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Mac Mini to Gain Support for Dual Displays?
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i completely disagree that the mini is just for switchers and therefore doesn't warrant dual monitor setups, i can imagine a lot of 'geeks' and 'pros' buying a mac mini or two, i know i want one myself as a HTPC and potential Mac Pro Xgrid companion (quad core option would be nice!), there isn't a single contemporary product from Apple that can work as a HTPC that isn't over-powered, over-sized (Mac Pro) or has a display already built in. Just for HTPC uses alone having 2 displays is massively useful, you can have a small monitor for browsing media and or using the web etc.. while you have a display running video. Previously anyone wanting the real estate of true dual monitor setups and Mac OS would have to get a Mac Pro, or hackintosh it to stay under budget, but now that gap would be filled.
But i myself see this being a huge boon for the Final Cut market and a great long term business plan for Apple's Pro software in general, this now opens up Final Cut to students and film-makers on a budget, if the specs are similar to the Macbook then the mini will be a perfectly viable system for editing DV and HDV, as well as cutting tracks with Logic Pro. Sure you may say Final Cut Studio will cost almost twice as much as a mini, but it's still a massive saving over FCS and a MP/MBP, and i'm sure Apple know they need students to pirate their software otherwise the future generation of film-makers and bedroom musicians won't be able to hone their skills on the software and Apple won't be able to promote the use of their apps on major projects, if they didn't want people pirating their software they would have made it a lot harder to crack it, and unlike games anyone that wants to use the software commercially HAS to buy a license, so it's a win win situation.
But now students can pay £400/$700 for a mac, use their current monitors and keyboards and have a dual monitor editing workstation that can fit in their dorm, and be easily carried around.
Apple HAVE to get the Mini right, it has soooo much potential, and fills in a massive gap in their current line up.
But i myself see this being a huge boon for the Final Cut market and a great long term business plan for Apple's Pro software in general, this now opens up Final Cut to students and film-makers on a budget, if the specs are similar to the Macbook then the mini will be a perfectly viable system for editing DV and HDV, as well as cutting tracks with Logic Pro. Sure you may say Final Cut Studio will cost almost twice as much as a mini, but it's still a massive saving over FCS and a MP/MBP, and i'm sure Apple know they need students to pirate their software otherwise the future generation of film-makers and bedroom musicians won't be able to hone their skills on the software and Apple won't be able to promote the use of their apps on major projects, if they didn't want people pirating their software they would have made it a lot harder to crack it, and unlike games anyone that wants to use the software commercially HAS to buy a license, so it's a win win situation.
But now students can pay £400/$700 for a mac, use their current monitors and keyboards and have a dual monitor editing workstation that can fit in their dorm, and be easily carried around.
Apple HAVE to get the Mini right, it has soooo much potential, and fills in a massive gap in their current line up.
The current mini ships with a DVI to VGA converter, so I guess they'll bundle a MDP to DVI/VGA connect in as well.
Please Apple, don't let us down with this update.
Please Apple, don't let us down with this update.
(In a pool of pre-MacWorld sadness)... No, no - Phil will tell us how some vague experience shows that mini users really didn't want FireWire (just like it was a burden for MacBook owners - thanks godness they nixed it there to fix that problem
). Just like we don't want matte pro displays (rest in peace 23" ACD) or mouse buttons - or button. I feel like we're wandering into the desert with Apple refusing to listen to its customers for some reason - even large groups like the Photographic community are being told: "You'll like this more" despite loud complaints. Take care of your current mini. But by all means keep praying. Perhaps it will lead to something like "we got a lot of feedback about the elimination of FW and the glossy displays, and we hear you"... without being followed by "but you'll like no FW and glossy displays more".
In the old days the keyboard was extra on all Macs.
Which are you thinking of? I recall it being included with the Mac and Mac Plus etc. - sorta portable desktop classic macs along with the iconic mouse. One came with my $3,800 (in early 90's dollars) IIsi. A KB came with the later LC and the quadras. Was is extra with something like the $10,000+ IIfx?
Dual display capability would make this a purchase possibility for me.
However, I think the Mini might come with two mini-displayports instead of having one of them mini-divi, given Apple's goal of using the former spec from now on. Certainly it would make the adapter situation easier.
However, I think the Mini might come with two mini-displayports instead of having one of them mini-divi, given Apple's goal of using the former spec from now on. Certainly it would make the adapter situation easier.
I guess I'll never understand why there seems to be this correlation between processing power and monitors. I'm a web developer and I in no way require the processing power of a $2600 Mac Pro. I do however require multiple monitors. I've been using this type of setup since around 1996. Looking back, I've purchased an entry level Apple tower/desktop (and that one time a cube) roughly every three years since the mid nineties. The average purchase price of my systems was around $1500 and they all sported dual monitors.
The problem is, Apple no longer makes a true desktop-class system for under $2300. And while the $500 price hike might seem insignificant, I just can't justify it. Especially not when I just purchased a new Quad Core PC w/ 6gb of RAM and a 1TB hard drive for under $800.
So yes some of us do want dual monitors without the big price tag. In fact if this Mini is real and it does support dual monitors, I'll be ordering one the day of release. If not, that Quad Core PC of mine might just become a little experiment...
Wasn't one the major points of DisplayPort Spec is that it has the bandwidth to delivery to 4 Monitors in Daisy chain.
so two mini Displayports on the mini would in theory allow up to 8 monitors not that the GPU is going to be able to drive more than two.
Please keep the forum running on Monday guys. I'll be driving to Missouri for work and won't be able to keep up with the news. On Monday after work i will hopefully be the happy adoptive parent of a new Mac Mini.
I think that this would be an excellent addition to the mac line-up. I can't wait for this keynote and although without steve it'll not be the same it looks like it will be a very memorable one!
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Ok, my machine is out for repair so I don't have a photoshop job for you, but imagine this:
A fully aluminum-cased Mac mini that has the basic shape of the airport base station, but there is a small latch (like for the bay under the new MacBooks) that allows the top (the portion above the lip) to open up like a laptop lid. Inside you can access the hard drive, RAM, and a small battery that would last maybe an hour. The power port for the new mini is just a MagSafe surrounded by a more secure attaching port-thing, so the cinema displays can power the mini just like the MacBooks.
A fully aluminum-cased Mac mini that has the basic shape of the airport base station, but there is a small latch (like for the bay under the new MacBooks) that allows the top (the portion above the lip) to open up like a laptop lid. Inside you can access the hard drive, RAM, and a small battery that would last maybe an hour. The power port for the new mini is just a MagSafe surrounded by a more secure attaching port-thing, so the cinema displays can power the mini just like the MacBooks.
Dual displays and a regular SATA drive, and I'm sold. Why get the high end if not using it for super high end function? Buy a mini, switch out cheap every couple years, keep going.
Maybe they'll be kind and actually include a mini-dvi to DVI adapter with it. Apple used to include at least one adapter up until this mini-displayport fiasco (my fall 2008 MBP had a DVI to VGA adapter included with it and it already had an industry standard full size DVI port on it. The mini-display port thing has been an utter disaster for Apple. Their EXPENSIVE dual-DVI adapter doesn't even work for many people, rendering their $2000+ MBP worthless for external displays. It's freaking unreal. To connect a brand new MBP to an HDMI display with audio, you need something like 4-6 different adapters just to make it work. Most non-Apple laptops out there include 1-3 display outputs on them of varying types (e.g. I've seen DVI + 1-2 HDMI). Apple includes a MINI version and it doesn't have room for a 2nd output? The whole thing is bogus anyway. Displayport is ALREADY a small connector. Mini-Displayport is NOTHING but a way for Apple to try and force you to buy THEIR HARDWARE whether it be $99 cables or some expensive $800+ 24" monitor.... Speaking of which, why does their 24" cinema display only include a MINI Displayport? Is there not room on a 24" monitor for a full size display port? I mean isn't Apple's BS logic based on the idea they don't have ROOM for a full size display port so they shrunk it down ala Macbook Air? My LG 24" monitor sitting here that cost $599 has HDMI, Component and DVI on it and costs less (it can also rotate 90 degrees for vertical page style). My OTHER LG 24" monitor that cost $330 has DVI and VGA on it (still at least TWO connections). There is simply NO EXCUSE for Apple's behavior. Once again, they prove they are playing games just to be anti-competitive. If other companies were allowed to install OS X on their laptops, Apple would NEVER make such moves because they could no longer corner you into having to buy their stupid propriety connectors, cables and monitors. So once again, Apple proves that the law should side with Psystar and anyone else that wants to make clones because otherwise Apple will do everything in its power to make things incompatible and a pain in the butt.
The move to Intel was supposed to mean that Mac users would not be 2nd class citizens, but it seems lately they seem to be heading even further away from the mainstream with their retarded decisions to cripple their hardware (remove firewire, remove matte screens, include non-standard propriety connections without adapters and offer monitors that have only one connection and it's also a non-standard and won't even work with Apple own prior hardware!!! How freaking RETARDED is that? I think that pancreatic cancer he "used to" have (one really does wonder now) must have fried some brain cells along the way or something. Now he's abandoning MacWorld period after this year? Why doesn't Apple just create "Apple World" on some desert island and there it can revive Appletalk and the Newton and pretend the rest of the world doesn't exist because lately they seem to be living in a vacuum.
Yeah - testify. MMMM. Feeling it. Your last sentence had me wanting throw in the Apple Desktop Bus.
new mini !
Oh man, if this is true and the mini does indeed have dual display support, that would make for a great low budget music studio machine!
Add external HD, max out the ram, and pray that the firewire ports are retained for the firewire audio interfaces out there, and we've got ourselves a winner for the low budget persons out there!
Next step up would be a iMac with which the same external devices can be used, and finally the jump to a Mac Pro when the first hit records have been written
Oh man, if this is true and the mini does indeed have dual display support, that would make for a great low budget music studio machine!
Add external HD, max out the ram, and pray that the firewire ports are retained for the firewire audio interfaces out there, and we've got ourselves a winner for the low budget persons out there!
Next step up would be a iMac with which the same external devices can be used, and finally the jump to a Mac Pro when the first hit records have been written
how about HDMI instead of mini_DVI
Because, as has been said many times already, HDMI (type A) used on almost every consumer device does not support dual-link resolutions and is pointless on a computer.
QUESTION:
How do they get to the $499 supposed price point by including an adapter?
Sony gave users a measly regular video cable with te PS3 that has come with the original Playstation to save costs...
Plus, trying to be "greener" - including cables and remotes (*ducks*) that people don't use ends up being wasteful... Plus which one do you include? VGA? HDMI? DVI?
Sorta like buying a videogame console with an included game you don't even want...
Ah, this is easy: backwards and forwards compatibility. Not everyone is going to have a display that will work properly with the DRM-enabled mini-display port. If you have a DVI connection, you can still hook your older-ish display up and watch your 'protected' content. As time goes on, more and more displays will support it and you won't have to worry about the crossover.
I think the DRM is stupid (my music may be DRMed, but I don't have to screw around with finding compatible speakers, which would be analogous to this situation), but if that's the way they're going, it's nice to have a crossover system.
Dueling monitors doesn't sound appealing, I like my two displays to get along with each other.
same as white macbook
this would be the same mini adapter as the white macbook, that comes in vga, dvi, and video out flavors. As many people use the mini to drive kiosks and such it would be foolish to drop analog support, so having mini-dvi makes sense because they still sell these adapters in the store now. The existing mini-DVI works just fine with HDMI cables as well to link to HDTVs. Also, the included mini-DVI is only single channel.. it won't power more than a 24" monitor.. so they can leave this as a loophole in the new DRM scheme without actually backing down. They can't put dual mini-displayports on there because no third party monitor would work at all for itunes, and they can't have that.
But the preferred method will be to upsell you on the new 24" displayport monitor. They're certain to use the mag-safe simply because the new monitor setup begs for it including speaker and iSight so you get the full Mac experience. Apple pushes Bluetooth keyboard and mouse anyway, so the mini + LED LCD = still 1 wire setup (or at least to your desk) like an iMac.
this would be the same mini adapter as the white macbook, that comes in vga, dvi, and video out flavors. As many people use the mini to drive kiosks and such it would be foolish to drop analog support, so having mini-dvi makes sense because they still sell these adapters in the store now. The existing mini-DVI works just fine with HDMI cables as well to link to HDTVs. Also, the included mini-DVI is only single channel.. it won't power more than a 24" monitor.. so they can leave this as a loophole in the new DRM scheme without actually backing down. They can't put dual mini-displayports on there because no third party monitor would work at all for itunes, and they can't have that.
But the preferred method will be to upsell you on the new 24" displayport monitor. They're certain to use the mag-safe simply because the new monitor setup begs for it including speaker and iSight so you get the full Mac experience. Apple pushes Bluetooth keyboard and mouse anyway, so the mini + LED LCD = still 1 wire setup (or at least to your desk) like an iMac.