New MacBook Pros with 16GB RAM standard & faster CPUs rumored to launch Tuesday
Apple's MacBook Pro lineup, in both the 13- and 15-inch varieties, is now rumored to receive an update on Tuesday, following a leak that suggested all 15-inch models will come standard with 16 gigabytes of RAM.
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is said to be identified as model "J44a," according to French website MacG, which cited "confirmation" from a reliable source. The new 15-inch model is said to be identified as "J45a."
No other information on the new high-end MacBook Pro models was provided, though alleged in-store signage from China leaked on Sunday claiming to show the new 15-inch models will see slight CPU speed increases and will come with 16-gigabytes of RAM in all models. The alleged advertisement also seemed to suggest that the models would come at the same price points as the current offerings.
If true, that would fit in line with Apple's other Mac upgrades thus far this year, which have seen minor improvements in light of no major chip upgrades available from Intel. The hold-up is in Intel's next-generation chips, dubbed "Broadwell," which have seen numerous delays.
Intel has promised that the first Broadwell CPUs will hit the market before the end of the year, but it's unknown whether they would arrive in time, or in significant enough capacity, to power any new Macs.
In June, Apple launched a new $1,099 iMac, reaching a new price point with a low-end processor. Apple also dropped the price of its MacBook Air range in April, reaching a new entry price of $899 and increasing the speed of its processors by 100 megahertz.
Apple is expected to debut a new 12-inch MacBook model later this year with a Retina display. Speculation has suggested that this model might be a redesigned MacBook Air and the first to feature a pixel-packing screen, while some believe that Apple might be waiting for Intel's Broadwell CPUs to launch the rumored new model.
Broadwell is the codename used to refer to a 14-nanometer die shrink of Intel's existing 22-nanometer Haswell architecture. Intel says its new, smaller designs will bring a 30 percent reduction in power consumption while offering the same horsepower.
The 12-inch Retina MacBook Air is also rumored to sport a fan-less design, which would require cooler and more efficient CPUs. Apple is also expected to achieve an exceptionally thin design with a new click-less trackpad and fewer inputs and outputs.
The new 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display is said to be identified as model "J44a," according to French website MacG, which cited "confirmation" from a reliable source. The new 15-inch model is said to be identified as "J45a."
No other information on the new high-end MacBook Pro models was provided, though alleged in-store signage from China leaked on Sunday claiming to show the new 15-inch models will see slight CPU speed increases and will come with 16-gigabytes of RAM in all models. The alleged advertisement also seemed to suggest that the models would come at the same price points as the current offerings.
If true, that would fit in line with Apple's other Mac upgrades thus far this year, which have seen minor improvements in light of no major chip upgrades available from Intel. The hold-up is in Intel's next-generation chips, dubbed "Broadwell," which have seen numerous delays.
Intel has promised that the first Broadwell CPUs will hit the market before the end of the year, but it's unknown whether they would arrive in time, or in significant enough capacity, to power any new Macs.
In June, Apple launched a new $1,099 iMac, reaching a new price point with a low-end processor. Apple also dropped the price of its MacBook Air range in April, reaching a new entry price of $899 and increasing the speed of its processors by 100 megahertz.
Apple is expected to debut a new 12-inch MacBook model later this year with a Retina display. Speculation has suggested that this model might be a redesigned MacBook Air and the first to feature a pixel-packing screen, while some believe that Apple might be waiting for Intel's Broadwell CPUs to launch the rumored new model.
Broadwell is the codename used to refer to a 14-nanometer die shrink of Intel's existing 22-nanometer Haswell architecture. Intel says its new, smaller designs will bring a 30 percent reduction in power consumption while offering the same horsepower.
The 12-inch Retina MacBook Air is also rumored to sport a fan-less design, which would require cooler and more efficient CPUs. Apple is also expected to achieve an exceptionally thin design with a new click-less trackpad and fewer inputs and outputs.
Comments
Maybe I'll just downgrade it again; I only use it for watching videos as it's connected to the big screen in the living.
Could this also mean the Mini will be updated? I don't know anything about CPU roadmaps and rather ask here than to Google it. Mine is from 2011 and I upgraded the RAM to 8GB. With 10.9 it was only using 2, but I installed 10.10 and now it's using 5.5 after a clean boot without doing anything except Screen Sharing.
Maybe I'll just downgrade it again; I only use it for watching videos as it's connected to the big screen in the living.
This thing with the Mini kinda reminds me of the PowerBook G5. It was never updated properly and we always wish'd it arrive, but never did. I beginning to think its going to be the same way. I too would really like to see a Mac mini update.
I doubt they are coming back, especially since they now have more pixels on the Retina models that the 17" ever had. If you want a big screen you could stream to an AppleTV hooked up to... whatever.
Maybe, the old one used the same i7 CPU as the MBP at the time. It's not clear which dual-core they could use though. The ones in the 13" MBP are different now - they are ULT versions of the chips.
It's looking like it's EOL. The portable systems are driving sales. Without the Mini, the people who bought a Mini and are invested in the Mac ecosystem will simply buy higher priced Macs. The unit sales aren't high enough to worry about people switching to PCs or building hackintoshes.
Wow there! Really? If that turns out to be true I better take care of the little guy. In fact, I'll buy two more if it's announced that they are EOL'd. I use it for watching stuff...that I cough*download*cough from the *cough*. Because we don't have TV shows in iTunes at this side of the pond Apple! And only having Netflix on the Apple TV is not going to cut it!
Could this also mean the Mini will be updated? I don't know anything about CPU roadmaps and rather ask here than to Google it. Mine is from 2011 and I upgraded the RAM to 8GB. With 10.9 it was only using 2, but I installed 10.10 and now it's using 5.5 after a clean boot without doing anything except Screen Sharing.
Maybe I'll just downgrade it again; I only use it for watching videos as it's connected to the big screen in the living.
Since the chipsets used by the MBP and the MM are different, I think this rumor bears no bearing on the mini.
And for memory use... any memory use during an 'early' beta (e.g. anything less than RC2) is not an indicator of production release memory demand. and using 5.5 of 8 is, by every respect is 'wasting' 2.5GB;-), especially with the current memory management (I've found that with an SSD, my 2010 Mini with 8GB performs well at 7-8GB in use (Safari is my most violent offender), and I'm often at 7.5GB or higher, and with compression and other Mavericks memory management, I don't see any paging/swapping pressure that I was seeing when I was at pre-Mavericks.
For me the only reason to upgrade my Mini at this point would be a 4K graphics card... I'd love to drive 4 monitors off my Mini (I'm setting up a vid surveillance system, which should take 2 full screens [8 cams, plus a control and history scanning].)
Good point on the beta.
Mine still has a HDD in it, which is fine for my use, but for those who use it as their computer you really need a SSD; there's no denying, nor going back.
That will be one heck of a setup! Home use surveillance?
And for memory use... any memory use during an 'early' beta (e.g. anything less than RC2) is not an indicator of production release memory demand. and using 5.5 of 8 is, by every respect is 'wasting' 2.5GB;-), especially with the current memory management
The code in a beta release is likely built for debugging, not speed or optimized memory usage (the -O flags for those who know compilers). So I wouldn't use it as an indicator of what the final release will be like.
If they drop the mini, what are they gonna do about a server? Are they just going to assume any Mac can run The server app?
Still no 17" model
I'd love one, but I'm not holding my breath. Even when 4K screens are the norm I doubt Apple will bring back such a niche form factor. I'd love to be surprised though, I think next year is when I finally retire mine.
That usage scenario could be replaced by an $899 Air and you could watch shows in bed. You can Airplay the content from the MBA to a TV.
I wouldn't worry about the longevity of the Mini you have though, they are the most reliable machines Apple makes.
I like the Mac Mini and it was at one point my favorite machine in the lineup but portables are the way forward. The Retina MBP is IMO the best machine Apple currently makes. When the Air chips reach the CPU/GPU level of performance found in the current MBP in a fanless design and they manage full day battery life in a 14" or 15" form factor, I will consider that to be their best computer, even though the MBP would have a faster CPU/GPU option.
They'll know how many people buy not only the Mini Server but also OS X Server. If they determine that number to be too low to be worth supporting, they'll just discontinue it. One option they have to is to make a special product from iOS. They can make very low cost ARM hardware like the Apple TV and it can run iOS Server and perform all the functions of OS X Server. They can even merge it with their Airport product.
Good point on the beta.
Mine still has a HDD in it, which is fine for my use, but for those who use it as their computer you really need a SSD; there's no denying, nor going back.
That will be one heck of a setup! Home use surveillance?
SSD made all the difference. for $200 getting a 500GB SSD is a no brainer (although I torqued my DVD drive installing the drive... @#$#).
yes. I've got an 'old farmstead' inside a small city. 4 outbuildings, and lots of 'shadows'. My new camera setup will 'come alive' on my mac if detecting motion on any camera... I get a notification now for any of the 4 current cams (4 more on the way with 150' IR range for my perimeter, now I'm just watching the buildings). I get a lot of petty criminal stuff happening just outside my perimeter (mainly drunk and disorderly), and I want discourage that (the new camera processor has 'loiter detect' ['looks like a human, they're stopping... still there... trigger 'loiter' at location X'] and I can drive a canned speaker playback ['step away from the fence... '], and turning on perimeter [well, the porch or shop for now] lights to drive human response....).
My Mini now has 2 screens one dedicated to home/security automation (Indigo based).... I need at least 1 more (right now I have it stuffed into Spaces, so I can remote desktop in to view them), and a 4th would allow me to have my 'work' and my home all up at the same time.
The only thing I regretted when purchasing my 13" rMBP last year was that it didn't come with 16GBytes of RAM at the price point I could afford. With a few apps open the 8GBytes it did come with gets almost completely used up! I didn't know Mac's were such memory hogs! Being a former Windows user that is (who's glad he switched anyway).
8GB should be plenty. I use a non-retina MBP with 8GB of RAM all day long at work with Safari, Mail, Apple Remote Desktop, Workgroup Manager, Server, Messages, Spotify and sometimes even Parallels and it runs fine. What apps are you using? Normally OS X is not a memory hog.
Actually, go on and update everything except the MacPro, which I just bought.
I would consider a mini or a new iMac... VESA mounted... with Mavericks installed (yeah, I want to grab something before the Yosemite launch).
Could this also mean the Mini will be updated? I
Don't tease me. Every single day I lie in wait for a mini update. My 2012 model sorely needs more performance.
Apple can't be so stupid as to think of the mini as unimportant. Every single article posted on every single Apple-related website that mentions any sort of Mac update lately has people commenting, "Great, who cares, WHERE IS TEH MAC MINI?!"
Don't tease me. Every single day I lie in wait for a mini update. My 2012 model sorely needs more performance.
My 2012 is now a dedicated test machine; 3D rendering was causing it to whiz an whir and levitate, so I "upgraded" it to a Mac Pro. Would love to see an updated mini that I could then use for a render farm... (if Daz would ever get their act together and fix their apps
).
The mini has Yosemite on it. Personally, I feel that I have insulted the machine by putting such an ugly OS on it, but I seem to be in a minority.