New Mac Mini Reportedly Set to Launch Before iPhone 18 Pro Event

[deconstruct60]

So the question is will it be the M5 Pro w/ 64 GB of RAM? Is the form factor the limitation on a M5 Max + 128 GB combo like the MacBook Pro has? After all the rumors it will be interesting to see if it's really released today/tomorrow.

Yes. The Max SoC package is bigger. Both the CPU+GPU die combination is larger and there are more memory dies attached. Older M2 pictures here but still same problems

Apple unveils M2 Pro and M2 Max: next-generation chips for next-level workflows

Supercharging MacBook Pro and Mac mini, M2 Pro and M2 Max feature a more powerful CPU and GPU, up to 96GB of unified memory, and power efficiency.

www.apple.com

( appears 4 and 4 memory ‘chips’ but different packages contain different numbers of dies. )

Shrinking the Mini case just made things worse ( from a Max perspective ) . Max would not have fit in older case without huge adjustments either.

 

[deconstruct60]

Comes with 2.5Gb ethernet as standard, with upgrade to 10Gb ethernet - both base and pro models.

Apple using an Ethernet standard developed in this current century ….progress. What? only took 26 years into the century. 😀

 

[Happy_John]

Apple using an Ethernet standard developed in this current century ….progress. What? only took 26 years into the century. 😀

To be fair, the rest of the infrastructure the vast majority of people have has been stuck on 1Gb Ethernet for the same amount of time.

2.5Gb and 10Gb is only starting to become standard on mainstream routers.

The move to above 1Gb as standard has been incredibly slow because every part of your network infrastructure needs to be upgraded to take advantage of it.

No point buying one box with 2.5Gb or 10Gb Ethernet if the rest of the network can only manage 1Gb

That that’s before people even think about the actual cable they have running through the walls/conduit.

 

[deconstruct60]

To be fair, the rest of the infrastructure the vast majority of people have has been stuck on 1Gb Ethernet for the same amount of time.

Lots of routers stuck on WiFI 5 and yet Apple released WiFi7 here. Apple extended clinging to 1GbE was in part motivated by their ‘ war on wires’ ( no wired keyboard or mouse either ) coupled with being cheap in the Scrooge McDuck sense .
( in part probably throwing the 2.5 at the value justifications at the $100 increase . No memory shortage pretty good chance they’d still be dragging their feet. And motivating $100 10GbE upsells in BTO config )

2.5Gb and 10Gb is only starting to become standard on mainstream routers.

In the general PC market, 2.5GbE started to be a standard feature in the price range Apple charges about two years ago . And supported about 4 years ago.

Intel Readies the i225-V "Foxville" Low-cost 2.5 Gbps Ethernet PHY

Intel is readying the i225-V "Foxville," its new generation of low-cost Ethernet PHY controllers for client-segment motherboards and notebooks. With it, the company will be mainstreaming 2.5 Gbps as the client-segment wired-networking standard, after nearly 15 years of 1 GbE dominance. The i225-V...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[FatLouie]

Ah.....so the new Mini has an M6, smart move by Apple. 👍

The Mac Studio is being positioned to replace the Mac Pro, while the Mac Mini is replacing the Mac Studio level.

All of this is for AI needs; Apple wants to move as many users as possible to base M5 and base M6 as quickly as possible.

 

[deconstruct60]

If it has enough cores and at least 64 GB RAM, I will likely buy. If not, I'll have to wait and see what the new Studio will offer. I need to be able to run Pro Tools, VEP8, and Logic. Sometimes all at once.

Mini M5 Pro full CPU core count , 64GB RAM , 1TB SSD for the low , low price of $3,199 .

Studio M5 Max full CPU core count , 64GB RAM , 1 TB SSD for the low price, low price of $3.799


If only primarily care about CPU core count the Studio doesn’t do much. There is a gap in GPU performance and external I/O and better memory I/O. And better cooling ( quieter or not depends. )

 

[GregoryPeckEPA]

All the huff-huff about data centres, it would be awesome for Apple to take the industry by storm and announce anonymous "grid" technology. They've toyed with this in the past. With the number of devices online these days, a distributed data centre would be an amazing solution. All the devices sitting idle in people's pockets.

How is this relevant to Mac mini... well, with grid technology built in, if you want to get a more powerful computer, just add another Mac mini to your network.. and boom! All devices on the network are upgraded because processing is distributed across more of them. The thinking that hardware needs to replaced entirely needs to be retired with the powerful and fast networking that we have.

The sad fact is Apple is still very much a hardware company. If they can’t keep selling you phones and other devices annually, 85% of their entire revenue source will dry up.

Network bottlenecks would also crush most gains and reliability becomes an issue. No one’s going to just give up their device (and precious battery life) for some kid in India to mine crypto or run an AI bot farm to generate amazon reviews!

This is like a bad episode of Silicon Valley lol! It’s insane people think this could ever be a reality. Networks are so unreliable to begin with, the demand this would place on them would most certainly crush them. Not to mention it would lay the groundwork a truly dystopian “you will own nothing” as you can just “rent” compute. They will find a way around having to link together personal devices. Like repurposing all those stagnant data centres.

 

[GregoryPeckEPA]

Ah.....so the new Mini has an M6, smart move by Apple. 👍

The Mac Studio is being positioned to replace the Mac Pro, while the Mac Mini is replacing the Mac Studio level.

All of this is for AI needs; Apple wants to move as many users as possible to base M5 and base M6 as quickly as possible.

Weird take. Apple needs to keep selling hardware. Promoting their entry level devices is low hanging fruit. As we are just hitting a recession, no one has money for a new Studio. Apple doesn’t care about AI and you can argue the reason they are basically dead last in cramming AI into their OS is because they knew it was a short lived bubble. Public sentiment is not good for the ill gotten tech.

When that bubble pops in the west (it has in the east with the collapse of Korea and Japan), they will be sitting pretty with very little invested. They committed to Apple AI but scaled it way back instead choosing to just drop in Google and ChatGPT instead. Once both those companies shudder their services, Apple can walk away clean. Smart.

 

[GregoryPeckEPA]

That bothers me. If so, it is likely to be US only sales.

The 2013 MP was the first to be assembled in Texas. And incidentally the only Apple device I’ve owned out of dozens that required servicing (a failed logic board, PS and riser cable).

They spun the plant back up for Trump to bring manufacturing to the US, but it’s a tiny facility and doubt it can handle large quantities. Seemed more like a PR stunt than anything.

It takes decades to refine manufacturing and get quality off the assembly line. India has had a few years now and QA is nowhere near China.

 

[deconstruct60]

Ah.....so the new Mini has an M6, smart move by Apple. 👍

The Mac Studio is being positioned to replace the Mac Pro,

The bottom 1/4 - 1/2 of the Mac Pro market , but not all of it. The Studio has one and only one internal drive. That aspect isn’t a Mac Pro Replacement.

while the Mac Mini is replacing the Mac Studio level.

Need to wait to see if M5 Pro Mini holds up under thermals . Likewise m5 Pro isn’t covering what M2-M3 Ultra workloads much at all. ( at least the ones that put hardware to frill use ) . Again not covering the user base.

Both are eating at the edges. But so are laptops still eating at the edges of the desktop space.

All of this is for AI needs; Apple wants to move as many users as possible to base M5 and base M6 as quickly as possible.

Apple Intelligence still needs to prove that it is a general user ‘value add’ . Better than old Siri isn’t saying muche

 

[kikomendes]

Wow! That's a painful wait! I'd be so cheesed!

I was! So I cancelled it and ordered the new one... if I waited this long, might as well wait another month! lol