Much Smaller Mac Mini Coming?

[Enigmafan420]

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.

Yeah you say you haven't missed it BECAUSE when you need it-you use the "virtual CD-Rom" version on the MBA. (Or whatever Apple calls it).

I personally believe we are a LONG WAY off of not needing Optical Drives-I would hazard to guess that at least 2/3 of software is still distributed this way-and for the same reasons I still buy CDs-I would like my software on CD/DVD.

 

[iEdd]

Removing the optical drive will bring the mini from 90% dead to 100% dead. It's a desktop - need I say more?

 

[CWallace]

Moving the optical drive out of the Mini just makes it more expensive. You need to put it in a case and that case needs to connect to the machine. Since optical drives pull around 1A of power, that means you need FireWire, two standard USB ports, one non-standard high-powered port (ala the MBA) or a USB port with an extra DC rail to the side (ala the HP tablet PCs). So instead of a $599 Mini, you have a $649 Mini.

Also, going to smaller form factors makes cooling more difficult. On the plus side, the P8600/P8400 have TDP's ~10 watts lower then the current T7200/T5600 and are 400MHz faster with a much faster FSB (1066 vs. 667). But toss in a higher-powered IGPU and 4GB of 800MHz DDR2 and the new Northbridge and you'll pull that 10w back real quick and then some.

So the current form factor remains, IMO, the way to go. I'd rather give up a few mm in height to save a few hundred RPM in cooling fan speed.

 

[iEdd]

^ Well said.

Another option would be to increase the cross sectional footprint - ie. make the square from on top larger so that a larger fan can be used for more efficient, lower RPM cooling.

 

[skellener]

Removing the optical drive will bring the mini from 90% dead to 100% dead. It's a desktop - need I say more?

Agreed. The mini ain't a MacBook Air. Many people use it for playing DVDs. Remove the drive and you might as well just buy an AppleTV.

Seriously though, it doesn't need to be any smaller. Bump the specs and half the price and you'll sell a butload more of them.

 

[jnc]

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

No, I mention them to again prove they're different.

It can't have iSight since iSight goes above the monitor.

Seriously?

It doesn't need a battery and a sudden motion sensor, it's a desktop computer.

Well a minute ago, user-serviceable HD/RAM was considered a laptop feature... lol. You're all over the place.

As for not having user-friendly HD and RAM bays, I keep hearing about the problem with the MacBook Pro.

Who the hell is talking about MacBook Pro here? Just you. Lose.

And user-friendly bays or not, that doesn't change the hardware specifications nor will it makes programs run better.

I guess that's a curious euphemism for "okay, I'm wrong". Because I'm damn sure being able to add a faster HD and more RAM will change hardware specifications and will make programs run better. That particular line of yours is just so wrong it's ridiculous.

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.

Revisions, upgrades, updates, be picky and call them whatever you want, but MacBooks have seen four, count them, FOUR Intel "offerings". The initial Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, "santa rosa" last Nov and most recent "penryn" flavour this Feb.

Intel Mac Mini started as Core Solo/Core Duo, then Core Duo as standard, then most recently Core 2 as standard - over a year ago. That's not "santa rosa" Core 2 either, as it can't address 4GB. So it's currently sharing the MacBook architecture from 2006. And you're still going to try and say they're somehow similar?

MacBooks are way ahead of Mac Minis. I'm not particularly against Minis, I've owned two, they're great for sitting under an HDTV rather than tv imo, but they're dated as hell and I have just as much success plugging a MacBook into a display then taking it with me when I'm done. And I am done. Good god, just... stop.

 

[Lord Zedd]

Good god, stop trying to disagree!.

I agree completely. Its the primary reason people are always picking on the Mini to do price/feature comparisons against PCs. The Mini has very outdated hardware and even the cheapest of PCs look better specs to specs. They never pick on the iMac(s) or Mac Pro because they know the Macs will break even or come out ahead every time.

Apple is embarrassingly behind on the Mini's technology. Either they will keep selling it until sales dry up and kill it or they are/have been waiting for a specific technology to become available.

 

[Tallest Skil]

It doesn't need a battery... ... it's a desktop computer.

Better tell all those Mac Pro owners with UPS' to pack it in, then.

 

[DoFoT9]

Better tell all those Mac Pro owners with UPS' to pack it in, then.

it doesnt need a battery, there are other ways around saving stuff that you have open and moving to another place.

it would, however, be a very cool feature...

 

[Lord Zedd]

A feature how many people would actually need more than once to justify an extra $50-100 added to the price?

If a consumer's power supply is so irregular/unreliable then they likely either cannot afford a computer or already buy a UPS.

 

[Yvan256]

I guess that's a curious euphemism for "okay, I'm wrong". Because I'm damn sure being able to add a faster HD and more RAM will change hardware specifications and will make programs run better. That particular line of yours is just so wrong it's ridiculous.

There's a difference between "more user-serviceable" and "user-serviceable". Do you think Mac mini users can't add a faster HD and more RAM, at all? Because we sure can, it's just not as easy as a MacBook or Mac Pro.

Revisions, upgrades, updates, be picky and call them whatever you want, but MacBooks have seen four, count them, FOUR Intel "offerings". The initial Core Duo, Core 2 Duo, "santa rosa" last Nov and most recent "penryn" flavour this Feb.

Well, that's three revisions for the MacBook then. I thought it was two, I stand corrected.

Intel Mac Mini started as Core Solo/Core Duo, then Core Duo as standard, then most recently Core 2 as standard - over a year ago. That's not "santa rosa" Core 2 either, as it can't address 4GB. So it's currently sharing the MacBook architecture from 2006. And you're still going to try and say they're somehow similar?

Apart from being two revisions behind, yes they are similar even though they don't have the same exact hardware. If you look at it from the basic specifications (and not specific technology), Apple only sells 4 models of computers:
- Mac mini/MacBook/MacBook Air (laptop CPU, laptop/iPod hard drive, integrated GPU and low/fixed maximum RAM - it just happens that there is one desktop and two laptop versions of this computer)
- MacBook Pro (laptop CPU, laptop hard drive, dedicated GPU, low maximum RAM)
- iMac (laptop CPU, desktop hard drive, dedicated GPU, low maximum RAM)
- Mac Pro (server CPU, desktop hard drives, dedicated GPU, high maximum RAM)

MacBooks are way ahead of Mac Minis. I'm not particularly against Minis, I've owned two, they're great for sitting under an HDTV rather than tv imo, but they're dated as hell and I have just as much success plugging a MacBook into a display then taking it with me when I'm done.

So yes, because Apple has neglected the Mac mini, the MacBooks are ahead of the Mac minis. But as I mentionned above, they share the same basic hardware type. If it were up-to-date, the Mac mini would have the same CPU/GPU/Hard drive/chipset as the MacBook.

Why Apple is neglecting the little box is beyond me.

 

[Yvan256]

Better tell all those Mac Pro owners with UPS' to pack it in, then.

Last time I checked a UPS wasn't built-in into the Mac Pro.

 

[Tallest Skil]

But they're supposed to be the same machines: a desktop version and a laptop version.

Who the heck ever said that the MacBook and Mac Mini are the same machine in two different formats?

 

[Yvan256]

Who the heck ever said that the MacBook and Mac Mini are the same machine in two different formats?

At the intel switch they shared the same CPU/GPU/max RAM/chipset (and probably hard drive capacity). I'm not the first person to say that a Mac mini is a desktop version of the MacBook.

 

[marbles]

At the intel switch they shared the same CPU/GPU/max RAM/chipset (and probably hard drive capacity). I'm not the first person to say that a Mac mini is a desktop version of the MacBook.

I'm with you on that .
Mini is just a macbook in a smaller box ( and more over due an update )

 

[DoFoT9]

I'm with you on that .
Mini is just a macbook in a smaller box ( and more over due an update )

with a crapper (not existant) GPU

 

[mkoval11]

Please don't

How bout' a sub-notebook- an eeePC killer for $500? Sware to god I'm going to buy one of those things and put XP on it.

I bought one on a whim and it's a piece of junk. Slow as molasses would give it credit. I should have taken it back but WorstBuy sold it to me for $350 after coupons and discounts. I'm calling it a tax on me for being silly in that someone would make a quality product other than Apple. Stupid me.

Pray to the Mac Gods that they will make some and soon but please don't invest in this. If anyone has a different experience I'd love to hear it. For now, it just sits on my desk as a paperweight.