If Apple removes Firewire from the Minis, I will have bought my last Mac. At least they should include Firewire 800 for people to connect a better hard drive, given that the 2.5" drive is barely decent enough to last 2 years...
I may just get me a used Mini or a closeout model on Apple's store...
It certainly makes business sense for Apple to buy huge numbers of one chipset for use in all but one of their models. Use of an Nvidia chipset in the iMac doesn't mean that machine won't have a discrete ATI GPU, either.
After the notebook releases it should have been pretty obvious that Nvidias new baby was going into the Minis replacement. It is an almost ideal upgrade for the low end machine. This being a desktop though you have to wonder about the exact implementation.
By this I mean is the 9400M going into the Mini an exact copy or has it been tweaked. The first thought is that they could bump clock rate to boost graphical performance a bit. The second possibility is a few more execution units. While there is no need to blow out GPU performance on the Mini the IMac is a different story altogether. To put it mildly the iMacs need better performance than the Mini and moreso need a considerable boost over the old machines.
The only reason I even bother with this speculation is that Nvidia has already said that the 9400M started out as a desktop chip. So it does not seem unreasonable to believe that a more capable member of the 9400 family has been implemented. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if there is a variant with an interface to desktop processors. This potentially could blow out iMac performance.
OK speculation off now. The reality is that I simply don't know what is up. I do wish though that Apple would throw off it's image of introducing midly state of the art desktops. It is about time Apples desktops compete on performance.
All I'm hoping for is a new keyboard and a new mouse. The keys on the new notebooks are MUCH better than the ones on my iMac keyboard and on my white macbook, so I'd love to buy an upgrade with black keys for my alu iMac. Also, the Mighty Mouse is an abomination. The only Apple product I'd call an utter piece of shit. You can buy mice from other manufacturers at half the price that are twice as good. Just as I was scrolling through this thread, the crolldown locked up again. I've been able to "fix" it once again, but it's awful that have to clean the ball every month at least once cause it locks up again... Also, the click is way too loud and sounds very cheap and precision is very lackluster.
I'm so excited... I think I'm going to have a New Mini as my Network Media Player. I will be equally excited if it uses a MagSafe Connector so it works magically with my new LED Cinema Display.
I've nothing against mice, but I prefer the trackpad on my MBP.
What I'd really like is a wireless Bluetooth trackpad to match the Apple wireless keyboard. I have a Mac Mini in the lounge and use the wireless keyboard and mouse with it (or sometimes VNC from my laptop) but have you ever tried to use a mouse on your knee or the armrest of a sofa?? A wireless trackpad with multitouch would be wonderful!
In a way I can kinda understand why the Mac Book doesn't have Firewire but I'm not certain the same reasoning holds for the Mini. On the Mac Book they trimmed costs, in my estimation, to pay for the expensive machined housing of the Mac Book. I've gone over this in my head many times and the brick process strikes me as expensive. This the chopping of excess parts.
The mini shouldn't have this problem as Apple has many more choices with respect to case fabrication. Both die cast and stamped cases should be much cheaper if they even go metal. I see it as the difference between paying 3 or 4 dollars per case or 30 to 40 dollars. Something had to give to keep the Mac Books price competitive.
In anyevent I haven't seen anything yet that says Apple is giving up on Firewire. That could be the case in the future but for atleast the next two years what would the alternatives be? USB2.0 nope!
In any event I do hope that I'm right as the loss of Firewire would be a huge negative.
Also, when you think about it, it makes no sense to upgrade the entire line to this faster graphics system yet leave out the one device that deals exclusively with graphics and multimedia, so we can also hope for an Apple TV redesign as well even though nothing has really been mentioned on that front.
...
But the Apple TV already has nVidia inside. It has an nVidia G72M handling video decoding/display alongside the Pentium M 1GHz CPU, according to reports. I would like to see it get a bump in CPU, RAM, and graphics but I'm guessing they feel it's fine as-is for handling the stock applications and H.264, etc. video decoding. It just gets a bit slow and RAM-strapped when you start piling on the goodies like Boxee/XBMC, decoders, emulators, etc.
The Mac Pro is waiting for introduction of the Gainestown processor, the Xeon version of the Core i7. Intel originally planned to introduce it this year, but has pushed it back to next quarter so I wouldn't count on seeing a new Mac Pro before April.
I'm hoping they make the iMac hard drive accessible and use LED backlit H-IPS displays. That might be enough to get me to stop waiting for a mini-tower.
Unfortunately the iMac only has a single drive bay so I'll need more external hard drives than I already have, but it'll still be a lot cheaper than a Mac Pro.
A new keyboard w/ black keys and black power chord would complete the iMac look.
I ditched Apple mice a while back in favor of Logitech's VX Revolution, which has long battery life and a wonderful alloy scroll wheel. I only wish the scroll had a finer grit, like Apple's nipple. Bonus: It's black and matches the iMac.
I was at a Xmas party last night and was peeking around the host's beautiful home and I spotted a 24" iMac on his office desk. My first reaction was "Damn, that's a sexy piece of hardware..." It was an odd reaction because I have the exact machine at home (and at the office).
Now that everyone brought it up, as I look around my desktop, there's an odd mix of old and new design aesthetic. White iPod bases, aluminum external hard drives, white USB hubs, white cables all over.
Everything would look so much better in dark gray or black.
In anyevent I haven't seen anything yet that says Apple is giving up on Firewire. That could be the case in the future but for atleast the next two years what would the alternatives be? USB2.0 nope!
In any event I do hope that I'm right as the loss of Firewire would be a huge negative.
...But you just noted in your post that the MacBooks lost Firewire. Notice how the Air debuted with no Firewire at all, the iPhone debuted with no syncing (or even charging) over Firewire, all current iPods now lack Firewire syncing/charging, and the new 24" LED Cinema Display lacks the FW400 ports of previous iterations as well? The new MacBooks, Airs, and Pros all come with faster USB 2.0 ports (when compared to previous Macs), so the speed advantage of FW400 is negligible (which is the only thing most mainstream consumers care about).
However, if Apple had really wanted to kill Firewire entirely, they would have dropped FW800 from the new MacBook Pros too - they didn't. FW400's death has been a long time coming. I strongly doubt anything new from Apple will ship with FW400. FW800, yes, it's far better than USB 2.0, but not FW400.
Makes you wonder if they wouldn't have announced them in time for the holiday season if it weren't for MacWorld?
Because just like the MacBook, the updated iMac and Mac Mini will no longer have FireWire! There was originally a rumor on AI stating that these updates would be ready by November (in time for Christmas shopping season). Then Apple announce, no further updates for the year.
I think because of the large negative outcry over the lack of FW on the MacBooks these FireWire-less updates to the iMac and Mac Mini were put on ice... Until the Mac community cooled down some.
In a way I can kinda understand why the Mac Book doesn't have Firewire but I'm not certain the same reasoning holds for the Mini. On the Mac Book they trimmed costs, in my estimation, to pay for the expensive machined housing of the Mac Book. I've gone over this in my head many times and the brick process strikes me as expensive. This the chopping of excess parts.
The mini shouldn't have this problem as Apple has many more choices with respect to case fabrication. Both die cast and stamped cases should be much cheaper if they even go metal. I see it as the difference between paying 3 or 4 dollars per case or 30 to 40 dollars. Something had to give to keep the Mac Books price competitive.
In anyevent I haven't seen anything yet that says Apple is giving up on Firewire. That could be the case in the future but for atleast the next two years what would the alternatives be? USB2.0 nope!
In any event I do hope that I'm right as the loss of Firewire would be a huge negative.
Dave
I'd also add that there was a need to differentiate the MB from the MBP. Performance tests show that the two are very close in performance (except where the MBP's dedicated graphics come into play). If the MB had included FW, there would not have been enough differentiation between the two to justify the price difference. The reaction to the loss of FW proves that it's important enough to a lot of people that it alone would get them to spend money on the higher priced MBP.
Because just like the MacBook, the updated iMac and Mac Mini will no longer have FireWire! There was originally a rumor on AI stating that these updates would be ready by November (in time for Christmas shopping season). Then Apple announce, no further updates for the year.
I think because of the large negative outcry over the lack of FW on the MacBooks these FireWire-less updates to the iMac and Mac Mini were put on ice... Until the Mac community cooled down some.
Dave
No the iMac WILL have FW800. The Mac mini will likely drop FW. Apple is going to be positioning FW as a step up feature.
One way to entice Mac mini owners or potential owners to upgrade is going to be discrete graphics and FW800.
The next Mac Pro will likely have FW 3.2Gbps. We can't forget for the iMac is indeed suitable for running apps like Final Cut Pro and Logic Studio. You delete FW here and you're going to harm your sales.
Because just like the MacBook, the updated iMac and Mac Mini will no longer have FireWire! There was originally a rumor on AI stating that these updates would be ready by November (in time for Christmas shopping season). Then Apple announce, no further updates for the year.
I think because of the large negative outcry over the lack of FW on the MacBooks these FireWire-less updates to the iMac and Mac Mini were put on ice... Until the Mac community cooled down some.
Dave
Pfft, that's quite a stretch. The iMac has FW400 and FW800, just like the MacBook Pro. If Apple wanted FW800 dead, they would have killed it with the new MBP. The fact a vocal minority complained about the loss of FW400 wouldn't be enough to affect Apple's decisions when the mainstream majority doesn't even recognize the few benefits FW400 had left over Apple's use of faster USB 2.0 buses on their new Mac laptops.
Comments
I may just get me a used Mini or a closeout model on Apple's store...
By this I mean is the 9400M going into the Mini an exact copy or has it been tweaked. The first thought is that they could bump clock rate to boost graphical performance a bit. The second possibility is a few more execution units. While there is no need to blow out GPU performance on the Mini the IMac is a different story altogether. To put it mildly the iMacs need better performance than the Mini and moreso need a considerable boost over the old machines.
The only reason I even bother with this speculation is that Nvidia has already said that the 9400M started out as a desktop chip. So it does not seem unreasonable to believe that a more capable member of the 9400 family has been implemented. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if there is a variant with an interface to desktop processors. This potentially could blow out iMac performance.
OK speculation off now. The reality is that I simply don't know what is up. I do wish though that Apple would throw off it's image of introducing midly state of the art desktops. It is about time Apples desktops compete on performance.
Dave
iMac will have Firewire 800 and 256MB of discrete 9600 graphics for the 20" and 512MB for the 24"
I hope both cases are improved so that access to components is easier.
Let's hope for a Quad Core high end 24"
...Hopefully the new one omits the Jay Leno chin.
I like the Leno chin - it's perfect for multiple post it notes.
for (i = 1; i > 0; i++)
{
experienceJoy();
}
Mac mini will not have Firewire nor discrete graphics
iMac will have Firewire 800 and 256MB of discrete 9600 graphics for the 20" and 512MB for the 24"
I hope both cases are improved so that access to components is easier.
Let's hope for a Quad Core high end 24"
The base model will only have the 9400M but I would say the higher end models
will have the 9600 and 9800 desktop GPUs.
I'd love a new mouse.
I've nothing against mice, but I prefer the trackpad on my MBP.
What I'd really like is a wireless Bluetooth trackpad to match the Apple wireless keyboard. I have a Mac Mini in the lounge and use the wireless keyboard and mouse with it (or sometimes VNC from my laptop) but have you ever tried to use a mouse on your knee or the armrest of a sofa?? A wireless trackpad with multitouch would be wonderful!
The mini shouldn't have this problem as Apple has many more choices with respect to case fabrication. Both die cast and stamped cases should be much cheaper if they even go metal. I see it as the difference between paying 3 or 4 dollars per case or 30 to 40 dollars. Something had to give to keep the Mac Books price competitive.
In anyevent I haven't seen anything yet that says Apple is giving up on Firewire. That could be the case in the future but for atleast the next two years what would the alternatives be? USB2.0 nope!
In any event I do hope that I'm right as the loss of Firewire would be a huge negative.
Dave
...
Also, when you think about it, it makes no sense to upgrade the entire line to this faster graphics system yet leave out the one device that deals exclusively with graphics and multimedia, so we can also hope for an Apple TV redesign as well even though nothing has really been mentioned on that front.
...
But the Apple TV already has nVidia inside.
Good news all round. What about the Mac Pro?
The Mac Pro is waiting for introduction of the Gainestown processor, the Xeon version of the Core i7. Intel originally planned to introduce it this year, but has pushed it back to next quarter so I wouldn't count on seeing a new Mac Pro before April.
I'm hoping they make the iMac hard drive accessible and use LED backlit H-IPS displays. That might be enough to get me to stop waiting for a mini-tower.
Unfortunately the iMac only has a single drive bay so I'll need more external hard drives than I already have, but it'll still be a lot cheaper than a Mac Pro.
I ditched Apple mice a while back in favor of Logitech's VX Revolution, which has long battery life and a wonderful alloy scroll wheel. I only wish the scroll had a finer grit, like Apple's nipple. Bonus: It's black and matches the iMac.
I was at a Xmas party last night and was peeking around the host's beautiful home and I spotted a 24" iMac on his office desk. My first reaction was "Damn, that's a sexy piece of hardware..." It was an odd reaction because I have the exact machine at home (and at the office).
Now that everyone brought it up, as I look around my desktop, there's an odd mix of old and new design aesthetic. White iPod bases, aluminum external hard drives, white USB hubs, white cables all over.
Everything would look so much better in dark gray or black.
In anyevent I haven't seen anything yet that says Apple is giving up on Firewire. That could be the case in the future but for atleast the next two years what would the alternatives be? USB2.0 nope!
In any event I do hope that I'm right as the loss of Firewire would be a huge negative.
...But you just noted in your post that the MacBooks lost Firewire.
However, if Apple had really wanted to kill Firewire entirely, they would have dropped FW800 from the new MacBook Pros too - they didn't. FW400's death has been a long time coming. I strongly doubt anything new from Apple will ship with FW400. FW800, yes, it's far better than USB 2.0, but not FW400.
Makes you wonder if they wouldn't have announced them in time for the holiday season if it weren't for MacWorld?
Because just like the MacBook, the updated iMac and Mac Mini will no longer have FireWire! There was originally a rumor on AI stating that these updates would be ready by November (in time for Christmas shopping season). Then Apple announce, no further updates for the year.
I think because of the large negative outcry over the lack of FW on the MacBooks these FireWire-less updates to the iMac and Mac Mini were put on ice... Until the Mac community cooled down some.
Dave
In a way I can kinda understand why the Mac Book doesn't have Firewire but I'm not certain the same reasoning holds for the Mini. On the Mac Book they trimmed costs, in my estimation, to pay for the expensive machined housing of the Mac Book. I've gone over this in my head many times and the brick process strikes me as expensive. This the chopping of excess parts.
The mini shouldn't have this problem as Apple has many more choices with respect to case fabrication. Both die cast and stamped cases should be much cheaper if they even go metal. I see it as the difference between paying 3 or 4 dollars per case or 30 to 40 dollars. Something had to give to keep the Mac Books price competitive.
In anyevent I haven't seen anything yet that says Apple is giving up on Firewire. That could be the case in the future but for atleast the next two years what would the alternatives be? USB2.0 nope!
In any event I do hope that I'm right as the loss of Firewire would be a huge negative.
Dave
I'd also add that there was a need to differentiate the MB from the MBP. Performance tests show that the two are very close in performance (except where the MBP's dedicated graphics come into play). If the MB had included FW, there would not have been enough differentiation between the two to justify the price difference. The reaction to the loss of FW proves that it's important enough to a lot of people that it alone would get them to spend money on the higher priced MBP.
Because just like the MacBook, the updated iMac and Mac Mini will no longer have FireWire! There was originally a rumor on AI stating that these updates would be ready by November (in time for Christmas shopping season). Then Apple announce, no further updates for the year.
I think because of the large negative outcry over the lack of FW on the MacBooks these FireWire-less updates to the iMac and Mac Mini were put on ice... Until the Mac community cooled down some.
Dave
No the iMac WILL have FW800. The Mac mini will likely drop FW. Apple is going to be positioning FW as a step up feature.
One way to entice Mac mini owners or potential owners to upgrade is going to be discrete graphics and FW800.
The next Mac Pro will likely have FW 3.2Gbps. We can't forget for the iMac is indeed suitable for running apps like Final Cut Pro and Logic Studio. You delete FW here and you're going to harm your sales.
Because just like the MacBook, the updated iMac and Mac Mini will no longer have FireWire! There was originally a rumor on AI stating that these updates would be ready by November (in time for Christmas shopping season). Then Apple announce, no further updates for the year.
I think because of the large negative outcry over the lack of FW on the MacBooks these FireWire-less updates to the iMac and Mac Mini were put on ice... Until the Mac community cooled down some.
Dave
Pfft, that's quite a stretch. The iMac has FW400 and FW800, just like the MacBook Pro. If Apple wanted FW800 dead, they would have killed it with the new MBP. The fact a vocal minority complained about the loss of FW400 wouldn't be enough to affect Apple's decisions when the mainstream majority doesn't even recognize the few benefits FW400 had left over Apple's use of faster USB 2.0 buses on their new Mac laptops.