2013 Mac Mini, Thoughts?

MichaelJB

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jan 1, 2007
Messages
272
Anyone think its likely that they'll release a Haswell mini with GT3 around october?

Hell does anyone think they'll release one at all?

I'm on the fence about a 2012 model, and just want to hear if you think there's a possible 2013 in the works, and what you expect it to have and not have.

So hit me up with some speculation :D
 
I'm hoping they'll bump the HDD to a SSD as standard, like on the Macbook air, however I'm thinking that'll take it to close in speed to an iMac so they might hold off. I just hope they don't gimp it by using one of their mobile processors (A6), otherwise it'll be nothing more than a glorified Apple TV.
 
I'm hoping they'll bump the HDD to a SSD as standard, like on the Macbook air, however I'm thinking that'll take it to close in speed to an iMac so they might hold off. I just hope they don't gimp it by using one of their mobile processors (A6), otherwise it'll be nothing more than a glorified Apple TV.

Or at least give it a 7200rpm. It's like Apple is stuck in 2004.
 
IMO, Apple sees the mini as a solution for people that want the Mac experience but don't want to spend a lot of money. These people probably wouldn't particularly notice the sluggish 5400rpm drive and just want to use a Mac and enjoy the bundled apps and experience and have enough storage space for photos, videos, etc. Users looking for more speed will either replace the drive themselves or pony up for an iMac, and meanwhile apple makes more profit on including a low demand storage solution.

Edit to say that we just picked up a couple of the 2012 minis and they are pretty zippy for what they are. The drives are sluggish but that was to be expected, and not a hindrance for our needs.
 
I'm probably going to pick-up a 2012 one anyway just because I'm in the market for a new computer at the moment. It was a toss up between this and an air, but I don't need any portability so would rather have the extra CPU speed on the mini. I'll probably upgrade to an SSD after the warranty is up.
 
I'm hoping they'll bump the HDD to a SSD as standard, like on the Macbook air, however I'm thinking that'll take it to close in speed to an iMac so they might hold off.

If you think Apple is afraid of product cannibalization, you don't know the company very well.

Apple will add an SSD to the Mini when prices decline to the point where they can add the tech without sacrificing profit margin. And they aren't particularly concerned about the Mac Mini cannibalizing the iMac, because it won't. The average customer is not going to say "I can buy a computer without a mouse, keyboard, and display… or I can spend a couple hundred more bucks and get everything all in one." Not a tough sell for a person haloing from an iPhone to a Mac.

But if an SSD-equipped Mac Mini does indeed cannibalize sales of the iMac… Apple still profits.

Or at least give it a 7200rpm. It's like Apple is stuck in 2004.

There are so many things wrong with this statement that I don't know where to begin.
 
Humor me. What was wrong with what I said?

Let's just go with the "stuck in 2004" part.

1. Introduced large trackpads.
2. Introduced multitouch.
3. Invented the product that ultrabooks now attempt to recreate.
4. Put SSDs and flash-based storage in their devices years before anyone else.
5. Put high resolution screens on mobile devices years before anyone else.

I can keep going, but it's pretty obvious that your description of Apple as "stuck in 2004" is absurd. It's more like the rest of the industry is stuck in 2010.
 
Let's just go with the "stuck in 2004" part.

1. Introduced large trackpads.
2. Introduced multitouch.
3. Invented the product that ultrabooks now attempt to recreate.
4. Put SSDs and flash-based storage in their devices years before anyone else.
5. Put high resolution screens on mobile devices years before anyone else.

I can keep going, but it's pretty obvious that your description of Apple as "stuck in 2004" is absurd. It's more like the rest of the industry is stuck in 2010.

First - relax and take a deep breath. I was joking. Second, you don't think it's ridiculous that they're still stuck on 5400 rpm drives as a standard? It costs them probably nothing to throw in a 7200 rpm drive, or heck - even a hybrid SSD+HDD like the Seagate Barracuda XT. I like Apple. I really do. I just don't understand their keeping with a 5400 rpm drive.
 
First - relax and take a deep breath. I was joking.

Clearly, you were joking. This is why you are now defending your "joke".

Second, you don't think it's ridiculous that they're still stuck on 5400 rpm drives as a standard?

5400 RPM drives are not a standard for Apple. SSDs are. The Mac Mini is the exception because of its price point.

It costs them probably nothing to throw in a 7200 rpm drive, or heck - even a hybrid SSD+HDD like the Seagate Barracuda XT. I like Apple. I really do. I just don't understand their keeping with a 5400 rpm drive.

Name an equivalent product that comes with any of the drives you just listed, let alone an SSD.
 
I must bow to you sir (or madam?). You got me. There isn't an equivalent. Doesn't mean it wouldn't be nice to see a performance bump. The chips they pack in those little things are great, and it just kind of pangs to see them hamstring them with those slow drives.
 
Actually, with platter densities being what they are, I've measured 105 MB/s transfer from a 500GB 5400rpm drive, and 120 MB/s from a 7200rpm 750GB drive.

Both transferred via Thunderbolt.

There's honestly not a huge amount of difference in speed between a new 5400rpm drive and a new 7200rpm drive. Yet the 7200rpm tends to be louder, and generate more heat.

That said, I didn't exactly stuff the 5400rpm drive back into my Buffalo enclosure ;) But for Apple, the 5400rpm makes more sense - until SSD comes further down in price.
 
The issue with 5400 rpm drives is access time and not transfer speeds.

With that said, there is no benefit to go with 7200 rpm drives in tightly enclosed spaces when you price out ssds with better everything.
 
Hell, I don't even want a 7200 RPM drive in a proper desktop anymore, let alone something the size of the mini. Seagate's 5900 RPM drives, for example, are a great balance of performance, power consumption and thermal output.
 
they should have a choice of putting a less expensive ssd in a mac mini imo. which is the only problem with mac minis imo.
 
they should have a choice of putting a less expensive ssd in a mac mini imo. which is the only problem with mac minis imo.

You do have a choice. It's just a BTO option. Buy the OWC Mac Mini drive expander.

I plan to replace my MBP with a Haswell-equipped Mac Mini. If that Mini doesn't have an SSD, I'll be doing just that.
 
I'm probably going to pick-up a 2012 one anyway just because I'm in the market for a new computer at the moment. It was a toss up between this and an air, but I don't need any portability so would rather have the extra CPU speed on the mini. I'll probably upgrade to an SSD after the warranty is up.

You do have a choice. It's just a BTO option. Buy the OWC Mac Mini drive expander.

I plan to replace my MBP with a Haswell-equipped Mac Mini. If that Mini doesn't have an SSD, I'll be doing just that.

I ended up with the 2012 model not too long ago. I got the i7 version and upgraded it to 16gigs of ram and put a 840pro 256 gig ssd in as the boot drive using the owc second drive kit. Used the 1tb drive for my home folder. I will say that second drive kit is a bit of a bitch to put in(coming from years of working on notebooks) but it isn't that bad. The only thing one needs to do is format the ssd with mac os first. If you boot a current mini with an ssd and a normal hd from the built in recovery it treats both hd's as a broken fusion(hybrid drive). To OWC's credit they had a piece of paper in the package warning about this. I've worked on this series mini before and didn't bother with the instructions.

I will say the thing flys.
 
I ended up with the 2012 model not too long ago. I got the i7 version and upgraded it to 16gigs of ram and put a 840pro 256 gig ssd in as the boot drive using the owc second drive kit. Used the 1tb drive for my home folder. I will say that second drive kit is a bit of a bitch to put in(coming from years of working on notebooks) but it isn't that bad. The only thing one needs to do is format the ssd with mac os first. If you boot a current mini with an ssd and a normal hd from the built in recovery it treats both hd's as a broken fusion(hybrid drive). To OWC's credit they had a piece of paper in the package warning about this. I've worked on this series mini before and didn't bother with the instructions.

I will say the thing flys.

This happened to me too. I was like "WTF!" Had to take them out individually and format with my laptop and do some terminal inputs to remove the fusion coding.

Only thing I don't like is the fact that it goes so hot .. 70C+ for moderate to heavy load. I spliced a usb cord to a 120mm fan to put on top but its not enough :(
 
Did you find this was the case always or just after you added the second drive?

That was before opening it up at all actually. I am going to try reapplying thermal paste to see if that fixes the heat issue. I've been reading thats been the solution to the heat problems caused by bad goop placement in production. (and badly lapped heatsinks).

Edit: In fact the heat issue thread in this subforum was where I read it! Just remembered lol
 
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