot of people will not have the money to buy even the entry level Notebook, let alone an iMac in this deteriorating economy. It is very likely people will be priced out of a Mac altogether and will either return to or start buying Windows units.

In my own case, I will not buy a computer with a Glossy screen. The look and view is horrible. I already own monitors, keyboards and mice and they'll go to waste if I cannot purchase more Minis or something comparable. A Power Mac is overkill for my needs and I won't even consider it. And the fact that the Mini uses so little power is also very appealing. Even when bundled with a 19" monitor I am using only about 70 watts power at peak usage times.

It pains me to say this but if they don't continue the Mini and don't replace it with a similar product and price point, when my two existing Minis can no longer be upgraded and are rendered obsolete, I'll have to return to a Windows computer.

Hopefully Apple will wake up and realize from a marketing standpoint, they are making a very foolish mistake if they are going to kill off the Mini.

 

[Superman07]

Sadly, as I was looking at options today, Asus' Eee Box is very similarly in hardware to the MacMini. Aside from a slightly slower bus, no slot drive and a arguably better processor (iffy). This makes me really sad since it's less than half the price. Can't make a good product for $500...yeah....

 

[andrewk82]

Just when I was contemplating getting one to act as a DVR...

 

[oticon6]

FW isn't better than USB? Since when?

How about isochronous timing? Low CPU usage? High sustained speed?

- USB can support isochronous transfers.

- There is lower CPU usage because the 'client' is doing a lot more. To a computer, the difference in CPU usage is really insignificant, whereas for a standalone device, this translates into a huge increase in cost.

- 'Sustained' speed? You make it sound like there's some kind of flaw in the way data is requested or transferred. There's no difference between the first packet and the millionth... and if everything is built the way it should be, the speeds will be pretty similar. The reason why FireWire has this high speed, high quality image is that it most often appears on 'good quality' products, which are of course designed and manufactured to higher standards.

 

[oticon6]

OMFG You're an Idiot! The Mac mini doesn't even have a screen!

Had to be said....

I did indeed end up on quite a tangent I suppose frustration built up during the MacBook release threads and I finally released it. I feel much better

 

[donbadman]

...no plethora of look-alike Macs.

I beg to differ

 

[darkblu]

FW isn't better than USB? Since when?

How about isochronous timing? Low CPU usage? High sustained speed?

the funny thing is that usb2 has isochronous mode too, but the usb mass-storage sub-protocol does not use it. ergo the usb2 suckage outside of flash key applications.

 

[TheSelfishGene]

The real issue with upgrading the Mini is technical/engineering - it's design can barely handle the heat load of it's components today (my 2.0 mini ouputs a ton . That's why the Mini has stagnated, and why there hasn't been an upgrade; they can't figure out how to make an "Apple worthy" desktop that isn't just a desktop.

 

[donbadman]

Jobs has decided that all pros must have headaches from glare.

Glossy on all iMacs, notebooks.
Glossy ACDs coming to replace existing.
Kill the mini.
New MacPro to only support video cards with mini DisplayPort.

Snow Leopard will remove all support for any monitor not made by Apple.
Apple brownshirts coming to confiscate your old equipment.

Mwa-ha-ha

/sarcasm (I think)

The glass screens are paving the way for touchscreen on all apple computers, however it would have been better in my opinion to bring the touchscreens in with the glass at the same time, as it stands they've limited the usability of the current line up for professional computing by bringing in a feature that is featureless, I suspect the touchscreen tech could have been introduced on the current models but they are getting a round of profit this holiday season before bringing in the touchscreen tech this time next year. Unless they've already got the touchscreen elements built into these models but not listing the feature. (like WiFi n on the macbook pros)

 

[gkarris]

The real issue with upgrading the Mini is technical/engineering - it's design can barely handle the heat load of it's components today (my 2.0 mini ouputs a ton . That's why the Mini has stagnated, and why there hasn't been an upgrade; they can't figure out how to make an "Apple worthy" desktop that isn't just a desktop.

They have before, on lots of occasions....

This time, it's about "up-selling".

 

[donbadman]

The Mac Mini design has lost is freshness. Look how many similar devices Apple has introduced (with slightly different dimensions):

1. Apple TV
2. Time Capsule
3. AirPort Extreme Base Station

In today's society the entry-level Mac has become the MacBook. Apple still could develop another cost-effective alternative to the Mac Pro without a monitor but I doubt if it will be positioned at the lowest entry point and probably will include a keyboard and mouse or trackpad surface.

Combine all of these with a mini and I'll definetly get one...

 

[maccompaq]

Sadly, as I was looking at options today, Asus' Eee Box is very similarly in hardware to the MacMini. Aside from a slightly slower bus, no slot drive and a arguably better processor (iffy). This makes me really sad since it's less than half the price. Can't make a good product for $500...yeah....

The Atom 1.6 GHz processor in the 10 inch or any computer has a Geek Bench score of 952.

The Mac Mini 2 GHz has a Geek Bench score of 2592. A lot of folks just do not realize how powerful the Mini is.

 

[TheSelfishGene]

They have before, on lots of occasions....

This time, it's about "up-selling".

Oh come on that was 10-15 years ago. Apple is as much about design and fashion as functionality. They don't want a "grey" box, but they sort of need one to deal with the heat output of better components. If they make a sort of flat & thin tower, how is that different than an iMac?

 

[gkarris]

Oh come on that was 10-15 years ago. Apple is as much about design and fashion as functionality. They don't want a "grey" box, but they sort of need one to deal with the heat output of better components. If they make a sort of flat & thin tower, how is that different than an iMac?

Shows they can always make a low-end desktop.

No matter what anyone says, I just found the bottom line:

"Blue Ocean Strategy"

discussed here:

https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/6476256/

Apple is sailing along their "Blue Ocean" and has left budget-minded consumers such as me behind...

 

[darkblu]

The Atom 1.6 GHz processor in the 10 inch or any computer has a Geek Bench score of 952.

The Mac Mini 2 GHz has a Geek Bench score of 2592. A lot of folks just do not realize how powerful the Mini is.

true that. the atom-based machines and the minis are in entirely different classes. the atom is a MID-class (mobile internet device, as per intel's marketing) cpu, to which even the entry G4 in the original mini comes way faster, despite a lower clock (seriously-super-scalar, out-of-order execution, high-speed caches, etc). the atom competes with the top of the arm lineup, not the laptop/desktop bunch.