Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
2014 Mac Mini tear down information inside
- Thread starter rrl
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Thanks for the info. I hadn't even thought of that. Both my Macs have M500 SSDs as boot drives. Both had TRIM enabled via a command line or two I found out there in Webland. I didn't think to look since installing Yosemite.
If no TRIM is available with Yosemite I might keep my new 2.6 quad that is arriving on Friday running Mavericks. The 2.3 quad I bought earlier this year defaulted to Mav on Internet Restore. I'll assume that the new one does too.
$80 will get you from 8 GB to 16 GB. you can bet apple gets its RAM much cheaper than that.
What Apple pays for RAM is irrelevant. What is relevant is what a 16gb upgrade costs the CONSUMER, since the 8gb existing RAM is worthless.
Even upgrading the 2012 to 16gb costs well over $120 just in parts (I just paid $136 for crucial 16gb a couple of days ago), so $200 is a little high but not completely out of line considering its warranted and installed.
I don't care about the soldered RAM. red herring/who cares. Get the 16GB for $200 more and call it good.
More concerning is the CPU benchmarks. I've yet to see real-world numbers where somebody has hooked up all 3 machines and tested them. I see theoretical benchmarks, estimates, etc.
Benchmark the new machines, somebody!
More concerning is the CPU benchmarks. I've yet to see real-world numbers where somebody has hooked up all 3 machines and tested them. I see theoretical benchmarks, estimates, etc.
Benchmark the new machines, somebody!
sure it's relevant. that's their cost, and should serve as a basis for reasonable pricing. if you are only going to consider how much the consumer would have to otherwise pay, then what about now with the soldered RAM? the consumer would have to upgrade their entire mini to upgrade the RAM. so should they charge what it would cost to upgrade the mini for RAM upgrades? what about CPU upgrades? not to mention 8 GB is still a good amount of RAM that could be used elsewhere.
to be fair, apple isn't the only one guilty of price gouging for pre-installed RAM, only you don't really have a choice with them. tbh it's not really that much money, but let's not sugar coat gouging and call it what it is.
Is it still possible to stick two 2.5" drives in these new minis?
Im done being pissed about soldered on RAM.
But still hoping I can reuse my 2.5" SSD + HDD combo from my 2011 mini in the 2014 mini. (Looking at the middle model in particular)
Im done being pissed about soldered on RAM.
But still hoping I can reuse my 2.5" SSD + HDD combo from my 2011 mini in the 2014 mini. (Looking at the middle model in particular)
That didn't take long. I am mighty pissed. I had a 2009 Mac mini and had been greatly anticipating the next version. So instead last Friday I went and bought my last Mac Mini (a Late 2012 quad core i7).
That is an awesome machine.
----------
And the Magic Eight Ball says... Not looking good.
Nope. A PCI blade and a 2.5 inch is about it. I think I am 99.9% right.
Nope, still not relevant. The market dictates retail prices, not manufacturer costs. All the cost does is help to establish a bill of materials.
Regardless of whether the RAM costs Apple $1 or $100, they deem the market price to be $200. Since people seem to be paying it, it looks like it's close enough to me.
Gouging doesn't work long term in a free market economy. The market only bears what people are willing to pay. If people are willing to pay the price, it's not too high. If they aren't, the price eventually falls. Since the price isn't falling, we know what Apple thinks.
Only rationalization that I can think of...
I have a 2012 i7 quad, so I'm happy with what I have. In terms of tech support, I wonder how much Apple will save by no longer wondering if any modifications have been made. Warranty vs non-warranty. An hour call now takes ten minutes because you don't have to talk someone through memory swaps. Not white-knighting, just thinking of how Apple could justify this change. They must have anticipated a backlash.
I have a 2012 i7 quad, so I'm happy with what I have. In terms of tech support, I wonder how much Apple will save by no longer wondering if any modifications have been made. Warranty vs non-warranty. An hour call now takes ten minutes because you don't have to talk someone through memory swaps. Not white-knighting, just thinking of how Apple could justify this change. They must have anticipated a backlash.
I know where you are coming from, the price the market will bear and all that. That's corporate thinking for apple, while I'm thinking from the side of the consumer who isn't bound to the apple ecosystem. I'm not expecting to get memory at cost, only at fair market value with a small markup for what should be a commodity if not for the vendor lockdown. I have never understood why a consumer would take apple's side unless they were highly invested in its business. I think we'll just have to agree to disagree.
Last edited:
We can agree to disagree, but let's be clear. This may be Apple's corporate thinking, but it's also basic business for every for profit company out there. Last I checked, Apple didn't change their name to UNICEF Computers. They are in business to make a profit...something they are very, very good at. Selling everything, including upgrades for what the market will bear is part of that business model.
We all have a choice to buy any product we want. But Apple's latest earnings report showed a 19% increase in Mac sales, so they must be doing something right. The earnings report also showed gross profit margin estimates for q1 2015 of 37.5-38.5%.
You mention being able to buy memory at fair market value...that's exactly what you are getting. Apple's RAM upgrade price is in line with other computer manufacturers. You might not like the decision to solder the memory on the new models...but you aren't forced to buy a new mini either.
I take Apple's side not because I am heavily invested, though I do trade it periodically. I am a huge fan of capitalist economy, and believe in the free market model.
Interestingly, I don't even use OSX on my macs. I'm a windows 7 user through bootcamp. I buy Apple products because I like the designs and have fallen in love with the no hassle support through the Apple Store. So I pay a substantial premium for my Apple computer when there are endless windows options available. And I love having the option to do so.
I bought a 2012 mini server a few days ago new for $499...an outstanding deal on a price mistake from Fry's Electronics. Had I not gotten that deal, I would likely have bought a refurb 2.6 i7 2012. Not because of the upgradeable memory, but for the quad core processor. I did buy a 16gb Crucial RAM upgrade for $136, but I wouldn't have hesitated to pay $200 for factory installed and warranted RAM had it been available when I bought.
Considering even the low-end that iFixit tore down has the PCIe connector and a single SATA connector, I'd say you're pretty spot on.
Smart dude. Get the computer you like and use the OS you like. My plan was to run Windows exclusively on my mini. I got messing around one day and began to like OSX. So I stuck with it.
Mini with PCE connector http://blog.macsales.com/27127-owcs-teardown-of-the-new-2014-mac-mini-with-fusion-drive
I keep OS X on my current MBP, but I never use it. I'll likely use an even smaller partition for it on my new SSD install.
I'm about to order the base model with 16gb of ram. My question is should I install my intel 600gb ssd 3gbps or my crucial 250gb 6gbps both 2.5 drive? What do you guys think? Would the 2014 mini take the full potential of the 6gbps or it won't matter as long it is an ssd drive it will be fast anyway!?
From the OWC teardown: The PCIe slot and connecting cable are not present unless you order the mini with a Fusion drive. For minis without a Fusion Drive there wont be a slot for the PCIe SSD.
Kind of confused by this.
If I ordered the mini with the SSD upgrade (not fusion drive), the PCIe slot would obviously be present right? (It would just be occupied)
And there would be space to put a 2nd 2.5" drive in there.
Ugh thats $899 already. Another $200 for 16GBs of RAM. UGH
Kind of confused by this.
If I ordered the mini with the SSD upgrade (not fusion drive), the PCIe slot would obviously be present right? (It would just be occupied)
And there would be space to put a 2nd 2.5" drive in there.
Ugh thats $899 already. Another $200 for 16GBs of RAM. UGH
Do not listen to them. Computers are a PERSONAL thing. Each PERSON does what pleases them. It is like a car. No car is going to be the investment of the century. They all go down in value, some fast, some slow. But to enjoy the car while you drive. THAT is the value of the car.
You are way better off getting the 16GB. Better for you. Better for resale. I spend my money the way I want to, not the way someone else thinks I should.
----------
[/COLOR]
It gets up there fast! I have been around that circle a few times on their site this week. I hate that about Apple. But I hate all other computer investments even more
Last edited:
I think it depends on which model one starts with before adding the Ram. Yup. Higher models are 200. Lesser models 300.