I do kind of want the huge cinema displays. But they're expensive.
I do kind of want the cylindrical mac pro. But it's expensive.
Apple's laptops are the sweet spot. I want them. The price is right. And they have performed. Tablets and touchscreens suck compared to a solid laptop.
Mac minis are borderline indistinguishable from any other mac during use. But they've always been coasters. Lazy susans. Arm rests. Furniture.
The only time you think about it being a mac mini is when you cycle power, or when you imagine opening it up, and adding more power because multi-tasking.
Providing the mac pro at closer to mini prices would be cool. The polished metal cyclinder is kind of cool. But it's hard to find fetish items that endure six months these days. The death march of cell phone upgrades has seen to that.
Once they started soldering and epoxying internals, well... I start to feel guilty about polluting the environment with electronics waste, and I start googling recycling programs.
Is it, though? After evaluating the 2016 13" (and having owned a 2012, 2014 and early 2015), I now have the Kaby Lake XPS 13".
$1799 for a _similarly_ (because yes, I know it doesn't have Touch ID, or the display - but build quality is similar, the display is better - 3200x1800, more connectivity options) specced model that costs $2499 from Apple.
$700 is a decent chunk of change, and yes, over the course of a couple of years life, for a developer, it's not earth shattering. But it is nearly 40% more expensive, for questionable value.
Even within Apple's own product line though, compare what you get with the cylindrical desktop Mac Pro for the price, and stand it next to one of their own laptops.
Then stand the Mac Mini next to them. It's a lower price, but it's uncharismatic.
A game changer for the mac mini might be improved methods of environmental integration. Most of the time I think about better ways to hide it, out of sight, out of mind.
The only thing I want within immediate reach is a power button, and a wall switch (any variety of toggle) would be ideal. Hard wired. An actual button. I press button, it goes on. I press button, it goes off. Not an animated skeuomorphic 16 million color display depicting one. No wi-fi tether. No analytics. No GPS. No chipset. No thunderbolt. No USB. No IP address. No internet of things. Just a god damned switch. On/off. The end.