2014 Mac mini Wishlist

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  • Reply 801 of 1528
    Perhaps, Wizard...an A7 in the ATV will be that said machine?

    It's only 'two generations' from the chip in the iPhone 5s?

    That's two years away.

    And you have a machine that won't be that far away from entry Mac Mini...

    ...but at a far more sane...and saliva inducing £99 price.

    A 'Mac' for £99 you say?

    I know...I almost passed out typing it.

    We only need the ATV to follow the iPad and iTouch and the iPhone and get some kind of proper iOS interface...

    You'd have a great gamesmachine...light office machine...light image editing machine...etc. Still.

    By then? Won't such a chip in the A7 be moot if you can have an iPad 7 with an A9X chip which will over amazing performance relative to today's Mini anyhow...

    ...and with... £399 entry price...AND with a retina screen!!! (Who knows...we may even have a 11 inch iPad by then...I hope...)

    64 bit is coming to portable ultra ultra. And how.

    I'm looking at the graphics on the A7 Rogue GPU...looking at all the image manip', video hi-def processing in real time...the speedy web page browsing that makes my iMac seem...and games...that Macs a handful of years ago...were 'sweating' to replicate...and my old Power Mac G4 look like a dinosaur...

    I'm amazed when bananas say the iPhone 5s is evolution. What? 64 bit and twice the performance on the A7 cpu and gpu as 'evolution?'

    It's a beeping revolution.

    Lemon Bon Bon.
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  • Reply 802 of 1528

    The lines have started to blur with the A7.  How much will they blur with an A9 in two years time?

     

    Lemon Bon Bon.

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  • Reply 803 of 1528
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Perhaps, Wizard...an A7 in the ATV will be that said machine?
    Could be! They could sell it as an improved AppleTV or keep the old Apple TV and call this one enhanced. The enhancements would be more RAM, a lot more flash and external storage all driven from an A7X. Apple would likely gimp it in some manner to prevent too much damage to other products but just by supporting gaming and today's AppleTV functions it would be a winner. Add support for iOS mail and FaceTime and we are golden.

    It's only 'two generations' from the chip in the iPhone 5s?

    That's two years away.

    And you have a machine that won't be that far away from entry Mac Mini...

    ...but at a far more sane...and saliva inducing £99 price.
    A simple A7 upgrade to AppleTV might hit that price point. However I really think Apple needs to beef up the machine to really leverage it as a gaming platform. More RAM would help but what is really needed is more storage, storage that is fast. It would be neat to find out that A7 has Thunderbolt tech built in.

    A 'Mac' for £99 you say?

    I know...I almost passed out typing it.
    Well maybe not. I'm certain an upgrade to A7X would be possible at that price point but the rest of the machine really needs an update to really supplant the Mini for a lot of users. I'm still thinking that a rational Mini replacement would start at around $250. That would be a machine with 4-8GB of RAM (not a lot these days) and a flash storage module sitting on PCI Express just like in the AIRs.
    [
    We only need the ATV to follow the iPad and iTouch and the iPhone and get some kind of proper iOS interface...

    You'd have a great gamesmachine...light office machine...light image editing machine...etc. Still.
    Cool thought isn't it. AppleTV isn't far from being able to do those sorts of things now, it is really an issue of RAM and local storage.
    By then? Won't such a chip in the A7 be moot if you can have an iPad 7 with an A9X chip which will over amazing performance relative to today's Mini anyhow...
    It will be interesting to see how long Apple can keep the 2X performance increase every year. Eventually they will catch up with the available technologies.
    ...and with... £399 entry price...AND with a retina screen!!! (Who knows...we may even have a 11 inch iPad by then...I hope...)

    64 bit is coming to portable ultra ultra. And how.

    I'm looking at the graphics on the A7 Rogue GPU...looking at all the image manip', video hi-def processing in real time...the speedy web page browsing that makes my iMac seem...and games...that Macs a handful of years ago...were 'sweating' to replicate...and my old Power Mac G4 look like a dinosaur...
    Hell my iPhone 4 continues to impress me. I come from the very beginning of the computer revolution, this little pocket job absolutely runs circles around my first Commodore, even my Mac Plus. That is expected with those early machines but it also runs circles around the majority of computers I've ever owned. My iPad just magnifies that a bit more.

    I'm amazed when bananas say the iPhone 5s is evolution. What? 64 bit and twice the performance on the A7 cpu and gpu as 'evolution?'

    It's a beeping revolution.

    Lemon Bon Bon.

    People that don't grasp the importance of 64 bit in mobile are technologically illiterate. iPhone 5S is a massive step forward. Honestly I thought they would have to split 64 bit hardware off onto the tablets for a couple of years to allow technology to put a low power chip into the phones. Obviously I'm wrong there. If they can get A8 next year onto a process shrink to say 20 nm Apple might just be able to give us another 2X boost.
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  • Reply 804 of 1528
    marvfoxmarvfox Posts: 2,275member

    What is block?

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  • Reply 805 of 1528
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by marvfox View Post

     

    A phone is a phone as long as you can make a call from it.


     

    Local radio station that plays 60s, 70s and 80s. It ran a little spot the other day.

    "If you remember when all you used a phone for was to talk to people, you're our kind of listener."

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  • Reply 806 of 1528
    hmmhmm Posts: 3,405member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by MacTac View Post

     

     

    Local radio station that plays 60s, 70s and 80s. It ran a little spot the other day.

    "If you remember when all you used a phone for was to talk to people, you're our kind of listener."


    That is extremely funny.

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  • Reply 807 of 1528

    I want an iMac with better specs for such an expensive machine the specs should be better, it needs to be more powerful.

     

    i7 as standard across the line.

    Wireless ac.

    Second generation fusion drive with 256 ssd and better optimisation (as standard),

    8gb ram,

    Further screen improvements.

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  • Reply 808 of 1528
    marvfoxmarvfox Posts: 2,275member

    You want an i mac that does not exist yet and may never be made.

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  • Reply 809 of 1528

    iMac's have been updated, mini's not (yet?). No event, just a press release

     

    http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2013/09/24Apple-Updates-iMac.html

     

    The entry-level 21.5-inch iMac features a 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 processor and new Iris Pro graphics for unprecedented levels of integrated graphics performance. The high-end 21.5-inch model and both 27-inch models feature quad-core Intel Core i5 processors up to 3.4 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce 700 series graphics with twice the video memory and up to 40 percent faster performance than the previous generation.* Customers looking for the ultimate in performance can upgrade to quad-core Intel Core i7 processors up to 3.5 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780M series graphics with up to 4GB of video memory.



    iMac now supports next generation 802.11ac Wi-Fi. When connected to an 802.11ac base station, iMac delivers wireless performance that is up to three times faster than the previous generation.



    The updated iMac now features support for PCIe-based flash storage that makes Fusion Drive and all-flash storage options up to 50 percent faster than the previous generation.* The popular Fusion Drive option combines the large storage capacity of a hard drive with the high performance of flash to deliver shorter boot times and faster access to apps and files. Customers can configure their iMac with a 1TB or 3TB Fusion Drive, and all-flash storage options are now available in configurations up to 1TB.



    iMac comes standard with 8GB of memory and a 1TB hard drive, and customers can choose to configure their iMac with up to 32GB of memory and up to a 3TB hard drive. iMac also comes with two Thunderbolt and four USB 3.0 ports for connecting to external storage and other high performance peripherals.



    Continuing Apple’s commitment to energy efficiency and the environment, iMac meets stringent Energy Star 5.2 requirements and achieves an EPEAT Gold rating.** iMac features LED-backlit displays that are mercury-free and made with arsenic-free glass. iMac includes PVC-free components and cables, contains no brominated flame retardants, and uses highly recyclable materials and material-efficient packaging designs.



    iMac ships with OS X® Mountain Lion, bringing Messages, Notification Center, system-wide Sharing, AirPlay® Mirroring, Dictation, Game Center and the enhanced security of Gatekeeper to your Mac®. With iCloud® built into the foundation of OS X, Mountain Lion makes it easier than ever to keep your content up to date across your Mac, iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch®.



    Pricing & Availability

    The new iMac is available today through the Apple Online Store (www.apple.com), Apple’s retail stores and select Apple Authorized Resellers. The 21.5-inch iMac is available with a 2.7 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.2 GHz and Intel Iris Pro for a suggested retail price of $1,299 (US); and with a 2.9 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GT 750M for a suggested retail price of $1,499 (US). The 27-inch iMac is available with a 3.2 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.6 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 755M for a suggested retail price of $1,799 (US); and with a 3.4 GHz quad-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.8 GHz and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 775M for a suggested retail price of $1,999 (US). Additional technical specifications, configure-to-order options and accessories are available online at www.apple.com/imac.

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  • Reply 810 of 1528
    Originally Posted by Smarky View Post

    I want an iMac with better specs for such an expensive machine the specs should be better, it needs to be more powerful.

     

    How’s this?

     

    i7 as standard across the line.


    Wireless ac.

    Second generation fusion drive with 256 ssd and better optimisation (as standard),

    8gb ram

    Further screen improvements.



     

    “For such an expensive machine”, you’d think its users would know more about why it costs what it does.

     

    Originally Posted by marvfox View Post

    You want an i mac that does not exist yet and may never be made.

     

    Bingo.

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  • Reply 811 of 1528
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    No Mini announcement today so I'm wondering if the machine will see a major overhaul later this year. Mini sales have been declining for some time now, with the advent of the Mac Pro I could see a new low end platform coming.
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  • Reply 812 of 1528
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post
    No Mini announcement today so I'm wondering if the machine will see a major overhaul later this year. Mini sales have been declining for some time now, with the advent of the Mac Pro I could see a new low end platform coming.

     

    That’s an interesting point. Perhaps they intend the Mini to get desktop chips now, otherwise they would have plopped it down with the iMac (since both desktop and laptop Haswell have been out for far too long).

     

    Except, what was it, Broadwell “doesn’t get a desktop variant”. Effing inexcusable nonsense.

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  • Reply 813 of 1528
    Marvinmarvin Posts: 15,585moderator
    The dual-core mobile chips don't come until Q4 (October at the earliest), the iMac uses different processors.
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  • Reply 814 of 1528
    Originally Posted by Marvin View Post
    The dual-core mobile chips don't come until Q4 (October at the earliest)

     

    Wait, so the Haswell chips for the MacBook Pro and Mac Mini aren’t even out yet?

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  • Reply 815 of 1528
    winterwinter Posts: 1,238member
    Wait, so the Haswell chips for the MacBook Pro and Mac Mini aren’t even out yet?

    The ones with the Intel HD 4600 graphics are not, no. Obviously the ones with Iris and Iris Pro are.
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  • Reply 816 of 1528
    Originally Posted by Winter View Post
    The ones with the Intel HD 4600 graphics are not, no. Obviously the ones with Iris and Iris Pro are.

     

    That simplifies things: just release both computers with Iris Pro.

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  • Reply 817 of 1528

    Yeah i'd like a Haswell Mini with Iris pro. 

     

    I don't need huge solid state options because i'm eventually going to go with a 4-Bay NAS device or Drobo.   In a couple of years i'd love to see a 64-bit ARM based mini for $399. 

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  • Reply 818 of 1528
    Marvinmarvin Posts: 15,585moderator
    <span style="line-height:1.4em;">The ones with the Intel HD 4600 graphics are not, no. Obviously the ones with Iris and Iris Pro are.</span>

    That simplifies things: just release both computers with Iris Pro.

    Iris Pro only comes in the quad models and the Iris ones cost $100 more and are dual-core ULT chips.

    This one with Iris Pro could go in the $799 Mini:

    http://ark.intel.com/products/76087/Intel-Core-i7-4750HQ-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_20-GHz

    but the following one has a higher base clock and is $60 cheaper:

    http://ark.intel.com/products/75128/Intel-Core-i7-4800MQ-Processor-6M-Cache-up-to-3_70-GHz

    If they used the Iris Pro one, the price of the $799 model would go up to $899. The entry one would have to use the dual-cores with 4600 to keep the $599 price.

    Using a higher clocked A7/A7X for the Mini Server could work well. It might be better if it ran iOS too because they could have a management UI that you access from an iPad and could run like the iOS simulator on the desktop. It would actually be like a VNC app. It can run quite easily with a single window at a low resolution. You could get push notifications about downtime or server faults, maybe suspicious network activity. It has a lower memory footprint than OS X so would work better for VPS. People would have to be made aware that it wasn't a desktop machine though and could even be sold separately from the Macs. Then instead of having server models of Mac, just have OS X Server as BTO for any machine and let people configure what they want.
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  • Reply 819 of 1528
    winterwinter Posts: 1,238member
    Why does using the i7-4750HQ raise the price by $100?
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  • Reply 820 of 1528
    marvfoxmarvfox Posts: 2,275member

    Mac Mini may disappear soon.Not very popular now.

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