2012 Mac Mini Wish List? - Page 10

Speaking of the Mac Mini, I just read a piece indicating that iMacs shipments are delayed to October 12th.   Maybe something similar is up with the Mini.    That would make for a nice Mid October release.

We only hear about the Minis when they are being boxed and sometimes never so we have to base it on the iMac.

The iMac needs to be shown at an event because it will have its optical drive removed so total redesign. It's not enough by itself as it would be a 10 minute event so it has to come with something else.

That something else could be an iPad Mini or it could be a 13" rMBP or both (the more the better).

Any hint of an event suggests that the iMac and Mini will come along for the ride. If they are waiting for an event, this upcoming event will be the last one this year.

I would have tears of joy in my eyes if that happened.

http://www.fudzilla.com/home/item/28942-nvidia-silently-slips-few-new-mobile-gpus <--- I wonder if these will be included.

And when a desktop computer (not an all in one) is the product you really want all the wizz-bang of the other Apple products, while hearing and seeing nothing regarding desktops does not make one want to rush out and buy those other Apple products. At least it doesn't for me.

I am so sad. I had a dream last night that new Mac Minis got released. Samsung SSDs were standard and the graphics were really shitty. I remember the server model had a discrete card with 32 MB of memory.

 

Ah, 1997… 

 

Wait, you're sad that this was a dream?

I'm dreaming about a computer. *laughs* I feel that's a bit pathetic for me.

They skipped the 'pro.'

 

I can see them skipping the iMac at this rate of going.  Haswell is getting closer and closer.

 

As for the MIni...Haswell will be the best thing for it.  And a damn price cut.  ...and bundle a retina 13 inch screen with it.  Then it would be a 'mini' desktop.

 

 

It's Haswell or nothing...for me at the moment.

 

Though I was tempted by a 2nd hand top of the line iMac for £1000.  I may as well put that to a Haswell iMac.  Here's hoping that retina will be on the cards by then.

 

Lemon Bon Bon.

Sounds like a nightmare.

Speaking of nightmares that seems to be the condition of the entire desktop line up. A horror story not suitable for kids.

That would be so pathetic. I can almost understand the Pro if they are seriously considering Xeon Phi as that would be a sweeping change, a true next generation machine. However Haswell for the desktop isn't that huge of a deal. If Intel actually delivers on what has been alleged then yeah the Mini ought to be significantly better with Haswell. The problem is Intel does not often deliver the goods. Especially in the context of GPUs which currently are any better than AMDs last generation of GPUs.
There is nothing wrong with waiting for Haswell. The problem right now is for people that want to buy a desktop now. The current Mac desktop line up is simply a poor value considering the top dollar being asked. The lack of USB 3 is very significant.

This is especially true with lower end machines like the mini. Thunderbolt peripherals are out of line with the cost of the mini. They're often significantly more expensive than usb equivalents, and this makes little sense with a $600 machine. USB3 is very significant here, especially for longevity. The low end machines saw some nice gains. The Air and base 13" macbook pro saw some nice gains putting their low end versions roughly even with the high end of the prior generation (at least close). The gpu upgrade is also significant. I don't see people simply buying these as facebook machines. They are likely purchased as budget machines for those who simply want a Mac yet can't afford the typical cost of entry. Having them a generation behind really weakens their value, and I suspect they're being held up due to the imac. There may be some truth to production problems with the next imac. I don't expect an enormous bump in display resolution there.

All I want is for them to update it. I like when Apple holds press conferences but not for iDevices.

I think the problem with Thunderbolt is that people don't understand it's purpose, it was never met to replace USB. Apple got exactly what they wanted out of it which was a multipurpose docking port. The fact that it has high end uses beyond that is just gravy for Apple. Actually I think it will get only worst in the future. SoC technology and general shrinking of the mass produced components just means that a basic CPU box will get cheaper over time while increasing in performance. Come Haswell we will see a significant bump in Mini performance at the same or a possibly lower price. Just because the box is cheap doesn't mean that it doesn't have a need for real high performance I/O. Longevity is huge! A couple of weeks ago I bought an external device that supports USB 3 even though I have no support for it on my 2008 MBP. However knowing that that machine will be replaced soon I wasn't about to settle for a USB 2 based drive. You don't see yourself doing that, however the reasons that people buy computer hardware varies considerably. That and some people really don't care about cost, more so these people can be either rich or poor. They just buy what they want based on who knows why justifications. Which is asinine in my estimation. Lets face it people looking to buy a Mini would not be looking to buy an iMac. Anybody in Apples marketing department that has a concern about this is an idiot. I mean really the platforms are so different there likely is no overlap in interest. Could be. I atually thought that the initial delay was due to allocation issues with Intel. That was months ago and at this time Intel is way behind in shipments due to soft demand. So I really don't know what is up, the silence however is maddening.

As a side note I'm still hoping for a refactored Mini concept. One that provides a real spread in performance between the low end and high end models. If I'm going to pay for a GPU it had better have a decent performance delta over Intels integrated and a decent amount of Video RAM. Apple really boned us with the midrange Mini which is very expensive considering what you get for the bucks.

I have come forward to both reading and posting in this thread every day. This thread is almost as big as the Mini itself.

Has anyone read the article on Anandtech about Haswell?

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6355/intels-haswell-architecture

I really had to force myself to read that crap. I really don't like the way the articles are written nor what appears to be a marketing forum for Intel. Besides that I really get pissed when pages of an article barely cover the screen on my iPhone.

That being said Haswell doesn't look like the performance jump many where expecting. Sure floating point gets a huge boost if software can make use of AVX 2. The GPU might be a bit better but we have all learned not to trust intel here. The other sad reality is that it looks like power savings won't be as huge as expected, still good but not a home run.

The most interesting thing here is the suggestion that Intel turned down Apples request to put video memory on chip. This is pretty sad really as even a little bit of on board video RAM would go a long ways to lowering power usage especially if the GPU has to go off chip. This would be the next step I would expect Apple to take in the A series chips.
Well it isn't that big. However I'm very interested myself. For one I believe the Mini has run its course as a product, as such I'm expecting a replacement design that would hopefully address declining sales. If not that at least a design that gives us real choice. That is a cheap entry model balanced by a performance machine.
Yeah, but I'm no fan of Anandtech. The articles sound too much like they are on Intels payroll. Harsh but over time the articles do seem to be extremely biased or even cheerleader like. I don't mean just go team go but the duh moments one experiences when talking to cheerleaders.

That being said the article leaves me with the impression that we will get less out of Haswell than we were expecting. The bright side being very good graphics improvements. This of course depends upon Intel actually delivering chips that give us the performance envisioned.

The other thing that is frustrating is the summer release schedule. It could be this time next year before we see the chips in a desktop Mac. That kinda sucks. My old MacBookPro is starting to balk, it looks like a USB port is going bad. An update may happen sooner than expected.

That's fine. It doesn't have to be the mini, though I want something that can sit on my desk similar to the mini and plug into a separate monitor. I don't want the Mac line-up to be Air, retina Pro, and iMac (since we don't know what the Pro will be).

Mac Mini - The original Mini

I would like to buy a Mac Mini with the updated Ivy bridge chip set.

 

Any ideas when Apple might get around to updating this little beauty?

 

Does Apple always have to make a Big announcement about future product or do they just issue a press release and say that they have made the change over?

 

Thanks

 

Merged because simplicity. 

 

The Mini won't be redesigned, so it doesn't get an announcement on its own. Heck, the last redesign didn't even get anything but a silent update. The only time you'll ever see a Mac Mini at a future Apple event is as "and we're updating the Mac Mini today, too." after they talk about a redesigned iMac.

So would a lot of people. It would be foolish to buy today's Mini, it is in need of an update. This is about what 50% of this thread is about. An updated Mini should have come out by now, so people are really starting to wonder what is up at Apple.
Often these updates sneak in under the radar. What is most interesting right now is the total lack of rumors, I'd expect at least a few tidbits by now but in reality there has been nothing. Even iMac rumors are thin with everybody concentrated on the I-stuff.

With the long delays, especially with the iMac, I suspect that the updates are to be more that the run of the mill updates we have gotten in the last couple of years. I could be wrong but iMac certainly could use a total refactoring as could the Mini, the entire desktop line up is very stagnet and needs attention. So I'm hoping the entire desktop line up is about to be relaunched.

 

And if they're not, we'll know that Apple is on the way to not caring at all about their computers anymore.

While I find this idea repulsive, the Mini gets no respect at Apple, you are right about past behavior at Apple. It is really sad because the Mini has potential and isn't a bad idea for an entry level machine. A little promotion on Apples part would do wonders for getting the word out to the public. To be perfectly honest with you I'm not to sure the public at large even knows that the Mini exists. Well a good percentage anyways.

Really Apple, throw a few bucks the Minis (or its replacement) way for marketing and of course engineering. As an Apple customer it is frustrating to see the Mini treated so poorly.

 

Booyah. The Mini needs to be so aggressive as to be unquestionably the best desktop computer under $1000, bar NONE.

Oh they do care, it is just that they have focused on laptops. Frankly I can understand a strong laptop line up as that is where most of the market is and that also explains Apples many models of laptops. However that to me is no excuse to totally ignore the desktop the way they have. The market may not be there to support a lot of different desktop models but the ones you do have should be kept up technology wise. Frankly Apple has fallen flat on its face here and has neglected the desktop at a time when they have the cash to support the engineering.

I will be the first to admit desktop sales are tanking industry wide, the trend is pretty obvious. Apple however only really has two desktop models that being the iMac and the Mini. If Apple, with all of its resources, can't keep those two models up to spec then there are problems in Cupertino. Might I suggest a lack of vision.

As a side note it has been suggested elsewhere that in 5-8 years people won't have desktops or laptops. The computing world will have moved to handheld devices similar to todays I devices. I'm not sure I buy that. However I do know one thing, buying a desktop PC isn't as easy as it use to be. Many stores that you walk into these days have desktop hardware hidden off to the side or not on display at all. For somebody like me that has hobbies that include robotics and machine controls, you are almost forced to go online to order your stuff. Finding a technically competent local vendor these days is a difficult task.

Frankly I don't think that is possible in a box the size of the Mini. You can get an awful lot in a large box for under $1000. The simple issue with RAM expansion will allow any computer in an ATX box to be better just based on RAM capacity.

Now that isn't a bad thing, today's Mini can handle plenty of RAM for the average Joe. It just highlights that the box the Mini is in compromises its usefulness. Now given the box it is in the Mini is one of the best computers in its class. There isn't much in the way of competition for the Mini. The value equation for today's Mini though is going south fast, and needs that update to hold its position.

I might be looking into getting an iMac either from last year or this year if this discrete mini graphics aren't sufficient.

Since my topic in current Mac hardware went unanswered, I'll ask in here.

How good is the 6750M with 512 MB compared to the 6770M with 512 MB compared to the 6970M with 1 GB?

I want to play Gauntlet flawlessly and I am not sure if a GT 640M will cut it if they only put in 256 MB or even 512 MB?

I'm not much of a gamer so I really can't comment from that perspective. Your best bet is to get online and see what the manufacture recommends, avoiding what they call minimal systems.

As far as AMD goes you want to buy into their Southern Islands platform to get the latest technology. As to which part number is which and which has the newest cores I can't help there.

My general impression is that 512 MB is a minimal configuration for many software packages that try to leverage the GPU. I wouldn't even bother with 256MB especially if you expect to keep the computer for long. So 512MB would be a minimal,configuration even if you aren't gaming. There is just to much software out there leveraging the GPU to not consider GPU RAM to be Important. The longer you expect to keep the machine the more GPU RAM it should have beyond whatever your minimal needs are.
Best to double check with the publishers. This should give you an idea as to a minimal configuration. Whatever you do don't buy until after the new machines launch. If for nothing else this should lower the price of year olds on the refurb store.

The other thing here is that the new Macs cold launch with completely different chips. The GPUs could be anything including new releases from AMD or NVidia.

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/262476727/xi3-help-us-usher-in-the-post-pc-era

 

And there's a reason they don't have anywhere near the money they want.

Yeah, they're mainly focused on businesses/government rather than your average consumer. I'm not sure why they're doing kickstarter though, maybe just for additional funding. They already have plenty of money, and there are already companies using the product.

 

I'm tempted to get one and put Mountain Lion on it, and then I come back to my senses and realize that I'm still waiting for the new iMac, whenever it comes out.

 

Though it sure is an interesting design.

Honestly I've not seen such bull crap on a web site in years. You have to wonder why they are on Kickstarter if they have been in business since 2002. Further the whole feel of the web site linked leaves me with the impression they are fishing for suckers. I'm also perplexed by their indication they got a patent on a computer made of multiple boards.

If all you are looking for is a small form factor PC I have to believe there are better solutions out there. There are certainly companies out there with out all of the BS found on the linked site.

Don't bother, is suspect that the hardware is ATOM based as such performance would suck badly. I get that for the suggested power draw and the clock rates offered.