“With Apple’s recent ‘State of the Mac’ omitting any mention of the Mac mini and reports surfacing over the current line’s discontinuation, there’s been some speculation that the diminutive desktop’s days may (again) be numbered. That’s unlikely the case, say insiders, who are sharing new details,” Kasper Jade reports for AppleInsider.
Jade reports, “In a report published this week titled the ‘The State of the Mac mini,’ Las Vegas-based Macminicolo, the largest Mac mini colocation firm… which operates a server farm of 400 Mac minis, notes that ‘it’s just about as familiar with the Mac mini as anyone’ and claims it ‘is certain there is another mini on the way.'”
Jade reports, “The report both attempts to dispel some common misconceptions about the mini’s sales volume, as well as outline a few features that are said to be ‘100% confirmed’ for the impending update. Specifically, it notes that the mini sells to businesses over consumers at roughly a 2 to 1 ratio.”
What’s coming? According to the report, Mac mini will receive:
• Mini DisplayPort
• Support for up to 4GB of RAM
• SATA optical drive
• Optional config, for two SATA HDDs, no optical drive
More details in the full article here.
That’s good news for minime!
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Don’t forget the best new feature of them all: No firewire!
WE HATE FIREWIRE! GOOD RIDDANCE TO BAD RUBBISH!
Here’s the link to the actual article written by Macminicolo:
http://www.macminicolo.net/state2008.html
Coincidentally, they expect the firewire to stay around.
WJ,
remember that minime name is only a name, it’s not anatomically correct!
Don’t want any rumors spreading here.
Great day for the market heh.
I do hope they update the little guy.
I hope at least one FW port so I can still use my miniStack. It works great on FW, but not as well on USB only.
eSATA would be nice as well. Or at least keep firewire……….or maybe give it a cardslot or something.
Two Hard Drives and no Optical Drive is Perfect for What I use my Mac Minis for.
I also see the Nvidia Graphics chip, and Firewire 800 ports in the Mini’s future too.
I looked into the Mini, but opted for the iMac, which is a much better value proposition. Mini II needs integrated power, dedicated video, support for 3-1/2″ disk, user upgradability. (Putty knives shouldn’t be needed to upgrade RAM.)
@PC apologist:
Don’t you have something better to do, like jumping off a bridge?
Going to Mini DisplayPort frees up space on the back…
@nytesky (where ever he is)
This one is for you. Ever look up those websites?
@Raymond in DC – when I first read your article, I thought you were talking about the 3.5 FLOPPY disk. Agree support for a 3.5 hard disk would be nice and ditto for easy accessable system RAM.
Peace.
Include those nVidia graphics and they got a sale.
@Raymond, What, you don’t have a putty knife?
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Apple: if you’re reading this, PLEASE:
Keep firewire (upgrade to FW800 would be great).
Add eSata and/or an express card slot.
Definitely, if you are not keeping firewire, and/or not adding eSata, then by all means, put the express card slot on it, so I can add my own eSata and firewire.
Also, there is definitely room for a “Max-mini” mini tower system with room for two 3 1/2″ SATA drives, and one or two PCIe (or express card) slots .
I know several people that would have bought such a computer, that absolutely didn’t want an all-in-one, the Mac Pro is priced too high, and the Mini is too limiting. They all ended up with HP’s or Dells.
I have three Mini’s, and they’re great for what I use them for, but I would definitely replace one of them with this missing mid-sized system.
I will never buy an iMac. I hate all-in-ones, and I hate glossy screens.
Apple: listen — I am a good repeat customer. I have purchased in the last 5 years, a PowerBook G4, three MacBook Pro’s, and three Intel Minis. The PowerBook and MacBooks, and two of the Mini’s were purchased directly from the Apple Store website. Give me what I want, and I’ll buy more. Otherwise, what I have will be good enough for quite a while.
The Apple insider states maximum RAM for the current Mac Mini as 3 GB. I have 4 GB in two of mine, and they work just fine. Both of those are Core 2 units (which have a different motherboard and firmware than the earlier Core Duo). The earlier Core Duo units may have been limited to 3 GB.
First Steve, now the Mac mini – don’t people have anything better to do than predict the deaths of various Apple-related products or persons?
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Oh and jas67 – “I know several people” for whom your concerns would never persuade them to buy a tower with Windows on it, instead of a Mac mini or iMac with OS X on it.
Sometimes it’s good to let go of what you *think* you really want, and re-prioritize your concerns. For example, I personally never wanted to go with a glossy screen on my next MacBook. However, I gave the demo models in the Apple store a whirl last year (both matte and glossy), and was surprised to discover I greatly preferred the *glossy* one.
I’m not saying you have to agree with me on that (or on any of the other concerns you’ve raised) – all I’m saying is, go to an Apple store and give your preconceptions an honest challenge. Sometimes what we think we really want, isn’t what we really want.
(Not to mention Apple has done a *lot* more market research than either you and I have done, so it’s possible they know something we don’t when it comes to how they decide what models to market.)
Putty knife, RAM? Hell yes, I hate it. Every odd day I install 1GB of RAM and every even day I swap it to 2GB. Using that putty knife is really getting on my nerves. Damn, why Apple coulnd’t just have a little slot on the case to make it easier.
I’d be surprised if a revised Mac Mini included Firewire… are a lot of people really running iMovie on those things?
So….. we now have Megame, minime and Micro Me posting on MDN. I wonder what that all means?
I hope the counter Mac mini rumour is correct. I’d like to update my wife’s Mac mini before long. The rumoured updates don’t sound that exciting though. I’m waiting for a rumoured release date, or maybe even a real one.
I hope they’re right! The Mini RULES!
Fingers crossed…..I’ll buy a new one IF they come out!
It’s no notebook, but it’s easier to grab the mini and hook it up in any office and go to work right away than any other computer. Those fretting over no sub-$1k Macs are really missing the point in Apple design.
I think it would be fool to stop the MacMini. I went to a company using windows. old crappy machines and they told me the PC they had were crap but not expensive. After talking about TCO I told them. Look, you simply buy MacMini keep monitor and keyboard and mouse and you have a winner. So they will do it it is $6000 to change all the Units by a MacMini. A new company of switchers is born. No need to argue for 3 hours. No need to waste hours with anti viruses and all that crap windows has in stock…
@ wannabe: The main reason for FireWire is for easy diagnostics and expansion. Those of use who want a Mini or 3 for media centers want FireWire so we can hook up a bootable MinStack.
My fondest Mini dream is 802.11n wireless.
If you want a computer hooked up to your HDTV, the Mac mini can’t be beat. All you need is a DVI to HDMI adapter. I love mine and would be heartbroken if Apple killed it. I spend more time in the mini than I do in my cable company’s box or my nintendo.