Using nothing but a historic release of Mac mini release dates and Apple’s recent introduction of Thunderbolt, the Three Guys And A Podcast have made a fairly compelling argument that new Mac minis are due soon.
Noting that Mac minis have tended to be released every eight months on average and that the last major update was in summer, the eponymous Three Guys think that Apple will roll out a Mac mini revision replacing the Mini DisplayPort with a Thunderbolt port.
They also theorize that the Mac mini will make the jump to Sandy Bridge along with last month’s MacBook Pros, with the $699 Mac mini getting a 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 processor, and the Mac Mini server getting the Intel Core i7 CPU.
This all seems fairly likely to me, but the interesting part isn’t the specs, it’s the when. The Three Guys speculate that the new Mac mini will be rolling out this month, but honestly, who knows? The average update in the Mac mini line happens eight months apart, but that average is skewed by extremes: a 19 month window between August 2007 and March 2009 where there were no updates, coupled with a microscopic two month gap between updates from July to September 2005.
Sandy Bridge Mac minis are coming, no doubt about that. But I wouldn’t lay any money down on when.
John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.
12 responses to “Rumor: Sandy Bridge Mac Minis Might Be Coming This Month”
Can’t believe you are actually posting this… t-gaap are just traffic-mongers who check the intervals between updates and then write a post when one comes up. I thought CoM had higher standards
meh, I see the sandy bridge/thunderbolt evolution going as… MacBook Pro (Feb.), iMac (March/April), iPhone (gaining thunderbolt this summer), Displays and MacBook (if not discontinued August), MacBook Air and Mac Mini and iPod (September, October), Mac Pro (November-January). iPad 3 gaining, thunderbolt and improved display 2012 Q1.
I also imagine Apple Engineers to roll out an improved thunderbolt capable 30-pin connector and cable to manage this. At least during a transition phase much like the fire wire/ usb cable they had a few years ago.
Whether its bullocks or not id really like to see this to happen, when the unibody Mac mini was introduced it was long over due however despite the radical new design, the price tag and specs where still not up to scratch. I think with these new features Apple are rolling out e.g. thunderbolt and sandy bridge it would make for a sick Mac mini and definitely a serious computer rather than a overpriced media pc and one i would love to purchase as a replacement to the 24″ iMac i recently sold as it was more muscle than i needed.
I think they really need to get the minimum-spec price back down from $700 to $500-$600. The current price tag is a real barrier to those thinking about switching.
I am pretty confident that new mac mini’s are coming this month. Apple is quietly letting an authorized reseller list them on ebay for $100 off the retail price, and Apple is about controlling as it gets when it comes to making sure you have every incentive to buy directly. There seems to be a large supply of refurbished mac mini’s available on their website too… so it looks like they’re trying to clear out inventory.
Mac mini’s historically have always been 1 technological leap behind the imacs. Thunderbolt is almost a given, but I’m extremely skeptical they’ll give the mac mini sandybridge. As the lowest-end mac model, Apple wouldn’t want it to be *too* appealing over an imac.
They really can’t afford to raise the price again without making that an easy decision either. $800 for a mac mini vs the lowest end imac (coming with bells and whistles that by themselves make it a greatly superior value)?…
Switch to Linux, you’ll never go back, so don’t buy a mac