Who knows if the Mac Mini is dead or just dormant? On the one hand, Apple’s told retailers not to order any more; on the other, the fact that it’s the only entry-level Mac during a period of economic distress.
Still, rumors keep on sidling towards “update” over “dusted.” The latest rumor, courtesy of MacWorld’s Peter Cohen: that the next refresh of the MacMini will ditch the Intel integrated graphics motherboard for the GeForce 9-series of motherboards.
That would be great news, if true. It is in-keeping with the recent Macbook refresh, and it means the Mac Mini would become something you could actually run World of Warcraft on. And if the update to the GeForce 9-series means the Mac Mini can push video decoding to the GPU the way the new MacBooks can, it’ll make the Mini an attractive HTPC option again as well.
I can’t believe that they’d ditch their entry-level desktop pc, even if it has had lackluster sales.
… I am still sad that they ditched their high-capacity iPods, though… even though I wouldn’t buy anything that can’t run RockBox after experiencing its awesomeness.
Mmmmm, tasty. I’ve been thinking about getting a Mac mini to play movies and MAME and junk in the living room. This (probable) update will make it perfect for that.
The motherboard pictured can’t possibly be that of a Mac mini II.
VGA?
Is that a PS/2 keyboard port?!
I’m a big fan of the mini and the upgrade would be great!
#3
New Mini’s not so mini?
I believe that’s more likely a generic GeForce based motherboard for illustration purposes.
I want a nice Mac Mini. I’m not certain I’d pay for it, if the price was still over $500, but who knows.
iPods are the entry-level Macs.