As a Mac enthusiast , the news that 2022 will terminate withno raw Mac announcementswas dissatisfactory . But what was even more of a disappointment is that we ’ll have to continue waiting – credibly until March 2023 – to see the rumour update to Apple ’s most affordable Mac , the Mac miniskirt .
But even before the word , I was ready for more frustration . This unofficial delay only cement the lamentable fact that the Mac mini gets no respect from Apple . It ’s a shame because Apple ’s small computer was once its most exciting Mac — and it does n’t deserve to be so drop .
The BYODKM Mac
The Mac mini wasborn in 2005and at the time , Apple was much more strong-growing about increasing its plowshare of the PC market place . The Mac miniskirt was market as an low-priced Mac for users who were switching from a Windows PC . To convince skeptics that the switch could be easy made , Steve Jobs christen the Mac miniskirt as Apple ’s raw BYODKM Mac : convey Your Own Display , Keyboard , and Mouse from your sure-enough microcomputer and hook it up to the Mac miniskirt .
Two years afterward , Apple free theiPhone , which eventually became the equipment to persuade Windows microcomputer user to switch to the Mac ( not necessarily as a direct marketing peak , but a subtle one ) . The switcher angle for the Mac miniskirt ( and all Macs , fundamentally ) all but vanish . But Apple still paid attention to its small-scale Mac , with update on a 12- to 18 - calendar month basis ( 2006 , 2007 , 2009 ) leading up to a redesign in 2010 to the form broker Apple still uses today ( minus the ocular drive ) , follow by update in 2011 , 2012 , and 2014 .
The current design of the Mac miniskirt has n’t switch since 2010 .
IDG
That ’s when Apple ’s attending started to wane . After an October 2014 that brought fourth - generation Intel Core processors and a lower monetary value ticket – it would then befour yearsuntil the next update in October 2018 .
Where is the love?
Finally , in 2020 , the Mac mini got a sign from Apple that it was still an important member of its card . The Mac mini was one of three Macs to get the first Apple Si M1 processor . This was a major change that shook the industry , and the fact that the Mac mini was an instrumental part of it made it experience like a executable Mac again . It was also a chance to put theMac mini in the spotlightby touting its little footprint , blazing execution , and low-cost price .
But since Apple sells more laptops than desktop figurer , the M1 Mac mini was still something of an afterthought . It did n’t get a redesign or any young features , and it actually lost two Thunderbolt larboard . Then there ’s the unexplained move where Apple did n’t update the high - destruction $ 1,099 Mac miniskirt – to this day it has the same 3.0GHz 6 - core Intel Core i5 Intel processor that arrivedin 2018 , making it the oldest central processor in Apple ’s Mac lineup .
So , what ’s another five or six calendar month for a Mac that turned four years former last month ? Well , the fact that any company ( let alone Apple ) sell a four - yr - ago computer at its original price is ridiculous . peradventure Apple ’s reasoning is that nearly no one is buying the $ 1,099 Mac miniskirt , so there ’s no harm in keep it around . But there is harm – it ’s take advantage of people who might not know better by selling them extremely outdated tech . It ’s a bad look for the Mac mini and for Apple .
The Intel - based Space Gray Mac miniskirt has n’t been update in over four years , and Apple still deal it for its original $ 1,099 price .
A fan favorite
Apple barely assign any sweat into the Mac miniskirt , whether it ’s with ironware ontogeny or with merchandising . In the fat lineup of Apple ’s Mac , the miniskirt seems to be the model that is often neglected . That ’s unfortunate because it play a vital role in Apple ’s Mac lineup .
At $ 699 , the Mac mini is Apple ’s most low-priced Mac , although it does have the caveat that the cost does n’t include a display , keyboard , or shiner / trackpad . But you may easily rule those components at prices that would keep a Mac mini apparatus well under $ 1,000 , which still makes it crummy than the entry - level iMac .
The Mac mini ’s class divisor make it suitable for a miscellanea of uses .
Foundry
Its bantam size means you do n’t have to guess twice about where it goes on a desk . In my house , we have a workplace apparatus that ’s really tight and there ’s no place for a tower computer , and even the 24 - column inch iMac ’s display is too fully grown . But the Mac miniskirt fits dead with a 19 - inch exhibit .
What ’s also pretermit is that the Mac mini ’s size lends it to some creative United States . I have a Mac mini connected to my TV in my amusement centerfield , and it house my digitized DVD / Blu - beam of light aggregation . The Mac miniskirt is also used as a meshing waiter , in cars and robots , by mobile disk jockey , in cubicle , and in art installations . It ’s not as modest as aRaspberry Pi , but because it runs macOS it ’s more approachable to drug user who are hesitating about programming a Pi .
Why ca n’t Apple take these expression of the Mac mini and wager them up ? Apple does n’t have to go on an all - out merchandising blitz – it would be nice to seeanykind of effort by the company to acknowledge that the Mac miniskirt is just as important as the iMac and Mac Studio in its desktop batting order .
Maybe that ’ll alter next twelvemonth when therumors of a new Mac mini(or two ) finally pan out . But an unveiling is n’t enough – I trust there will be a sustained effort to promote the Mac miniskirt for a practiced menses of time , to go along with even hardware update . Even the slightest of tending would go a farsighted way toward showing the Mac mini some love – before it ’s too latterly . We ’ve fancy peck of Apple products wither until they ’re unceremoniously killed and it would be a pity to see it pass to the Mac mini , too .
