Mac mini discontinued rumours (again)

Sad Professor

From Gizmodo:

The Mac mini may be pronounced dead as soon as today's Apple earnings conference call, as two major retailers in Europe have confirmed to me that they can't order any more of the little computers. While this could signal an updated model coming in, they have been told by Apple to expect no more of it. Their impression is that—once again—the Mac Mini may be dead dead DEAD for real, even while you can still order it at the Apple Store.

Well we knew this was coming. It's been over a year since the last update. Apple hate the Mini. And most people are only interested in it as a media centre, a market which Apple could easily provide for with an non-crippled Apple TV.

Will there be a replacement for the Mini? Not a chance imo. Apple still has a bad taste in their mouth from the Cube. I can't see them attempting another headless mac while Steve is in charge.

The Mac mini, 2005-2008. RIP.

tenandtracer

maybe one last one

http://www.123macmini.com/news/story/1063.html

Ham'nd'egger

I'd reckon that the Mini has another bit of life left on it, more so as an advanced back up unit than an out and out PC as some people do make the mistake of thinking it to be. It is the poor relation of the Apple family by all means but the folks that buy one know what they are getting into; a lower end desktop that suits those who want more than one PC at home and it does everything it has to in modest fashion with literally a minimum of fuss, space and in true Mac fashion, "it just works".

It is not a consumer machine like an iPod or Macbook, it is not a work horse like a Powermac or Tower, it is not a flagship like the iMac . It's just, as it name suggests, a "Mini". I'd say until Time Machine is well and truly King with most Mac users and, the Mini will have a role to play

tricky2beat

Im pretty sure that they will keep it going. Probably a product update is coming soon.

trout

I quite like the mini ... I'd sooner see the Apple TV go end-of-life.

I use mine primarily as a media centre, with two Iomega 500 Gb external drives, that are the same form factor as the Mac. The small size and utter lack of noise from the mini make it a winner for use as a media centre.

Is there much of a second hand market for the mini ?
I'd quite like an Intel mini, but I'd need to shift my current one first.

Red Alert

I'd love to see a Mac Mini + OSX Server bundle.

Breezer

I'm holding out to see what happens here. If it's discontinued, or they take away the Firewire, I'll be grabbing the current model ASAP.

J-blk

Unless they really beef up the Apple TV, it'd be a shame to discontinue the Mac Mini - I use mine as a media center too and it's perfect, much better than the Apple TV could ever be (at least in the current form). Though the Mini could really use 802.11n at this stage (I assume the current models can do 1080p smoothly because my 1.6Ghz Core Duo can't really) - it's the one really annoying omission for media center use.

Dman001

I love the mini. Mainly because its the cheapest Mac and its so small. It would be ashame to see it go.

Breezer

Feck it. I just bought one. I want my FireWire

JordanDC

I really hope Apple will release a new Mac Mini, I would like to buy one as a media centre for our new TV but Im not going to buy it if there is a chance of them updating it, Apple TV is REALLY overpriced in Ireland.

alter200

Question for those of you using Mac Mini as Media Center. Do you use DVI-HDMI cable to connect to TV or is there a dongle you can get for the DVI connector to convert to S-Video or composite or other?

My TV has HDMI, composite, components, S-video etc so I guess all will work for me.

Currently have a Dell Desktop as media center. It's ok but it's 1) Big 2) Ugly 3) Moisy (this is main issue) 4) doesn't have sexy Apple remote. Bought my first mac 6 months ago (macbook) which I love and have used as a media center so thinking seriously about getting a Mac Mini (before they discontinue it - of they do)

thanks,

Al

johnk123

JordanDC wrote: »

I really hope Apple will release a new Mac Mini, I would like to buy one as a media centre for our new TV but Im not going to buy it if there is a chance of them updating it, Apple TV is REALLY overpriced in Ireland.

At the moment the apple TV doesn't really shine in ireland. But if/when we ever get the fully fledged itunes store(i.e Movies, tv series etc all available for download) then apple tv will be fantastic. The ability to just sit down on your couch, and rent a movie via itunes and at reasonable prices will be just fantastic i think.

As i'm sure you can see, i'm really looking forward to this "full" itunes store. Then, i will be buying an apple tv. At the moment though..... its a bit of a waste

J-blk

alter200 wrote: »

Question for those of you using Mac Mini as Media Center. Do you use DVI-HDMI cable to connect to TV or is there a dongle you can get for the DVI connector to convert to S-Video or composite or other?

I'm using DVI to HDMI to a Panasonic projector - works great. You'll have to still handle the audio connection separately but if you have a decent decoder, you can hook up the Mini via optical to it for the best results (the stereo audio output on the Mini doubles as an optical out). I'm not too sure about S-Video or Composite but even if you could use those, I'm pretty certain you would get lower resolutions than HDMI/Component/VGA, so they are not suitable for HD content.

If you are thinking of a used Mini, bear in mind that the Core Duo ones (I have the 1.6Ghz) are fine for 720p .mkv files, but cannot handle 1080p - my guess is that the current Core 2 Duo ones should be fine even with 1080p but I haven't used one.

alter200

thanks j-blk. Now all I have to do is decide whether I get current Mac Mini or wait in case an update comes out

J-blk

Yep, apparently now there are rumors of an update instead of discontinuing them completely but the source is not exactly reliable (effectively just one journalist expecting a November 11th refresh) so I'd take any such rumors with a bucket of salt...

bruce wayne

johnk123 wrote: »

At the moment the apple TV doesn't really shine in ireland. But if/when we ever get the fully fledged itunes store(i.e Movies, tv series etc all available for download) then apple tv will be fantastic. The ability to just sit down on your couch, and rent a movie via itunes and at reasonable prices will be just fantastic i think.

As i'm sure you can see, i'm really looking forward to this "full" itunes store. Then, i will be buying an apple tv. At the moment though..... its a bit of a waste

It is....just set yourself up with a US itunes account and work away...I've been legally renting movies from the iTunes store for months now, very handy and really quick too...

Plus no more trips to xtravision for a poor selection and a scratched disk

Sad Professor

From Macrumors:

Fudzilla claims that they've been hearing whispers that iMac and Mac mini updates could be coming as soon as November 10th. They are not particularly confident about the date which would fall on a Monday.

While we don't place too much confidence in Fudzilla as a rumor source, the information is consistent with circulating expectations of pre-holiday iMac updates. Apple typically issues updates on Tuesdays, but has had an occasional Monday release including the last iMac update on Monday, April 28th.

paulclan

Good News! mac-mini hs been upgraded, two versions both with nvidia graphics to allow HDMI 1080p handling (check this out carefully) and I believe more ports and dual display capability. Processors can be upgraded too as can RAM and Drive size internal may be up to 320GB. see www.Apple.ie , thinking of a Samsung monitor + projector to do home cinema.