Mac Mini NOT dead? Possible update soon

[aphex]

LINK

According to AppleInsider, the Mac mini may receive the following upgrades:
45-nanometer Core 2 Duo mobile chips starting at 2.1Ghz
800MHz front-side bus
Stepped-up Intel graphics processor (comparable to the one in the consumer MacBook)

Guess all those EOL rumors may have been premature?

 

[Parasitic]

MacRumors has been reporting that a couple of times now and for quite a few weeks. I got really tired of waiting

 

[postmortemIA]

small 5400rpm drive, slow c2ds and intel 945 graphics surely is outdated. and it cost like laptop with such configuration

 

[Megatomic]

If I had a desk to set one up on I'd get one for my kids to use for homework and such. It's the perfect form factor and the boys won't be able to game on it.

 

[timswim78]

This is still pretty sad. Apple is "updating" the mini's graphics to the minimum specs for Intel's platform. It would be nice to have a decent graphics chip in there, like maybe something that can decode BR and HD. This isn't about gaming, this is about being able to watch media without hogging the CPU and RAM resources.

Come on Apple, AMD has a platform with integrated graphics that can decode Blu-Ray and 1080p with a single-core Sempron.

 

[bearxor]

I've learned to ignore the rumors about the Mni's demise. It's been cropping up about once every 3 months for the past few years. I don't see them getting rid of the Mini unless they introduce a new desktop.

 

[Tegeril]

Originally posted by: timswim78
This is still pretty sad. Apple is "updating" the mini's graphics to the minimum specs for Intel's platform. It would be nice to have a decent graphics chip in there, like maybe something that can decode BR and HD. This isn't about gaming, this is about being able to watch media without hogging the CPU and RAM resources.

Come on Apple, AMD has a platform with integrated graphics that can decode Blu-Ray and 1080p with a single-core Sempron.

The Mini is not designed to be decoding Blu-ray and HD-DVD last time I checked.

 

[timswim78]

Originally posted by: Tegeril

Originally posted by: timswim78
This is still pretty sad. Apple is "updating" the mini's graphics to the minimum specs for Intel's platform. It would be nice to have a decent graphics chip in there, like maybe something that can decode BR and HD. This isn't about gaming, this is about being able to watch media without hogging the CPU and RAM resources.

Come on Apple, AMD has a platform with integrated graphics that can decode Blu-Ray and 1080p with a single-core Sempron.

The Mini is not designed to be decoding Blu-ray and HD-DVD last time I checked.

Well, it should be designed to decode Blu-Ray and HD (I never said HD-DVD), as should all modern computers. Blu-Ray is quickly gaining popularity, and a lot of videos are being distributed in HD.

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: timswim78

Originally posted by: Tegeril

Originally posted by: timswim78
This is still pretty sad. Apple is "updating" the mini's graphics to the minimum specs for Intel's platform. It would be nice to have a decent graphics chip in there, like maybe something that can decode BR and HD. This isn't about gaming, this is about being able to watch media without hogging the CPU and RAM resources.

Come on Apple, AMD has a platform with integrated graphics that can decode Blu-Ray and 1080p with a single-core Sempron.

The Mini is not designed to be decoding Blu-ray and HD-DVD last time I checked.

Well, it should be designed to decode Blu-Ray and HD (I never said HD-DVD), as should all modern computers. Blu-Ray is quickly gaining popularity, and a lot of videos are being distributed in HD.

MBP or even the MP will get a BR driver waay before the Mini does.

 

[Tyranicus]

Originally posted by: Parasitic
MBP or even the MP will get a BR driver waay before the Mini does.

I'm curious why you say "even." I'm willing to bet that Apple will include a Blu-Ray drive for the Mac Pro before the MacBook Pro. Blu-Ray drives small enough for the MacBooks still cost upwards of $1000.

 

[timswim78]

Originally posted by: Parasitic

Originally posted by: timswim78

Originally posted by: Tegeril

Originally posted by: timswim78
This is still pretty sad. Apple is "updating" the mini's graphics to the minimum specs for Intel's platform. It would be nice to have a decent graphics chip in there, like maybe something that can decode BR and HD. This isn't about gaming, this is about being able to watch media without hogging the CPU and RAM resources.

Come on Apple, AMD has a platform with integrated graphics that can decode Blu-Ray and 1080p with a single-core Sempron.

The Mini is not designed to be decoding Blu-ray and HD-DVD last time I checked.

Well, it should be designed to decode Blu-Ray and HD (I never said HD-DVD), as should all modern computers. Blu-Ray is quickly gaining popularity, and a lot of videos are being distributed in HD.

MBP or even the MP will get a BR driver waay before the Mini does.

Yea, and so will $500 - $700 PC's from HP/Compaq, Dell, etc., along with hardware decoding in their integrated graphics.

 

[vailr]

In case someone missed it, this "Mac Pro Mini mod" is interesting:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/0...ower-mac-youve-always/
http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd...ac-mini-pro-mod-045303

 

[EvanAdams]

Seems to me the article was more about "jobs ifying" the mini. So the apple thrawles finaly accept it as a bit of apple kitch

 

[timswim78]

Originally posted by: vailr
In case someone missed it, this "Mac Pro Mini mod" is interesting:
http://www.engadget.com/2008/0...ower-mac-youve-always/
http://www.unplggd.com/unplggd...ac-mini-pro-mod-045303

In case you missed it:
http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=81&threadid=2165873

 

[Parasitic]

Wow! Nice surprise!

So I got my refurbed 1.83GHz Core Duo Mini today and it was supposed to have only 2x256 = 512MB of memory, but upon booting up Tiger in System Profiler it shows 2GB (2x1GB) of memory!

No putty knife surgery for me!

 

[secretanchitman]

Originally posted by: Parasitic
Wow! Nice surprise!

So I got my refurbed 1.83GHz Core Duo Mini today and it was supposed to have only 2x256 = 512MB of memory, but upon booting up Tiger in System Profiler it shows 2GB (2x1GB) of memory!

No putty knife surgery for me!

haha awesome! pretty lucky!

 

[hennessy1]

Even if there is a new mac mini that comes out. What reason is there to upgrade from my current one to a newer one. I have a 2.33ghz cpu, 2gb of ram, 320gb hdd and vista ultimate installed. I mean obviously they will upgrade the video gpu.

 

[Parasitic]

Originally posted by: secretanchitman

Originally posted by: Parasitic
Wow! Nice surprise!

So I got my refurbed 1.83GHz Core Duo Mini today and it was supposed to have only 2x256 = 512MB of memory, but upon booting up Tiger in System Profiler it shows 2GB (2x1GB) of memory!

No putty knife surgery for me!

haha awesome! pretty lucky!

I know, although I also ordered a set of 4GB memory to upgrade my MBP so I can trickle down the 2+1GB inside it now to my Mini, so I'm going to end up with extra memory sitting around for a while

 

[mshan]

How much perceptible difference in performance is there between a Core Duo vs. Core 2 Duo cpu?

What about between older 1.83 gHz Core Duo and newer 2.0 gHz Core 2 Duo Mac Mini?

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: mshan
How much perceptible difference in performance is there between a Core Duo vs. Core 2 Duo cpu?

What about between older 1.83 gHz Core Duo and newer 2.0 gHz Core 2 Duo Mac Mini?

Next to no perceptible difference really. The chipset allows for more RAM, so you might be able to notice that, but in terms of processor performance... next to nothing.

Now, if you were going from say, the old 1.5GHz Core Solo Mini to the 2.0 GHz Core 2 Duo Mini, that you probably would notice, because that is a 33% increase in CPU speed, and and addition of a second core.

 

[Parasitic]

Numbers suggest maybe up to 10%