New 'professional' Mac mini, low-cost MacBook refresh coming soon says report
Apple appears poised to add a "professional" Mac mini to its product line later in 2018, and has a new low-cost MacBook in the works.
This appears to be related to previous rumors about a resurrection of the MacBook Air, and the continuing rumors surrounding a new MacBook that have been circulating for most of 2018.
The MacBook was last refreshed on June 5, 2017. The MacBook Air got a minor, and mostly unheralded, spec increase at the 2017 WWDC as well.
Apple manufacturers Quanta and Foxconn are said to be tapped for manufacturing duties.
Bloomberg expects the refresh to happen after a September iPhone launch event.
It has been very nearly four years since the Mac mini was updated, and six since the last well-regarded model that could be considered a "pro" model was released. The latest revision also has poor user drive upgradeability, and no option for user RAM expansion.
Low-cost MacBook
A new report from Bloomberg on Monday claims that a new low-cost MacBook will look similar to the MacBook Air, but have thinner bezels around a 13-inch display. The display on the unit is said to be a Retina model, but at a higher dot-per-inch count than other products.This appears to be related to previous rumors about a resurrection of the MacBook Air, and the continuing rumors surrounding a new MacBook that have been circulating for most of 2018.
The MacBook was last refreshed on June 5, 2017. The MacBook Air got a minor, and mostly unheralded, spec increase at the 2017 WWDC as well.
Apple manufacturers Quanta and Foxconn are said to be tapped for manufacturing duties.
Mac mini
The report has little in the way of specifics on the rumored Mac mini refresh. Citing sources familiar with the matter, Bloomberg says that it will be focused on "Pro" users like "app developers, those running home media centers, and server farm managers" and will make it more expensive than the versions currently available for sale.Bloomberg expects the refresh to happen after a September iPhone launch event.
It has been very nearly four years since the Mac mini was updated, and six since the last well-regarded model that could be considered a "pro" model was released. The latest revision also has poor user drive upgradeability, and no option for user RAM expansion.
Comments
My goodness that thing is ugly! Or am I looking at it from the wrong angle?
Here we go again. First you complain about it being too old, too low-spec’d...now with new hardware you’ll complain that it’s too expensive. Classic.
I think they’d update it with an additional USB-C port before they’d kill it off. Also I think the biggest issue was price not specs.