Apple resellers advised of 2-3 week delay on Mac mini orders

Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
As reports of forthcoming hardware refreshes continue to mount, Apple has braced its certified resellers for unusually long shipping times of two to three weeks for both models of its minute Mac mini desktop systems.



Both the low-end, 120GB hard drive Mac mini and the top-tier 320GB model now have a wait time of two to three weeks. Typically, the hardware ships in one to three business days for non-custom orders, people familiar with the online Apple Store for Resellers told AppleInsider.



It's latest piece of anecdotal evidence to suggest that Apple's rumored Mac hardware refreshes are due sometime this month. This week, Apple told its U.S. retail outlets that orders for many existing desktop Macs would go unhonored, and the models will not be restocked. AppleInsider was later advised the low-end Mac mini model has been discontinued, and availability of its replacement is expected to improve in the next few weeks.



High-volime resellers like Amazon, ClubMac, and MacMall, are currently sold out of the low-end Mac mini. In addition, neither have any iMacs available through their own inventories, except for the low-end model at ClubMac and MacMall.







All four of Apple's all-in-one aluminum iMac offerings are also expected to be replaced in a forthcoming product update. The iMac lineup currently has a delay of three to five business days for reseller online orders -- a wait longer than usual, but not entirely uncommon, one person said.



People familiar with Apple's Mac product roadmap have said the Cupertino-based company is ready and waiting with a redesigned iMac line, one that should turn up in the coming weeks. The new hardware is said to have a thinner industrial design, and will be available at more affordable prices. The hardware could also include support for Blu-ray discs.







Similarly, the 13-inch polycarbonate MacBook also sports a wait time of three to five business days for resellers ordering direct from Apple. That product is also expected to see a refresh soon, as the Mac maker is expected to expand the low-cost lineup with new models at lower price points. Currently, the white MacBook is only available in one $999 model.







Slight delays have reportedly also hit the MacBook Pro lineup. On Thursday, their wait time was changed from a few days to a three-to-five-day turnaround time. It's unclear if these delays are indicative of any changes.
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 58
    jazzgurujazzguru Posts: 6,435member
    It would be cool if the iMac finally lost its "chin" and looked just like any other Apple display from the front.
  • Reply 2 of 58
    Weird, I still see 1-3 days on both Minis. I wonder if they will be getting a real desktop chip this time
  • Reply 3 of 58
    I'm all over on of the new iMac's. Obviously I'm buying into the speculation but I have a feeling they'll look great. Here's to hoping they look like a slightly fatter 24" LED Display. In a size greater than 24" would be great too



    (And I'm one of the minority here who actually like glossy)
  • Reply 4 of 58
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    I say that because I'm expecting a big step forward on the iMacs. As to the Mini I'm not sure if it will be revamped or replaced. In any event Clarksfield or Xeon in the iMac would be sweet indeed. Couple that with a GT200 based GPU and you will have GCD and OpenCL covered for a couple of years. Add an LED backlight screen and a woody will be sprung.



    The Mini on the otherhand is a different story. I'm not sure Clarksfield can go in there as it might be a bit to hot. I could see Apple growing the Mini vertically to enable better cooling or just scraping the case entirely. What is interesting is the 2-3 week delay here, if a simple processor bump was in order they could simply do a silent upgrade as they have in the past. This has caused me to rethink a bit and to suspect something major with the Mini.



    My big concern with either platform is the proper heatsinking of the processor as it has been shown in benchmarking that Turbo Boost is questionable if the processor runs to hot. Since this is Apple you can see where my concerns lie.





    Dave
  • Reply 5 of 58
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by technohermit View Post


    Weird, I still see 1-3 days on both Minis. I wonder if they will be getting a real desktop chip this time



    You know the speed difference between a Core2Duo 2.0ghz/1066/6mb laptop CPU and a Core2Duo 2.0ghz/1066/6mb desktop cpu is? NADA. The only difference is SpeedStep and TDP. IE: Less heat and less power to run it. So the desktop chip would not be good for a company putting it's green foot forward... Nor in the iMac.



    Nah, there gonna go warp speed with the new Core series laptop CPU's. They are socket compatible and it would silly-stupid to pay the same price for a lower spec cpu. I think after the 2 year no update fiasco Apple learned a little lesson in early 2009... Update the Mini and they will buy. At $599 it's profitable to make and at the price point faster than most PC's which run the slower, older, more profitable cpu's... Yet they produce less on the balance sheet, Why's That? Simple, Windows cost more to support.
  • Reply 6 of 58
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    I say that because I'm expecting a big step forward on the iMacs. As to the Mini I'm not sure if it will be revamped or replaced. In any event Clarksfield or Xeon in the iMac would be sweet indeed. Couple that with a GT200 based GPU and you will have GCD and OpenCL covered for a couple of years. Add an LED backlight screen and a woody will be sprung.



    That GT260 and 280 are something! Heat in the mini with that GPU and Core series would be questionable but doable. Apple uses a heat sink on CPU, which when a Laptop CPU is used in that manner produces a very cool system. Watching the temps on the new nVidia Mini it never exceeds 155*F. And that's with a Lacie HD mounted below it. Most PC companies use the fluid thermal heatsink system common on PC laptops, however not Apple laptops...



    Looking at the Mini (back side) you could move the USB ports to the bottom, under the logic board, this would then make room for more cooling techniques to be employed. You still have to work with that riser card but that can be moved to a flat ribbon cable if need be.



    One little note, the 750gb 2.5" SATA Drive fits in the MacMini's perfectly and snug. Just an FYI.
  • Reply 7 of 58
    I dont want to wait for mac minis i want them nowww. Lol although if they upgrade processor and have more options then that would be a definate plus!!!
  • Reply 8 of 58
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by DKWalsh4 View Post


    I'm all over on of the new iMac's. Obviously I'm buying into the speculation but I have a feeling they'll look great.



    I'm not even in the market right now even so I'm expecting great things for iMac. I've never really object to the external look but rather have been appalled at the state of the internals. Apple has a chance here to pull iMac out of the performance gutter it is in. That would make me happy and frankly allow me to reccomend iMacs again.

    Quote:

    Here's to hoping they look like a slightly fatter 24" LED Display. In a size greater than 24" would be great too



    Yeah a bigger screen would be nice but they need to keep the pixel density the same. This means a lot more pixels on screen and thus the need for a better GPU. Something in the 28 to 30" inch range would do.

    Quote:



    (And I'm one of the minority here who actually like glossy)



    You are not in the minority here at all!!! Most of the glossy whining comes from a few people on this sight with an over abundance of self importance. This talk from somebody with a matte MBP. Matte screens may have an advantage or two but they also are huge with disadvantages. In any event I believe Apple when they say the majority of the market favors the glossier screens.



    Now if Apple really wanted to innovate they would come up with a tuneable screen where one could adjust the Matteness to suit the user and location. I have no idea how that could be done at the moment. Just realize you aren't alone in your preference.







    Dave
  • Reply 9 of 58
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by caljomac View Post


    I dont want to wait for mac minis i want them nowww. Lol although if they upgrade processor and have more options then that would be a definate plus!!!



    Giggity!
  • Reply 10 of 58
    mactelmactel Posts: 1,275member
    I wouldn't mind a Mini without an optical disk. An SD card reader would be good enough like the one in the MacBook Pros. The form factor can get even smaller then.
  • Reply 11 of 58
    rayboraybo Posts: 42member
    xxxxx
  • Reply 12 of 58
    jazzgurujazzguru Posts: 6,435member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by MacTel View Post


    I wouldn't mind a Mini without an optical disk. An SD card reader would be good enough like the one in the MacBook Pros. The form factor can get even smaller then.



    As soon as the majority of software companies start releasing software on SD cards, I'd be all for that. But I wouldn't want to have to use an external optical drive with a Mac Mini. Kind of defeats the purpose of getting a desktop machine with such a small form factor, IMO.
  • Reply 13 of 58
    sheffsheff Posts: 1,407member
    If all macs are experiencing these supply issues, this is starting to look like a pretty significant revamp of the mac line, almost as big as the Intel Transition. I guess I can explain this by Jobs wanting to get as much done while he is still with us, but there is something fishy about this.



    One thing is that there is still absolutely no event announcement from Apple itself. A silent refresh with all the features touted (blu ray, losing the chin and so on) would be unwise, almost impossible.



    Also, where are the reports of renting out a pace for this presentation.



    I am all for a new chinless iMac (i don't really have a use for blu ray at this point), I would also like to see an MacTV mini, a sort of combination of Apple TV and Mac Mini with a hybrid user interface.

    It could be interesting to see the BlackBook come back on the plastic side.

    As far as pro models I would say those are in good position.
  • Reply 14 of 58
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jazzguru View Post


    It would be cool if the iMac finally lost its "chin" and looked just like any other Apple display from the front.



    No chin would be cool but where would the inards go? But the chin loss would definitely mean no more racoon black eye- yech.
  • Reply 15 of 58
    mpantonempantone Posts: 2,033member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by technohermit View Post


    Weird, I still see 1-3 days on both Minis. I wonder if they will be getting a real desktop chip this time



    Highly unlikely.



    Apple has been pushing the Mac mini as a low-power "green" computer. Installing a desktop CPU would increase power consumption which would increase power usage as well as cause increase temperatures. The Mac mini case is pretty tight and doesn't really have room for a large heatsink, nor would they want to install a noisier fan.



    If anything, they would switch to the newly-announced quad-core Core i7 mobile processor (45nm Clarksfield architecture). Using a desktop processor makes no sense in the direction Apple is trying to take this product line.
  • Reply 16 of 58
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by xwiredtva View Post


    That GT260 and 280 are something! Heat in the mini with that GPU and Core series would be questionable but doable.



    I was thinking iMac for the GT200 series actually. Fitting such into the mini would be difficult as you note. The thing here is that it is doable if they raise the roof so to speak. The other issue is the external power supply. Upping the power demand might require a new connector and power supply. It might make sense to go to ATI here with the hopes that the GPU would be cooler. Unfortunately I'd be concerned about OpenCL performance with ATIs lower end GPUs.



    Of course much of this depends upon what CPU ends up in the Mini. I actually thought it would get a minor bump, but this huge shipment delay would seem to indicate otherwise.

    Quote:

    Apple uses a heat sink on CPU, which when a Laptop CPU is used in that manner produces a very cool system. Watching the temps on the new nVidia Mini it never exceeds 155*F.



    That is like 69 degrees C., more than half way to boiling water and is exactly what I'm concerned about. With out a cool processor the Clarksfield won't turbo boost or won't for very long, this leads to bad performance. So bad that a Core 2 isn't far behind. What Apple needs is a heatsink that allows for Turbo Boost operation for at least ten minutes at a time with the processor running flat out.



    I only worry about this as Apple has a history of running CPUs hotter than average. In some cases performance suffers because of this when thermal throttling sets in. Look at the AIR for the most recent example.

    Quote:

    And that's with a Lacie HD mounted below it. Most PC companies use the fluid thermal heatsink system common on PC laptops, however not Apple laptops...



    Why all the jumping around to laptops? We are talking about expectations related to desktop machines.

    Quote:



    Looking at the Mini (back side) you could move the USB ports to the bottom, under the logic board, this would then make room for more cooling techniques to be employed. You still have to work with that riser card but that can be moved to a flat ribbon cable if need be.



    It will be interesting to see Apples take on the problem. Personally I'd love to see them scrape the optical drive, this would free up a huge amount of space in the case for air flow management and maybe make room for some desktop components like RAM.



    Depending upon the hardware selected though they might actuall lower the Minis power foot print. However the issue here is that the point loads for some chips will increase so the cooling problem becomes more difficult even though overall power goes down.

    Quote:



    One little note, the 750gb 2.5" SATA Drive fits in the MacMini's perfectly and snug. Just an FYI.



    Yeah I have to admit storage is becoming far less of a problem for base usage. I do wish however that a second Ethernet port be added to take care of interfaceing to the new Drobo. Apple will likely not bother though if they have an optical solution coming.



    I'd actually like to see them go this route on the iMac that is high capacity notebook drives. The difference is they need to provide provision for drive bays for easy expansion. Pluse that form factor is where a lot of interesting SSD are. Considering how much smaller the PC boards will be with Clarksfield I could see iMac easily supporting three bays for laptop drives.





    Dave
  • Reply 17 of 58
    teckstudteckstud Posts: 6,476member
    Who knew the Minis would be getting so much attention. I'm hoping it gets serious power and a blu-ray option with HDMI (at a low price too) and I can kiss my AppleTV goodbye. Ouch- I burned my lips!
  • Reply 18 of 58
    mpantonempantone Posts: 2,033member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by teckstud View Post


    Who knew the Minis would be getting so much attention. I'm hoping it gets serious power and a blu-ray option with HDMI (at a low price too) and I can kiss my AppleTV goodbye. Ouch- I burned my lips!



    With expectations like those, you are pretty much guarantee yourself disappointment.



    Apple is squared placed the Mac mini as a low-power "green" computer. It's not getting a desktop processor and super-fancy GPU. Look for a quad-core mobile chip, but desktop processors with big heatsinks and big noisy fans are unrealistic. Same with fancy graphics.



    Blu-ray is still a bag of pain. You will see Blu-ray players on pro systems (MacPro and MacBook Pro) before you see it on the entry-level headless mini.
  • Reply 19 of 58
    wizard69wizard69 Posts: 13,377member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by sheff View Post


    If all macs are experiencing these supply issues, this is starting to look like a pretty significant revamp of the mac line, almost as big as the Intel Transition. I guess I can explain this by Jobs wanting to get as much done while he is still with us, but there is something fishy about this.



    Really this just bends me the wrong way. I doubt very much that Jobs will be sceduling things around when he thinks his death will occur. More likely, he like the rest of us is planning to live as long as possible.



    Then your statements about this being fishy is way of base and tells us all you are whoafully uninformed. Intel just released the chips that would be ideal for these machines. What would be fishy is for Apple not to have anything to offer up.

    Quote:



    One thing is that there is still absolutely no event announcement from Apple itself. A silent refresh with all the features touted (blu ray, losing the chin and so on) would be unwise, almost impossible.



    if release is 19 days away I'd say they have plenty of time.

    Quote:



    Also, where are the reports of renting out a pace for this presentation.



    I am all for a new chinless iMac (i don't really have a use for blu ray at this point), I would also like to see an MacTV mini, a sort of combination of Apple TV and Mac Mini with a hybrid user interface.



    I would rather see an iPhone compatible Apple TV. The idea being to have a remote Touch input device but a large screen experience. In part this would leverage games for the iPhone but also those for the tablet. Some of Apples other iPhone features wouldn't be half bad on AppleTV either.



    As to the Mini, it could get buy with the same case as AppleTV but it needs a lot more performance. AppleTV could get buy nicely with a dual core ARM running at very low power, a Mini will still be in need of fast processors and the like. They are different devices in my mind.

    Quote:

    It could be interesting to see the BlackBook come back on the plastic side.

    As far as pro models I would say those are in good position.



    Actually I would like the MacBooks to go back to the rugged portable machine of the past. Maybe even incorporating a carrying handle again.





    Dave
  • Reply 20 of 58
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by wizard69 View Post


    That is like 69 degrees C., more than half way to boiling water and is exactly what I'm concerned about.



    Why all the jumping around to laptops? We are talking about expectations related to desktop machines. I do wish however that a second Ethernet port be added to take care of interfaceing to the new Drobo. Apple will likely not bother though if they have an optical solution coming.



    Dave



    (Home Theater mini) That's full bore at 155. Generally it hums along between 106-122*F. Full tilt is Serving up Simpifymedia, iTunes sharing to two other devices, ripping down a DVD and encoding music I ripped down on another Mac. Full Bore. What's odd is the old CD machine would up the fan speed quicker than this one... But I am using SMC Fan Control on SL so maybe that's my problem. I don't hear the fans kicking on at all. The Mini's we use at the office, I've only seen mine exceed 120* for a little bit, think 127* or around there. The HT Mini can run 1080p movies all day long and stay very cool.



    A switch to a ceramic composite heat sink system could easily be added and get even cooler. Dump the thermal pad and use a decent paste and you'll get even better (yes they use a PAD of foam between the CPU and heatsink--- Not my first choice but think Mass Production).



    Jumping to laptops... Sorry was thinking about cooling techniques and how others keep laptop cpu's cool.



    They do sell a USB Ethernet adapter for the MacBook Air that does work on the Mini.... Your still stuck at half duplex speeds but it would offer a second port.
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