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If true, I can't wait to see it.

Maybe the Mac nano will be the mix between Apple TV and the Mac mini. One device, all your needs.

Does anyone one know any real advantage this size would have over the current size? Why squeeze it into a form factor only 25% smaller?

If true about the pricing then it will be the biggest blow yet to the PC industry. A sub $300 Mac puts it in reach of everybody.

Mac OS Rumors has one of (if not THE) poorest track records in rumor accuracy. My gold fish can make better predictions. Must be a really slow news morning for MDN to post this tripe.

Sounds great, if true, especially the pricing. But. Let me be the first to say: we need a mid-Mac! Headless, expandable (different video card mainly) Mac, but with Core processor tech rather than Xeon, dual-core or quad-core, distinctly different from the Mac Pro or iMac! Really Apple, you would sell tons and tons of them. I'd be first in line.

Scott: Mac mini has Front Row, so it's already a cross between a Mac mini and AppleTV.

Me, I'm waiting for the MacBook mini (or nano)

Why make it any smaller? What's the point? It's hardly huge, they be far better beefing it up or giving some more options.Once you plug everything in and get a hub and maybe an external drive it doesn't really matter how big the mini/nano is - especially if it has big powerbrick.

Me thinks somebody's been adding Red Bull to their coffee.

I smell one of Steve Jobs' infamous honey pot stories.

Last time I checked, this is not meant to fit in your pocket. I'd rather have it be bigger and more upgradeable.

Apple should just merge the Mac mini with the TV and be done with it.

A device like that would have to include a much better video card for driving a Full-HDTV. The current mini is pretty wimpy in the video department.

With the new Newton, Mac Mini and MacTV, the 3 may evolve into a new PDA!!!

Oh crap. I hate working on the 12" PowerBooks and the Minis.

And I had to ask "What's next?"

If these damn engineers had to repair these things, stuff would be different.

With all due respect to Apple, who cares about making the Mac mini smaller? Where's the demand for this product? NO ONE really wants this. Make the Mac mini bigger, I say, and put a real hard drive in it, and allow a tad bit of expansion, and they will sell like hot cakes. Apple, don't jump the shark here. This sounds like one of those products best left unreleased. Think about it. And then, think different.

If such a device had a blu-ray player (supported by Leopard), and Apple upgraded iTunes store video content to HD, this one device would be your entire media needs. I for one would want that.

The case described in this article does not have sufficient room to accommodate all the necessary connectors.

Not happening.

This flat out ain't happening. If anything, Apple is on the verge of eliminating the Mac mini and exiting the sub $800 market entirely. It's a shame as well as a big mistake on their part IMO, but that's just how it is.

"Mac nano is dead before borned... Long live the Mac mini!"

I would be surprised. It seems like there would be too much confusion between the iPod Nano and the Mac Nano. The general public are too stupid to differentiate.

I would be less surprised if they absorbed the mac mini into the Apple TV by coming out with higher end versions.

a reclaimer: I've worked on a powerbook 12 inch and a mac mini…
I do not mind the form factor nor the inside of those machines.

But… I wouldn't want to work on them all day every day.

"Make the Mac mini bigger"

Absolutely brilliant! Make a Mini bigger. Yes!

// Once heard at an Apple store about the 17" Powerbook: "The thing is so big. Can I get a 17" screen on a smaller laptop?"

M. T. MacPhee: The case described in this article does not have sufficient room to accommodate all the necessary connectors.

sure it does... it doesn't mention shape...
"an all-new enclosure will be strikingly different from the design that has been the Mini's defining feature since its introduction"

@money talks
Yes, of course, it's a spheric mac

I agree with scoodog. Does anyone really want or need a product like that anyway?

The new iMacs are (somewhat of) a bitch to work on by the way.

It's an office IT dream. Desktop that can be miounted under a desk or on the back of a monitor.

Magic Word: "heavy", as in the Mac Mini is Not.

Agree with Reclaimer, the new iMacs are terrible to work on. My office just bought 5 of them and they all suck, especially the super-glossy screen. I'm serious, I can see what the person behind me is doing.

MacOSRumors predicted both the 8-core Mac Pro and the "Macbook Thin" (not materialized yet) before anyone else I know of. I read appleinsider.com, macrumors.com, thinksecret.com regularly.

Why won't they bring the Cube back? That would work for gamers too.

@ Stever w ay up there...

You shrink it to reduce shipping costs. If it's 25% smalller, you can fit 25% more on each ship or in each box, reducing shipping costs. This means you can price the unit the same but make more money off of it because of lower shipping and handling costs.

Um... I know that high school math was a little while ago, but I'm pretty sure that if the height is reduced by 33% and length and width are reduced at all (shrunk to accomodate an optical drive, no bigger) then the volume will not decrease by 25%...

For those not following, it would be A MUCH GREATER reduction.

Stupid article, stupid source, stupid Rumor Site to ignorantly repeat it. Come on, folks. This is basic stuff. Makes me think the "tip" is a complete farce.

Why don't they just put a better video card and 80211.n in the Mac mini and be done with it. The current Mac mini is just about perfect as is. Going smaller would be a mistake. People are already skeptical of the small form factor not being a "real computer”. They should also just can the Apple TV. It’s a lost cause device with no audience.

I've put RAM in a few Minis unless apple gives it the Apple TV form factor + a bit more height there will not be enough room for all the components. Not much of a Nano if you make the foot print bigger.
1 pound of salt to go with this Rumor, please...

People people people, this is MOST STUPID rumor ( from a pathetic Mac site) I've sen in the last 3 hours.

MacOSRumors' "oldest, most reliable source" is the dude's pet parakeet. It's all fabricated.

MDN: Please forgive the English Teacher in me, but you wrote -

"This is a rumor, from a source that has seen more than a bit of its mojo slip in recent years ... "

It should be "from a source who has seen ..."

"Who" is for people. "That" is for things.

I know, a minor point, but blame it on Apple - they've spoiled us with devoted attention to all the silly little details.

Now, all that being said, you appear to know this source, so I will defer to you judgement about their qualifications as a person

Thanks, BC

This makes no sense. The only thing to gain by a smaller form factor is that you have to use more expensive smaller parts and more time- consuming engineering to make it all work. Plus, you limit yourself on any future expansion, like a larger hard drive.

Even if the "oldest, most reliable source" saw such a form factor, I would be it's a new AppleTV rather than a Mac mini/nano.

"Why won't they bring the Cube back? That would work for gamers too."

Not really. While you could put a graphics card in the Cube, the cards had to be specially engineered to fit within the tight confines of the Cube.

re: Does anyone one know any real advantage this size would have over the current size? Why squeeze it into a form factor only 25% smaller?

-----

The reason why anything is reduced is to cut manufacturering costs on materials and packaging.

A fine example of this is look at Apple's software boxes that have shrunk smaller and smaller every year and the iPod range too.

So shrinking a product down makes excellent business sense. You cut production costs, reduce usage of materials and make more profit on selling the product.

This reducing strategy is all win for Apple and it makes all the greenies (environmental fanatics) happy too and customers feel good because the box is small and they also think they are helping to save the planet as well.

All in all marvellous.

Kinda makes sense namewise since the iPod Mini hasn't existed in years, but idk about the size thing. I mean, how small does a desktop computer have to become?? Would be kinda cool to be able to pack it up when traveling, but wouldn't a laptop be of better service since the display & keyboard are attached? Cus you know this thing is gonna have nothing but laptop components in it anyway, so it's basically gonna be a laptop sans display & keyboard. Kinda doesn't make much since… other than for ppl with extremely small living spaces or something

Is the Mac Nano supposed to be released before or after the Gamer's iMac with twin graphics cards?

Blu-ray is not coming to any Apple products soon.
Why put a $900 drive in a machine that is suppose to cost $600?

Update the graphics chip(intel has more recent graphics chipsets), larger drives, etc. and it's good to go.

Don't forget Asian Markets.

That said, my machine sits atop two external hard drives, hooked up to a CRT TV acting as my media jukebox. RND Photos, RND music or RND movies, tv guide, weather, email. With my wacom, the buttons are my zoom, and I'm able to get all my work done when I have to. Eventually I'll be dragged kicking and screaming into the 21st century.

Unlikely rumour. Apple wouldn't put a lot of R&D;into a product for people who in general think spending $300 is a lot. They'll gladly leave that to Dell.

Sounds like they may have heard about a new Apple TV rather than a revamped Mac Mini.

Apple TV with optical drive. The "2/3 height" kinda fits in with what we've got now. October - Leopard, new Apple TV and 720p movies on iTunes store. December - movie rentals. January - ?

Thanks AshNazg,
That make sense to me.
Stever

MW - less as in less size, less shipping

Macosrumors... I thought they made stuff up.

Sounds like an Apple TV with an optical drive.

If these damn engineers had to repair these things, stuff would be different.

As someone with 20 years of auto repair experience, I know your pain.

Heh, once we had a summer temp who was working his way through engineering school. I was in the middle of a hellish tangle of chassis wires, and told him: "When you graduate and are making the big money, promise you'll never create a mess like this!"

A little "How NOT to do it" never hurts.

AAAGGGGGHHHHHHH! You're using my new Mac Nano as a coaster! And is that my new iPod Micro you are using as a swizzle stick?

The size decrease I can see for the aforementioned packaging and shipping reasons. I cannot see the motivation for a price decrease as well though. Steve Jobs just publicly stated that there are some markets that Apple does not want to enter. The $299 PC market is definitely one of those markets. Apple doesn't even want to be in the $499 PC market! They abandoned that some time ago, because it makes ZERO business sense! Even Dell, HP, Gateway, etc. who use the cheapest and slowest components from 2 years ago to build PCs in this market segment do not make a profit in it. Apple, who wants to make machines that can actually DO something useful a year after they're purchased, cannot make the 30% margin that they expect from all their products on machines like this. This is the reason why you will never see a sub-$500 machine from Apple, ever again. I for one will not miss it, and neither will my AAPL shares.

--mAc