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http://www.macnn.com/articles/08/03/21/mac.mini.overhaul/

Mac mini to soon receive complete overhaul

updated 05:20 pm EDT, Fri March 21, 2008

Mac mini overhaul

The Mac mini is supposedly getting an internal overhaul, rather than fading into nonexistence, as popular belief would indicate. According to AppleInsider, the miniature computer is to see the 45-nanometer Core 2 Duo chip, starting at 2.1GHz, with an 800MHz frontside buss and the Intel GMA X3100 graphics processor. This alleged update comes after almost a year of shipping the same model, without any major changes.

The future of the Mac mini is frequently called into question, since the line rarely receives the lavishing attention that Apple's other computer lines see. Several updates to the platform have been quiet, with the specifications listed on the product page, a "New" tag in the online store, and little fanfare.

AppleInsider says that while no official date has been given for the update, the Penryn-3M-based systems were in the engineering build stage around the middle of March. The publication also predicts that the aluminum iMacs will receive an upgrade to Penryn as well in the near future.

by MacNN Staff

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TAGS :

computers, industry, Penryn, Core 2 Duo, Mac mini, Apple

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Comments

Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

0

03/21, 06:39pm | report spam | close Reply |
Spelling?

Buss has only one s....

It is an alternate spelling only if you consider incorrect as alternate.

nhmlco
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Mar 2007

0

03/21, 06:43pm | report spam | close Reply |
Just one phrase...

802.11n

bhuot
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2003

0

03/21, 08:20pm | report spam | close Reply |
next Mac

This will be my next Mac.

designr
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2002

0

03/21, 11:38pm | report spam | close Reply |
maybe...

eSATA? Rack Mount?

Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

-1

03/22, 06:09am | report spam | close Reply |
No real GFX yet?!?

I would be alll over this if they would drop the Intel c*** and give me a real graphics card. Make the Mini a headless iMac! MacBook Pro is the portable iMac, the iMac is the all-in-one feel good-ness, and the Mac Mini has all of the power just in a smaller package. Make it a bit taller if you need to!!!

++if it had Blu-Ray too 8)

Guest
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 1999

0

03/22, 06:11am | report spam | close Reply |
We Need a Real Mini Tower

I think that apple needs to think a little bit bigger. Make the Mini an Apple TV with an optical drive, kill the ATV, and give us an option between the iMac and MacPro. Something w/o integrated graphics

Mr. Fartleberry
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jul 2003

-1

03/22, 07:58am | report spam | close Reply |
Not here

I wouldn't buy another. Far to hot and noisy. Might as well just have a sealed case like the ipods too.

Bring back the cube.

bearcatrp
Senior User

Joined: Dec 2005

0

03/22, 09:20am | report spam | close Reply |
I'll buy if......

the only way I would buy one is if it comes with a quad core processor and 4gb max ram. I wouldn't mind if they increase the size to have these in there.

Clive
Mac Enthusiast

Joined: Jan 2001

0

03/22, 11:02am | report spam | close Reply |
Last update

The last update for the mini was in August 2007, which is less than eight months ago, hard to see how that equates to "almost a year".

Also, just before that update Apple Insider was crowing about how the mini was shortly going to be killed off - now they are saying there's going to be yet another update - wow!

The only complaint I have about the mini is the stupid external power supply. It doesn't effectively make the device any smaller, just makes it more complex. Oh, and the way they make it really hard to upgrade the RAM - just make it easy to open up for a start. FW800 would be good too!

Stone Soldier
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2005

0

03/22, 04:31pm | report spam | close Reply |
Too Pricey

It costs way too much for what you get. Compare this to what you can get for a PC. Apple is charging way too much for the small size. I'd rather see it a little larger with a standard 3.5" drive and a real graphics option. Must be at least a powerful as an iMac then it's a real alternative. What would be better is add a HDTV tuner and use it for Apple TV + DVR. That is where the small size would work. Apple is constantly underestimating how much storage you need to HD media.

bhuot
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2003

0

03/22, 07:54pm | report spam | close Reply |
can't have cake & eat it

"It costs way too much for what you get" You can't compare Apple's prices to that of Dells. It is impossible to sell products for the same price as the cheapo parts major PC manufacturers use and still have them the quality of Apple's. More features + low cost = cheap quality.

ophiochos
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2006

0

03/22, 09:01pm | report spam | close Reply |
lavishing?

ooh a new word. Lavishing. I quite like it. Is it halfway between 'ravishing' and 'lavish', then? That sounds pretty good. Whatever it is, I want it.

ophiochos
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Nov 2006

0

03/22, 09:03pm | report spam | close Reply |
correction...

of course 'lavishing' has long existed as a participle ("they were lavishing attention on the dinner"). But not as an intransitive participle ("the dinner was lavishing").

resuna
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2005

0

03/23, 12:26am | report spam | close Reply |
Put a real GPU in it

It was embarrassing to see the original intel mini barely beating the G4 mini and in some tests losing out to it, thanks to the intel GPU. Put a real GPU in it, Apple, not this intel junk.

resuna
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2005

0

03/23, 12:29am | report spam | close Reply |
bhout...

The GMA950 *is* "cheapo parts".

It's really obvious when you look at the laptops. I recently priced a Thinkpad with almost EXACTLY the same parts as a Macbook, except for a far superior keyboard and case, *and* an nVidia GPU. And it was cheaper than the Macbook.

The Mac Tax is real.

David Esrati
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 1999

0

03/23, 09:02pm | report spam | close Reply |
bring back the LC3!

Why not a small pizza box- with a 3.5" drive, 4gb user upgradeable ram, one slot (even if it's a PCMIA/Cardbus type)and a price point of $500. I can buy a ton of PC's for less with more features, slots, upgradeability- I don't care about the size- if I wanted a small computer it's called a laptop- where Apple already charges DOUBLE.

mjtomlin
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Oct 1999

0

03/24, 04:10am | report spam | close Reply |
I'll buy....

Can I get fries and shake with that!?

Get a freaken life. Better yet... go on ebay and find a used Mac that will suit your needs.

testudo
Forum Regular

Joined: Aug 2001

0

03/24, 08:42am | report spam | close Reply |
new mini

Based on history, my guess is that the mini will only get smaller, not bigger. Steve doesn't like 'big' (yet Apple sells a Mac Pro that is bigger and less expandable then comparable PC workstations on the market). They'll probably fill it with slow hard drives, slow graphics, limited expansion, and hope people think it's "new" (oh, wait, that's the current mini).

And bhout, what Apple quality are you talking about? You're paying for design, not quality. They get memory, drives, mobos, etc, from the same people that Dell and the rest get them from.

The fact that the mini doesn't ship with a simple keyboard and mouse just shows how cheap Apple is (money wise). It's like the good ol' days when you'd spend $3000 on a new mac and need to get the keyboard (they always threw in the mouse), or a video card.

Of course, in the good ol' days, you could also get a mac with no drives, no video, no memory, and save yourself a boatload of money on Apple's overpriced parts and put in what you want. But that cuts too much into Apple's revenue stream.

Macs blow up just as much as PCs (I guess the quality you're talking about is the fact that it would $1000 to fix my PPC tower's power supply, but only $200 max for a PC).

manleycreative
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2005

0

03/24, 09:55am | report spam | close Reply |
This just in...

...Apple today announced it is doing away with the Mac Mini stating that squares are out. In the near future Apple wants to play with designs that involve the circle with the possibility of evolving the design into a sphere... possibly even floating...with the ability to backup Space, not just Time. Fans are sure to want that in fruity colors too. lol

manleycreative
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2005

0

03/24, 09:59am | report spam | close Reply |
Well...

And hey, the whole same internal parts thing as the PC? It's about the development of a total system that makes the Mac better. You don't just get a bunch of parts thrown together and a bunch of companies saying you figure it out. You get a system that was tested and designed to work together as seamless a possible. Ask my buddy about that one who put together his own PC (and he was in college as a computer engineer) and could never get the parts to work well together. Meanwhile, $1000 later...he switched back to Mac.

Monstermind
Junior Member

Joined: May 2000

0

03/24, 10:43am | report spam | close Reply |
If it EVER fades into...

... nonexistence, I'm grabbing one beforehand. Just because I don't want it as my primary Mac doesn't mean I don't want one...

bjojade
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jun 2007

0

03/24, 11:03am | report spam | close Reply |
It has its purpose

It's not the fastest machine out there, but it does have it's uses. We use them for our POS stations. The power is definitely sufficient for that. The price is quite reasonable too in that it's small and has everything needed already installed. Sure, I could get some PC box for a few dollars less, but then it's big and bulky and ugly, not to mention running Windows.

At home, I have a couple mini's instead of AppleTV's and they work wonderfully. Attached to them are Elgato EyeTV's to build mini-DVR's. Yes, a Tivo would be cheaper, but there are things I do that require a mac. Plus, I get the advantage of being able to use the TV as a full computer screen with my wireless keyboard system. It's a beautiful thing.

Now, if there were anything to upgrade, here's my list.

1. Internal power supply. That brick is a pain, especially for the mini I have mounted to the back of an LCD in my kitchen. Without the brick, it's a much more beautiful solution.

2. 801.11n, for obvious reasons.

That's really all I'd need. Maybe a larger hard drive would be nice, but quiet is more important than large. If a 3.5" drive makes more noise, I'm not interested.

lockhartt
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2000

0

03/24, 11:31am | report spam | close Reply |
@testudo

"I guess the quality you're talking about is the fact that it would $1000 to fix my PPC tower's power supply, but only $200 max for a PC."

Where are you shopping? I've never paid anywhere near that for an Apple power supply, not even for the fairly esoteric one in the XServe. Mind you, if I need to replace a power supply out of warranty... I'm not buying it directly from Apple.

If you're talking about buying parts from Apple, then they're no worse (or better) than Dell (or any other PC manufacturer) in that respect... they make it painful enough to replace parts that it's generally "smarter" to just buy a new machine. I've been quoted prices of over $100 for a fan in a Dell server that I was able to pick up from newegg.com (same exact fan) for less than $20 shipped.

lockhartt
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Apr 2000

0

03/24, 11:46am | report spam | close Reply |
mini raison d'etre

If we're going to discuss the value of the mini, we really need to look at its reason for being... to replace existing machines that already all the required pieces in place, particularly for switchers. In those instances, where nothing else needs to be upgraded, the mini is a good fit.

Is it the best deal for the money? I'd have to agree that it is not.

Were you to purchase a mini, LCD, keyboard, mouse, and RAM to match an equivalent iMac you'd likely save less than $150 over the iMac... and you'd be lacking a lot more than $150 worth of better hardware in the mini versus the iMac. The graphics card alone in the iMac is pretty much worth the difference in cost for most of us.

manleycreative
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Sep 2005

0

03/24, 04:14pm | report spam | close Reply |
hey

They make great little backup drives with built in DVD burner.

shaunymac
Fresh-Faced Recruit

Joined: Jan 2008

0

03/26, 09:34pm | report spam | close Reply |
how i wish

it had any kind of bluray drive in it. i know it along with the macbooks would be the last to recieve such an update, but i can dream right? If something like that were to happen, I would snatch one up so fast...Truthfully that is the only thing I am really waiting for which sucks because if it doesn't fade off into non-existence like some think (not me) then I think it will be around 2 years before I see something like that happen. So unless I get some unexpected cash flow, then i have to decide where do i put the Blu, the Mini or the MBP? Hmmm

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Mac mini to soon receive complete overhaul

updated 05:20 pm EDT, Fri March 21, 2008

Mac mini overhaul

Spelling?

Just one phrase...

next Mac

maybe...

No real GFX yet?!?

We Need a Real Mini Tower

Not here

I'll buy if......

Last update

Too Pricey

can't have cake & eat it

lavishing?

correction...

Put a real GPU in it

bhout...

bring back the LC3!

I'll buy....

new mini

This just in...

Well...

If it EVER fades into...

It has its purpose

@testudo

mini raison d'etre

hey

how i wish

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Mac mini to soon receive complete overhaul

updated 05:20 pm EDT, Fri March 21, 2008

Mac mini overhaul

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Recent Articles

Spelling?

Just one phrase...

next Mac

maybe...

No real GFX yet?!?

We Need a Real Mini Tower

Not here

I'll buy if......

Last update

Too Pricey

can't have cake & eat it

lavishing?

correction...

Put a real GPU in it

bhout...

bring back the LC3!

I'll buy....

new mini

This just in...

Well...

If it EVER fades into...

It has its purpose

@testudo

mini raison d'etre

hey

how i wish

Login Here

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