Much Smaller Mac Mini Coming?

[DoFoT9]

I think that the MacMini will loose about a half inch from the hight and about an inch width and depth.

$499 120GB
$599 SSD 64GB

The specs would be something like this:

Proc: Intel Core 2 Duo 3.2 GHz
Storage: SSD 64GB/120 GB Ultra Thin drive .76"
Memory: 2 GB
Optical Drive: New SuperDrive (CD-R/RW, DVD±R/W, Blu-Ray-R/RW) w/lightscribe
Bluthtooth
Wireless N
Gigabit Ethernet
4 USB 2.0
1 FireWire 800
1 Audio out/Optical
1 Audio In
DVI (with an adapter for either VGA or HDMI)
Security slot
MagSafe Power (a small internal battery (an hour tops) to allow the computer to auto shutdown safely or for you to get your work saved safely)
Pulsating light (when turned on it will be green but turns to white. if theres a problem it would be orange, red or flashing)

those specs at those prices would be simply amazing!!! i would love to see something like that.


however... i think the mini would still use the mobile processor, so that limits us to the 3.06ghz penryn (doesnt it??). the 64gb SSD would cost around $250 itself, so theres half of the thing gone already. apple would charge at least $400 for a BR drive. so theres $640 without anything else.

they would, of course, charge extra for the new 'battery' features if they were to add it. if you wanted to save your work you could just put the computer into 'deep sleep' anyways.

with apples mark-up for profits, if they ever did build that thing i think your looking at at least $900...

 

[iEdd]

lol.

Well as long as you guys are having fun over there in dream land.

Seriously though, this thread is really old (see first post), I don't think the rumour is coming true...

 

[Yvan256]

lol.

Well as long as you guys are having fun over there in dream land.

Seriously though, this thread is really old (see first post), I don't think the rumour is coming true...

Just because a rumor is old doesn't mean it's not true.

See also: Macs with intel processors.

You know what the worst part is? I bet there won't even be any Mac announcements on september 9.

 

[DoFoT9]

Just because a rumor is old doesn't mean it's not true.

See also: Macs with intel processors.

You know what the worst part is? I bet there won't even be any Mac announcements on september 9.

yup, every1 gets worked up for nothing

 

[CWallace]

I think that the MacMini will loose about a half inch from the height and about an inch width and depth.

$499 120GB
$599 SSD 64GB

The specs would be something like this...

You're eight months early for April Fools.

 

[akm3]

I think the mini will lose it's CD/DVD drive and somehow sit on (or be a pedestal for) the Superdrive that is an option with the Macbook air.

For the record, I think the Macbook and Macbook Pro revisions will also escrew optical drives altogether, and Apple will be widely criticized for it (being a tad too far ahead of the curve)

That said, we don't have an optical drive with the Macbook Air, and haven't missed it...at all.

 

[Snowy_River]

I think the mini will lose it's CD/DVD drive and somehow sit on (or be a pedestal for) the Superdrive that is an option with the Macbook air.

For the record, I think the Macbook and Macbook Pro revisions will also escrew optical drives altogether, and Apple will be widely criticized for it (being a tad too far ahead of the curve)

That said, we don't have an optical drive with the Macbook Air, and haven't missed it...at all.

While Apple has a tendency to push the boundaries, I don't see optical drives disappearing any time soon. Floppy drives went away because it was clear that optical drives were replacing them. But, at this point, there is nothing that's replacing optical drives except... optical drives. We may see the move to Blu-Ray, but there will definitely still be optical drives. There has to be a method to back data up and load data onto a computer, other than the internet. Too much software comes on CD and DVD. Could you imagine needing to download a 4 GB installer file? That could take a day on a decent speed connection. No. Optical drives are here for now. Until something better replaces them, like crystal ports.

 

[jlewis2k1]

You're eight months early for April Fools.

nah, i think im in time :-D

 

[.Chris]

While Apple has a tendency to push the boundaries, I don't see optical drives disappearing any time soon. Floppy drives went away because it was clear that optical drives were replacing them. But, at this point, there is nothing that's replacing optical drives except... optical drives. We may see the move to Blu-Ray, but there will definitely still be optical drives. There has to be a method to back data up and load data onto a computer, other than the internet. Too much software comes on CD and DVD. Could you imagine needing to download a 4 GB installer file? That could take a day on a decent speed connection. No. Optical drives are here for now. Until something better replaces them, like crystal ports.

+1

thats what I HATE about the air. the world is NOT ready for no bulit in opical drives. Yes I know some laptops dopnt have them but as for all laptops not having them, we arnt ready

 

[tmuller]

While Apple has a tendency to push the boundaries, I don't see optical drives disappearing any time soon. Floppy drives went away because it was clear that optical drives were replacing them. But, at this point, there is nothing that's replacing optical drives except... optical drives. We may see the move to Blu-Ray, but there will definitely still be optical drives. There has to be a method to back data up and load data onto a computer, other than the internet. Too much software comes on CD and DVD. Could you imagine needing to download a 4 GB installer file? That could take a day on a decent speed connection. No. Optical drives are here for now. Until something better replaces them, like crystal ports.

What the hell are you talking about? All day? Where do you live? I guess you must have a dial-up if your talking about all day cause last time I checked anything that resembles "decent" could do it in a couple hours (~6 hours on a 200KB line).

On my 15 Mbit FIOS line, I can pull it down in about 1/2 an hour (~0.6 hours).

I think you need to rethink "decent" and start talking about more specific speeds when you start generalizing information.

 

[tmuller]

+1

thats what I HATE about the air. the world is NOT ready for no bulit in opical drives. Yes I know some laptops dopnt have them but as for all laptops not having them, we arnt ready

-100


What the F are 4GB flash drives but nearly the same damn size of DVD disks. Why couldn't apple just release their software in a 4GB flash drive that could be used via USB or FW? That would make it a hell of a lot easier to restore (no more scratched media).

You need to start "Thinking Different"

 

[DoFoT9]

What the hell are you talking about? All day? Where do you live? I guess you must have a dial-up if your talking about all day cause last time I checked anything that resembles "decent" could do it in a couple hours (~6 hours on a 200KB line).

On my 15 Mbit FIOS line, I can pull it down in about 1/2 an hour (~0.6 hours).

I think you need to rethink "decent" and start talking about more specific speeds when you start generalizing information.

the whole world doesnt have unlimited downloads. 4gb file sizes would chew through a large % of users downloads per month, including my own. i cant afford 2 be capped and im only a uni student!!

-100


What the F are 4GB flash drives but nearly the same damn size of DVD disks. Why couldn't apple just release their software in a 4GB flash drive that could be used via USB or FW? That would make it a hell of a lot easier to restore (no more scratched media).

You need to start "Thinking Different"

thats a very nice idea. i can see apple doing that kind of stuff and i am intrigued.

 

[jeremyrader]

My MBP optical drive gets used very infrequently - like when all the other screens in the house are utilized and my son wants to watch Scooby-Doo (which is now on my server so that's not even realistic any more...). My wife's iMac gets a blank DVD inserted once or twice a month to burn some show or group of podcasts onto disc for a friend to borrow. My Wii and 2 of my DVD players all have SD and/or USB ports that now get used more than the DVD drive (we had to hide the DVD's from the kids, who used a few dozen as "ice skates" on the tile floor one morning...). And with 50GB+ of online storage between the wife and I, CD/DVD backups of family photos and tax documents are nonexistent now.

Blu-Ray is fine for movies on a screen meant for them, for now. But it's not the physical disc that makes it spectacular. I see no point in having a built-in optical drive on any portable computer any more. A portable drive tucked away in a drawer would be fine with me even for desktops (except maybe Mac Pro). And I'd pay a little extra to have install software (games, OS's, etc.) on a flash drive. As for the movies, I'd much rather have the digital format and save some battery life when traveling.

My 16GB SD card and USB thumb drive adapter only cost me $50 or so. I've seen the 4GB go for under $10 at Walgreen's. Expect those prices to drop in half within a year. Granted, I can't come close to storing my entire music and movie collection on my card. Then again, I can't store all of my DVD's in my laptop case...

But back to the Mini... Switchers from Windows expect a DVD player at the very least. I agree with an earlier post that stacking the Mini with the external player will make sense - eventually. Unfortunately, too many people are still hung up on the DVD (and it variants) as some sort of top-o'-the-line feature, when it's simply a current industry standard that will inevitably be outdated. I remember buying software on tape!

Many people use the Mini as a HTPC because of its ability to play DVD's where the TV does not. Big surprise, iTunes does not offer the option of a hard copy of the movie you just ordered... Meanwhile, some DVD's are now including the digital format of the movie right on the disc - no "ripping" required. People will figure it out - eventually; or the industry will figure it out for them.

 

[Saladinos]

I doubt a smaller Mac Mini is coming. Apple have tried it, and found that it's not what people want. They don't want an underpowered headless Mac. Family customers would much rather go for the iMac.

What they should do, is bring out a headless, user-serviceable Mac. Similar to the Mac Pro, but geared for prosumers rather than workstations. It can't be more of a failure than the Mac Mini, surely.

 

[Markleshark]

I doubt a smaller Mac Mini is coming. Apple have tried it, and found that it's not what people want. They don't want an underpowered headless Mac. Family customers would much rather go for the iMac.

What they should do, is bring out a headless, user-serviceable Mac. Similar to the Mac Pro, but geared for prosumers rather than workstations. It can't be more of a failure than the Mac Mini, surely.

Since when has the Mac Mini been a failure? Developers across the land can't get enough of them.

 

[a456]

What if the new Mini was not a computer at all but a 'Mac on a Stick', a USB stick or a USB drive style device that you plug into a regular PC and run OS X from? People wouldn't then need to unplug their keyboards, mice and monitors, to switch between OS X and Windows, or have the right connectors, etc.

 

[maccompaq]

I doubt a smaller Mac Mini is coming. Apple have tried it, and found that it's not what people want. They don't want an underpowered headless Mac. Family customers would much rather go for the iMac.

What they should do, is bring out a headless, user-serviceable Mac. Similar to the Mac Pro, but geared for prosumers rather than workstations. It can't be more of a failure than the Mac Mini, surely.

The Mini a FAILURE? Surely you jest!

 

[Yvan256]

I doubt a smaller Mac Mini is coming. Apple have tried it, and found that it's not what people want. [...] It can't be more of a failure than the Mac Mini, surely.

I really don't see why people keep saying such things about the Mac mini. If it's such a failure than so is the MacBook, they're basically the same machine!

 

[jnc]

I really don't see why people keep saying such things about the Mac mini. If it's such a failure than so is the MacBook, they're basically the same machine!

Hardly. The MacBook creams the Mac Mini right now. More powerful, more portable, more user-serviceable, more more more!

 

[akm3]

While Apple has a tendency to push the boundaries, I don't see optical drives disappearing any time soon. Floppy drives went away because it was clear that optical drives were replacing them. But, at this point, there is nothing that's replacing optical drives except... optical drives. We may see the move to Blu-Ray, but there will definitely still be optical drives. There has to be a method to back data up and load data onto a computer, other than the internet. Too much software comes on CD and DVD. Could you imagine needing to download a 4 GB installer file? That could take a day on a decent speed connection. No. Optical drives are here for now. Until something better replaces them, like crystal ports.

'The Cloud'. Why does there have to be a method other then the internet to back up and load data? And, with RemoteDisc it's not like there won't be any discs, just that you don't need to have it always attached and built in anymore. Having the ability to read discs and having a disc drive built in are not the same thing.

 

[Yvan256]

Hardly. The MacBook creams the Mac Mini right now. More powerful, more portable, more user-serviceable, more more more!

Keep in mind that the Mac mini is one revision behind the MacBook. Apart from that, they are basically the same machine with almost the same specifications (except for the keyboard+display of course).

 

[CWallace]

'The Cloud'. Why does there have to be a method other then the internet to back up and load data?

I find the Internet to be far too unstable, unreliable, and unavailable to serve as my only source of data storage and retrieval.

 

[jnc]

Keep in mind that the Mac mini is one revision behind the MacBook. Apart from that, they are basically the same machine with almost the same specifications (except for the keyboard+display of course).

and iSight, and battery, and sudden motion sensor, and user-friendly HD and RAM bays... right. Almost the same.

MacBooks haven't had GMA950 since Nov 2007 - two revisions ago - also, can Mac Mini address 4GB RAM yet?

Mini has a little something over MacBook - the fullsize DVI and extra USBs. And the price, natch. That aside, again - MacBook clearly creams Mini. But keep trying to disagree.

 

[Yvan256]

and iSight, and battery, and sudden motion sensor, and user-friendly HD and RAM bays... right. Almost the same.

MacBooks haven't had GMA950 since Nov 2007 - two revisions ago - also, can Mac Mini address 4GB RAM yet?

Mini has a little something over MacBook - the fullsize DVI and extra USBs. And the price, natch. That aside, again - MacBook clearly creams Mini. But keep trying to disagree.

You mention laptop features for the sake of putting the Mac mini down?

It can't have iSight since iSight goes above the monitor. It doesn't need a battery and a sudden motion sensor, it's a desktop computer. As for not having user-friendly HD and RAM bays, I keep hearing about the problem with the MacBook Pro. And user-friendly bays or not, that doesn't change the hardware specifications nor will it makes programs run better.

As for the Mac mini still being stuck with GMA950 and 3GB max RAM, you're right but that's because Apple hasn't updated it since the intel switch. It was on par with the MacBook at the intel switch. The MacBook only had one revision since then but the Mac mini hasn't had any. CPU/Hard Drive capacity upgrades aren't new revisions of motherboards.

 

[andyr2120]

Hardly. The MacBook creams the Mac Mini right now. More powerful, more portable, more user-serviceable, more more more!

I would be happy if they made a Mini with the same specs as the Macbook and just took away the screen, battery and integrated keyboard/pointer. That would already make for a device of about the same cubic volume. They might even be able to do it for around the same price as the $799 Mini variant.

The only thing I might still want is some level of discrete graphics, even if they only gave us the most basic type. Oh, and no combo drive allowed. But seriously, that would do it. I would order the same day.