I know most of you are just aching for moreiPhone commentary , but let me offer a slender deflexion into the earthly concern of other Mac hardware . Now that the Worldwide Developers Conference has passed with no Modern hardware proclamation , and many people are pin for new Macs , it ’s time to start speculating . Or at least wishing .

You see , I ’ve been wish for several years now that Apple would sate the gaping hole in its desktop product card between the low - oddment , non - expandable Mac miniskirt and the high - end , tops - expandible Mac Pro ( antecedently encounter by the Power Mac G5 ) . What ’s that ? You say it ’s called the iMac ? unluckily , the iMac does n’t really count — it ’s a slap-up automobile , but in terms of expansion and upgrade options , it ’s consanguine to a Mac mini with a built - in video display , which , in some path , makes it evenlessupgradeable than the miniskirt .

As a Macworld forum member — a recent switcher from Windows — recently wrote :

Amen , brother . What I ’d like to see is a minitower design with — and this is just one potential shape that would fulfill my wishing — a reasonably powerful processor ( perhaps a mellow - end Core 2 Duo or a single Xeon ) ; a good graphics card in an upgradeable slot ; a enough amount of RAM and surd - driving force infinite ; a single complimentary PCI Express slot ; and board for one additional intemperate drive . The ability to trade out the optical drive would be a nice touch . I think such a political machine would be a about - unadulterated halfway dry land between the Mac mini and Mac Pro ; my code name for it isMythical Midrange Mac Minitower — MMMM for unforesightful . ( experience free to call it theMac average , instead . ) And in my ongoing daydream , the MMMM would trade for a relatively fair $ 1,499 to $ 1,599 .

Sounds great , eh ? A no - brainer , right ? Well , I ’m indisputable that the wise to folks at Apple have considered just such a production . Discussions have likely involved topic of production , inventory , and increased ware - line complexness . But perhaps most of all , there ’s surely considerable fear that sale of the more - expensive Mac Pro would fall as some people buy MMMMs instead .

Even if this fear has merit — and I think it does — I contend that the overall upside is deserving the peril . Consider the follow four groups of hoi polloi who would be prize nominee for the MMMM :

The first chemical group represents a possible personnel casualty of revenue . There ’s also a risk , noted above , that sales of iMacs would decrease as mass in Group 2 purchase the MMMM or else ; this may or may not affect profits , depending on the profit margins of each electronic computer .

But here ’s the thing : First , serious pros are still going to buy the Mac Pro . ( Heck , I ’d still corrupt one — I’m sitting here next to a Mac Pro with 4 GB of RAM , four SATA punishing drives , two optic drives , and two television lineup , so the MMMM would n’t be sufficient for my geeky needs . ) And , in fact , many of these hoi polloi might buymultipleMMMMs , either instead of a single Mac Pro or in accession to one ; for example , I bed many developers who wouldloveto have a few MMMMs sitting in their situation .

Second , there ’s a good probability that enough people in Groups 3 and 4 , above , would buy the MMMM , along with people in Group 2 who would buy the MMMMandan Apple display , that any loss of Mac Pro revenue would not only be cancel , but would in reality be surpassed by extra sales .

In other words , the MMMM ’s potential securities industry , which includes raw customer as well as extra sales to current Mac owner , is large enough to make the MMMM worth make believe .

It ’s for these reasons that I think Apple will finally produce such a machine . Now that the first few surges of Mac Pro sale — when the Mac Pro was first released and when the Adobe apps went Universal , for example — are in our rearward - view mirror , thus reducing cannibalization of Mac Pro sales , I ’m keep open my fingers pass over that we ’ll be seeing the MMMM , or something like it , before long .

With that wish — and prediction — out of the way , I can release my attention to my next pipe dream : a smaller , lighter Mac notebook …