Information provided to Mac OS Rumors by one of their “oldest and most reliable sources in Cupertino” says that Apple’s “Mac mini is dead… Long live the Mac nano!”
“The exact naming and marketing details are not as firm in our sources’ estimation, since he’s not an Apple Marketroid(TM)….but the new Mini will be as small in the horizontal as an internal optical drive will allow, and a little over 2/3 the height. Overall volume will be shrunk almost 25%, weight by about 20% and an all-new enclosure will be strikingly different from the design that has been the Mini’s defining feature since its introduction,” Mac OS RUmors reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: This is a rumor, from a source that has seen more than a bit of its mojo slip in recent years, so – while this rumor is spreading today – we recommend taking it with more than a single grain of salt.
It’s an office IT dream. Desktop that can be miounted under a desk or on the back of a monitor.
Magic Word: “heavy”, as in the Mac Mini is Not.
Agree with Reclaimer, the new iMacs are terrible to work on. My office just bought 5 of them and they all suck, especially the super-glossy screen. I’m serious, I can see what the person behind me is doing.
MacOSRumors predicted both the 8-core Mac Pro and the “Macbook Thin” (not materialized yet) before anyone else I know of. I read appleinsider.com, macrumors.com, thinksecret.com regularly.
Why won’t they bring the Cube back? That would work for gamers too.
@ Stever w ay up there…
You shrink it to reduce shipping costs. If it’s 25% smalller, you can fit 25% more on each ship or in each box, reducing shipping costs. This means you can price the unit the same but make more money off of it because of lower shipping and handling costs.
Um… I know that high school math was a little while ago, but I’m pretty sure that if the height is reduced by 33% and length and width are reduced at all (shrunk to accomodate an optical drive, no bigger) then the volume will not decrease by 25%…
For those not following, it would be A MUCH GREATER reduction.
Stupid article, stupid source, stupid Rumor Site to ignorantly repeat it. Come on, folks. This is basic stuff. Makes me think the “tip” is a complete farce.
Why don’t they just put a better video card and 80211.n in the Mac mini and be done with it. The current Mac mini is just about perfect as is. Going smaller would be a mistake. People are already skeptical of the small form factor not being a “real computer”. They should also just can the Apple TV. It’s a lost cause device with no audience.
I’ve put RAM in a few Minis unless apple gives it the Apple TV form factor + a bit more height there will not be enough room for all the components. Not much of a Nano if you make the foot print bigger.
1 pound of salt to go with this Rumor, please…
People people people, this is MOST STUPID rumor ( from a pathetic Mac site) I’ve sen in the last 3 hours.
MacOSRumors’ “oldest, most reliable source” is the dude’s pet parakeet. It’s all fabricated.
MDN: Please forgive the English Teacher in me, but you wrote –
“This is a rumor, from a source that has seen more than a bit of its mojo slip in recent years … “
It should be “from a source who has seen …”
“Who” is for people. “That” is for things.
I know, a minor point, but blame it on Apple – they’ve spoiled us with devoted attention to all the silly little details.
Now, all that being said, you appear to know this source, so I will defer to you judgement about their qualifications as a person
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Thanks, BC
This makes no sense. The only thing to gain by a smaller form factor is that you have to use more expensive smaller parts and more time- consuming engineering to make it all work. Plus, you limit yourself on any future expansion, like a larger hard drive.
Even if the “oldest, most reliable source” saw such a form factor, I would be it’s a new AppleTV rather than a Mac mini/nano.
“Why won’t they bring the Cube back? That would work for gamers too.”
Not really. While you could put a graphics card in the Cube, the cards had to be specially engineered to fit within the tight confines of the Cube.
re: Does anyone one know any real advantage this size would have over the current size? Why squeeze it into a form factor only 25% smaller?
—–
The reason why anything is reduced is to cut manufacturering costs on materials and packaging.
A fine example of this is look at Apple’s software boxes that have shrunk smaller and smaller every year and the iPod range too.
So shrinking a product down makes excellent business sense. You cut production costs, reduce usage of materials and make more profit on selling the product.
This reducing strategy is all win for Apple and it makes all the greenies (environmental fanatics) happy too and customers feel good because the box is small and they also think they are helping to save the planet as well.
All in all marvellous.
Kinda makes sense namewise since the iPod Mini hasn’t existed in years, but idk about the size thing. I mean, how small does a desktop computer have to become?? Would be kinda cool to be able to pack it up when traveling, but wouldn’t a laptop be of better service since the display & keyboard are attached? Cus you know this thing is gonna have nothing but laptop components in it anyway, so it’s basically gonna be a laptop sans display & keyboard. Kinda doesn’t make much since… other than for ppl with extremely small living spaces or something
Is the Mac Nano supposed to be released before or after the Gamer’s iMac with twin graphics cards?
Blu-ray is not coming to any Apple products soon.
Why put a $900 drive in a machine that is suppose to cost $600?
Update the graphics chip(intel has more recent graphics chipsets), larger drives, etc. and it’s good to go.
Don’t forget Asian Markets.
That said, my machine sits atop two external hard drives, hooked up to a CRT TV acting as my media jukebox. RND Photos, RND music or RND movies, tv guide, weather, email. With my wacom, the buttons are my zoom, and I’m able to get all my work done when I have to. Eventually I’ll be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.
Unlikely rumour. Apple wouldn’t put a lot of R&D;into a product for people who in general think spending $300 is a lot. They’ll gladly leave that to Dell.
Sounds like they may have heard about a new Apple TV rather than a revamped Mac Mini.
Apple TV with optical drive. The “2/3 height” kinda fits in with what we’ve got now. October – Leopard, new Apple TV and 720p movies on iTunes store. December – movie rentals. January – ?
Thanks AshNazg,
That make sense to me.
Stever
MW – less as in less size, less shipping
Macosrumors… I thought they made stuff up.
Sounds like an Apple TV with an optical drive.
If these damn engineers had to repair these things, stuff would be different.
As someone with 20 years of auto repair experience, I know your pain.
Heh, once we had a summer temp who was working his way through engineering school. I was in the middle of a hellish tangle of chassis wires, and told him: “When you graduate and are making the big money, promise you’ll never create a mess like this!”
A little “How NOT to do it” never hurts.
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AAAGGGGGHHHHHHH! You’re using my new Mac Nano as a coaster! And is that my new iPod Micro you are using as a swizzle stick?
The size decrease I can see for the aforementioned packaging and shipping reasons. I cannot see the motivation for a price decrease as well though. Steve Jobs just publicly stated that there are some markets that Apple does not want to enter. The $299 PC market is definitely one of those markets. Apple doesn’t even want to be in the $499 PC market! They abandoned that some time ago, because it makes ZERO business sense! Even Dell, HP, Gateway, etc. who use the cheapest and slowest components from 2 years ago to build PCs in this market segment do not make a profit in it. Apple, who wants to make machines that can actually DO something useful a year after they’re purchased, cannot make the 30% margin that they expect from all their products on machines like this. This is the reason why you will never see a sub-$500 machine from Apple, ever again. I for one will not miss it, and neither will my AAPL shares.
–mAc