A MacBidouille forum member yesterday attempted to order a Mac mini. When checking for the status of his order, he was supplied the following message:
MACMINI 1.42GHZ/512/80G/CMD/F
Est. Build On or before 11/07/2005
Replaced with new product
MacBidouille writes, “Such a message gives no real doubt regarding the short-term revision of the current Mac mini!”
Full article here.
Back on June 14, AppleInsider reported, “Several tipsters note that Apple’s online store now lists wait times for the company’s Mac mini computer at 6 to 8 business days. For the past two months the Apple store had listed the Mac mini for shipment on “the same business day.” An updated Mac mini with double the standard RAM has been rumored for some time and is expected as part of the company’s upcoming summer hardware line.”
MacDailyNews Take: In the past, messages such as this have immediately preceded the announcement of new updated hardware from Apple. Is a new Mac mini coming soon and, if so, is it too early to be Intel-based?
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Apple ‘Mac mini’ ship times hiked; new ‘Mac mini’ models coming soon? – June 15, 2005
Remember the AOpen Pandora? Intel based Mac minis may be here faster than you think…..
I hope this is not all that is being updated. Much of the line is in need of refreshing.
first!!!!
we love macs in the fiplipines!
maybe you have to buy one to confirm this – but when going thru an order, up to the point of buying, for me it says “same business day shipping”
of course, that could be because i’m the other steve jobs, and they were confused.
we need more confirmation of this.
It is *so* not going to be Intel-based. They just told the developers, for cripes’ sake.
yes its too early you freaks!
Agreed – it is too early for Intel based Mac minis….. I think a mild freshening (1.42 G4 low end, 1.66 G4 high end, 64MB Video standard on both)
“Is a new Mac mini coming soon and, if so, is it too early to be Intel-based?”
Stay off the kool aid guys…
This is the 1.5Ghz/1.67GHz G4, 512MB RAM standard, 64MB video update.
MW: CHILDREN!!!!
Sorry, I just had to post that, it makes me happy.
Definitely to early. They´re gonna release new PPC minis by now, and then, half a year later (Jan 2006) Pentium minis as first Intel Macs, so everybody can buy & try.
No Intel Inside, but what about a new Freescale G4? Is the single core ready?
Way too early for Intel procs. Simple proof by contradiction confirms this.
Suppose the mini WAS Intel based. This is the lease expensive Mac and now it will be the first to support Apple’s new hardware architecture. What happens to the eMac/iMac/PowerMac sales? They would plummit. Why pay four times the price of a mini for last gen hardware?
So instead, Apple will roll out Intel based PowerMacs and PowerBooks. Follow that with iMacs and then iBooks and Minis and eMacs.
My magic word is “life”
I suppose depending on what date system you employ (US or UK), this could be 11th July 2005 or 7th November 2005.
Now, that is a delay in shipping!
I’m not sure where I read this, so it could just have been speculation. I know that I read that the PowerMacs would be the last to get the Intel chips, and would be in 2007. I also read that both ‘Book lines and the Mini would be the first to receive the Intel chips.
once again though, this could have all been speculation since I can’t remember where I read it.
You also have to remember that Jobs stated in the Keynote that there would be some new PPC things coming out this year. The Mini is certainly one of those.
Its a mini with iTunes video store compatibility that you hook up to your TV. Coming in two weeks.
… or closer to one week, actually. And its not Intel based.
i just tried to order a Mac mini and when i upgrade stuff and hit the update subtotal button i get a error page…
MDN word: physical “dont make me get physical here”
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During his keynote at the WWDC, Steve Jobs said that there were several PPC-based products still in the pipeline. With this in mind, it’s unrealistic to expect anything other than a PPC Mini at this time. I suspect that the first Intel-based Mac will be announced during the Macworld keynote early next year.
I would expect the Powerbooks and iBooks to get the Intel chips first. That is really where the problem lies. A workstation can handle the high-heat of the G5. The G5 still has great performance, especially in bus speed. Here’s my expectation:
Mac mini will be speed-bumped with more memory. the video is up in the air, but hopefully it’ll have a new video processor that can chew on h.264.
PowerBooks and iBooks will come out with dual-core Intel processors by year end. They will both be updated at the same time, or PowerBooks will come first. In the meantime iBooks are due for an update. they’ll probably come with a new video that supports directx9, I mean CoreImage.
There will be growing pains. I hope consumers recognise this. For compatibility your best bet is to stick to PPC. The only reason to be an early adopter is if running Windows full-speed on your only laptop is very important. Or if you are a switcher, or think that Apple makes better hardware than Wintel companies (they just might).
Mac mini and iMac will go to Intel sometime next year. These will be desktop processors with large caches and possibly 4 cores.
PowerMac G5 will have an update or two by now. The G5 exceeds 3GHz and/or is dual core, possilby with a 65nm process. Apple will not do a Cell processor. If PPC is still too far behind in integer performance and not too far ahead in FPU and bus performance, then the PowerMac will switch to Intel and may be renamed.
The poor souls at Ars Technica will cry and talk about the good-ol days when Apple used a clean, modern processor architecture. Consumers meanwhile will have the best pick of whatever processor is best. Macheads will marvel at how well Intel has overcome the limitations of the CISC and x86 architechture without throwing compatibility out the window. Wintel geeks will say, “told you so”. and We’ll say, “We were hornswaggled,” and, “this must all be a cruel joke. 680×0, G3, G4, and G5 were all better than x86! They were just mis-managed”.
Is this the Apple curse? Will Apple bring down x86? Will the PPC rise again? Will the destruction of Wintel be complete? Stay tuned for the next episode of the Platform Wars!
why would they lie to devs about how long they have??
why would they sell macs without many native apps yet?
new powerpc minis are coming, and probably just with more ram.
The very idea of an imminent Intel-based mini is based on the delusion that the mini is a performance machine. Expect the mini (and the emac) to be among the last machines to see Intel processors, not the first, as they are the machines that need it the least.
Here’s the priority of Intel chips, in order of need. This will not be the release schedule, but should give you some idea.
1. Powerbook
2. Powerbook
3. Powerbook (ok you get the idea)
4. iMac
5. PowerMac
6. iBook
7. Mac mini
8. eMac
Of course the possibility of entirely new products, or the elimination of current ones, should not be ignored.
Apple would love to release a dual core Intel based powerbook ASAP, however, Apple needs to start releasing Intel based machines ASAP.
The mini may be the best computer to be released. It is a low end computer. Intel has a mini based version (Pandora). And people are not expecting it to be that powerful. A Pentium M is sufficient to run in a mini for the masses.
I bet the mini is ready to be shipped, however, Apple needs to wait for more Intel native apps to be written before it’s release.
Anyone who has followed Apple over the years knows that nothing is impossible. My guess is that the new Minis will be Intel based. Why not? Steve loves to show the world that Apple, unlike MS, is not only capable of releasing hardware on-time, but also ahead of schedule.
Developers have already begun the transition, and for those using Apple’s new devloper tools, apparently most have already ported to Intel.
The point is, why shoot down the possibility? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t, but nothing is impossible. My money’s on Intel.
Hey bro, I got a movie deal and I need you in it. Call me at office phone
It’s a great part, believe me!
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Didn’t Steve Jobs say that Intel based Macs would be shipping by June 2006. All he has to do is ship one model by that time. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are no Intel Macs until next spring.
To “me” and other saying the high-end gets Intel first,
You obviously weren’t listening:
“Apple has used IBM’s PowerPC processors since 1994, but will begin a phased transition to Intel’s chips, sources familiar with the situation said. Apple plans to move lower-end computers such as the Mac Mini to Intel chips in mid-2006 and higher-end models such as the Power Mac in mid-2007, sources said.” – CNet article on Job’s announcement
Low-end first, high-end later.
I doubt that an Intel Mini is likely this soon, but the AOpen Pandora (which was widely derided here as a “mini rip-off”) was commisioned by Intel. It shows that you can package an Intel processor into an “Apple style” minimalist package. Even if it isn’t intended for production, its a functioning prototype or demonstrator that it can be done….
Why not a G5 mini? No one is gonna buy a tower right now, but they might but a mini to hold em over. I know that this is wishful thinking at best but it could be sweet.
It is going to be Intel inside.
LeftRearTire, as someone who owns several G5 PowerMac’s and plans to buy several more in the next year or two, let me explain it to you. The dual G5 powermacs are fast, to match or (slightly) beat them you need a top end dual Xeon or dual Opteron system. Problem is, those systems (similarly configured) cost over 5k (well over 5k, I own a couple, and that 6-5K is without display)
So the long and short is yes, the Intel chipsare going to be be good for the low end and midrange boxes and laptops, particularly in the future, but the Intel powermacs are either going down in capability or up in price, they cant possibly sell a dual Xeon for 2-3K it just ain’t going to happen. So get em while they are available.
“Steve loves to show the world that Apple, unlike MS, is not only capable of releasing hardware on-time, but also ahead of schedule.”
Do you mean software?
B-Sabre, as long as it’s “sources” coming up with the information, it’s rumor. So far Apple has made no official announcements regarding which products will be Intel-based when.
The US Apple online store lists mac minis as a 1-3 day estimated ship as of this morning. Why would they still list the time as that if new ones were coming out. Sorry, don’t believe it!