Rumored Mac Mini refresh said to be Ion-based
By Laura June 
posted January 16th 2009 10:29AM
posted January 16th 2009 10:29AM
People trading in salacious gossip have been counting on an update of the Mac mini for ages now, with most of the rumors centering on it making its appearance at Macworld. Well, the festivities came and went without a peep about the mini -- but that hasn't stopped the rumors from swirling. The latest we're hearing is that the refresh will be built upon NVIDIA's new Ion platform, which houses a 9400M GPU -- the same graphics processor as the new unibody Macbooks -- and could mean an even minier mini than the one we already know. Tom's Hardware, the source of this newest rumor, also speculates on a March release date, though they're not guessing on the price just yet. 
Mac Mini? No
MacBook Mini more like
Or Apple TV.
if they make a MacTV it would make sense.
it would be a Apple TV with a usable OSX.
if they sell it at $400 it will do well
I wouldn't buy one, but many iPod owners would
if they make a Mac TV it would make sense.
it would be a Apple TV with a usable OSX.
if they sell it at $400 it will do well
I wouldn't buy one, but many iPod owners would
as for the Macbook Mini
I think they could call it the MacBook Air Mini, heck they could sell the thing at $800+ if it is 0.7" or thinner, but I wouldn't buy one.
low rank me, I lost the engadget game :(
If this is true, the performance should be about on par with the Eee Box B204, although I highly doubt the pricing will be the same. (it should be)
Could this just be an indication of how much of an improvement Snow Leopard is going to be what with OpenCL and Grandcentral? Maybe we dont need the processor to be powerful anymore.
Why doesn't Apple come up with a dock-able netbook? A Mini Mac you can take with you when you need. That might be a Apple product I would buy.
it's not an elegant enough solution for apple. what they need to do is develop a single port that can carry all the things you need for a docking solution. it would obviously have to have a really high data rate, like a highly modified hdmi or something that could carry video, audio, and 2 usb ports. that would be the apple way. one connector for everything you need.
Equal or slower CPU wouldn't be too big a deal if it has discrete graphics and h.264 decoding in hardware.
It would have to be at least $100 cheaper than the current Mini, though.
well it will certainly be cheaper - I hope. But replacing a dual core with a single core atom bomb, isnt going to make it a power house by any means
If you've ever used a Atom for real computing you quickly realize that it just doesn't cut it. Adding graphics horsepower will not change that. It works for basic tasks but I would never use it as my main machine. Even my 1.5 Core 2 Duo is much faster. Unless this PC is $300-$400 and they finally come out with a reasonable mini tower type computer, I do not think this is a good idea.
$349 max or there's no point in buying it since the core 2 quad lenovo's for $499 would just steal it with 4 times the Ram except it's ddr3 so quicker speeds and more than 5 times the processing power, dunno what the gpu is but if it supports directx 10 like it says and can support full hd then at least it's better than the integrated intel graphics on the normal netbook's. And you've also got no doubt that it's upgradeable.
Let's not forget that Steve said he always wanted to sell a mac for $500 or less. Other than accommodating switchers and people with peripherals, this is still a valid goal... especially with the economy. Who knows if Apple is even thinking this way.
If it is $700+ it would be a better option to just get a low end macbook or imac... or any of the previous gen stuff at www.macmall.com
I think one of the biggest markets for the mini is media center. by far. the appleTV is just to restrictive. people want to pick where their media comes from (on a side note, if you guess don't know Boxee.tv I highly recommend you give it a glance)
If the new mini speed is any way slower or a minimal bump, then I'll just by the last gen mini for my media center... then again I only want it to fly with HD video: play back and download. I've got my MacPro for the real work :)
just wanted to make a comment to someone who said why not just get an imac instead?
the current line of imac's are all glossy screens. i'd love an all in one desktop like an imac, if it had a matte option. how apple makes only glossy imac's is beyond me. it has stopped me from purchasing one. i'm a matte guy.
having said that, a mac mini is a great alternative, except as we all know it's a really underperforming cpu in this day in age, especially at it's going retail price.
i was really dissapointed at macworld this year because i wanted to purchase an updated mac mini and combine it with a matte ips monitor. i know a lot of us want a new mac mini because it gives consumers the flexibility and choice of a monitor and keyboard/mouse.
my fingers are crossed for a bump in the processor speed, ram, a slightly bigger hard drive, and these new graphics processors that are found in current macbooks. i'd pay $600.00 for 2.2 ghz, 2 gb ram, 160 HD and newer graphics processor.
Personally, I think prospective Mac Mini customers would be better off building their own custom SFF PC's, with CPUs and GPUs of their choice, and hacking OS X onto those, than they would be waiting for Apple to feed them something in dribs and drabs. They'd probably save money on a more powerful and customizable machine.
i know there are a lot of very tech savy people who read this forum, but i think it goes without saying that "most", as general as that term is, people do not know how to do such things with computers. again, i'm not speaking for everyone, but "most" people don't know how to create custom pc's, nor do they have any desire to learn how to do so.
ouch... if they release this with an Atom they are shooting themselve in the foot.
Duo2core is a minimum for any desktop computer.
I dont believe this rumor either but it will not be first time Apple sacrifice usability for size and look.
A 2.6ghz Duo2core computer with 9600GT and 2-3gb of ram cost around 450$. it would be silly to think they'll charge 740$ for an Atom+9400m...
Neat.