New Mac minis and iMacs?

[gigaguy]

That's interesting about the ATV. I had one for a while for the bedroom and jailbroke it. In stock form it didn't offer much to me, but I'm not into buying movies in iTunes. with my HDTV as my Mini monitor I already have a lot with my HTPC setup.
BUT I need a new Mac Mini and have been holding out for a while. But I may just get the server now. I can't wait much longer.!...

[Smallwheels]

It is true that Apple once made its money from selling computers. The iPods introduced many people to Apple and probably brought them to view Mac computers. I'm from the other side. I bought a Mac and the computer has impressed me enough to make me look into iPads and iPod Touches.

So many people have iPhones that the computer business might continue to grow, that is until the power of the phones equals mid-level computers. Then people will just buy a wireless keyboard and use Bluetooth or Airplay to connect their iPhone with a monitor. The touch screen of the phone or iPad could be used as the track pad. If Apple built wireless storage devices into their keyboards that would totally negate the need for a separate computer.

I bet many people are realizing that they don't need such powerful computers now that iPads can do just about everything related to the internet.

Can anybody give a good estimate about when the iPhones and iPads will be equal to today's Mac Mini with a Core i5 processor? Will it be two years or five years? How is that Moore's Law working out these days?

[Bandit Bill]

Mac mini i5 benchmark ~6000
iPhone 5 A6 benchmark ~ 1600


I'd say 2 to 3 years and the iPhone will be as powerful as the current Mac mini.

Keep in mind the Mac mini is has 6X the processing speed as a 2005 G5, which many professionals are currently using even up to this day.

It's amazing that both devices have the power that they do. The iPhone is far more amazing.

[marv777]

[RTL44]

There is no way Apple would dump the Mac Mini. People post stuff with no basis in facts. The Mac Mini is one of the best selling computers in the product line. In fact, it was #2 behind the 21.5 iMac in the month of August - even though it it is over a year old technology and a new Mini is on the horizon. It is currently the best selling desktop of all brands on Amazon.

Comparing the iPhone to the Mac Mini doesn't make sense. They are 2 different beasts. To say the iPhone will have faster specs in 5 years is implying the Mac Mini won't have faster specs in 5 years - which is nonsense.

There are also a lot of (former) Windows users who buy the Mini who are interested in becoming a Mac user w/o having to shell out $1k+ got an iMac. They likely already have peripherals from their setup (monitor, keyboard, printer, mouse, etc.) that will work fine with a Mini without a major investment into trying a whole new OS. Of course, once they convert, they won't look back.

[Bandit Bill]

[RTL44]

[Bandit Bill]

[Smallwheels]

The problem I see with the Mac Mini is that Apple doesn't upgrade it often enough nor with the better chips. The current version is good but look at the price of it. It isn't cheap in any way. There are laptops from other manufacturers with similar or better specs for the same money or less. They come with screens, trackpads, and keyboards.

The phones almost always get new chips yearly. To me this means that the phones will improve faster than the Mini to the point where they'll surpass the Mini's capabilities.

Is the Mini a gateway device for people buying more powerful computers? This might have been the case a few years ago because the iMacs were needed for some tasks that the Mini couldn't do as fast. These days iPads can edit movies better than my 2008 Leopard computer.

Since I don't sell computers I don't know what everybody does most on their machines. I've never read a survey that breaks down the average users computing needs. If people are mostly watching movies, playing games, getting e-mail, and visiting social media sites, then iPhones can do all of those to some extent.

Unless the Mini gets some real horsepower and the price gets lower, it would seem to me that it is a redundant device. With the Apple TV box handling internet entertainment and interfacing with iPads and iPhones, how necessary is a Mac Mini as an HTPC?

This is why those gigantic sales numbers of iPhones and iPads make me feel that Apple might prefer to put its engineering and manufacturing talent into other areas.

[marv777]

[RTL44]

[marv777]