Microsoft tested a Windows XP theme that closely resembled Mac OS X’s Aqua GUI, reports The Verge.
A recent Windows XP source code leak has revealed various unreleased themes that Microsoft developed in 2000, at a time when Microsoft was in heated competition with Apple regarding desktop operating systems.
One of the themes, codenamed “Candy,” mirrors the design of Apple’s Aqua interface, which was first introduced at the Macworld Conference & Expo in 2000. Aqua was an iconic Apple design and gave a sense of depth through the use of shadow and translucency, metallic textures, and rounded liquid-like assets.
The theme was described as a “Whistler skin with eye candy,” with “Whistler” being the codename for Windows XP, and was marked as “for internal use only.” Though the theme was never finished, fundamental aspects such as the Windows Start button and various UI elements were a close match for Aqua.
Most striking is the replication of Mac OS X’s rounded water-like buttons. Windows developers reportedly used the theme as a placeholder to build the theme engine for Windows XP.
The theme was ultimately rejected in favor of the blue and green Luna theme for the final version of Windows XP released in 2001. The source code leak reveals another instance of the influence of the Mac on Windows behind the scenes.
The second beta of iOS 14.2 introduces the new Emoji 13 characters that Apple previewed earlier this year as part of World Emoji Day. New emoji options include ninja, people hugging, black cat, bison, fly, polar bear, blueberries, fondue, bubble tea, and more, with a list below. Faces – Smiling Face with Tear, Disguised Face People – Ninja, Person in Tuxedo, Woman in Tuxedo, Person…
Earlier this week, Apple released updates for iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS—but nothing for macOS. Usually, Cupertino updates all its operating systems at once, but we’re in an odd place right now with new annual releases of the former three making their way to users’ devices while macOS Big Sur still sits an indeterminate amount of days away.
However, Apple nonetheless followed up today with an update for macOS Catalina labeled 10.15.7. It’s likely the last update to Catalina before Big Sur is released. The company also released new versions of Final Cut Pro X and iMovie for the Mac.
The Catalina update is a modest one that fixes three bugs: a graphics-related problem on new iMacs with Radeon Pro 5700 XT graphics cards, a bug that prevented automatic connection to Wi-Fi networks, and an iCloud Drive syncing issue.
Want it straight from the source? Here are Apple’s release notes for macOS Catalina 10.15.7:
macOS Catalina 10.15.7 provides important security updates and bug fixes for your Mac.
Resolves an issue where macOS would not automatically connect to Wi-Fi networks
Fixes an issue that could prevent files syncing through iCloud Drive
Addresses a graphic issue that may occur on iMac (Retina 5K, 27-inch, 2020) with Radeon Pro 5700 XT
Some features may not be available for all regions, or on all Apple devices. For detailed information about the security content of this update, please visit: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT201222
The updates to Final Cut Pro X and iMovie are also about fixing bugs. Here are the Final Cut notes:
Fixes an issue in which XAVC media from the Sony PXW-FX9 camera is not recognized
Fixes an issue where brightness levels shift when switching between Better Quality and Better Performance in the viewer
Fixes an issue in which effect keyframes are not added correctly when using onscreen controls
Improves stability when using the transform tool with multiple clips in the timeline
Improves reliability when exporting an FCPXML that contains Compound clips
Addresses an issue which could prevent sharing at certain resolutions
Fixes an issue in which sharing a Compound or Multicam clip from the timeline was disabled
The iMovie update improved stability and fixed an export bug. Yesterday, Apple also released an update for Xcode that fixed a problem that could “cause Xcode to crash while viewing documentation.”
As Tim Cook’s Apple heads into a brave, new ARM-powered world of macOS, it has to make a decision about legacy support and older hardware. If you want to see how that’s going to work out, just watch the MacBook Air over the next year or two.
NEW YORK, NY – OCTOBER 30: Tim Cook, CEO of Apple unveils a new MacBook Air during a launch event at … [+]the Brooklyn Academy of Music on October 30, 2018 in New York City. This is Apple’s first full upgrade of the laptop in three years. (Photo by Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
Getty Images
What made the MacBook Air stand out in 2008 is now passé in 2020. The ‘Air’ is still seen as a machine that is ‘thin’, and there are countless thin laptops in the world. If you pick up the MacBook Proyou’ll find a laptop that is 1.56 cm thick. The MacBook Air is 1.61cm. Yes it has the taper to the front edge unlike the constant depth of the Pro, but is a small wedge enough to justify the Air moniker?
Personally I don’t think so, and from what we have learned from the supply chain, Apple is of a similar mind. When the ARM-powered macOS laptops pop up later this year, the machine built around power and performance will be the MacBook Pro, while the machine built around lightweight and ultraportable computing will simply be known as MacBook.
There is no place for the MacBook Air in the brave new world. Apple is taking the popular laptop brand and tearing it down with the belief that a stronger forest will grow in its place.
Recommended For You
But there is one area where the MacBook Air is an important indicator of macOS’ future. And that’s how Apple treats the existing customer base. There are rather a lot of MacBook Airs in the wild, and they continue to be sold through Apple Stores both to consumers and especially into the education department.
These machines will need to be supported by Apple for a number of years at an operating system level. Apple’s Product Environmental Report for the MacBook Air states that “Apple assumes a four-year period for power use by first owners. Product use scenarios are based on historical customer use data for similar products.” I would hope that Apple continues to support the MacBook Air for at least those four years.
The question will be just how expansive that support will be. The next version of macOS – Big Sur – will run on the Intel-based machines, and you would expect the usual support cycle of a year of updates. Beyond that, it gets a bit more interesting. Offering support could stretch from little more than patching security vulnerabilities, right through to keeping the next our years of macOS intel compatible until the mic-drop in 2024.
This is why the MacBook Air is the future of Apple in miniature. First up, the product itself is being ruthlessly cut from the main portfolio to make way for something new. Secondly, in the short term it will continue to be supported. Finally, it’s going to die in the long term. Apple has made no concrete statements on how long that support will last; everyone is left looking at environmental reports, relying on a historical data point from sixteen years ago, or reading tea leaves.
Apple is happy to abandon the past and push consumers to new hardware. The iconic MacBook Air will always have a place in history (as will the manila envelope Steve Jobs pulled it out of when he literally revealed it to the world), but its time is past.
Apple has released another supplemental update for macOS 10.15.6 today with performance improvements and bug fixes. Specifically, this update solves WiFi and iCloud issues that some users were seeing.
Apple released the new macOS 10.15.6 supplemental update today after the last one arrived back in August. Today’s update includes fixes for an iCloud Drive issue that prevented files from syncing properly as well as squashing a bug that prevented Macs from automatically connecting to WiFi networks.
You can check to see if the update has hit your Mac by heading to System Preferences > Software Update.
Today’s macOS 10.15.6 supplemental update is build number 19G2531. Notably, it is showing up in the release channel on Apple’s Developer website, but does have “Beta” at the end of the update in System Preferences for users on the Catalina beta.
It’s unclear if Apple accidentally labeled it as a public release or if it is just rolling out slowly to non-beta users.
These minor tweaks come ahead of Big Sur landing this fall which will bring an overhaul to the macOS design, lots of Safari changes, new widgets, Control Center, improvements to Messages, and much more.
Check out all the major changes coming with macOS Big Sur below:
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links.More.
If you’ve been hoping to upgrade to a Mac before the year’s end, today’s sale at Woot might just offer the perfect opportunity. For one day only, Woot has a selection of Apple computers on sale including Mac mini, iMac, and iMac Pro models with prices starting as low as $729.99. While there are two options in the sale which are refurbished, the majority of the items offered today are in brand new condition.
Though some may be wary of purchasing a refurbished product, the few refurbished models in the sale have been tested and inspected directly by Apple to ensure they’re in proper working condition. Plus, each one comes with a one-year warranty.
Woot has a selection of new and refurbished Mac computers on sale today only, including iMac, iMac Pro, Mac mini, and Mac Pro models.
Starting at $730
Those looking for the most affordable way to get your hands on a Mac today will want to take a look at the Mac mini models. This 2018 Mac mini is priced at just $729.99 today, saving you $70 off its full cost at retailers such as Best Buy. However, it’s important to keep in mind that these don’t come with a keyboard, mouse, or a monitor; you’ll have to purchase those separately.
For an affordable all-in-one model, this 21.5-inch Apple iMac from 2017 has all you need such as a retina display, a wired keyboard, and a mouse. Today it’s down to just $899.99 while supplies last – a savings of $200 off its current cost at Best Buy.
These are only two of the models on sale today, so be sure to check out the full selection before making your decision. Woot normally charges $6 per order for shipping, though you can score free shipping there by signing in with an Amazon Prime membership before checking out. If you’ve never been a Prime member before, you can start a free 30-day trial to snag free shipping at Woot and Amazon, along with access to all the regular perks that come with a Prime membership, such as the Prime Video streaming service, exclusive members-only discounts, free Kindle eBooks every month, and more.
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.
Twitter fun
New Twitterrific updates fix Big Sur issues, improve iOS accessibility
Popular Twitter app Twitterrific has received updates for its iOS 14 and macOS Big Sur apps, fixing bugs and improving accessibility.
Beta time
Apple releases the second public beta of watchOS 7.1
Apple has released beta 2 of watchOS 7.1 for its public beta testers. Here’s how to download it.
Bendy
The foldable iPhone just got closer thanks to a self-healing screen patent
We’ve wanted a foldable iPhone since before the likes of Samsung started doing it. A new Apple patent might mean that’s closer to reality than ever.
Screen protectors for sore eyes
Matte screen protectors to reduce glare and eye strain for the 27-inch iMac
Screen protectors for iMacs are a lot more advanced than their smaller iPhone counterparts, now providing blue-light blocking and privacy screening at the same time. Find yours on this list.
His Mac may be mini but his screen certainly is not. Photo: Duncan Schultz
Duncan Schultz, a government official from the land down under, started working from his home in Brisbane earlier this year. It turned out to be a great opportunity to upgrade his setup. He got rid of his 2015 iMac and instead bought himself a 2020 Mac mini and decided to experiment. He specced out his Mac mini with 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. He wanted plenty of screen real estate without having two screens. So he connected it to a Samsung 43-inch 4K Smart TV and is not looking back.
Schultz also bought himself a sit/stand desk to promote a healthier lifestyle. Both his desk and monitor stand are from Slimline Warehouse.
He uses Apple’s Magic duo as peripherals. He pairs his Magic Keyboard with Numerical Keypad with a Magic Trackpad. He also has an AVerMedia Live Streamer for video recording. It has a 360-degree swivel so he can be filmed from every angle.
When he is not working he is either “mucking about or running Roll20 games with friends from across the globe.” That is why he has a Logitech G533 Wireless Gaming Headset. He also has a Sonos One smart speaker for when he is in the mood to blast some tunes.
If you would like to see your setup featured on Cult of Mac, send some high-res pictures to [email protected]. Please provide a detailed list of your equipment. Tell us what you like or dislike about your setup, and fill us in on any special touches or challenges.
MacStadium is offering customers an Intel Mac mini at half price, forever, if they sign up using a special promo code. That’s it. That’s all you need to know.
Ok, a little bit more info. MacStadium hosts Macs – including Mac minis and Mac Pros – in data centers around the world and then rents them out to people who need them. Those Macs are accessed remotely and can be used for anything from streaming media via Plex to handling offloaded development jobs via Xcode. Users pay a monthly fee based on what they need and everyone’s happy.
And now that fee is half what it was before, at least until Apple silicon rolls into town.
Why offer the promotion now?
We are always pushing forward at MacStadium. New Apple Silicon and macOS 11 will introduce new features and procedures for everyone, including us. You can count on our experts to always offer the latest hardware, software, and services. We want to be the single destination for all Mac infrastructure needs.
As we prepare for the future, we still have hundreds of pristine Mac minis and rack slots available right now. We want to put them to use and let customers benefit as well.
Have an iPad and want a Mac that you can use for Mac-specific things? That’s a thing you can do with a Mac mini hosted at MacStadium.
Demo: – the new iPadOS 13.4 pointer – a @MacStadium remote Mac mini – the updated @screensvnc app
It’s really incredible to jump back and forth with a usable pointer and keyboard. As @viticci says, it’s macOS as an app. pic.twitter.com/WDRw4Torbr
Hosted Macs aren’t for everyone, but they just got cheaper if you’re one of the people who can make use of a Mac that you don’t even need to see to be able to use! There are different specifications and different generations of Mac mini available, too.
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.
Big Money
Apple planning Arcade titles to rival ‘Breath of the Wild’
Twitter leaker Fudge says Apple Arcade is getting “big money” poured into it, and that Apple has titles in the works to rival the likes of ‘Breath of the Wild’. This is fuelling development of an A14X-like Apple TV and an Apple game controller.
ETA
ETA’s iOS 14 widgets tell you exactly how long it’ll take to get places
Need to know how long it will take to get to Starbucks at all times? Put your ETA on your Home screen.
iPhone 12 wish list
The iPhone event is coming — here’s what I want to see in the iPhone 12
The iPhone 12 will be here before you know it. Here’s some things that I hope to see in Apple’s next generation handset.
Headphones roundup
These headphones go great with your Mac mini
The Mac mini is a great machine, but you’re going to need your own display, keyboard, and mouse. Oh, and don’t forget the headphones! Here are some of our top headphone picks to go with your Mac mini.
For decades, Mac users had to worry less about malware than their Windows-using counterparts, but over the last few years that’s begun to change. In an attempt to crack down on growing threats like adware and ransomware, in February Apple began “notarizing” all macOS applications, a vetting process designed to weed out illegitimate or malicious apps. Even software distributed outside of the Mac App Store now needs notarization, or users wouldn’t be able to run them without special workarounds. Seven months later, though, researchers have found an active adware campaign attacking Mac users with the same old payloads—and the malware has been fully notarized by Apple.
The campaign is distributing the ubiquitous “Shlayer” adware, which by some counts has affected as many as one in 10 macOS devices in recent years. The malware exhibits standard adware behavior, like injecting ads into search results. It’s not clear how Shlayer slipped past Apple’s automated scans and checks to get notarized, especially given that it’s virtually identical to past versions. But it’s the first known example of malware being notarized for macOS.
College student Peter Dantini discovered the notarized version of Shlayer while navigating to the homepage of the popular open source Mac development tool Homebrew. Dantini accidentally typed something slightly different than brew.sh, the correct URL. The page he landed on redirected a number of times to a fake Adobe Flash update page. Curious about what malware he might find, Dantini downloaded it on purpose. To his surprise, macOS popped up its standard warning about programs downloaded from the internet, but didn’t block him from running the program. When Dantini confirmed that it was notarized, he sent the information on to longtime macOS security researcher Patrick Wardle.
“I had been expecting that if someone were to abuse the notarization system it would be something more sophisticated or complex,” says Wardle, principal security researcher at the Mac management firm Jamf. “But in a way I’m not surprised that it was adware that did it first. Adware developers are very innovative and constantly evolving, because they stand to lose a ton of money if they can’t get around new defenses. And notarization is a death knell for a lot of these standard ad campaigns, because even if the users are tricked into clicking and trying to run the software, macOS will block it now.”
Wardle notified Apple about the rogue software on August 28 and the company revoked the Shlayer notarization certificates that same day, neutering the malware anywhere that it was installed and for future downloads. On August 30, though, Wardle noticed that the adware campaign was still active and distributing the same Shlayer downloads. They had simply been notarized using a different Apple Developer ID, just a few hours after the company began working on revoking the original certificates. On August 30, Wardle notified Apple about these new versions.
“Malicious software constantly changes, and Apple’s notarization system helps us keep malware off the Mac and allow us to respond quickly when it’s discovered,” the company said in a statement. “Upon learning of this adware, we revoked the identified variant, disabled the developer account, and revoked the associated certificates. We thank the researchers for their assistance in keeping our users safe.”
Apple also makes a distinction in its notarization materials between its more thorough iOS “App Review” and this check for macOS applications.
“Notarization is not App Review,” the company wrote. “The Apple notary service is an automated system that scans your software for malicious content, checks for code-signing issues, and returns the results to you quickly.”
Before Apple introduced notarization, malware developers simply needed to pay $99 a year for an Apple Developer ID so they could sign their software as legitimate. Any application not downloaded from the Mac App Store would trigger a warning when users tried to run it about making sure programs downloaded from the internet were safe to use, but users could easily click through them. Notarization makes it much more difficult to deploy malware—or at least that’s the idea. Wardle says that in his experience submitting his own security tools for review, Apple’s initial, automated check only takes a few minutes to issue an approval. Still, bad actors are clearly slipping through.
The Mac mini isn’t as popular as any of the MacBooks or even the iMac. But it’s beloved by every hobbiest and nerd and newcomer and cross-compiler — by anyone who wants anything from the cheapest Mac to just the last Mac server standing.
The really big question for the mightiest of mini Macs is this, though: Just how much mightier, how much mini-er, could Apple Silicon really make it?
Design
When he introduced the very first model back in October of Twenty-Ought-5, Steve Jobs said everyone understood the iPod mini, so everyone should understand this as well — the Mac mini. (The iPod mini is what we had before the iPod nano which is… Wait, the iPod is what we had before the iPho— you know what, just, never mind!)
It was a tiny by back-then-standards extruded round-rect of a box, plastic on top, aluminium around the sides, with a front-mounted, slot-loading combo-drive of a DVD player and CD burner. (The DVD and CD is what we had before BluRay and streaming and… fine, whatever, wikipedia it.)
Over the years, it lost that drive and lost that plastic top. Now it has a sleeker, space-grayer, recycled full-on aluminium unibody. But it never lost that overall design. It even lent it to the Apple TV, the original being a shorter, broader version of the same, before it went even teeny-tinier, unabashedly black plastic.
I’d be tempted to call the design iconic if it wasn’t just so basic. But not in a bad way. Maybe even the best way. It’s job — from Jobs — was never to stand out. Just the opposite — it was simply to sit and fit right in.
That didn’t change when it transition to from PowerPC to Intel the very next year, and I don’t imagine it’ll change when it transitions from Intel to Apple Silicon next… month, year, whenever it’s scheduled to hit.
But I do think Apple silicon will allow for some level of change. Evolution maybe. And that could go in either of two directions.
First direction, the current, unibody design could stay about the same. I mean, this is like the only Mac not rumored to be getting an iPad Pro-style makeover, anyway. But there are certainly some details and trim Apple’s industrial design team could play with.
Anyway, if it stays roughly the same, that opens up some space inside, and I’ll go over just what exactly that could mean in a hot thermal minute.
Second direction, is to get rid of that space by shrinking the Mac mini down. Maybe not to Apple TV squared-hockey-puck-circle size, but more mini. Nano even.
That would let it just sit and fit, mount and hang, in even more places and spaces. Basically, massive Apple Silicon power, itty bitty living box.
And, yeah, hell yeah, I’m once again really tempted to ask, por qué no los dos?
Display
Source: Rene Ritchie / iMore
I know what you’re thinking: The Mac mini doesn’t have a display. That’s the whole point of the Mac mini. BYODKM. The D literally stands for display. But, I’m talking about an Apple designed and manufactured non-Pro, non-XDR display that you can bring to your own new Mac mini. One that may not have reference modes but also isn’t 6K for 6K. More like 1K for 5K. Pretty much what Apple’s last few non-Pro displays have been — the latest iMac panel, all packaged up for people who still want an Apple display.
Yes, sure, it’s the same panel you’d get in an LG Ultra-Fine, which has been what Apple’s abdicated to for the last few years. Only this would be driven by Apple’s display team, which is way better, and Apple’s Industrial Design team, which is astronomically better.
And before you persist in rage commenting on that, just look at the issues the LG’s had with everything from Wi-Fi interference to ghosting, which sure they’ve fixed, and that decidedly not-candy plastic shell, which they haven’t and is, still, I don’t know, whatever’s the opposite of extra.
But I’m a big believer in the horn effect. Where having one Apple product like the iPhone leads you to buy more Apple products like the iPad or Mac. And, vice versa, having non-Apple products like a display leads you to buying more non-Apple products, like… an Intel NUC.
So, I would just love, all-caps love, for them to announce a new Apple Display EDR as well, and sure, nano-texture for $500 extra. Why not?
But let me know what you think in the comments.
Silicon
Real talk. Apple doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to updating the Mac mini internals. They have just about the worst. The Mac mini uses mobile parts, like a laptop, rather than desktop parts, like a… desktop… not because it’s mobile but because it’s mini and operates under similar thermal constraints.
But not only did it lie Shrodinger-style fallow for years — like almost half a decade — before finally getting its big update in October of 2018… it hasn’t gotten much of any update since then.
Now, sure, you could argue the 8th generation Intel processors Apple’s kept in there haven’t exactly been blown out of the water by the 10th generation Intel processors now on the shelves, and that just adding the extra cores Intel’s been welding on as a work-around would just add power-draw, heat, and a hundred bucks or more to the already non-mini priced box. And yes. Sure. Granted.
It’s one of oh-so-many reasons why Apple is making the switch from Intel to their own, custom silicon.
The current developer test kit has an iPad Pro A12Z in it. And while that’s cased up to look like a Mac mini, it’s not a real machine ever meant to see a real customer.
So, my biggest hope with Apple Silicon is that we start getting Mac mini updates every 12-18 months, just like iPad Pro updates. Whatever the next-generation equivalent to the AX-Series for iPads is, put it in the Mac version of that. 14X, 15X, 16, and on.
Other than that, I expect we’ll see the same type of improvements from Apple Silicon in the Mac mini they we’d see from Apple Silicon in the MacBook Air — way better performance, especially for graphics, and especially especially for anything and everything Apple includes custom accelerators for, like 4K and above video rendering, H.265 encode and decode, hypervisor acceleration for virtual machines, and a few other things to make developers and power users alike just smile just a little or a lot wider.
Of course, Apple Silicon SoC may mean only Apple integrated GPU cores from now on. And maybe a lot of them. But, I’d love to see something like what Apple’s doing for the new, modular Mac Pro. Whether that’s GPU expanders or even something like Afterburner — a reprogrammable ASIC to accelerate video rendering or other, higher-demand tasks. Basically, let it turn your Mac mini into a Final Cut mini or Logic mini or Maya mini or whatever.
Extensibility
Source: Rene Ritchie / iMore
The biggest question I have going into an Apple Silicon Mac mini — just how extensible will it be? In other words, will we be able to change the SSD, the RAM?
The current Mac mini has already locked down the SSD. It’s fused with the T2 security chip for realtime encryption so you’re basically stuck with whatever internal capacity you buy, and whatever external storage you choose to hang off the back.
The RAM story is only slightly better. You can get the memory changed but it’s not easy. So, unless you have Kyle Wiens style home repair skills, you need to take the box to an Apple Store or Apple Authorized Repair place just to get the RAM swapped.
With Apple Silicon, that story may stay the same, maybe even get worse. That’s because Apple Silicon will be a system-on-a-chip. Which means the RAM isn’t in separate modules, isn’t even chips soldered to the board, it’s often on the same chip as the CPU and GPU. Not always, but often.
That’s what allows for universal memory, or the CPU and GPU sharing the RAM.
It’s possible Apple could keep some RAM universal and break out some other RAM, probably as CPU only, but that would get really ugly really fast.
If I were writing fanfic, I’d theorize about some special, modular system, fast enough to use for RAM, that Apple would make so you could pop different expansion modules in or out. But that makes more sense with a Mac Pro or even mythical mini tower budget, which probably isn’t what we’re getting with the existing mini box.
A nerd can dream, though.
What could be more likely is what we started seeing already with the 2018 Mac mini: Stacks. Essentially, you treat each one as a compute unit and then cluster together as many as you want or need. Twice the cores, twice the memory, twice the Mac minis. Same for three, five, ten… until you hit MacStadium.
You know, like LEGOs. That may not be practical for everyone but may work really well for the people with massively scalable workloads.
Security
The current Mac mini has a T2 chip, which handles all the encryption, component controllers, and accelerators. It’s basically a variant of the A11 from the iPhone 7. And that’ll just get folded into whatever new Apple Silicon chip the new Apple Silicon Mac mini gets. Like an A14X variant. Not a problem.
But, see, the MacBooks use T2 and will use whatever-14X for Touch ID as well. It has the secure element that matches the math derived from your fingerprint and releases the authentication token to the system. That’s how it works.
But unlike the MacBooks, which put the capacitve Touch ID fingerprint scanner in to power button on the keyboard… the Mac mini doesn’t have a keyboard to put it into.
Now, Apple could make a Magic Keyboard for the Mac mini, iMac, and Mac Pro that builds in the Touch ID sensor, but they’d probably want to keep the secure hardware channel for the authentication, so that means putting at least a T1 chip in the keyboard as well. T1 being a variant of the S2 chip from the Apple Watch 2, which has a similar secure element from authentication handling. It’s what the 2016 MacBook Pro used before the T2.
But that would add whatever the cost of the T1 chip and fingerprint scanner are, at the very least, to the cost of the keyboard. More if, for whatever reason, you want a Touch Bar might-as-well-be thrown in there as well.
The easier-to-imagine workaround for the iMac is using Face ID with a TrueDepth camera where the FaceTime camera is now, right above the display.
But, say it with me now, the Mac mini doesn’t have a built-in display. And with a separate display or webcam, you get the same problem as the keyboard. So, yeah, no.
Now, Apple could put a Touch ID sensor on the body of the Mac mini itself, even though the power button is nowhere nearly as conveniently located as it is on a MacBook. And, of course, the Mac mini may not be anywhere nearly as conveniently located either — across the desk, across the room, across the house, across the data-center… you get what I’m saying.
So, my guess is Apple could just double-down on remote authentication. If you have an Apple Watch with its built in S-chip or iPhone with it’s built-in A-chip, on the same Apple ID, in close proximity, you can just double click or Touch ID or Face ID on that, and it’ll unlock and authorize the Mac.
It keeps the mini, mini.
Source: iMore
Apple’s been avoiding WiFi 6 on the Mac line, which is all shades of odd given how fast they’ve shoved it into the iPhone and iPad. Now, there have been issues with WiFi 6, so it’s possible Apple’s been waiting on their own custom silicon before bringing it to the Mac. So, hopefully, this gives us that.
Now, fanfic me very much wants to wonder out loud if there’d be a way for Apple to not only bundle Apple TV functionality into the Mac mini for the ultimate in Home Theater experiences, but to bundle in AirPort Extreme functionality as well, for the ultimate in home router privacy protection. Also manages HomeKit, iCloud, staging updates across the home network.
But that would probably be better left to an actual new AirPort mesh system and a future video. Hit that like button if you want it.
Ports
I really like the current Mac mini port compliment and layout. You’ve got your ethernet, 4x USB-C / Thunderbolt 3, HDMI, USB A, and 3.5mm headphone.
Pretty much what I asked for in my Apple Silicon iMac video last week, just with HDMI instead of SDXC. And given the Mac mini doesn’t have to be located anywhere near where you’re actually working, I think that’s a fair trade.
The USB-C / Thunderbolt 3 should be upgraded to USB4 and Thunderbolt 4, of course, and let you drive just all the displays, but otherwise, it’s set.
Pricing
Source: Rene Ritchie / iMore
When it was first introduced, this Mac’s price was as mini as its size — $499 for the base config. The current model starts at a much pricier $799.
Even including Apple’s usual margins, the reason for that is simple: It’s using more expensive components.
And… I don’t really expect that to change with the Apple Silicon. I mean, it’s not like Apple was paying a small fortune for Intel’s 10th generation silicon. It was still 8th gen and the costs were distributed throughout the system
I also think the first generation of Apple Silicon will be used to pay down Apple Silicon.
But, even if it takes a generation, I think it’d be great if Apple could use the transition drive back to that $499 base config price.
And if they could double down and use the current iPad strategy, where the 10.2-inch model gets better and better each year, with a price that’s gotten much better over the years. Even the iPhone SE strategy where every few years we get a new, entry-level iPhone.
That way, we could eventually see something like Mac mini SE at $300 or $350. Basically an Apple TV with better SoC, more ports, and more RAM.
But let me know what you think!
We may earn a commission for purchases using our links. Learn more.
Big Money
Apple planning Arcade titles to rival ‘Breath of the Wild’
Twitter leaker Fudge says Apple Arcade is getting “big money” poured into it, and that Apple has titles in the works to rival the likes of ‘Breath of the Wild’. This is fuelling development of an A14X-like Apple TV and an Apple game controller.
ETA
ETA’s iOS 14 widgets tell you exactly how long it’ll take to get places
Need to know how long it will take to get to Starbucks at all times? Put your ETA on your Home screen.
iPhone 12 wish list
The iPhone event is coming — here’s what I want to see in the iPhone 12
The iPhone 12 will be here before you know it. Here’s some things that I hope to see in Apple’s next generation handset.
keep your cool
Your Mac Mini will the be the coolest around
If you’re a pro who tends to push their Mac Mini to the limit, you might be looking for a way to keep it cool under pressure. While there aren’t any cooling pads specifically for the Mac Mini, we’ve compiled some good options for you.
