New Mac mini with M2 & M2 Pro - all the rumors so far

24

Comments

  • Reply 21 of 80
    I use my audio out jack on my M1 Mac Mini for basic speakers because if I don't have anything plugged into it, my basic USB microphone isn't visible to MacOS. It's a bug that Apple hasn't fixed since the M1 Mini came out.

    However if the new M1 Mini had half decent internal speakers I would happily give up the audio jack. Currently the internal speakers are pretty poor, but I have used them for a few hours here and there without realizing I was using them rather than my external speaker.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 22 of 80
    AniMill said:
    Fully loaded, it should be $750 less than the fully loaded M1 Max MacBook Pro. ߤt;/div>
    So assuming that would be against the fully loaded 14" MBp, US$5899 - $750 = $5,149? A $5K Mac Mini?

    I'm thinking screen, lid, camera, speakers, keyboard, trackpad, etc in MBp would equate to more value (or pricing influence) than only $750.

    And I'm struggling to foresee any Mini priced at $5K... rampant inflation, chip scarcity, Apple premium plus plus plus, included.

    Nevertheless, looking forward to my first Mini if this general description makes it to market. Goodbye iMac "all in one"... hello (separate) component parts.
    edited January 2022 watto_cobra
  • Reply 23 of 80
    lucidcg said:
    So Apple is eliminating expandability, sealing up the mac completely AND requiring an external power brick - for no benefits.  This design is a huge step backwards versus the intel Mac minis.  It's essentially a headless laptop.  I won't bother with this model.  It would be compelling if Apple made the bottom or top easily flip up (that bottom round cut out for a square machine was truly absurd) AND they added a pair of m.2 storage slots - now that would be a tangible benefit of moving to an external power supply (and an actual upgrader over dual SSD mac mini server configs).  I know it won't happen - Apple and their f*ckin' walled garden of no upgrades & no repairs from a pretend green company.
    You are OBVIOUSLY in the wrong place.
    Incorrect. He makes some very good points. You may not like them, but the logic is sound - except for the last statement. LOL
    edited February 2022 lucidcg
  • Reply 24 of 80
    sflocal said:
    I have a maxed-out 2018 Mac Mini and love the compact design.  I'm not in the market for one yet, for a while but I really hope Apple goes all-out on providing an updated Mini at a price point that makes it competitive, along with making it affordable for users that do not want an iMac or MacBook.  

    I can see server farms buying palette-loads of these for cloud services.  
    What if...

    The Mac mini could be powered via PoE. That sure would simplify a lot of rack wiring!
    argonautwatto_cobra
  • Reply 25 of 80
    PezaPeza Posts: 198member
    I’d this information and render is from Prosser then it’s pretty safe to assume it’ll look nothing like this. But like this render and leaks of the Apple Watch 7. 
    It’ll have a headphone jack and it won’t have a magnetic power cable for one. 

    I am looking forward to what they do with the new Mac Mini.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 26 of 80
    The chassis render with the old power connector and headphone jack seems more appealing. Using an internal adapter made of gallium nitride would help reduce volume, compared to the internal power supplies they've used in the past.

    The more modern chassis render is less inviting. RIP the 3.5 mm headphone jack. We will miss you! Moving to an external power supply would help with internal temperature control. Hopefully the external power supply is a small gallium nitride brick. It's a relief that the (10 Gb?) Ethernet port appears to be independent of the proposed external brick.

    Shedding another tear for the continued lack of NVMe drive expansion inside of the chassis. Long live the dubious third-party Thunderbolt expansion units for additional drive bays and expansion ports. Sad that storage expansion is connected via a frail external cable and often an independent power supply, both adding risk that your storage expansion goes offline accidentally due a connection failure. Maybe the new Mac Pro addresses this gap around storage expansion? I'm guessing not. Using a NAS seems like a better solution for resilience, but requires 10Gb Ethernet for performance. Apple is keenly focused on SOC improvements, while in some ways storage expansion seems stuck in the last century. The knee-jerk response is to "store it in the cloud and pay a subscription."

    What is the design benefit of moving the all-aluminum portion of the chassis from the top to the bottom? Is it cheaper to assemble? Does the new air flow design require a sturdy aluminum bottom? Is this the preferred design for a sealed chassis? Does it allow more design variation with chassis color? Is there a wireless charger mounted at the top of the chassis? Hoping not--it'd be sad to see wireless charging spread any further. It's so inefficient.

    Looking forward to seeing a teardown of the final design.
    edited February 2022
  • Reply 27 of 80
    XedXed Posts: 2,519member
    sflocal said:
    I have a maxed-out 2018 Mac Mini and love the compact design.  I'm not in the market for one yet, for a while but I really hope Apple goes all-out on providing an updated Mini at a price point that makes it competitive, along with making it affordable for users that do not want an iMac or MacBook.  

    I can see server farms buying palette-loads of these for cloud services.  
    What if...

    The Mac mini could be powered via PoE. That sure would simplify a lot of rack wiring!
    That would reduce the number of cables and it's absolutely possible with available tech and 802.3bt Type 4, which provides up to 100W per port (and 71W per powered device).

    However, there are some minor to major issues that make this extremely unlikely...

    On the Mac mini side, the current Mac mini allowed for 150W continuous (which is a change over the 2014 model which allowed for 85W, and before that it was 110W and before that started out at 85W). Now, the 2020 M1 Mac mini was fairly unchanged from the hungry Intel version and I've shown Apple has dramatically altered the PSU capacity so it's possible that it could be smaller. It's also possible that it won't looking at the now 140W PSU in the new 16" M1 Max MacBook Pro.

    In terms of the rack I, 
    personally, have yet to see such a setup being utilized. Not because we like wires, but because we like to isolate problems and separating power and data is more ideal for both troubleshooting down the road and from a cost perspective up front. Now, I'm sure there are applications where a much more expensive PoE Layer 2 or 3 device is advantageous, but it's definitely not the norm. Additionally, there's significantly more heat and dissipation with PoE's DC current over your standard.

    I also don't know PoE could be affected by 10 GigE, which is an option in the Mac mini. I've only ever seen PoE in 10/100/1000 ports, but that could be simply be due to cost or need, not a technical issue—for example, you don't need that much data for an IP phone.

    Unless we see this as an already growing segment for rack servers -or- Apple has a very large customer that wants this and figured out how to make it work) which could be themselves) then I don't see it even being on the table. 

    https://www.esdglobal.com/news/article/power-and-cooling-implications-of-power-over-ethernet-on-infrastructure-design/


    PS: I don't know if I've ever seen Type 4 in action and have no idea if such devices are in production.
    StrangeDayspatchythepiratewatto_cobra
  • Reply 28 of 80
    YP101YP101 Posts: 159member
    2022, why new Mac mini need USB-A port for? I rather it has all USB-C ports instead.
    If I need USB-A port then I will use hub.
    lkruppwilliamlondon
  • Reply 29 of 80
    lkrupplkrupp Posts: 10,557member
    YP101 said:
    2022, why new Mac mini need USB-A port for? I rather it has all USB-C ports instead.
    If I need USB-A port then I will use hub.
    For the same reason some still want a parallel and SCSI ports. /s
    MplsPwilliamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 30 of 80
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,911member
    lkrupp said:
    darkvader said:
    Hopefully they keep the internal power supply.  An external brick is a step backward.

    Also, how do you open this one?  Back to the putty knife?  Annoying.  (And yes, I will be opening whatever Apple releases, it's part of what I do.)
    Why? An internal power supply takes up space and by far generates the most heat of any component. External power supply means additional hardware can be added. I respectfully disagree with your take on this.

    As for opening it up, that’s a non-issue. With the advent of the M1 SOC you can’t add RAM, you can’t install a bigger SSD, it’s all on the M1,so why would you need to open it up? You do know that RAM and Storage are fixed and not upgradeable, period, right?
    And an external power supply doesn’t take up space? It takes up space except now you have a separate box blocking other outlets, dangling from the wall, sitting on the floor of sitting on your desk. 

    I agree with everyone else - give me an internal power supply. Even if the box is bigger to accommodate it that’s a far more functional design than a wall wart (or carpet wart.)
    muthuk_vanalingamwilliamlondonazentropy
  • Reply 31 of 80
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,911member
    YP101 said:
    2022, why new Mac mini need USB-A port for? I rather it has all USB-C ports instead.
    If I need USB-A port then I will use hub.
    Ummm… because the majority of peripherals in use still use USB A?

    it wasn’t that long ago that Apple was still shipping USB A cables with all its devices and unless you need USB 4 there’s no functional advantage to USB C.  I purchased a wireless mouse a few months ago that had a USB A dongle. Not sure what world you’re living in but USB A devices are still ubiquitous. 
    edited February 2022 williamlondon
  • Reply 32 of 80
    Painfully obvious: It needs a SSD slot. Not a removal of the underside and difficult installation but an actual slot into which you insert a SSD stick complete with heat sink. This would greatly extend the useful life of the Mac Mini and would be trivial for Apple to add as the SSD's only connector is on its end. Five years from now a M1 Pro or Max will still be a decent processor but the SSD will seem very slow and cramped.
    lucidcgargonaut
  • Reply 33 of 80
    Painfully obvious: It needs a SSD slot. Not a removal of the underside and difficult installation but an actual slot into which you insert a SSD stick complete with heat sink. This would greatly extend the useful life of the Mac Mini and would be trivial for Apple to add as the SSD's only connector is on its end. Five years from now a M1 Pro or Max will still be a decent processor but the SSD will seem very slow and cramped.
    Yep.  A PS5 shouldn't be more expandable than a desktop computer in 2022.  If the internal power supply is eliminated - it should be for an actual user benefit.  Two easily accessible m.2 slots would make the mac mini far more desirable for a broader number of use cases.
    williamlondonHobeSoundDarryl9secondkox2argonaut
  • Reply 34 of 80
    thttht Posts: 5,421member
    AniMill said:
    Fully loaded, it should be $750 less than the fully loaded M1 Max MacBook Pro. ߤt;/div>
    So assuming that would be against the fully loaded 14" MBp, US$5899 - $750 = $5,149? A $5K Mac Mini?

    I'm thinking screen, lid, camera, speakers, keyboard, trackpad, etc in MBp would equate to more value (or pricing influence) than only $750.

    And I'm struggling to foresee any Mini priced at $5K... rampant inflation, chip scarcity, Apple premium plus plus plus, included.

    Nevertheless, looking forward to my first Mini if this general description makes it to market. Goodbye iMac "all in one"... hello (separate) component parts.
    If this new Mac mini has 8 TB of 7.4 GB/s NAND storage, then yes, the fully optioned model will be around $5000. This is a $2400 option from 512 GB to 8 TB, almost half the cost of a fully optioned MBP14.

    The current Intel Mac mini is $3000 when fully optioned with 2 TB NAND, 64 GB RAM, and 10G Ethernet. A Mac mini with a 8+2+32 M1 Max, 64 GB RAM, and 8 TB NAND is going to be somewhere around $5000. It's going to be about 2x faster in CPU, 10x faster in GPU, 4x the storage and 2x as fast, and will have much better media ASICs for Apple's content creation market. It's going to be quite the machine. Who knows if an M1 Max will be an option for this new machine though.

    That 8 TB option is simply not an option for 99% of buyers. You really have to need it. Someone will have to come out with a multi-stream, multi-port TB4 implementation to even have an external drive write to it at 7.4 GB/s. And the cost of an external drive capable of 7.4 GB/s won't be cheap either. Anh ugh, a 4 TB option at $1200 hurts.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 35 of 80
    Can’t wait. Only didn’t buy the M1 Mac mini because it replaced the the i3 Mac mini and the i5 Mac mini stayed there for US$200 above the M1 price at the same config. Apple Silicon is crazy fast, but I neeed speed. Had I know it would take this long I might’ve gone M1 Mac mini and upgraded later though. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 36 of 80
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,801member
    lucidcg said:
    Painfully obvious: It needs a SSD slot. Not a removal of the underside and difficult installation but an actual slot into which you insert a SSD stick complete with heat sink. This would greatly extend the useful life of the Mac Mini and would be trivial for Apple to add as the SSD's only connector is on its end. Five years from now a M1 Pro or Max will still be a decent processor but the SSD will seem very slow and cramped.
    Yep.  A PS5 shouldn't be more expandable than a desktop computer in 2022.  If the internal power supply is eliminated - it should be for an actual user benefit.  Two easily accessible m.2 slots would make the mac mini far more desirable for a broader number of use cases.
    What cases would those be for the masses? What is the ratio of users who will actually upgrade the storage versus those who would never open it for any reason now matter how easy it would be to access it?
    williamlondonwatto_cobra
  • Reply 37 of 80
    Xed said:
    sflocal said:
    I have a maxed-out 2018 Mac Mini and love the compact design.  I'm not in the market for one yet, for a while but I really hope Apple goes all-out on providing an updated Mini at a price point that makes it competitive, along with making it affordable for users that do not want an iMac or MacBook.  

    I can see server farms buying palette-loads of these for cloud services.  
    What if...

    The Mac mini could be powered via PoE. That sure would simplify a lot of rack wiring!
    That would reduce the number of cables and it's absolutely possible with available tech and 802.3bt Type 4, which provides up to 100W per port (and 71W per powered device).

    However, there are some minor to major issues that make this extremely unlikely...

    On the Mac mini side, the current Mac mini allowed for 150W continuous (which is a change over the 2014 model which allowed for 85W, and before that it was 110W and before that started out at 85W). Now, the 2020 M1 Mac mini was fairly unchanged from the hungry Intel version and I've shown Apple has dramatically altered the PSU capacity so it's possible that it could be smaller. It's also possible that it won't looking at the now 140W PSU in the new 16" M1 Max MacBook Pro.

    In terms of the rack I, 
    personally, have yet to see such a setup being utilized. Not because we like wires, but because we like to isolate problems and separating power and data is more ideal for both troubleshooting down the road and from a cost perspective up front. Now, I'm sure there are applications where a much more expensive PoE Layer 2 or 3 device is advantageous, but it's definitely not the norm. Additionally, there's significantly more heat and dissipation with PoE's DC current over your standard.

    I also don't know PoE could be affected by 10 GigE, which is an option in the Mac mini. I've only ever seen PoE in 10/100/1000 ports, but that could be simply be due to cost or need, not a technical issue—for example, you don't need that much data for an IP phone.

    Unless we see this as an already growing segment for rack servers -or- Apple has a very large customer that wants this and figured out how to make it work) which could be themselves) then I don't see it even being on the table. 

    https://www.esdglobal.com/news/article/power-and-cooling-implications-of-power-over-ethernet-on-infrastructure-design/


    PS: I don't know if I've ever seen Type 4 in action and have no idea if such devices are in production.
    For those that would benefit from having multiple mini's on the desk, would it be plausible for Apple to create an adapter that allows the mini's to be daisy-chained together via the power/ethernet port, with only one cord trailing off for power/ethernet for all? It would look very cool to see different colored mini's stacked on top of each other, neatly daisy chained, with only one cord connecting to the wall (with the power brick mounted to the bottom of the desk for those that are concerned about ground clutter).
    9secondkox2argonautwatto_cobra
  • Reply 38 of 80
    The only sad thing here is the removal of the internal power supply. 

    The rest is gold.
    The removal of the earphone jack is weird.  Like why?
    lucidcg9secondkox2argonautsconosciutowatto_cobra
  • Reply 39 of 80
    MplsPMplsP Posts: 3,911member
    maximara said:
    The only sad thing here is the removal of the internal power supply. 

    The rest is gold.
    The removal of the earphone jack is weird.  Like why?
    didn't you listen to Tim Cook? It takes courage to remove it and it was completely obsolete 5 years ago (which totally explains why they've kept it in every other device they make for the last 5 years.)

    Edit: remember, these are not actual product images, they're renderings based on people's interpretations/guesses. They may or may not be accurate.
    edited February 2022 williamlondonmuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 40 of 80
    I would buy this for video editing but I really, really want that hard connection to be sure V and A are in sync when I edit. Bluetooth headphones have led me to believe they were not, when in fact they were. So it's a dongle for me?

    Please Apple, leave the 1/8" jack aloooooone
    lkruppwatto_cobra
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