As fans await update for 3-year-old Mac mini, Apple classifies mid-2011 models 'obsolete'

Apple on Monday updated its official list of "obsolete" products to add the mid-2011 Mac mini lineup, once again raising questions about what the company has planned, if anything, for its cheapest Mac.

The vintage and obsolete products page was updated to reflect the fact that the mid-2011 Mac mini is no longer supported by the company, meaning services and repairs are no longer offered.

Apple guarantees parts and service for products 5 years after it is no longer manufactured. After that, they become obsolete worldwide, with the exception of in California and Turkey, where laws require another two years of support.

Because of that, the mid-2011 Mac mini remains vintage in the U.S. and Turkey, but is obsolete elsewhere.

The most recent Mac mini update came in late 2014, more than three years ago. The product is infrequently updated and has long been the subject of speculation about cancelation, though it remains a part of the company's Mac lineup for the time being.

Apple marketing chief Phil Schiller made comments earlier this year suggesting the Mac mini could eventually see a refresh, though he declined to offer more specifics. Schiller did label the Mac mini as an "important product."

While Apple has not said anything else regarding the future of the Mac mini, the company did preannounce an all-new Mac Pro with modular design expected to arrive in 2018. The company also revealed, in an uncharacteristic move, that it will get back into the display business with a successor to the now-discontinued Thunderbolt Display.

78 Comments

AI_lias 436 comments · 8 Years

About 6 years ago

If I was Apple, I'd take that Mac Pro trash can design and reuse it for the new Mac mini.

maciekskontakt 1168 comments · 15 Years

The funny part Mac Mini-2014 was obsolete by any market category on day of release. Do you really want to compare quad-core Mac Mini from mid-2011 with only dual-core version from 2014? Seriously?

Someone really tries to lose market. Just like people starting switch to Samsung Galaxy Note8 I hear around. Dragging people and dropping some of features to sort out marketting issues (like Mac Mini cutting in low end Mac Pro space) is not people's problem. There are alternatives. One of them make MacPro 6-core standard instead of dropping multitasking performance on lower end computers.

AI_lias said:

If I was Apple, I'd take that Mac Pro trash can design and reuse it for the new Mac mini.

Depending what you do. Try serious publishing like we do or professional video editing and you will see huge diifference between Mac Mini and MacPro. We have both so no contest but we do this for living for large publishers (in fact the largers in the world for education so you could read some programming books that were edited by our studio). Now you have wrong idea beacuse actually MacPro should be made six-corre minimum and MacMini shouls stay being quad-core like mid-2011 and not dropped to mediocre dual-core with 2014 downgrade. In fact I consider 2014 already obsolete and underperforming on date of release.

fasterquieter 90 comments · 9 Years

My 2012 quad-core is presumably a year from obsolescence then. I really hope we get a new model soon, or I'll be forced down the hackintosh route (which I don't want to do). Sadly, I can't fit an iMac where my computer goes. Presumably I'd need a mortgage for the upcoming Mac Pro, so that isn't going to happen. What my 2012 Mini is missing is hardware H265 decoding and 4K 60hz support. Other than that, it is fine for my needs.

bobolicious 1172 comments · 10 Years

...the mini is a favorite here, although features I miss beyond 2011 include user adjustable ram and dual drives for server raid, usb3, i7 priced in the land of the living, quad core, discrete graphics options (the 2011 had that) and when less is more, something as basic as a Kensington lock slot...?

Given the speed of ethernet I'm not sure I understand the need for 'ultra fast' PCIe in a server oriented model, or PCIe without a faster graphics option for a desktop oriented model ?

To me the macs that I feel are most worth looking at are the iMac - a bargain, still flexible, powerful; and the 2016 MacBook - a marvel where size matters most, and the venerable Air with such port flexibility built in...