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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

Well guys, I have finally given up waiting and decided I needed to get something now.

I just picked up a new Mac Pro 6,1 BTO:

6-core
16GB Memory (upgraded to 64GB)
512GB storage
D500

Although not a good tower replacement - it makes an excellent Mac Mini replacement. I sold my 2012 Mac Mini QC last year, and have been trying to make due with a MacBook Retina (and Windows tower) until a new Mini came out. I just couldn't do it any longer and pulled the trigger when I saw a good deal. I have always loved the engineering and design of the Mac Pro 6,1 and decided that although maybe not the best choice, it was just a Mac that I wanted to own. Reminds me of the G4 Cube that I always thought was a unique Mac that I would have also liked to have owned. I also figure these will be supported for quite some time since they will be selling these into 2019 until the mMP is released.

I just couldn't bring myself to buy another iMac. I feel this Mac Pro compares well to the iMac 27" i7, but runs cool and silent (and geekbenches at over 19,600). I can easily replace the CPU, SSD, and other parts if necessary down the road. Although one 580 is more powerful than a single D500, having both D500s running multiple monitors works pretty well.

I have to say that I am very happy with it and once the new Modular Mac Pro is announced, I might pick up another 6,1 if I see some fire sales on them.
 
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OldMike said:
Well guys, I have finally given up waiting and decided I needed to get something now.

I just picked up a new Mac Pro 6,1 BTO:

6-core
16GB Memory (upgraded to 64GB)
512GB storage
D500

Although not a good tower replacement - it makes an excellent Mac Mini replacement. I sold my 2012 Mac Mini QC last year, and have been trying to make due with a MacBook Retina (and Windows tower) until a new Mini came out. I just couldn't do it any longer and pulled the trigger when I saw a good deal. I have always loved the engineering and design of the Mac Pro 6,1 and decided that although maybe not the best choice, it was just a Mac that I wanted to own. Reminds me of the G4 Cube that I always thought was a unique Mac that I would have also liked to have owned. I also figure these will be supported for quite some time since they will be selling these into 2019 until the mMP is released.

I just couldn't bring myself to buy another iMac. I feel this Mac Pro compares well to the iMac 27" i7, but runs cool and silent (and geekbenches at over 19,600). I can easily replace the CPU, SSD, and other parts if necessary down the road. Although one 580 is more powerful than a single D500, having both D500s running multiple monitors works pretty well.

I have to say that I am very happy with it and once the new Modular Mac Pro is announced, I might pick up another 6,1 if I see some fire sales on them.
Click to expand...
Unbelievable value. Ivy bridge-E 6 core, ATI HD 7870 (Crossfire disabled), 64gb DDR3 ram, 512gb SSD for the cheap, cheap price of $4000. It’s basically a giveaway! Absolutely cutting edge 22nm chip, GCN 1.0, and ultra-high speed 1867mhz memory! Those windows peasants running the outdated 16 core 1950x, Nfaildia 1080 Ti and its mere 12 Tflops, 3.2 GHz DDR4 RAM must be so pressed with their inferior software support and throttled hardware. Especially since metal 2 is so much more innovative than DirectX 12.
 
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geromi912 said:
Unbelievable value. Ivy bridge-E 6 core, ATI HD 7870 (Crossfire disabled), 64gb DDR3 ram, 512gb SSD for the cheap, cheap price of $4000. It’s basically a giveaway! Absolutely cutting edge 22nm chip, GCN 1.0, and ultra-high speed 1867mhz memory! Those windows peasants running the outdated 16 core 1950x, Nfaildia 1080 Ti and its mere 12 Tflops, 3.2 GHz DDR4 RAM must be so pressed with their inferior software support and throttled hardware. Especially since metal 2 is so much more innovative than DirectX 12.
Click to expand...

Ok, I already have a Windows tower (not sure I see your point). What are the options for headless Apple hardware? Plus, it didn't cost anywhere near $4000.

For what it is, and what I actually paid (closer to half that), I feel like it was a good value despite being a little dated. It is competitive with anything available from Apple right now, especially CPU performance per dollar. Could have I gotten more for my money from non-Apple hardware, sure. But I have already done that, and now I needed a Mac. My preference for not going with a heat constrained iMac, left me with little choices here. That being said, I am extremely happy with the Mac Pro and what I paid for it. To be honest, I haven't seen anything like it in my over 30 years of owning a computer. The way it is put together is like engineering art. With all 6 cores running, I can barely hear the fan when I put my ear right up to it. Frankly, it is pretty amazing considering the heat pumping machines that I have owned in the past.
 
OldMike said:
Ok, I already have a Windows tower (not sure I see your point). What are the options for headless Apple hardware? Plus, it didn't cost anywhere near $4000.

For what it is, and what I actually paid (closer to half that), I feel like it was a good value despite being a little dated. It is competitive with anything available from Apple right now, especially CPU performance per dollar. Could have I gotten more for my money from non-Apple hardware, sure. But I have already done that, and now I needed a Mac. My preference for not going with a heat constrained iMac, left me with little choices here. That being said, I am extremely happy with the Mac Pro and what I paid for it. To be honest, I haven't seen anything like it in my over 30 years of owning a computer. The way it is put together is like engineering art. With all 6 cores running, I can barely hear the fan when I put my ear right up to it. Frankly, it is pretty amazing considering the heat pumping machines that I have owned in the past.
Click to expand...
Honestly, a Mac Pro 5.1 upgrade to dual X5690s 12 core, 1080Ti with additional power supply (even an officially supported Mac edition 7950 is faster than the D500, which is basically 7850 with an additional GB of vram), keep the 5770/5870 for boot screen, up to 96gb ram, and you can install all the hard disks and SSDs you want. The trash can should have never been built.
 
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geromi912 said:
Honestly, a Mac Pro 5.1 upgrade to dual X5690s 12 core, 1080Ti with additional power supply (even an officially supported Mac edition 7950 is faster than the D500, which is basically 7850 with an additional GB of vram), keep the 5770/5870 for boot screen, up to 96gb ram, and you can install all the hard disks and SSDs you want. The trash can should have never been built.
Click to expand...

Mac Pro 5,1 might stop seeing updates after the next release of macOS. The Mac Pro 6,1 will be sold right up until the mMP is released sometime in 2019. That means many more years of updates, and 5 to 7 years from 2019 before they stop providing service and parts for it. I couldn't risk dropping any cash at all on a Mac Pro 5,1 since I need a Mac for more than a year or two. I need a current OS to do my work.

I don't think that the Mac Pro 6,1 was any kind of replacement for the legendary tower of the old Mac Pro. I owned one and loved it. Best tower case design I have ever seen. That also was truly a work of art. This time around, I wasn't in the market for a 40+lb desktop. The Mac Pro 6,1 is perfect as a small form factor workstation that can sit on your desk and run all day. With Xeon processors and ECC Ram it is definitely a unique machine. I am happy it was built, but just wish they had segmented it differently (perhaps offer the tower alongside it). It fits my needs perfectly, for size, acoustics and processing power.

Granted it is not a radical gaming machine, but that was not what I was after or needed.
 
OldMike said:
...and once the new Modular Mac Pro is announced, I might pick up another 6,1 if I see some fire sales on them.
Click to expand...
The thought had crossed my mind too. Might be a window of opportunity there for some good deals.

Maybe I might also get lucky again with the exchange rate. :)
 
I hope there is something soon. I want choice with my displays etc. My sister and I had a conversation about Windows yesterday, but unless Microsoft updates the Surface Studio's internals, I'll probably stay in the Apple ecosystem. There are some great looking laptops, but I want a desktop (and not Dell).
 
I really don't care if Apple wants to replace what's now the Mini in their conceptual line-up with a one-port hockey puck using a Zilog Z-8000, as long as they make a serious commitment to a line of DIY-upgradable headless desktop systems. I don't see this as being a huge threat to their iMac line (as so often mentioned in this and other MR threads), mainly because the typical user these days wants an appliance like aforesaid "smart hockey puck" or the iMac line. The DIY line would be for people who use computers for non-typical things (you know, as COMPUTERS!) who don't need the highest-speed CPU or GPU, but do want (1) to be in the Mac environment, (2) want to run it on Apple hardware (bog save us all), and (3) to be able to fiddle with the innards and use their own monitor. WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT THIS CONCEPT?
 
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jasnw said:
WHAT IS SO HARD ABOUT THIS CONCEPT?
Click to expand...

As technology evolves the opportunity to reach the component level will continue to diminish as components take on more functionality and gain hierarchy through software (more interconnected) - thus they really don't want us fiddling around. Add to this the quest for thinness (miniaturization) which also relates to shelf space, inventory, support and cost - it will get harder to access the internals.

From a cultural perspective the iPhone says the customer can be led and from a business/profit perspective they feel this is best for Apple. A management/leadership change or the tanking of the iPhone is probably the only thing that can change this paradigm.
 
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masterbaron said:
As technology evolves the opportunity to reach the component level will continue to diminish as components take on more functionality and gain hierarchy through software (more interconnected) - thus they really don't want us fiddling around. Add to this the quest for thinness (miniaturization) which also relates to shelf space, inventory, support and cost - it will get harder to access the internals.

From a cultural perspective the iPhone says the customer can be led and from a business/profit perspective they feel this is best for Apple.
Click to expand...

I would argue that there is a significant difference between ‘miniaturization’ and Timmy’s obsession with thinness. IMO, miniaturization can be a good thing, but thinness to the point that keyboards no longer work properly and phones have large camera bumps is just plain stupid.
 
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Michael Scrip said:
People love MacOS

Though at some point... if Apple doesn't offer the hardware you want... how much longer is the software still important?
Click to expand...
Exactly. It’s not so much about being able to throw in a new GPU (at least in my case) although that would be a welcome option, it is really about using current-competitive components. If Apple really is going all in on ARM I really would like a heads up. At least then this drought of updates could have a reasonable pass, as opposed to just being out in the dark.

Anyone who pays full retail price for a Mac mini or a Mac Pro are clearly unaware of what they are doing, especially when you can pick up very good condition mini’s on eBay for half of what “new costs” (what is “new” when it’s using 4+ old year components anyway)...

The 2013 Mac Pro and 2014 mini should have the longest supported life cycle though right (I fully expect Mojave to be the last OS my 2012 rmbp can take... I’m on the lookout for a 2015 with dedicated graphics, unless Apple can fix the mess of the current mbp’s).
 
cobracnvt said:
I think the people buying it obviously don't research it and assume that it's good since it's Apple. Unfortunate
Click to expand...
I think this is a really dumb move for Apple. If someone buys a Mini with a 5400rpm spinner and compares the speed with a cheap Chromebook, that person is unlikely to say "yay, Macs seem amazing, going to grab me an iMac Pro".
 
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navaira said:
I think this is a really dumb move for Apple. If someone buys a Mini with a 5400rpm spinner and compares the speed with a cheap Chromebook, that person is unlikely to say "yay, Macs seem amazing, going to grab me an iMac Pro".
Click to expand...
I think the people that buy a mini today, don't compare it to anything (otherwise they wouldn't have bought it), and likely end up happy with it.
 
I really hope that new Mac Mini is coming later this year.

I would consider it, even if it has an ARM processor.

(Would need to see speed test of course and performance in real world too).
 
dwfaust said:
I would argue that there is a significant difference between ‘miniaturization’ and Timmy’s obsession with thinness.
Click to expand...

Well I am no fan of Tim Cook. But to be fair, it was Steve Jobs who started the whole “impossibly thin” craze. Remember this? IIRC, the “impossibly thin” quote actually came from an iPod commercial, but I can’t seem to find it now. Anyway, Apple headed down that road quite some time ago and knowing Tim Cook, he wouldn’t have continued it if it didn’t sell. ;)

[doublepost=1530636271][/doublepost]
cobracnvt said:
What amazes me is that Apple still sells the mini with no refresh, at the same price.
Click to expand...

The Mini is not the only product like that. How about its poor cousin, the iPad Mini 4 that has not been updated since 2015 (and has the catch-phrase “seriously thin” on Apple’s site)? It is only offered in a 128gb version, which makes it appear more expensive than the 2018 full sized iPad. And with the 128gb version, the new full sized iPad only costs $30 more but you get a processor that is two generations newer plus Apple Pencil support.

I was in an Apple Store last month and really hadn’t looked closely at iPads for awhile. Asked a question about the iPad Mini 4 and the salesman suggested that it didn’t make much sense to buy one unless I really needed the smaller size, due to the price. He also agreed that Apple would probably discontinue the Mini 4 soon, but nobody really knows.

Sound familiar? :p
 
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dwfaust said:
and phones have large camera bumps is just plain stupid
Click to expand...

so true ... this and dongles goes a long way to demonstrate that Apple has opposing objectives which has resulted in less-than elegant solutions. The mathematics behind focal point, magnification and angles is a clear design requirement that was forsaken for overall thinness - which marches to a different tune.

"Think Different" used to mean good things however now it's simply a source of angst.
 
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