DisplayPort, 802.11n, and the Nvidea chipset are nearly certain. DDR3 and the removal of FireWire seem very likley. 128GB SSD might be a BTO option. 2GB RAM might be integrated as with the MacBook Air.
Yup agree with everything you said. They will 100% be going for a smaller (thinner) unit, as Apple is always about the "thinness". And with the certainty of MagSafe, as others have said it'll be the perfect companion for the new 24" display - a computer and display which together just requires one power plug (like the iMac).
I was surprised at the amount of conversation that the Mac Mini was dead and we would know some time around the new Macbook range. That was clearly to do with the notebook market. The Mini is a Desktop hence announcements would happen when the desktops are updated.
My feeling is that we will see something similar to the White Macbook thing happen. The mini will be kept on. Little changed and it will be cheaper. That will be sad because it really needs a graphics upgrade.
I can't imagine that Apple would put a Magsafe adaptor on the mini. Think of how many 24" monitors would be needed in that server farm.
How would that MagSafe change anything? Of course they would ship it with MagSafe power adapter, as they do with laptops, the only need for 24" monitor would come from displayport, and the consensus seems to be that it is the way forward, and also I don't see too many dvi monitors in that server room either.
How would that MagSafe change anything? Of course they would ship it with MagSafe power adapter, as they do with laptops, the only need for 24" monitor would come from displayport, and the consensus seems to be that it is the way forward, and also I don't see too many dvi monitors in that server room either.
I thought the Mac Mini has an in built power supply with a standard power cord for connection? What would be the point of a MagSafe connector unless they were going to give it a brick like they did to the AppleTV. Unless they can make it the size of the notebooks I think it would tick people off... Unless they make it thinner.
I'm still hoping for a Blu-ray drive and FireWire.
If they did that I'd buy one for sure. And it would even get me to buy my very first Blu-ray movie, too. I have no interest in getting a stand-along Blu-ray player and cluttering up my home theater.
But if they drop FW, then no combination of other specs would get me to buy one. Too much money invested in FW hard drives. And even if I had all USB drives, I'm not sure I'd want to connect a half-dozen drives to a single computer via USB.
The mini has a place. Apple did say they couldn't build a quality computer for $500. Since the minis sell for $600, it makes me think Apple considered this in make the statement.
And if business to consumer sales are indeed 2 to 1, I'd imagine Apple would keep firewire on the units, though probably keep to FW400. Besides, from some of what I've read on the FW omission on the MacBook, space seemed to play has much of a role as anything else.
Another thought is that Apple may have considered scraping the mini, but may have decided that in these current times, to continue to expand the user base, having a sub $1000 system makes sense.
I thought the Mac Mini has an in built power supply with a standard power cord for connection? What would be the point of a MagSafe connector unless they were going to give it a brick like they did to the AppleTV. Unless they can make it the size of the notebooks I think it would tick people off... Unless they make it thinner.
Ok, That is a valid point, I always assumed, that mini had external power supply to begin with, but one learns something new everyday. Still I think that extracting the power supply and using MagSafe could be right way forward. They might be able to use same power brick in mini as they use with laptops and as you said that would allow them to build even smaller case, or maybe allow using full size hard drives.
I thought the Mac Mini has an in built power supply with a standard power cord for connection? What would be the point of a MagSafe connector unless they were going to give it a brick like they did to the AppleTV. Unless they can make it the size of the notebooks I think it would tick people off... Unless they make it thinner.
The mini does have an external brick. A rather large brick at that.
I thought the Mac Mini has an in built power supply with a standard power cord for connection? What would be the point of a MagSafe connector unless they were going to give it a brick like they did to the AppleTV.
The Mac Mini has an external white power "brick" which is about as wide as the Mini, half the height and half the depth. It takes mains power in one side and feeds the Mac Mini something like 24V DC on the other side (don't have mine handy to check). For the Intel models, the power supply is rated at 110W.
Replacing it with a MagSafe and reducing the maximum power consumption to 85W (same as the MacBook Pro) would be a good idea, as the same power adapter can then be used, and the power adapter is much smaller.
This would also mate nicely with the new 24" display. They could even make the power adapter a "negative build-to-order" option - anyone buying the screen at the same time could choose to forgo a separate power adapter for the Mini.
85W might not be enough to allow for the idea of putting two hard drives in the Mini. I'm inclined to expect something like a minor external revision of the current model, with technical specs similar to the new MacBooks, but hopefully retaining the Firewire port.
An argument against MagSafe: unless the Mini gains an internal battery, popping off the MagSafe plug would be instant shutdown.
I'll have another... with superdrive, please. No regrets, no hiccups after two years.
Agreed... My G4 Mini was in use at the office for two years until it was replaced with an Intel Mini a year ago. The G4 has been running for a year at home as a media server to push content to my Apple TV. It's been running for three years constantly and hasn't had a single problem.
It's a perfect machine for the office (because who needs a high-end GPU for editing documents, and sending email). In addition to the normal office tasks, I'm running a mysql server, Apache webserver and an Oracle client for php connectivity to several internal databases. The thing is amazing (and since it's my personal machine, I'd never be able to get away with something so obvious as an iMac on my desk).
Comments
In my opinion:
DisplayPort, 802.11n, and the Nvidea chipset are nearly certain. DDR3 and the removal of FireWire seem very likley. 128GB SSD might be a BTO option. 2GB RAM might be integrated as with the MacBook Air.
Yup agree with everything you said. They will 100% be going for a smaller (thinner) unit, as Apple is always about the "thinness". And with the certainty of MagSafe, as others have said it'll be the perfect companion for the new 24" display - a computer and display which together just requires one power plug (like the iMac).
I want!
Hopefully the dual HD thing means they are rebranding it as a "home server" instead of a low cost desktop.
They are great for this. Quiet as a mouse and able to boot up without monitor attached.
How do you shut the thing down 'properly' without a monitor for the menu access?
My feeling is that we will see something similar to the White Macbook thing happen. The mini will be kept on. Little changed and it will be cheaper. That will be sad because it really needs a graphics upgrade.
How do you shut the thing down 'properly' without a monitor for the menu access?
To shutdown (halt):
$ sudo shutdown -h now
To reboot:
$ sudo shutdown -r now
I can't imagine that Apple would put a Magsafe adaptor on the mini. Think of how many 24" monitors would be needed in that server farm.
How would that MagSafe change anything? Of course they would ship it with MagSafe power adapter, as they do with laptops, the only need for 24" monitor would come from displayport, and the consensus seems to be that it is the way forward, and also I don't see too many dvi monitors in that server room either.
How would that MagSafe change anything? Of course they would ship it with MagSafe power adapter, as they do with laptops, the only need for 24" monitor would come from displayport, and the consensus seems to be that it is the way forward, and also I don't see too many dvi monitors in that server room either.
I thought the Mac Mini has an in built power supply with a standard power cord for connection? What would be the point of a MagSafe connector unless they were going to give it a brick like they did to the AppleTV. Unless they can make it the size of the notebooks I think it would tick people off... Unless they make it thinner.
I'm still hoping for a Blu-ray drive and FireWire.
If they did that I'd buy one for sure. And it would even get me to buy my very first Blu-ray movie, too. I have no interest in getting a stand-along Blu-ray player and cluttering up my home theater.
But if they drop FW, then no combination of other specs would get me to buy one. Too much money invested in FW hard drives. And even if I had all USB drives, I'm not sure I'd want to connect a half-dozen drives to a single computer via USB.
And if business to consumer sales are indeed 2 to 1, I'd imagine Apple would keep firewire on the units, though probably keep to FW400. Besides, from some of what I've read on the FW omission on the MacBook, space seemed to play has much of a role as anything else.
Another thought is that Apple may have considered scraping the mini, but may have decided that in these current times, to continue to expand the user base, having a sub $1000 system makes sense.
I thought the Mac Mini has an in built power supply with a standard power cord for connection? What would be the point of a MagSafe connector unless they were going to give it a brick like they did to the AppleTV. Unless they can make it the size of the notebooks I think it would tick people off... Unless they make it thinner.
Ok, That is a valid point, I always assumed, that mini had external power supply to begin with, but one learns something new everyday. Still I think that extracting the power supply and using MagSafe could be right way forward. They might be able to use same power brick in mini as they use with laptops and as you said that would allow them to build even smaller case, or maybe allow using full size hard drives.
They could keep prices down by removing the optical drive altogether. I don't even use mine any more.
We would still need an optical drive to upgrade to a new OS X. External optical? Upgrades on a flash drive?
I thought the Mac Mini has an in built power supply with a standard power cord for connection? What would be the point of a MagSafe connector unless they were going to give it a brick like they did to the AppleTV. Unless they can make it the size of the notebooks I think it would tick people off... Unless they make it thinner.
The mini does have an external brick. A rather large brick at that.
I thought the Mac Mini has an in built power supply with a standard power cord for connection? What would be the point of a MagSafe connector unless they were going to give it a brick like they did to the AppleTV.
The Mac Mini has an external white power "brick" which is about as wide as the Mini, half the height and half the depth. It takes mains power in one side and feeds the Mac Mini something like 24V DC on the other side (don't have mine handy to check). For the Intel models, the power supply is rated at 110W.
Replacing it with a MagSafe and reducing the maximum power consumption to 85W (same as the MacBook Pro) would be a good idea, as the same power adapter can then be used, and the power adapter is much smaller.
This would also mate nicely with the new 24" display. They could even make the power adapter a "negative build-to-order" option - anyone buying the screen at the same time could choose to forgo a separate power adapter for the Mini.
85W might not be enough to allow for the idea of putting two hard drives in the Mini. I'm inclined to expect something like a minor external revision of the current model, with technical specs similar to the new MacBooks, but hopefully retaining the Firewire port.
An argument against MagSafe: unless the Mini gains an internal battery, popping off the MagSafe plug would be instant shutdown.
Some where I saw a mac mini mockup that looked like a shrunk mac pro. Does any know where I might find this Mockup?
Haven't seen it but I thought this teaser was cool.
I'll have another... with superdrive, please. No regrets, no hiccups after two years.
Agreed... My G4 Mini was in use at the office for two years until it was replaced with an Intel Mini a year ago. The G4 has been running for a year at home as a media server to push content to my Apple TV. It's been running for three years constantly and hasn't had a single problem.
It's a perfect machine for the office (because who needs a high-end GPU for editing documents, and sending email). In addition to the normal office tasks, I'm running a mysql server, Apache webserver and an Oracle client for php connectivity to several internal databases. The thing is amazing (and since it's my personal machine, I'd never be able to get away with something so obvious as an iMac on my desk).
I really hope it sticks around.