Tim Cook Confirms the Mac Mini Isn't Dead (macrumors.com)

Apple has refreshed just about every Mac product within the last couple of years -- except for the Mac Mini. Naturally, this has left many analysts questioning whether or not the company would be phasing out the Mini to focus more on its mobile devices. A MacRumors reader decided to email Apple CEO Tim Cook to get an update on the Mac mini and he received a response. Cook said it was "not time to share any details," but he confirmed that the Mac mini will be an important part of the company's product lineup in the future. MacRumors reports: Cook's response echoes a similar statement from Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller, who commented on the Mac mini when Apple's plans for a new Mac Pro were unveiled. "The Mac mini is an important product in our lineup and we weren't bringing it up because it's more of a mix of consumer with some pro use," he said. Positioned as a "bring your own peripherals" machine that comes without a mouse, keyboard, or display, the Mac mini is Apple's most affordable desktop machine. The current version is woefully outdated though, and continues to use Haswell processors and integrated Intel HD 5000/Intel Iris Graphics. It's not clear when Apple will introduce a new Mac mini, and aside from a single rumor hinting at a new high-end Mac mini with a redesign that "won't be so mini anymore," we've heard no rumors about work on a possible Mac mini refresh.

Comments

Don't care. Where's my full sized tower?

[sandbagger]

I want a full sized tower. It should use all 110 volts coming out of the wall for high availability duty cycle for the whole warranty period and beyond. It needs room for a lot of internal drives for low latency high volumes of data. It should be pushed hard and be able to take it, no thermal throttling. I want a desktop unit, not a laptop in a desktop shell.

When you get that done, we'll talk about replacing the MacBook Pro 17 inch.

Re:They aren't dead, they're on life support

[Dutch Gun]

Mac Minis fill an important niche role. They're great when you need a secondary Mac computer at low costs for various task. At a recent job, we installed a Mac Mini as a signing server. Anything more powerful would have been a complete waste of a computer. Pros were used for the primary build servers, but I felt bad for the IT people trying to rack-mount those cylindrical monstrosities.

In my own case, if the Mac Mini did not exist, it's questionable whether or not I'd have created a Mac port for my game. For $800, I was able to purchase an inexpensive Mac and hook it up to my system with a KVM switch. I also have a similarly specced Linux dev box hooked up this way as well. This allows me to quickly switch between the three three major desktop OS dev environments. So, now, my game will be released on Windows, Mac, and Linux from day one.

Unless Apple allows third-party macOS machines to be built, it has to remain somewhat attuned to the needs of power-users and developers, who occasionally need niche products like the Mini and Pro. With these niches fulfilled, these users may turn elsewhere, and possibly have a proportionally significant impact on the rest of the ecosystem. Keep in mind that iPhone developers still need a Mac desktop machine to build apps.