Closing the book on Apple's Mac mini

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Even while at the top of its game, Apple Inc. can seemingly find faults with just about anything, including a bit of itself. The Mac maker is constantly evaluating the market segments in which it wishes to participate and those which it does not. It's an application of love-hate methodology that inevitably produces its share of casualties.



Take, for instance, the firm's petite line of headless desktop computers known as Mac minis. They retail between $599 and $799, catering to the once critical sub-$800 PC market. Conspicuously, it was that precise market segment in which Apple executives asserted little interest just months before introducing the first Mac mini at the Macworld trade show in January of 2005. Maybe management wasn't fibbing after all.



Since then, the Mac mini has been treated to a rather mundane life-cycle. It has seen just four updates since inception, one of which was so insignificant in Apple's own eyes that the company didn't even bother to draft a press release. Even now, the current minis' 1.66GHz and 1.83GHz Core Duo processors are a far cry from the silicon offered in the rest of Apple's PC offerings. And rightfully so, as the company has seen lower margins from the units, which never gained the sales traction of its more fully equipped iMacs and MacBooks.



Some have gone so far as to call the mini Apple's bastard child; the neglected Mac that never was. At the same time, the history behind its creation and the reasons for its seeming abandonment are comparatively fuzzy. There is some speculation that Apple conceived the Mac mini under pressure from shareholders who wanted a sub-$800 Mac, but never really saw much in the design itself. It's almost as if the mini stood in direct contrast to Apple's fundamentals from the get-go.



In at least one instance, during the winter months of 2005 and early 2006, Apple began toying with concepts to more closely tie the mini to the essential nature of its business. The most public of those, per AppleInsider reports, was a plan to include a built-in iPod dock atop the high-end models. But just like every other bright idea Apple had for the tiny Mac, it was shelved and transformed under more economical standards into a project that would eventually emerge as Apple TV.



In fact, it was about that time in early 2006 when Apple TV really began to take shape inside Apple and the development of the mini began its slow, inevitable decline. Not coincidentally, Apple TV turned out a lot like a next-generation mini, with the stripping-out of the optical disc drive representing the essence of Apple's long-term digital media strategy.







Still, the mini has had its share of selling points. Due to its small footprint and low cost, it was immediately nominated by seasoned techies as the perfect media server for the living room. Some even went as far as installing the the tiny Mac in their vehicles. But with the advent of Apple TV, Apple seems to have shoved the diminutive device into the far corner of what had already been a niche audience.



Therefore, it comes as little surprise that sources, for whom AppleInsider holds the utmost respect, are now pointing towards the mini's impending demise. For it's according to those people that the miniature Mac will soon follow in the wake of its similarly-proportioned counterparts of years past: the PowerBook 2400, the PowerMac G4 Cube, and, most recently, the 12-inch PowerBook.



Whether Apple will squeeze another revision from the mini, and how long it plans to allow existing models to linger, are both unclear. But as the extended Memorial Day break dawns upon us, the point being driven should be clear:



Ladies and gentlemen, AppleInsider believes in all sincerity that the Mac mini is dead.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 575
    maybe apple should merge the mac mini with the apple tv instead ?
  • Reply 2 of 575
    shanmugamshanmugam Posts: 1,200member
    if tne news is rite, sad so sad. But what is the alternative?
  • Reply 3 of 575
    it would be nice if it was clearly stated at the beginning that this was horse SH#T. that way people wouldn't have to waist their time reading this. even if true, the headline made it seem that it was already fact.



    lame sensationalism. appleinsider can be really sad. its obvious this was posted just to generate traffic. why would they post the title in RED on the front page? im gonna have to look for a new mac site, that was sad.
  • Reply 4 of 575
    carlito2carlito2 Posts: 43member
    i think that your quite right the mini is dead





    it would make sense to kill it and push apple tv.



    if you look at all the push for it the Imac was always the one shown i think we'll see a great new imac and Jobs bury ~(wrongly) the mini........



    black armbands alround on that day
  • Reply 5 of 575
    markw10markw10 Posts: 356member
    People have been able to run OS X on the Apple TV so I wonder if they will come out with a USB Keyboard/trackpad combo to use it as a computer. I think they also saw the mini as a tv based computer and media player so that's really what the Apple TV did. I think there needs to be a headless mac cheaper than the Mac Pro though and for people looking for that item the Mini was too limited.
  • Reply 6 of 575
    I hate to be a rumor monger, but perhaps this means they'll slide the iMac down a little in specs to make more room for a mid-range tower... please!



    Damn, I'd love that computer.



    -Clive
  • Reply 7 of 575
    I really hope that Apple insider is wrong for this news !!



    First the mac mini is excellent for someone who want an afordable machine and the freedom to choose the size of the screen ! The macpro do the same but it's huge and is very expensive !!



    The apple TV is not a computer even if inside it look like a computer !!



    How can apple gain some market share without affordable computer ?? This is impossible and i am worried that apple in the future will focus on ipod, iphone and mac TV and no more on computers ??
  • Reply 8 of 575
    bdj21yabdj21ya Posts: 297member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by the Beatles View Post


    it would be nice if it was clearly stated at the beginning that this was horse SH#T. that way people wouldn't have to waist their time reading this. even if true, the headline made it seem that it was already fact.



    lame sensationalism. appleinsider can be really sad. its obvious this was posted just to generate traffic. why would they post the title in RED on the front page? im gonna have to look for a new mac site, that was sad.



    I'd have to agree. This article needs to be a lot more clear. Do they have some tip indicating that they will kill it or is this just an opinion piece? The way it's written is way too confusing.



    Assuming it is just an opinion piece, I have to disagree completely. The Mac Mini forms an integral part of the Mac line, offering the Mac experience to lite users with low budgets. I think it will stay around
  • Reply 9 of 575
    ak1808ak1808 Posts: 108member
    Why would you hook up a beautiful little computer to a dirty old keyboard, mouse and monitor?

    This is for a niche of nickle-pinchers and media-center freaks. It is simply not a mainstream computer. Axe it!
  • Reply 10 of 575
    kasperkasper Posts: 941member, administrator
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by bdj21ya View Post


    I'd have to agree. This article needs to be a lot more clear. Do they have some tip indicating that they will kill it or is this just an opinion piece? The way it's written is way too confusing.



    Assuming it is just an opinion piece, I have to disagree completely. The Mac Mini forms an integral part of the Mac line, offering the Mac experience to lite users with low budgets. I think it will stay around



    It's not opinion. "Sources" were cited.



    Best,



    K
  • Reply 11 of 575
    bizmacbizmac Posts: 20member
    I am still expecting the next generation of the 12inch powerbook (a 13" macbook pro)...I will be so if Apple does not provide one...A new mini, a mid-range tower, and a macbook pro 13" are good answers to several fan demand...



    Why not giving us what we want?





    PS: Welcome to AppleInsider MichaelProvence (du sud de la France? Quelle ville?)
  • Reply 12 of 575
    umijinumijin Posts: 133member
    If Apple would price the current iteration of the Mini appropriately - it would be a huge seller.



    The original PowerPC minis were a couple hundred cheaper, IIRC. The Intel Mini's are too steep and don't come with enough RAM to justify purchasing one of them over a low end iMac. Even the graphics card suffers in comparison. And no keyboard, monitor, mouse... what do you expect?



    Don't give me this "you're paying for the small size" nonsense. If one can get a new 1.88-2GHz mini with 1 Gb ram for $600 - that's a price point that would sell. You can't even get that with the refurbs.
  • Reply 13 of 575
    henrikmkhenrikmk Posts: 17member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by ak1808 View Post


    Why would you hook up a beautiful little computer to a dirty old keyboard, mouse and monitor?

    This is for a niche of nickle-pinchers and media-center freaks. It is simply not a mainstream computer. Axe it!



    Actually probably just about any PC users, who won't pay for an iMac and don't want their monitor replaced. I fitted the profile about perfectly and several of my PC owning friends want one too. I'm also planning to buy more of them for work purposes (need more low-cost OSX machines for testing purposes), so I hope it's not true. The price point is really critical.
  • Reply 14 of 575
    macsrgood4umacsrgood4u Posts: 3,007member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by the Beatles View Post


    it would be nice if it was clearly stated at the beginning that this was horse SH#T. that way people wouldn't have to waist their time reading this. even if true, the headline made it seem that it was already fact.



    lame sensationalism. appleinsider can be really sad. its obvious this was posted just to generate traffic. why would they post the title in RED on the front page? im gonna have to look for a new mac site, that was sad.



    wow. someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning



    i don't think it is horse ****. usually when kapser publishes something it is pretty close to spot on. heck they havent even updated the mini in like a year, as if you could not have guessed this was where it was goingn



    MRG
  • Reply 15 of 575
    gm7cadd9gm7cadd9 Posts: 68member
    Rumors abound about apple dropping the 17'' iMac from the line up, and now this... This opens a large hole in the product matrix, maybe making room for a new machine? I think more people would prefer the machine to be between the iMac and the Macpro though rather than the mini and the iMac.



    -Roy
  • Reply 16 of 575
    cedriccedric Posts: 28member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by the Beatles View Post


    it would be nice if it was clearly stated at the beginning that this was horse SH#T. that way people wouldn't have to waist their time reading this. even if true, the headline made it seem that it was already fact.



    Dito except for that part "horse SH#T" I'd have chosen a more poetic way to say that...



    Nevertheless why would AppleTV replace the MacMini? They are completely different devices to me... MacMini is a computer, AppleTV is just an entertainment box... Or at least it was meant as such, as someone turned it into the cheapest Mac computer...



    I don't think the Mini is dead... CinemaDisplay+MacMini looks better than the big tower of the MacPro...





    ps I love AppleTV!
  • Reply 17 of 575
    I for one, love my mini and it has served me well. It's an old G4 model and it has worked flawlessly, after all it's a mac. I can see why the mini would be dropped from the line up as prices drop on other models. It makes the mini seem like less of a deal. \ But it's an amazing little box and does what I need it to do. My next mac will be a portable, or possibly an imac, but the mini will always be what got me to switch. Long live mac mini!
  • Reply 18 of 575
    tomozjtomozj Posts: 54member
    IMO, this is just speculation. Apple will do something, I hope, to renovate the low-end Mac. It's affordable for people that want to buy into the Mac line. It rocks



    -tj
  • Reply 19 of 575
    Actually, they wanted a sub-$500 machine when they introduced the mini. The first model was $499. They should have kept that price.
  • Reply 20 of 575
    plokoonpmaplokoonpma Posts: 262member
    The Mac Mini will be one of my favorite Macs ever. As Tech Support it never gave me problems, kind of easy install ram, not the fastest, bit cumbersome but simple enough not to bother at all. As today I never had to fix one of my customers Mini's cause it had a bad motherboard or something else. As user, what can I say... the machine is cute and flawless since I know it.

    The mini is perfect for some type of user, what i never forgive to Apple its that i wanted a cheaper tower, not a strip down enclosure that I cant fit an upgrade video card since, I like video games 8(

    I dont want a Mac Pro but a an smaller case with 2 pcie slots (one 16 lanes) a low end or close 128mb video card than I can replace for a 256 or even a second crossfire card. A quad processor would be nice but expensive rigth... So make it an option! Deliver it with one of those Intel Core 2 Duo's extreme. We all saw the extensive use of the so dim size of memory with the Intel Hardware, why not add 2 extra slots or at least support more memory size (x2 2gb sticks)

    Well.. thats what i think and want. I hope Apple listen to us this time.
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