wondering if the new Mini will contain a quad core ARM. I think that if there's any Mac to try the ARM OS X experiment the this it it.
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Will 2016 Mini be quad core only?
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I highly doubt that would happen, Apple would be pulling the Boot Camp rug from under those who use it, which I'm guessing is a decent number of users. First they make it so you can't upgrade RAM at all or the hard drive yourself (at least not easily), now you can't install Windows should you want to?
When Apple made the transition from PowerPC to Intel architecture, it prepared the way by setting up Xcode to support "Universal Binaries" that contained executable code for both architectures. Similarly, the even earlier transition from Motorola 68k to PowerPC was accomplished with "Fat Binaries" for the same reason. I would hope that Apple would maintain this strategy in the future; so, if they make the transition over to yet another architecture, we should get plenty of advance notice.
Does Windows support matter for this system though? It's the cheapest and when you add a Windows license then it's almost 40% of the current lowest range Mini. I think the Mini is there for experiments such as this to test the market.
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Citations needed
The current Mini design s 6 years old and the original design was 5 years young. It's certainly up for redesign and Apple likes to miniaturize things if there's opportunity. Is a Mini really anything other than an Apple TV with a keyboard?
We'll id argue the shoe has switched feet. MS is certainly innovating and moving more than apple these days....
people seem to be only able to compare OS X with W95. I'm now running W10 and its certainly more stable than OS X and the speed and interface is refreshing!
people seem to be only able to compare OS X with W95. I'm now running W10 and its certainly more stable than OS X and the speed and interface is refreshing!
Windows 10 is very good. I enjoy it and used it since pre-launch and it's nowhere close to being as stable as OS X.
I disagree (about stability). My mini is now boxed up and was replaced by an older HP desktop that runs iTunes and has proven more stable (since Nov) than the mini ever was. Not a single crash or glitch on the windows machine - i could never say that for any of the macs I've got.
That's really surprising to me; the only time I've ever seen one of my Minis have a problem is after running a poorly-written app that messes around with resources in ways that it shouldn't. I keep my machines running for weeks or even months at a time, and never see crashes, glitches, or even memory leaks. OS X has proven rock-solid in my experience...
I ran nothing but apple software on the mini, it's whole purpose in life was to run itunes.
Windows box has been up for at least 4 months, not a single hiccup. very impressed. So much so I'm currently reviewing what to do with the rMBP as they come EoL.
Using a Core M and a fanless system in a desktop computer offers no advantage whatsoever. I can't imagine that Apple would bother reengineering the Mini to use the Core M. Even the Intel NUC isn't using Core M.
They could go core m with active cooking for the base model but given the sku cost the won't as they wouldn't get a decent margin.
It's not about Windows support, it's that there is no Mac software at all which could run on an ARM-based Mac. If Microsoft couldn't drum up enough developer interest to make an ARM-based Windows work, Apple isn't going to do any better.
Hmm, that could be it. I'm not personally a fan of iTunes; I've almost never used it.
What would you prefer to have on an ARM Mini? The ability to run universal binaries like PowerPC did via a Rosetta layer, or full native speed iOS apps on the desktop? Microsoft has lots of ARM based iOS apps we can run on our new ARM based Minis right out of the gate. It's not beyond the realms of possibility as I truly believe ARM based Macs exist today within Apple's inner sanctums.
Considering Apple's R&D budget, maybe they are tinkering with the idea of Mac desktops and laptops that use Ax SoC chips. These chips are getting progressively powerful every year, some engineer there had to have batted around the "What if we develop our own CPUs?" idea or whatever around the water cooler. I'm sure a portion of said budget goes to developing various concepts and feasibility tests for different things that we don't even know about.
One of the main reasons I have stuck with Apple is that OS X has never done a serious dirty on me. Barely even blinked.
Yes rock solid...
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/05/13/macbook-pro-system-freezes-os-x-10-11-4/
Apple are like VW, trading on a name of reliability and thats just no longer the case.
https://www.macrumors.com/2016/05/13/macbook-pro-system-freezes-os-x-10-11-4/
Apple are like VW, trading on a name of reliability and thats just no longer the case.