Apple’s Mac Mini is getting the first major update in years… and it’s a big update for a small computer.
The company says the new Mac Mini will be available with 8th-gen Intel quad-core or hexa-core processors, up to 64GB of DDR4-2666 RAM, and up to 2TB of solid state storage.
It goes up for pre-order for $799 and up starting today and ships November 7th.
Apple says the new Mac Mini offers:
- Up to five times faster performance than its predecessor
- Up to four times faster storage
- Twice the airflow for a quiet custom cooling solution.
The new model also uses SODIMM slots, making it easier to upgrade the RAM. The system features an array of ports including HDMI, Ethernet, two USB Type-A ports, and four Thunderbolt 3 ports.
Prices start at $799 for a model with a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage, and it can be configured with up to a Core i7 chip, up to 64GB of storage, and up to 2TB of storage.
Like the new MacBook Air, the 2018 Mac Mini has a 100 percent recycled aluminum frame, and it also uses 60 percent post-consumer recycled plastic.
Apple lost their 3rd sale from me. The first two were my kid’s and my replacement laptops, since it was predicted that the MacBook Pro would be out in December 2018 or in January. So we moved on two Lenovo X1 laptops with extended service, and fully loaded. Then, they sprung it in September, with no warning. Apple lost out on $6,000. Now, I will bet getting an HP X2 G4 Mini workstation that cost over $2,000, and it’s due to arrive on Nov. 6th.
Apple like to play close to the vest, but, like in my case, they lost out on 8 Grand being obtuse and secretive.
Kudos for Apple to finally update the Mac Mini – it’s about time – but they need to start deciding if they want to keep it’s products and regularly update them. Having this extremely long break in upgrade cycle just makes customers look for other solutions.
Glad to see them return to the upgradable RAM (details here – https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/10/30/frequently-asked-questions-about-the-2018-mac-mini-ram-storage-and-more). Wish it was a stronger CPU though, but I guess it’s still a fairly decent machine and not too far out of range for what one would expect for those specs.
Now to convince work to get me one (in addition to my macbook pro!). Eager to hear any good excuses I could propose!
This isn’t that bad for the pricing. It’s not far off from previous. The selling point to me is whether it replicates 2012: upgradeable ram potential and adding a second drive myself
According to zdnet, RAM is upgradeable, storage is not (as far as we know)
https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-new-2018-mac-mini-is-a-pro-machine-in-a-tiny-package/
If I try to replicate my current mini PC’s specs on the Apple store, I get a price of $4000. I can tell you quite emphatically I paid nowhere near that much for my PC, and it has a much better (discrete) GPU.
At the low end, it might come closer to making sense, but I still think it’s several hundred too much.
NUC that runs MacOS.
To be fair, while the pricing is painful, the specs are good – only the Hades Canyon uses similar 65W TDP desktop processors (though Hades Canyon arguably has a better GPU). The RAM is user-replaceable, if the SSD is too, then this may actually be a viable machine.
Too much for me for what I want. If they had a $500 or so offering then maybe. Lesser specs would have been fine. Though to be honest the Chrome OS box I’ll probably end up getting instead will probably have similar specs to the base model here but for that $500 price point.
While I agree with you… Really? Expecting $500 for a new computer from Apple? From a company that sells a low-res TFT phone for $750? Or rather, do you think people would think the iPhone XR was a “value phone” if you could buy a new computer from the same company for $500?
Hmmm – They say “6.1-inch (diagonal) all-screen LCD Multi-Touch display with IPS technology”. And “1792-by-828-pixel resolution at 326 ppi”. TFT – nope. Low-res? Your call, I guess.
It’s less than the industry standard FHD at this size and basically the same ppi than the original iPhone 4. Also, IPS is a type of TFT. OLED is not.
But my point was not about the iPhone XR. It was that if you sell a “value” phone as expensive as $750, you can’t sell a computer for $500 without hurting the sales of that phone (“hurr-durr-durr-I-can-buy-a-macmini-and-a-screen-for-the-entry-level-iphone-durr-hurr).
While I agree with you on many things, I don’t agree with you on the iPhone Xr pricing. It’s $750 plus tax. And if you’re overseas the price skyrockets by 20-70%.
So it’s theoretically a US$750 phone, but in practice this is a US$950 phone.
And while I give Apple the edge in terms of build quality, customer service, software support, accessory availability, and long-term use. The price difference is too high to really capitalise on that.
Why not get a used-but-new iPhone 8 or iPhone 7 Plus instead? Or a S8,S8+,S9,S9+ instead? Or LG V30,V40,G7,Gone?
Or if IP68 isn’t important, a OnePlus 5,5t? Or a Nokia 7Plus? Or a myriad of Xiaomi devices?
In fact, it’s probably time to jump from the (absurdly priced) iOS Ecosystem… to an Android Ecosystem by staying a whole year behind and getting a flagship that has r00t access, and upgrading yearly on the cheap? I say this because some of the bad trends set by Apple has inflicted the mid-range segment of Android phones and they aren’t attractive value anymore.
The mini was originally around that $500 price. And even the new regular ipad is only $300. So Apple isn’t completely averse to lower priced products. So yeah, I was hoping the revamp would include an entry model around that $500 mark.
I LOOOOOOOOOVE the Mini, the Unibody refresh was brilliant….. but
Up to five times faster performance than its predecessor*
Up to four times faster storage*
Twice the airflow for a quiet custom cooling solution.*
*compared to our over 4 year old previous model we have been charging FULL APPLE (re ridiculous) PRICING for this entire time with a smile on our faces (laughing our asses off all the way to the bank)
Think Different (eye roll)
/s