Full FeedHow long can Apple wait to deal with the Mac Mini?
According to MacRumor’s Buyer’s Guide, it’s been about 450 days since Apple last updated the Mac Mini. That’s over 2.5 times the average of 188 days for a Mac Mini product cycle. I think it’s safe to say Apple needs to do something about the Mac Mini. Dennis Sellers from Macsium News thinks that Apple will make that decision soon.
Since I’m pretty sure that we’ll see an iMac and Mac mini update on Tuesday, Nov. 10 (if they’re not announced today), I’m going out on a limb and say that we’ll see new Mac Pros introduced at January’s Macworld Conference & Expo.
Now it should be immediately noted that this is pure speculation. There is no leaked information behind this, just a gut feeling. Oh, and to add to the credibility, Nov. 10th is a Monday.
But we all knew he meant Tuesday, Nov. 11, or should I say iTuesday? In any event, we’ve been waiting for some answer from Apple about this Mac Mini business. It’s been rumored to be either dead or upgraded. The only rumor that isn’t going around right now is that it’s going to stay the same; that would just be too boring.
I’m not going to make a prediction on the exact day that Apple will announce an upgrade to the Mac Mini, but I think it will happen…soon. Here’s my reasoning. The Mac Mini is a phenomenal product. It’s small, it’s a Mac, and it’s the only non-pro machine that Apple sells without a display. It’s perfect for the TV, the kitchen or just as a standard desktop computer. It’s also the perfect product for a switcher. If you’re coming from a PC desktop, you already have a monitor, keyboard and mouse. It’s a cheaper way to get your feet wet with a Mac. So, really, I don’t think that killing the Mac Mini is an option for Apple. There are just too many things about it that are awesome.
Here’s what I am expecting to see in a new Mac Mini. It’s small now, but I’m guessing they can make it smaller. Obviously they’re going to put a Mini DisplayPort on it, no question there. They have to update the connection if they want to eventually have the user upgrade to a new Cinema Display. And let’s face it, if it doesn’t make dollars, it doesn’t make sense. But I hope to see a new Nvidia GPU powering that connection. This also makes sense since Apple is preparing to use the GPU more with the upcoming Snow Leopard. Obviously a faster Core 2 Duo and support for more RAM.
Now, as for things I want to see in the new Mac Mini, that’s a different story. This is, of course, dream land, but I’m allowed to have dreams. Nvidia’s new GPUs are pretty powerful. How awesome would it be if Apple put not one, but two Mini DisplayPorts on a new Mac Mini? You could have your dual monitor setup, plus Apple could make money like crazy selling Mini DisplayPort adapters. Also, I’d like to see a bag of hurt Blu-Ray drive. I know Steve dissed it and its licensing, but this machine is perfect for the TV, and what looks better than Blu-Ray on an HDTV? I’ll give you a hint, it’s not iTunes HD.
So, nothing is for sure, but Apple has to either update or kill the Mini. I’m betting they update it. What features do you want to see in a new Mini? Let us know in the comments.
Read [MacRumors and Macsimum News]
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What do I hope for in the new mac-mini, whether made by Apple or some competitor…. Three things….
1 - Connectivity -
Plenty of ports including 2xFirewire 400, 2xFirewire 800, 2xUSB2, 2xHDMI, eSata, d15, audio in & out, RJ11, ethernet, and a pci slot or equivalent….
Don’t worry if this makes the box bigger. Utility and usability are my only criteria. Any computer under 25 kg I consider portable enough.
2 - Power and speed -
The capability to drive at full definition my 1920 x 1080 HDTV when I connect it as an external screen to watch jpgs, films, etc.
The ability to capture and process HDV (1920 x 1080) from video cameras
3 - A design on the same principle as the Apple Performa 630 or 6320, i.e. unscrew two screws at the back and pull out a drawer to expose the boards and the slots, so that the hard drives (3.5” please), optical drives etc., can be changed out in minutes, and additional RAM and PCI type cards slotted in to allow for anything new that comes along in the next 5 years. Futureproof the thing and build a world-beater.
Everything Apple has brought out since those Performas has been a step forward, sideways and backwards at the same time in utility.
Apart from the expensive towers (which I have not tried), everything else has been time consuming to open and fix.
Your development record is far from blameless Apple
What was wrong with Hypercard that you killed it?
Claris emailer was perfect. Its filing system was totally open.
ClarisWorks was a super application, AppleWorks was fine, then you killed it to be replaced by iWork?
Superpaint was great but it never worked after you dropped the 68040 chip
iMovie’03 was alright, then you improved it with iMovie’06HD, then you replaced that with the less versatile iMovie’08
Alright, you have had your winners, Having to cut out the 1Mb of RAM on a MacPlus and solder in 2 Mb of RAM was a bit paleolithic, moving to slot-in RAM was a big step forward here.
And the dance of the floppies on the MacPlus with only two internal floppy readers was time consuming, especially with the first 350 kB disks. A mug of coffee could go cold while the disks went in and out 50 times.
But getting rid of SCSI was too abrupt, replacing it overnight with a USB1 connector like you did. I still keep my Classic SE, my 2 Performa 630s, my 2 Performa 6320s, and my 3 SCSI laptops (a 150 and 2 x 1400s) in the house to access the old applications from time to time and get at the archives on my floppy disks and old SCSI hard drives.
I’ll say one thing for you though Apple, I have never had an Apple computer break down. Even the stuff that is 20 years old is still working. But in development and design you take 2 steps forward and then two back. If you were a cow you’d be going around in circles.
Developing computers that take hours to open and work on was the second worse thing you ever did, only surpassed in negative thinking by producing two lapbooks recently without firewire connections.
OSX is lovely and stable. Debugging the old systems, 7, 6, etc could mean hours or days of downtime, checking the codes in ResEdit. But having the “best” operating system in the world is little use if half the things I use my Macs for are now not possible because of lack of firewire connectivity.
I want many things in a new Mac-mini. Firewire ports are the most important. Without them I do not even look at the rest. For me, without firewire, it’s a computer with its legs in the air.
on October 30, 2008 at 09:53 AM - LINKI loved the Mac mini as it was in a distant past. But, it’s just too obsolete today. It needs:
* Ditch that stupid combo drive. Do they even still make them? Put in a SuperDrive. If not, I’d rather have a remote drive or a dongle drive than a combo drive.
* Support for 4GB with an updated chipset. While they’re at it, upgrade to 2.0GHz and 2.4GHz processors. Seriously, the old, slower processors cost MORE than the new ones. Not interested in DDR3—too expensive and no performance improvement.
* A model with a real graphics chip on it that supports 30” LCDs.
* A few modern ports like HDMI and eSATA would be nice.
An interesting option would be:
* Support for dual laptop drives (possibly omitting the optical drive). Interesting for “appliance” servers, point-of-sale equipment, or to use with one fast but small flash SSD for the main drive and a second traditional 500GB drive for media files.
on October 31, 2008 at 05:45 PM - LINKSure a Blu-Ray would be nice for those who want a home entertainment machine (the Mac mini is perfect for that), but I hopwe they make it optional (something Apple doesn’t often do) because I just want to go Mac and I’m broke…
I want a new Mac Mini!
on November 3, 2008 at 06:02 AM - LINKI personally think that we can almost definately expect the new Nvidia graphics upgrade. And with that I think that there will also be a Mini Display Port (I think this would be a much better way to ultilize the new Apple LED display… $800 dollars for a bigger laptop screen seems a little rediculous. This would have too many advantages to list. iSight on the Mini anyone? I mean there is pretty clearly other plans for the new display and the new display port.). I know there are rumors for the option to replace the optical drive with an additional internal hard drive and then the option to use the remote disk feature that is currently popular with the MacBook Air. And possibly the option to upgrade to a Solid State drive. I think that if there is an upgrade coming, those would be some of the potentially obivious upgrades (using what we’ve recently seen upgraded in the MacBook Hardware.)
on December 2, 2008 at 10:40 AM - LINKBut aside from that there is a few other things that would be really cool to see. I guess these aren’t actual projections, but rather things that I’d personally like to see, but are definately possible. The first and foremost for me would definately be an HDMI port. Its clearly possible because thats the main way to connect the Apple TV box. Many people connect their Mac Minis to their TVs for a simple All-in-one Home theater set-up, and the HDMI would easily be the best way to get this going. Of course some basic operating upgrades would be nice too. You know… more ram, more hard drive space, faster disk drive, the previously mentioned graphics upgrade, maybe integraded Apple TV features, Better Processors? And I’ve been wondering for a while if it would be possible to use the internal wireless cards that (Apple has really been taking wireless to the next level over and over again with new innovations) as a sort of router, like a built-in airport express. Those aside, I think that if nothing else we need to see an upgraded chipset to complement the demands for more ram and better processors.
I want a new Mac Mini, but I want it to be up to standard with what Apple stands for, and what people expect them to do.
Stephan,
Some of the things you mentioned in your wishlist for the Mac Mini are actually possible right now. I know it’s not an HDMI port, but you can buy a DVI to HDMI converter (or cord). That’s actually how I’ve used my TV as an extra monitor for some time now. It works very well. Apple TV is basically the same thing as Front Row, so you could use that for Apple TV functionality. And I actually have to thank you for the makeshift Mac router with an Airport card idea. I just wrote up a how-to and it’s actually quite easy. Check it out…
http://www.appletell.com/apple/comment/how-to-share-an-internet-connection-with-your-mac/
on December 2, 2008 at 03:47 PM - LINK