bkkcanuck

tadd said:

BTW: External SATA is silly when you have Thunderbolt 

Your external thunderbolt hard drive is SATA...  It goes through the thunderbolt - to a SATA controller and then the hard drive is plugged into the controller  

smartmammal said:

So, they went from a base-priced Mac Mini of $499 to a base-priced Mac Mini of $799 (and no one with any sense would buy one with 128GB of storage)? I realize they beefed them up considerably, but at that price-point, I just don't see it being a choice over an iMac or a portable.

It is not in 'competition' with an iMac or laptop per se (if it was that would mean an overly complicated lineup which Apple tends to shy away from)... it is a choice based on needs.  I am very averse to an all-in-one desktop since in my experience one of the more common things to go is the monitor (back-lighting probably) -- I have had lots of dead ones over the year... second only to Seagate HD as the most failed component.  I also don't use just one monitor, so having a built in one is also not necessary because I am going to use an external monitor anyways.  The laptop is for those that need to bring the computer with them.  I have one of those.  I will be buying a new Mac Mini (likely the i7-8700 6-core one) with 10GB ethernet and 8GB of RAM (which I will upgrade myself to 32GB) -- probably end of this month.

Soli said:

StrangeDays said:

Welp, people got what they wanted. What will the next complaint be? (Price, of course, right)

Of course!

I love what they did, but, for me, the $799 entry level machine is too rich for my blood to replace my headless Mac mini since I only connect to it a couple times a week via my MBP so it just doesn't warrant the price at the point. (Note: That is not a statement that the prices are too high, that Apple is raping us, or that Apple is greedy, only that it's not the right product for me at this time.)

PS: From the demo it kind of looks like the RAM might be socketed again. I have doubts that it is, but it did look like two RAM sticks overlapping each other on screen.

The $499 version that was available had only 4GB of RAM (soldered) and used spinning rust...  Even at $499/599 today, that would be a real waste.  Yes, the RAM is upgradeable on the new version (2 slots apparently) if you want to go that route, but your average user will not...  The last Mac Mini was not worth $499 (IMHO) -- it would be insane to buy that....  the $799 is a better investment even at the higher price. 

hentaiboy said:

eliangonzal said:

I take it from all the bib-dribbling and spoon-clanging that people expected a 2018 Mac mini at 2014 Mac mini prices. 

I think you missed the trend line. In fairness though, Apple is moving its entire product line up market so we should have expected it.

The base configuration graph is meaningless.  The mac mini of 2018 is not the same target audience.  Effectively, it is a completely different computer by the same name and form factor.  You either are in the target audience or you're not... if it is not for you, then you just have to pick something else.   There are no more spinning rust models with 4GB of RAM just so they can hit a price point.

fastasleep said:

smartmammal said:

So, they went from a base-priced Mac Mini of $499 to a base-priced Mac Mini of $799 (and no one with any sense would buy one with 128GB of storage)? I realize they beefed them up considerably, but at that price-point, I just don't see it being a choice over an iMac or a portable.

People using bulk external storage or using the mini as a headless renderer or compiler do not care about storage and will definitely buy this. 

Yes,  I don't know any recent switchers that have gone in and said they want a mac mini... most of the time it is a laptop, and sometimes an iMac... 

The Mac Mini is being repositioned for professional purposes -- and I really really like what they did with it.  I will likely get one at the end of next month.