If only Tim or Phil would look at it...
(Granted I am sure that the 9to5mac sample is a little skewed).
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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
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If only Tim or Phil would look at it...
(Granted I am sure that the 9to5mac sample is a little skewed).
Is anyone listening, and does anyone care?
That has been answered clearly with Apple's silence.
That was interesting. The vast (or at least half-vast) majority of voters want an update now, or a pre-announcement of intentions. Is anyone listening, and does anyone care?
Just because "the vast (or at least have-vast) majority of voters want" anything doesn't mean that Apple will comply. This poll changes nothing.
With that said, the Mac Mini is dead, IMO.
Bingo. I predict the Mac Mini will be officially discontinued by Apple by October of this year.
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Pre-announcement of intentions only works where there isn't a pre-existing product whose sales would tank (see Osbourne Effect). In the case of the 2013 Mac Pro Apple had to weigh potential tanking of sales (for what they were) against losing more users to other (non Apple) platforms.
Apple opted to come clean (relatively speaking) because losing Mac Pro users to the slow drip echo of silence - and the resulting reputation/halo loss was worse than watching a 2013 product wither for 2 further years in the dark while Mac users switched with Ryzen and Coffee Lake PCs on the horizon - perhaps never to come back. The further clarification to keep professional Mac users onside is useful.
In the case of the Mac Mini, claiming that there would be a new product coming in a number of months is a poor move. That really would tank sales of the Mini as an equivalent product selling for a similar price and could affect sales of other Macs too as people put purchases on hold. I'd much rather that Apple discontinue the Mini if they have no intention of letting it go on. Some folks have budgets waiting for a Mac and there's no clear-cut decision so money doesn't get spent. Or worse - it gets spent on Windows hardware.
Apple opted to come clean (relatively speaking) because losing Mac Pro users to the slow drip echo of silence - and the resulting reputation/halo loss was worse than watching a 2013 product wither for 2 further years in the dark while Mac users switched with Ryzen and Coffee Lake PCs on the horizon - perhaps never to come back. The further clarification to keep professional Mac users onside is useful.
In the case of the Mac Mini, claiming that there would be a new product coming in a number of months is a poor move. That really would tank sales of the Mini as an equivalent product selling for a similar price and could affect sales of other Macs too as people put purchases on hold. I'd much rather that Apple discontinue the Mini if they have no intention of letting it go on. Some folks have budgets waiting for a Mac and there's no clear-cut decision so money doesn't get spent. Or worse - it gets spent on Windows hardware.
200,000 people signed a petition not to eliminate the headphone jack on the iphone. How did that work out?
https://techcrunch.com/2016/01/08/o...pple-from-killing-the-iphones-headphone-jack/
I predict the iPhone XI will add a new FireWire headphone jack.
200,000 people signed a petition not to eliminate the headphone jack on the iphone. How did that work out?
Maybe if 200,000,000 people had not gone on to buy an iPhone without a headphone jack it would have had more effect.
200,000 people signed a petition not to eliminate the headphone jack on the iphone. How did that work out?
Not sure why you're arguing with me... you've made the same point...
And... it will come with a driver on a... CD-Rom!
With optional 5.25" via mail-in coupon.
Oh great, they don't support 8" floppies anymore?
Free games included!
(these and the manuals are all that's left of my Apple ][ from 1978)
Perhaps. I wouldn't be surprised.
I like to think that the new modular Mac Pro will be a scalable Mac that can be configured from Mini-spec to Pro-spec and everything in between, essentially replacing the current headless Macs with one single machine. Or at the very least that Apple will recycle the trashcan Mac and upgrade it with consumer parts and give it a second life as an affordable Mac.
But logically I shouldn't expect either of those options to become a reality. The likely case is that the mini is dead and the iMac will be the only option for us.
At any rate, even if there's a new Mini. Will we still be able to trust Apple with updates? What if the next mini is the last one? Or at the very least takes another 5 years before the next version is released. Do you really want to buy into a dead platform?
Do not have high hopes for the new modular Mac Pro as a replacement for the Mac mini, since it can be easily predictable, that the starting price will be way higher, than the low-end iMac... There is a "Pro" word in the name and that is the guarantee, that it wont be cheap.
I said it before, and I am going to say it again for clarification. The Mac Mini run is over. And a hell of a run it was. Thanks for the ride, Apple.
I do like the idea of a nice i7, some Ram, and a single video card of any type in the barrel shaped case. Because that sucker runs silent, and I love that.
BTW, I will put the silence of the computer in my sig up against ANY computer that is not fanless. I believe I have built the world's quietest computer.
I do like the idea of a nice i7, some Ram, and a single video card of any type in the barrel shaped case. Because that sucker runs silent, and I love that.
BTW, I will put the silence of the computer in my sig up against ANY computer that is not fanless. I believe I have built the world's quietest computer.
Whomever manufactures the Mac Mini for Apple must have a minimum production rate so eventually Apple is going to hit that "run rate floor" and have to stop production of the current model after doing one last order to stock the warehouses. They may have already hit it and are now pulling down from that warehouse stock.
I know people like to claim "Supply Master Tim would never stock a lot of product in a warehouse", but we just saw that with the Airport family (they have finally reached the point where what stock they have is about done so they're announcing it is End of Life) and previously we saw it with the Thunderbolt Display. And I would not be surprised if we're there or near there with the current Mac Pro.
I know people like to claim "Supply Master Tim would never stock a lot of product in a warehouse", but we just saw that with the Airport family (they have finally reached the point where what stock they have is about done so they're announcing it is End of Life) and previously we saw it with the Thunderbolt Display. And I would not be surprised if we're there or near there with the current Mac Pro.
Production of a rumoured MacBook Air model has been delayed back to the second half of this year, strongly suggesting it'll be an October release in the 'traditional' Mac slot. Whether or not the MacBook Pros follow suit is another thing but after only a 9 month gap between 2016 and 2017 models, an 15 month gap between 2017 and 2018 would be highly unusual.
The i5-8250U 15w CPU is readily available and has been for months but a similar Iris Graphics 15w part remains currently unannounced. Apple may well have decided that the UHD620 graphics on the i5-8250U are unsuitable for a retina display but and the delay could be due to Intel dragging their heels over a 15w version of the i5-8259U.
This would impact any manufacturing decision on the Mac Mini which could benefit from sharing the i5-8250U, i5-8259U or some unreleased 15w Iris Graphics equipped CPU in between. In that case, Mini fans may have to wait until October before the fate of the Mini is made clear.
The i5-8250U 15w CPU is readily available and has been for months but a similar Iris Graphics 15w part remains currently unannounced. Apple may well have decided that the UHD620 graphics on the i5-8250U are unsuitable for a retina display but and the delay could be due to Intel dragging their heels over a 15w version of the i5-8259U.
This would impact any manufacturing decision on the Mac Mini which could benefit from sharing the i5-8250U, i5-8259U or some unreleased 15w Iris Graphics equipped CPU in between. In that case, Mini fans may have to wait until October before the fate of the Mini is made clear.
I don’t quite understand your last point. Why would it be relevant if a hypothetical 2018 Mac Mini was the last one ever released? If it’s good, I’ll buy it. If it stinks, I won’t buy it.
These conversations are just wasted time, as there will never be a new Mac Mini. The horrible 2014 version was the last. A terrible way to go out.
Exactly, it's a Mac, it uses standard peripherals and will continue to get updates for likely 6 years (or more). I have no issue with buying the "last" Mac Mini ever as it doesn't at all matter.
Now if it was the last device running MacOS ever, well then yes I would have issues with buying that as that would mean support for the whole platform would dry up (but that's obviously not going to happen any time soon).
Not keeping upgrade paths clear, and more-or-less up to date, especially for the pro users, is where I think Apple did the real damage to themselves.
It's beyond stupid. You cannot do that and expect customer loyalty. Especially from pro users.
What the forking fork were Apple thinking?
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