“With 3 years now gone by since the last Mac mini update, it’s one of Apple’s long running product lines ripe for a complete overhaul,” Jordan Kahn reports for 9to5Mac.
“That’s likely why industrial design student Louis Berger’s latest concept envisions a miniature desktop Mac but with a much more modern approach,” Kahn reports. “He’s dubbed the idea ‘Taptop Computer Concept,’ but at its core it’s essentially a new form factor for Mac mini with a built-in Touch Bar and more.”
Kahn reports, “The form factor of the concept notably takes the Mac mini format from a behind or underneath design to something that’s meant to sit in front of the user as a peripheral with the built-in Touch Bar.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Yes, please!
Just use standard RAM and m.2 notch SSD slots and we’re good!
Most folks use the MAC Mini as a server without the need for that Touch Bar….What’s wrong with the current form factor?
It doesn’t need to be the next Mac Mini any more than the iPad needed to be the next iPod. It’s a new product within a new product category.
I feel that Louis Berger is over-thinking it. For many people, the appeal of the mini is precisely because it’s and underneath or behind design. It’s a (relatively ) affordable Mac which lives out of sight.
If Apple sold stand-alone displays of decent quality………
unnecessarily fragmented. With the power of the Bionic chip, won’t we someday see the phone as the cpu driving the “desktop” as we now know it? It would seem the monitor would need to have an “engine” to share some of the demands to minimize iPh heat overload? Of course, I’m not imagining for power users (yet).
What is the advantage of taking the touch bar away from the function key zone and putting it on the computer?
Nothing, as far as I can see.
Imagine it as a peripheral, that can connect to any computer or even iOS device, complete with its own hard drive and guest operating system. It can even include new chips, in order to distribute the needs of a power user between the two devices. iPad not powerful engineers ugh for your needs, yet you prefer the form factor? Bring this device along for the ride, and your iPad acts as a companion display, in order to run a full Mac OS environment.
Ugggh MDN… Please allow me to edit my typos!
There you go! Just put the whole mac mini inside the keyboard.
Same comment was made on Reddit … and its not really a bad idea, since the implementation engineering could be as simple as a “headless Macbook” without a battery (i.e., same motherboard, etc).
From there, my suggestion was to take the “PC in keyboard” idea for the next Mac Pro. Add on a box behind the keyboard with which to have a couple of PCIe card slots, a few 2.5″ SSD bays … and we will end up **Back to the Future** with an Apple ][ case!
Again, Apple, please upgrade the Mac Mini for us who use them as headless servers.
Unless you have given up on small businesses who manage their own networks.
as long as a salesman runs apple, innovation and supporting the loyal apple supporters by updating and upgrading equipment and software will be neglected. Just like the idiot who ran microsoft: balmer
It’s nice but to be honest I would say you could put the whole computer into a unit the size of the keyboard and trackpad as the majority of the MacBook internals is battery. Literally making the computer disappear into the peripherals has got to be the most badass way forward. The touch bar can still be integrated.
People thought the Mac Pro looked like a trash can. This woult get a far worse vibrator description.
I fail to see the appeal of this.
I just vomited.
No. Minis have been used as servers since day 1. That form factor is DOA as a server. Sorry. But it gets A+ for elegance.
I like it, especially for home A/V/interactive. And it serves as a dock.
Make it small, make it sleek, make it funny looking. Just make sure it has an HDMI port and I can tuck it behind my TV. So many cord cutters these days. An internet connection is all that is needed and the little mini has been perfect. I’m getting everything I want with my mini.