“Think about the 2012 Mac mini. It’s the last nearly perfect desktop machine Apple has introduced,” David Gewirtz writes for ZDNet. “You can open that bad boy up. You can replace memory, drives, and… even fix the fan.”
“Replacing the fan is a breeze. Twist the bottom slightly to open the case, unscrew three screws, pop off the connector, and do it all in reverse with the new fan. You’re done,” Gewirtz writes. “I own four of these 2012 machines. They’re that good. But, alas, they’re not good enough for the workloads I want to run now.”
“Apple updated the Mac mini once more, in 2014, but it removed the perfection: It’s now a closed box. You can’t upgrade or fix most of what’s inside. That makes me sad. Apple said its delaying the new Mac Pro until 2019. I (and most power users) can’t wait another 18 months or more to get my job done,” Gewirtz writes. “What if, instead, Apple updated the Mac mini? What would it need to do to make this thing perfect again? As it turns out, not much.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: This of course won’t happen because it would require Apple to get up off their lazy, confused, and misguided asses and pay some attention to the Mac.
SEE ALSO:
Apple’s latest announcements about the modular Mac Pro really ramp up expectations – April 6, 2018
Apple needs to stop promising new products and start delivering them – April 6, 2018
Apple: No new Mac Pro until 2019 – April 5, 2018
Apple reiterates they’re working on an all-new modular, upgradeable Mac Pro and a high-end pro display – December 14, 2017
Why Apple’s promise of a new ‘modular’ Mac Pro matters so much – April 6, 2017
Apple’s cheese grater Mac Pro was flexible, expandable, and powerful – imagine that – April 6, 2017
More about Apple’s Mac Pro – April 6, 2017
Apple’s desperate Mac Pro damage control message hints at a confused, divided company – April 6, 2017
Who has taken over at Apple? – April 5, 2017
Apple’s embarrassing Mac Pro mea culpa – April 4, 2017
Who’s going to buy a Mac Pro now? – April 4, 2017
Mac Pro: Why did it take Apple so long to wake up? – April 4, 2017
Apple sorry for what happened with the Mac Pro over the last 3+ years – namely, nothing – April 4, 2017
Apple to unveil ‘iMac Pro’ later this year; rethought, modular Mac Pro and Apple pro displays in the pipeline – April 4, 2017
Apple’s apparent antipathy towards the Mac prompts calls for macOS licensing – March 27, 2017
Why Apple’s new Mac Pro might never arrive – March 10, 2017
Dare we hold out hope for the Mac Pro? – March 1, 2017
Apple CEO Cook pledges support to pro users, says ‘we don’t like politics’ at Apple’s annual shareholders meeting – February 28, 2017
Yes, I just bought a ‘new’ Mac Pro (released on December 19, 2013 and never updated) – January 4, 2017
Attention, Tim Cook! Apple isn’t firing on all cylinders and you need to fix it – January 4, 2017
No, Apple, do not simplify, get better – December 23, 2016
Rare video shows Steve Jobs warning Apple to focus less on profits and more on great products – December 23, 2016
Marco Arment: Apple’s Mac Pro is ‘very likely dead’ – December 20, 2016
How Tim Cook’s Apple alienated Mac loyalists – December 20, 2016
Apple’s not very good, really quite poor 2016 – December 19, 2016
Apple’s software has been anything but ‘magical’ lately – December 19, 2016
Lazy Apple. It’s not hard to imagine Steve Jobs asking, ‘What have you been doing for the last four years?’ – December 9, 2016
Rush Limbaugh: Is Apple losing their edge? – December 9, 2016
AirPods: MIA for the holidays; delayed product damages Apple’s credibility, stokes customer frustration – December 9, 2016
Apple may have finally gotten too big for its unusual corporate structure – November 28, 2016
Apple has no idea what they’re doing in the TV space, and it’s embarrassing – November 3, 2016
Apple’s disgracefully outdated, utterly mismanaged Mac lineup is killing sales – October 13, 2016
Apple takes its eye off the ball: Why users are complaining about Apple’s software – February 9, 2016
Open letter to Tim Cook: Apple needs to do better – January 5, 2015
Apple would have to care first in order to make the Mac Mini better.
Simple. Start with the 2012 quad-core i7 model and update it with the latest Intel CPU and a GPU capable of supporting 4K @ 60fps. I don’t see how that is asking so much from Apple where they need to have a whole army of engineers to build some closed Mac Mini with a fancier case. If Apple was paying any attention at all to their refurb page, they’d see older Mac Minis sell out almost instantly. Think if Apple actually designed a decent modern version. Of course, Apple doesn’t do things that way.
Oh, Apple cares alright. Unfortunately, it appears that what it cares most about are its margins. Why else would it push the iMac as the desktop for everyone?
Tired of dreaming for the obvious and constantly being let down.
http://www.tomshardware.com/news/zotac-announces-quadro-q-series-mini-pcs,36847.html
Apple will never let us have what we really want, if they did sales would skyrocket and they wouldn’t want that.
I’ve learned my lesson, moving my pro needs to a PC Workstation and away from what is now a fairly doomed Mac category – the Mac Pro. The Mac Mini may well be in that category too.
I now join the chorus of those wanting to replace the leadership at Apple. Constant disappointment will do that to even the most previously rabid fan.
I reluctantly started moving my work to a PC last spring. I’m happy I did, especially when I see what Apple is selling these days.
My girlfriend just reluctantly bought a new 15″ MacBook Pro (non-touch bar). It took 2 hours of software updates out of the BOX before it was ready! Ridiculous.
My Windows machine runs Linux without any hassles as well as all the Adobe software just fine. I don’t miss Final Cut either. AND driver / software support is so much better on Windows.
I can share web login info across machines using Firefox. The only thing I NEED from Mac is mail (still old fashioned) and I’m sure I can get used to a new client. I’ll miss messaging but whatever.
So long, Apple. It was fun while it lasted.
FWIW, while there’s things to hate about Microsoft Outlook, at least when on an alphabetical listing (such as of Sender), you can hit a key on the keyboard and it will jump to that letter.
Unlike Apple Mail. Even Eudora had this feature back in the 1980s.
Would not even have imagined this sort of sentiment (which I happen to agree wholeheartedly) in pre-Cook days. What is he thinking?!?!
Apple has changed….
I know. You can only shake your head in disgust at the tremendous Mac mismanagement. They think issuing one iMac Pro forgives all the other neglect and bungling. They pat themselves on the back, check their incredible personal bank balances with glee, summarily ignore all other things Mac (“Ah, let the upgrade go another year, they’ll never notice – just keep the same price”) and move on while thinking “JOB WELL DONE!’
And then go back to their lattes, next-gen iPhone work and Apple Park finery selections.
The wealthiest company in history can’t handle hiring enough talent to manage doing more than a couple things at one time. Everything is managed by a handful of VPs who are multi-millionaires and have lost the drive. It is now the milking of every dollar out of user base. Get people who are hungry to create great things in charge again.
Loyal user since the Mac Classic II and supporter during Apple’s darkest days. Forgotten small business owner. Forgotten Desktop Publisher who kept Apple alive. Proud user when the slogan “It Just Works” use to mean something.
I never before advocated that Apple follow Microsoft’s lead and license its OS to other hardware builders. Never, not even in the most painful preCook days.
Today however it seems obvious that Apple can’t walk and chew gum at the same time. If the fashionista crew running the show now can’t figure out how to add value to the Mac with annual updates, then maybe the time has come. Car makers are more nimble than Apple now.
Yes, that 2012 Mac mini with just new guts. Done. Apple jerks at Cupertino.
It will just take 2 years to get the redesign out.
The Mac Mini would be good, but it’s way more important to come out with a PRODUCT ({[Red]}) iPhone. No time for real products, but lot’s of time for empty virtue signaling.
Maybe they would care if they could launch a RED HOT mac mini – red hot on the inside, virtue signaling red on the outside.
I just went to Apple site and filled a request form on Mac mini. Maybe if enough of us did this, Apple would do something:
https://www.apple.com/feedback/macmini.html
FWIW yup, sad to say this “long” AAPL shareholder sure would like an open mac mini w/ the latest intel i9 chip, I’d also like two easy to access SATA 2.5″ solid state hard drives,… ability to upgrade “memory” and various ports (kinda like on the 2015 non-Retina 13-inch MacBook Pro),…
huh,… if there were a prosumer mac-mini,… then what about an old school mac book pro w/ all the stuff mentioned above AND a retina “high resolution” display?
It isn’t that they can’t. It is because they just don’t want to. The damn egos there…..
I can’t believe anyone thinks the Mac mini can be turned into a professional machine. It just does not, and never will, have the thermodynamics chops to be a true professional machine. Just look at what it took to make the so called “pro” iMac Pro. To put that much capability into an iMac Apple chose to take the easy way out (and the least costly way out in order to maximize profits) and make the system virtually sealed and not upgradeable. Apple couldn’t even do that with the Mac mini without RADICALLY changing the form factor of the box.
This all comes back to the lack of a true Pro machine from Apple since 2012 (and really since 2008 as up through 2012 they were just minor upgrades and evolutions from the 2008 machines).
Re Shadowself
H-P has already made it and it costs less than a topped out Mac mini. Apple’s problem is the damn thin obsession and consumer lock in.
Oh this unit costs less than a Mac mini and comes with 3 years of on site repair- no trips to the Apple Store.
Not just HP. Sorry to say I’m “deprecating” MacMini departmental servers from here on out.
Once again, there is no reason to make a desktop machine smaller than a pack of cigarettes, or carve it out of a solid block of adamantium—especially a desktop machine that’s supposed to be the “cheap” option! You made iMacs out of plastic for years and they looked great, why use overpriced materials on your supposedly “affordable” Mac mini? A desktop machine also does not need to have sides crafted like the edges of a samurai sword. Make the edges big enough to put the SD/USB slot where I can see dumb thing without fumbling around.
1. Give me 3.5″ HDs–they are cheaper, bigger, faster—there is ZERO reason to use 2.5″ HDs in a desktop machine.
2. Don’t worry about size and weight, I’m not planning on carrying my desktop around the neighborhood. You could make a MacMini twice as big as the current model, and it would still be completely marvelous.
3. For desktop machines accessibility to HDs, RAM, fans, power supply, and a video card are WAY more important than almost any size/weight considerations.
4. Give me ports! Ethernet, SD, USB 3.0. as well as Thunderbolt. (Okay, I’ll settle for a bunch of USB C ports, but don’t leave out Ethernet or the SD slot in the FRONT where I actually use it!)
5. Did I already mention, give me a couple ports on the front where I actually use them.
FYI, the current top of the line Mac mini at $999 has
8GB RAM,
integrated video,
1 TB Fusion HD
NO Keyboard, NO Mouse, NO cables.
Meanwhile the current 21″ iMac at only $1299 also has
8GB RAM
2GB Radeon Pro
1 TB HD (non-Fusion)
a 4K screen
FaceTime camera
a mouse,
a keyboard
a lightning to USB cable
Thunderbolt 3
DOES ANYONE AT APPLE REALIZE HOW RIDICULOUS THE Mac mini’s price points are compared to the iMac?
Apple has got to be able to make the Mac mini cheaper!
But we got a red iPhone. Woohoo!
Apple needs to take a look at Intel’s latest Hades Canyon NUC: https://www.techradar.com/reviews/intel-hades-canyon-nuc
Maybe Apple should take that and put an Apple logo on it. That Intel NUC is a beast yet with all the money Apple has, they can’t build something close to that which runs OSX. Apple is honestly making me sick using $100B for stock buybacks but can’t build a decent Mac Mini. What is the matter with that company. I couldn’t cost them that much.
“DOES ANYONE AT APPLE REALIZE HOW RIDICULOUS THE Mac mini’s price points are compared to the iMac?”
Yes, they do. And they want anyone looking at a mini to say “That there iMac is a better deal” then leave the store with an iMac. The mini was a stopgap project specifically to make transition to macOS easy for anyone that already owned a moist keyboard and monitor (that should be mouse, but It’s funny so I left it:) It’s pretty clear that Apple doesn’t see value in updating it. Especially not since anyone that buys one today is likely paying Apple a grater markup than on anything else!
They do.
And they don’t care.
You know, I wish I had time to wait on Apple, but I just don’t. I need a new computer and I need one now, and lip service about how important the Mac Mini is and promises that we’ll get a Pro in 2019 or maybe 2020 just aren’t good enough. It just isn’t. My first Mac was an SE30, I’ve had Macs ever since and I’m going to have to go buy a Windows workstation because Apple can’t figure out how to put a new damn motherboard in the old cheese grater or at the very least update the Mini.
I don’t care how thin it is, I don’t care that it’s milled out of a solid block of al-u-minium, I don’t care. I just need a new one and Apple’s had over half a decade to figure it out and can’t.
It’s time to move on, and nobody’s sicker about it than me. Sorry Apple.
Agree the 2012 Mac mini is one of the best. Was going to replace my 2011 Mac mini with the 2014 model until the unveiling of the 2014 model. Was fortunate enough to find a brand new 2012 Mac mini (Quad Core) on sale at Best Buy instead.
Over time, upgraded the memory to 16 GB and replaced the 1 TB 5400K TPM HD with a 2 TB SSD from OWC. No issues at all with the computer. If Apple kept the 2012 model format and upgraded the specs to something more modern (not necessarily top of the line) we’d buy at least 2 of the newer machines.
I love my Mac mini!
What the heck is a Mac Mini, said Tim to Jony. Sorry Timmy, I’ll look into it & let you know after I’ve finished this new set on emojis.
H-P already did what the Mini could be. You can BTO all the way from Core i3 to Xeon and all the way from Intel Graphics to Nvidia. Opens without tools and easily upgraded.
But Apple says we have to wait until 2019- maybe. Except for EFI, this could be a great Mac.
So much of the dire Apple neglect of the Mac reminds me of Kodak blunders in the 1990s. People left the company and took vital technology with them, causing that niche at Kodak to drop dead. My favorite among a multitude of casualties was cameras. How the hypo did Kodak let that happen?! Bad management.
Much as I appreciate the brilliantly good things Cook does for the company and planet Earth, he’s responsible for allowing the Mac to go to hell. 😛 Fix that already, dammit!
Kodak sold off technology that is still important to prop up the dead film business.
Well, they sold off many technology patents. I don’t know how much of that tech they’ve retained for their own use since the bankruptcy.
Imagine this, QED this month by Apple:
A super souped up Mac Mini Server with an optional server blade frame attachment, with room at the side for an Apple branded external boards and drives box connected at the back via Thunderbolt. I could design the thing, it would be so simple.
IOW shame on Apple. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist or even Jony Ive. 🙄
No no no no
Why does anyone want multiple external boxes for mission critical data that can only be connected via external wires? That’s trash can thinking. Why have “blades” with yet one more proprietary plastic enclosure? Still No good.
The most efficient means of expansion is internal using the current state of the art motherboard attachments. Drive drawers for instant tool and wire free drive replacement. User replaceable RAM and GPU INSIDE THE GODDAMN APPLE DESKTOP BOX.
Apple just needs to get off its fat ass and make 2-3 different size desktops for people to choose up front how much future tinkering they want to do. At a minimum 2 internal hard drives should be a given and one open pci slot, the sky is the limit after that.
Dethrone Timmy
You entirely missed my point about an IMMEDIATE and SIMPLE solution that even I could cobble together in a MONTH. Use the new Mac mini as just a Mac mini, or toss on the simple thunderbolt box, or toss both into the blade frame. The entire point was how dirt SIMPLE it would be to do. Get it now?
Meanwhile, of course, Apple could revive the Xserve, which actually was a blade.
Cook Sucks…plain and simple. I’ve been saying it since 2016..,you can iCal that comment. He’s gonna help ruin the Apple image and he has already done so.
The company is starting to turn into a laughing stock.
“I (and most power users) can’t wait another 18 months or more to get my job done,” Gewirtz writes. “What if, instead, Apple updated the Mac mini?”
I can’t wait another 18 months so I’m going to IMAGINE a computer. And imagine all the imaginary work I’ll get done on it!!
Well, it’s probably as productive as folks who have been burned multiple times but are STILL planning to wait on that Mac Pro that is JUUUST right for them… sometime in 2019… maybe.