Apple Updates the Mac mini

[Cristian_25H]

Apple today updated Mac mini with the latest technologies and a new lower starting price, making Apple's most affordable Mac an even better value. Mac mini now features fourth generation Intel Core processors, integrated graphics that are up to 90 percent faster, 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Thunderbolt 2 and is still the world's most energy efficient desktop.

"People love Mac mini. It's a great first Mac or addition to your home network, and the new Mac mini is a nice upgrade packed into an incredibly compact design," said Philip Schiller, Apple's senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. "With the latest CPU and graphics, faster Wi-Fi, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, OS X Yosemite, and starting at just $499, the new Mac mini is the best value ever."





The new Mac mini delivers new levels of graphics performance, expandability and connectivity. New integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000 and Intel Iris Graphics deliver up to 90 percent faster graphics performance than the previous generation. Mac mini now includes two Thunderbolt 2 ports, each delivering up to 20Gbps of bandwidth to each port, as well as next-generation 802.11ac Wi-Fi that is up to three times faster when connected to an 802.11ac base station. Mac mini is still the world's most energy efficient desktop, exceeding Energy Star 6.1 requirements by seven times the standard and consuming as few as 6 watts of power at idle.

Every new Mac comes with Mac OS X Yosemite, a powerful new version of OS X, redesigned and refined with a fresh, modern look, powerful new apps and amazing new Continuity features that make working across your Mac and iOS devices more fluid than ever.

iMovie, GarageBand and the suite of iWork apps come free with every new Mac. iMovie lets you easily create beautiful movies, and you can use GarageBand to make new music or learn to play piano or guitar. iWork productivity apps, Pages, Numbers and Keynote, make it easy to create, edit and share stunning documents, spreadsheets and presentations. iWork has been redesigned with a new look, support for iCloud Drive and a host of new features, including a new comments view in Pages. iWork for iCloud beta lets you create your document on iPad, edit it on your Mac and collaborate with friends, even if they're on a PC.

Pricing & Availability
Mac mini begins shipping today. Mac mini comes in three standard models: a 1.4 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 with Turbo Boost speeds up to 2.7 GHz, 4 GB of memory, Intel HD Graphics 5000 and a 500 GB hard drive starting at a suggested retail price of $499 (US); a 2.6 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.1 GHz, 8 GB of memory, Intel Iris Graphics and a 1 TB hard drive starting at suggested retail price of $699 (US); and a 2.8 GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor with Turbo Boost speeds up to 3.3 GHz, 8 GB of memory, Intel Iris Graphics and a 1 TB Fusion Drive starting at a suggested retail price of $999 (US). Customers can order Mac mini through the Apple Online Store.

View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[NC37]

Can't believe people still pay money for those things.

 

[Aquinus]

Can't believe people still pay money for those things.

Why? It's Macbook Air hardware in a small box for half the price. It's probably the most realisticly priced Apple product IMHO.

 

[Constantine Yevseyev]

Can't believe people still pay money for those things.

It's at least ~50 USD cheaper than any laptop with the exact same components, but it also comes with OS X, which makes price absolutely reasonable.
The target audience would be people who work with software that runs only on OS X, but they don't have a desire or possibility to purchase anything different than a less expensive desktop computer.

 

[GhostRyder]

Why? It's Macbook Air hardware in a small box for half the price. It's probably the most realisticly priced Apple product IMHO.

Ill give ya that one!

Its not bad but these things just to me seem a bit meh even at that price point of $500. If the $500 had the Iris pro at least I would say its not to bad a deal though Iris pro chips are expensive.

 

[elec999]

When I saw the keynote I was very excited to see the flash storage. But now I see no point because they want $200 for the 256gb sdd. And the specs at $499 are very low. The cpu is relly slow, low ram. If you add SSD its $699 keep on adding and its over 1k. I dont see the point.

This should be $499 with 256 SSD and 8GB Ram.

 

[newtekie1]

It's at least ~50 USD cheaper than any laptop with the exact same components, but it also comes with OS X, which makes price absolutely reasonable.

Not it isn't, the base Mac Mini is about $100 more expensive than a comparable laptop. Example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314556

And actually, the laptop is a way better deal, it is after all a laptop, so it is actually portable, has a battery and a built in screen. Plus the processor is actually faster than the base Mac Mini's.

The middle of the road Mini might be a halfway decent deal, but at that price point your into Core i7s in laptops. In fact you can get a i7 laptop for $50 less.

And the top end Mini is just ridiculously overpriced. For $120 cheaper you can get a Quad-Core i7 and dedicated GT840m graphics with the rest of the specs being basically the same(8GB of RAM, 1TB Hard drive). The laptop doesn't have the "Fusion Drive" be we all know that is just a Seagate Momentus XT, and they don't really help performance any. And if you really want one, you've got money to spare buying the laptop to buy one.

 

[Frick]

Laptop =! small form factor systems.

I've always liked the minis. The add on options are expensive, but they've always been with Apple. The base price I think is pretty reasonable. The cheapest model should have 8GB RAM as standard though, then it would have been excellent.

 

[Octavean]

"Fusion Drive" be we all know that is just a Seagate Momentus XT, and they don't really help performance any.

I believe the Fusion Drive is more akin to Intel Smart Response SSD Caching which can indeed yield performance boosts in some (yet not all) situations.

 

[Boeing707]

Is the RAM still upgradeable? It has been changed to LPDDR3
Anyway, the Mac Mini is a good deal compared to similarly-sized mini PCs

 

[Constantine Yevseyev]

Not it isn't, the base Mac Mini is about $100 more expensive than a comparable laptop. Example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834314556

You're wrong. New Mac Mini is equipped with 5th Generation Intel Core M processor, which has an updated HD 5000 Graphics inside of it (amongst other crucial changes), and your sample comes with Haswell M/HD 4400. Now this silicon has been around for 1.5 years and costs much less then just released (Q3 2014) Core M.

Edit: I'm sorry. They really did use Haswell ULV platform and not Core M. The clock (1.4 GHz) looked so Broadwell-ish in combination with that "HD 5000"...

that is just a Seagate Momentus XT, and they don't really help performance any

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/momentus-xt-750gb-review,3223-6.html
TLDR: you're dead wrong.

And actually, the laptop is a way better deal, it is after all a laptop, so it is actually portable, has a battery and a built in screen.

Yeah, but they don't come with OS X. Windows 8.1 & Ubuntu LTS only. There's a lot of tools (Xcode would be the best example I can think of) that are not ported on Windows or were not designed to work on that platform in the first place.

 

[Deelron]

I believe the Fusion Drive is more akin to Intel Smart Response SSD Caching which can indeed yield performance boosts in some (yet not all) situations.

It is, it's a bit more then just that though (software matters), Anandtech had a good review of how it works in Jan 2013 (I can't do the article justice).

 

[newtekie1]

You're wrong. New Mac Mini is equipped with 5th Generation Intel Core M processor, which has an updated HD 5000 Graphics inside of it (amongst other crucial changes), and your sample comes with Haswell M/HD 4400. Now this silicon has been around for 1.5 years and costs much less then just released (Q3 2014) Core M.

I don't see anything that says these are Broadwell chips, where are you getting that from? These look like nothing more than Haswell chips. In fact, if these were Core M processors, they'd have HD5300 graphics not HD5000. HD5000=Haswell.

Yeah, the HD5000 graphics is slightly better than the HD4400, but not enough to make any real difference for what the GPU is going to be used for in these machines. Lets face it, Intel HD graphics are terrible in every form. They are good enough for watching movies, but don't try to play games on them, and anything that leverages GPU power for processing will quickly overpower the limited power of the GPU.

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/momentus-xt-750gb-review,3223-6.html
TLDR: you're dead wrong.

Don't have to read it, I own two of the current generation Momentus XT drives, the 5400RPM 2.5" and the 7200RPM 3.5". They make no noticeable difference. Boot times with Win7 were slightly faster, but with Win8 there is less than a second difference.

Though, after further research, Octavean and Deelron are correct. The Fusion Drive is an OSX managed caching with a 128GB SSD. Maybe it does make a difference, I don't think I want to pay $1000 to find out. At that price I'd rather just put a 512GB SSD in it.

Yeah, but they don't come with OS X. Windows 8.1 & Ubuntu LTS only. There's a lot of tools (Xcode would be the best example I can think of) that are not ported on Windows or were not designed to work on that platform in the first place.

Sure, and I can list hundreds of programs that don't work on OSX. So the OS argument isn't really worth starting. If you think you need OSX, then by all means pay the extra money for the weaker powered hardware.

Laptop =! small form factor systems.

When the SFF is using laptop hardware I'm going to compare them to laptops. But you are right, functionally a laptop is way more functional than a SFF system, so SFF systems don't really hold a candle to a laptop.

 

[Aquinus]

The 700 USD variant gets you a faster i5, Iris Pro, and 8GB of ram. Having an Apple product with that kind of power isn't too bad for the price. 500 USD for the base model isn't bad for people on a tight budget who want a Mac. I really think they should have an option for a big drive or small SSD for the base model price. Not everyone wants a lot of storage but rather just a quick and responsive machine. It's been my experience that people who own Macs don't typically care if they can game on it or not.

 

[Frick]

But you are right, functionally a laptop is way more functional than a SFF system, so SFF systems don't really hold a candle to a laptop.

Naah, depends on what you're doing. You want a laptop, get a laptop. If you want OSX as cheap as possible (officially) and a tidy desk, get the mini. And no, laptops will not do the job as good. Laptops on desks are terrible.

 

[TheinsanegamerN]

Ill give ya that one!

Its not bad but these things just to me seem a bit meh even at that price point of $500. If the $500 had the Iris pro at least I would say its not to bad a deal though Iris pro chips are expensive.

considering the cheapest iris pro part is $434, i highly doubt you'll find a $500 computer using it.

The 700 USD variant gets you a faster i5, Iris Pro, and 8GB of ram. Having an Apple product with that kind of power isn't too bad for the price. 500 USD for the base model isn't bad for people on a tight budget who want a Mac. I really think they should have an option for a big drive or small SSD for the base model price. Not everyone wants a lot of storage but rather just a quick and responsive machine. It's been my experience that people who own Macs don't typically care if they can game on it or not.

No, the $700 model has Iris, not iris pro. iris pro is only sued in quad cores, and all of the new mac minis are dual core, and the dual cores are only iris. no cache for you.

 

[Aquinus]

No, the $700 model has Iris, not iris pro. iris pro is only sued in quad cores, and all of the new mac minis are dual core, and the dual cores are only iris. no cache for you.

Fair enough, it's still better than a HD 5000 though. The point is that it's just like every other time Apple updated the Mac Mini. It's not a bad deal for your typical user who wants an Apple product.

 

[newtekie1]

Fair enough, it's still better than a HD 5000 though.

Iris is just HD 5000 with a 200MHz higher boost. So, yeah, "better" but still shit and no one will actually notice the difference in real world use. And if the chips are TDP limited, and I'm almost willing to bet my life they are thanks to the small form factor, you'll never see that boost clock for more than a faction of a second anyway.

 

[Mussels]

these would make good office workstations to slap on the back of a monitor if you needed OSX in your work environment, but otherwise there are definitely cheaper options for the price.

 

[Frick]

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2014/1...own-shows-a-sealed-less-upgradeable-redesign/


Soldered RAM, can't add second drive. SUUUUUCKS.