New Mac Mini Finally Coming in October Alongside New iPads?

mac_mini_roundupAt just under two years since its last update, the Mac mini seems to have become the forgotten part of Apple's Mac lineup, with a number of fans of the small desktop waiting for any word of a potential update.

As they typically are with Mac products, rumors and leaks regarding the Mac mini's future have been relatively rare, with essentially nothing having appeared on the radar since a reference to a "Mid 2014" Mac mini surfaced on an Apple support page as a likely error several months ago.

MacRumors has now received word that Apple is planning a Mac mini update possibly launching next month alongside new iPad models and presumably OS X Yosemite. While we have been unable to obtain corroborating information of an imminent update, the mere possibility of an update as soon as next month is likely to be welcome news to Mac mini fans. The single source has provided no additional details on what to expect in terms of a next-generation Mac mini, but has provided accurate information in the past.

The timing of such an update would be a bit odd, as it is unclear what processors Apple would use in these machines. Next-generation Broadwell processors from Intel appropriate for the Mac mini are not scheduled to arrive until early next year, and the current Haswell processors are no longer cutting edge as Intel has been forced to prolong their shelf life due to continued delays with Broadwell.

Still, the Mac mini is not generally intended to be a workhorse machine with the fastest processors (although they are popular as servers), so Apple may be willing to launch the updated models with Haswell refresh processors released earlier this year. The Mac mini typically uses the some of the same processors as the MacBook Pro except shifted several months later, meaning that an updated Mac mini released next month could use some of the processors from the late July MacBook Pro update.

Related Roundup: Mac mini
Buyer's Guide: Mac Mini (Caution)
Related Forum: Mac mini

Top Rated Comments

Packdude Avatar
125 months ago
Hopefully this will shut up those mac mini fans.

The fans on my MacMini are very quiet. :)
Score: 95 Votes (Like | Disagree)
milo Avatar
125 months ago
Oh, if only they'd forget their size fetish and redesign it so it could handle a decent desktop quad core CPU.
Score: 49 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nunyabinez Avatar
125 months ago
Macrumors porn.
Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Macboy Pro Avatar
125 months ago
Please don't cripple it by making it not upgradeable and proprietary.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dannyyankou Avatar
125 months ago
Hope it looks like this.

Score: 17 Votes (Like | Disagree)
farewelwilliams Avatar
125 months ago
I am sooooooooo happy to hear about the Mac Mini.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...
iOS 18 Siri Integrated Feature

iOS 18 Rumored to Add These 10 New Features to Your iPhone

Wednesday April 24, 2024 2:05 pm PDT by
Apple is set to unveil iOS 18 during its WWDC keynote on June 10, so the software update is a little over six weeks away from being announced. Below, we recap rumored features and changes planned for the iPhone with iOS 18. iOS 18 will reportedly be the "biggest" update in the iPhone's history, with new ChatGPT-inspired generative AI features, a more customizable Home Screen, and much more....
maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature 1

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
macbook pro purple february

Best Buy Introduces Record Low Prices on Apple's M3 MacBook Pro for Members

Thursday April 25, 2024 7:41 am PDT by
Best Buy is discounting a collection of M3 MacBook Pro computers today, this time focusing on the 14-inch version of the laptop. Every deal in this sale requires you to have a My Best Buy Plus or Total membership, although non-members can still get solid second-best prices on these MacBook Pro models. Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Best Buy. When you click a link and make a...