I am anxiously awaiting a new MacMini. I want to create a home LAN, and what I'd really like is a small, quiet server. We use a couple of laptops (Mac and Win) around the house, and I want a central server (Mac) to do things that need an always-on computer, which the laptops aren't.
What a great idea! I've already got most of the bits in place: Airport Extreme, gigabit ethernet switch in my office, 11x17 LaserJet.
A Mac mini would complete the matrix and also make a great media machine and server. I could see it permanently coupled to my HDTV, but also running as a home server. Then I wouldn't be crippled with a USB hard drive connected to my Airport Extreme. FireWire 400 connected to a Mac mini! Excellent.
Gee, then I could justify getting a MacBook Air for my girlfriend (and me too)!!!
Just having a mini driving the HDTV is appealing, but not a good use of funds, space or electricity. Using it as a server solves a bunch of problems simultaneously!
Words cannot expressed how happy I am to finally see AppleInsider eat its own words about the demise of the Mini. I'm not saying this in a derogatory way against AppleInsider so much as I am against your previous "negative position" toward the Mini. And I say this by not even owning or liking the Mini!
I always knew it would never make sense for Apple to kill off a product that was such a perfect fit for the low end of the Mac market. Why in the world would you leave a gaping hole there, especially if you had no other product with which to replace it? Would the iMac replace the Mini, seeing that the iMac has a built in screen, is much bigger and priced higher? No, the iMac is a different machine altogether. Indeed, even if one wishes to argue that the Mini is not targetted at the "low end" the fact remains it is targetted at people who either already have screens, mice and keyboards or to those who wish to buy them separately. There is no other Mac offering from Apple that offers such freedoms to the buyer.
Thank you AppleInsider for being brave enough to admit you were wrong. It is now time that Mac Mini owners start raising their voices and demand more regular updates to the Mini.
Pressure sensitive is so yesterday. Multi-touch, capacitance displays which can utilize a special capacitance pen seem to be the next stage.
If you don't draw or do graphics, I can see you point.
However, if you DO do graphics (as I do), pressure sensitivity is a MUST! At this point, multi-touch is extremely limited. HOW the display reacts AFTER multi-touch is used (iPhone/touch scrolling, for instance) has less to do with multi-touch triggers than it does with how other interface elements react afterward and other related factors.
Having both pressure sensitivity AND multi-touch would be a revelation.
If you don't draw or do graphics, I can see you point.
However, if you DO do graphics (as I do), pressure sensitivity is a MUST! At this point, multi-touch is extremely limited. HOW the display reacts AFTER multi-touch is used (iPhone/touch scrolling, for instance) has less to do with multi-touch triggers than it does with how other interface elements react afterward and other related factors.
Having both pressure sensitivity AND multi-touch would be a revelation.
Um...the pen is typically the pressure sensitive element. You could get the display to do pressure sensitivity but it seems easier to just do both multitouch with a digitizer.
My money is on a small increase in dimensions for the Mac Mini. In particular, I think it will end up being the same 7.7" x 7.7" footprint as both the AppleTV and Time Capsule. That extra space should be more than enough for an extra stick of RAM and a larger cooling fan, both of which would be good things.
I can't wait for an updated Mini. I've been wanting to pick one up, but wanted a better GPU as well. It looks like I'm going to get what I want.
I wonder if Apple will make a habit of updating the Mini at the same time as the iMac. They updated it at the last iMac refresh.
I think I'll get the lowest one again with 2GB Ram for home use - it would be nice if it's 2.1GHz. As usual, a good GPU, dual display support and a faster hard drive would be nice but I like my Mini way more than I ever could an iMac even as it is so I can live with it.
When SSD gets mainstream, I won't care about HDD. I'd take a 64GB SSD over a 250GB HDD any day simply for the performance increase. I'll use an external HDD for extra space.
I think I've completely gone off PC gaming for good now except for the classic games that you don't get on consoles. I reckon I'll get an XBox soon now that they've dropped in price. If the Mini is the same price, I will be able to get a 1680x1050 HDMI display, a Mini and an XBox 360 for less than the entry iMac and I should be able to use the HDMI display for the 360 too.
Question now is when is this long awaited update due? Tuesday?
The smartest thing they could do would be to dump the form factor and make the damn thing big enough to use desktop parts, specifically a 3.5 hard drive and a desktop optical drive. But they haven't ever been smart with this model.
At the very least, up the ram. And dual monitor support would be huge.
I have a mini and I like it, but I have to admit I'd rather see apple just dump the model in favor of a larger (and better...and probably cheaper as well) unit.
Yes, that really is the one glaring mistake with the mini... Apple squeezed the dimensions so hard that they put the machine into a very unfavorable situation with cost/performance tradeoffs. If for no other reason than that, the mini should get a 3.5" HDD and seeing that the Apple TV has one, so should the next mini.
Let's hope the engineering team really is going to pull the trigger with an new case. The current case is what keeps the mini from being all that it could be and consumers would like it to be.
I considered a Mini for a while but then found a deal on a used iMac and picked that up instead. But no matter how "cool" the Mac is, I can't seem to get away from my AMD PC. It's gotten to the point where I do all my Torrenting, movie watching via HDMI to TV, movie file converting, even iTunes, I simply do it more efficiently on my PC.
So to put it clearly, after giving a Mac a try, I'm simply not that impressed.
If for no other reason than that, the mini should get a 3.5" HDD and seeing that the Apple TV has one, so should the next mini.
Let's hope the engineering team really is going to pull the trigger with an new case. The current case is what keeps the mini from being all that it could be and consumers would like it to be.
The AppleTV has a 2.5" 40 or 160GB HDD; Time Capsule has the 3.5" 500 or 1000GB HDD.
If you don't draw or do graphics, I can see you point.
However, if you DO do graphics (as I do), pressure sensitivity is a MUST! At this point, multi-touch is extremely limited. HOW the display reacts AFTER multi-touch is used (iPhone/touch scrolling, for instance) has less to do with multi-touch triggers than it does with how other interface elements react afterward and other related factors.
Having both pressure sensitivity AND multi-touch would be a revelation.
For graphics work, frankly I'd rather use a Wacom-style pressure sensitive pen. Poking at a screen with your fingers all day is not something I'd look forward to.
You can always pick up an external DVD burner/drive and attach via USB or firewire. Most drives will work with OS X directly or at least with Toast. You can also get a Super Drive and replace the combo drive in the mini if you feel comfortable with pulling one apart or have someone do it for you at a local Mac shop that does repairs.
I have a C2D Mini, with an external DVD burner (that I pulled from my PC desktop), and it was cheap, and it does well. The case cost like $25 through newegg, couldn't be happier with it.
But adding external devices, to a small, confined device, makes the whole aesthetic moot IMO.
I agree with minderbinder, but Apple is probably too dense/full of "form factor > all smugness, to notice the market that doesn't want an AIO or a laptop, but wants something more than a Mini and can't rationalize (or afford) the Mac Pro.
I'd like to have it big enough for desktop components and yet reduce the footprint. How about a vertical mini? The PS3 proves that vertical slot-loading optical drives work fine. A vertical mini would have better cooling, especially if it had aluminum sides, like even cheap external HD enclosures do today. I've never really liked the footprint of the mini. You can't stack anything on top of it without adversely affecting cooling, so even though it's not very thick, you lose any air rights over it. You could put it on top of something else, I guess.
Switching to desktop components could let Apple make the $499 mini many people have asked for. 3.5" hard drives, desktop CPUs and standard DIMMs rather than SO-DIMMs all cost less than the components used in the current mini. I sure wouldn't mind stuffing a terabyte drive inside a mini instead of the four USB externals and their jungle of cables that I have to suffer right now for 2.25TB.
And why is Apple so damn stingy with USB ports? Even cheap PC mobos have eight or ten ports, while Apple gives us only four. Wasn't Apple the forward-looking company that first put USB ports on all its models? Yet they seem to be saying that we don't need that many USB devices. Not all of us want to go Bluetooth and have to worry about more batteries in our mice and keyboards.
As for Firewire 800, it's history. Let it go. Apple would be much better off putting in an eSATA port. There are already some people who added it to the current mini and it's a lot faster than FW800. Two of my external enclosures already have eSATA connectors and I'd love to use them instead of adding yet another 7-port USB hub.
Of all the Apple computers that I have owned (from the beginning of the line), this is the one that non-Apple users are most surprised (impressed) by. In my scientific work, this is the perfect system. I am very pleased that I have put the mini to use. (I have Ubuntu running quite well on it too - not as nice as OS X but interesting).
Comments
My post was a tongue-in-cheek direct response to the post just above mine.
My friend I think you are unaware of Murphy's law #23.
This states that the probability of any Apple thread morphing into a discussion of the xMac is directly proportional to its length.
The corollary of that is that any thread over 6 pages has a 100% certainty of digressing into an xMac thread.
I am anxiously awaiting a new MacMini. I want to create a home LAN, and what I'd really like is a small, quiet server. We use a couple of laptops (Mac and Win) around the house, and I want a central server (Mac) to do things that need an always-on computer, which the laptops aren't.
What a great idea! I've already got most of the bits in place: Airport Extreme, gigabit ethernet switch in my office, 11x17 LaserJet.
A Mac mini would complete the matrix and also make a great media machine and server. I could see it permanently coupled to my HDTV, but also running as a home server. Then I wouldn't be crippled with a USB hard drive connected to my Airport Extreme. FireWire 400 connected to a Mac mini! Excellent.
Gee, then I could justify getting a MacBook Air for my girlfriend (and me too)!!!
Just having a mini driving the HDTV is appealing, but not a good use of funds, space or electricity. Using it as a server solves a bunch of problems simultaneously!
Give me a tablet instead
Maybe Apple should partner with WACOM to come up with multi-touch, pressure sensitive tablets!
I always knew it would never make sense for Apple to kill off a product that was such a perfect fit for the low end of the Mac market. Why in the world would you leave a gaping hole there, especially if you had no other product with which to replace it? Would the iMac replace the Mini, seeing that the iMac has a built in screen, is much bigger and priced higher? No, the iMac is a different machine altogether. Indeed, even if one wishes to argue that the Mini is not targetted at the "low end" the fact remains it is targetted at people who either already have screens, mice and keyboards or to those who wish to buy them separately. There is no other Mac offering from Apple that offers such freedoms to the buyer.
Thank you AppleInsider for being brave enough to admit you were wrong. It is now time that Mac Mini owners start raising their voices and demand more regular updates to the Mini.
Maybe Apple should partner with WACOM to come up with multi-touch, pressure sensitive tablets!
Pressure sensitive is so yesterday. Multi-touch, capacitance displays which can utilize a special capacitance pen seem to be the next stage.
Pressure sensitive is so yesterday. Multi-touch, capacitance displays which can utilize a special capacitance pen seem to be the next stage.
If you don't draw or do graphics, I can see you point.
However, if you DO do graphics (as I do), pressure sensitivity is a MUST! At this point, multi-touch is extremely limited. HOW the display reacts AFTER multi-touch is used (iPhone/touch scrolling, for instance) has less to do with multi-touch triggers than it does with how other interface elements react afterward and other related factors.
Having both pressure sensitivity AND multi-touch would be a revelation.
However, if you DO do graphics (as I do), pressure sensitivity is a MUST!
Mea culpa.
If you don't draw or do graphics, I can see you point.
However, if you DO do graphics (as I do), pressure sensitivity is a MUST! At this point, multi-touch is extremely limited. HOW the display reacts AFTER multi-touch is used (iPhone/touch scrolling, for instance) has less to do with multi-touch triggers than it does with how other interface elements react afterward and other related factors.
Having both pressure sensitivity AND multi-touch would be a revelation.
Um...the pen is typically the pressure sensitive element. You could get the display to do pressure sensitivity but it seems easier to just do both multitouch with a digitizer.
I can't wait for an updated Mini. I've been wanting to pick one up, but wanted a better GPU as well. It looks like I'm going to get what I want.
I think I'll get the lowest one again with 2GB Ram for home use - it would be nice if it's 2.1GHz. As usual, a good GPU, dual display support and a faster hard drive would be nice but I like my Mini way more than I ever could an iMac even as it is so I can live with it.
When SSD gets mainstream, I won't care about HDD. I'd take a 64GB SSD over a 250GB HDD any day simply for the performance increase. I'll use an external HDD for extra space.
I think I've completely gone off PC gaming for good now except for the classic games that you don't get on consoles. I reckon I'll get an XBox soon now that they've dropped in price. If the Mini is the same price, I will be able to get a 1680x1050 HDMI display, a Mini and an XBox 360 for less than the entry iMac and I should be able to use the HDMI display for the 360 too.
Question now is when is this long awaited update due? Tuesday?
The smartest thing they could do would be to dump the form factor and make the damn thing big enough to use desktop parts, specifically a 3.5 hard drive and a desktop optical drive. But they haven't ever been smart with this model.
At the very least, up the ram. And dual monitor support would be huge.
I have a mini and I like it, but I have to admit I'd rather see apple just dump the model in favor of a larger (and better...and probably cheaper as well) unit.
Yes, that really is the one glaring mistake with the mini... Apple squeezed the dimensions so hard that they put the machine into a very unfavorable situation with cost/performance tradeoffs. If for no other reason than that, the mini should get a 3.5" HDD and seeing that the Apple TV has one, so should the next mini.
Let's hope the engineering team really is going to pull the trigger with an new case. The current case is what keeps the mini from being all that it could be and consumers would like it to be.
I considered a Mini for a while but then found a deal on a used iMac and picked that up instead. But no matter how "cool" the Mac is, I can't seem to get away from my AMD PC. It's gotten to the point where I do all my Torrenting, movie watching via HDMI to TV, movie file converting, even iTunes, I simply do it more efficiently on my PC.
So to put it clearly, after giving a Mac a try, I'm simply not that impressed.
Enjoy your virii.
If for no other reason than that, the mini should get a 3.5" HDD and seeing that the Apple TV has one, so should the next mini.
Let's hope the engineering team really is going to pull the trigger with an new case. The current case is what keeps the mini from being all that it could be and consumers would like it to be.
The AppleTV has a 2.5" 40 or 160GB HDD; Time Capsule has the 3.5" 500 or 1000GB HDD.
Enjoy your [viruses].
If you don't draw or do graphics, I can see you point.
However, if you DO do graphics (as I do), pressure sensitivity is a MUST! At this point, multi-touch is extremely limited. HOW the display reacts AFTER multi-touch is used (iPhone/touch scrolling, for instance) has less to do with multi-touch triggers than it does with how other interface elements react afterward and other related factors.
Having both pressure sensitivity AND multi-touch would be a revelation.
For graphics work, frankly I'd rather use a Wacom-style pressure sensitive pen. Poking at a screen with your fingers all day is not something I'd look forward to.
You can always pick up an external DVD burner/drive and attach via USB or firewire. Most drives will work with OS X directly or at least with Toast. You can also get a Super Drive and replace the combo drive in the mini if you feel comfortable with pulling one apart or have someone do it for you at a local Mac shop that does repairs.
I have a C2D Mini, with an external DVD burner (that I pulled from my PC desktop), and it was cheap, and it does well. The case cost like $25 through newegg, couldn't be happier with it.
But adding external devices, to a small, confined device, makes the whole aesthetic moot IMO.
I agree with minderbinder, but Apple is probably too dense/full of "form factor > all smugness, to notice the market that doesn't want an AIO or a laptop, but wants something more than a Mini and can't rationalize (or afford) the Mac Pro.
Switching to desktop components could let Apple make the $499 mini many people have asked for. 3.5" hard drives, desktop CPUs and standard DIMMs rather than SO-DIMMs all cost less than the components used in the current mini. I sure wouldn't mind stuffing a terabyte drive inside a mini instead of the four USB externals and their jungle of cables that I have to suffer right now for 2.25TB.
And why is Apple so damn stingy with USB ports? Even cheap PC mobos have eight or ten ports, while Apple gives us only four. Wasn't Apple the forward-looking company that first put USB ports on all its models? Yet they seem to be saying that we don't need that many USB devices. Not all of us want to go Bluetooth and have to worry about more batteries in our mice and keyboards.
As for Firewire 800, it's history. Let it go. Apple would be much better off putting in an eSATA port. There are already some people who added it to the current mini and it's a lot faster than FW800. Two of my external enclosures already have eSATA connectors and I'd love to use them instead of adding yet another 7-port USB hub.
Apple Inc.'s Mac mini, a tiny desktop system previously pegged for extinction, won't fade into the distance after all, at least not yet.
...
International resellers have recently begun clearing stock of existing iMac models in anticipation of the update.
[ View this article at AppleInsider.com ]
Of all the Apple computers that I have owned (from the beginning of the line), this is the one that non-Apple users are most surprised (impressed) by. In my scientific work, this is the perfect system. I am very pleased that I have put the mini to use. (I have Ubuntu running quite well on it too - not as nice as OS X but interesting).
DisplayPort would be great. I think we leave the HDMI for Apple TV.
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR??
Wireless 802.11N?
Super Drive as standard? ( About fxxking time )