20 replies to this topic

[Janichsan]

Apple (finally!) completely redesigns the Mac mini – and it isn't worth a single word in Steve's last keynote. So much for Apple still appreciating the Mac...

Anyway, new sleeker aluminium casing, partly user-servicable (!), HDMI port (!!), GeForce 320M – and a higher price.

[teflon]

Perhaps because it's completely unimportant to developers?
It's even more headless MacBook than before. It's even got an SD card slot...

So I'm not surprised they didn't bother to mention it, since WWDC is traditionally much more about software or new hardware capabilities, whilst the Expos used to be where most hardware updates came, which Apple ditched so that they didn't have to bother with someone else's timetable. This is just a rehash.

Do like the new design, though. It's very very thin, and the first real update to the mini's look since it was first released. In particular, it's now sooooooo much easier to replace/upgrade your RAM stick. There's just a big removable plate at the bottom. Perfect.
Though I would like to see them let you replace the HDD easily too.

Shame they stuck with the C2D of the MacBook, though. An i3 and the equivalent discrete GPU to the 320M would have been preferable.

[Smoke_Tetsu]

I'm intrigued by the new design. Everywhere I turn it's newly designed and there are improvements. The size is once again impressive and I love the fact that they've done away with the power brick. I love that black back panel and the fact it has HDMI is great. I'm almost tempted to get this to replace the Apple TV I have upstairs hooked up to an HDTV. This mini should be able to handle streaming the HD videos better than the Apple TV can (sweet spot with that is 720p XVID using ATVFlash). I can't go back to a Mac Mini as my main machine though after having owned a 27 inch iMac since last november... would be a downgrade.  

But yeah this is a pretty exciting update for me even if I'm not getting one just seeing the Mac Mini is still getting attention. The Mac Mini was the first Mac I personally owned so I kind of have a soft spot for it. I'd love to see it play a game or two on that aforementioned HDTV upstairs (it's a 720p one).  

Unfortunately I think Mac Mini will always be a step behind in the hardware department particularly to keep the cost\size down so asking for more may be asking for a bit too much.  

Too bad blu-ray is such a "bag of hurt" that they probably wont include one.   I'm thinking HOME THEATER MAC!

Also I think Doom 3 and Quake 4 are getting a little long in the tooth for including in advertisement. If this Mac Mini can't play them well there's something seriously wrong with it.

Well looking at the specs page it is shorter but a little wider and a little deeper.. reminiscent of the Apple TV... and yeah no included bags of hurt.

One last thing... too bad they didn't lower the price. It starts at $699 and up.

[bookman]

Smoke_Tetsu, on 15 June 2010 - 06:42 AM, said:

I'm intrigued by the new design. Everywhere I turn it's newly designed and there are improvements. The size is once again impressive and I love the fact that they've done away with the power brick. I love that black back panel and the fact it has HDMI is great. I'm almost tempted to get this to replace the Apple TV I have upstairs hooked up to an HDTV. This mini should be able to handle streaming the HD videos better than the Apple TV can (sweet spot with that is 720p XVID using ATVFlash). I can't go back to a Mac Mini as my main machine though after having owned a 27 inch iMac since last november... would be a downgrade.  

But yeah this is a pretty exciting update for me even if I'm not getting one just seeing the Mac Mini is still getting attention. The Mac Mini was the first Mac I personally owned so I kind of have a soft spot for it. I'd love to see it play a game or two on that aforementioned HDTV upstairs (it's a 720p one).  

Unfortunately I think Mac Mini will always be a step behind in the hardware department particularly to keep the cost\size down so asking for more may be asking for a bit too much.  

Too bad blu-ray is such a "bag of hurt" that they probably wont include one.   I'm thinking HOME THEATER MAC!

Also I think Doom 3 and Quake 4 are getting a little long in the tooth for including in advertisement. If this Mac Mini can't play them well there's something seriously wrong with it.

Well looking at the specs page it is shorter but a little wider and a little deeper.. reminiscent of the Apple TV... and yeah no included bags of hurt.

One last thing... too bad they didn't lower the price. It starts at $699 and up.

Yeah, $699 is a far cry from the original $499 of the 1st gen mini. I sure wouldn't mind trading my 6 month old mini for this one though.

[Sneaky Snake]

I'm loving the new design. I also like how they're marketing it as a HTPC as well.

[NAG]

I think mine (server one) is shipping so it isn't 30 days like the store was saying. Hard to tell with the iPhone preorder meltdown.

[Mister Mumbles]

It does look damn sexy. Not a bad update at all. I figure something like this will eventually replace my current Macbook when the time comes. By that time it should boast even better performance. I just have little need for a laptop anymore. I barely ever move my Macbook around as is. It may be easily outperformed by an iMac, but for an everyday computer it's pretty much perfect. I like it.

With the inclusion of an HDMI port I'd also assume it's bye bye Apple TV for good now. Was it ever really successful at all? I somehow doubt it.

[Smoke_Tetsu]

Well, that's one reason why I chose to go with a desktop again when choosing a new computer. For one thing I have a notebook for on the go which I hardly ever use and if I got a new one it'd be docked 99% of the time and for me it's more valuable to have a larger screen and ergonomics of a desktop computer but especially when I was in the market for a computer (last november) no mac mini satisfies my requirements so I chose to go with an iMac especially since with it I upgrade practically everything in one fell swoop. Kind of which the graphics card was upgradeable though but that's a different story.  

[yo-mike]

::snore:: ::snore:::

-Mike

[Mister Mumbles]

The thing I don't like about the iMacs is the fact that their screens have gotten bigger and bigger over the years. At this point, they're too big for me. 17-19" is what I'm most comfortable with when it comes to desk monitors. Anything beyond that just seems completely unnecessary to me. It's like I'd have to get a bigger/deeper desk just so I can push an iMac back further, and that is quite dumb a thing having to do. Plus, should the screen ever go kaputt I don't have to worry about losing the computer as well.

While gaming seems to be on the up-and-up for Macs as of late, the further I go along the less I actually feel like playing the big titles on them. That's what I have my PS3/Wii for. As it is, casual and indie games, which typically don't have near as high system requirements, are the mainstays of gaming on my Mac. A Mac Mini would still be plenty powerful to do just that along other everyday stuff.

[Whaleman]

bookman, on 15 June 2010 - 09:56 AM, said:

Yeah, $699 is a far cry from the original $499 of the 1st gen mini. I sure wouldn't mind trading my 6 month old mini for this one though.

I wish it was only $699... the swedish price is past $1000... they even went past the 10kr per $ standard that most companies use and ended up in Playstation lands of overpricing. Ok that the swedish price still would be $875 with our 25% VAT, but the extra $150 hurts too much. I'll see if I can save up some money and buy one when in the UK where it's "only" £649/$960 or even import it from the US since it uses a standard power cable and supports 240V as well.

First I will have to find ways to afford it though. Cause it would be nice to be able to replace the AppleTV that still can't even play random albums....



Also, just realized that buying it form the UK won't help, I have an academical discount in Sweden that brings it down to $960 here as well... *sigh*

[Smoke_Tetsu]

Pegasus, on 16 June 2010 - 12:36 AM, said:

The thing I don't like about the iMacs is the fact that their screens have gotten bigger and bigger over the years. At this point, they're too big for me. 17-19" is what I'm most comfortable with when it comes to desk monitors. Anything beyond that just seems completely unnecessary to me. It's like I'd have to get a bigger/deeper desk just so I can push an iMac back further, and that is quite dumb a thing having to do. Plus, should the screen ever go kaputt I don't have to worry about losing the computer as well.

That last part seems reasonable but I myself like the size of my 27 inch iMac. in fact I'm pretty much spoiled by it at this point and wouldn't want to go for anything less in an upgrade. But that's just me.. different strokes for different folks, your mileage may vary, etc. Ever since they've started coming out with computer monitors larger than 24 inches I've seen some people say that they are too big for them.... others use HDTV's 42 inches and larger as computer monitors. I realize not everyone likes the same things or has the same requirements size, space, budget. But I myself didn't have to get a bigger desk and although I pretty much do have it set back a little further than say... the 17 inch monitor I used to use on my old Mac Mini no part of its setup is "dumb" in my opinion. The screen is perhaps 5-10 inches outside of arms reach when I'm sitting down and I'm happy with that... it was much more economical for me than to get a Mini+27 inch LED Apple Cinema Display... even if I was fearful that if the monitor goes out the computer would go with it.

The last thing about what kind of games you'd play on the Mac is very subjective.. as some people... like me would prefer to play big titles on their computers.. others like you on consoles and just use their computer for general computing. *shrug* I'm not really that big on consoles and don't even keep a TV in my room any more.

[teflon]

The more I think about it, the more I'm disappointed with the price. Even though I can understand it.
It's identical to the MacBook which is £200 or $300 more expensive, or the bottom end iMac (which is due to be updated to be equivalent to this in the coming month or two) which is a whopping £300 for a screen. So based on that, it's quite well priced, since I can get a good 24" screen for that £300.
But, these specs are already outdated. The C2D is old, and it's only sticking around to work with the 320M. I just feel that with it being a desktop, they could take the power consumption hit of the i3's IGPU... On the whole, I'd like to see all the equivalents to the Mac Mini actually come down $50, as opposed to the mini going up in price...

Still, it's a great little package. Now a much better package to hook up to a HDTV, or in its original remit as a Bring Your Own K&M&Screen mac. It's a drop in replacement for almost any situation.

[Janichsan]

teflon, on 16 June 2010 - 06:09 AM, said:

I just feel that with it being a desktop, they could take the power consumption hit of the i3's IGPU...

I think the problem is less the power consumption but the dreadful performance of the Intel IGPU. They would have to include a second, discrete GPU to the Mac mini – just as they did in the larger MacBooks – to keep the new mini from being worse than the previous model. And I guess there is neither the space nor the possibility for a decent heat management in the mini.

[bookman]

Pegasus, on 16 June 2010 - 12:36 AM, said:

Plus, should the screen ever go kaputt I don't have to worry about losing the computer as well.

Or, if the motherboard goes bad, as happened with my G5 iMac, you have to say goodbye to a beautiful 20 inch display.

[teflon]

Janichsan, on 16 June 2010 - 06:33 AM, said:

I think the problem is less the power consumption but the dreadful performance of the Intel IGPU. They would have to include a second, discrete GPU to the Mac mini – just as they did in the larger MacBooks – to keep the new mini from being worse than the previous model. And I guess there is neither the space nor the possibility for a decent heat management in the mini.

Sorry, that's what I meant. Have the i3, and pair it up with a 320M equivalent discrete GPU.
I wasn't explicit enough.

[Silver Samurai]

Looks nice, but it certainly doesn't make me regret my Mini purchase from this past Feb, especially at the higher price point.
Although I do wonder how it stacks up against the late 2009 Mini. Guess we'll have to wait for reviews.

In my case, the "newer" ones doesn't offer enough of a speed bump to even get me to consider an upgrade. SD port is nice but can be fixed with an SD card reader which anyone can pick up and then bring around on a trip, plus you still have your 5th usb port.

But the higher price is going into imac territory...

[NAG]

Honestly, I wasn't waiting to get the upgrade and I would have been fine if I missed this upgrade. I just didn't have approval to buy one until yesterday. lol

The Mac Mini is up there with the Apple TV in that they're weird devices Apple keeps making for whatever reason (they'd try harder if they cared).

[Sneaky Snake]

The mini would be perfect for me, since I already own a decent 24" screen and a keyboard and mouse, but yea, if your without those things it's not the best bang for your buck.

And about the i3 talk: intel doesn't (didn't?) allow any non-intel IGPU's in the new Core series, since they want to get a monopoly on the low end GPU market. So the 320M with an i3 is not an option, we'd have to go 330M, but of course heat and size would make that a non option. Personally I'd rather have C2D and the 320M, it makes for a more well rounded computer.

[Silver Samurai]

Sneaky Snake, on 16 June 2010 - 04:35 PM, said:

The mini would be perfect for me, since I already own a decent 24" screen and a keyboard and mouse, but yea, if your without those things it's not the best bang for your buck.

And about the i3 talk: intel doesn't (didn't?) allow any non-intel IGPU's in the new Core series, since they want to get a monopoly on the low end GPU market. So the 320M with an i3 is not an option, we'd have to go 330M, but of course heat and size would make that a non option. Personally I'd rather have C2D and the 320M, it makes for a more well rounded computer.

I didn't have a monitor and bought both my Mini and monitor.
I just didn't want a 1 piece unit.

But I agree with ya overall.