Apple finally remembered its desktop users. During the last event, she presented not only a new version of the legendary, which at one time changed the market of portable computers, creating fashion for thin and light systems, but also updated the Mac Mini, which she had neglected for a long time, which remained until now the most inexpensive versions of computers from Apple. ... Why did you have to wait so long?

As Apple CEO Tim Cook pointed out, a pint-sized full-fledged working system is becoming a reality with the biggest update in Mac Mini history. The format has remained quite familiar - it's still the same square box with rounded edges, but now in a dark gray finish, typical for the entire modern family of Apple computers. The cooling system has been redesigned: the maximum air flow has doubled, and the constant power - by 70%. The aluminum case, just like the MacBook Air, is made from 100% recycled alloy.

However, the biggest changes are inside. The new mini-computer is equipped with a four- or six-core Intel Core processor of the eighth generation, can be equipped with models of memory format SO-DIMM DDR4 @ 2666 MHz up to 64 GB and a solid state drive with a capacity of up to 2 TB. Integrated Intel UHD Graphics is 60% more powerful than the previous generation.

The overall productivity, according to the company, has increased 5 times. Unfortunately, in this case we are talking about calculations in Autodesk Maya, where you can really talk about such an increase (albeit with some reservations). In other tasks, the gain is, as a rule, noticeably lower - the new MacMini in the version with a 6-core chip turns out to be 2-3 times faster than the old basic 2-core model. But when encoding video in HEVC, the gain can reach 30 times.

Mac Mini, like the new laptop, received a special chip for security and other tasks - the Apple T2. The T2 chip stores sensitive data and checks to see if the software that starts up the computer has been jailbroken. It also has an SSD controller that encrypts all data on the drive in real time. The always-on processor in the T2 chip allows you to use the “Hey Siri” function for voice queries such as searching for files and launching applications.

The back of the device houses Thunderbolt 3 ports, HDMI, two USB-A and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Thunderbolt 3 allows you to quickly transfer data over USB and Thunderbolt and connect many different devices to your computer - external drives, docking stations to increase the number of ports, 5K monitors (you can generally connect three 4K displays), or even external video cards to speed up graphics processing.

Mac Mini is designed for people who need a very compact yet powerful system for audio, video editing and other creative tasks. But several of these babies, working together, can be even more useful in specific tasks. Therefore, it is now possible to combine dozens of Mac Minis into a single system in order to use such a configuration as servers or farms for rendering - for example, instead of the Mac Pro.

The computers are preinstalled with the latest version with functions such as the dark gamut of the desktop, "Stacks", the updated application store and others. This is all well and good, but the cost of the new system is not particularly inspiring: for the starting price of $ 800, you can only count on a configuration with a Core i3 processor @ 3.6 GHz, 8 GB of RAM and 128 GB of SSD storage.

For a 6-core model with a Core i5 @ 3 GHz, 8 GB of RAM and a 128 GB SSD, you will have to pay $ 1100 already. The 10Gb Nbase-T controller option costs an additional $ 100. Finally, for the maximum configuration with a 6-core 12-thread Intel Core processor @ 3.2 GHz (Turbo Boost up to 4.6 GHz), 64 GB of RAM and a 2 TB SSD, you will have to pay $ 4200! It's better not to think about how much it will cost to create a professional system from dozens of such crumbs. Pre-orders in the US have already begun and deliveries will begin on November 7th.

After four years of silence, Apple has finally announced the next generation of its most compact.

The previous form factor, updated processor, the presence of the T2 chip and the new color Space Gray - these are the first differences of the seventh generation Mac mini from its predecessors.

We publish some of them.

1. GadgetSnow

Mac mini can be safely called a niche product that in recent years has become more and more interesting for users looking for a compact computer for the home.

Despite its diminutive size, Mac mini is packed with power. There is a nettop option with an 8th Gen 6-core Intel Core processor. In TurboBoost mode, this chip delivers up to 4.6 GHz per core.

According to Apple's assurance, the Mac mini has become five times faster than its predecessor... The maximum amount of RAM has also increased significantly. The top bar is now 64 GB RAM operating at a frequency of 2 666 MHz.

IN the stock SSD also became four times faster... Thanks to the presence of a chip T2 which until today remained the prerogative of the iMac Pro and MacBook Pro 2018, any SSD installed in the Mac mini is automatically encrypted without user intervention.

Space Gray will be especially relevant for users who have multiple Apple devices.

Summing up, I would like to note that Apple has managed to breathe new life into the Mac mini. This is an amazingly powerful compact computer with impressive potential. And now it will definitely interest an order of magnitude more potential buyers than its predecessor.

2. SlashGear

At some point, it seemed to us that the Mac mini was dead. But everything takes time. It took Apple four years to decently update the nettop. Not in vain!

At first acquaintance, for a moment it may seem that this is still the same Mac mini. But no, it has a new body color Space Gray. And a new head start in productivity. But the form factor has remained unchanged.

Things have changed dramatically since the last Mac mini was released in the world of interfaces. And this is noticeable if you look at the back of the nettop. However, unlike the entire current line of Mac computers and laptops, the Mac mini is not fully compatible with all interfaces.

Four USB Type-C ports are something that we clearly did not expect from the Mac mini. In place and two USB A "old", HDMI 2.0 and 3.5 mm audio jack. It is noteworthy that there is an option to upgrade the network card to 10 Gbps, however, for this speed you will have to pay $ 100 on top - an optional feature.

The wave of updates has gone well over the wireless interfaces: Wi-Fi 802.11ac and Bluetooth 5.0 on board.

When choosing a Mac mini, you should pay attention to the processor. Better to take with a margin. But you shouldn't be a fan of RAM. You can choose a model with 8 GB, and then spend self-upgrade.

A nice feature of the new Mac mini is that they have a SO-DIMM standard operating system, that is, they are not soldered, as in the previous generation, but replaceable. This is perhaps one of the most pleasant innovations of the new product.

3. Engadget

On the eve of the presentation, we were confident that the new MacBook Air and iPad Pro would be the highlight of the program. But Apple has prepared another trump card with a cool update to the Mac mini.

Alas, we managed to build all the impressions of the novelty solely on the basis of eye contact. Reporters were not given the opportunity to sit down and test the performance of the Mac mini on their own.

On October 16, 2014 Apple introduced updated Mac mini nettops. The company has pleased fans of compact destopniks with a new Haswell processor and Intell 5000 / Intel Iris Graphics.

What is so special about the Mac mini? For 36,990 rubles, being an inveterate winduzyatnik, you can try out the "vaunted OS from Apple" in business. A mouse and keyboard will cost another couple of hundred rubles, and any monitor is suitable as a display.

That's it, you have a new Mac. No one spilled coffee on him, no one threw him on the sofa. One year warranty and all the goodies, including the "magic" box.

The Mac mini is still in the Apple store, but the nettop has been around for three years without a hardware upgrade.

How the Mac mini changed

From 2005 to 2014, Apple put a lot of emphasis on the Mac mini. Computers of this series were updated with enviable regularity and Apple sought to implement the latest achievements from the world of chip-building into their nettops.

Judge for yourself:

2005: Mac mini PowerPC G4... The firstborn in a new category of computers. New design, integrated slot drive, compact solution ahead of its time. Apple released three (!) Hardware upgrades in a year.

2006: Mac mini and Intel processors... Apple is ditching hot PowerPC chips and switching to Intel processors. First, the company masters the Intel Core model and for the first time swings at the 4 GB RAM bar.

A feature of the models is full customization. The user could easily swap out an Intel Core processor for an Intel Core 2 Duo and expand the RAM up to 4GB.

2007 - 2009: Mac mini and the Intel Core 2 Duo era... The 2007 minor update ended with a global update in late 2009. On October 20, 2009, Apple announced a powerful Mac mini with 8GB of RAM, Nvidia GeForce 9400M graphics and an Intel Core 2 Duo processor.

Over the years, the need for USB ports has increased and the new Mac mini has five of them (so far USB 2.0).

2010 - the first redesign of the Mac mini... This year Apple announced the trendy "all-metal" Mac mini. So far, it still has a mid-range processor (by 2010 standards), but there is HDMI and a port for SD cards.

2011 - 2014 Mac mini without floppy drive, but with Core i5 / i7 processors... A new round in the life of Apple nettops. As with the miniJack port, the company foresaw the future - who needs a CD-Rom now? Since 2011, all Mac minis come out without the characteristic "slot" for discs, but with Intel Core i5 / i7 processors.

Calling these models "a dull computer for the office" is hard to imagine.

Mac mini computers saw the update three times: in mid-2011, late 2012, and late 2014. In 2014, Apple managed to bury the server version of the Mac Mini Server, abandoning further production.

And since then silence ...

What to expect from the new Mac mini

Apple's VP of Marketing, Mr. Phil Schiller, has repeatedly stressed that "the Mac mini is a very important product for the company."

Those. Apple is not going to stop producing compact nettops and is preparing something new.

Haswell processors (22 nm) smell a bit like an old book. Since 2014, Intel has released:

• Broadwell (14nm process technology);
• Skylake (14 nm)
• Kaby Lake (14 nm)

and, in the meantime, Coffee Lake (14 nm) is on its way, the release of which is scheduled for the 4th quarter of 2017.

Even if Apple opts for Kaby Lake processors (which is most likely), future Mac mini buyers are waiting for at least:

• 30% increase in productivity,
• increased energy efficiency,
• support for USB Type-C (where without it in 2018),
• support for HEVC formats at the hardware level,
• comfortable 4K,

and many, many pleasant surprises.

When?

Little is known about the new generation Mac mini. Nettop has only experienced two major redesigns and it's time for Apple to take the plunge for the third time.

It is hardly worth waiting for a new announcement from Apple before the end of the year. But the Mac mini has every chance to shine in the spring of 2018.

The MacBook Air is reincarnated as the MacBook. Having added in performance, the MacBook Pro 2017 has lost a lot of weight and began to resemble the MacBook Air.

Next up for Mac mini: in a new case, with increased performance and the same nice price tag.

Apple rarely cuts the prices of its products just like that. As a rule, this happens immediately after the presentation of a new generation device. But sometimes they allow themselves to provide a permanent discount on certain categories of branded goods for no reason visible to the user. The discount we're going to talk about today touches on custom Macs, allowing users around the world to build a more advanced PC for themselves at a significantly lower cost.

For the first time in the history of the smallest and most affordable Mac, it has not been updated for almost two years. Prior to this, updates occurred once a year, at most once every 18 months. Immediately there was talk of the imminent and imminent liquidation of the Mac mini. Sound familiar? The Mac mini introduced on October 16, 2014 was updated on October 30, 2018, four years later. mini fell below some important level for Apple, but it still paid off.

In the foreseeable future, all Mac computers will switch to processors of their own production, analyst Ming Chi-Kuo believes. The grand transition should take place already in 2020. According to rumors, portable solutions - MacBook, MacBook Air and MacBook Pro - will first go to ARM chips. There is no doubt that moving from x86 to a "mobile" architecture will cause some compatibility issues. But in the long run, this decision is the only correct one.

It's no secret that Apple has long been working on new Mac computers to get branded mobile processors. Obviously, many users are interested in how such chips will perform in different use cases. Will their productivity be enough to work on the most complex projects?

In June 2010, Mac mini prices started at $ 699, contrary to tradition - and speed was sacrificed for graphics performance. Now everything has changed, in the year of Thunderbolt and unearthly love between Apple and Intel, one could not think about such trifles as a “special price” (Apple bought Core and Core 2 for almost a third of the price). I heard that the terms on which Apple bought seemed to be even more profitable ...

External monitors are used for work by many users: these are the owners of the desktop Mac Mini, Mac Pro, and more portable solutions - MacBook Pro and MacBook. Everything would be fine, if not for one thing - the last time Apple updated its proprietary monitor in 2011. True, according to rumors, Apple is already working on a new generation.

In 2018, the most interesting for me personally update of Apple products happened. Mac Mini has been updated 4 years later.

Just in case, I'll explain what a Mac Mini is. This is a small square box (19.7 by 19.7 centimeters), which is a system unit. Any monitor, mouse, keyboard, printer and other peripheral devices are connected to this unit.

In 2018, 2 different models came out, which visually do not differ in any way:

3.6GHz 4-core processor, 128GB storage

• 8th Gen Intel Core i3 4-core 3.6 GHz
• 8GB DDR4 2666MHz memory
• 128GB PCIe SSD

Cost - 68,990 rubles

3.0GHz 6-core processor, Turbo Boost up to 4.1GHz 256GB storage

• 8th Generation 6-core Intel Core i5 processor @ 3.0 GHz (Turbo Boost up to 4.1 GHz)
• 8GB DDR4 2666MHz memory
• Intel UHD Graphics 630 GPU
• 256GB PCIe SSD

Cost - 93,990 rubles

A few words about the price in Russia

It is high. In dollars, the junior model costs 799 USD. The same as the younger model of the fresh iPad Pro. But iPad Pro for some reason costs 3000 rubles cheaper. Why is the Mac Mini worth $ 50 more in rubles?

If you look at the more expensive model, then it is also incomprehensible. 93990 - the same as the new iPad Pro 512 gigabytes. But the iPad costs $ 1149, and the Mac Mini costs $ 1099.

Is it the greed of those who set prices in Russia?

Upgrade options

Apple itself offers users various upgrade options for an additional fee. For example, $ +300 and an i3 processor could turn into a six-core i7 (4.6 GHz).

For an additional $ 1,400, 8 gigabytes of RAM will become 64 gigabytes. And for 1,600 USD, a ridiculous 128 GB SSD will become 2 terabytes of SSD.

Thus, any Mac Mini model can be turned into a monster for 4200 USD (and this is without the proposed software). In Russia, this option will cost 300 thousand rubles ...

What is hidden inside and outside?

Due to the fact that the line has not been updated for 4 years, Apple can boast of a crazy figure. Processor performance is 5 times higher! :) And in general, the numbers will be just enough to make you want to replace your old Mac Mini with a new one. For example, here's the data for working in Final Cut Pro:

Also in the small case, Apple had to rearrange the parts. The cooling system has also been improved. Although I don't remember getting hot on my old Mac Mini either ...

Here's the back of the Mac Mini:

Noteworthy are 4 Thunderbolt 3 (USB-C) ports. Apple has been generous. What do they give? This diagram is best shown:

Also, the owners of old peripheral devices will not remain in the span. Two USB 3 ports in 2018 are more than enough.

The new MacMini have an integrated video card (you can connect an external one via Thunderbolt 3) and this cannot be changed in any way. Intel UHD Graphics 630. The card is definitely not suitable for modern games. All top games will run at either low or medium settings. But in games that were released before 2015, you can somehow play.

Outcome

To be honest, I am now skeptical about the prospects for Mac Mini in Russia. The reason is the price. While Apple previously positioned the Mac Mini as an affordable Mac, it is now a powerful Mac.

Don't forget to add a good monitor, keyboard and mouse to the price. That is, the minimum configuration of a more or less bearable computer based on the Mac Mini will come out at least 85 thousand rubles.

Mac Mini will most likely be of interest to those who process video a lot or just want a productive computer at home that runs natively on Mac OS.