Much Smaller Mac Mini Coming?

[dentaldoc]

Can Do the NEW Mac Mini

While I don’t have a clue what Apple is really planning, the point I was trying to make was that it seems to be part of Apple’s DNA (cliche) that they cannot just release an improved version of a current product even, if they were sure to be meeting the needs and desires of a large part of their audience. Unless they can claim that their product is unlike anything any other manufacturer has ever offered, they would rather release nothing.

I suspect that there are thousands of Apple aficionados who would be perfectly satisfied with an upgraded Mini that just gave us enough MIPS to get our work done. And given Apple’s other products that are based on nearly identical motherboards, virtually no investment in engineering, and hence juicy profits, could be guaranteed. But they still won’t do it. Its part of the Apple obsession. Their “star” status is simply more important than satisfying their customers immediate needs. If the stockholders only knew.

So while my rant was just wild speculation to make a point, most of the speculated innovations are actually doable. Whether it makes sense to do them is another thing.

A recent piece in Engadget (http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/15/displaylink-cuts-your-monitors-cord-utilizes-wireless-usb/) refers to the relatively new DisplayLink which could, with the right software, allow the possessor of the NEW Mini to literally walk up to a DisplayLink endowed display, sit down and start using it as a luxurious full-sized display. Samsung is already starting to incorporate the DisplayLink chip in some of their high end tv’s.

Similarly, the iPhone already has all the hardware and the SDK to turn the surface of the NEW Mini into a data entry (typing) and pointing surface. Just take a look at what the musical group iBand (http://technicism.blogspot.com/2008/03/iphone-musicians-tinkle-touch-screen.html, or the iBand website, http://www.iband.at/) is doing with iPhone software written by Mark Terry (Pianist) and others.

It was a whimsical suggestion that Apple would do away with the CD drive, but upon reflecting on how they did away with it on their smallest laptop (who would have thought?), the symmetry is intriguing.

But perhaps 8 inches wide would be a more realistic minimum for the top surface to allow for faster typing.

 

[grannyjones]

But perhaps 8 inches wide would be a more realistic minimum for the top surface to allow for faster typing.

Nah, Apple will just make it about half the size of a red brick. You gently tap your head against it to input morse code.

 

[albusseverus]

such dreams, for the bottom of the line...

Dear dentaldoc - I admire your optimism. I love the mini & like everyone here, I wish it were just a little bit better. But as I wrote... It Ain't.

I was half serious in asking for the thread to be closed (read the white text at the end of my original post).

Dear yadmonkey

As for blu ray, I'm surprised that Apple has yet to offer it, particularly in their most recent iMac update. With displays (ACDs) which are not HDCP ready, no HD capability in their DVD player software, and no blu ray options whatsoever, Apple is quickly falling further behind the curve on this one. At least their recent video cards are HDCP ready, so perhaps expansion is an option on the horizon.

Apple is not the slightest bit interested in providing Blu-ray drives. Sure it's politic to be in the BDA, but really... Apple has made it abundantly clear, it's in the business of selling you downloadable HD movies.

It's 3 years since iMovie could do HD (& that's an eternity in technology) and Apple's never once even suggested it would give us disc output for HD.

Even my local supermarket is selling a Windows machine with a drive that can read HD-DVD and BD discs... Apple has never stated any intention to include BD drives. To quote Steve Jobs from August last year... "if anyone is still using discs (snicker, snicker)."

Hopes are high...

[note to macrumors: s.n.i.g.g.e.r. is not a dirty word, it is in fact the correct word, that you wouldn't let me use 'above']

 

[D4F]

Who cares about size... Seriously.
I need some specs that will allow me to have a computer not a calculator... and a very outdated one.

 

[dentaldoc]

Optimism schmoptimism

Optimism schmoptimism [sic.]. I just can’t believe Apple is just going to do NOTHING with the MM. I mean, if they just leave the specs alone and leave it on the Store, it is going to start looking ridiculous in a few months.

What if somebody at Dell or HP are accidently redirected to The Store, and notice the MM. If they do Apple is going to be publicly humiliated.

Is Apple willing to just leave a giant hole in their product line, with only one stand-alone – supercomputer? I think that is unlikely, but who knows.

There must be others out there who, like me, would never buy an iMac for their own use. I own a couple of iMacs that look pretty at the front desk, but I cannot stand doing any work on them. The high position of the screen and the “chin” are ergonomically incompatible with my body, and esthetics of my brain.

 

[alphaod]

Greed, on Apple's part?

The longer Apple leaves a computer without updating it the more money they are likely to be making off it.

Consider the specs of the Mini: Combo Drive, GMA 950, Wireless b/g (NO N) and still NO Penryn chips. God knows how much a Combo Drive must cost these days and Intel must be giving away those GMA 950 chips. It really is outrageous that Apple charge £400/£700 respectively for a desktop/laptop that can't even burn a DVD.

The cost of these components must have fallen considerably since they were first introduced and used by Apple in the Mini, but the cost of the Mini to the consumer remains the same.

It could be considering that the Mac Mini is not exactly a top seller. Yes a lot of people buy them, but it's possible that they don't sell as well as Apple has hoped? It's very expensive to develop and redesign a new product especially if they are really going to make one that's thinner. Mini's are good for people who are new to Macs as well and do not want to make an incredibly high investment; they just want to use the computer for mundane tasks; it plays regular movies, even 720p. Sure 1080p is difficult, but that can be said about a lot of computers with integrated graphics!

 

[dentaldoc]

Its the Meroms Mommy

Greed, on Apple's part?

The longer Apple leaves a computer without updating it the more money they are likely to be making off it.

Consider the specs of the Mini: Combo Drive, GMA 950, Wireless b/g (NO N) and still NO Penryn chips. God knows how much a Combo Drive must cost these days and Intel must be giving away those GMA 950 chips. It really is outrageous that Apple charge £400/£700 respectively for a desktop/laptop that can't even burn a DVD.

The cost of these components must have fallen considerably since they were first introduced and used by Apple in the Mini, but the cost of the Mini to the consumer remains the same.

MacSA: I respectably have to disagree with you. Profit is a balance between the cost of producing a product and the number of units sold.

Given how appallingly the current Mini specifications stack up against more modern boxes, I am sure that regardless of how vibrant sales were in 2007 they must have tapered off dramatically. I, for one NEED a new computer but I would not even consider buying another Mini (I have three) because it simply cannot handle the demands put on it by the latest generation of software.

Simply upgrading the current box to a Penryn/Santa Rosa (or the newer Montevina chipset) motherboard with a better graphics processor and more RAM would be trivial from an engineering standpoint. Remember, Apple currently makes MacBooks and MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, and iMacs, much of which could virtually be dropped into the Mini housing. All the engineering for those has been done.

While its true that the older generation hardware might be somewhat cheaper for Apple to buy, the components used in the current generation MacBook or in the iMac are now commodity items and cost Apple very little more, if at all, than the old 65 nm Merom chips, which are at or near their end of production life. Remember, economies of scale allows Apple to buy the same chips used in the MacBook for possibly less than what they paid for the previous generation chips. It is likely that Apple is simply using up its stock of 65 nm Merom chips.

I believe that Apple has already reach the tipping point on the balance beam of production vs. sales. At this point, Mac Mini sales are likely nosediving due to the outdated technology in them; as soon as Apple depletes their existing supply of 65 nm Merom Chips, the model upgrade will occur.

 

[yadmonkey]

Apple is not the slightest bit interested in providing Blu-ray drives. Sure it's politic to be in the BDA, but really... Apple has made it abundantly clear, it's in the business of selling you downloadable HD movies.

I'm not so sure about that. Right now, you can get HD content through AppleTV only, which is not in an impressive amount of Mac users' homes and doesn't support full HD (1080p). Not to mention that SJ has referred to AppleTV as a hobby.

It's 3 years since iMovie could do HD (& that's an eternity in technology) and Apple's never once even suggested it would give us disc output for HD.

Since when did Apple go out of their way to let people know about their plans for future technology, especially where the Mac is concerned?

Even my local supermarket is selling a Windows machine with a drive that can read HD-DVD and BD discs... Apple has never stated any intention to include BD drives. To quote Steve Jobs from August last year... "if anyone is still using discs (snicker, snicker)."

So you know (see declarative statement: "Apple is not the slightest bit interested in providing Blu-ray drives.") that Apple won't go with BD and your only evidence is their lack of official communication about it and half of a conditional sentence?

 

[aviationalyours]

Yah

I'm not so sure about that. Right now, you can get HD content through AppleTV only, which is not in an impressive amount of Mac users' homes and doesn't support full HD (1080p). Not to mention that SJ has referred to AppleTV as a hobby.




Since when did Apple go out of their way to let people know about their plans for future technology, especially where the Mac is concerned?



So you know (see declarative statement: "Apple is not the slightest bit interested in providing Blu-ray drives.") that Apple won't go with BD and your only evidence is their lack of official communication about it and half of a conditional sentence?

Totally right, MBA was only speculated a few hours before the release. SJ can keep stuff secret. As far as I am concerned WWDC cause I know Apple dosen't leave stuff hanging like I do.

 

[MacKinvan]

Mac Mini HDMI

I would like to see HDMI support.

 

[Tallest Skil]

What if somebody at Dell or HP are accidently redirected to The Store, and notice the MM. If they do Apple is going to be publicly humiliated.

You keep thinking that. Everyone knows the Mac Mini's specs. Apple is worth four times as much as Dell. See who gets humiliated.

 

[Lord Zedd]

A discrete video system (ANYthing besides Intel junk graphics), HDMI/HDCP and Blu-ray option.

 

[yadmonkey]

You keep thinking that. Everyone knows the Mac Mini's specs. Apple is worth four times as much as Dell. See who gets humiliated.

Yeah, when I buy a computer the first thing I consider is the net worth of the company which made it.

 

[marbles]

Don't know if you guys have seen it but in the UK store the mini is accompanied by a 'new price' bubble and there is no new price ...any ideas ?

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObj...shop_mac/family/mac_mini&sf=w2YF4JXY4AHCAJCDF

 

[aviationalyours]

Details

You keep thinking that. Everyone knows the Mac Mini's specs. Apple is worth four times as much as Dell. See who gets humiliated.

Actually, Apple is worth about 200$ with Dell at only 19$ (last time I checked) per stock

 

[Pring]

Don't know if you guys have seen it but in the UK store the mini is accompanied by a 'new price' bubble and there is no new price ...any ideas ?

http://store.apple.com/Apple/WebObj...shop_mac/family/mac_mini&sf=w2YF4JXY4AHCAJCDF

It's quite sneaky of them. They made the additional RAM cheaper but not the standard configs. So yes, if you configure a mini with extra ram it works out cheaper but not if you take an off the peg version.

Quite dodgy actually.

 

[Pring]

Actually, Apple is worth about 200$ with Dell at only 19$ (last time I checked) per stock

Yes but there are more Dell stocks in circulation. Total market value of the company is about 4x that of Dell.

 

[DoFoT9]

Yes but there are more Dell stocks in circulation. Total market value of the company is about 4x that of Dell.

geez you two!!

who pays the best dividend and at what percentages??

 

[aviationalyours]

Fine

geez you two!!

who pays the best dividend and at what percentages??

I dunno, ask Steve Jobs.

And Mac people are supposed to be cool people. Cool people are supposed to have a choice. Being a Geek is a choice.

And thanks (other person) for the info.

 

[mjteix]

I dunno, ask Steve Jobs.

SJ: No dividends. We keep the money in case I need to fly to Brazil.

Last time I've checked, the Mac mini represented 3% of the Macs sold (average 2007 sales).
Apple should do something about the sub-$1000 segment.
Apple used to make computers "for the rest of us", I believe they should now make them for everybody.
Not just placeholders to say: "See, we can make affordable computers too".

There are more and more Mac mini-like computers in stores and Intel is pushing the concept even more with the Atom family.
The size and the design of the Mac mini, is already nothing new, nor something special. It's time to do something...

 

[marbles]

It's quite sneaky of them. They made the additional RAM cheaper but not the standard configs. So yes, if you configure a mini with extra ram it works out cheaper but not if you take an off the peg version.

Quite dodgy actually.

I had a look and the price for a maxed out mini is £558 that is not cheaper and I noticed that Apple has been charging less for RAM recently ...not just for the mini either
...it is dodgy that for sure ....shame , I expected more from Apple

...here was me hoping it was the sign of a real price reduction for the old girl or maybe a sign that something new was coming ....maybe it is as the price for ram has been reduced from them for a while now !!

 

[retroneo]

Perhaps they could merge the AppleTV and mac mini lines. Have both Leopard and AppleTV's custom OS preinstalled. Add another two USB ports and Bluetooth. You could plug in a Display, keyboard and mouse or plug it into the TV. Forget about the optical drive - they already have the external MacBook Air one they could offer as an option.

GMA X4500, Core 2 Duo 3M and 1 GB of RAM would give adequate power as a basic Mac OS X machine and enough grunt to run the Apple TV OS for primarily H.264 and music decoding.

Today's 45nm Core 2 Duo 3MB variants have a smaller die size (81sq mm) than the Apple TV's 90nm (84sq mm) Pentium M and could now be produced at a similar price.

Apple would save money by converging the two lines. They could gain new Mac OS X customers from people using it as a basic Mac. The product wouldn't cannabalise the iMac or Mac Pro. It would have a lower starting price than the Mac mini does today.

Apple would also save money by no longer needing to use Nvidia's GoForce 7300 and its GDDR3 memory.

Don't change the spec on it again for 18 months and they could churn them out at a cheaper price.

 

[weedy]

Perhaps they could merge the AppleTV and mac mini lines. Have both Leopard and AppleTV's custom OS preinstalled. Add another two USB ports and Bluetooth. You could plug in a Display, keyboard and mouse or plug it into the TV. Forget about the optical drive - they already have the external MacBook Air one they could offer as an option.

GMA X4500, Core 2 Duo 3M and 1 GB of RAM would give adequate power as a basic Mac OS X machine and enough grunt to run the Apple TV OS for primarily H.264 and music decoding.

Today's 45nm Core 2 Duo 3MB variants have a smaller die size (81sq mm) than the Apple TV's 90nm (84sq mm) Pentium M and could now be produced at a similar price.

Apple would save money by converging the two lines. They could gain new Mac OS X customers from people using it as a basic Mac. The product wouldn't cannabalise they iMac. It would have a lower starting price than the Mac mini does today.

Apple would also save money by no longer needing to use Nvidia's GoForce 7600.

Don't see why AppleTV and Mini merge should cannibalize iMac sales - those 2 products have been there for a while and they are combined cheaper than the cheapest iMac so they should've already done that.
In reality we see neither of them selling anywhere nearly as good as iMac.

But for the idea - I like it and it would actually be logical as I know a bunch of people using older/spare minis as their movie watching devices, attached to TVs. Of course, graphics card and it's utilization should then be improved as well as 5.1 sound added.

 

[Lord Blackadder]

I'd like to see a cheaper Mini - something deeper into iPod territory pricewise. Bundled with OS X and iLife it would be an incredible bargain.

 

[Roy]

SJ: No dividends. We keep the money in case I need to fly to Brazil.

Last time I've checked, the Mac mini represented 3% of the Macs sold (average 2007 sales).
Apple should do something about the sub-$1000 segment.
Apple used to make computers "for the rest of us", I believe they should now make them for everybody.
Not just placeholders to say: "See, we can make affordable computers too".

There are more and more Mac mini-like computers in stores and Intel is pushing the concept even more with the Atom family.
The size and the design of the Mac mini, is already nothing new, nor something special. It's time to do something...

Last time you checked! Checked where?