New Mac mini will be M4, as will the rest of the line up.

[ElmerJFudd]

 

https://www.macrumors.com/2024/08/08/mac-mini-to-become-smallest-ever-apple-computer/

[Lou_NC]

Since they've pulled the optical drives out of Mini's (and similar computers) there's really no reason for them to be much larger than a cell phone......other than the back panel space required for physical connectors.  I've been in the CPU industry for 30+ years and we were putting desktop-class CPUs into cell phones since ~2010!  This is not really a significant packaging advancement IMHO.  🙂  

[ElmerJFudd]

12 minutes ago, Lou_NC said:

Since they've pulled the optical drives out of Mini's (and similar computers) there's really no reason for them to be much larger than a cell phone......other than the back panel space required for physical connectors.  I've been in the CPU industry for 30+ years and we were putting desktop-class CPUs into cell phones since ~2010!  This is not really a significant packaging advancement IMHO.  🙂  

Will M4 in a smaller footprint but taller aluminum case require a fan as the Studio does?   
 

What will it have for io?  I’m guessing TB only, maybe HDMI.   

[Docbop]

This might be the computer inside of a keyboard that rumors have been floating around recently.   Not a new idea but with Apple's stupid thinner, lighter obsesion it could be possible.     Everything I've read about the M4 so far it just going to a a small incremental improvement like  the M2 and M3 were.   Apple hit a homerun with the M1, but since then just incremental update that were mainly in graphics performance and with the M4 they are already moving on to now AI focus.    

 

I have two systems with M-series chips and for doing audio a M1 Max MBP and M2 Max Mac Studio for doing non-graphics work to me  they are still the ones to buy.   I had a MB Air M2 and it was a lot of computer, but that 13" screen and my old eyes just weren't made for each other, but performance wise it was a real nice computer.    Reading about TSMC and ARM they both appear to be at a silicon plateau for awhile, advancement in silicon come slow.   

[EscapeRocks]

1 hour ago, Docbop said:

This might be the computer inside of a keyboard that rumors have been floating around recently.   Not a new idea but with Apple's stupid thinner, lighter obsesion it could be possible.     Everything I've read about the M4 so far it just going to a a small incremental improvement like  the M2 and M3 were.   Apple hit a homerun with the M1, but since then just incremental update that were mainly in graphics performance and with the M4 they are already moving on to now AI focus.    

 

I have two systems with M-series chips and for doing audio a M1 Max MBP and M2 Max Mac Studio for doing non-graphics work to me  they are still the ones to buy.   I had a MB Air M2 and it was a lot of computer, but that 13" screen and my old eyes just weren't made for each other, but performance wise it was a real nice computer.    Reading about TSMC and ARM they both appear to be at a silicon plateau for awhile, advancement in silicon come slow.   

Yeah, my M1 MBP is just fine, for now in my live rig when I want to use Mainstage.

 

What I'm really hoping for with this new is that they make it even less hardware connection friendly since they're on that trend.  [/sarcasm]

[analogika]

2 minutes ago, EscapeRocks said:

Yeah, my M1 MBP is just fine, for now in my live rig when I want to use Mainstage.

 

What I'm really hoping for with this new is that they make it even less hardware connection friendly since they're on that trend.  [/sarcasm]

Did you miss the 14“/16“ redesigns? 

[EscapeRocks]

5 minutes ago, analogika said:

Did you miss the 14“/16“ redesigns? 

probably, since I haven't shopped for one since mine works just fine for my needs

 

I'll take a look

 

Heck, I'm still on iPhone 12Pro with the old lightning connector.

[analogika]

25 minutes ago, EscapeRocks said:

probably, since I haven't shopped for one since mine works just fine for my needs

 

I'll take a look

The redesign was released in October 2021 for the M1 Pro and M1 Max processors — about 11 months after the regular M1 (not M1 Pro or M1 Max) 13“ MacBook Pro, and they’ve stuck with that design for the M2 and M3 generations. 
 

It has MagSafe, HDMI, an SD-card slot, headphone jack (with support for high-impedance headphones), and three Thunderbolt/USB-C ports. 

[ElmerJFudd]

I’ve yet to get onto Apple Silicon.  As revisions to MacOS begin to tie into AI those dedicated cores will be a big deal.  In the short term, not so much.  Let’s see how they will price these miniaturized M4 Minis and if I can grab an M2 for a great price.

 

iMac doesn’t make sense for me.  Not portable enough and  I can get a cheaper monitor.  Not sure if I want a MacBook Air.
 👍

[Docbop]

35 minutes ago, ElmerJFudd said:

As revisions to MacOS begin to tie into AI those dedicated cores will be a big deal.  

Personally I'm hoping Apple puts a option in the Setting apps to turn off AI.   

[Zalman Stern]

5 hours ago, Lou_NC said:

Since they've pulled the optical drives out of Mini's (and similar computers) there's really no reason for them to be much larger than a cell phone......other than the back panel space required for physical connectors.  I've been in the CPU industry for 30+ years and we were putting desktop-class CPUs into cell phones since ~2010!  This is not really a significant packaging advancement IMHO.  🙂  

 

Cellphones do not have an internal power supply and are not required to deliver significant quantities of power to external peripherals. Pretty much no recent phone SoC can run all of its components at full performance for any significant length of time without thermal throttling. Sure some of that is the requirement that the device be handheld, but a desktop computer that doubles as a hotplate is also not a product. The difference between peak possible performance and realistic sustained performance on phones is so high that it's largely fraud to advertise peak performance these days. This is somewhat true for laptops as well, though people do expect them to run the GPU and CPU cores full tilt when plugged in. Part of the great success of the ARM based MacBooks is they can do this without getting too hot to touch and running noisy fans continuously. Desktops and servers even more so need to deliver sustained performance at a fairly high level.

 

Yes, desktops can certainly be smaller, but I don't see much point in making a Mini much smaller than it is currently unless it is targeting a new product segment where the compute capability is dictated by very low thermals, as in no fans and doesn't get hot at all, and it is not intended to most often be plugged directly into a keyboard and monitor. (There are a ton of uses for such a thing and one can get adequate compute in such a design, though it wouldn't be comparable to what we consider really fast now.) Even for dedicated uses in audio systems, going smaller than half rack (1U) is not really that useful, though keeping the heat down to a minimum is very helpful.

 

For audio the big question is whether latency can be reduced. A lot of the things that are done to increase peak performance, manage thermals, and to scale up the sheer amount of compute units available on one chip end up increasing latency significantly. If that is going to continue to be the pattern for the main compute cores, we'll continue to see the audio handling moved out to external hardware. Whether it be audio interfaces with DSP or hardware synths, etc. Hopefully this will get addressed in a general fashion but the history of everything is that high bandwidth is way easier than low latency. (And crazily, most of the compute components external DSP stuff uses are 10 years or more behind the curve on chip and hardware technology.)

 

-Z-

 

[RABid]

I'm also happy with my M1 MBP and m2 MMini. What I worry about if they shrink the Mini further is loss of ports. Apple loves to take those ports away. What good is shrinking the computer if you have to add a thunderbolt 4 hub that is bigger than the MMini?

[Docbop]

4 minutes ago, RABid said:

I'm also happy with my M1 MBP and m2 MMini. What I worry about if they shrink the Mini further is loss of ports. Apple loves to take those ports away. What good is shrinking the computer if you have to add a thunderbolt 4 hub that is bigger than the MMini?

 

Reports are saying it will a little bigger than a Apple TV.   It will probably have three USB-C ports and a power port, some say maybe a HDMI port.    Basically a iPad in a box.   Two versions like in past a Mini with M4 and another with M4 Pro.   The M4 version could start selling in the next couple weeks, the M4 Pro won't be available till October. 

 

Next we'll get the Apple suppository Mac,  like a AirPod but you shove it......

[ElmerJFudd]

2 minutes ago, Docbop said:

 Basically a iPad in a box.  

Similar to an iPad Pro in a box.  Better performance not placed in an ultra thin case and running on a battery. And running MacOS rather than iOS which is still important for some but increasingly less important for others.  
 

I would love for them to build a convertible MacBook Air that runs macOS in laptop position then flips to iOS when in tablet.  I don’t think that would happen.  But, could they merge iOS and macOS?  It’s conceivable. 

[Sergievsky]

This small form factor would be great as a Gigperformer/live-setup backup to my M2 laptop, which is really big & heavy (especially on no-sleep-many-airports tours). If only Apple would give us the option of installing at least just ONE nvme drive it would be perfect…but of course they won’t & we’ll be forced to pay the overpriced soldered in ssd or settle for an external one.  

[ElmerJFudd]

38 minutes ago, Sergievsky said:

This small form factor would be great as a Gigperformer/live-setup backup to my M2 laptop, which is really big & heavy (especially on no-sleep-many-airports tours). If only Apple would give us the option of installing at least just ONE nvme drive it would be perfect…but of course they won’t & we’ll be forced to pay the overpriced soldered in ssd or settle for an external one.  

I look forward to seeing what otherworld computing comes up with for Thunderbolt NVMe enclosure to pair with a mini mini.