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When The ARM MacMini is Annouced for Ordering - Will The Intel MacMini Be Discounted by Apple or Third Parties?
- Thread starter jazz1
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It will be unavailable from Apple the same day the new one is announced/becomes available. You will likely be able to find it discounted at third party retailers for a short time. It will become more difficult to find as time goes on.
Sometimes the discontinued model shows up in the Clearance section of the online Apple Store but one can never count on that happening. Apple manages their own retail availability very tightly so the clearance models typically sell out quickly.
Their channel partners (i.e., third party retailers like Amazon, B&H Photo, etc.) sometimes have a longer window of availability. Again, there is no guarantee. After all it's a discontinued product.
The old one is often available for a while as a refurbished product as well from Apple's own online store. Again availability cannot be expected.
Their channel partners (i.e., third party retailers like Amazon, B&H Photo, etc.) sometimes have a longer window of availability. Again, there is no guarantee. After all it's a discontinued product.
The old one is often available for a while as a refurbished product as well from Apple's own online store. Again availability cannot be expected.
Apple never does deep discounts whether it be clearance items or refurbs. Even their Black Friday discounts are modest.
It would be unrealistic to expect anything more than 10-15% off.
I doubt that the Apple Silicon Macs will be vastly cheaper. One thing for sure, Apple will not slash gross margins. The CPU is only one component in a Mac and it is highly unlikely that Apple Silicon SoC yields will be super high at the starting gate.
It would be unrealistic to expect anything more than 10-15% off.
I doubt that the Apple Silicon Macs will be vastly cheaper. One thing for sure, Apple will not slash gross margins. The CPU is only one component in a Mac and it is highly unlikely that Apple Silicon SoC yields will be super high at the starting gate.
You will be able to find that. I bought a 128GB 2018 i3 Mini a couple of weeks ago for £400, 50% off the RRP of the current one which only has double the storage as a difference. There will definitely be deals around but you won’t find them from Apple outside of the refurb store and they probably won’t compete with the third parties in terms of value.
I got a new 2014 2.8ghz/8gb Mini from B&H Photo for $500 over a year after Apple discontinued the 2014 Mini. At that point, Apple was still selling the exact same computer as a refurb for about $1000, which was ridiculous.
I'm sure you will still be able to get Intel Mini's for a good long while. For one thing, there has not been a single rumor about the release of an Apple Silicon Mini (aside from lots of wishful thinking from forum members 😂 ). All the rumors have been about laptops and iMacs, so it could be quite awhile before we even see an Apple Silicon Mini.
I'm sure you will still be able to get Intel Mini's for a good long while. For one thing, there has not been a single rumor about the release of an Apple Silicon Mini (aside from lots of wishful thinking from forum members 😂 ). All the rumors have been about laptops and iMacs, so it could be quite awhile before we even see an Apple Silicon Mini.
The wishful thinking stems from the reality that the Apple Silicon Developer Transition Kit (DTK) is an iPad SoC in a Mac mini enclosure. Right now an Apple Silicon Mac mini is the closest thing to be productized.
My belief is that there are AS Mac mini prototypes in Apple's labs right now and have been for the past five years running Axx SoCs. I'm certain that Tim and the other senior managers didn't decide in January how to package the DTK.
The main strike against the AS Mac mini at this time would be the fact that the Mac mini is a niche model.
85+% of Macs sold are notebook computers; it has been like this for well over a decade. Of the desktop computers, the entry-level iMac sells the most units. The Mac mini product line probably don't make up 0.1% of Apple's annual revenue. One can see how much the Mac mini means to Apple when you walk into one of their bricks-and-mortar Apple Stores. The sole Mac mini demo unit is invariably tossed on some side counter.
An entry-level MacBook (Air or a remake of the fanless 2017) is the likely first Apple Silicon model to ship.
However an AS Mac mini might be the first desktop to ship since it fills a niche that requires neither high CPU performance nor high GPU performance. It's strong suit has been energy efficiency, the same performance-per-watt metric that Johny Sroudji highlighted during the WWDC keynote and pounded this concept repeatedly.
My belief is that there are AS Mac mini prototypes in Apple's labs right now and have been for the past five years running Axx SoCs. I'm certain that Tim and the other senior managers didn't decide in January how to package the DTK.
The main strike against the AS Mac mini at this time would be the fact that the Mac mini is a niche model.
85+% of Macs sold are notebook computers; it has been like this for well over a decade. Of the desktop computers, the entry-level iMac sells the most units. The Mac mini product line probably don't make up 0.1% of Apple's annual revenue. One can see how much the Mac mini means to Apple when you walk into one of their bricks-and-mortar Apple Stores. The sole Mac mini demo unit is invariably tossed on some side counter.
An entry-level MacBook (Air or a remake of the fanless 2017) is the likely first Apple Silicon model to ship.
However an AS Mac mini might be the first desktop to ship since it fills a niche that requires neither high CPU performance nor high GPU performance. It's strong suit has been energy efficiency, the same performance-per-watt metric that Johny Sroudji highlighted during the WWDC keynote and pounded this concept repeatedly.
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Niche model? How about the only model besides the Mac Pro that's headless? Unless you hate your wallet or don't mind throwing your computer out when the monitor dies, the Mini is often a better deal than an iMac.. especially if you already have a nice monitor.
I'm a big fan of the Mini, I have three in use right now and another one in the closet. But I agree it's a "niche model". That does not imply anything negative about the Mini itself, just that it has less commercial appeal than laptops and iMacs. And there still haven't even been any rumors about an Apple Silicon Mini.