This week on AI: Apple's iPhone event on the horizon, a new Mac mini & more

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Faint drums are already beating in the distance for Apple's September iPhone event, but this week rumors also emerged about a long-awaited Mac mini refresh, along with plans for lower-cost MacBooks.

Mac mini


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A roundup of other top stories this week:

Review: Sonicare DiamondClean Smart uses your iPhone and Bluetooth to perfect the electric toothbrush

Apple culls thousands of apps in China amid attacks from state media

New 'Series 4' Apple Watch spotted in Eurasian regulatory filing

Apple sued over claims website is inaccessible to visually impaired users

Apple's 2018 iPhone may charge faster because of new material in Qi charging coil

iPhone preorders appear to be starting on September 14

Apple issues ninth iOS 12 beta, eighth tvOS 12, watchOS 5, macOS Mojave betas to developers

Apple looking to open premium franchise-owned stores in India

Apple axes Back to My Mac in macOS Mojave

Apple's Tim Cook likely to reap $120M in shares of stock on Friday because of AAPL performance

Apple expected to get full EU approval for takeover of music discovery service Shazam

Review: G-Drive mobile adds USB-C for on-the-go storage

Apple opens up iTunes & App Store donations for flooding in Kerala, India

DJI launches Mavic 2 Pro drone with Hasselblad camera, Mavic 2 Zoom

Apple seeds iOS 12 beta 10 to developers as final release nears

Apple poached 'scores' of Tesla employees in recent months, but not all go to 'Project Titan'

Apple opens online iPhone Upgrade Program enrollment to T-Mobile customers

iPad Pro cover leak shows opening for rumored new Smart Connector location

Video: One year with the Apple Watch Series 3

Review: Fantom Drives G-Force 3.1 USB-C SSD great for on-the-go video editing

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 4
    CheeseFreezeCheeseFreeze Posts: 1,249member
    I hope the iMac mini will become the new iMac. An elegantly designed box together with an Apple branded monitor (or a third party one) is something I wanted for a long time, as long as it has enough power. A larger box could host a desktop ready GPU. No more chin, just a subtle box and a great monitor with a thin bezel.

    (as a reference, check out this, which obviously looks quite horrible compared to how Apple would design it: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.engadget.com/amp/2018/01/07/intel-nuc-amd-rx-vega/)
    edited August 2018
  • Reply 2 of 4
    zinkdifferentzinkdifferent Posts: 62member
    Exactly - I was going to,post something similar about the NUC systems. Disregarding the kludgy design language of the NUC, if Apple doesn’t come up with a new design for the Mac mini (and makes it expandable, upgradeable and modular, again), the mini will continue to be laughable. At this rate, you are better served with a NUC as a Hackintosh (and they work really well, as such).
  • Reply 3 of 4
    Mike WuertheleMike Wuerthele Posts: 6,861administrator
    Exactly - I was going to,post something similar about the NUC systems. Disregarding the kludgy design language of the NUC, if Apple doesn’t come up with a new design for the Mac mini (and makes it expandable, upgradeable and modular, again), the mini will continue to be laughable. At this rate, you are better served with a NUC as a Hackintosh (and they work really well, as such).
    related:

    https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/05/11/apples-mac-mini-now-inexcusably-getting-trounced-by-cheap-intel-hardware
  • Reply 4 of 4
    boboliciousbobolicious Posts: 1,146member
    Hope springs eternal...

    The i7 2011 mini is the last one I feel was a great upgrade in terms of design
    - dual matched industry standard drive bays for raid flexibility (subsequently mismatched)
    - discrete GPU (subsequently unavailable)
    - arduous yet possible retail upgrades (subsequently onboard only)
    - a good value under $1k base (subsequently increased i7 cost)
    Quad core, VRAM, USB 3 and a Kensington lock slot would be my first suggestions...

    Let's hope Apple stops the 'our way or the highway' on flexibility, although given the onboard trend since the SJ days I'm sadly not holding my breath...

    I still ask if the onboard design ties in somehow to future AI interests and user data veracity...?

    edited August 2018
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