Hopefully they keep the internal power supply. An external brick is a step backward.
Also, how do you open this one? Back to the putty knife? Annoying. (And yes, I will be opening whatever Apple releases, it's part of what I do.)
Why? An internal power supply takes up space and by far generates the most heat of any component. External power supply means additional hardware can be added. I respectfully disagree with your take on this.
As for opening it up, that’s a non-issue. With the advent of the M1 SOC you can’t add RAM, you can’t install a bigger SSD, it’s all on the M1,so why would you need to open it up? You do know that RAM and Storage are fixed and not upgradeable, period, right?
The RAM is on the substrate, yes, but the SSD isn’t. So that could be upgraded if Apple decided to allow it. Traditionally, other than for the very first plastic iMacs, the drive was t easily accessible, but the Mini always had that option. So it’s possible that we might see that again, here. That would really make a lot of people happy if they did.
I have a maxed-out 2018 Mac Mini and love the compact design. I'm not in the market for one yet, for a while but I really hope Apple goes all-out on providing an updated Mini at a price point that makes it competitive, along with making it affordable for users that do not want an iMac or MacBook.
I can see server farms buying palette-loads of these for cloud services.
What if...
The Mac mini could be powered via PoE. That sure would simplify a lot of rack wiring!
POE doesn’t supply enough power. It’s good for small, low power devices. It’s an interesting thought though.
I have a maxed-out 2018 Mac Mini and love the compact design. I'm not in the market for one yet, for a while but I really hope Apple goes all-out on providing an updated Mini at a price point that makes it competitive, along with making it affordable for users that do not want an iMac or MacBook.
I can see server farms buying palette-loads of these for cloud services.
What if...
The Mac mini could be powered via PoE. That sure would simplify a lot of rack wiring!
That would reduce the number of cables and it's absolutely possible with available tech and 802.3bt Type 4, which provides up to 100W per port (and 71W per powered device).
However, there are some minor to major issues that make this extremely unlikely...
On the Mac mini side, the current Mac mini allowed for 150W continuous (which is a change over the 2014 model which allowed for 85W, and before that it was 110W and before that started out at 85W). Now, the 2020 M1 Mac mini was fairly unchanged from the hungry Intel version and I've shown Apple has dramatically altered the PSU capacity so it's possible that it could be smaller. It's also possible that it won't looking at the now 140W PSU in the new 16" M1 Max MacBook Pro.
In terms of the rack I, personally, have yet to see such a setup being utilized. Not because we like wires, but because we like to isolate problems and separating power and data is more ideal for both troubleshooting down the road and from a cost perspective up front. Now, I'm sure there are applications where a much more expensive PoE Layer 2 or 3 device is advantageous, but it's definitely not the norm. Additionally, there's significantly more heat and dissipation with PoE's DC current over your standard.
I also don't know PoE could be affected by 10 GigE, which is an option in the Mac mini. I've only ever seen PoE in 10/100/1000 ports, but that could be simply be due to cost or need, not a technical issue—for example, you don't need that much data for an IP phone.
Unless we see this as an already growing segment for rack servers -or- Apple has a very large customer that wants this and figured out how to make it work) which could be themselves) then I don't see it even being on the table.
PS: I don't know if I've ever seen Type 4 in action and have no idea if such devices are in production.
It will take years for the new standard to propagate out enough for Apple to assure themselves that someone buying a Mini would be certain of its working via PoE, so it don’t believe it’s reasonable to expect it. And lots of people are just using their network over WiFi. Another problem would be for commercial customers with a lot of these, while one port can theoretically handle 100 watts under this scheme, the entire router would likely not be able to handle several of these at once.
Painfully obvious: It needs a SSD slot. Not a removal of the underside and difficult installation but an actual slot into which you insert a SSD stick complete with heat sink. This would greatly extend the useful life of the Mac Mini and would be trivial for Apple to add as the SSD's only connector is on its end. Five years from now a M1 Pro or Max will still be a decent processor but the SSD will seem very slow and cramped.
Yep. A PS5 shouldn't be more expandable than a desktop computer in 2022. If the internal power supply is eliminated - it should be for an actual user benefit. Two easily accessible m.2 slots would make the mac mini far more desirable for a broader number of use cases.
What cases would those be for the masses? What is the ratio of users who will actually upgrade the storage versus those who would never open it for any reason now matter how easy it would be to access it?
I’ve upgraded a number of Mini’s for people, and I know of others who have done it themselves. It’s may not be as unusual as you think. A lot of people buy them because they’re upgradable more easily than an IMac. Additionally, I know of people who don’t want to spend the money on an iMac monitor. They just want a cheap monitor with this because color and hi rez isn’t that important to them.
Why? An internal power supply takes up space and by far generates the most heat of any component. External power supply means additional hardware can be added. I respectfully disagree with your take on this.
As for opening it up, that’s a non-issue. With the advent of the M1 SOC you can’t add RAM, you can’t install a bigger SSD, it’s all on the M1,so why would you need to open it up? You do know that RAM and Storage are fixed and not upgradeable, period, right?
- The mac mini has had an internal GPU to keep things neat & clean for about a decade. My intel mac mini server has two hard drives, intel chips, two user upgradeable RAM slots AND an internal PSU. That's plenty of added hardware. If all that can be squeezed into a tiny mac mini in 2014, it is objectively a regression to require an external power brick in 2022.
- Your second line disputes your first line. You cite expandability as the key to the mac mini moving to external power...yet in the same breath state that the new mac mini will not / should not be expandable. 🤔If it is not expandable - than it should certainly not need external power per your logic!
- Apple is going to have to solve the expandability issue for internal storage for the Mac Pro. If it is to be released this year (per Apple's promised roadmap) than they must have solved such a basic necessity for a computer by now. The next Mac Pro must have storage & PCIe expansion to succeed the current Mac Pro (which was the key selling & marketing point over the trashcan Mac).
The current M1 Mini is not upgradeable and you are living in the past. If you still want to tinker and upgrade then Apple is no longer for you. it’s as simple as that. When the entire line is transitioned to the M1 SOC paradigm that will be the end of upgradeability, except perhaps for the high end Mac Pro. So make the move away now so you are not disappointed.
Sadly I think you’re correct. The unified memory SOC architecture means memory couldn’t really be upgraded even if it wasn’t soldered in place and I t’s been years since any Apple consumer computer has allowed GPU upgrades and Apple has steadfastly refused to allow hard drive upgrades. The latter are conceivable upgradable but Apple has made it clear they don’t plan on making them so.
I’m not so sure about that. The RAM sits on the substrate, not on the chip. Apple offers several levels of RAM. The RAM might very well be upgradable. If Apple placed sockets for the RAM instead of soldering them to the substrate, the RAM could have been upgradable. Since we really have no idea as to what Apple’s R&D is working on, or what they are trying to accomplish in the longer term with this concept, we can’t say that something is, or isn’t possible.
more RAM means more lines from that RAM to the fabric. If enough lines are there, denser packages of RAM can be used. Apple knows as well as RAM manufacturers how RAM works. They also design their own mobos, and have designed connectors as well, as we know. If they wanted to make RAM upgradable, they could design an appropriate mini connector, provide the extra lines, and offer RAM packages. They have done so in the past.
It needs an intake and exhaust for the cooling system. The vent in the rear-bottom is maybe the exhaust where hot air comes out. So perhaps the intakes are hidden underneath the skids. This still isn't great for cooling either way. It could be like the intakes for the MBP, with slots in the bottom corners. Wish the air flow was front to back like it is in the Mac Pro. A square footprint limits them on having a good cooling system. Hoping the footprint is identical to the current model at least.
Really don't like an external power supply, in the iMac 24, and this if it has it. I even include laptop power bricks in my hatred list. I despised the one on the Xbox One we had. What a piece of shit hardware that Xbox was, where the external power brick had to be "reset" to fix some of its issues. Microsoft probably earned 20% margins on it, at least.
Otherwise, this might be what I get after the 2013 iMac 27 goes kaput. A port extender dock, and two miniStacks all stacked on top of each other sounds reasonably tidy, but it will require 3, possibly 4, external power bricks with some arrangement shenanigans for the power strip.
I don’t mind the idea at all. It’s no big deal after all, and actually gives about twice the cord length between the computer and the wall..
on small, or thin devices,, removing the power supply has several advantages, other than the bulk. One is temperatures. A good deal of the heat is coming from that. In an Intel Mac, where the electronics produce a fair amount of heat, it doesn’t matter as much, but here, the power supply is likely producing more heat when the machine is being used heavily, than the rest of it. So eliminating that allows easier cooling overall, and more efficient use of the chips in the machine as they don’t have to contend with that excess heat, allowing somewhat higher performance.
secondly, power supplies produce electronic noise which affects the circuits. Removing that noise also allows for better performance and simplifies design as reduced shielding allows for easier air flow and less worries over interference.
Yes, yes, there are advantages and disadvantages to design choices. It's really implied that I prefer Apple do the work and design the power supplies into the boxes. Loved that the AirPort Extreme has the power supply built in. Love that the power supply is built into the current Mac minis. Love that it is built into the iMac 5K. External power bricks do not save any space, they make cable management harder, and the bricks with power plugs attached are the worst. It's simply not user friendly.
Even the ubiquitous 5W power brick for iPhones could use improvement. They positioned the prongs in the center of the plug. I'm the first one to say that symmetry is awesome, but by having it in the center, it means it will be off-center on some outlets, where the hot+return prong receptacles are offset to make room for the ground receptacle. On some power strips, this may mean you can't put it into an outlet because there isn't room.
Anyways, hopefully this new Mac mini is announced in a month. Will be interesting to see what they do. It's been a decade since they changed the ID of the Mac mini. The Mac mini appears to be used a lot in server racks. It's basically a hack to go into a rack though. If this machine is to be designed to both function as a beautiful SFF on a desk and as something that can go into a rack, they could do a lot better than the current square footprint.
Painfully obvious: It needs a SSD slot. Not a removal of the underside and difficult installation but an actual slot into which you insert a SSD stick complete with heat sink. This would greatly extend the useful life of the Mac Mini and would be trivial for Apple to add as the SSD's only connector is on its end. Five years from now a M1 Pro or Max will still be a decent processor but the SSD will seem very slow and cramped.
Yep. A PS5 shouldn't be more expandable than a desktop computer in 2022. If the internal power supply is eliminated - it should be for an actual user benefit. Two easily accessible m.2 slots would make the mac mini far more desirable for a broader number of use cases.
What cases would those be for the masses? What is the ratio of users who will actually upgrade the storage versus those who would never open it for any reason now matter how easy it would be to access it?
It's a two screw affair to add an m.2 SSD to a PS5. Most PS5 owners add internal storage to their machine. There's no reason (beyond form over function) that adding an m.2 stick to a future Mac Mini couldn't be as easy or easier.
Adding an M.2 is generally no more difficult than adding RAM sticks. All intel mac minis allow for an owner to easily add / swap memory sticks. Many owners take advantage of this capability. Although more difficult than it ever needed to be due to the intentionally poor design of the round hole on the bottom of mac minis, many owners also swap out the 2.5" drives.
The camera company, Mavo, allows users to use stock m.2 drives as a memory card installed in their special enclosures. Apple could do something similar (sort of a mini version of what they do with the Mac Pro modules). A mac mini without an internal PSU could easily accommodate two m.2 slots. We both know that the odds are that Apple would prefer to artificially limit the potential of the mac mini (planned obsolescence).
What source do you have that proves many users open up their Mac mini and upgrade/replace their RAM? Or any Mac, including the Mac Pro for that matter. Just saying it doesn't make it true.
Painfully obvious: It needs a SSD slot. Not a removal of the underside and difficult installation but an actual slot into which you insert a SSD stick complete with heat sink. This would greatly extend the useful life of the Mac Mini and would be trivial for Apple to add as the SSD's only connector is on its end. Five years from now a M1 Pro or Max will still be a decent processor but the SSD will seem very slow and cramped.
Yep. A PS5 shouldn't be more expandable than a desktop computer in 2022. If the internal power supply is eliminated - it should be for an actual user benefit. Two easily accessible m.2 slots would make the mac mini far more desirable for a broader number of use cases.
What cases would those be for the masses? What is the ratio of users who will actually upgrade the storage versus those who would never open it for any reason now matter how easy it would be to access it?
I’ve upgraded a number of Mini’s for people, and I know of others who have done it themselves. It’s may not be as unusual as you think. A lot of people buy them because they’re upgradable more easily than an IMac. Additionally, I know of people who don’t want to spend the money on an iMac monitor. They just want a cheap monitor with this because color and hi rez isn’t that important to them.
Okay you've upgraded a few...but what is the ratio of the millions that have the capability that actually have?
I think a souped-up Mini would be a very smart move for Apple. For those who want a small and powerful computer and also for those who are running server farms.
If Apple is going this direction with the Mini then they should also be developing an Apple branded display to go along with it. That’s my hope. I’ve been patiently waiting for the larger iMac but a Mini with a 27” or 32” Apple display would be worth considering for sure.
That is a solution that everyone wants, but Apple no longer sees it that way. Apple already has an Apple-branded display that goes with the Mac mini. Haven't you seen their keynotes and ads that prominently show their $6K Apple-branded Display next to their cheapest Mac? Apple honestly expects buyers of a Mac mini to spend $6K for their Apple-branded display. What are they thinking??? Haven't you noticed that Apple gave up on the original marketing plan of the mini years ago with the BYOKDM (Bring Your Own Keyboard, Display, and Mouse)? Apple doesn't even refer to that anymore, and they have been raising the price of the mini ever since. The lowest price mini is not even worth buying. When you increase the memory and storage, now forced to pay Apple tax for those upgrades, you are suddenly more expensive than an iMac that already includes a display. There are plenty of great displays currently on the market that would be cheaper than any display Apple releases, and provides the same or better picture quality for non-pro use.
I got two Samsung 28" 4K monitors for $289 each on sale and they replaced my old Apple Thunderbolt Displays that were slowly dying with the LED 'burn' at the bottom. The Samsung picture quality blows away the old Thunderbolt displays, and they don't heat up the room like the Thunderbolt displays did. A single Thunderbolt dock took care of all the ports, so I don't need them built into the displays, and I never used the speakers in the Thunderbolt displays. Also, they are about half the weight of the old Thunderbolt Displays, so they are much easier on my desktop monitor arms (since I use the VESA Mount option).
So Apple is eliminating expandability, sealing up the mac completely AND requiring an external power brick - for no benefits. This design is a huge step backwards versus the intel Mac minis. It's essentially a headless laptop. I won't bother with this model. It would be compelling if Apple made the bottom or top easily flip up (that bottom round cut out for a square machine was truly absurd) AND they added a pair of m.2 storage slots - now that would be a tangible benefit of moving to an external power supply (and an actual upgrader over dual SSD mac mini server configs). I know it won't happen - Apple and their f*ckin' walled garden of no upgrades & no repairs from a pretend green company.
You are OBVIOUSLY in the wrong place.
He has a VALID point. Just because you don't like his opinion, doesn't mean he is in the wrong place or should leave.
All Macs moving forward are not upgradable and not repairable. You must buy the memory and storage at the time of purchase, and you must pay Apple's inflated prices. Once the warranty expires, NO ONE is going to pay Apple thousands of dollars to replace the motherboard if there is something wrong with the Mac. And the motherboard is not repairable, memory cannot be replaced, storage cannot be replaced. The only replacement part will be an entire new motherboard. Since they cannot be repaired economically anymore, people will throw them away. You are not going to like that opinion/fact, but that is the cold hard truth of the matter.
So Apple is eliminating expandability, sealing up the mac completely AND requiring an external power brick - for no benefits. This design is a huge step backwards versus the intel Mac minis. It's essentially a headless laptop. I won't bother with this model. It would be compelling if Apple made the bottom or top easily flip up (that bottom round cut out for a square machine was truly absurd) AND they added a pair of m.2 storage slots - now that would be a tangible benefit of moving to an external power supply (and an actual upgrader over dual SSD mac mini server configs). I know it won't happen - Apple and their f*ckin' walled garden of no upgrades & no repairs from a pretend green company.
You are OBVIOUSLY in the wrong place.
He has a VALID point. Just because you don't like his opinion, doesn't mean he is in the wrong place or should leave.
All Macs moving forward are not upgradable and not repairable. You must buy the memory and storage at the time of purchase, and you must pay Apple's inflated prices. Once the warranty expires, NO ONE is going to pay Apple thousands of dollars to replace the motherboard if there is something wrong with the Mac. And the motherboard is not repairable, memory cannot be replaced, storage cannot be replaced. The only replacement part will be an entire new motherboard. Since they cannot be repaired economically anymore, people will throw them away. You are not going to like that opinion/fact, but that is the cold hard truth of the matter.
It needs an intake and exhaust for the cooling system. The vent in the rear-bottom is maybe the exhaust where hot air comes out. So perhaps the intakes are hidden underneath the skids. This still isn't great for cooling either way. It could be like the intakes for the MBP, with slots in the bottom corners. Wish the air flow was front to back like it is in the Mac Pro. A square footprint limits them on having a good cooling system. Hoping the footprint is identical to the current model at least.
Really don't like an external power supply, in the iMac 24, and this if it has it. I even include laptop power bricks in my hatred list. I despised the one on the Xbox One we had. What a piece of shit hardware that Xbox was, where the external power brick had to be "reset" to fix some of its issues. Microsoft probably earned 20% margins on it, at least.
Otherwise, this might be what I get after the 2013 iMac 27 goes kaput. A port extender dock, and two miniStacks all stacked on top of each other sounds reasonably tidy, but it will require 3, possibly 4, external power bricks with some arrangement shenanigans for the power strip.
I don’t mind the idea at all. It’s no big deal after all, and actually gives about twice the cord length between the computer and the wall..
on small, or thin devices,, removing the power supply has several advantages, other than the bulk. One is temperatures. A good deal of the heat is coming from that. In an Intel Mac, where the electronics produce a fair amount of heat, it doesn’t matter as much, but here, the power supply is likely producing more heat when the machine is being used heavily, than the rest of it. So eliminating that allows easier cooling overall, and more efficient use of the chips in the machine as they don’t have to contend with that excess heat, allowing somewhat higher performance.
secondly, power supplies produce electronic noise which affects the circuits. Removing that noise also allows for better performance and simplifies design as reduced shielding allows for easier air flow and less worries over interference.
Yes, yes, there are advantages and disadvantages to design choices. It's really implied that I prefer Apple do the work and design the power supplies into the boxes. Loved that the AirPort Extreme has the power supply built in. Love that the power supply is built into the current Mac minis. Love that it is built into the iMac 5K. External power bricks do not save any space, they make cable management harder, and the bricks with power plugs attached are the worst. It's simply not user friendly.
Even the ubiquitous 5W power brick for iPhones could use improvement. They positioned the prongs in the center of the plug. I'm the first one to say that symmetry is awesome, but by having it in the center, it means it will be off-center on some outlets, where the hot+return prong receptacles are offset to make room for the ground receptacle. On some power strips, this may mean you can't put it into an outlet because there isn't room.
Anyways, hopefully this new Mac mini is announced in a month. Will be interesting to see what they do. It's been a decade since they changed the ID of the Mac mini. The Mac mini appears to be used a lot in server racks. It's basically a hack to go into a rack though. If this machine is to be designed to both function as a beautiful SFF on a desk and as something that can go into a rack, they could do a lot better than the current square footprint.
No high power power brick will have anything other than a standard plug, so compatibility with sockets and other plugs isn’t a problem.
I’ve had numerous devices with power boxes on the floor. They’ve never presented a problem. You may be esthetically, or otherwise repelled by them, but the concept has received many good reviews for the 24” iMac, as an example. If it can improve heat, save weight and improve performance in the computer, I’m all for them.
Painfully obvious: It needs a SSD slot. Not a removal of the underside and difficult installation but an actual slot into which you insert a SSD stick complete with heat sink. This would greatly extend the useful life of the Mac Mini and would be trivial for Apple to add as the SSD's only connector is on its end. Five years from now a M1 Pro or Max will still be a decent processor but the SSD will seem very slow and cramped.
Yep. A PS5 shouldn't be more expandable than a desktop computer in 2022. If the internal power supply is eliminated - it should be for an actual user benefit. Two easily accessible m.2 slots would make the mac mini far more desirable for a broader number of use cases.
What cases would those be for the masses? What is the ratio of users who will actually upgrade the storage versus those who would never open it for any reason now matter how easy it would be to access it?
I’ve upgraded a number of Mini’s for people, and I know of others who have done it themselves. It’s may not be as unusual as you think. A lot of people buy them because they’re upgradable more easily than an IMac. Additionally, I know of people who don’t want to spend the money on an iMac monitor. They just want a cheap monitor with this because color and hi rez isn’t that important to them.
Okay you've upgraded a few...but what is the ratio of the millions that have the capability that actually have?
You don’t need to have a majority of people upgrading something to make the concept valid. I can’t give you a ratio any more than you can. Apple said originally that they removed the SD card slot because they found that “only” about 20% were using it. I was stunned that that was the number. I thought that when they said that few used it, the number would be more like 5%. But the protests, as you know, were so fierce, that they put it back.
I just know that a large percentage of everyone I know who has one, including some companies that use quite a few as servers, have upgraded them. Often, they’re those who didn’t get the higher configs, but later decided that it was a mistake, and that indeed, they needed it.
Apple are making plenty of backwards steps. Since the loss of Ive and, of course Jobs, Macs are getting bigger and heavier as they pander to every user wish list out there. There is a total loss of design discipline no doubt blindsided by their transition to ARM-based chips.
I predict the MacBook Air replacement will be bigger and heavier than its predecessor. In fact, Apple are unlikely to call it the 'Air' anymore or risk ridicule as they would have if they had released the Mac Studio as a 'Mac Mini', as they should have. Thus a downward spiral into design mediocrity....
Apple are making plenty of backwards steps. Since the loss of Ive and, of course Jobs, Macs are getting bigger and heavier as they pander to every user wish list out there. There is a total loss of design discipline no doubt blindsided by their transition to ARM-based chips.
I predict the MacBook Air replacement will be bigger and heavier than its predecessor. In fact, Apple are unlikely to call it the 'Air' anymore or risk ridicule as they would have if they had released the Mac Studio as a 'Mac Mini', as they should have. Thus a downward spiral into design mediocrity....
They "should have" risked ridicule by calling the Mac Studio a Mac mini, when it's almost three times the size of the Mac mini?
They're also still selling and have shown no sign of discontinuing the Mac mini, it sells alongside the Studio, so no idea where this comparison to a bigger, heavier replacement for the MacBook Air is coming from.
Apple are making plenty of backwards steps. Since the loss of Ive and, of course Jobs, Macs are getting bigger and heavier as they pander to every user wish list out there. There is a total loss of design discipline no doubt blindsided by their transition to ARM-based chips.
I predict the MacBook Air replacement will be bigger and heavier than its predecessor. In fact, Apple are unlikely to call it the 'Air' anymore or risk ridicule as they would have if they had released the Mac Studio as a 'Mac Mini', as they should have. Thus a downward spiral into design mediocrity....
They "should have" risked ridicule by calling the Mac Studio a Mac mini, when it's almost three times the size of the Mac mini?
Apple are making plenty of backwards steps. Since the loss of Ive and, of course Jobs, Macs are getting bigger and heavier as they pander to every user wish list out there. There is a total loss of design discipline no doubt blindsided by their transition to ARM-based chips.
I predict the MacBook Air replacement will be bigger and heavier than its predecessor. In fact, Apple are unlikely to call it the 'Air' anymore or risk ridicule as they would have if they had released the Mac Studio as a 'Mac Mini', as they should have. Thus a downward spiral into design mediocrity….
What about Apple Silicon do you beleive is making Macs larger? Do you think the chips are larger and require larger fans and heatsinks for a given performance envelop over Intel chips? I can assure you they don't.
I can also assure that there's nothing "backwards" about their long-awaited, fast, and smooth transition to Apple Silicon. These are the best Macs Apple has ever had. The Mac Studio isn't the *new* Mac mini as the price point isn't even close to the same and all signs point to an M2 Mac mini. The upcoming Mac mini also looks to be smaller, but that's because it's no longer a board redesign to house Apple Silicon, but a ground up redesign, which, as previously mentioned needs less space to disperse the heat.
I've been waiting for Apple to make this transition for a very long time—sometime between buying PA Semi and the A-series chip quickly getting close to outperforming typical WinPCs. Once the iPad starting besting them I was long certain that Apple Silicon in Macs was just a matter of time and mostly too get the SW side up to speed. It's a great time to be a Mac user.
Apple are making plenty of backwards steps. Since the loss of Ive and, of course Jobs, Macs are getting bigger and heavier as they pander to every user wish list out there. There is a total loss of design discipline no doubt blindsided by their transition to ARM-based chips.
I predict the MacBook Air replacement will be bigger and heavier than its predecessor. In fact, Apple are unlikely to call it the 'Air' anymore or risk ridicule as they would have if they had released the Mac Studio as a 'Mac Mini', as they should have. Thus a downward spiral into design mediocrity....
They "should have" risked ridicule by calling the Mac Studio a Mac mini, when it's almost three times the size of the Mac mini?
Apple are making plenty of backwards steps. Since the loss of Ive and, of course Jobs, Macs are getting bigger and heavier as they pander to every user wish list out there. There is a total loss of design discipline no doubt blindsided by their transition to ARM-based chips.
I predict the MacBook Air replacement will be bigger and heavier than its predecessor. In fact, Apple are unlikely to call it the 'Air' anymore or risk ridicule as they would have if they had released the Mac Studio as a 'Mac Mini', as they should have. Thus a downward spiral into design mediocrity....
They "should have" risked ridicule by calling the Mac Studio a Mac mini, when it's almost three times the size of the Mac mini?
He wrote "would have".
They also wrote "should have".
Ah. I see that other mention near the end. Possibly a typo, but it does read like he's butt hurt about Apple not doing something he does't want them to do but also expected them to do.
Comments
more RAM means more lines from that RAM to the fabric. If enough lines are there, denser packages of RAM can be used. Apple knows as well as RAM manufacturers how RAM works. They also design their own mobos, and have designed connectors as well, as we know. If they wanted to make RAM upgradable, they could design an appropriate mini connector, provide the extra lines, and offer RAM packages. They have done so in the past.
Even the ubiquitous 5W power brick for iPhones could use improvement. They positioned the prongs in the center of the plug. I'm the first one to say that symmetry is awesome, but by having it in the center, it means it will be off-center on some outlets, where the hot+return prong receptacles are offset to make room for the ground receptacle. On some power strips, this may mean you can't put it into an outlet because there isn't room.
Anyways, hopefully this new Mac mini is announced in a month. Will be interesting to see what they do. It's been a decade since they changed the ID of the Mac mini. The Mac mini appears to be used a lot in server racks. It's basically a hack to go into a rack though. If this machine is to be designed to both function as a beautiful SFF on a desk and as something that can go into a rack, they could do a lot better than the current square footprint.
I got two Samsung 28" 4K monitors for $289 each on sale and they replaced my old Apple Thunderbolt Displays that were slowly dying with the LED 'burn' at the bottom. The Samsung picture quality blows away the old Thunderbolt displays, and they don't heat up the room like the Thunderbolt displays did. A single Thunderbolt dock took care of all the ports, so I don't need them built into the displays, and I never used the speakers in the Thunderbolt displays. Also, they are about half the weight of the old Thunderbolt Displays, so they are much easier on my desktop monitor arms (since I use the VESA Mount option).
All Macs moving forward are not upgradable and not repairable. You must buy the memory and storage at the time of purchase, and you must pay Apple's inflated prices. Once the warranty expires, NO ONE is going to pay Apple thousands of dollars to replace the motherboard if there is something wrong with the Mac. And the motherboard is not repairable, memory cannot be replaced, storage cannot be replaced. The only replacement part will be an entire new motherboard. Since they cannot be repaired economically anymore, people will throw them away. You are not going to like that opinion/fact, but that is the cold hard truth of the matter.
I’ve had numerous devices with power boxes on the floor. They’ve never presented a problem. You may be esthetically, or otherwise repelled by them, but the concept has received many good reviews for the 24” iMac, as an example. If it can improve heat, save weight and improve performance in the computer, I’m all for them.
I just know that a large percentage of everyone I know who has one, including some companies that use quite a few as servers, have upgraded them. Often, they’re those who didn’t get the higher configs, but later decided that it was a mistake, and that indeed, they needed it.
I predict the MacBook Air replacement will be bigger and heavier than its predecessor. In fact, Apple are unlikely to call it the 'Air' anymore or risk ridicule as they would have if they had released the Mac Studio as a 'Mac Mini', as they should have. Thus a downward spiral into design mediocrity....
They're also still selling and have shown no sign of discontinuing the Mac mini, it sells alongside the Studio, so no idea where this comparison to a bigger, heavier replacement for the MacBook Air is coming from.
What about Apple Silicon do you beleive is making Macs larger? Do you think the chips are larger and require larger fans and heatsinks for a given performance envelop over Intel chips? I can assure you they don't.
I can also assure that there's nothing "backwards" about their long-awaited, fast, and smooth transition to Apple Silicon. These are the best Macs Apple has ever had. The Mac Studio isn't the *new* Mac mini as the price point isn't even close to the same and all signs point to an M2 Mac mini. The upcoming Mac mini also looks to be smaller, but that's because it's no longer a board redesign to house Apple Silicon, but a ground up redesign, which, as previously mentioned needs less space to disperse the heat.
I've been waiting for Apple to make this transition for a very long time—sometime between buying PA Semi and the A-series chip quickly getting close to outperforming typical WinPCs. Once the iPad starting besting them I was long certain that Apple Silicon in Macs was just a matter of time and mostly too get the SW side up to speed. It's a great time to be a Mac user.