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I can only hope for Apple to revive the Mac Mini, or the " Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard and Mouse" concept. I think there is a (small) market for Apple, bu

by antr 9y ago

I can only hope for Apple to revive the Mac Mini, or the " Bring Your Own Display, Keyboard and Mouse" concept. I think there is a (small) market for Apple, but it is also a way bring new users into the Mac ecosystem (although the iPhone/iPad do this). I want a small, but affordable Mac to have as a backup and toy around... and as a Mac user, the Mac Mini was perfect. I'll cross my fingers.

georgespencer 9y ago
iPad is converging on this space IMO.
alsetmusic 9y ago
Tim Cook supposedly confirmed that a new Mac mini is in the works by way of email: > I'm glad you love the Mac mini. We love it too. Our customers have found so many creative and interesting uses for the Mac mini. While it is not time to share any details, we do plan for Mac mini to be an important part of our product line going forward. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/10/the-mac-mini-isnt-dead-yet-says-tim-cook/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/10/the-mac-mini-isnt-de...
- whywhywhywhy 9y ago
  Maybe it's just the mishmash of corporate speak but that statement says the exact opposite to me.
  - freehunter 9y ago
    Maybe I'm just more used to corporate speak, but "we can't share details yet but this product will be important to us in the future" couldn't be more clear in indicating that a redesign is in progress and they're not dropping the line.
    - whywhywhywhy 9y ago
      Think my point is more what would Tim Cook say if he didn't care about the Mac Mini at all going forward? I feel it would be similar to that statement. It hasn't been updated in 3 years and the phrasing he used didn't mention "future" just "an important part of our product line going forward." which is pretty non-committal IMHO
      - smsx 9y ago
        If he didn't care about the Mac Mini at all he wouldn't have said anything.
        arvinsim 9y ago
        At this point of time(3 years after the latest release), not saying anything would be construed as abandoning the Mac Mini. I would bet that he was force to say something to assuage concerned Apple users.
  - stevehawk 9y ago
    I see it as their inevitable first step of an iOS based computer. With their CPUs and GPUs being where they are at now I'd imagine it won't be too long.
  - jfrankamp 9y ago
    Right. I see the iPhone with external displays & keyboard. See it's revived!
whywhywhywhy 9y ago
> but it is also a way bring new users into the Mac ecosystem Does Apple want new users in the Mac ecosystem? I thought Tim Cook's future was "Post-PC"
- remir 9y ago
  Until you can run Xcode in iOS, you'll need a Mac to make apps for Apple's various platform.
  - pjmlp 9y ago
    Who knows what WWDC 2018 might bring.
    - BRAlNlAC 9y ago
      yeah, I think Xcode for iOS is going to be here sooner rather than later. They are already testing the water waters of compiling (I think) in Swift Playgrounds.
- arvinsim 9y ago
  I do hope they keep the Mac. It's the main reason why I am in Apple's ecosystem. If that goes, so does my interest in their mobile devices.
ksec 9y ago
I think, Apple should have a roadmap where all of their Mac will be SSD by default. The current iMac and Mac mini, is still on super slow HDD. But those NAND prices per GB aren't coming down. I think might be one of the most important reason why Apple hasn't has new Mac mini. This is especially true when Apple said APFS is specially designed for NAND, and not HDD.
- bradfa 9y ago
  NAND prices per GB are actually starting to come back down, now. Most of the 3D NAND tooling change-overs are completing at the various NAND fabs, so NAND prices should only continue to fall in the coming months/years in $/GB pricing metrics. You can get consumer grade 500GB-class SATA 2.5" SSDs for $130 (or less!) now from multiple vendors. This time last year these were up around $200 (EDIT: this may not be accurate!). Consumer SATA SSDs were some of the first to transition to 3D NAND. For example: https://camelcamelcamel.com/SanDisk-Ultra-2-5-Inch-Height-SDSSDHII-480G-G25/product/B00M8ABFX6 https://camelcamelcamel.com/SanDisk-Ultra-2-5-Inch-Height-SD...
  - ksec 9y ago
    Well it is coming down now only because Samsung is trying to lock in as much market share of NAND as possible this year, before the Chinese has their NAND Fab running and start race to bottom.
  - judge2020 9y ago
    Note that many of these high capacities SSDs are able to sell at lower prices due to them not having any onboard dram, meaning the mapping data for wear leveling is either stored on the nand itself or in the system ram which causes random read/write to slow down a significant amount.
    - bradfa 9y ago
      DRAM is still extremely expensive, so you're probably on-point about part of the low price being the lack of DRAM. It would be interesting to see tear downs of current consumer and enterprise SSDs to better understand how they work.
rb808 9y ago
I'd like this too, but can we enhance to have a standard monitor mount where you can clip in a Small box to the monitor which supplies power and cable-less HDMI port? Kinda like a componentized all in one.
eanzenberg 9y ago
They have that already, the macbook or macbook pro if you need additional power. These can act as a hub you connect externals to, with the added benefit that they can be used offsite.

by antr 9y ago

georgespencer 9y ago

iPad is converging on this space IMO.

alsetmusic 9y ago

Tim Cook supposedly confirmed that a new Mac mini is in the works by way of email: > I'm glad you love the Mac mini. We love it too. Our customers have found so many creative and interesting uses for the Mac mini. While it is not time to share any details, we do plan for Mac mini to be an important part of our product line going forward. https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/10/the-mac-mini-isnt-dead-yet-says-tim-cook/ https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2017/10/the-mac-mini-isnt-de...

whywhywhywhy 9y ago
Maybe it's just the mishmash of corporate speak but that statement says the exact opposite to me.
- freehunter 9y ago
  Maybe I'm just more used to corporate speak, but "we can't share details yet but this product will be important to us in the future" couldn't be more clear in indicating that a redesign is in progress and they're not dropping the line.
  - whywhywhywhy 9y ago
    Think my point is more what would Tim Cook say if he didn't care about the Mac Mini at all going forward? I feel it would be similar to that statement. It hasn't been updated in 3 years and the phrasing he used didn't mention "future" just "an important part of our product line going forward." which is pretty non-committal IMHO
    - smsx 9y ago
      If he didn't care about the Mac Mini at all he wouldn't have said anything.
      - arvinsim 9y ago
        At this point of time(3 years after the latest release), not saying anything would be construed as abandoning the Mac Mini. I would bet that he was force to say something to assuage concerned Apple users.
- stevehawk 9y ago
  I see it as their inevitable first step of an iOS based computer. With their CPUs and GPUs being where they are at now I'd imagine it won't be too long.
- jfrankamp 9y ago
  Right. I see the iPhone with external displays & keyboard. See it's revived!

whywhywhywhy 9y ago

> but it is also a way bring new users into the Mac ecosystem Does Apple want new users in the Mac ecosystem? I thought Tim Cook's future was "Post-PC"

remir 9y ago
Until you can run Xcode in iOS, you'll need a Mac to make apps for Apple's various platform.
- pjmlp 9y ago
  Who knows what WWDC 2018 might bring.
  - BRAlNlAC 9y ago
    yeah, I think Xcode for iOS is going to be here sooner rather than later. They are already testing the water waters of compiling (I think) in Swift Playgrounds.
arvinsim 9y ago
I do hope they keep the Mac. It's the main reason why I am in Apple's ecosystem. If that goes, so does my interest in their mobile devices.

ksec 9y ago

I think, Apple should have a roadmap where all of their Mac will be SSD by default. The current iMac and Mac mini, is still on super slow HDD. But those NAND prices per GB aren't coming down. I think might be one of the most important reason why Apple hasn't has new Mac mini. This is especially true when Apple said APFS is specially designed for NAND, and not HDD.

bradfa 9y ago
NAND prices per GB are actually starting to come back down, now. Most of the 3D NAND tooling change-overs are completing at the various NAND fabs, so NAND prices should only continue to fall in the coming months/years in $/GB pricing metrics. You can get consumer grade 500GB-class SATA 2.5" SSDs for $130 (or less!) now from multiple vendors. This time last year these were up around $200 (EDIT: this may not be accurate!). Consumer SATA SSDs were some of the first to transition to 3D NAND. For example: https://camelcamelcamel.com/SanDisk-Ultra-2-5-Inch-Height-SDSSDHII-480G-G25/product/B00M8ABFX6 https://camelcamelcamel.com/SanDisk-Ultra-2-5-Inch-Height-SD...
- ksec 9y ago
  Well it is coming down now only because Samsung is trying to lock in as much market share of NAND as possible this year, before the Chinese has their NAND Fab running and start race to bottom.
- judge2020 9y ago
  Note that many of these high capacities SSDs are able to sell at lower prices due to them not having any onboard dram, meaning the mapping data for wear leveling is either stored on the nand itself or in the system ram which causes random read/write to slow down a significant amount.
  - bradfa 9y ago
    DRAM is still extremely expensive, so you're probably on-point about part of the low price being the lack of DRAM. It would be interesting to see tear downs of current consumer and enterprise SSDs to better understand how they work.

rb808 9y ago

I'd like this too, but can we enhance to have a standard monitor mount where you can clip in a Small box to the monitor which supplies power and cable-less HDMI port? Kinda like a componentized all in one.

eanzenberg 9y ago

They have that already, the macbook or macbook pro if you need additional power. These can act as a hub you connect externals to, with the added benefit that they can be used offsite.