“Even while at the top of its game, Apple Inc. can seemingly find faults with just about anything, including a bit of itself. The Mac maker is constantly evaluating the market segments in which it wishes to participate and those which it does not. It’s an application of love-hate methodology that inevitably produces its share of casualties,” Kasper Jade reports for AppleInsider.
“Take, for instance, the firm’s petite line of headless desktop computers known as Mac minis. They retail between $599 and $799, catering to the once critical sub-$800 PC market,” Jade reports.
Jade reports, “…It comes as little surprise that sources, for whom AppleInsider holds the utmost respect, are now pointing towards the mini’s impending demise. For it’s according to those people that the miniature Mac will soon follow in the wake of its similarly-proportioned counterparts of years past: the PowerBook 2400, the PowerMac G4 Cube, and, most recently, the 12-inch PowerBook.”
Full article here.
Anyone ever wonder if Apple purposefully drops these rumors out there just to watch the boards and gauge reaction? If not, they should.
I don’t care about the Apple TV. If Apple would put a Core2Duo in the Mac mini, it would make an absolutely great system for live streaming. Run Quicktime Broadcaster on the machine and pipe it to a QTSS (QuickTime Streaming Server) and you’re set. I don’t need a display. If I’m using an iSight I can remote desktop into the mini and verify the picture from my MBP. If it is using a regular video camera, the camera itself can show the camera operator what’s going to be seen and I can remote desktop into it to get the broadcast running.
Bottom line: The Mac mini is the perfect Streaming front-end compressor. The iMac would suck as would the Mac Pro. And the Apple TV just plain can’t do this.
MW: Apple, please give us a “choice”
oh, c’mon, its not going anywhere…
we do however NEED A FREAKING MAINSTREAM DESKTOP MACHINE WITH A STANDARD HDD AND A PCIe x16 SLOT!!!
HELLO?!?!? APPLE?!?! EARTH TO APPLE?!?!? BUILD THE FREAKING COMPUTER MOST OF US WANT PLEASE.
tt above is a tad shrill, but I agree. I want that machine as well.
Apple is killing mini to make room for better AppleTV.
Yep, introduce a Half-MacPro.
The MacPro is a helluva lot of a machine, but WAY too much in terms of expandability and sheer SIZE. I need room for my LEGS under my desk!
I’d like at least 4 RAM slots, 2 PCI slots (a serious graphics card +1) and 2 hard drive slots… built-in RAID 0 anyone?!
While the mini was aimed at potential switchers and is an engineering marvel, it’s kind of a joke.
The two big killers?
ZERO expansion.
LAME graphics.
Keep the mini, but give the world a MacPro mini!
MDN Magic Word: I HOPE Apple releases a SERIOUS mid-range headless Mac.
The Mac Mini has gotten a bit long in the tooth… I don’t think that Apple killing off the “Mini” means that they are NOT going to come out with something to replace it. I imagine that something else will replace it that will be much better (even though I thought the Minis were great when first released).
Top Sellers for Apple at Amazon.com:
1. 20″ iMac
2. $599 Mac Mini
3. 17″ iMac 2.0ghz
…
7. 17″ iMac 1.83ghz
8. $799 Mac Mini
so, sure, Apple’s going to discontinue the #2 (and #3 as alleged a few days ago) top sellers…
at best, Apple will rev them, altho I wouldn’t be shocked if the Apple TV gets expanded to include an optical drive and full OS X, and the low end Mac Mini goes away.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=/002-0140734-6580006?keywords=Apple&rs=565098&page=1&rh=n:172282,n:541966,n:565098,k:Apple&sort=salesrank&x=9&y=13
And another thing….
I think people are so damned brainwashed, that they think they NEED a mini-tower. I mean a tower IS what a computer is SUPPOSED to look like, right? How could it be an actual computer unless it has a tower form-factor.
Look at PCs. Most are damned towers, whether or not any one EVER uses all or ANY of the extra slots.
If the mini had used 3 1/2″ hard drives, it would have gained choice, capacity, speed and price. If it had a decent or UPGRADABLE graphics card, it would have decent graphics performance.
Make the Mac mini a reincarnation of the Mac LC. OR, heaven forbid, the Cube II. Just use standard slots! They’ll sell. There will be a machine I can recommend without embarrassment.
It would be a major mistake. Apple is building market share and that’s because people are realizing that OSX is better. However, if Apple doesn’t have a presence in the lower end market that growth will stop. People will pay $600 – $700 to try out Apple but not much more.
Apple TV has nothing to do with the mini.
I’m tired of hearing that Apple isn’t making enough profit on items. Maybe they’re not selling as many units as they want, but they have the highest margins in the industry!
Their last quarterly said that their gross margin is 38%!! Sure, that’s across all products, but unprofitable from any of their products is an outright lie.
Nooooooooooooo!
I hope this is purely a rumor. That, or they at least replace it with an equivalent. The little pint sized Mac is cool…
Damn.
I’ve been waiting to upgrade until after Apple releases an update on the Mac Mini. I use a G4 Powerbook as my primary computer, but I have a lovely 23 inch Cinema screen attached to my G3/Blue & White (with a G4/1000 and upgraded video card in it) at the office … I want to replace that computer, and the Mini was the route I was going to go. But, now … I don’t know what to do. Perhaps step back to a G5 via Ebay? Or … do I shell out an arm and a leg for a Mac Pro? I don’t want to do that, don’t need to do that, and can’t afford it, either. 🙁 And, I’d like to take up less desk space than a great big metal tower.
If this turns out to be true, with no replacement and we’re only offered the Apple TV for Home Theater use – well, I think we know who Big Brother is. In another Orwell story, the pigs turned out to be as evil as their Human masters.
MDN word “death”- ironic. Like a “good guy” wearing black.
Maybe the Mini will be rebranded as the Apple TV+ with a DVD drive that could be upgraded to BD or HD-DVD, an integrated Digital TV tuner and a 3.5″ drive for recording television. It could be used solely as a media player or, with the optional keyboard and mouse, a normal Mac.
mac mini is apples best computer
low power small quiet fast
runs off 12volt
doubt they will kill it
mac mini replaced with
a mac mini mini
an imac shuffle
or iphone will replace the mac mini (its cheaper)
IMO Killing the Mini would be very foolish, if for no reason other than I know of at least two friends who have bought Minis “just to try it out ’cause they’re cheap enough”. Both are currently planning on buying a better Mac now that they know how good they are.
I have one of the original 12″ powerbook G4 and I love it!! perfect size travels well and just runs and runs, I would love to see an updated version macbook pro 12″ oh yea!!
Simple theory of ‘evolution’, the missing link…
Mac Pro (pro use tower) <– ??? missing link (consumer use tower) <– MacBook Pro (pro use notebook) <–MacBook (consumer use notebook) <– Mac mini (entry level PC) <– iPhone (mass communication) <– iPod (mass DRM breaker)
Ah, missed out the iMac…
mac mini will join the cube in apple hall of dumb moves.
remember, the mac mini was to be the computer that brought in the windows owners.lol.
joke.
Comment from: Steve Ballmer
I’m crunchy on the outside yet soft and chewy in the middle!
That’s one of the funniest things I’ve ever read at MDN.
@Mr. Reese:
No, actually, some of want mini-towers (or the equivalent) for practical reasons. The MacPro is too much computer for my needs (well, it’s not, but it’s also more money than I want to have to spend, but I had no choice), and the iMac/Mini aren’t expandable enough. I wanted a MacPro with half the memory slots, half the processors, and half the expansion slots. I want to be able to put in a solid (but not overpriced) graphics card for both gaming and for faster 3D/video rendering, a real sound card, and ONE additional internal hard drive. This would be to use with Windows (sorry, but unfortunately it’s still necessary for me sometimes, and for gaming).
None of that is possible with the iMac or the Mini. And don’t say the video cards on the iMac are good enough — they’re okay for the general home user, but otherwise, they’re a total joke.
I love both machines, for the right people they’re great, but neither is really right for me. Keep the mini, add something in between.
Apple — listen! You can dominate the planet. You’re so close!
Magic Word: “really” — as in, really!
Apple wont ditch the mac mini unless it has another better product in the pipeline that fills that product gap.
Lets face it, the majority of switchers have switched to the mac because of the mini.
It’s the only cheap priced mac that has no keyboard, mouse or monitor – so is the ideal machine for windows using switchers to try out.
If Apple are ditching it, then I hope they make another simiar mac as the market for ‘just a cpu’ is huge.
I myself are on the verge of buying a mac mini, but havent yet as I am waiting to see if they announce updated models at the keynote in june.
I love my Mac Mini. I would be very very sad if they ended the line.