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My BASIC render of the new Mini

G

Gloor

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 19, 2007
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Hey guys,

with all the talk about the new mini and me being at home this weekend I decided to dust off my 3D skills and do a basic version. Please be gentle as I'm not a modeller or lighter so the renders are fairly basic (+my machine is slow so the shading work was a pain).

On the left is the Mini I think we could see and on the right is the old mini. I didn't bother to model the ports on the old mini so thats why I've rotated it.

I've kept the ports physically accurate (down to a 1mm) so it should represent it quite well. The original Mini is physically accurate.

1x audio jack
4x thunderbolt ports
1x hdmi
1x ethernet
1x power
1x turn on button

Let me know what you think and lets see what Apple does ;)

EDIT: added 2 better renders from UE. Unfortunately my computer can't handle better settings so it has artefacts but its better I think :)

persp.jpgside.jpgtop.jpgv6.jpegv7.jpegv8.jpeg
 
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Gloor said:
Hey guys,

with all the talk about the new mini and me being at home this weekend I decided to dust off my 3D skills and do a basic version. Please be gentle as I'm not a modeller or lighter so the renders are fairly basic (+my machine is slow so the shading work was a pain).

On the left is the Mini I think we could see and on the right is the old mini. I didn't bother to model the ports on the old mini so thats why I've rotated it.

I've kept the ports physically accurate (down to a 1mm) so it should represent it quite well. The original Mini is physically accurate.

1x audio jack
4x thunderbolt ports
1x hdmi
1x ethernet
1x power
1x turn on button

Let me know what you think and lets see what Apple does ;)

View attachment 2405032View attachment 2405034View attachment 2405033
Click to expand...
Heyyy, nice render!

Just a couple of suggestions: Could you add a ventilation grill like the one in the Mac Studio, on the rear side of the new mini? And a couple de USB-C in the front?
 
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I could yes but I think the mini will have fans on the bottom though. But yeah, let me try that too

Populus said:
Heyyy, nice render!

Just a couple of suggestions: Could you add a ventilation grill like the one in the Mac Studio, on the rear side of the new mini? And a couple de USB-C in the front?
Click to expand...
 
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brsilb said:
DO U THINK THEY WILL ELIMINATE THE USB-A PORTS
Click to expand...
It's probably about time that the USB-A ports go, even though there are still a lot of legacy devices in use. Many, if not most, external devices in the last 2-3 years have USB-C inputs (most external disks, audio interfaces, hubs etc) and quite a few of those peripherals we used to connect (keyboards, mice) have been replaced by Bluetooth versions. For the few remaining devices, a $3 adapter will suffice.
 
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Fomalhaut said:
It's probably about time that the USB-A ports go, even though there are still a lot of legacy devices in use. Many, if not most, external devices in the last 2-3 years have USB-C inputs (most external disks, audio interfaces, hubs etc) and quite a few of those peripherals we used to connect (keyboards, mice) have been replaced by Bluetooth versions. For the few remaining devices, a $3 adapter will suffice.
Click to expand...
Not sure, it's quite common for places to re-use mice / keyboards, so it probably wouldn't be too far-fetched to see at least a couple of USB type-A ports on there.

Would bet on a headphone jack, two USB-C ports, HDMI, ethernet, and two USB-A as it is on the current mini.
 
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Fomalhaut said:
For the few remaining devices, a $3 adapter will suffice.
Click to expand...
Sure, but you can't plug an adapter into a USB-C port that isn't there.

The render in this thread is pretty optimisitic in showing 4 USB-C ports plus separate power, audio, HDMI and Ethernet - it's highly probable that we'll actually lose some of those in reality. The render looks pretty cramped and fiddly to plug/unplug cables (that headphone jack is way too close to the USB-C port) and, of course, all of those ports - esp. the ethernet and power - take up space inside the case. Not to mention the internal PSU - which will need 60W just to supply 15W per TB port,

If they really can fit 4 USB-C ports and keep the separate power, audio, HDMI and Ethernet then that's great for the regular M4, but c.f. the M2 Pro Mini you're losing two places to plug USB devices.

...and if they don't keep power/audio/HDMI/Ethernet, that just increases demand for whatever TB ports there are.
 
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Unggoy Murderer said:
Not sure, it's quite common for places to re-use mice / keyboards, so it probably wouldn't be too far-fetched to see at least a couple of USB type-A ports on there.

Would bet on a headphone jack, two USB-C ports, HDMI, ethernet, and two USB-A as it is on the current mini.
Click to expand...
I honestly think there’s no room for all those ports in the rear of an AppleTV sized Mac mini… and if I had to get rid of one type of port, it would be the nearly three-decade-old USB-A. Also those two USB-A ports are already taking more space than the Ethernet port. I have nothing against legacy ports, but I think it is way overdue for the industry to move to the new, smaller, smarter standard.

EDIT: I’m not a native English speaker, so I’m not sure if I’ve used the word overdue correctly. I’ve seen many people using it on this forums and I thought it would be an interesting word to learn and use.
 
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Populus said:
I honestly think there’s no room for all those ports in the rear of an AppleTV sized Mac mini… and if I had to get rid of one type of port, it would be the nearly three-decade-old USB-A. Also those two USB-A ports are already taking more space than the Ethernet port. I have nothing against legacy ports, but I think it is way overdue for the industry to move to the new, smaller, smarter standard.

EDIT: I’m not a native English speaker, so I’m not sure if I’ve used the word overdue correctly. I’ve seen many people using it on this forums and I thought it would be an interesting word to learn and use.
Click to expand...
I think it's pretty optimistic for the next-gen Mac mini to be the size of the Apple TV. It'll more than likely be smaller than the current Mac mini, but the Apple TV is probably just too small to fit a comparable machine within.

I could reasonably see it being half-way between the size of the current Mac mini and the Apple TV, which would be fine for fitting a couple of each USB standards, HDMI, headphone, power and ethernet.

(Your use of overdue there was spot-on :) )
 
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Unggoy Murderer said:
I think it's pretty optimistic for the next-gen Mac mini to be the size of the Apple TV. It'll more than likely be smaller than the current Mac mini, but the Apple TV is probably just too small to fit a comparable machine within.

I could reasonably see it being half-way between the size of the current Mac mini and the Apple TV, which would be fine for fitting a couple of each USB standards, HDMI, headphone, power and ethernet.

(Your use of overdue there was spot-on :) )
Click to expand...
Thanks!

Yeah, I too believe it is too optimistic to think they can cram a Mac on the AppleTV footprint, I think it will be a bit bigger. And I’m fine with that.
 
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Well, when I modelled the above render I took that into consideration so I made it intentionally bigger than Apple TV.

The above has dimensions:
12cm x 12cm x 5cm

AppleTV is :
9.3cm x 9.3cm x 3.1cm

and current Mac Mini is:
19.7cm x 19.7cm x 3.58cm

So the proposed Mac Mini has volume a little over the half of the current one which is definitely enough for the M4. The M4 Pro might need some creative adjustments. Easiest would be to move the power supply to a standard USB-C charger like the Macbooks have. That would create the needed room and the design should work.


As someone mentioned, yes the ports are a touch closer but I can move them more. That is not an issue as there is still room (as you can see)

Also, if Apple goes USB-C charging then the cable port will free up tons of space.

I think this size can work.


Unggoy Murderer said:
I think it's pretty optimistic for the next-gen Mac mini to be the size of the Apple TV. It'll more than likely be smaller than the current Mac mini, but the Apple TV is probably just too small to fit a comparable machine within.

I could reasonably see it being half-way between the size of the current Mac mini and the Apple TV, which would be fine for fitting a couple of each USB standards, HDMI, headphone, power and ethernet.

(Your use of overdue there was spot-on :) )
Click to expand...
 
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I think we'd see 2 USB-C ports for the base model, with the Pro getting 4 Thunderbolt. (Or 2 USB-C, 2 Thunderbolt.)

And I agree that it's very likely they will make one of those ports sub in for the power or the display.
 
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yeah, probably but it was worth a shot. Most likely it will be 3 unless they get rid off the power input and use usb-c instead

arkitect said:
@Gloor
Nice renders!

I do agree with others though that 4 x Thunderbolt ports are optimistic– I'd love to be proved wrong though. 😁
Knowing Apple we'd get one USB-C and have to rely on dongles…
Click to expand...
 
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kirbyrun said:
I think we'd see 2 USB-C ports for the base model, with the Pro getting 4 Thunderbolt. (Or 2 USB-C, 2 Thunderbolt.)

And I agree that it's very likely they will make one of those ports sub in for the power or the display.
Click to expand...

Why would they downgrade the base model from 2x TB to 2x USB? Size of the ports etc. is the same.
 
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@Gloor
Nick renders!

Would it be possible to move some of the ports above the others? Like have a row of USB-C ports in a row above power, hdmi, etc.
 
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