For $599, there will either be a spinner, or a 128gig SSD. And I would guess that Apple is offering to take all remaining dual core chips off intels hands as well - can’t possibly lose the sale of a single MBP or iMac.
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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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Well we'll see. I think costs will come down by 2019 and a 256 will be doable in a $599 machine. If we somehow see a MM this year, then yeah, it'll be 128.
If they wait until 2019 to release a new mini, it's hard to believe that anyone will even care.
The longer they wait the more this forum will explode in unadulterated joy when it occurs. 2019, 2020, 2021 -- it doesn't matter. It's becoming a holy grail at this point.
I quite agree...on the bright side, there are still pockets of sane customer-oriented computer manufacturers, in particular the latest Intel NUC 2018 news makes it kind of easier to breath.
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This is the direction I'm going. 27" 144Hz monitor just ordered today actually! Still figuring out the build to go with it - RAM prices and GPU prices/availability are bad right now. At this point I fully expect the next mini (if/when there is one) to disappoint worse than the 2014 release - soldered, glued in everything. The modular Mac Pro will most likely be way above what I could justifiably spend..
I bought 32gb of 3000mhz ddr4 for under $200 in 2016. Same exact thing today costs $466. People are getting gouged! I never did get a video card because they are still overpriced, and it looks like all the new games that come out really suck and are predatory with microtransactions. My intel 530 graphics drive a 4k screen with less latency than whatever graphics card is in a max 2015 macbook pro. I still use a mac mini with an old 27" screen for my at home desktop, its really starting to get geriatric. Come on apple, let me buy something!
As long as Ethereum is $1200 ...video cards will be expensive. Miners will be miners. I have 2 1070s running 24/7.
I know! I should be a miner, forget about video games I'm too old. New games are full of microtransactions and cheaters anyhow!
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I would have pre-ordered one but it only has one screen size option (dinky size!)
The new Mac Mini is here! OMG! The only thing is, it is by Intel. The new Haydes NUC is freaking the most awesome computer on the planet. The one thing that maybe Intel does not get is... that thing looks as loud as a jet engine. Time will tell.
SimplyNUC has posted a youtube video on this beast. Apparently it's pretty quiet running normally (OK for use in a recording studio, according to the video), and gets loud when under heavy CPU and GPU loads. Lots of glorious ports! Apple should stop stealing talent from the creative+design world and steal some system design people from Intel (not CPU design!).
Would be nice to see something equivalent from Apple. Of course, if they do it will cost twice what this thing costs (~$1000).
Would be nice to see something equivalent from Apple. Of course, if they do it will cost twice what this thing costs (~$1000).
Waiting for hackintoshing tests very impatiently!
I'd guess we see these core+vega chips in macbooks next summer OOOR we'll have to wait for years.
Either Apple sees this important or just wahtever.
It will take a while for somebody to start on it but stay tuned to Tonymac for someone to hack it.
Pfft, you and your fancy graphics. 'Colossal Cave Adventure' is where it's at these days
Following the recent release of the relevant Intel+Radeon CPUs - based on Kaby Lake Refresh but called Kaby Lake G (G for Graphics) - it's clear that Apple will have an interest in 2, both of them 65w parts:
i7-8705G - 3.1GHz 4 cores, 8 threads with Vega M GL Graphics (base frequency 1.1GHz)
i5-8305G - 2.8GHz 4 cores, 8 threads, with Vega M GL Graphics (base frequency 931MHz)
Note the i5 variant keeps the extra threads (unless it's a mistake). I also note the use of 8x PCIe lanes for the GPU, leaving 8 off the CPU itself which I guess would become 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports. The motherboard would provide additional lanes to give wifi, bluetooth, more Thunderbolt 3 ports, and possibly HDMI and USB for a Mini.
These should be a shoo-in for the next 15" MacBook Pro at least at the lower end of the market and I expect the 13" variants to get the Iris Graphics versions of the U series CPUs (28w TDP) which appear to be continuing.
No prices have been dropped yet but the obvious comparison point is with the Hades Canyon NUC that was launched at $799-$999 but with no RAM or storage or OS and carrying the prospect of being noisy under load. I did think at some point that the previous Skull Canyon NUC should be the basis of the next Mini but Apple completely swerved the Iris Pro 580 powered spec for all their Macs presumably because the future road map for Iris Pro looked bleak from Intel as very few other vendors took an interest. It would be particularly risky if Intel lost interest in supporting the GPU with driver updates down the road.
A Mac Mini based on this would need a case redesign to cool the 65w TDP parts (or Apple could ask for reduced TDP parts to fit the existing Mini case). At this stage they may have decided that a taller case (like the Time Capsule) is better for wifi reception with internal antennas. And Apple's price range would start in 4 figures and quickly climb past $2k fully specced up. In fact it starts to look like a junior Mac Pro very quickly and potentially starts to scare people off the 21.5" iMac - and why would they not simply take cheaper 65w desktop parts and add discrete mobile AMD GPU to it like they've done with the 2017 21.5" iMac anyway?
This is all rather moot because I've thought that the logical thing for Apple to do would be to put dual core Kaby Lake refresh parts with Iris Graphics into the next Mac Mini but perhaps they don't want to cannibalise potential buyers of a Mac Pro or iMac?
Suitable Kaby Lake parts (i5-7267U 3.1GHz, 2 cores, 4 threads, Iris Graphics 650 Plus) have been in the 13" 2017 MacBook Pro since earlier in 2017. Before that it was Skylake parts with Iris Graphics 650 in October 2016 which was the obvious time for the Mini to get a bump. Next up for the 13" MacBook Pro is surely a Kaby Lake Refresh before WWDC meaning Apple could have missed 3 chances for an inexpensive spec bump of the Mini since October 2016 if they don't act again.
1. They reuse the same old case which is designed for 45w TDP parts and with an efficient cooling system should turbo for longer.
2. Prices stay in the existing range more or less.
3. They can use modern PCIe SSD and Thunderbolt 3 but might have a performance reason for wanting to make sure people who tried to connect 4k monitors weren't disappointed.
All this time the iPad line has been steadily improving and iOS CPUs for a possible low end product has been bubbling under. If this product is merely a more powerful iteration of the iPad and the Mac Mini moves up market because of it with the quad cores and Radeon graphics I'm sure there'd be plenty here who would rejoice.
More fantastically there is the prospect of Apple considering a range of devices with ARM cpus supported by an ARM version of MacOS and an ARM app store. Perhaps Meltdown had an effect on this?
Finally, I think if a case redesign is on the cards then perhaps the Mini should move upmarket by ditching the spinning hard drives altogether for PCIe SSD to allow for more flexibility in size of design - it would also allow the new APFS file system to be used more widely and perhaps allow the 21.5" iMac to start with a lower price. I think we can all bet on a very sealed unit approach to the next Mini anyway.
i7-8705G - 3.1GHz 4 cores, 8 threads with Vega M GL Graphics (base frequency 1.1GHz)
i5-8305G - 2.8GHz 4 cores, 8 threads, with Vega M GL Graphics (base frequency 931MHz)
Note the i5 variant keeps the extra threads (unless it's a mistake). I also note the use of 8x PCIe lanes for the GPU, leaving 8 off the CPU itself which I guess would become 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports. The motherboard would provide additional lanes to give wifi, bluetooth, more Thunderbolt 3 ports, and possibly HDMI and USB for a Mini.
These should be a shoo-in for the next 15" MacBook Pro at least at the lower end of the market and I expect the 13" variants to get the Iris Graphics versions of the U series CPUs (28w TDP) which appear to be continuing.
No prices have been dropped yet but the obvious comparison point is with the Hades Canyon NUC that was launched at $799-$999 but with no RAM or storage or OS and carrying the prospect of being noisy under load. I did think at some point that the previous Skull Canyon NUC should be the basis of the next Mini but Apple completely swerved the Iris Pro 580 powered spec for all their Macs presumably because the future road map for Iris Pro looked bleak from Intel as very few other vendors took an interest. It would be particularly risky if Intel lost interest in supporting the GPU with driver updates down the road.
A Mac Mini based on this would need a case redesign to cool the 65w TDP parts (or Apple could ask for reduced TDP parts to fit the existing Mini case). At this stage they may have decided that a taller case (like the Time Capsule) is better for wifi reception with internal antennas. And Apple's price range would start in 4 figures and quickly climb past $2k fully specced up. In fact it starts to look like a junior Mac Pro very quickly and potentially starts to scare people off the 21.5" iMac - and why would they not simply take cheaper 65w desktop parts and add discrete mobile AMD GPU to it like they've done with the 2017 21.5" iMac anyway?
This is all rather moot because I've thought that the logical thing for Apple to do would be to put dual core Kaby Lake refresh parts with Iris Graphics into the next Mac Mini but perhaps they don't want to cannibalise potential buyers of a Mac Pro or iMac?
Suitable Kaby Lake parts (i5-7267U 3.1GHz, 2 cores, 4 threads, Iris Graphics 650 Plus) have been in the 13" 2017 MacBook Pro since earlier in 2017. Before that it was Skylake parts with Iris Graphics 650 in October 2016 which was the obvious time for the Mini to get a bump. Next up for the 13" MacBook Pro is surely a Kaby Lake Refresh before WWDC meaning Apple could have missed 3 chances for an inexpensive spec bump of the Mini since October 2016 if they don't act again.
1. They reuse the same old case which is designed for 45w TDP parts and with an efficient cooling system should turbo for longer.
2. Prices stay in the existing range more or less.
3. They can use modern PCIe SSD and Thunderbolt 3 but might have a performance reason for wanting to make sure people who tried to connect 4k monitors weren't disappointed.
All this time the iPad line has been steadily improving and iOS CPUs for a possible low end product has been bubbling under. If this product is merely a more powerful iteration of the iPad and the Mac Mini moves up market because of it with the quad cores and Radeon graphics I'm sure there'd be plenty here who would rejoice.
More fantastically there is the prospect of Apple considering a range of devices with ARM cpus supported by an ARM version of MacOS and an ARM app store. Perhaps Meltdown had an effect on this?
Finally, I think if a case redesign is on the cards then perhaps the Mini should move upmarket by ditching the spinning hard drives altogether for PCIe SSD to allow for more flexibility in size of design - it would also allow the new APFS file system to be used more widely and perhaps allow the 21.5" iMac to start with a lower price. I think we can all bet on a very sealed unit approach to the next Mini anyway.
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The 2014 Mac mini used the internals from the 13” MBP, 15W and 28W U series processors. I don’t think they’re going back to 45W CPUs.
Intel is finally getting ready to release 28W quad cores, they’ll be available in the 13” MBP and I’d expect them in the mini too.
Pricing will always be high, a few hundred dollars cheaper than the equivalent 13” MBP. A refresh will bring TB3 and new processors though which will be nice.
Does anyone think the new Mac Mini will have some options with real power again? I've been reading and most seem hopeful but am concerned that Apple will try to keep it super low end / simple to encourage us to buy iMacs or iMac Pro - its brilliant really from a business standpoint - the new displays are beautiful but completely superfluous for many of us. The $1000+ on a display could be used on performance - why not force power users to pay for the display AND the upgraded performance with a top spec iMac or iMac Pro?
The Mac Pro, if/when released will definitely be a beast but start at an exhorbitant price - which is fine - but business wise I suspect Apple to say "we're not getting your money by forcing you to buy a display - so we'll get it elsewhere".
I'm not trying to be overly pessimistic - reading some of the posts have been encouraging actually - but just wondering if we have real reasons to believe Apple is going to give us the option again. I really think the flaccid 2014 Mac Mini was an attempt to steer us into MBP and iMacs - where Apple makes a killing on the beautiful but possibly completely unnecessary display.
Hopefully with how Apple has grown its product line (obvious with iPhones, tablets, watch and now HomePod) they can start reserving some sophistication for there pro developer line - where they will still make a handsome profit but at least by offer us products that make us feel its worth it. I'll happily pay the Apple tax if I'm getting the machine I want. 5k Resolution of a text editor isn't part of it.
TL;DR - have we seen any indication from Apple / elsewhere that the Mac Mini will have options for specs been discussed here? (if i missed the post / news / links for this i apologize)
The Mac Pro, if/when released will definitely be a beast but start at an exhorbitant price - which is fine - but business wise I suspect Apple to say "we're not getting your money by forcing you to buy a display - so we'll get it elsewhere".
I'm not trying to be overly pessimistic - reading some of the posts have been encouraging actually - but just wondering if we have real reasons to believe Apple is going to give us the option again. I really think the flaccid 2014 Mac Mini was an attempt to steer us into MBP and iMacs - where Apple makes a killing on the beautiful but possibly completely unnecessary display.
Hopefully with how Apple has grown its product line (obvious with iPhones, tablets, watch and now HomePod) they can start reserving some sophistication for there pro developer line - where they will still make a handsome profit but at least by offer us products that make us feel its worth it. I'll happily pay the Apple tax if I'm getting the machine I want. 5k Resolution of a text editor isn't part of it.
TL;DR - have we seen any indication from Apple / elsewhere that the Mac Mini will have options for specs been discussed here? (if i missed the post / news / links for this i apologize)
Beyond vague statements about the mimi being an important product in the lineup, Apple has revealed nothing.
I'm still minded to believe that the next Mac Mini will not use the 28w CPUs and instead will go all out for 15w U-class CPU with Iris Graphics across the board. In other words, the CPUs that would have been deemed "MacBook Air" class and are in the non touch bar MacBook Pro.
The 28w CPUs look very pricey in touch bar MacBook Pros and Apple don't need to draw attention to this fact.
Having a smaller, taller (for wi-fi) case containing just a PCIe SSD for storage, coupled to a 15w CPU with a decent cooling solution and anyone needing GPU could add an external one using Thunderbolt 3. The relevant CPU isn't announced yet though. The kicker being that the miniaturised Mac Mini unit can be powered directly off a USB-C connection from a monitor or an eGPU case.
I should mention this would be done to push power users towards a cheaper base modular Mac Pro.
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So everyone now knows a refresh is coming, but as Tim Cook said in that same statement, they’re not ready to announce anything yet.