Cost? A smaller Mac will cost less to make, less material, OK, not a lot, but add it all up over the amount of Macs produced.
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The lack of a fan, seems a bit iffy, i know mine only comes on now and again, likewhen rendering, but I still prefer it to have one.
phrehdd
Contributor
There is no reason other than profit driving the cost of RAM to the public when purchasing Macs. Integrated architecture is nothing new. In fact, it should with factory reproduction be able to drive the prices of manufacturing down. I accept that Apple loves to ding us for memory and storage. What I don't like is by how much where the prices are crazy high.
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CoreForce
macrumors regular
While an ever smaller M4 Mac Mini sounds appealing, at the end it all boils down to peripheral interfaces available.
A smaller form factor indicates a worsening of what we have right now, which already is holding back people from buying. The perspective of having to dongle a myriad of docks makes the form factor become pretty much irrelevant.
A smaller form factor indicates a worsening of what we have right now, which already is holding back people from buying. The perspective of having to dongle a myriad of docks makes the form factor become pretty much irrelevant.
Smaller electronic components usually costs more, including design of smaller motherboard, etc. Probably we can expect cut of features, less ports, etc if they make the mini smaller. And if they somehow reduce costs, it will not be passed to the consumer. We can most likely expect a price increase.
By all accounts, it is supposed to have more thunderbolts/usb ports., also more memory as standard. This is all romours and it may not happen.
They get the memory thing from the M4 ipad, that has more memory in than it is using.
I got the dock I have because it can hold two hard drives, well a NVMe and a SSD, has so extra ports that is easy to get too and also SD/micro SD slot.
Now, a SD/MicroSd card slot would be useful on a new Mac Mini, but I doubt it will happen. I am surprised that one is not already in the Mac mini, to be honest, because Macs are used by a lot of photographers and video editors.
Just wait and see.
But if you look inside a Mac mini you will find that the main board is pretty small anyway.
the fan and the PSU takes up a fair bit of space.
I am not expecting a price reduction, but there may be more for the same price, if rumours are true, then the base may have more memory.
Populus
macrumors 604
That mini mockup is much more realistic, from my point of view. And not only that: It looks like a scaled down Mac Studio, and maybe that’s what Apple is doing: Same external design, and maybe the same (miniaturized) internal design, with a taller dissipator made out of aluminum for the M4, and copper for the M4 Pro.
ApplesAreSweet&Sour
Suspended
It won't. At least not this all-new, smallest ever mini:
Apple "math" dictates that the (comparatively) smaller device in a given line-up is always lower priced than the bigger, more expensive devices. They are also lower spec’ed, with lesser ports, worse or no active cooling, etc.
This smallest ever mini will most likely retain the two thunderbolt ports that the current entry-level mini has but then lose the two USB-A and the ethernet port.
As this smallest-ever mini will probably replace the current entry-level mini, you'll have to get a similar-to-M2-Pro-sized M4 Pro mini to get four Thunderbolt ports (Apple might also ditch the M4 Pro mini's USB-A ports for two more USB-C type ports, Thunderbolt or otherwise. But that's a bit more unlikely).
This biggest selling point for this smallest ever Mac will be that it gets you 8/256 and M4 at a <$599 starting price.
This all-new mini is going to be Apple's least expensive Mac of all time. But it will also widen the gap between the Pro mini and the non-Pro mini.
SoldOnApple
macrumors 65816
Wish they figured out how to go with user upgradable ram. I guess this helps make sure everyone has the exact same setup at least.
Apple can't, now that they have gone M chip unified memory.
ApplesAreSweet&Sour
Suspended
Exactly.
Apple already did a Mac mini-sized fan-less "computer". And iPads, Air and Pro, have already been through M1, M2, and M4, and run about as fast as any Mac despite having no active cooling.
This all-new, smallest ever mini will definitely be a iPhone/iPad in a tiny box, running macOS.
Starting at <$599 and the cheapest and smallest Mac ever.
rodriguise
macrumors regular
64GB of ram would be nice too.
I suspect that 8 GB of RAM will continue to be standard for the entry model. If you want to use Apple Intelligence, perhaps for writing code, they expect you to buy the middle tier model, and pay more. I hope I am wrong, but this is just how Apple has treated their customer base for a long time.
The aTV, which the rumors say would still be somewhat smaller than this, doesnt have a brick…
In liquid and cream cosmetics, not in a solid metal with skin contact… (also the majority of the contact surface to your skin on an apple watch is the glass on the back)
phrehdd
Contributor
It looks more like an ATV. At that size maybe 1 TB 2USB and Ethernet. Maybe they'll drop ethernet altogether. Argh
There's no such thing as "entry level" other than in Apple talk, as those who buy the cheapest Apple device rarely buy a "high-end" stuff, for they don't need/want them. That's why Apple makes those "entry-level" stuff, much more than the "high-end" ones.
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And, glass is cheap...😏
Allen_Wentz
macrumors 601
Read some more. Specifically about the physics of having RAM on-chip physically very close to processing and with less memory controller issues in the way.
Allen_Wentz
macrumors 601
I doubt that any Mini will need pricey copper for the heat sinks. The Mini is not intended as a performance box; that is why Studio exists.
Sure a few folks (perhaps including me) will cheap out and buy Minis to do what they should buy a Studio for, but mostly Apple drives users like us to Studios by limiting Minis to the Pro chip and restricting available RAM. Anyone who intends heavy work and cheaps out on RAM is making a big mistake.
Allen_Wentz
macrumors 601
I do not get the "just how Apple has treated their customer base for a long time" comment. Apple sells different levels of hardware at different prices, which makes total sense. Yes their pricing runs high, we know that and can go elsewhere if a different product is just as good in every regard for less money.