[JazzCatDRP]

Hey all,
I'm interested in purchasing a mini, but have heard a lot of rumors about them upping the base RAM among other things. When will we see a mini revision?

[nickw311]

Well we havent seen a revision in the EMac in a year and the iBook design is 4 years old so I wouldn't be holding my breath for an updated Mini

I just upgraded my Ram and went ahead and bought it.

[macaddict0001]

fall

[Jasoco]

I am hoping they actually do update these things semi occasionally. But I'd really like them to figure out how to get a G5 into the laptops so they can eventually put one in the mini.

[csi95]

It just came out in January. I don't think we'll see an update for at least six months. They need to sell of a fair amount of these to offset the development costs before they start upgrading them.

[ClassicMac]

Apple is obviously also making decent money with people purchasing RAM upgrades from them. It don't think it is a coincidence that Apple released the first machine in years that can't be user upgraded (easily) in RAM.

[stuffedmonkey]

The usual cycle sees updates every 6-9 months.

[Eriamjh]

Fromt a non-reliable Mac rumor source:

The latest on the Mac Mini.
Apple has been in the process of intensively revamping its consumer desktops (Mini, iMac, eMac) for several months now.

With the relatively modest PowerMac G5 (2.7GHz) update behind us, the next step will most likely be an iMac revision -- which will also probably be relatively modest, at least in the performance department.

The real excitement, however, appears to rest with the Mac Mini.

Some of these features may not arrive in the next revision, but we believe most of them will:

*New GPU with 64MB of graphics RAM (in the high end model at the very least) and programmability support for Tiger's Core Graphics technology - probably the GeForce FX 5200 or similar.
*Digital Optical audio output
*G4 processors at 1.42 and 1.67GHz.
*256MB of memory built-in (soldered on ultra-compact motherboard riser card), leaving the PC2700 DDR-SDRAM DIMM slot free for upgrades without having to remove the OEM memory. This will allow inexpensive upgrades to 768 or 1.256GB of RAM -- and support for up to 2.256GB using 2GB DIMMs.
*Optional slot-loading Superdrive with Dual-Layer support. Due to cost, will not be standard equipment even on the high-end model.
*Removal of the unused "mystery connector" Firewire riser card to make room for the soldered-in memory and larger Core Graphics-compatible GPU. It looks like this hidden feature may have been a dead-end after all.
*May be the first Mac to support Apple's forthcoming 108Mbps version of Airport Extreme "X2" -- uses the same connector as Airport Extreme, but benefits from an upgraded antenna.

All in all, a very solid leap forward for Apple's least expensive Macintosh. As for timetables, we currently expect the second-generation Minis to premiere at an Apple Event this summer -- most likely separate from, but in the same timing ballpark, as Macworld Expo Boston in mid July.

I'll believe it when I buy it. I'm guessing the timing for any upgrade is July-August this year. It would be nice to see 2GHz G4s in a mini.

[Jasoco]

And if it does come out and is CI compatible, I will probably buy one even though I got this one in January. They're so cheap now it's perfect.

What would be even better is if the RAM was compatible. I would take the Gig out of this one and put it in the new one.

But if it doesn't turn out to be that good, no biggie staying with this one. I got my fill of the water ripple effect on Tiger day. I'm all set.

[GSixZero]

I'll eat my hand if the mini is ever concurrently as fast as the top of the line PowerBook.

[iREZ]

that's what people were saying about the iMac surpassing the PB's no?

[GSixZero]

Originally Posted by iREZ

that's what people were saying about the iMac surpassing the PB's no?

Fair enough, but on the other hand if apple could shoehorn a g5 into an iMac, then there's really no reason not to. With the thermal problems surrounding the G5, I've got no issues with not being in a PB, but I can't imagine that Apple would let the entire desktop line surpass the portable line up, even if the powerbook g5 totally failed.

Having the bottom of the barrel mac surpass or equal the "pro-level" portable would be totally silly.

[stinch]

I don't see why it would be that silly. The desktop line is competing with desktops from other manufactures not the powerbook. With the mini attracting pc users apple needs to be competitive on the desktop or risk those new customers going back to pcs.

[Eriamjh]

Originally Posted by GSixZero

I'll eat my hand if the mini is ever concurrently as fast as the top of the line PowerBook.

It's not likely to happen, but it COULD (the mini thing, not the hand eating thing).

Besides, shouldn't it be "eat my hat"? You probably don't own a hat...

The G5 iMacs are now ALL faster than ALL powerooks. How do you feel about that?

[GSixZero]

Originally Posted by Eriamjh

It's not likely to happen, but it COULD (the mini thing, not the hand eating thing).

Besides, shouldn't it be "eat my hat"? You probably don't own a hat...

The G5 iMacs are now ALL faster than ALL powerooks. How do you feel about that?

I might eat my hat if it were something that I thought was implausible, but not impossible. In this case I'll eat my hand because it won't matter. If they make the cheapest, bottom of the barrel desktop as fast as the top of the line portable machine, the sun will freeze into a ball of ice and the world will end as we know it, so I don't think I'll need my hand anyway.

Actually though; I don't have any problem with desktops being faster than portables. I think it's totally reasonable to have a very powerful machine at home, and a less powerful portable unit for the road. With the drawbacks of having a super fast portable growing (high heat, low battery life), it's becoming impractical to have a mega-machine with you all the time. And with the relative availability of high speed networks, it's becoming almost as efficient to keep your dual 2.7ghz G5 at home, send it data to crunch from a 12" iBook from the coffeeshop. Wireless thin clients are going to be the wave of the future.

You're right that the mini could be faster than the powerbook, and it's probably going to be just behind the powerbooks for a long time, but Apple will have a very hard time selling $2500 powerbooks when the same performance is available in a $700-$800 mini (Including upgrades), in a package that's almost as small!

[Jasoco]

Well, obviously as the higher ends get faster, the lower ends will too. I fully see a mini getting a G5 in it as soon as the cooling problem is established and the 'Books get them. When the 'Book's do get them and the mini's, all the computers will have G5's.. except for the eMac. Well, the eMac could easily get a G5 now anyway, they just don't know what to do with it yet.

[hudson1]

With the iMac and eMac getting revision this week, one might guess that the mini will be revised sometime this summer. My impression is that the mini was designed to be a compact and stylish but headless version of the eMac. Perhaps even designed to replace the eMac some day if the education market wanted to go that route. As of this week, the eMac has vaulted ahead of the mini in a very important way: graphics card. Is there any compelling reason for any desktop Mac to use a GPU that's not really designed to work with CoreImage? I don't think so and I imagine Apple will address that sooner rather than later. iBooks, too?

[Pao|o]

We'll see an update with better specs in 2-4 months time.

[resuna]

Originally Posted by Jasoco

I am hoping they actually do update these things semi occasionally. But I'd really like them to figure out how to get a G5 into the laptops so they can eventually put one in the mini.

I don't want a G5 in a mini.

One of the big advantages of the mini for me is that I can leave it running all the time and it generates less heat than the cats snoozing on my bed. Or pretty close.

I woldn't say "no" to a Freescale dual-core G4, though.

[shatten22]

just give me an updated DVD player, optical out and the ability to play back HD video so I can make this the perfect Home Theater PC. It's so close to being that right now, it hurts.

[Jasoco]

The DVD player in Tiger is a great step up though. Much faster, especially with bookmarks and such. Before it was slow AppleScript powered stuff, now it's integrated better. I like it. I wish at least one of my DVD playing TV-connected-to DVD playing devices had bookmarks. My TV is a regular CRT Tube, so I don't think it'd be worth connecting my mini to it.

Yet. Maybe when those companies trying to develop Mac Home Media Center apps get it right, then I'll try.

[shatten22]

I don't know if they did tests or not on the Tiger included player, but they did do them under the Panther DVD player at the Anandtech site and the Apple DVD player just doesn't compare to the quality one can get with a PC using Zoomplayer with FFdshow post-processing. The mini, however, knocks the socks off any windows-based media center form factor. And with iTunes and Airport Express (or with slimserver as a *free* option) you'd have a pretty robust HTPC option. Also a better program based on the D-VHS application connected via firewire to your cable box would take care of your PVR stuff....

[milhous]

what a slap in the face to the imac g5 if the mini actually came with a core image-compliant gpu. think about it.

[Jasoco]

Why? The iMac G5 also has a Core Image compliant GPU. I see no face slapping there!

[shatten22]

also by that reasoning we shouldn't have an iMac with a G5 in it because the Powerbooks don't have them. What a "slap in the face" for the pro portable line.

Apple defies logic.

[milhous]

Originally Posted by Jasoco

Why? The iMac G5 also has a Core Image compliant GPU. I see no face slapping there!

according to the core image supported gpu page:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/coreimage/

you need one of these cards:

ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
ATI Radeon 9600 XT, 9800 XT, X800 XT
nVidia GeForce FX Go 5200
nVidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL, 6800 GT DDL

the imac has the standard radeon 9600, not the 9600 XT as stated.

[hudson1]

Originally Posted by milhous

according to the core image supported gpu page:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/coreimage/

you need one of these cards:

ATI Mobility Radeon 9700
ATI Radeon 9600 XT, 9800 XT, X800 XT
nVidia GeForce FX Go 5200
nVidia GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra DDL, 6800 GT DDL

the imac has the standard radeon 9600, not the 9600 XT as stated.

Not so fast! The page doesn't say you "need" one of those cards but that CI-capable graphics cards "include"....

The write-up for the new iMac G5 states "the ATI Radeon 9600 takes full advantage of the graphics capabilities in Mac OS X Tiger".

[Jasoco]

Dude, Milhous. I know for a fact the iMac G5 does the ripple. I saw it in person. Why would you even argue?

[Dale Sorel]

Originally Posted by JazzCatDRP

When will we see a mini revision?

Right after you buy one

[Tarcat]

I would buy one if you could get a hard drive of at least 120 gb, and a 64 meg graphics card. My old G4 Dual is about to give up the ghost

[Jasoco]

I'm all for the bigger HD too. But do they make them in Laptop versions?

[Louis_SX]

Originally Posted by Dale Sorel

Right after you buy one

I just did! I kinda hope they wait a bit.

[iREZ]

120gb hard drives are right around the corner...i could see the mini revision cycle rival that of the emac, where 9-12 months is the refresh rate.