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According to 9 to 5 Mac, trusted source Mr. X has indicated that supplies of the server models of Apple's Mac mini and Mac Pro lines are officially listed as constrained, suggesting that Apple may be drawing down supplies ahead of a refresh.
In addition to OS X Lion, our sources are already expecting new MacBook Airs and Time Capsules fairly soon - due to supply shortages and now Mr. X tells 9to5Mac that Apple's Mac mini Server and Mac Pro Server are constrained with no shipment date yet in place for new models.
Apple introduced the Mac mini server option, which substitutes a second hard drive for the usual optical drive, in late 2009. The Mac Pro server configuration debuted last November as the company announced the pending discontinuation of its Xserve rackmountable server. A report earlier this year indicated that Apple was developing a smaller, narrower Mac Pro that could be rackmounted, although much larger than the previous Xserve.
It seems reasonable to assume that the all models of the Mac mini and Mac Pro could see updates alongside refreshes of the server models, as the machines share the vast majority of their specs.
Top Rated Comments
Anyone who has read Apple's own press materials on OSX Lion Server will notice that they are heavy on the "any mac can be a server" language. I think the server models are being discontinued as Apple tries to position the 'server' as less of a hardware implementation and more of a software implementation. This is why only the server versions of the more-or-less same hardware is constrained.
I'm hoping we see Apple embrace the concept of the Mini as a home media system. With the Mac App Store, all they need to do is tweak up the graphics and develop an awesome looking game controller and the Mac opens up a whole new platform. There are so many possibilities with that machine.
I think that the Mac Mini has a lot of potential. I used to look down on them until I started reading a lot of the posts here at MR by owners. One of the things that I don't understand (and there are a bunch) is why does Apple limit the potential of these machines by using laptop components? Yeah, I do realize that it is small, but why is it that small. This is a desktop computer. Why not make something the size of the G4 Cube and use some real and less expensive components? I read a comment recently where someone was talking about the current iMac and making suggestions on how they could make the iMac 50% thinner! I don't know why it is as thin as it is now. These are desktop computers, they do not need to be so small that they can fit into a woman's purse! These are desktop computers and desktop computer buyers want as much performance as possible. So stop hobbling these computers for the sake of style over substance.