Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Mac mini, airports and MacBook Air are dead.
I think Apple needs to update the MacBook to an i5 and price it at $999 and drop the MacBook Air. Then offer a quad core 13 in. MacBook Pro and a 4K 15 in. MacBook Pro with the new 6 core mobile Xeon and market it as a truly Pro device, iMac Pro to go. Then make the Mac Pro a modular device with several options ranging from a low cost i5 to a mid range i7 up to a high end Xeon Apple has done that before, the B&W Powermac G3 started at $1599
 
guys, we can not expect that apple can release things sooner than 4 years apart. They are such a tiny company with no resources and they need all the time they can have.
[doublepost=1523057601][/doublepost]
They couldn’t.
its like people forgot about the powerbook g5
[doublepost=1523057698][/doublepost]
Sad to see MR making an article like this, but it's warranted. At least they finally stopped selling the non-retina 2012 MBP.
but those mba's lemme tell ya they don't need no retina
 
  • Like
Reactions: simonmet and fairuz
... the myriad of older models still being sold have spread Apple way too thin.

Ive been saying this for years.
Im all fo a new phone every year being released. But drop the old ones. Especially those with higher models at essentially the same price point.

Remember when your choice was literally black or white with the MacBook range. If you wanted silver it was the “pro” version.

Now there is so much overlap it just gets confusing for the non tech savvy to work out what they want do they turn to the sales people who either sell them the most expensive Apple device available or even say a Win10 PC because it “looks similar” (actually heard that used in a shop once).

As for the topic on hand the big two for me is a new Airport (preferibly one that can do Layer2 masking) and Mac Mini as my old 2008 is getting a little slow as my headless home server (still works, just slower).
 
We don’t need SSDs for backup: a pointless expense. We do need larger and cheaper disks though.

SSDs aren’t all that expensive anymore, especially if you go with a low to midrange SSD as opposed to high-end like what Apple puts in the MBP’s. Also, doing a full restore from HDD will take forever if you’ve got a 1 TB or larger SSD in your computer. Let’s not forget Time Machine is one of the primary reasons for the Time Capsule in the first place. Cheap HDD storage is easy enough to add to your setup if desired. My old MBP is setup as a server with a 500 GB HDD and I can add more to it with an external drive if desired.
 
SSDs aren’t all that expensive anymore, especially if you go with a low to midrange SSD as opposed to high-end like what Apple puts in the MBP’s. Also, doing a full restore from HDD will take forever if you’ve got a 1 TB or larger SSD in your computer. Let’s not forget Time Machine is one of the primary reasons for the Time Capsule in the first place. Cheap HDD storage is easy enough to add to your setup if desired. My old MBP is setup as a server with a 500 GB HDD and I can add more to it with an external drive if desired.
HDD storage/price ratio has increased as quickly as that of SSDs in the past few years. Also, backups don't do very much random access, so a low-end SSD shouldn't be hugely faster than an HDD.
 
HDD storage/price ratio has increased as quickly as that of SSDs in the past few years. Also, backups don't do very much random access, so a low-end SSD shouldn't be hugely faster than an HDD.

A basic SSD from the last year or so will run circles around an HDD. Even without random access being a concern an HDD will be faster at restoring from a backup and even just transferring large files to Time Capsule would be much faster as well if both drives are SSD. Nobody is saying they can’t still offer larger HDD options for those who prefer massive gobs of storage over speed.
 
A basic SSD from the last year or so will run circles around an HDD. Even without random access being a concern an HDD will be faster at restoring from a backup and even just transferring large files to Time Capsule would be much faster as well if both drives are SSD. Nobody is saying they can’t still offer larger HDD options for those who prefer massive gobs of storage over speed.
I'm seeing 190MB/sec read, 184 write on my old HDD. A new low-end SSD will do ~500MB/sec read, 400 write. The difference isn't huge for a full restore since you just want that to finish in some reasonable time. This is also assuming full SATA speed. Since you mention Time Capsule, the gig-e network will bottleneck both at ≤125MB/sec, so it doesn't matter unless you're connecting some other way.
 
Last edited:
A basic SSD from the last year or so will run circles around an HDD. Even without random access being a concern an HDD will be faster at restoring from a backup and even just transferring large files to Time Capsule would be much faster as well if both drives are SSD. Nobody is saying they can’t still offer larger HDD options for those who prefer massive gobs of storage over speed.
Sorry but you are going to have a hard time bottlenecking a HDD over wireless in real life. Especially with sequential Time Machine backups. The “1300 Mbps” is usually bogus, actual speeds are maybe 100 MBps max (big B) and that is easily within the realm of hard drives.
 
iPad Mini's are sold in significant quantities to med schools and hospital organizations. They fit perfectly inside a Dr's lab coat. Nearsighted Macrumors comments will not detract from the significance of this product in the enterprise.

So just because it's sold to those groups it's ok to keep it outdated? I know that when it was first released I saw lots of people with the iPad mini, but at the hospital I work at, there are computers everywhere and everyone has a smart phone. Why buy something that outdated when you can just use a newer phone with the same services?
 
I use five of these items on a daily basis, and love them all. I'm not at all sure what I'm going to do when I'm no longer able to replace them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: idunn
I'm seeing 190MB/sec read, 184 write on my old HDD. A new low-end SSD will do ~500MB/sec read, 400 write. The difference isn't huge for a full restore since you just want that to finish in some reasonable time. This is also assuming full SATA speed. Since you mention Time Capsule, the gig-e network will bottleneck both at ≤125MB/sec, so it doesn't matter unless you're connecting some other way.
In my experience, I have had hdds be about 60MB/Sec read/write.....no where near 190
 
  • Like
Reactions: Salaryman Ryan
Sorry but you are going to have a hard time bottlenecking a HDD over wireless in real life. Especially with sequential Time Machine backups. The “1300 Mbps” is usually bogus, actual speeds are maybe 100 MBps max (big B) and that is easily within the realm of hard drives.

I'm seeing 190MB/sec read, 184 write on my old HDD. A new low-end SSD will do ~500MB/sec read, 400 write. The difference isn't huge for a full restore since you just want that to finish in some reasonable time. This is also assuming full SATA speed. Since you mention Time Capsule, the gig-e network will bottleneck both at ≤125MB/sec, so it doesn't matter unless you're connecting some other way.

That’s why I said these should be equipped with USB-C/TB3 as well, which is what I’d use in the case of a full restore. Instead, these things are so ancient that they’re still on USB 2.
 
  • Like
Reactions: fairuz
— PLEASE, JUST REFRESH MINIS ALREADY —

I am desperate for an iPad Mini 5 with an Apple pencil support. Even same body will do.
Pencil support, CPU, GPU. Come on, not a rocket science.

While at it, give us FRONT ROW on Mac Mini again. Tiger’s Front Row was the reason me and my mates bought Macs for
 
  • Like
Reactions: nathansz
That’s why I said these should be equipped with USB-C/TB3 as well, which is what I’d use in the case of a full restore. Instead, these things are so ancient that they’re still on USB 2.
That’s why I just use regular Airport Extremes and plug in my own drive. I can choose whatever capacity I need as well.
 
IMO all are still relevant and all sell fairly well for not being refreshed.

A router with 802.11n Relevant? Seriously?

The worst part is they sell all of this outdated technology for "more" than current technology, AND PEOPLE STILL BUY IT...
[doublepost=1523077177][/doublepost]
People still buy the Mac Mini?

I did, six months ago. Had a recent Apple bluetooth keyboard and mouse and a newer 4K monitor. Needed a new desktop, for basic office work, so what were my options?

I bought the middle of the road with a 1TB spinner. Painfully slow. Put an SSD in it. I used to use a MBP connected to the monitor with the keyboard and mouse. Graphics looked pretty good. The Mac mini? Not so good. I compromised big time.

To me it is pathetic that we have to wait for years to get updated hardware. Meanwhile the Apple "eco-system is ever expanding. If I choose an alternative I have to leave the eco-system, right?

My dedication to Apple only goes so far.
 
Last edited:
“The computer will be influenced by Apple's new Pro Workflow Team, consisting of creative professionals who are experienced in areas such as visual effects, video editing, 3D animation...”

None of which would ever consider using an AMD GPU so Nvidia support is vital if Apple are genuinely serious about targeting professionals like this (I’m one of them).
 
A router with 802.11n Relevant? Seriously?

Last I checked, the AirPort Extreme and TimeCapsule both used 802.11ac

(They still don’t do mesh so they are certainly not cutting edge, but they aren’t quite as out of date as you suggest)
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.