What about the Mac Mini?

They need a min tower.

The Psystar system specs are so much better that the mini looks like a joke.

Despite it being focused around Macbooks, I think we'll see a Mini refresh. Whether minor or major, it's coming.

Agree. The mini couldn't go anywhere without bumping up against the low end MacBook and iMac specs. They've bumped the iMac, they're bumping the MacBooks... and then the mini pulls up the rear, as usual.

Either that or they'll just eliminate it.

It's been 14 months since they've done anything with it. Usually Mini updates come along with the iMac updates.

I think after the new laptops come out, they have to change it or get rid of it because of the fact it still uses plastic. They are transitioning to all metal. Hopefully that won't affect wireless signals though.

They'll just keep the Mini around as it is, IMO. They're hoping people won't keep buying them so they can actually discontinue it.

I hope there is a new Mini, I want one to connect to my 47 inch HDTV, since that would give me most of the benefits of Apple TV plus web browsing etc, on a FullHD panel it would look very slick I think. But I'm not going to buy the present model as it is just too old.

Funnily enough, if there is a 800 buck notebook I might use that as a default mini of sorts, nuts as that is. But I'm really hopeing we get a new mini on the 14th, or at least new specs!

Since Tuesday's focused on Notebooks, I would have pegged the Mini for a silent upgrade today.
That way, after Thanksgiving the focus won't be distracted from the new machines to "Why the Mini is a complete waste of time..."

If, or when, the Mac mini gets updated it will get some of the new tech that is going into the MacBook so a silent update would ruin any sort of surprise that Apple will have with the notebooks.

Don't you think the latest iMac made the Mac Mini redundant? I do.

If you buy a Mini, you need a screen to go with it. As soon as you buy a flat screen monitor, you've got an iMac. So why bother with the Mini? Why not just get an iMac? it's one thing instead of two.

Ah, i hear you say. You can easily pack a Mac Mini in a brief case and transport it around with you. Ditto with a MacBook Air or MacBook. Then again, some people figure that the iPhone is effectively a Mac Mini, because it packs so much computing power into such a small package. Personally, i think that's a stretch, but maybe the MacTouch will be?

I just don't see a future for the Mac Mini.

It's only a distraction anyway. If they are going to bother selling a standalone they should make it a $1000 mini-tower. What they really need however is a juicier Apple TV with a DVD slot.

the logic is that its for "switchers" who already own a mouse/keyboard/screen from their PC, and they have a cheap way to "try" a Mac.

I dunno if this is particularly useful, but that was the original logic.

There are monitors everywhere. Everywhere. HDTVs are all monitors now. My new Cintiq will be a monitor. What's wrong with being green and efficient, and not wanting yet another screen? And glossy screens are ugly. Ugly.

Yes, and consumers are just snapping them up by the boatload. Oh, wait....

I need a KEYBOARD port of some sort and VGA OUT for my iPhone 3G! That would be sweet.

Adventurous accessory makers are probably on the case, as we speak.

Along with Jailbreak stuff... Mmm.... Sweet.

That 'screen' is the LCD HD TV, in my case. My mini is a great STB.

I already had an LCD monitor, not the mention the 20" panel in the latest iMacs isn't that great (even my sub-$200 Acer widescreen 20" LCD has slightly higher brightness). And I already have a perfectly fine KB and mouse (the Mighty Mouse would get tossed in the trash), and I also have my PC tower to consider, which I also plug into my LCD panel.

And no the iPhone/Touch doesn't compare to a real computer, as I've got a Touch - it's just an iPod with Safari and a few apps (slightly improved since I've recently jailbroke it).

The Mini really needs updated graphics, higher RAM support, and a fast 3.5" HD. I don't want to spend $1200 to get an iMac with a cheap panel that I don't want or need.

No mini upgrades at all.

Ever...

I think Steve feels our pain:



But nobody listens to him any more.

There's nothing for Apple to lose right now by updating the Mini with good graphics and say 2GB Ram standard. The iMac and Mac Pro have good graphics options so there's no problem.

Maybe they are finding a way to squish an Nvidia motherboard into a square shape.

Is it possible that the Mini is now the record holder for the longest time a computer model has gone without an upgrade?

While I was not planning on buying a notebook this year, the announcements scared me a little: however you try to look at these, it's an increase in price and a decrease in processing power, mainly because of the LED LCD display (and the manufacturing process, maybe).

So what's in store for the desktops?

A $699 Mac mini with a 1.60GHz cpu, nvidia graphics, Superdrive and Wireless-N?
A $1399 LED LCD 20" iMac with a 2.26GHz cpu and nivida graphics?
A $2999 Mac Pro with a single quad 2.66Ghz cpu, because of a "new" glass/alu enclosure?

Not at all happy with the current direction!

I was hoping that the rumored $800 macbook would come true. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. And since the new macbook is way over my budget, I'm now hoping an upgrade to the Mac Mini would come.

It's evident now that the mini is getting the same NVIDIA graphics chipset, display port, and unibody construction that the MacBook and MacBook Pro received today.

Next Tuesday for an update?!

Nope. Not ever... !

That comic's pretty funny, though, Marvin... If only, lol.

Right now, the $599 mini is the last computer Apple sells with a combo drive.

they can't push the cost of the pro to high as they bill it as a better deal then dell, hp at the same price in workstation hardware.

It will get workstation / sever ver of the core 7i

and make psystar look like a even better deal?

When Intel p45 boards / and nvidia boards cost $100 or less

and desktop ram costs much less then laptop ram.

when good low end ati and nvidia cards are $50

and when the e8400 is about $150.

Too bad there was no silent update today. I hope they at least use the 9400M in the refresh...

Funny thing, this is still the lowest cost FW400 Mac now...Ibet once they change out the $999 Macbook with an ALu one, the Mac Mini will be updated.


-written on a 1.83GHz Mini

Assuming they do update the Mac Mini here's what I hope they'll do:

1. Like the Macbook, no more firewire.
2. No more combo drives. All drives will be Superdrive.
3. A higher capacity hard drive.
4. A few more added USB ports.
5. Faster Core 2 Duo processor.
6. Built-in nVidia graphics.
7. Mini-DVI port
8. More built-in RAM

The mini has the room for firewire.

And at $800 it will need 128-256 meg of it's own vram.

Or the $800 and up system may be that lower margin desktop system that apple was talking about.

They can't get that for under 800. The 2.4 Ghz MB is double that and the screen can't cost that much.

Apple's low margin product is very likely the new Cinema Display. Speaking of which, shouldn't the new Mini's have DisplayPort? Maybe coming with a DP-to-HDMI adapter.

But I'm dreaming. They're never going to update it.

Display port does not have sound so it will need to be Display port to DVI and mini Display port to Display port for free.

The proposed changes aren't necessarily as hard as one might think. Apple AFAIK wasn't losing money on the Mac Mini a year ago and the costs of many of the components has fallen dramatically. DDR2 prices are more than half what they were a year ago and the processor on the Mac Mini has been discontinued by Intel therefore unless Apple bought a huge number of these discontinued processors then Apple hasn't been paying much for the CPUs. Furthermore, even before those processors were discontinued they weren't terribly high end.

At this point going to a SuperDrive on the base model of the Mac Mini wouldn't cost much considering that the price differential between a combo drive and a superdrive is virtually nothing. There are laptops hundreds of dollars less that have DVD burners and a screen and the vendor still manages a razor thin margin. The Mac Mini is essentially a laptop without a screen therefore, Apple should at least be able to have a machine that is on par with a $600 laptop spec wise if not slightly better.

A slight bump in HDD wouldn't cost more than $20. There are ~$600 laptops on the market with HDDs with twice the capacity of the Mac Mini and they are throwing in a small display with the deal. HDD prices have fallen considerable in the last 14 months. Apple should be able to make a bump in HDD size without bumping up the price.

The only suggestion made that might be problematic is moving towards a much more powerful graphics chipset. Upgrading the Mac Mini chipset to the same chipset as the new Macbooks may be asking a bit much insofar as the chipset not only includes the Geforce 9400, but it also includes support for DDR3. If you moved the Mac Mini to that new chipset you not only have the costs of the chipset itself, but also the cost of DDR3 memory, which at this point is considerably more expensive than DDR2. Nevertheless, below the $800 price point Apple should be able to at least put a lower end Nvidia integrated chipset like either the older Geforce 8400 or the the newer 9300. Either would be a huge improvement in graphical performance over the current Intel graphics, but I know that there are chipsets that use these GPUs that are still using DDR2.

Even a modest improvement in the base $599 model would revive sales. Apple could make slight bumps in CPU, RAM, HDD and not add a huge amount in costs, but bring life back to the sales of the Mac Mini. One thing that people forget is that there are a lot of Apple switchers that use the Mac Mini as a way to kick the tires on Mac OS without investing a lot of money into trying it out. Ultimately a certain percentage of those that remain happy with the unit may go on to buy one of the Macbooks or perhaps one of their more expensive desktop units.

My bet is mini-displayport (though that may be what you meant by dvi) and a magsafe power connector as the big port upgrades.

AFAIK, the new nvidia chipset is very expensive about twice as much as a regular Intel chipset. And that maybe one of the reasons why we didn't see a speedbump on the new MBs (actually a speed decrease for the new entry level aluminium MB, that and the LED-BL display of course).

The new nvidia chipset supports DDR2-800 RAM too (the one in the current iMac). But as far as RAM is concerned, Apple currently prices all the notebook/iMac RAM the same: $75 per GB for DDR2-667/DDR2-800/DRR3-1066. Just look at the BTO options on the Apple Store: $75 to go from 1GB to 2GB and $150 to go from 2GB to 4GB. On any Mac except the MacPro/Xserve.

If you apply the same ratio between the MacBook and the Mac mini ( previous generation: $1099 to $599 is a 500 price cut), Apple should be able to make a 2.00GHz new Mac mini for $799 ($1299-500), about the same as today but with better graphics, less ports, hopefully 2GB of RAM, 160GB HDD and a Superdrive.

to seek3r: I don't think a Magsafe power connector is a good idea for a desktop computer with no battery.

The problem with the new 24" ACD is that it is made for notebooks, not as a general usage monitor. With a desktop computer, people won't know what to do with the MagSafe connector and most will miss the FW hub of the previous models. Also most of the DP video cards have a full DP connector, adding another adaptor to the mix (along with the FW800/400 adaptor...). But maybe Apple will release a "desktop" version of the 24" ADC (full size DP connector) with no MagSafe but a FW800/400 hub (FW800 on the cable and FW800 & FW400 on the back of the display), along with the current 1-to-3 USB hub.

Thanks for the catch. I meant mini-displayport and wrote mini-dvi instead.

mjtelx

Excellent idea on getting the ratio between the previous macmini vs previous macbook with hypothetical macmini vs new macbook.

However, I do think $500 difference is a bit low. Remember that the new macbooks are built with standard glossy screens (the previous macbooks didn't have glossy screens) and that means an extra amount in favor of the new macbooks vs a hypothetical macmini.

So instead of a $799 macmini, we could be looking at a macmini between $699 to $749.

If you're predicting the price of a future Mac, better to err on the higher side!

That's right, I do believe that the increase in price of the new MB is due to the LED-BL display, but remember that the previous MB had a GM965 chipset and a 2.1GHz cpu while the base Mac mini has an older chipset (GMA950) and an older 1.83GHz cpu. Those differences have to cost something. Compared to the current $700 Mac mini, the proposed nvidia one has: better graphics, possibly a better 2.00GHz cpu (?), more RAM and a bigger HDD, will lack FW, though.

Anyway, $699/799 for a better Mac mini is better than keeping with the current model as is.