Roger Fingas
Faint drums are already beating in the distance for Apple's September iPhone event, but this week rumors also emerged about a long-awaited Mac mini refresh, along with plans for lower-cost MacBooks.
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Here are the most popular news items and features:
- What to expect at Apple's September iPhone release event and when it will be > >
- New 'professional' Mac mini, low-cost MacBook refresh coming soon says report > >
- Video: What to expect from the Apple Watch Series 4, and when it is coming > >
- Fitbit launches $150 Charge 3 fitness tracker with new design > >
- Video: What's new in iOS 12 beta 9! Is this the final beta? > >
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- Comparing the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 performance versus the iPhone X > >
- Nikon launches full-frame mirrorless cameras with wireless iPhone & Mac support > >
- A 5G iPhone will cost Apple about $21 in licensing fees to Nokia, Qualcomm, and others > >
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A roundup of other top stories this week:
Apple culls thousands of apps in China amid attacks from state media
New 'Series 4' Apple Watch spotted in Eurasian regulatory filing
Apple sued over claims website is inaccessible to visually impaired users
Apple's 2018 iPhone may charge faster because of new material in Qi charging coil
iPhone preorders appear to be starting on September 14
Apple issues ninth iOS 12 beta, eighth tvOS 12, watchOS 5, macOS Mojave betas to developers
Apple looking to open premium franchise-owned stores in India
Apple axes Back to My Mac in macOS Mojave
Apple's Tim Cook likely to reap $120M in shares of stock on Friday because of AAPL performance
Apple expected to get full EU approval for takeover of music discovery service Shazam
Review: G-Drive mobile adds USB-C for on-the-go storage
Apple opens up iTunes & App Store donations for flooding in Kerala, India
DJI launches Mavic 2 Pro drone with Hasselblad camera, Mavic 2 Zoom
Apple seeds iOS 12 beta 10 to developers as final release nears
Apple poached 'scores' of Tesla employees in recent months, but not all go to 'Project Titan'
Apple opens online iPhone Upgrade Program enrollment to T-Mobile customers
iPad Pro cover leak shows opening for rumored new Smart Connector location
Video: One year with the Apple Watch Series 3
Review: Fantom Drives G-Force 3.1 USB-C SSD great for on-the-go video editing
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Charles Martin
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Amber Neely
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Oliver Haslam
4 Comments
I hope the iMac mini will become the new iMac. An elegantly designed box together with an Apple branded monitor (or a third party one) is something I wanted for a long time, as long as it has enough power. A larger box could host a desktop ready GPU. No more chin, just a subtle box and a great monitor with a thin bezel.
(as a reference, check out this, which obviously looks quite horrible compared to how Apple would design it: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.engadget.com/amp/2018/01/07/intel-nuc-amd-rx-vega/)
Exactly - I was going to,post something similar about the NUC systems. Disregarding the kludgy design language of the NUC, if Apple doesn’t come up with a new design for the Mac mini (and makes it expandable, upgradeable and modular, again), the mini will continue to be laughable. At this rate, you are better served with a NUC as a Hackintosh (and they work really well, as such).
Hope springs eternal...
The i7 2011 mini is the last one I feel was a great upgrade in terms of design
- dual matched industry standard drive bays for raid flexibility (subsequently mismatched)
- discrete GPU (subsequently unavailable)
- arduous yet possible retail upgrades (subsequently onboard only)
- a good value under $1k base (subsequently increased i7 cost)
Quad core, VRAM, USB 3 and a Kensington lock slot would be my first suggestions...
Let's hope Apple stops the 'our way or the highway' on flexibility, although given the onboard trend since the SJ days I'm sadly not holding my breath...
I still ask if the onboard design ties in somehow to future AI interests and user data veracity...?