Sleek Concept Imagines New Mac Mini in Space Gray With Apple Display and Magic Keyboard With Touch Bar

[FairlyKors]

I thought Apple was getting out of the display business. I guess I missed that. Cool concepts.

Apple has “gotten out of” many businesses it’s still assumed to be in. Occasionally Apple decides to pop its head back in unexpectedly, like appears to be happening with the Mac Mini, but rarely has Apple got out of something and then fought back to truly revive it (not just in name but in spirit as well). Final Cut Pro is an example of this.

As far as the Mac Mini is concerned, it may fly as a “cool” spontaneous purchase, or something that suits a niche temporarily— but previous Mac Mini users (the core base that bought into that workflow and solution) have been forced into other product segments due to it dying on life support.

While I’m excited to see if (and what) a new Mac Mini might be, it’s not something I’d likely consider to be a long-term solution. The ethereal Mac Pro is even weirder. It’s supposedly confirmed, but it’s been so long that its core user base has fractured into who knows what.

With rumors of Apple replacing Intel with their own custom ARM chip built by TSMC as soon as 2020, any kind of MacBook Pro or iMac Pro— or any computer priced above $1,500 to $2,000– seems to rest on very interesting, possibly shaky ground.

How would any of you justify a $5K to $10K iMac Pro purchase at the tail end of 2018? I’m honestly curious (not being sarcastic).

 

[fairuz]

Here is what I would like to see announced.
View attachment 799226

Yes. Except make the Mac Pro in a darker metal case like the iMac Pro. There are mods like that. I can't find a picture, but it looks amazing.
[doublepost=1540877547][/doublepost]I don't find the touchbar very useful on my work laptop (2016 MBP), but this does look cool.

 

[hybra]

Here is what I would like to see announced.
View attachment 799226

I think you're going to be very disappointed.

 

[jonnysods]

TouchBar wireless keyboard would be nice!

 

[ChromeAce]

The 2018 Mac Mini will be in the same form factor as  TV.

 

[ppdix]

I would like to see a keyboard with a built-in computer like back in the beginning of personal computers in the 80's with the Commodore 64...
It would be perfect to have a slim keyboard with a Mac that you can plug into a monitor or TV without any additional stuff..
Basically a Mac Book Pro without a screen. Why not? It would be perfect to carry around. All u need is a TV or Screen mirroring to turn even an iPad wirelessly to work as a monitor...

Someone did it in the past and I think it would revolutionize the market again.

 

[opeter]

This guy was mostly right.

 

[HowardEv]

Why?

Why?

I wanted the new Mini to have a battery, so I could bring it to the coffee shop, to the recording studio, use it on the train, and not need a UPS to protect it from being unplugged and losing my work.

As for the display, I’d plug it into a big screen in the studio, control it from my phone on the train, and a MacBook Air at the coffee shop. That way I’d get the powerful i7 of the MacBook Pro 15” without the bulk and heat problems.
[doublepost=1540914124][/doublepost]

I would like to see a keyboard with a built-in computer like back in the beginning of personal computers in the 80's with the Commodore 64...
It would be perfect to have a slim keyboard with a Mac that you can plug into a monitor or TV without any additional stuff..
Basically a Mac Book Pro without a screen. Why not? It would be perfect to carry around. All u need is a TV or Screen mirroring to turn even an iPad wirelessly to work as a monitor...

Someone did it in the past and I think it would revolutionize the market again.View attachment 799445View attachment 799445

Ha, yeah I did to my old Air that by ripping the screen off in a fit of pique. It still worked!

 

[ignatius345]

This guy was mostly right.

LOL, came back to say the same thing. We all made fun of this rendering for mostly being just a darker Mini, but turns out Jony didn't really feel much of a need to revisit a 10 year-old design either.

It's fine, but it does give the impression Apple is just phoning it in with Macs these days. All the really eye-popping stuff was in the iPad Pros. Kind of sad.

 

[ignatius345]

I wanted the new Mini to have a battery, so I could bring it to the coffee shop, to the recording studio, use it on the train, and not need a UPS to protect it from being unplugged and losing my work.

Years and years ago in college (pre-laptop times, I'm so old) I saw someone lug a Mac SE or something to a coffee shop. It was sort of funny.

Anyway, here, go nuts: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076DXWPHS

 

[HowardEv]

LOL, years and years ago in college (pre-laptop times, I'm so old) I saw someone lug a Mac SE or something to a coffee shop. It was sort of funny.

Anyway, here, go nuts: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076DXWPHS
View attachment 799506

Dude, no one would see the Mac mini at the coffee shop, and I wouldn’t “lug it” anywhere, because it’d stay in my bag and weigh only a couple pounds. Everyone would see me on a cheap light Air and have no idea it was controlling a powerful i7 computer in my bag.

One thing I don’t understand is the difference between the i7 in a desktop and an i7 in a MacBook Pro. I noticed the guy presenting the Mini boasted that it was a full desktop power CPU, but you never hear about what you give up when you get it in a laptop. People imply I should just buy a 15” MacBook Pro if I want a battery, but I don’t want to spend that much on a machine that gets throttled by a hot form factor. And I don’t like plugging my audio interface into a laptop, I want the laptop to be free and cool on my lap, but still have the power.

Why do you guys insist that cool innovative products not exist?
[doublepost=1540922509][/doublepost]I know I can buy a UPS, smart guy.

 

[Hater]

Because terminal services has existed for 20 years now?

Why have a Mini in your bag when you can just remote into the Mac Pro sitting at home?

 

[kucharsk]

No longer good as a media server for many with the loss of optical digital in and out.

 

[HowardEv]

Because terminal services has existed for 20 years now?

Why have a Mini in your bag when you can just remote into the Mac Pro sitting at home?

Because it’d be running Logic and I wouldn’t have internet? Think of it as a two piece laptop. Why do people buy MacBook Pros with lots of RAM and fast CPU instead of an Air and terminal to a Mac Pro at home?

 

[Hater]

Because it’d be running Logic and I wouldn’t have internet? Think of it as a two piece laptop. Why do people buy MacBook Pros with lots of RAM and fast CPU instead of an Air and terminal to a Mac Pro at home?

Why do people buy XS Max's rather than an SE in the pocket and an iPad for the big screen?

Managing two devices sucks.

Where are you going to keep all of your logic projects? As you're not connected to a NAS, on an external connected to the Mini I assume, taking up more bag space?

Desktop CPU's are much more power hungry and much more powerful than mobile CPU's, which use less power to conserve battery and (hopefully) run cooler due to limited thermals in a laptop.

 

[fastasleep]

It looks nice, but it's not what we'll see. What we'll see will be a lot nicer, and like the Mac Pro, Apple do also realize the hardware demands of its enthusiast customers.

Uh, it was pretty damn close to what we saw.

 

[ignatius345]

Dude, no one would see the Mac mini at the coffee shop, and I wouldn’t “lug it” anywhere, because it’d stay in my bag and weigh only a couple pounds. Everyone would see me on a cheap light Air and have no idea it was controlling a powerful i7 computer in my bag.

One thing I don’t understand is the difference between the i7 in a desktop and an i7 in a MacBook Pro. I noticed the guy presenting the Mini boasted that it was a full desktop power CPU, but you never hear about what you give up when you get it in a laptop. People imply I should just buy a 15” MacBook Pro if I want a battery, but I don’t want to spend that much on a machine that gets throttled by a hot form factor. And I don’t like plugging my audio interface into a laptop, I want the laptop to be free and cool on my lap, but still have the power.

Why do you guys insist that cool innovative products not exist?

I know I can buy a UPS, smart guy.

I honestly can't tell if you're joking or not. if you're serious, you're probably one of 20 people on earth who wants to remote control a Mac Mini you're carrying around not plugged into a wall, so maybe don't be shocked nobody is building a battery into a desktop computer. You're gonna be rolling your own solution, and you could do worse than a small portable lithium ion battery.

If you are joking, uhh... good one I guess?

 

[HowardEv]

I honestly can't tell if you're joking or not. if you're serious, you're probably one of 20 people on earth who wants to remote control a Mac Mini you're carrying around not plugged into a wall, so maybe don't be shocked nobody is building a battery into a desktop computer. You're gonna be rolling your own solution, and you could do worse than a small portable lithium ion battery.

If you are joking, uhh... good one I guess?

People are stuck in 1990 I guess. Everyone here complains about laptop heat and throttling and size and weight of powerful laptops, and having to choose between power of a desktop and portability of laptop. We can solve that problem with a two-piece solution, a portable desktop-power CPU that connects wirelessly to small client laptop.

 

[ignatius345]

People are stuck in 1990 I guess. Everyone here complains about laptop heat and throttling and size and weight of powerful laptops, and having to choose between power of a desktop and portability of laptop. We can solve that problem with a two-piece solution, a portable desktop-power CPU that connects wirelessly to small client laptop.

Sounds like a cool project to hack together but to be honest I can't see that many people actually using it. People who need more power in a laptop are generally reaching for those external Thunderbolt GPUs these days, no? But what do I know, if this many people are clamoring for this, I guess build it and sell it and prove everyone wrong.

 

[Appleaker]

Uh, it was pretty damn close to what we saw.

It was almost identical to what we saw, I had interpreted this design to be silver with continuous plastic sides rather than space gray. The first image clearly shows that's not the case, I guess I missed that and focused on the lower 2 images.
And based on my information there was set to be a change in form factor as well, slightly smaller all around but also taller. Looks like that information was wrong or it was a prototyped design. Other information that was wrong was 10Gb ethernet, I was told it would be on all models but it turns out to be an optional upgrade.