The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

[Chuckeee]

I like the dimensions of the current mini. Smaller NUC size seem to have issue with:
- cables moving the box around and requiring aggressive cable management.
- some require more aggressive thermal management resulting in much noisier little boxes.
- narrow spacing between ports is incompatible with some large connectors

While the mini is wide enough to provide greater stability for with a bunch of cables attached. And still short enough to fit under any display or to be mounted vertically behind a display or a desk.

But there is still room for improvements. Moving some ports to the front or side, greater spacing between the audio jack port and the USB-A ports, display port instead of HDMI, SD card reader and the option to be powered via TB/USB.

 

[SkippyThorson]

I’m not really pushing for a redesign as I’m happy with the way it is, but…

when the Mac mini was released in the form factor it has now, it had a SuperDrive and was designed for it. A new design could free up desk space, provide better port access and same or better cooling with integrated power supply.

I agree, and furthermore, the prior 2009 Mac Mini had a smaller footprint and still had the optical drive.

I’ve never been sure why the 2010 shorter/design retained the optical drive, and then they cut it for 2011 on the Mini, while retaining it in the 2012 MBP.

The Mini further perplexed me when the 2014-2018 delay wasn’t due to a redesign, but yet they rocked a space grey color?! Like color was anyone’s concern. (I do like it, though!)

While the mini is wide enough to provide greater stability for with a bunch of cables attached. And still short enough to fit under any display or to be mounted vertically behind a display or a desk.

Very interesting consideration about vertical mounting due to the form factor. Have to say that a 1U rack space for a Mini is pretty great too. Positive ending; far more practical explanation exists for business-class use cases than consumer ones regarding the design.

 

[Omnius]

I agree, and furthermore, the prior 2009 Mac Mini had a smaller footprint and still had the optical drive.

I’ve never been sure why the 2010 shorter/design retained the optical drive, and then they cut it for 2011 on the Mini, while retaining it in the 2012 MBP.

The Mini further perplexed me when the 2014-2018 delay wasn’t due to a redesign, but yet they rocked a space grey color?! Like color was anyone’s concern. (I do like it, though!)



Very interesting consideration about vertical mounting due to the form factor. Have to say that a 1U rack space for a Mini is pretty great too. Positive ending; far more practical explanation exists for business-class use cases than consumer ones regarding the design.

Yeah, the current mac mini form factor is somewhat of a mystery. I would have thought we’d get a refresh with the M1 or M2. Tear down videos show a ton of empty space, versus the older models with SATA drive space.

I’d love to see a modular mini design with an apple designed hub to plug and play for external GPU or other peripherals. There are a lot of design concepts apple can try with the mini.

 

[Populus]

Yeah, the current mac mini form factor is somewhat of a mystery. I would have thought we’d get a refresh with the M1 or M2. Tear down videos show a ton of empty space, versus the older models with SATA drive space.

I’d love to see a modular mini design with an apple designed hub to plug and play for external GPU or other peripherals. There are a lot of design concepts apple can try with the mini.

Honestly, I don’t see them going the modular way with the mini.

 

[Omnius]

I agree that it’s not likely to happen but the non Apple options are just hideous.

 

[sublunar]

Yeah, the current mac mini form factor is somewhat of a mystery. I would have thought we’d get a refresh with the M1 or M2. Tear down videos show a ton of empty space, versus the older models with SATA drive space.

I’d love to see a modular mini design with an apple designed hub to plug and play for external GPU or other peripherals. There are a lot of design concepts apple can try with the mini.

I don't think it's a mystery if you consider that all the tooling and engineering for the form factor is now bought and paid for, enabling Apple to price it as competitively as they do (yes, I know, people will still compare with budget PCs!)

Plenty of people have visions of what they would like the Mini to be, but let's not forget the Mac Studio is built on the same footprint. It would just look weird if the Mini just diverged from it alone - it strikes me that the two come as a design pair.

 

[Omnius]

The mini hasn’t seen a real aesthetic design change in 13 years. In that time, we’ve seen two new Mac Pro designs, the launch of the studio, and some iterations of iMac (though iMacs have seen only modest appearance changes).

The performance reasons for the mini’s design (space for various components) no longer exist. I suspect the mini is due for a shake up but I agree that the Studio’s same footprint suggests that apple may want to keep the same footprint for them.

 

[sublunar]

The mini hasn’t seen a real aesthetic design change in 13 years. In that time, we’ve seen two new Mac Pro designs, the launch of the studio, and some iterations of iMac (though iMacs have seen only modest appearance changes).

The performance reasons for the mini’s design (space for various components) no longer exist. I suspect the mini is due for a shake up but I agree that the Studio’s same footprint suggests that apple may want to keep the same footprint for them.

Indeed, and it’s been repeated several times that co-location guys who buy hundreds of minis are tooled up for the existing Mac mini form factor. If Apple were thinking of going for a new form factor then those guys will be inconvenienced, as will the guys like Sabrent or Belkin who make the port expansion hubs that sit underneath the mini.

M3 may well run cooler but Apple Offer the M3 Pro which will need the thermal cooling space offered by the existing form factor and this alone explains why the form factor hasn’t changed for the M2 Pro current mini form factor - 65w TDP from back in the coffee lake intel days. And that model comes with 4 thunderbolt ports as opposed to the 2 on the standard m2 model.

if anything, the only disappointment for me is the lack of internal storage expansion although the relative lack of IO options for the standard Mx series cpu seems to explain that away.

 

[picpicmac]

The performance reasons for the mini’s design (space for various components) no longer exist.

All that Aluminum surface is good for heat dissipation.

The power supply also supplies energy via the USB ports, that is why it is still needed to be more than simply what the M-board needs.

 

[ILoveCalvinCool]

They literally just have to replace the CPUs.

Do you really think it's that simple?

 

[Chuckeee]

Do you really think it's that simple?

They will have to do a logic board turn but the basic design is probably unchanged

 

[Neodym]

Indeed, and it’s been repeated several times that co-location guys who buy hundreds of minis are tooled up for the existing Mac mini form factor. If Apple were thinking of going for a new form factor then those guys will be inconvenienced, as will the guys like Sabrent or Belkin who make the port expansion hubs that sit underneath the mini.

With infrastructure, you eventually get to a point of no return, where it gets increasingly more expensive to change fundamentals.

Example: railway dimensions. With thousands of kilometers of railways spread throughout the land, it’s difficult to decide to use e.g. a wider track gauge (e.g. to allow for wider Waggons with more space inside), as they would not be able to use the existing railway network and you would have to built new paths at high costs.

“But how about building higher and/or wider Waggons using the existing track gauge?“. There is more to infrastructure than track gauge. Think of tunnels or the height of the overhead contact line for electric locomotives.

I think the mini is heading towards a similar situation (if it didn’t already arrive), where a design change would be increasingly problematic for many involved parties. That’s no guarantee for Apple never changing the form factor significantly, but the benefit of such a move would have to be really worth it, to counterweigh the involved infrastructure changing costs.

 

[Boil]

"But how about building higher and/or wider wagons using the existing track gauge?"

That would be the Mac Studio...

 

[Neodym]

That would be the Mac Studio...

… and it doesn’t fit the tunnel (e.g. 1RU slot).

 

[Corefile]

No new Minis in March so game over.

 

[picpicmac]

No new Minis in March

Based on..... ??

 

[icemantx]

Based on..... ??

In late January Mark Gurman stated what he believes is coming in March “at a minimum” in his PowerOn article and the Mac mini was not mentioned. My guess is if not March, then WWDC in June alongside the Mac Studio and Mac Pro maybe?

It does not make a lot of logical sense to have all the desktops except the iMac remain on M2 technology for all of 2024 when the rest of the Mac lineup are all on M3/M3 Pro/M3 Max.

 

[DVD9]

In late January Mark Gurman stated what he believes is coming in March “at a minimum” in his PowerOn article and the Mac mini was not mentioned. My guess is if not March, then WWDC in June alongside the Mac Studio and Mac Pro maybe?

It does not make a lot of logical sense to have all the desktops except the iMac remain on M2 technology for all of 2024 when the rest of the Mac lineup are all on M3/M3 Pro/M3 Max.

The Mini is an afterthought. Apple could easily wait until the M4 and Thunderbolt 5. It's a lower profit - the entry model - that is a lure to get people into the Apple ecosystem. Apple would rather sell those AppleTV boxes than Mini's that people hook up to their TV.

16GB of DDR5 RAM is fifty USD outside of Apple. It's eight times that price inside the Apple system.

Same stuff.

 

[icemantx]

The Mini is an afterthought.

I would say it used to be more of an afterthought being it received the M1 at launch of M1 in 2020, M2 at the same time as the MacBook Pro in Jan 2023 and was made available with the M2 Pro chip.

In general though, the desktop lineup for Apple is secondary (probably being generous there) compared to MacBooks. There clearly is a revenue stream that Apple enjoys from the desktops and upgrading to M3 can at a minimum provide a modest sales bump while keeping the form factors identical. I am not sure the Mac mini will ever change at this point - over a decade with the same exact design.

Having said that, I would not be shocked if the Mac mini, Mac Studio and Mac Pro all skip the M3 series. Would not affect me as I plan to keep my M2 Pro Mac mini for several years and would don't upgrade to the M3 Pro anyhow if it became available and no plans to get a Mac Studio.

 

[Chuckeee]

Having said that, I would not be shocked if the Mac mini, Mac Studio and Mac Pro all skip the M3 series. Would not affect me as I plan to keep my M2 Pro Mac mini for several years and would don't upgrade to the M3 Pro anyhow if it became available and no plans to get a Mac Studio.

Since the iMac skipped M2, it is at least conceivable the Mac mini could skip M3. And one of the major advantages of the M3Pro chip (power consumption reduction) does not mean as much in a desktop environment. So skipping the M3Pro mini for a generation would not be a catastrophe. Not having Ray Tracing in a Mac mini platform seems to be a disadvantage, but since the release of the M3 MacBooks in November, there hasn’t been loads of software take advantage of it anyway, at least not yet.

The Mac Studios are a different situation. The movement of Mac Studio to the M3 architecture is solely based on the available of an M3Ultra chip. If M3Ultra chips are in production, then it’s inevitable that we’ll see M3 Studios this year. If there are no M3Ultra chips, then I think it’s very unlikely we will see just an M3Max Studio. By itself, an M3Max Studio would severely impact the sales of M2Ultra Studio and M2 Mac Pro.

Well, that’s my wooden nickel worth

 

[Corefile]

I would say it used to be more of an afterthought being it received the M1 at launch of M1 in 2020, M2 at the same time as the MacBook Pro in Jan 2023 and was made available with the M2 Pro chip.

M1 was the launch chip so they needed to ship volume in the low-end for it to be successful. M2 was a disaster so they're using the M2 Mini to get rid of excess M2 gen chips. No M3 Minis are coming so let's close this thread as it's done.

 

[yellowhelicopter]

No M3 Minis are coming so let's close this thread as it's done.

So.... you're proposing to close the thread that has been here from 2013 just because (in your opinion) there isn't going to be MM M3? )

 

[picpicmac]

16GB of DDR5 RAM is fifty USD outside of Apple.

Have you priced computers from Lenovo... or Microsoft... or etc.?

Spot prices for SDRAM chips, as well as DIMMs found on the usual outlets, do not represent what system integrators (whether Apple, Lenovo, or whoever) will and must charge.

 

[picpicmac]

I would not be shocked if the Mac mini, Mac Studio and Mac Pro all skip the M3 series.

I have thought it possible that the next "ultra" SoC may skip the M3, and an M4 Ultra is unveiled in a "scary fast" event this coming Halloween.

But the Mini uses the same SoC daughter board as other Apple computers. There is very little Apple has to do for a Mini, and the casework and power supply are already in production and have a proven track record.

It's a small volume compared to a phone, but Apple does still seem intent on servicing some specialized markets, e.g., Mac Pro.

 

[Chuckeee]

No M3 Minis are coming so let's close this thread as it's done.

While I consider that there may not be M3 mini as a conceivable alternative, it is not at all a certainty. It is certainly worthy topic of continued discussion