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Video of 'Leaked' Next-Gen Mac Mini?

Reading most of these posts here and seeing the usual "why buy the mini - get the high end system" crowd.

The mini is one of the best little computers that I've owned ever. My wife is using the one I got almost 4 years ago and it's still working great. I would like to upgrade hers to an Intel model to give it a speed increase and run newer software on it.

So why don't I spend the $1200 and get her an iMac? Because the mini is perfect: size, quiet, just the right about of power. A newer model adds some more speed and Intel capability, but it's just a great machine.

Do I plan to render FCE videos on it? Nope. Do I plan to create the next graphic design using Illustrator? Nope.

I think the people here that are getting excited about a new mini refresh are the same people that love Apple products for being innovative and functional, not because they made an 8-core machine and need to have the best and highest priced model.
 
dwl017 said:
Ok lets say the new 2009 - 2010 high end Mini comes out with a price tag of $799 or higher plus a new new LED display then what is your argument? ahd we all know full well that the $799 price tag is being generous for the high end model.
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my argument is that even IF a mini is $999, and i still needed an new LED display, then it will still be much cheaper than a mac pro with a new LED display.

either or you need an external monitor.

with that said, you are still just looking at the price of the computer itself.

the consumer is paying a huge premium for options they may very well never use if they were to throw down at least another thousand for a macpro.

another thousand on a unit that the user doesnt need.
 
dwl017 said:
Understood but if this user is on there 3rd Mini it just seems more logical to invest in a work station rather then going with a 3rd Mini.
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Personally, I'd rather get a new middle-of-the-road computer every year or two, than go for the expensive high end and be stuck with it for five years because I can't afford another one. And middle-of-the-road is what the Mac mini is; not a child's computer as you suggested in an earlier post. I'd buy a mini today if it had had a decent refresh in the past three years.
 
I would like a Mac Mini if the price stayed the same and has the same specs as a MacBook. I know I am going to wait for snow leopard anyway so we will probably have a mini refresh by then and maybe a MacBook refresh too. I do need a desktop but I like laptops better so I would buy a Mini shortly after a MacBook if I had the money but I will get the MacBook first
 
As much as I'd like to believe. . .

there was another clue that made this thing seem fake: the related videos that popped up after the show was over. It was a bunch of really silly fake porn. One girl in a bikini the whole time is not porn. If you claim to be so knowledgeable about computers that you can crack the hallowed walls of the Cupertino Fortress of Secrecy, you should also know how to hook up a brother with some dirty, dirty porn!
 
macFanDave said:
there was another clue that made this thing seem fake: the related videos that popped up after the show was over. It was a bunch of really silly fake porn. One girl in a bikini the whole time is not porn. If you claim to be so knowledgeable about computers that you can crack the hallowed walls of the Cupertino Fortress of Secrecy, you should also know how to hook up a brother with some dirty, dirty porn!
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Huh? I must have missed the after show of the leaked mini video? ;)
 
NetScheduler said:
I've been waiting for an updated Mini for a long time. At first, I thought a new mini with more standard RAM, a faster front side bus, standard DVD burner, 802.11n wireless, and NVIDIA graphics would be exactly what I wanted.
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I'm in exactly the same spot. All I need is a little box that I can put under the monitors I already needed for my work and play PCs, and which allows me to legally and easily use OSX for my day to day browsing, email and multimedia.

And if it indeed runs 2 monitors, that'd be the icing on the cake, and the new Mac Mini release will quite literally become the defining moment when I 'switch'.

I feel that it really shouldn't take a 3k$ Mac Pro for that, and I just do not want an iMac (I don't even have the desk space for it, tbh).

However after looking through the 20 plus pages of comments, I realized that what I thought I wanted in a secondary computer is not important. My God, the Case hasn't changed!!!! As many long time Apple users have pointed out features and performance is not important (that's the way us old PC guys think).. What is really important in a Mac is that it looks "sexy", "gorgeous", and ohhhh so ever "elegant".. And God please let the case be "thinner"!!!
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The endless fretting about some grille or go faster stripe, or whether or not more than 3 USB ports is esthetically and functionally responsible, this trivial kind of stuff just has me in stitches. :)

I've only been a Mac user since 2006. Please forgive me for not understanding what's really important to "Mac Users" and why this has to be a fake.
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I can't understand why everybody wants this to be a fake either. I want this to be true, because it's exactly what I've been waiting for.
 
relative costs

The comments about costs of high end for a long time, or low end with frequent upgrades made me do some math.

My 2002 quicksilver (dual 1 Ghz G4. 1 GB ram) cost $3000. The midterm upgrade when Tiger came out was about $300 for a new video card, a new hard drive, and a USB 2 card. If I add the cost of Tiger in there too, then I have about $3400 into the rig, which is just past its 7th birthday. This is $485 per year.

If I pay $800 for a mini, and frisbee it into the dumpster after two years, it would cost only $400 per year. So really there is a point to be made for disposable computers.

Now the "frisbee it into the dumpster" is due to the advent of USB 3. In two years I will not be surprised if a computer that does not support USB 3 is effectively useless for service as a main machine. Consider that with the price of an iMac. The low end one is $1200. It also has no upgrade path. If it also has to go in two years, it will cost $600/year. My quicksilver is cheaper than that, but more than a disposable mini.

So Apple's next batch of desktop hardware will be very interesting. An expresscard slot on an iMac would solve so many issues.
 
PVguy said:
The comments about costs of high end for a long time, or low end with frequent upgrades made me do some math.

My 2002 quicksilver (dual 1 Ghz G4. 1 GB ram) cost $3000. The midterm upgrade when Tiger came out was about $300 for a new video card, a new hard drive, and a USB 2 card. If I add the cost of Tiger in there too, then I have about $3400 into the rig, which is just past its 7th birthday. This is $485 per year.

If I pay $800 for a mini, and frisbee it into the dumpster after two years, it would cost only $400 per year. So really there is a point to be made for disposable computers.

Now the "frisbee it into the dumpster" is due to the advent of USB 3. In two years I will not be surprised if a computer that does not support USB 3 is effectively useless for service as a main machine. Consider that with the price of an iMac. The low end one is $1200. It also has no upgrade path. If it also has to go in two years, it will cost $600/year. My quicksilver is cheaper than that, but more than a disposable mini.

So Apple's next batch of desktop hardware will be very interesting. An expresscard slot on an iMac would solve so many issues.
Click to expand...

The difference is, buying iMacs every two years, you would have had a better computer for 5 of those 7 years. Additionally, a 2 year old iMac resells for a minimum of 50% of it's retail value (in good condition, they can sell for 75%), which means you would have had a better computer for somewhere between $150 and $300 a year.
 
zorinlynx said:
This is so obvious I'm not sure I should even post it, but the point of having two video outputs is to support dual-head configurations.

Duh?

And making them different port types is convenient for folks who might have mini-DVI to full size DVI adapters already. I know I have one and so do many others here i suspect.
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As has been stated, I think the reason for having two ports is more obvious than that. A laptop comes with an internal display. An additional display is an accessory, and as such apple sells the dongles as an accessory.

With the mac mini, they either have to put a mini DP - DVI/VGA adapter in the box, or include the second port. I'd be surprised if they didn't do the former on the release version of the computer, which is why I believe the one seen in this thread is a prototype.
 
PVguy said:
The comments about costs of high end for a long time, or low end with frequent upgrades made me do some math.

My 2002 quicksilver (dual 1 Ghz G4. 1 GB ram) cost $3000. The midterm upgrade when Tiger came out was about $300 for a new video card, a new hard drive, and a USB 2 card. If I add the cost of Tiger in there too, then I have about $3400 into the rig, which is just past its 7th birthday. This is $485 per year.

If I pay $800 for a mini, and frisbee it into the dumpster after two years, it would cost only $400 per year. So really there is a point to be made for disposable computers.

Now the "frisbee it into the dumpster" is due to the advent of USB 3. In two years I will not be surprised if a computer that does not support USB 3 is effectively useless for service as a main machine. Consider that with the price of an iMac. The low end one is $1200. It also has no upgrade path. If it also has to go in two years, it will cost $600/year. My quicksilver is cheaper than that, but more than a disposable mini.

So Apple's next batch of desktop hardware will be very interesting. An expresscard slot on an iMac would solve so many issues.
Click to expand...

I see your point and glad you explained your "frisbee it into the dumpster" comment.

USB2 will still be very relevant even after USB 3 makes it's debut. Any of the PowerMacs and Mac Pros have an advantage when it comes to having card slots.

Which is why in addition to the mini (and any refreshes), I'd like to see a Mac Pro mini. A small tower that would allow some upgrades of the hardware without too much trouble.
 
Dang, I convinced myself the first pic was real, but now I'm doubting.

(1) The case is exactly the same as the previous mini (except the ports)
(2) The poster seems to have physical possession of this thing - snapping a few photos of something is one thing, but swiping the whole device is altogether different.
(3) This video is a tease. It seems to be a too slick answer to skepticism of the photo. Seems to kind of extend this whole thing rather than give real answers. Why not boot up the mini? Why not open it up? Not that I don't think they might come up with some of this stuff--but it will probably be in a way to extend the tease.
 
chillywilly said:
A small tower that would allow some upgrades of the hardware without too much trouble.
Click to expand...

I think that will not happen. apple could then just start making OSX avaible for "any" hardware.

you wouldn't have to buy a new mac, a new GPU could be enough (for example)

apple's making money through hardware sales. they would kill themselves by "opening" their own computers to "upgradeability" ;)

apple offers "the freedom to chose the mac, not the hardware" ;) (yes... i know...)
 
I dont think its real at all. the design is the same, i think apple would have updated it to black on the top. to make it fit with everything else
 
chillywilly said:
Thanks for that test. On the right desk or table, even the rubberized bottom on the mini will spin without effort (it does on my desk, too)
Click to expand...

Thanks go to macrumors member robeddie, not to me. I had nothing to do with it.

macFanDave said:
there was another clue that made this thing seem fake: the related videos that popped up after the show was over. It was a bunch of really silly fake porn. One girl in a bikini the whole time is not porn.
Click to expand...

I honestly can't tell if you want the bikini-clad girl to have been wearing more clothes or less clothes.

I'm hardly an expert on this, but I think choice of "related videos" is entirely up to the video hosting site the uploader chooses. Hence you can perhaps argue that they reflect poorly on his site choice, but I don't see how you can argue that it reflects poorly on the content of the video.

Gunga Din said:
Better off just getting a white macbook and decent 2nd display.
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I agree. In fact I have blogged that this is even the case if you plan to keep the macbook closed and use the external display as your only display (at least if you need/want a superdrive).

With luck, Apple will soon update the Mini in such a way that this will no longer be true.

salvatorereda said:
the new mac mini are going to be made out of bamboo.
Regular Bamboo/Black Bamboo

Think environment.
Click to expand...

That could actually be pretty cool. I don't see it happening, though.
 
After looking at the video again, it does look real, however it has to be a prototype. Regardless, it shows that the Mini is not dead, and that Apple is working the upgrade.

I hope it has a dual video output, because it would really solve an issue I have for work (office to office iChat, with dual monitors).
 
chillywilly said:
Reading most of these posts here and seeing the usual "why buy the mini - get the high end system" crowd.

The mini is one of the best little computers that I've owned ever. My wife is using the one I got almost 4 years ago and it's still working great. I would like to upgrade hers to an Intel model to give it a speed increase and run newer software on it.

So why don't I spend the $1200 and get her an iMac? Because the mini is perfect: size, quiet, just the right about of power. A newer model adds some more speed and Intel capability, but it's just a great machine.

Do I plan to render FCE videos on it? Nope. Do I plan to create the next graphic design using Illustrator? Nope.

I think the people here that are getting excited about a new mini refresh are the same people that love Apple products for being innovative and functional, not because they made an 8-core machine and need to have the best and highest priced model.
Click to expand...

I agree with your points, except you can use FCE and Illustrator just fine on a Mac mini, even the current one. Many people here think you need a Mac Pro to do anything other than check email and surf the web, which is frankly laughable. You'll hear things like "if you want to get real work done" than you need something with more power (be it graphics, memory, cpu, or whatever the complaint of the day is). I use the current version of FCE on a rev A iMac G5 with no problem. Yeah, it is faster on my Macbook, but it is not unusable by any stretch.

The fact of the matter is that even the current low-end Macs have plenty of power for all but the most serious of home users. But many here are just obsessed with having the latest and greatest even though they have no need for it.

Is the mini overpriced and in need of an upgrade? Yes, but that doesn't make it unusable.
 
I sure would love to see this new mini, not that I would complain about my current model (it's just a little slow, but everything else is perfect). As one can see from the number of responses, Apple fans love the mini and are waiting for an update. Maybe, Apple will have merci. :) Nontheless, I doubt that this is real, just my intuition.

Question a little out of topic: Such rumors (out of quesion if they are true or not) contain mockups which are funny and very inspiring for creating own images. Is there any place which collects all these images or where one can upload own mockups? The mockup-site in macrumors is showing only the relevant ones, but I would like to see others work as well and submitting my own work. Something like macmock.com or so...?
 
slu said:
I agree with your points, except you can use FCE and Illustrator just fine on a Mac mini, even the current one. Many people here think you need a Mac Pro to do anything other than check email and surf the web, which is frankly laughable. You'll hear things like "if you want to get real work done" than you need something with more power (be it graphics, memory, cpu, or whatever the complaint of the day is). I use the current version of FCE on a rev A iMac G5 with no problem. Yeah, it is faster on my Macbook, but it is not unusable by any stretch.

The fact of the matter is that even the current low-end Macs have plenty of power for all but the most serious of home users. But many here are just obsessed with having the latest and greatest even though they have no need for it.

Is the mini overpriced and in need of an upgrade? Yes, but that doesn't make it unusable.
Click to expand...

People have been saying "if you want to do real work.....blah blah blah" crap for ages, and they forget people have been doing really productive work on the Mac (video, audio, Photoshop, Illustrator) since the G3 days. I remember doing DVD quality video editing on a 450Mhz PowerMac back in 2001. Same goes for Pro Tools.

I still use my 400Mhz G4 PB for podcast stuff, and even at 24-bit hour long recordings, it never sneezes. Sure my MBP is way faster, but not everything requires 8 cores and 32GB of RAM. :D
 
I think I'm right in saying every other Mac has dual display capability now? Stuff like the new iMovie works great with dual display (select the show viewer on second display - it is amazing!) so it makes sense to give the Mini the same.
 
disposable vs upgradable

"The difference is, buying iMacs every two years, you would have had a better computer for 5 of those 7 years."

I do have a fall 2006 mini, the one with a 1.66 Ghz core duo. The quicksilver is faster where it counts, which is why it is still my main machine, and the mini is in the stereo cabinet. The next mini update was fall of 2007, so that was 5 1/2 years before a mini appeared that could outrun the G4. I'm not even sure it could, GMA 950 vs ATI 9600? 5400 rpm laptop drive vs 7200 Sata desktop drive? I think the overall performance results would still be up in the air even spotting the 2 Ghz mini the CPU edge.

USB 2 had a very fast takeover from USB 1. If I had a machine that did not have an expansion slot (Lampshade iMac or 2002 vintage) that would have been dumpster bait too. Ironically, Apple's iPod shuffle was the first peripheral that would not work on USB 1. It claimed it would; but it didn't. It worked fine (and still does) on the USB 2 card I put in the quicksilver. So I'm not sanguine about how long USB 2 will stay relevant.
 
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