Video of claimed next-gen Mac Mini surfaces online - Page 2

Yeah. I can see them keeping the same square shape so as to make it fit in the same racks the originals do, and having opened a few of them up I can see (maybe) not making it any thinner because the originals are fairly crammed inside and maybe it isn't possible. But why not change *something* about the top. Keeping it the same just makes it look old.

What I am having a hard time getting my head around is the fact that if all they were going to do is upgrade the components, why not do this a while ago? Why wait a year and a half and then come out with the same design? If they are going to keep the design the same, they should be upgrading the components much more frequently. If they are going to imitate Dell, do it right.

Maybe the slightly different appearing top is because it's easier to open and swap stuff out? But then why a slot loading drive? And you'd have to take the optical drive out through the top to get at the HD anyway unless it's stuck to the top when you remove it.

Let's see if I can make you shut up with the USB ports.
I still use pc (going to get my first mac, a macbook, next month) and I play Counter Strike 1.6 and World of Warcraft. Which are not very demanding games.

My pc has P4 2.6Ghz, 1Gb Ram DDR1 and Radeon 9550 with 256Mb (clock on this board is low :S ).
Assuming this baby would have a Nvidia 9400M, 2Gb Ram DDR2 (or DDR3) and a Core 2 Duo processor, I'd say it's quite a bit ahead of my pc. So it means I would be able to play CS 1.6 (via Bootcamp) and WoW on it with better performance than on my actual pc.

That said, if I bought this Mac Mini:
USB1 - My "Growing" gaming Keyboard
USB2 - My "Razer" gaming Mouse
USB3 - My printer
USB4 - My scanner
USB5 - My Webcam/Pen Drive/Cell Phone/Camera

I would use all the ports, so shut up with the damn 5 USB ports already!

Talking about the design of it, well I think it might just be like this, it's supposed to be small, and I don't think they could make it smaller, so why change it? I don't think they want to make it bigger, unless it would somehow be cheaper...

Yeah. I agree. Fake.

Everyone knows the new mini will be thinner than a club sandwich and will no longer have any physical wires or plugs. They say it also speaks with a slight accent.

yeah, it must be a prototype.

at a minimum, the new Mini has got to change something visually noticeable - like a black plastic top to match the IMac look.

but i really expect it to get a new form factor too - the same bigger/flatter size/style as AppleTV, Airport Extreme, and Time Capsule. in particular they need more room for an "n" wifi antenna.

Oh how I wish this would come out of Apple.
I'm very relieved to see the FW800 on the Mac mini as it is a perfect complement to the FW800 port on the new Drobo.

Mac mini + Drobo = killer server / media center

If it were real, wouldn't the author have turned it over to see the bottom area for any changes?

Could be a model, would be horrendous to do on your own as a mockup.

However this can't be photoshop, 3d rendering. Just can't be done at that resolution. Looking at the level of special effects coming out of George Lucas's operation, where it still looks problematic and tell me this is edited...

I wish it was MORE of a budget industrial design. Use a commodity mini tower case, and let us decide what we want to put into it.

I hope Apple can design a better updated case than that, or Apple has just really lost their design mojo, as to me, all their other cases have either been really boring refreshes or just ugly.

People who refuses to believe the authenticity of this object are the same who might not have believed the actuality of the previous 2 ipod nano designs, nor even other rumored photos. It seems to me there are more real photos than fake ones circulating presently and in the past. And I also don't see how having 5 USB is bad, heck regular PCS have at least 6 so I agree with the list a previous poster has made for the use of the 5 USBs; and most people who buy Mac minis would rather use a keyboard they already have than buy the Apple brand (therefore eliminating the keyboard USB hub into account). As for FireWire, i think Apple believes FW400 is nearing it's end with the imminent release of USB 3.0, so they might be including FW 800 as a push into mainstream/compete early with USB3. However I do believe removing DVI is a poor idea since most monitors still uses DVI, but Apple many choose to eliminate it in order to push technology forward, but HDMI/DP can easily be plugged in to most modern flat panel TVs.

My hypothesis is that the mini will merge with the AppleTV, because they are very similar/can function similarly and can cram into tight spaces, although there's the component a/v to consider...

The reason they use black is so that the display looks bigger. The Mini has no display so doesn't need to look black. Same reason why the keys on the desktop keyboards aren't black.

Putting black on the Mini would look hideous and it still wouldn't match the rest of the lineup. If anything, it would be aluminium all over with a white Apple logo like the laptops and Mac Pro.

This may affect wireless signals though so the plastic top is fine and probably cheaper.

I personally don't have any complaints about the Mini design. The G5/Mac Pro design hasn't change much at all for years so there's no reason for them to over-engineer their budget product and risk increasing the price.

The fact that this machine has reached this stage of development suggests to me that it will arrive next week. It may be an underwhelming refresh in the apple store just as the white Macbook refresh was (the white Macbook that also doesn't match the rest of the lineup). It was updated to Nvidia chips, new system bus, no enclosure redesign and no event required for the update.

The iMac update will probably arrive later on, possibly along with the Mac Pro update.

Display port or DVI are for computer, HDMI isn't, You just need a cable HDMI-DVI for example

This looks exactly like the Mac mini upgrade I've been waiting for.

Unfortunately, Jobs probably took one look at it and told them to spend another year redesigning it, because it was soooo 2005-ish.

Agreed. I see it silver around the sides, black top and bottom, silver logo. Hard to believe it would still be white.

You can't make any one shut up about something, saying things like that usually encourages a retort.

Restricting yourself to a keyboard with USB ports doesn't always make sense, if someone likes Apple's keyboards or another one with a built-in hub like Apple's, good for them. That's not me. As it is, I have a printer, scanner, mouse, memory card reader, HDTV tuner, digital camera cable, keyboard and dock connector for iPod & iPhone. Then there's the occasional USB stick, then there's the occasional hard drive too, but for the occasional connection, it's good to have a hub with visible USB connections anyway.


The same DRM is used on DVI and DisplayPort. HDMI supports 1920x1200 just fine, I don't know what you're going on about there. HDMI 1.3 and higher can support 30" displays, 1.3 has been around for a while a few years now, it's just that there's not much market for it. 30" computer displays barely seem to exist, I'm the only one that I know that has one.

Wow this looks like the real thing alright...

unlike this fake from 2005!

http://dms.tecknohost.com/macrumors/...video-0001.3gp

http://dms.tecknohost.com/macrumors/i/ihome/

http://www.engadget.com/2005/01/07/the-ihome/

http://www.engadget.com/2005/01/17/buy-the-ihome/

if its the real deal boot it up and show us the full system info otherwise this might just well be a mockup.

Cool, a new video genre-the Mac-tease.

Please explain what you mean by
HDMI??
The last time I looked every TV/monitor besides Apple uses it as well as every new HI-Def PC laptop, desktop and Apple TV.
Oh and by the way- 30, 32, 37, 40, 42, 50", etc LDCTVs and Plasmas have been used as monitors for years. So you're really not that alone.

I have a mini and a hub but I'm forced to share a port between my iPod Touch and an external DVD burner. You see the problem is that some devices do not work well when fed into the computer via a hub. The mini is the sort of machine that I imagine a lot of people use with a pile of external devices since storage and the like on the device itself is rather limited.

An additional USB connection would certainly be useful to me and I can't be the only one.

My mini is attached to a 32" Sony LCDTV via a DVI/HDMI cable with the audio input separately. I would think HDMI would have been a perfectly logical method of hooking the machine up.

In fact, I see no value in buying an Apple TV on account of my computer is already attached to my TV.

By the way, the Sony makes an awesome computer monitor and it's a decent HDTV as well.

Seems to me that the mini is about providing value. I don't imagine most potential buyers would care about changes to the outward appearance of the device. What matters is that the machine be affordable and yet still perform like a legit Mac. 9400 M + 2g of fast RAM + modest processor upgrade + plus superdrive = good value if price remains unchanged.

While it's true that the mini could be the computer of choice for a larger segment of customers (tough economic times combined with the specs improving to the point where the machine can handle most users' needs), further eroding Mac Pro sales, right now Apple should be more concerned with maintaining volume than selling a few machines at a higher margin. There's not much point in trying to push the pro line if in fact that machine will be out of reach for cash-strapped customers. Instead, elevating the mini, in a cost-effective fashion (no development going into a substantial case re-design), would be a good way to keep customers in the Apple family of products in these tough economic times.

By the way, the advantages of going to the form factor now used on the new laptops would be wasted on a desktop machine. It's not as if concerns about flex, weight, etc. matter with this device. Cost, on the other hand, does. The unibody laptops are more expensive to produce than their plastic predecessors but the technical gains are worth it.

It's what Apple doesn't do that matters as much as what it does. In terms of the form factor for the mini, if it ain't broke . . .

In the video the top of the case looks like it has been glued on and sticks above the aluminum side case. In teal Minis the top is inset into the top of the case. The still image from a couple of days a go does not show this. I think either this is a prototype or they are deliberately hiding the top of the case.

Let me apologize in advance for posting so many times in a matter of an hour but I want to make a point in regards to why Apple might have waited so long.

Cost is an issue and it has to be kept in mind that the cost of many of the internals go down as they are in the marketplace longer. It could well be that the cost of the components, like the CPU and the GPU are now down a little compared to a few months ago when these parts were brand new products. Apple could afford to pay a little more to put them in their laptops because those are higher-margin products and you have to start somewhere. But when you are looking at a $500 computer like the mini, cost is a big deal. So they put the 9400M first in the new laptops. Then they upgraded the legacy plastic laptop. And now, we apparently are going to see it in the mini. I don't know this for a fact but I'm willing to bet the per-unit cost of the 9400Ms going into the minis will be lower than it was for the allotment of 9400Ms that went into that first batch of laptops.

One more thing. Doesn't a company's ability to produce a product in volume improve over time and if so, could it be that there just weren't enough components available to convert the mini along with the laptops to the 9400M? After all, I don't imagine Apple would have wanted a shortage to cut into sales of the high-demand laptops.

Anyone know with more certainty if this is the case?

it's real alright - but without knowing the spec or more importantly the price I cant pass judgement.

A big price drop would be very welcome as I want to put a Mac Mini under my TV but athe the moment the cost is too high, and the Apple TV is too limited.

I have GOT to put my two cents in the ring. I find the gullibility shocking.

I am dying to upgrade my G4 mac and have put off purchasing for more than a couple of years now because I'm waiting to see Apple's new offerings. But they haven't come and it's been VERY frustrating. (and don't even get me started on their change in price point strategy).

We're all dying for an upgraded Mac Mini or iMac but come on... how gullible or desperate are we that we are actually believing the photo and video that are currently circulating? The photo is obviously a fake. I'm not talking about macroblocks or anything like that. Just look at the mini's back showing the ports. And notice the wood floor. There is absolutely no depth to the mini. One should be able to see parts of the sides of the mini along with part of the top. They don't exist. Someone with below average photoshop skills and, worse yet, no grasp of how 3-dimensional objects appear in 2-dimensional space obviously hobbled together the picture.

And now we have a video. A Mac Mini from two years ago but with new ports. Do any of us gushers out there realize how easy it is to fake something like that? We obviously didn't major in industrial design or used After Effects. So let's try common sense. If the world was questioning the validity of our photo of the supposed next-gen prototype and we truly did have this prototype, ¿what would be our response? ¿Sit it down on a table and spin around it with a video camera? Hell no! We'd pop that mother scratcher open and expose its guts. We'd show the new motherboard. We'd show the SATA. Anything. We'd show the new RAM slots. ANYTHING, ANYTHING, ANYTHING internal. That would shut up us naysayers. The internals would be s0o0o0o0o much harder to pass off as authentic.

Anyone can fake port outlets pretty easy. But try faking circuit boards. That's out of pretty much out of the youtube league. They can be too easily deconstructed by those that know.

"Hey, me and my buddy Jim are going to paint a fence with whitewash. It's great fun!!! You don't want to miss out. You've got to join in."

Seriously people. How gullible are you? This is nothing more than PT Barnum's Bearded Lady.

Personally, I think that this is an instigator with a noble causesomeone as frustrated as me with Apple's lack of hardware upgrades and subsequent continual silence regarding said lack of upgrades. This is someone's attempt to elict a response and get Apple to get off of their butts, put their iPhone down, and start innovating again. Don't make me call The Woz.

The Mini has turned into an interesting machine of disparate uses. Yes, it's still the cheap Mac for those who already have a display. But it's also the HTPC of Mac users who want more flexibility than an AppleTV and it's the cheapo server of the corporate world and some SOHO users. The article about their use in Vegas casinos was most enlightening...reminds me of the old SE/30 of 20 years ago.

I personally want one for a new Leopard Server to replace the ancient (G4 Powermac) one in my house now. FW800 is a must for my Drobo. And a display doesn't matter much to me. A quard core processor would be nice but I'm not getting my hopes up. Bring on the refresh!

Big price drops are rare with Apple. They prefer upping the specs at the same price point. For what the mini currently costs, considering nearly half of that cost would be a reasonable price to pay for the bundled software, I don't see a lot of room for a price drop of any significance.

Could be wrong but if you're waiting for a mini that costs more like an Apple TV, it's probably going to be a long wait.

I think you might just be onto something here!

RT

You could also do something like the photo shown below. Its pretty similar as is an old photo of what someone thought the next iMac should look like.

Cable companies are not required to include a FireWire port on their boxes. Time Warner, the largest cable provider, does not have FireWire on any of their boxes. The only consumer level AV devices that include FireWire these days are MiniDV cameras, and those are almost phased out. If that was the purpose, they would have stuck with FireWire 400. The Mac Mini was intended for the cheap PC user to get them to switch. In your list of USB devices, you forgot the Keyboard and Mouse.

I would say it is still a fake or a prototype because Apple ditched FireWire from the MacBook so it seems unlikely they would include FireWire 800 on such a cheap Mac. Also, it is pointless to have two display ports when they failed to include both on the MacBook for backwards compatibility.

I don't know why they continue to make the Mini when it is their least sold Mac. Over the years, it has INCREASED in price, which is the opposite of other models. The original Mini was $499. Now you are looking at $599 and $799.

It matches their keyboard and mouse just fine. Apple maintained the PowerBook/MacBook design for 6 years.

Unfortunately, the Mac Mini is NOT a $500 computer. Where have you been? The Mac Mini is the only Mac that has increased in price since the introduction. Unfortunately, the Mini is a $600 and $800 computer. It is not worth either price, either. If Apple wanted to have the low cost computer for PC switchers, topping the price at $800 isn't the way to do it.

http://www.dannychoo.com/detail/mac/...rver+Farm.html

The Mini is for switchers, who are bringing their own keyboard. Many PC keyboards don't have USB ports on them. Two USB ports are lost automatically for these people (keyboard, mouse). Throw in a printer and an iPod and you only have one left for whatever else you may have (camera, external HD, etc).

That's right, the Mini is probably the only Mac I've ever know that hasn't had a single widespread problem in its entire existence. The only issue I have found is that the heat build up inside with the hard drive being above the CPU causes it to start making a clunk noise. The drives keep going but it's annoying. I'd love to switch to SSD to eradicate this but I'll wait for more SSD reviews.


Common sense?? What you're suggesting is that this person has modelled in 3D all of the individual fake ports, reverse calculated the lighting, built shaders that look like the same materials used on the ports, tracked the video of the rotation in 3D using a tracker that builds a 3D scene and then placed lights accordingly and rendered the ports on alpha then taken them into After Effects or similar by importing the tracking information again and matching the movement precisely, all to convince people that this is the new Mini, which we know is coming any time now? And you're telling *us* to have some common sense? Time to take off the tin foil hat and maybe put the bong away. I say maybe because we are celebrating the fact Apple have finally updated the Mini and there is definitive proof

I think you understood what I meant but are trying to be sly, you should understand it by what I was quoting. When I said 30" computer displays, I meant the ones that are 2560x1600. That's not a TV, none of those monitors have tuners. All those that you mentioned are 1080p at most. The terminology for TV usually means that there is some kind of tuner box, such as for NTSC, ATSC, PAL, QAM. Monitors usually don't have that.

Apple would NEVER do something as inelegant as use one of those horrid plastic boxes.

The current Mac mini design is adequate for what it is: a low-cost, full-featured, bare-bones (for Apple) Mac.

The current mini is crippled by the integrated graphics chip. With a real video card, mini-DVI and FireWire 800 (and I'd expect gigabit Ethernet), I would certainly be able to recommend them to friends and clients.

I know I'd get one.

Yes, Apple bumped the price of the Mini back in 2006 when they switched to Intel chips. That was a major reworking of the Mini's internals, not just a price increase on the same old model. Even so, the Mini is still the cheapest Mac available. The low-end white MacBook is %50 more expensive, and the iMac is nearly twice the price. As someone who wants to buy a new Mini when they are available, I'd love to spend as little as possible, but I don't think $600 is unreasonable.

Also, the current (aluminum) MacBook is more expensive than the MacBook it replaced, and there are other examples of Apple raising prices when they feel it is justified. A rare event perhaps, but not unheard of.

I don't know if this video is real or not, but I think it's very strange how so many are arguing that Apple wouldn't add one more USB port. There will be a mini-DP for sure, so what else would they do with all the extra space freed up by not having a full sized-DVI?

I've heard reports that the MacMini may be a media server. That would tend to support a Firewire 800 providing a high data bandwidth. I'm ready to buy 2 if they ever announce it.

Even more important now than it's nature, is the question of the object's destiny!