Mac Mini update

About 7 or 8 years ago I bought a new Mac Mini only to find out that within a couple of months a newer, faster, etc. model debuted. When was the latest Mac Mini released, and when is the next model due? Thanks

The latest model was released mid October 2014. When will the next model be released? Who knows Apple does not reveal their future release plans but in the not too distand future one would imagine.


iPhone, iPad, Mac Buyer's Guide: Know When to Buy

Well we can't say for sure when the next Mac mini model will be released, it seems likely that it will be sooner rather than later. On the other hand, any Mac Mini of recent vintage is going to seem very fast to you, coming from such an old model. If you don't need the absolute latest and greatest, you might want to check Apple's refurb page for some options.

Hello,
I'm posting on this thread as it seems relevant.
I'm looking to upgrade from my 2005 Mac mini, OS X 10.5.8 to a new mini. I'm not well up on the new port specs compared to 10 years ago!
Will I still be able to plug in the 'Firewall' cable for my video camera and the 'Ethernet' cable for the internet, or how will I use these on the new mini? Also I'm running the old version of iMovie which I hope to run on the new mini as it's better than newer versions
thanks
dhahi

You can connect your firewire camera cable to the new Mac Mini. You will need a Thunderbolt to Firewire adapter and maybe a firewire 800 to 400 cable depending upon whether your camera is firewire 400 or 800. The total cost of those parts should be less than $50.00 US.

The bigger issue for you will be that you may have quite a bit of software will no longer run on the Intel-based Macs and will need to be upgraded because the current operating system no longer supports PowerPC software. Here's how to identify the PowerPc software that won't work. Even software identified as Universal will probably need to be updated.

Thanks Slydude,
That's very helpful.
It appears all my software is 'Universal'. And this, I think is because I had the mini reconditioned about 3 years ago in the Mac store.
Most of the software was loaded with the reconditioning with just a few programs which I guess I could download again.
My task will be to save all my photos, videos, docs, bookmarks and stickies to my external hard-drive (also about 10 years old), which I dearly hope will work with a new mini!

much appreciated,
Dave

dhahi said:

It appears all my software is 'Universal'.

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This means that the software installed on your OLD 2005 Mac-Mini could run on PPC based Mac's and early Intel based Mac's. This is software "Jargon" used wayyyy back in the 2005/2006/2007 time frame. And this was associated with Mac's running OS version's (at the time) 10.5 and 10.6.

Fast forward to the year 2016. All of this "Universal Jargon" is ancient history in the computer world. If you will be purchasing a brand new Mac-Mini. Any & all of the user installed apps on your 2005 Mac-Mini running OS 10.5.8 will need to be repurchased.

- Nick

Thanks pigoo3,
I guessed that, as I said.
"My task will be to save all my photos, videos, docs, bookmarks and stickies to my external hard-drive (also about 10 years old), which I dearly hope will work with a new mini!"
What do you think?

Dave

dhahi said:

"My task will be to save all my photos, videos, docs, bookmarks and stickies to my external hard-drive (also about 10 years old), which I dearly hope will work with a new mini!"
What do you think?

Click to expand...

Things like photo's and video's aren't too much of a problem…since (worst case scenario) they can be copied individually to a different drive. And almost all photos & videos will work fine on a new computer.

As far as your "docs". Depends what "docs" we are talking about. If we (for example) we're talking about Microsoft Office docs…hopefully they will import ok with a new version of Office.

Bookmarks & the Stickies we would have to see. Basically you will try to use Apple's "Migration Assistant" app to migrate everything:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT204350

I'm just not 100% sure how well going from OS 10.5.8 to 10.11 (El Capitan) will work.

If you're able to visit an Apple Store to purchase your new Mac-Mini…I believe the Apple folks will help you migrate everything.

- Nick

Thanks Nick

When you getting the new computer?

- Nick

From what I've been reading, I gather a new mini is expected soon, so I'm thinking I might as well wait and get the new model.

Dave

dhahi said:

From what I've been reading, I gather a new mini is expected soon, so I'm thinking I might as well wait and get the new model.

Click to expand...

Sounds like you're able to wait. Not a bad idea.

- Nick

Yeah, maybe I should have waited too!

toMACsh said:

Yeah, maybe I should have waited too!

Click to expand...

There's always a new model around the corner. No guarantee a new mini will be any better.

Don't 2nd guess your purchase. You needed/wanted a new mini…and now you're good to go.

- Nick

Thanks, Nick!