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Much Smaller Mac Mini Coming?
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Honestly I don't think they should take out the optical drive or make it smaller. The only reason to take out the optical drive is to make the Mac itself smaller, but it's a desktop; it doesn't need to be tiny. Also, by taking out the drive, one would need to pay extra for a superdrive, which in the end takes up more desk space.
In fact it might be helpful to make the Mac Mini larger, to support a 3.5" hdd and maybe even graphic cards.
In fact it might be helpful to make the Mac Mini larger, to support a 3.5" hdd and maybe even graphic cards.
Something people are forgetting:
The Mac Mini G4 did have a dedicated graphics chip. Radeon with 32MB or 64MB VRAM, so getting rid of the optical drive does not need to happen in order to accommodate a graphics chip
As far as Blu-Ray goes, I have my opinion on that. $50 for a single disc? Ouch.
The Mini isn't big enough for a 3.5 inch drive.
Drop the price? I agree. When the lowest end G4 Mini came out it was $500. Your telling me that the Intel chips bumped the price up $100? I don't think so. Maybe the demand was high enough to raise the price?
I'd love BD but that seems unlikely..
Can't decide if I want a smaller mini or not - depends on how much the specs suffer for it..
Actually pushing the "tiny computer you can take anywhere" thing could be good for uni stuff.. Hell, if they throw in a firewire cable and put a "T" key on the mini (lol) you'd have something that's smaller than some external HDs, would work as an external HD, but would also be a tiiiiny mac when you need it.. For something.
In some ways it makes sense to redesign the mini so it has a totally different spec sheet. If they bump its current specs I think quite a few old world G4/G5 users will skip upgrading to the more expensive MP and iMac systems and opt for the mini. (even gma1300 + a cpu bump would've persuaded many I suspect).. I mean, on paper the mini already should outperform my Dual G5 1.8.. Only the video card is holding the mini back now.
Shrink it more and people will realise a decent video card wouldn't likely fit. XD
Can't decide if I want a smaller mini or not - depends on how much the specs suffer for it..
Actually pushing the "tiny computer you can take anywhere" thing could be good for uni stuff.. Hell, if they throw in a firewire cable and put a "T" key on the mini (lol) you'd have something that's smaller than some external HDs, would work as an external HD, but would also be a tiiiiny mac when you need it.. For something.
In some ways it makes sense to redesign the mini so it has a totally different spec sheet. If they bump its current specs I think quite a few old world G4/G5 users will skip upgrading to the more expensive MP and iMac systems and opt for the mini. (even gma1300 + a cpu bump would've persuaded many I suspect).. I mean, on paper the mini already should outperform my Dual G5 1.8.. Only the video card is holding the mini back now.
Shrink it more and people will realise a decent video card wouldn't likely fit. XD
It's possible that it was because of the new chip. The G4 was already quite old by then, and was usually said to be very cheap.
Oh wow that's cool I never saw those Keyboard PC's (well since the C64/Atari days). I would get an Apple made product like that, makes perfect sense.
Okay, but AirPort Extreme and Time Capsule have different footprints. Internal hard drive and power supply, you see.
I think this is gonna happen, we heard a rumour a short while back about a small team of apple engineers were mincing trying to get the penryn update into the mini, well if it was the same mini case upgrading the internals wouldnt have been much different from the previous except for maybe the extra wifi ariel that comes with N.
This would be an issue if the case design was being changed.
I hope the mini doesnt get raped to make it look smaller, I was hoping to upgrade my 1.6 core duo to something more powerful
This would be an issue if the case design was being changed.
I hope the mini doesnt get raped to make it look smaller, I was hoping to upgrade my 1.6 core duo to something more powerful
Postponing it for a smaller one? Did you look at the current mini and think "that thing is just too darn big to justify buying".
I get that a lot of you will sacrifice function for looks in some areas, but don't you think apple already have looks down? Wouldn't a slight case resdisign to make the colour scheme fit with the iMacs (alimunium with black bits) or the apple TV (all white and shiny) please you? Or do you really want the mini to lose power to make it smaller so it can... be smaller?
I guess it would be great to polarize the apple range even more though. We should turn the mini into a tiny weak machine I mean it "was never meant to be a powerhouse" and lets add 2 more xeons to the mac pro and make it more expensive, and then we can all buy iMacs instead because thats what we all want.
Well if they do make it smaller I can pretty much guarantee one thing: no discrete graphics chip. The mini will be doomed to perpetual on-board suckiness.
You would think the biggest gripe/suggestion/product enhancement they get from users is the addition of discrete graphics. But I guess form over function will win in the end.
You would think the biggest gripe/suggestion/product enhancement they get from users is the addition of discrete graphics. But I guess form over function will win in the end.
making it even smaller ? not enough customers upsold to the imac already ?
so the powermac getting more powerful compared to the imac every iteration and the mac mini get's more and more pitiful it seems
give it up jobs ... the "one pc for everybody isn't going to work"
so the powermac getting more powerful compared to the imac every iteration and the mac mini get's more and more pitiful it seems
give it up jobs ... the "one pc for everybody isn't going to work"
1. The
TV and Time Capsule are 7.7 x 7.7", Airport Extreme and Mac mini are 6.5 x 6.5" (and the MacBook Air superdrive is 5.47 x 5.47").2. Probably.
3. I don't think so (though it would be nice), Time Capsule may have a 3.5" drive but it's not also running a Core 2 Duo processor.
4. Forget Blu-Ray in anything other than Mac Pro.
5. Forget HDMI as it would eat into
TV sales.
Hell id be happy if they release a new one so that the "old" version will be sold at a discount
I think we are all missing one point here.
Most of us wish the new model will be the same footprint as theTV/Time Capsule, allowing for a 3.5" drive, real (decent) GPU with dedicated RAM, perhaps even built-in power supply. With a maximum of 4GB RAM, superdrive and 802.11n standard even in the low-end model of course.
I think that covers most of it.
However, rumors point the other way. An even smaller Mac mini! Why?
When the Mac mini was introduced, most of us were wondering: why make it so small? It costs more because of its 2.5" drive, it's slower because of it! Nobody needs a computer to be that small, the usual PC tower is about 10 times bigger, if not more! Why put a slot-drive in there, a tray-load drive costs about 25$! Etc, etc...
But look at all the marketing it generated. However, other companies have catched up with the Mac mini (Aopen miniPC being the only example I can think of right now).
What's so wrong about an even smaller desktop if the performance is still there? Yes, mechanical 1.8" drives are even slower, however I bet Apple pays less for a 160GB in 1.8" than 160GB in 2.5", because of their much higher buying volume for the iPod classic. That takes care of the "smaller drive = more expensive" problem.
And as flash prices continue to go down, the computer will switch to that, making the whole "smaller physical size = slower drive" problem a thing of the past too.
And since Apple is always designing for the future (remember the death of the floppy?), I can easily see the new Mac mini without an optical drive, letting buyers purchase the MacBook Air external superdrive.
Anyway, if this Mac is supposed to be for switchers, then you should already have a CD/DVD drive in your Windows PC right? It also allows Apple to make the computer even smaller.
If you do buy the external drive, it just sits on top of the Mac mini (just like my Mac mini is sitting on top of two miniStack 3.5" external drives), which takes no more desk space than the computer alone.
Mac nano? Mac Air? Who knows.
I say we only have 4 days to go. Next tuesday also happens to be Apple's 32th anniversary. I think we're all in for a surprise!
Most of us wish the new model will be the same footprint as the
TV/Time Capsule, allowing for a 3.5" drive, real (decent) GPU with dedicated RAM, perhaps even built-in power supply. With a maximum of 4GB RAM, superdrive and 802.11n standard even in the low-end model of course.I think that covers most of it.
However, rumors point the other way. An even smaller Mac mini! Why?
When the Mac mini was introduced, most of us were wondering: why make it so small? It costs more because of its 2.5" drive, it's slower because of it! Nobody needs a computer to be that small, the usual PC tower is about 10 times bigger, if not more! Why put a slot-drive in there, a tray-load drive costs about 25$! Etc, etc...
But look at all the marketing it generated. However, other companies have catched up with the Mac mini (Aopen miniPC being the only example I can think of right now).
What's so wrong about an even smaller desktop if the performance is still there? Yes, mechanical 1.8" drives are even slower, however I bet Apple pays less for a 160GB in 1.8" than 160GB in 2.5", because of their much higher buying volume for the iPod classic. That takes care of the "smaller drive = more expensive" problem.
And as flash prices continue to go down, the computer will switch to that, making the whole "smaller physical size = slower drive" problem a thing of the past too.
And since Apple is always designing for the future (remember the death of the floppy?), I can easily see the new Mac mini without an optical drive, letting buyers purchase the MacBook Air external superdrive.
Anyway, if this Mac is supposed to be for switchers, then you should already have a CD/DVD drive in your Windows PC right? It also allows Apple to make the computer even smaller.
If you do buy the external drive, it just sits on top of the Mac mini (just like my Mac mini is sitting on top of two miniStack 3.5" external drives), which takes no more desk space than the computer alone.
Mac nano? Mac Air? Who knows.
I say we only have 4 days to go. Next tuesday also happens to be Apple's 32th anniversary. I think we're all in for a surprise!
The entire purpose of the Mac mini is to entice switchers. Why would you keep your old Windows machine just for the sake of having a DVD Drive? It defeats the purpose.
You realise you just said, why not make it smaller but keep the performance, by using slower parts? So NOT keep the performance? And the only reason to have it smaller is because other companies are catching up? At the moment the mac mini is still the best deal for small computers, but take away things like an optical drive and its going to make the competition seem a lot more attractive, I mean who cares if they are a bit bigger, they are small enough for any reasonable needs.
They are not switchers until they decide to drop Windows and use Mac OS X as their main OS. They're only potential switchers until they do that.
The price of the Mac mini is not seen as "it will cost me 600$ to switch to Mac", it's being seen as "if I don't like OS X, I just wasted 600$". Remember that they could very well try to switch to Linux, which costs 0$.
They're also not used to being able to resell their computer. Even if you'd sell the computer the next week, most of them would think you could barely get half of what you paid for it. Windows PCs just don't retain any value. So that 600$ Mac mini is seen as "best case scenario, if I resell it in a month, I'm going to lose at least 300$". That's not how it is, but that's how they see it.
So, no optical drive means Apple can lower the price by 100$ (price of the MacBook Air external superdrive). If you do drop the Windows box, you can either buy an external USB enclosure for your CD/DVD drive or simply buy Apple's tiny Superdrive.
I also said that Apple was looking ahead, not at the present. The Mac mini would be slower with a mechanical 1.8" drive, but once they switch to SSD, the physical size of the drive will not matter. A 1.8" drive will be as fast as a 3.5" drive (just less capacity). So they get the publicity right now and we get faster computers later. If it works fine for the MacBook Air it should work fine for their entry-level computer (the mechanical 1.8" drive, I mean - not the 1000$ 64GB SSD drive).
The only reason to have it smaller is because other companies are catching up, yes. If you don't think it's a good reason, then I think you don't know Apple. Why are they continuing to make the iMac thinner? It doesn't matter but they do it anyway. Why make a thinner laptop if it removes the optical drive? But they did it anyway, even if they have less expensive MacBook with more features. But the MacBook Air is supposedly selling like hot cakes.
As for the competition having more features, it doesn't matter. The competition isn't running Mac OS X. I can build a mini-ITX system from an intel D201GLY2A (costs around 75$ CAD) with 1GB RAM, a 160GB 3.5" drive and dual-layer DVD-RW for a lot less than a Mac mini, but it won't even come close to my old Mac mini G4 since it doesn't run Mac OS X and iLife. It's not about hardware specs anymore, the MHz race is over. A 500MHz difference would not even be noticed by most users, RAM is more important these days.
Don't forget that I'm in the "I want a bigger Mac mini with better specs" camp too. But what I said earlier is why Apple might go the other way instead.
So you assume that they sell the external superdrive for the exact amount it costs to make the drive without the enclosure? I doubt it costs them more than 40 bucks for the internal one