The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

sublunar said:
I think any future ARM powered Mac would in the beginning have to at least start with Gatekeeper lockdown for 2 reasons:
1. Stop people from downloading Intel (non-fat) binaries and expecting them to run
2. Quality control - this is the Mac App store, not just the iOS App Store - you'd expect that Apple would find a way to get people like Microsoft and Adobe to get their programs on there.
3. Could be a way for Apple to allow games on in a Steam-style.

If Apple weren't using a low price as a loss leader and were charging an amount which let them continue to profit from the each device sold then no problem but certainly there's a point where the word 'Mac' may not appear in the name of an ARM device if there's any prospect of people complaining that 'Mac' software they downloaded doesn't work.
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You are completely discounting the % of people who buy a mac, because it can run windows software, if need be.

Those folks are completely out of the picture, and they are typically the most technically savvy, who sell the ideas of Macs to others.
 
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It's insane when you here that they found plastic in the deepest part of the ocean and then there's the mentality of disposable electronics - instead of being able to grow your existing infrastructure, re-tune and upgrade to stay abreast, customize and retrofit.

The green spaceship deposits heavy metals upon the soil!
 
dogslobber said:
What do you think? Let us all know by adding a message here!
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If posting continues at the same frequency, it will be 2022 before we make it to 1000 pages. I think the Mini will be discontinued and long forgotten before then. So will this thread. :(
 
NASA and Apple have a lot in common - we're going to Mars - long periods of silence - no let's go back to the Moon - longer period of silence - let's do low-Mars orbit - more silence - no let's all at once go to Mars - you know like the Moon and Mars are across the street from each other when we know the amount of up-front planning and the investment in "delivery platform" can't support toggling back and forth ... which means nothing is happening in terms of a real commitment.

Tough choices ... the Moon or Mars when we kinda know the best answer is ... the Moon and Mars. I'm not so sure Apple is going to give us the best answer.
 
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Well, NASA gets jerked around big-time by politics since its funding comes from politicians. That requires NASA to change course every few years whether they really want to or not. They have an excuse, and it's mainly externally driven (the craziness, that is). Apple's problems are entirely internal and home-grown. Yes, they have stockholders to please, but that didn't stop Steve from charting a course of his own. So NASA and Apple both appear to not have the ability to make a plan and stick to it, but Apple should be able to fix their problem by shifting a few people out of some top jobs.
 
jasnw said:
Well, NASA gets jerked around big-time by politics since its funding comes from politicians. That requires NASA to change course every few years whether they really want to or not.
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True ... I understand that but here's the thing - Commitment is everything and conceptually and fundamentally NASA should not change directions because of budget but should alter course based on knowledge - essentially Apple's course has changed based on profit whereas in the past providing the fundamental steps to increased power, flexibility and choice was their mantra and our benefit. Similarly NASA should opt for the solution that provides the most efficient use of fuel and power offering the greatest flexibility (chance of survival) and thus benefiting in the return of the crew (i.e. the Moon serves as a platform for Mars) as opposed to what funding conveniently permits.

If the emphasis is the collection of the most information and the preservation of life funding needs would clearly exceed just getting man to Mars first (if Apple cared about the users flexibility, our cost vs power and our investment their profits would take a back seat and being first to make the thinnest would not be paramount - Apple machines "living on" - users bridging disparate systems and headphone jacks would be cool as far as I'm concerned).

"Quality" was Apple's mantra which means "investment protection" as a gold standard!

"We bring them back alive!" vs "We get them there first!"
 
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OK, this is OT even for this thread. Yes, NASA should chase the science, but that takes money, and money means listening to politicians, particularly big money. All of the government research-funding agencies have this problem to some extent (I spent 35 years doing research funded by many of these, including NASA), but NASA has it worse than many because of the high cost of their toys, particularly their manned spaceflight toys. They learned during the early halcyon days of Mercury through Apollo to spread their agency through many states so that as many senators and congresspersons as possible had NASA activity in their states and districts. That's the bed they made, and now they are shackled to it, living and dying by the whim of politics. If NASA was just doing lab science, they could possibly stay below the radar of the politicians (if they stay away from political things like climate science), but they need the big bucks that only politics can provide. When a junkie's pusher says "Jump!" the junkie doesn't say "but the science says go this way" the junkie says "how high?" So it's moon/mars/moon/mars/etc etc etc.
 
My only point (analogy) was emphasizing that the user (crew) benefits are best served by a resilient infrastructure (lander, orbiter, base station vs laptop/mobile/desktop) that offers options (upgrades - compatibility - scaleability) both forwards and backwards (to and from).

Little things ... like keeping a backup of your iPhone on your desktop or the 2012 Mini outpacing the 2014 Mini - big things ... like removing legacy ports, killing the Mini and the headphone jack ... et al.
 
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Hi,

I work at an Apple Reseller and like many of you, I'm waiting for the mini 2043 refresh.

Since last friday, the three major Apple suppliers in the United States of Canada are suddenly and completely out of stock of all ARM-based Macs. I know this happen from time to time, but the timing is no coincidence.

Trust me, a new AMD Quantum(tm)-powered Mac nano is coming next week, we have solid evidence to believe it.
 
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Yvan256 said:
Hi,

I work at an Apple Reseller and like many of you, I'm waiting for the mini 2043 refresh.

Since last friday, the three major Apple suppliers in the United States of Canada are suddenly and completely out of stock of all ARM-based Macs. I know this happen from time to time, but the timing is no coincidence.

Trust me, a new AMD Quantum(tm)-powered Mac nano is coming next week, we have solid evidence to believe it.
Click to expand...
Didn't know there were any ARM-based Macs?
 
My 2014 MacMini has been my main desktop since the day it came out (replacing a 2008 MacBook which couldn't handled 1080p video). I love the thing - except for the RAM being limited to 8 GB. I replaced the original dirt slow HDD to a Samsung SSD because when memory pressure got high, the thing would have seriously awful thrashing for a minute or more. While the SSD avoids the worst of the thrashing, it still gets brief drops in audio while watching streaming video. I've gone to a lot of effort to limit memory usage - most recently switching from Chrome to Safari which has helped a bit.

I've never had an issue with the CPU/GPU processing power - it's quite capable for my needs (mostly web browsing, some Garage band, MS Word & Excel). It's just frustrating how Apple has limited memory & storage upgrades. Kinda struggling with the idea, but I've been thinking it may be time to migrate away from the Mac :(
 
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Yvan256 said:
Hi,

I work at an Apple Reseller and like many of you, I'm waiting for the mini 2043 refresh.

Since last friday, the three major Apple suppliers in the United States of Canada are suddenly and completely out of stock of all ARM-based Macs. I know this happen from time to time, but the timing is no coincidence.

Trust me, a new AMD Quantum(tm)-powered Mac nano is coming next week, we have solid evidence to believe it.
Click to expand...

If only you had said something meaningful, with teeth, like... "The Mac Mini will continue to be important for many decades to come". Then I would have believed you.
 
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bopajuice said:
Well after six years of waiting for a decent Mac Mini desktop my wait is over. I have decided to build a PC. Just ordered my first parts and will put up my 2014 Mac Mini for sale on eBay tomorrow. Still have 2 iPads, 2 iPhones, 2 MacBook Airs, and 2 AppleTV's. We shall see how it goes.
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Hopefully it goes well for you.

You know it's something when you can drop in on a thread, see posts you made almost exactly a year ago, and know that nothing's changed. :)

Did you decide to go with something small, or just doing the full desktop route?
 
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