Mac Mini Update Specs?

[milo]

Yeah, imagine that. Their top-of-the-like 64bit full-tower quad-core workstation and their bottom-of-the-barrel consumer-model have wildly different specs!

Which would be fine...if there were a model in the middle. It's like a car company selling a huge SUV and a tiny two door car, with nothing in between.

 

[Small White Car]

How much would it hurt Apple to just double the height of the Mini and put a 1.83 GHz Conroe (Allendale) in there and a 3.5" Hard Drive? I'm pretty sure no-one would be whining about that. It would also get the price back down to $499 easy!

Oh, yeah, of course that is MY fantasy too. I'd love for them to beef up the mini at a cost of size only. I'd be the first to buy one of those.

I'm afraid, however, that Apple was very successful at convincing people that the mini is not at all like the old cube Mac. That was good since it had the reputation of being overpriced, but it also means that I can't see Apple making the mini any bigger. To do so would make it look like they were headed back that way. Even if the price got lower it would be an image they didn't want to encourage.

 

[reflex]

Yonah doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Merom is pin-compatible and costs exactly the same amount. Besides, it would be a PR boost for Apple to have the entire lineup 64-bit and "Leopard ready".

They can still update the mini in February or March to be "Leopard ready".

 

[Evangelion]

Compared to similarly priced PC's, $799 for a yonah duo 1.8 is pretty weak.

To be honest, I'd rather see the cheaper model drop in price (if not both) than a speed bump.

Since we don't know the prices yet, my suggestion is that we don't touch the "jump to conclusions mat" just yet.

My take on this is that it's a great update! The performance of the base-model is more than doubled when you really think about it! Bring on the updates!

 

[Evangelion]

Which would be fine...if there were a model in the middle. It's like a car company selling a huge SUV and a tiny two door car, with nothing in between.

Oh believe me, I agree with you 100% percent! I would LOVE to see "Mac pro Mini" from Apple.

 

[BeefUK]

Why is everyone so hung up on Merom?

I never expected the mini to go that way this year. Remember, the entire point of the mini is to be LOW COST.

The switch to Intel caused the price of the mini to jump $100. I would much rather see its processor lag behind a little bit if they can get that price back to $499.

Same thing with the Macbook, I'd rather see a $999 Macbook with the current chips than a $1,099 Macbook that keeps up with the Macbook Pro's chips.

Of course, there's nothing saying Apple will lower the prices but IF they do then I would be very happy to see the "old" Intel chips stay in those machines another 6 months. The first core chips are still VERY fast chips, it's the rest of the system (video card) that's holding things up now. I wonder how much extra benefit you'd even get from a Merom chip in a mini.

I agree, if the mac mini is dropped in price but keeps the Core Duo, I think that is a logical step. I think one of the original ideas of the mini was to tempt switchers, who already have a PC, but want to try a mac for cheap. I was nearly tempted last year, but held off for the Intel Update, and then decided I wanted a laptop instead.

However if they keep prices the same, then that seems a strange decision.

I have to say though I hope u are wrong with regard to the Macbooks, i'm hoping for a Core 2 Duo update so I can purchase my first mac. Maybe if they don't i'll just save up some more money and buy and Core 2 Duo MBP when they're released!!

 

[BlizzardBomb]

Since we don't know the prices yet, my suggestion is that we don't touch the "jump to conclusions mat" just yet.

My take on this is that it's a great update! The performance of the base-model is more than doubled when you really think about it! Bring on the updates!

Most benchmarks show the difference between the 1.5 Ghz Solo and 1.66 Ghz Duo to be about 15% for single-core apps (games) and about 30% for dual-core aware apps. So not really more than 100% more performance.

 

[iMikeT]

If the GPU is upgraded, I'll definitely get one.

 

[AidenShaw]

wheres my media edition mac mini...

seriously i would be stoked if they released an ULV Mac Mini with a 100GB HDD for all your audio and video needs. Ability to plug a 30" ACD would be nice, as 23" isn't that big for a TV. Built-in eyeTV equivalent, better remote... i want one!

Wait for the Apple HTPC - the upcoming Conroe mini-tower/pizza-box.

In the meantime, here's a Conroe HTPC that's now available:

http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/09/okoro-media-systems-now-shipping-core-2-duo-based-systems/
http://www.okoromedia.com/model.asp?model=GX300

 

[daneoni]

Very predictable. Just release the darn thing already!

 

[amac4me]

Without the Core 2 Duo, this would be a dissapointment.

 

[Evangelion]

Most benchmarks show the difference between the 1.5 Ghz Solo and 1.66 Ghz Duo to be about 15% for single-core apps (games) and about 30% for dual-core aware apps. So not really more than 100% more performance.

And if you run several apps at once (like most of us do), the increase is quite big indeed. And dual-core/SMP makes the system feel smoother, because no app can consume 100% of CPU-cycles.

Why are people always talking about speed of a single app? How about running several apps at once?

 

[Small White Car]

I have to say though I hope u are wrong with regard to the Macbooks, i'm hoping for a Core 2 Duo update so I can purchase my first mac. Maybe if they don't i'll just save up some more money and buy and Core 2 Duo MBP when they're released!!

I hate to tell you this, but your "i'll just save up some more money" statement is probably the main reason Apple WON'T put Core 2 in the Macbooks!

Don't get me wrong, I'd love core 2 chips in EVERY Mac that's using Yonah now. That would be totally fantastic.

But I'm not trying to say what I WANT...I'm trying to figure out what I think Apple will DO.

Those are usually not the same thing with ANY company.

 

[jholzner]

Yonah doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Merom is pin-compatible and costs exactly the same amount. Besides, it would be a PR boost for Apple to have the entire lineup 64-bit and "Leopard ready". The Mac Mini is going to use the 5000 series Meroms and the iMac is going to use the 7000s.

Merom doesn't cost the same as Yonah! Merom costs the same now as Yonah did WHEN IT WAS RELEASED. Since then the cost has gone down and is supposed to dip lower in the coming weeks. Apple could use Yonah in the Mini and lower the price to where it used to stand.

 

[epicwelshman]

I think Apple is more concerned with price for the Mac Mini than speed. Make them just a little bit faster than they are now, but much cheaper.

They're too expensive in the line-up now, with merom they would stay the same price but with Yonah they can make them cheaper again.

Oh I know. As it stands now, the base Mac Mini in Canada, even with the edu discount is almost $700 (CDN) which is ridiculous when you can get full fledged PC laptops for less than that. I know it's a Apple, and it's a Mac so you expect higher prices, but still...

 

[emotion]

The Mac Mini is going to use the 5000 series Meroms and the iMac is going to use the 7000s.

I bet this is the case too. 2MB cache instead of the higher end 4MB cache in the 7000s.

I find it hard to believe they will stick with Yonahs.

I'd also like to see a drop in price, so I guess if they do stick with Yonah then a drop might happen.

 

[daneoni]

I think people should just stop dreaming about the discrete graphics thing. Its just not going to happen. Look forward to the GMA 965 and the X300 or was it X3000 down the road. Same thing for the MacBooks

 

[Queso]

No to Merom in the mini. Core Duo in both models and a significant price drop. They are supposed to be low end machines, so give them a low end price point.

 

[surroundfan]

Provided they move the current Core Duo model down to the $US599 price point with the specs intact, I'll be happy.

My main concerns are to ditch the Core Solo and to lose the combo drive (a bit too 2002 when the rest of the world is offering DVD burners in everything but their $US299 base models). An 80GB HDD (rather than 60GB) to compete with all these cheapies would also be nice.

 

[kev0476]

i think the main thing instead of saying apple is a full 64-bit company is to say they are a full dual-core company, which if they put in meron, one will have to still be single core. dual core yonah or single core meron? (in the base machine)

 

[milo]

My take on this is that it's a great update! The performance of the base-model is more than doubled when you really think about it! Bring on the updates!

It's not so bad on the low end, but that's a pretty piddly update for the pricier model, especially when you consider what the competition is using. The only way it would be forgivable would be if they had a pretty sizable price drop on the high end.

 

[BlizzardBomb]

Merom doesn't cost the same as Yonah! Merom costs the same now as Yonah did WHEN IT WAS RELEASED. Since then the cost has gone down and is supposed to dip lower in the coming weeks. Apple could use Yonah in the Mini and lower the price to where it used to stand.

Nonono, Merom costs the same as Yonah's June price points which are still here even with Merom out in the wild.

 

[shawnce]

Assuming the rumor is correct (really the core duo is just fine for such a machine at this point in time)... it may allow Apple to drop prices on the mini which not only makes it available to more potential switchers but makes a little more room in their product line up for a mini tower.

A mini tower in the 1000-1600 dollar range would allow us to buy Macs for developers (as a second system often) and QA folks since they can run Windows, Linux and Mac OS X natively. It would allow the maximum flexibility to our teams and at a price point that matches with the Dell crap desktops systems we currently purchase.

We would still of course purchase Mac Pros for the developers that need them the most (as a primary system) but a mini tower would easily double or triple what we would purchase.

The Mac mini does work in the space but it is just a little underpowered on the IO and expansion front to be fully useful as a secondary developer system.

 

[BenRoethig]

They can still update the mini in February or March to be "Leopard ready".

Do you seriously want the Apple is behind/outdated mindset to sink in again?

 

[extraextra]

i think the main thing instead of saying apple is a full 64-bit company is to say they are a full dual-core company, which if they put in meron, one will have to still be single core. dual core yonah or single core meron? (in the base machine)

Fully dual-core doesn't sound particularly impressive, and I think other companies can claim that they are fully dual-core as well.

It's Merom, by the way.

I'd rather them put the Yonah in and lower the price.