Mac Mini 2014 Refresh Might Be Coming Soon

Leaks, intentional or otherwise, serve to inspire dreams of devices or updates, some of which sadly never come to be. Considering how the Apple's Mac mini is long overdue an update, it is only understandable that this latest leak about a mid-2014 refresh will stir up hope that the company has not yet turned its back on the mini desktop line.

The Mac mini hasn't gotten any love ever since the 2012 model was unveiled in October of that year. In the meantime, Apple has released several new mobile devices, redesigned its Mac Pro computer, and, as of yesterday, updated its MacBook Pro notebook series to the latest Intel chips. Is it any wonder then, that the Mac mini has become ripe for rumors, speculation and leaks?

The latest signs of an upcoming refresh to the Mac mini comes via an update to the Boot Camp support page, now updated again to remove the presumably erroneous entry. The table for supported Mac mini models for the dual-boot software showed, at the very top, a "Mac mini (Mid 2014)" that no one has yet seen nor heard of. It could possibly just have been a clerical error, but the desire for a new Mac mini is probably too great that it is more readily attributed to an accidental leak of something that is yet to come.

Early this year, there was already talk of a new Mac mini that will come bearing Intel's latest generation Haswell processors, in particular a Core i7, which is definitely a step up from the Core i5 in the current model. Since Apple has just refreshed its MacBook Pros with new Haswell chips as well, the timing of this new leak seems almost too suspicious.

But should 2014 end with no Mac mini in sight, the matter becomes less of a "when" and more of a "why". Two years is a pretty long time for Apple to ignore a product line and it could be leading some to ask whether the Mac mini still has a place in the company's product portfolio at all.

VIA: MacRumors