Soldato
Slightly shocked and amazed there isn’t a base/dock thing yet to give it more ports.
*** The official 2023 and 2024 Mac mini thread (it has the M2 chip, the M4 chip and everything!) ***
- Thread starter Feek
- Start date
Soldato
There is for the last gen and before Mac mini. It will come in no time.
I like it. Although it won’t fit with my desk setup so probably won’t make it.
The intake and exhaust being moved to the bottom will certainly need a bit of thought compared to the last case which exhausted out the back, meaning the dock could be directly underneath.
I looked at those previously and didn’t see the point the transfer speeds were terrible. Which all comes down to my original point with these being smaller, it’s all pretty pointless if you need to buy a good sized dock for ports or an expensive add on to add ports and maintain any sort of speed. The caldigit dock is near £400 and bigger than the Mac mini.
Yeah I do agree but does depend on your use. I've got an external ssd and a hub the are then tucked under the desk so its still very clean. The rest of my storage is a NAS so it works well for me with it's new size
Yeah fair point, I just don't see why they didn't keep the size format add more ports and even an nvme slot themselves for additional storage and another cost. They can see how popular the docks are and there's clearly enough space to add one in the older chassis or even a mid point between the two sizes. Even if they didn't add more points they could have added that.
Just put them on them on top?
Starting to vertical stands which allows airflow into the fan and access to the power button. I assume that means we'll see hubs doing the same.
A Quadra 700 mini stand would be cool.
Because it's Apple. They stopped doing things like that a long time ago. For the target market the ports will be enough.
I was wondering why they socketed the nvme this time, but I assume it's solely to simplify production. They only have to make one board instead of different storage capacity boards.
Last edited:
Caporegime
Because if Google and Facebooks expertise is advertising, Apples expertise is making people spend more money than they want/should spend on their hardware. They are absolutely masterful at offering you nearly enough on the base model. Now they have added 16gb, ostensibly for the user but really for their AI, you now have a fantastic machine with 256gb storage for a great price. You could stick an external HD on that but your actually working drive for most people is far too small. So you realistically upgrade to 512gb storage. Now you're at £799 but for £200 more you could future proof your device and make sure you don't worry about storage. Now you're at £1000.
Then you realise that for £400 more you could have a much faster processor or double your memory. If you get the processor upgrade you also get TB5 instead of TB4. You also get 24gb memory instead of 16. So quite a few extras for £400 more. Only its £400 more and then you probably want to bump the storage back up to 1tb because you might as well future proof this machine.
Suddenly that £600 machine is a £1600 machine but its OK because you won't need to replace it for years. Lets ignore the fact that you would have been fine with the £600 machine or the £800 machine with extra storage. And lets ignore the fact that what you will use it for could be done on an M1 from 3 years ago just as well. They guide you up that upgrade path like absolutel MFers.
Its almost always far better to buy a cheaper machine that is slightly future proof vs an all out machine that will last you for years because Apples upgrades are insanely expensive. My M1 Macbook Pro was a decent spec at the time (3 years ago) for £2800. The current base spec M4 now beats it pretty roundly. I don't regret buying it because it saves me time on my work but if I didn't use the upgraded storage and memory I would have been better off going for a base spec and then buying a new one again, perhaps next year.
I believe partially its a security thing but its also likely a "its repairable" thing that they can point as despite it fundamentally not. I have been watching the launch of the mac mini and its fascinating. Loads of people asking if they should upgrade from their overspecced M1 max that they do work on that would have been fine on a base spec M1 air. Youtubers have picked up on the fact that the storage is upgradeable and now make it sound like you just go down your local computer shop and say "8tb for my mac please" and pop their mini open and chuck it in.
There won't be a consumer friendly way to upgrade the mini storage for at least a year I reckon. A kickstarter is just going for M1 and M2 studio storage from a guy that has created the PCB and sourced chips to build his own. They are supposed to be ready in Jan 25.
Caporegime
A VAST majority of people will be fine on the base machine for the next decade.
Then there is the next size of the population where the base machine will be fine for the next 3-5 years.
There are very few people who actually need a M4 Pro, with more ram and more storage. These are the niche of the niche, video editors, lots of VM, whose machine offer return for investments.
I am just going to stick with a base M4 with a bump to 24gb RAM, with my OWC 1M2 nvme enclosure now, the transfer speed will be same as the internal base M4 anyway so will keep the internal 256gb SSD.
Then there is the next size of the population where the base machine will be fine for the next 3-5 years.
There are very few people who actually need a M4 Pro, with more ram and more storage. These are the niche of the niche, video editors, lots of VM, whose machine offer return for investments.
I am just going to stick with a base M4 with a bump to 24gb RAM, with my OWC 1M2 nvme enclosure now, the transfer speed will be same as the internal base M4 anyway so will keep the internal 256gb SSD.
I think you're over thinking it. Apple tried competing in the bang for buck arena in the Scully era and it nearly bankrupted them. They switched to maximising profit and targeting high margins and people with fat wallets. As do Porsche.
Part of that is marketing to sell you an updated machine.
How many people actually "need" the speed increase (and features) over a M1. I mean I want one and I totally don't need one. Hardly use the M1 MacBook Air I have.
I mean look at it ... It's like a kitten.
Part of that is marketing to sell you an updated machine.
How many people actually "need" the speed increase (and features) over a M1. I mean I want one and I totally don't need one. Hardly use the M1 MacBook Air I have.
I mean look at it ... It's like a kitten.
Last edited:
Apple knows exactly how to suck me in
Caporegime
Yes there is lots of marketing to sell you a machine you don't need ie any upgrade but thats ignoring their genius of making their upgrade path a slippery slope to an expensive config that you don't need.
That's not genius that's price gouging, and that's acknowledging the design and quality of Apple Products.
New Mac mini is extruded not milled which they say is new. I've always loved the minis because of the integrated PSU. I hate power bricks.
New Mac mini is extruded not milled which they say is new. I've always loved the minis because of the integrated PSU. I hate power bricks.
Caporegime
Just ignore the upgrade path, imagine if they don't offer an upgrade path and only the base model.
Great value. Period.
------
The upgrade path - not good value. But this is a separate question altogether.
Great value. Period.
------
The upgrade path - not good value. But this is a separate question altogether.
Two years ago, I switched to An iPhone from android because I was allowing myself to get distracted by rooting android and wanted more simplicity. a few short months after that, I thought to myself "hey iOS isn't that bad, maybe i'll enjoy an iPad to read comics on." it stops there, right? Yeah but then you see MacOS, and you think to yourself that maybe a less cluttered desktop would improve your workflow. Two years in, I've sleptwalked into an apple watch, an iPhone, an ipad, a macbook pro and a mac mini, and i'm looking for all my home automation stuff to be matter compatible.
God help me, i got indoctrinated into the apple ecosystem and I didn't even notice it.
Last edited:
I got sucked into apple since the iPhone. I had a very brief period on android and a PC but tbh that was more a time I couldn't afford Apple stuff
I'm actually working on the Mac mini today, it's working great. An absolute bargain for £500! Just need to sell my MacBook Pro now and then I can replace it with a more portable Air!
Odd thing going on with my Mac Mini M4, I am running a Dell G3223Q 32 inch 4K hdr monitor at 3840 x2160 resolution at 120hz, which all looks fine to my eyes.
For some reason the HDR content tab/button in display manager seems to turn itself off, I didn't have this issue with my previous Mac Mini.
Cheers all
For some reason the HDR content tab/button in display manager seems to turn itself off, I didn't have this issue with my previous Mac Mini.
Cheers all
Last edited:
@fez
Bang on.
/me rubs his M1 Mac Studio Ultra (base spec but with 2Tb SSD).
I need the space, but could have bought the absolute base model Studio.
Bang on.
/me rubs his M1 Mac Studio Ultra (base spec but with 2Tb SSD).
I need the space, but could have bought the absolute base model Studio.