Have you heard of the Mac mini? If you haven’t you aren’t alone as it seems sometimes even Apple isn’t aware of this product! Jokes apart it is the most inexpensive living room Mac and comes with no keyboard, mouse or display. It is used with modern TV. It has been nearly two years since Apple last updated the Mac mini. It isn’t surprising that Apple watchers are keenly asking a simple question “when is the next Mac mini releasing? Though Apple remains tight-lipped about the next release of Mac mini we try and bring to you some of the best sourced information, release date, specs and UK price. But all that we write here is mere speculation or expectations as it would be right to call it.
Why The Delay?
It was never the flagship product for Apple and it always maintained a year and a half gap between the updates and thus the tech giant hasn’t missed the cycle by miles. Also there were some rumors that Apple was thinking of discontinuing this product as sales of desktop have been declining over the last many years. But the bigger reason is the delay in acquiring Intel’s new Broadwell chips that would succeed Haswell which didn’t make it into the Mac mini anyways. Intel has finally confirmed shipment and this might start in the early part of 2015.
Design
The 2014 edition of Mac mini is expected to sport a new design. If rumors are to be believed it might be designed along the lines of Mac Pro. It would most likely be slimmer, thinner and lighter as it bids adieu to the CD drive. The current edition is 3.6×19.7×19.7 cm and weighs 1.22kg. Mac mini might even clone the Apple TV which has dimensions of 9.8×9.8×2.3cm and weighs 0.27kg.
Specs & Features
The current Mac mini includes a 2.5GHz dual-core processor (Intel Ivy Bridge), 4GB RAM, 500GB Hard Drive, and Intel’s HD Graphics 4000 and priced at £499. Compared to the MacBook Air (£749) and entry level iMac (£899) Mac mini always seemed overpriced (considering the fact that it comes without a screen) and thus failed to make much headway in the market. To counter this shortcoming we expect Apple to add Intel Haswell chip to the Mac mini to make it more powerful and reduce energy consumption. This will boost the general speed and also enhance the graphic performance. The new processor would triple the performance of existing Ivy Bridge chips making it more popular with the gamers.
Mac mini is expected to come in with a flash drive though the current edition allows you to add 128GB SSD drive as a build to order option. While current edition has 500GB hard drive in the entry level model and 1TB hard drive in the £679 it is expected to do away with the hard drive as most users opt for Mac mini as a server can easily add extra capacity when required. Mac mini is also likely to have 802.11ac Wi-Fi better known as the ‘Gigabit’ Wi-Fi and would offer speeds up to three times as fast as existing 802.11n wireless networks.
Pricing
Apple has always been smart when it comes to pricing new versions of its products. It tends to cash in on falling prices of components and manages its profits without burdening the customers. The last upgrade of Mac mini had no major increase in the pricing and we expect the prices to remain the same for the next upgrade. Entry end Mac mini should cost around £499 inclusive of VAT while the 1TB version should command a price of around £679 including VAT.
