As long-time readers of Rumors know, we were among the first to break the initial rumor of a stripped-down, mid-range Macbook designed to target the “ultraportable” market and further raise the bar with stunning industrial design that couldn’t have come from anywhere but Cupertino.
We have also been among the first to reexamine long-standing rumors of a major overhaul to the Mac Mini…..some have even gone so far as to speculate that the Mini as we know it is coming to the end of its lifespan and will be replaced with something categorically similar — but with a different name and striking differences. At this time, however, Rumors is confindent that the Mini, more or less as we know it today, will be around for a while yet — instead of replacing the Mini, we believe an all-new model designed to sit in between the Mini and iMac in the desktop product matrix.
This all-new desktop Mac, let’s just call it the Mac Air, for the sake of argument…..will take a lot of cues from the Macbook Air, sporting a smaller number of ports (though considerably more than the Macbook Air, due to different design constraints).
We expect it to retain at least one Firewire 400 port, perhaps even a Firewire 800 port, and there may also be more than one USB2 port.
However, there will be no internal optical drive (as with the Macbook Air, it will be an external option); internal storage will be similar to the Macbook Air: a micro-sized hard disk or a solid-state drive.
Originally, Rumors was given the rare opportunity to play with a prototype “Mac Nano” (this was before the “Air” moniker had been made public) about four months ago, and the resulting conclusions we took away from the titillating preview of sexy next-generation Macintosh hardware are only just now coming out from under intense embargoes, quite understandably put in place by cautious sources.
That prototype was based around 2.5-inch “laptop” sized hard drives and similarly mid-sized solid state storage; this is considerably larger, cheaper and faster than the 1-inch micro “ipod” sized drives in the Macbook Air and identical to what the current Mini uses for internal storage.
At that time, a massive overhaul of the Mini was said to move that machine up to full-sized “desktop” 3.5-inch hard drives, removing a major performance/value constraint on the machines while only increasing overall size by about 30% — most of that in vertical height, rather than horizontal width or depth. The overall appearance is still quite small, but a bit more reminiscent of the PowerMac G4 Cube than today’s Mini, with an all-over aluminum enclosure replacing the mostly plastic enclosure of today’s Mini.
We’ll be talking more about the new Mini soon; right now, it is primarily of interest only inasmuch as it affects the new midrange desktop “Mac Air.” The Air would be designed without internal wired ethernet, without an internal optical drive, and no active cooling system whatsoever — ergo, the solid state drive version would be completely silent and the hard disk based version very nearly so.
Energy usage compared to the Mac Mini or nearly any machine which performs nearly on the Mac Air’s level would be incredibly small.
read on to the next page.
24 responses so far ↓
1 Buill // Jan 30, 2008 at 7:28 pm
Could this be true? I have heard so many of these rumors I don’t know what to believe. From the sounds of it, it is a good start, but still no upgradability. You can’t access the ram, only 2 gigs? That just sounds like another mini to me, only faster with the new phernyl chips
2 Rot'n Apple // Jan 30, 2008 at 9:29 pm
No, no, no, all wrong. It is not a cross between the Mac Mini and iMac called the “Mac Air” (for sake of argument). It is a smaller version ot the MacPro called “MacPro Air” for sake of argument. It is the mini tower, computer workstation that some people have been griping about. : )
3 Buill // Jan 31, 2008 at 6:26 pm
God I hope so, My G4 is on its last legs, I want to replace it sometime this year, sometime soon hopefully, I would consider the new product depending on price and stuff
4 Greg // Feb 1, 2008 at 5:23 pm
Rot’n'Apple - I think they’re saying that there are 2 evolutions happening
1) Mac Air - a smaller Mac Mini without ethernet, no DVD drive, and solid state hard drive option - or
2) New Mac Mini - 30% bigger Mac Mini with full size hard disk
The MacAir sounds alot like an AppleTV, with a bit more grunt.
5 Metalizer // Feb 2, 2008 at 8:47 am
so what about independent full blown graphics cards, SLI, Crossfire etc.?
6 Ken // Feb 2, 2008 at 1:28 pm
That’s silly. Apple won’t do that, because there is no point in making a Mac desktop that is smaller than a Mac mini. Smaller size means more expensive. A Mac desktop that has no optical drive, fewer ports, and less storage (on a slower drive) than a Mac mini, yet costs more than a Mac mini, is a dumb product. Thin and light has value in a laptop Mac, but it adds no value to the already small Mac mini.
7 Buill // Feb 2, 2008 at 5:26 pm
I agree with Ken
8 Greg // Feb 3, 2008 at 2:24 am
Hi Ken,
I tend to agree. It sounds more like they’re playing with options for the form factor of future AppleTVs. People have been expanding their AppleTV with hacks…
For example - perhaps they’re thinking of an AppleTV with a more fully featured MacOS, a 16GB SSD, and a few more “regular” computer connectors?
9 Mjteix // Feb 4, 2008 at 10:49 am
Apple could take advantage of the development of the MB Air motherboard and use it on a Mac mini in a Time Capsule enclosure with a regular voltage CPU (upcoming Montevina SP series 2.24/2.40GHz) and a desktop 3.5″ drive (that costs less than the 2.5″ they currently use). No optical drive. Of course a few more ports than in the MB Air would be no only possible but welcomed. Prices could stay the same (especially if it comes with 2GB of soldered RAM). One other addition would be a combo short keyboard+multi-touch trackpad. I don’t believe anymore in a midrange desktop Mac: the single processor Mac Pro is the closest thing will get. And with time the iMac will get a quad-core cpu (at a price).
10 Leo // Feb 5, 2008 at 1:02 pm
There is absolutely no market for such a machine. What would the point be? The only real advantage of the Air is its portability — other than that it’s just overpriced and under-featured. So to build the same machine, but in a desktop..? Why?
11 Buill // Feb 7, 2008 at 7:39 pm
I want an imac 2.4ghz with no screen, that is all, is that to hard to ask for?
12 Fuji // Feb 9, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I agree with people that there’s no point in this. Isn’t the whole point of iMac is to have the most simplest (and thin) desktop for average household?
13 Money // Feb 12, 2008 at 3:48 pm
I don’t understand why Apple doesn’t have a mini-tower. I have $1500 to spend. I already have a 24-inch monitor. My choice is either a $599 Mac Mini, or a $2799 Mac Pro. They are leaving money on the table. Why???
14 Buill // Feb 13, 2008 at 10:34 pm
Lets see what this event is that apple is planning at the end of the month, so much speculation
15 Buill // Feb 15, 2008 at 6:28 pm
I hear you Money and I agree with you 100% All apple has to do is offer the 2.4ghz i mac without the screen and sell it as a desktop for $1200-$1400 with the ability to upgrade it, and that would be perfect
16 Pat // Feb 18, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Steve will NEVER let that become a midrange tower.
If people can upgrade processor, video car, etc. Then they would not need to buy a new machine for longer and longer.
Although, I certainly would buy one.
17 Buill // Feb 20, 2008 at 8:02 pm
We can only hope right?
18 Tycoon man // Feb 22, 2008 at 7:54 pm
Is there going to be an event in Feb sometime? The end of the month is almost here, and still nothing, could this thing be released this month or june?
19 Buill // Feb 28, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Well the new macbooks came out all pimped out, but still nothing on this tower, or the mini. I still don’t see why they can’t just do it at the same time
20 Carter // Mar 1, 2008 at 7:26 am
I don’t get this article. Why would Apple ever want to make a “tower” tinier than the Mac mini? Why not just make the Mac Mini tinier(certaintly not BIGGER) and rename it? Ever thought of that Apple?
21 ray // Mar 4, 2008 at 4:26 am
whats the use of a desktop mac _smaller_ than the current mac?
make the macmini the size of cube (i.e. twice its current hight) and make it more expandable, for adding
- a graphics card that would allow to hook up two monitors
- bigger hard disk
- more ram
- and ideally with more connectors for usb and fw
imho that would be a perfect machine (small desktop mac).
22 Rail Road Jim // Mar 5, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Ray… what you said makes perfect sense and most people would love to have that, I know I would…. which is why apple would never make it
23 Tycoon man // Mar 27, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Rumor is that the mac mini is supposed to be release any week now, lets see if this holds up
24 The lemon chicken // Apr 3, 2008 at 7:56 pm
Still waiting for that mac mini release, now it has been a while, making me start to google how to build a hackintosh with a legal copy of os system
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