iMac, Mac mini supplies growing thin, refresh expected soon
By Nilay Patel 
posted Sep 29th 2009 12:44PM
posted Sep 29th 2009 12:44PM
P.S.- Doesn't that seem like a lot of updates to dish out at once? The savvy rumor connoisseur would be expecting a couple random analysts to mouth off at this point, followed by whispers of an impending event and its cancellation due to "last minute issues." Gene Munster swirls his glass and predicts the MacBook will feature CableCARD slots and function as a DVR. Spring follows winter, winter follows fall.
CableCARD? In a Macbook? Yeah... right.
Yeah, I made a took a quick peek at my calendar to make sure it wasn't April 1st. RANDOM!
i MAY have believed it if they said the mini, but macbook? not a chance
Anyone who thinks Apple would turn any of their devices into a DVR has rocks in their head. A device like that would make iTunes television downloads pointless.
may it come with a camera and GPS... yeah right... hahaha
@Hey Ya
EyeTV is sold in the Apple Stores (and has been for years), providing that EXACT functionality. Try harder.
http://store.apple.com/us/product/TS588LL/A
That's cute, but it's not built into a Macbook, and it's not manufactured by Apple.
Keep trying.
Having cablecard wouldn't fit with their policy of having the same machine the world over, since (I think) cablecard is a US thing.
But yet the quality and standards adhere to the OSX API which makes it better then chai yin fung DTV adapter with AM radio for Windows and its accompanying USB driver.
@Hey Ya
That's what she said. Also...
Your point: Apple wouldn't do such a thing because it would cut into iTunes sales.
My point: A peripheral is sold by Apple in the Apple Stores that allows this functionality.
Your point(less comment): Apple doesn't make it.
^I'll be waiting on a valid point, thank you very much.
If that product was made by Apple, what exactly would change? Nothing.
How many people do you know who own an Eye TV? I'm guessing zero.
How many people do you know who own a Macbook? Probably a lot more than own an Eye TV.
Honestly, I don't know why I even have to prove anything. Apple's not going to add DVR functionality to any of their computers. Judging by the comments here, you're the only numb-skull who doesn't seem to understand why.
@Hey Ya
Getting personal/asking for my own personal experience is just a desperate attempt at attaining validity through inefficient and meaningless methods. Your point just flew out the window, and you sure as heck can't seem to come up with another one. I've been waiting on anything based on objective, unbiased, factual evidence to support your claims, and you have come up with nothing!
I'll give you one more chance at making any valid point (meaning you have some actual evidence backing it).
If they can't even find space for a real ExpressCard port, where the heck will they find room for a CableCard?
That guy must've been swirling his glass the wrong way.
It's called the iCard, and it just works. You don't need any more of an explanation than that.
/sarcasm
Obviously it will come as a really fancy dongle! Just for only 59.99!
lol ya a cablecard in a macbook as soon as i can open the unit up and repair it myself or upgrade parts without voiding a warranty. keep on moving nothing to see here.
Voiding the warranty by opening up and modifying the machine, what like every other product on the market....
What parts in a macbook are you upgrading that voids the warranty?
Laptops really only make it possible to upgrade ram/hd, which does not void applecare.
Swapping out optical drive, then yes . . but how many people do that?
Who even uses an optical drive anymore . . .
Betafrog, you're trying to apply rational thought to someone who writes like that? It's a 15-year-old kid who thinks he's the smartest person in the world, and Japan's culture is better than stupid American culture in every way. And you wouldn't know all the great shows he watches, they're all anime. I bet you haven't even heard of anime. U R lame lol
Anybody who uses their laptop to watch DVDs (or with pcs, the modern world, blu rays) uses an optical drive. Anybody who wants to install software without doing it slowly over a network attached to another computer with an optical drive, because hey obviously the drive is still needed. Anybody who wants to burn dvds, or cds, either for media or data storage. Anybody who buys real cds in the store and imports them to their computer for actually quality sound, not crappy itunes quality.
no one cares about the mac mini
more people care about the Mac Mini than they do about you
A lot of people would if they'd slap ION and HDMI in it.
Were it not for the Mac mini, I might still be one of the unwashed masses (PC-only nerdbuckets).
More people who want to wast $600 on a squircle-sized version of fail you mean.
um.... ION would be a downgrade for the mac mini. it already has the nvidia 9400 and a core 2 duo.
@Hey Ya
The mac mini already has the Nvidia 9400m . .
and you can buy a $9 mini displayport -> hdmi adapter from monoprice.
The Mini has an NVIDIA 9400M in it....the same chip behind ION. And it has DVI, so getting HDMI is pretty easy. What are you talking about?
Sorry guys. I'm not up on my Mac Mini specs.
@Dale
You are such an elitist. How am I a PC nerdbucket, because I don't own a Mac? I'm soooo sorry I didn't see the light Dale.
I hate people like you
I just mean no one cares about it because with the current specs, you might as well buy a macbook for a little more.. apple should just make it a mini tower.. same footprint but twice as thick with twice the specs.. All in all it's a cool product and I have nothing against it except for the weak specs
@darbear5610, I really feel sorry for you. It seems you can't even afford a sense of humour, and they're free. ;)
And we all need to be thankful apple will let us buy their products!
Jobs Be Praised.
Thanks, Apple.
If I ever choose to take advantage of this, you'll be the first to know about it.
"Gene Munster swirls his glass and predicts the MacBook will feature CableCARD slots and function as a DVR."
I think you meant to write, after Gene Munster's 8th glass of burboun he boldly declared the MacBook will feature CableCARD slots and function as a DVR. I despise logic and common sense spouted Gene as he rode away on his magic unicorn to visit magic mountain.
candy mountain... *sighs*
Hey Charrrrliiiiiiee....
What I really want is a Macbook Air refresh. 4GB RAM, 256GB SSD. C'mon Apple, how hard is it to make this thing useful as more than just a toy?
Or they might be giving the mini the axe. I'd hope not, but I wouldn't rule it out.
I don't think they would discontinue the mini, even after the 2007 refresh, they didnt kill it. even though they left it for an incredibly long time.
......at least, ax the price.
I've wanted to get a MAC for many many years. But, I will not pay
that kinda money for that sparse of a feature set. Won't do it !!
Gimme respectable spec'd hardware and price it accordingly,
and i'd purchase one immediatly.
Obviously, the suits must be content with the profit obtained
from the sales of that mp3 player thangy they got.
I would agree with you at first, but Mac OS X doesn't necessarily need all the extra horsepower in a windows machine. It is much better at handling multitasking (which most users do a lot of). And it is also better at "spending" your specs so you don't need that high clocked of a CPU, granted, it is nice : )
@Chilly - Don't forget you have to compare with small form-factor PCs, not with full-size ones; it's all laptop parts (...and not netbook parts), so it costs more.
Still expensive, but not quite as ridiculous as it might first seem.
Also bear in mind that it can't run games (unless you boot into Windows and what's the point of getting a Mac if you're going to boot into Windows) so you really don't need that much power. My mini (and it's an older one with the shitty integrated graphics) is perfectly fast enough.
So anyway, yes it's still more expensive than a similar PC, but (because of the OS) it's a nice machine.
Before I upgrade mine, I'd be hoping for a mini with Blu-ray move playback (yes, I know, world of hurt etc) and SSD. And a fanless design would be awesome - I don't think this last part is possible right now without a major drop in processing power, though. Somehow I don't think this refresh will meet any of my requirements! It'll probably just be a processor bump or something...
will it finally do audio via displayport? :D
They would have to rename it to audiodisplayport
And MiniAudioDisplayPort just seems way too long
First glance;
iMac, Mac mini going thin, refresh expected soon.
in his defence, have you ever tried upgrading a mac mini.... they got stuff packed in there TIGHT! :) not your average desktop upgrades.
Supplies running low?!?! Then there will be nothing left for me to poop on!!
No it doesn't seem like that many updates at once. All of them are close to their normal update cycles, a mac pro update will prob be thrown in too since intel just released the new chips that they would use and seems like Apple gets first dibs on new chips from Intel now. What I am surprised about is that there isn't more precise details of the upcomming imac or macbooks.
Macbook (white) and Mac Mini and iMac are all very similar internally. It makes sense for Apple to update it's chip contracts all at once as they're mostly the same for these lines.
Mac Mini - Now 1/2 the size double the heat! Only $599.99
I don't get the mac mini ... if it was combined with Apple TV and the price remained the same ... dunno. Cheers for an iMac refresh and I'm definitely wanting to see a mbp update.
They won't do HDMI, thats the entire reason they started using display port, to avoid having to give the consumer agency in charge of HDMI money to license it. The Display port is a royalty free display technology just like VGA and DVI before it.
So the odds of a Mini coming out with HDMI are about as slim as they are coming out with Blu-Ray. Steve Jobs is pushing online distribution only because they sell media through the iTunes store. I hated the idea before I realized that I was paying nearly $200 on cable that I barely used, and now for the new seasons I'll be purchasing them in HD for about the same price as a DVD.
TimT
It sucks Apple doesn't use HDMI... as it's a standard on flat-panel TVs. AppleTV has HDMI.
And... wouldn't it be better to buy TV show seasons on DVD or Blu-Ray? Then you can rip them and have them on any computer or device, and not have them stuck in iTunes.
@ ttringle
"They won't do HDMI, thats the entire reason they started using display port"
Well, ain't that a brilliant move. Whilst shopping for my new LCD TV last month,
I seem to remember EVERY set had HDMI. But, I also remember, that NOT ONE
had display port.
Then buy a DisplayPort to HDMI cable and be done with it. Monoprice has video only ones for $8, or ones with audio support (using a USB audio device) exist as well.
Never understood everyone whining about having to buy a cable to hook a device to their TV. Odds are, you are going to have to buy an HDMI cable for a game console, DVD/Blu-ray player or whatever else you attach.
Great point Tom. [buy yet......................... another adapter]
But ain't it kinda funny.........Every TV has HDMI.
Looks like the industry "as a whole" took the proper approach
and universally adopted a single standard = HDMI
Appears that 99% of audio/video Mfg's all complied with this adopted
format. Then comes along the 1% who decides they'll buck the system
and run off and make stuff with another means of conectivity.
Personally, i'll stick with devices that comply with proper standards.
The only pitfall I can possibly see is...... I'll end up getting more bang
for my buck.......and, on top of that....I'll pay 30-50% less.
Yes well here are two different points that are related to the usage of a Mac Mini with through HDMI with audio. First off yes TVs have HDMI inputs, you can get an adapter to get a HDMI connector on the TV to connect to a Mac Mini. Now comes the audio part, unless you have a pretty decent receiver that picks up audio off of the HDMI you are going to be running a separate line from the device using HDMI to your receiver for audio. If you are only using the speakers on your TV for sound then you might have a valid complaint. So you can run a fiber optic line from the Mac Mini to your receiver and the audio problem is solved. If you have a receiver that allows you to pick up audio off the HDMI, it probably also have a spare fiber optical port and again problem is solved.
Now for a side complaint about standards and HDMI. The first HDTV I bought had 1 HDMI port and a ATSC tuner that both passed Dolby Digital back over the fiber optic out on the TV. The next TV I bought was a DLP and had 3 HDMI ports, a ATSC tuner, and a fiber optic output. The only pain in the ass is the fiber optical output on the new TV only put the digital audio off the over air tuner, nothing off any of the HDMI ports. So then I had to get a receiver that would pick up audio off HDMI because the devices I was hooking up were all fiber optical audio outs and the receiver I had didn't have enough audio inputs. The TV I replaced that passed HDMI audio back out the fiber optical out had a HDMI switcher that allowed all three HDMI devices and the OTA tuner to work off one fiber optical connection to the receiver.
So short story long, its possible to hook a Mac Mini up to a TV with HDMI and have audio just fine one way or another to a receiver and probably a TV as well if you really try.
Can people stop quoting this asshat, Gene Munster like he's some kind of authority? His job is to goose Apple stock for his investors, all off the back of escalating lunatic claims of upcoming products - none of them ever grounded in fact. Remember the great Apple TV refresh of early 2009? How about the great Apple foray into the television screen market?
Gene always said the tv would be 2010 or 2011.
yep - right about the time when everyone crosses the line into full tv/net convergence - where every new set sold will be also be an internet portal. predictions are neither smart nor brave when they're simply polished conventional wisdom.
People are still using Macs?
827 of um....last time I heard
i'm waiting for a mac mini refresh. would like some hd audio to be enabled through hdmi!!
Does this mean the old ones are any cheaper?
DANG! I JUST bought a Mac Mini last month! XO
Why? Mac Minis are the most worthless, unpowered pieces of hardware there are.
I upgraded it on the cheap and it is still the cheapest way I can get into the prettiness and experience that the Apple OS can offer.
It is a pleasant, reliable experience that will never make me throw away the variety of PC's I have in my home but when I working on a simple little slide-show, doing some photo editing or just simply browsing the internet, this little machine works fine and makes my room look really nice.
If I can afford it and I enjoy it, why the heck not?
good site to check before buying any apple product is here:
http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/
Well that sucks.. I my mini is on its way from China right now :\
I guess Apple does not do any trade up deals? LOL
Just don't open it and you should be able to return it.
I read all these articles about apple, and all I see in every one is PC fan boys chiming in with their apple hate.
For gods sake people it's a computer, if people want to pay the price for what are interesting to use and good looking computers then that is their choice and the news about them needs to be reported.
I myself use a combination of PC and Mac and find both to be good machines each having their own take on the personal computer experience.
People need to grow up a little, and if you are one of the people who just chimed into the thread to say something along the lines of 'apple suck' for no other reason than to say it, I think perhaps you should take a look at yourself and consider why a white bit of plastic shaped like an apple strapped to a PC gets you so angry before you consider seeing an anger management consultant.
Thank you! I also use both - each has its own strengths and weaknesses. There really is no need for all this playground namecalling.
I am pretty much a Mac only person, but I am getting ready to build a Windows 7 media center monster with blu-ray, HDMI, 2tb HD and 4 GB ram for only $700... I would pay a small amount more if Apple made a Mini with similar specs, but I know they won't...
Are you going to get that machine in a 6.5" by 6.5" by 2" area?
Very cool design as usual, good job MAC people.
Will it be crap or not? I dunno, obviously there is a right way to do things and a wrong way.
Right way: Release your own i5 or i7 (apple) intel chip
Wrong way : put atom in Macbook and mac mini
Either way I need to get some $$ to buy more apple stuff.
Cablecard is something not all consumers want, and hardly ever in a laptop.
Well Black Friday is so far away, could have a White Friday in the next few weeks though.
"Red-headed stepchild"
What the hell man, not cool.
Whoa, wait... people are BUYING mac minis?
I never understood why everyone is so down on the mac mini. I've used one, along with my macbook for quite some time and it's always been small, quiet, and totally reliable.
Let me state the obvious downsides: specs are not as good as imacs or mac pro, not as easy to upgrade in some cases, not expandable.
But it has a lot of value and benefits:
- Lots of USB, isn't everyone clamoring about that nowdays?
- Not limited to a particular monitor/don't have to haul the screen around like with iMac
- Least expensive mac, and a decent value specswise IMO, especially considering the latest refresh. Isn't everyone always saying that macs are too expensive?
- Actually isn't that hard to upgrade ram/HD, just need a putty knife.
- Handles my audio and video projects surprisingly well. Works great with Logic (which is an amazing value, BTW), Final Cut, etc.
- Great resale value, upgrading to a new system doesn't cost much
- When you upgrade, use the old one as a media center (It's essentially an Apple TV as long as your video card is good enough.) Just use a super cheap HDMI adapter and digital audio cable.
- Never had a reliability issue, never seems to overheat like some have claimed. Runs quiet and always works.
So I've made my case. And just for the record, I also use and enjoy a Sony Vaio laptop, so this isn't simply fanboy talk here.
> - Actually isn't that hard to upgrade ram/HD, just need a putty knife.
Yes. A putty knife for a PC upgrade.
That should pretty much speak for itself.
In terms of getting it apart and putting it back together, a mini is
more like a watch than it is a desktop PC or a laptop.
Making a mini more like a PC laptop upgrade-wise would be a very handy improvement.
The Mini's been good to me, I'm on an updated one now. The lower power use is nice,the size is awesome, and it's rock solid [well, except if you have someone stick coins into the CD drive ... but yeah ...].
I don't think they'll update it, though. It took them 4 years or so to update the last one, they don't have too much interest.
Hopefully they update the Touch with a camera at the same time, though. ... I need that.
I was planning on a MacMini purchase Thursday. I guess I'll wait a few weeks. I'll be glad if the "new" one has a larger hard drive. My Dad has one and it's a very nice computer, particularly if you already have a monitor. Otherwise, I would recommend an iMac. I am a recovering PC user.
I hope they kill off the Macbook. People want it for $300 less. If they do refresh it I hope Steve Jobs tells us it's the last of the line. get them while you can folks.
I hope they replace them with an iBook tablety thing. A big brother to the iPod touch aimed at people who need to use a computer where they cannot type on a keyboard.
Jobs said he would see us very soon..... i mean its totally possible we will get some new hardware soon.
Hell it could be the event to mask the tablet launch leak that your launching macbooks and macminis imacs on that day and jobs pulls out one more thing for the first time in like 2 years.
> um.... ION would be a downgrade for the mac mini. it already has the nvidia 9400 and a core 2 duo.
If there isn't anything for that C2D to do, then it's a big waste of money.
Why spend $600 when you can do the same job for $200?
I have no interest in giving Steve Jobs free money.
> If there isn't anything for that C2D to do, then it's a big waste of money.
How about pushing 1080p mkvs and full screen youtube/hulu? Last I checked any shipping ION is still a slide show with one or the other.