OK, everyone is still playing guessing games on the Mac mini intro that never happened, so here's an intriguing possibility: the minis are waiting on the availability of Nvidia's new Ion platform, and will make their debut around CeBit in early March. This scuttlebutt comes from Tom's Hardware, who supposedly has it from Nvidia partners who say that Apple got early shipments of Ion, which integrates an Intel Atom processor with Nvidia GPUs. Tom's posits that the new minis will be even smaller, thanks to the new chipset, and will sell for around the current price points of $500 and $700. (Nvidia is pushing Ion as a basis for $400 gadgets, but hey, Apple doesn't go around lowering prices on things, you know?)
This idea, however, is nicely demolished by AppleInsider, which points out all the ways that Ion fails to improve upon even the outdated Core 2 Duo that runs the current minis. Ion and Atom are designed not really for the desktop market, but for embedded systems where the main competition is ARM. So, if that's the case, and assuming that Tom's isn't completely misinformed, where are all those Ion chipsets going? Possibilities include an improved Apple TV and, of course, the possible iNetBookThing.
Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world
jfruh
Apple syncing patent can't come soon enough
pasmith
New Twitter features borrow from 3rd party clients
Esther Schindler
Open Source Changes the Software Acquisition Process
mikelgan
How to set up continuous podcast play on the new iTunes
David Strom
Five important Windows 7 mobility features
sjvn
Guard your Wi-Fi for your own sake
Sandra Henry-Stocker
Grepping on Whole Words
Sidekick: The Good News & the Bad News
Either way you look at it Microsoft Data Center management did not follow standards or best practices in this failure. In which case it makes me wonder more about the outsourcing of corporate data much less personal data.
- mburton325
Join the conversation here
Quick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.
Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.
Apple TV
Assuming there's anything to this rumor at all, it *has* to be an updated Apple TV or some similar appliance, which might also have light computer-like features (Web browsing, maybe, though there's a good reason why Web-on-TV has never really gone anywhere). I've used machines with Atom processors and there's *no way* Apple would put one in something it sells a general-purpose computer. They're nifty as heck for netbooks, but what's cool about them is the form factor and price they enable (neither of which screams "Mac desktop!"); you put up with the performance to get that stuff.