The Mac mini and studio have both been incredibly popular with people running home AI installs. So that unfortunately means it's hard to tell if a refresh is coming or if the shortages are because demand for the product is currently higher than the supply can match.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
- Start date
-
- Tags
- mac mini new mac mini
- Sort by reaction score
JPack
macrumors P6
The shortage of the base $599 model runs everywhere from Anchorage to Atlanta. The $1,399 Pro model is also OOS nationwide. Somehow, I doubt many people from Missouri to Mississippi are running OpenClaw.
I'm keeping an eye on next Wednesday for a heavily press release speed bump product update bonanza - M4 to M5 (and whatever A or S series CPU the AppleTV/HomePods get refreshed with) on the whole probably won't need an event 🙂
Apple to Launch These 15+ New Products Later This Year
March has been an incredibly busy month for Apple, with the company unveiling more than 10 new products and accessories. We said hello to the MacBook Neo at the start of the month, and we bid farewell to the Mac Pro at the end of it. Nevertheless, there is still a lot more to come this year...
forums.macrumors.com
Just getting in ahead of any possible announcements tomorrow with a bit of speculation.
Given that there were price increases on m5 MacBook Pros to partly cover the increase in base storage from 512gb to 1tb, would you accept a 699 base m5 mini if it came with 512gb storage?
Similarly, if the 2 512gb skus became 16/1tb and 24/1tb for 899 and 1099 respectively?
And then the m5 pro mini became 24/1tb for 1499?
Would Apple tacitly allow the m4 16/256 to live on at third party retailers to fill the sub 599 bracket?
Or does that give them room to do the a18 pro 8/512 Neo sku that people have been asking for (which I don’t get to be fair) or even less likely do a 16/256 m5 basement model for the old 599 point.
Given that there were price increases on m5 MacBook Pros to partly cover the increase in base storage from 512gb to 1tb, would you accept a 699 base m5 mini if it came with 512gb storage?
Similarly, if the 2 512gb skus became 16/1tb and 24/1tb for 899 and 1099 respectively?
And then the m5 pro mini became 24/1tb for 1499?
Would Apple tacitly allow the m4 16/256 to live on at third party retailers to fill the sub 599 bracket?
Or does that give them room to do the a18 pro 8/512 Neo sku that people have been asking for (which I don’t get to be fair) or even less likely do a 16/256 m5 basement model for the old 599 point.
Populus
macrumors 604
Is it? Is it still coming? Because I need a new ****ing Mac and at this point I’m not going to get an M4 Mac mini.
I know everything points to a June release but… I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait. The M5 Air isn’t the form factor I need, and after trying it, thermal throttle is a problem. The Neo is a nice, sturdy machine, but not quite there in terms of performance.
All I need is a Mac mini. C’mon Apple!
I know everything points to a June release but… I don’t know if I’ll be able to wait. The M5 Air isn’t the form factor I need, and after trying it, thermal throttle is a problem. The Neo is a nice, sturdy machine, but not quite there in terms of performance.
All I need is a Mac mini. C’mon Apple!
Populus
macrumors 604
It’s simply not the right machine for me. I know I won’t get the throttle for most of the tasks I do but… some of them tax the CPU and it eventually throttles. This won’t happen with the Mac mini. Also the laptop form factor leaves the door open for a disaster (if some liquids get spilled onto my Mac).
I had thought of a setup with a heat dissipator for a MBA, but you know what? A Mac mini is what I actually need.
I have an M4 on order to experiment with open claw. But I dont want to wait till June. So will probably just take the Mini M4 when I eventually get it off the waitlist. I'm hoping they release a new one soon and the waitlist will translate into an M5 preorder.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen such lengthy, extended unavailability of almost all (or all) configurations of the Mac mini and Mac Studio. I really hope this is because the revisions are about to drop; we’ll see. Lots of people are going to be forced to get things in a laptop form they do not need if these timelines hold.
EugW
macrumors P6
I hope it's not just because people are buying these things up for AI, because they are.
I ordered a loaded M4 Pro Mac mini on 3/22 because delivery was estimated in June. It actually shipped on 3/31 and is on its way. So although the wait times are huge they seem to be shipping much faster, at least in my case.
FatLouie
macrumors 6502a
The economy sucks, has sucked, and will continue to suck. It is better for Apple to run down the inventory and move sales to "custom order" units. This way, when the M5 hits the market (depending on the economy and memory costs), the previous models (refurb or otherwise) will be off the books, and I think we will see limited availability of M5 systems, with the bulk of them being custom orders. By doing this, Apple can likely also reduce the amount of product that gets returned and ends up in the refurbish store.
A stock Mac mini M4 could be delivered in a little under 3 weeks in the UK from the Apple Store but I did a custom M4/32Gb/1Tb spec and was quoted August 11 for a pickup at an Apple Store (!). So at this point who knows what's going on?!
If your order has already shipped could that be a function of current transport issues? In addition to this the oil disruption may also mean supply chain issues at source. Who knows what the plan would be then...
yellowhelicopter
macrumors regular
Just what's the point for Apple to release a new M5 machine in June when M6 is going to appear later this year. I doubt Mac Mini M5 will ever be released, despite all those predictions. It's already much overdue compared to macbook M5, let alone how it will be in June. If only they aren't going to release M6 much later than I think.
JPack
macrumors P6
Mini is a very low volume product. The expectation should be it receives any updates last in the Mac family.
boswald
macrumors 68030
When I bought my new Mac, I chose "trade in" for fun, and my old Mac that I never used (2018 Mac mini) was worth $25. Funny stuff. I probably should've done the same and converted it into a server or Linux box.
Populus
macrumors 604
In addition to what @JPack said, keep in mind that the M6 will be built in a much more expensive 2nm process, with lower yields, and that means that those M6 will probably go first in the most expensive products Apple has to offer: the new OLED MacBook Pro.
Later, in 2027, the M6 will start appearing on more products, but the Mac mini is both a low volume product (or at least it was until the AI thing came), and a low cost product, with tighter margins. So I’m quite sure the Mac mini will receive the M5 before the M6 chip.
boswald
macrumors 68030
When you said it's throttling, do you run AI programs on it to make it do that, or just from general use? I'm curious because I just bought an M5 Air and I don't want any throttling if I can help it. I just couldn't deal with more laptop fans (loud and break often) so I went with Air.
Populus
macrumors 604
First of all: I have a soft spot for the mini. Second, yes, I tried some local LLMs and used Handbrake and that sort of things that, even tho they would just represent a 15% of my activity, my TOC prevented me from keeping it.
Also, I would have upgraded the RAM from the initial 16GB and… that meant too much of an investment on a machine with a ticking clock battery (remember, batteries are consumables) and a screen that could be broken on a drop…
Yes, the integrated display is something I won’t have on my mini, but currently I don’t have any situation where I really need it, and if I need it in the future… I guess I can always buy a cheap portable display.
But I wanted to give the Air an opportunity because if I have to move or travel next year, or in two years, it would have been more convenient… but that’s buying a device based on a possibility.
I think you’ll be fine with the M5 Air, it is an excellent machine and more efficient than it seems.
boswald
macrumors 68030
Oh no, not questioning your choice at all. Just curious if I made a mistake buying my Air. So far it's done everything I need it to without breaking a sweat, so I'm happy with it. I did pick 24GB of RAM though so I have a little bit of headroom.
Populus
macrumors 604
Don’t worry, you’ll be very happy with it. To be honest, not only it’s the best laptop I’ve ever tried, but also the best MacBook
EugW
macrumors P6
What are you doing with it?
While testing the MacBook Neo in-store with some applications in the background, I occasionally noticed some lag even just navigating around macOS. That's what you get with 8 GB RAM. When I do the same thing on my wife's M4 Air with 16 GB RAM, I don't notice that lag.
However, with my moderate multitasking of business applications (nothing heavy duty), I would occasionally notice a bit of lag with my M1 Mac mini with 16 GB RAM. Nothing major and it was fine overall, but that lag is completely gone on my M4 Mac mini with 24 GB RAM. Honestly, for my business app type usage, the 24 GB RAM is probably unnecessary overall but it's still nice to have that extra headroom, especially since I generally keep my Macs longer than 5 years.
boswald
macrumors 68030
That's my reasoning too. I don't do much with it YET, but I wanted the extra headroom for both performance and longevity. I plan on keeping it for at least 5 years.