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richmlow

macrumors 6502
Jul 17, 2002
390
285
Sent an inquiry to Tim Cook earlier, asking them to consider it.
I most certainly would not buy it, as it would be a severely crippled machine. What's the point of having a powerful CPU with abysmal SSD storage?!

I would consider the following reasonable specifications:

1. M1 (or next generation) Apple Silicon CPU
2. 16GB RAM memory
3. 512GB SSD storage
4. 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports
5. 2 USB ports

Of course, your mileage may vary.


richmlow
 

Maconplasma

Cancelled
Sep 15, 2020
2,489
2,215
Sent an inquiry to Tim Cook earlier, asking them to consider it.
Haha. Yeah Tim will read your request when the current sitting president of the United States admits to being wrong. Tim is a CEO of a multi-trillion dollar corporation. He's not going to read emails about Ram/storage option requests or request for specific Mac mini models. Just consider this to be a unicorn dream because there will be no reality to it.
 

trevpimp

macrumors 6502a
Apr 16, 2009
697
301
Inside A Mac Box
I would definitely buy one it would be good for simple tasks like Safari and streaming (current hobbies) I watch streamers and stuff

I'm not so into heavy workload apps mostly Safari and App downloads
 
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ght56

macrumors 6502a
Aug 31, 2020
839
815
Yes, I likely would if I were not about to purchase a base Mini. I'd be more inclined for 96 or 128 GB given the large size of Big Sur, but I can put a cheap Mini to use without needing a ton of internal storage.

This would probably appeal primarily to those using the Mini as a server so it would be a niche product. That said, I think there probably is a market for this.
 
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Hastings101

macrumors 68020
Jun 22, 2010
2,355
1,482
K
I hate low storage systems, anything below 128GB is a no from me. Even though external storage is so fast now, I don’t like having to juggle with external storage.
 

4sallypat

macrumors 601
Sep 16, 2016
4,034
3,782
So Calif
Sent an inquiry to Tim Cook earlier, asking them to consider it.
Yes, it would pull in more customers into the Apple ecosystem.

I'd get one if I didn't have the funds or was not sure about the platform.

For me it's a no brainer as I would use an external 1TB SSD drive for boot and storage like I do with my 2013 iMac.

The main reason - in case of a need, I can run off with the portable drive without being tied down to the machine. Then I can plug it into another Mac and boot from the external drive.
 

Aoligei

macrumors 65816
Jul 16, 2020
1,151
1,380
I would definitely buy one it would be good for simple tasks like Safari and streaming (current hobbies) I watch streamers and stuff

I'm not so into heavy workload apps mostly Safari and App downloads

To give you an idea of how cramp 64GB would be like, MacOS Big Sur on my MacBook Air Is like 15GB and I also have 16GB for labelled other. This is already 31GB.

MacOS would probably caching lots of stuff overtime. So even if you are just using Safari and streaming, your storage space would getting tight over time.

Apple isn‘t going to give you an SD card slot. For God sake, I do not understand why Apple took away SD card reader from desktop Macs. I can understand with MacBook Air, but I don’t understand the why desktop and MacBook Pro.

64GB is definitely not enough for desktop operating system. I have had 64GB based Windows laptop, simply because it was cheap enough (less than 300 dollars CAD). But it is pain to constantly moving files from C drive to SD card.

By the way, 500USD is still to expensive for a machine that with only 64GB SSD.
 

Aoligei

macrumors 65816
Jul 16, 2020
1,151
1,380
Yes, it would pull in more customers into the Apple ecosystem.

I'd get one if I didn't have the funds or was not sure about the platform.

For me it's a no brainer as I would use an external 1TB SSD drive for boot and storage like I do with my 2013 iMac.

The main reason - in case of a need, I can run off with the portable drive without being tied down to the machine. Then I can plug it into another Mac and boot from the external drive.

If Apple’s ultimate goal for their design is simplicity, then this is anything but simple.

There are few issues for this:
1. 1TB external SSD is is like over 100-150 dollars. Your total cost of ownership is already close to base line Mac Mini.

2. The very customers who purchase 64GB Mac mini is one who aren’t willing to pay more for Mac mini, otherwise, they will just go for base Mac mini

3. Boot from external is getting complicated with Mac, especially one with T1 chips. You would need go recovery, enable boot from external. Not lots of people are capable or willing to do this.

4. I doubt your external SSD would work on both M1 and Intel based machine.
 

1240766

Cancelled
Nov 2, 2020
264
376
Haha. Yeah Tim will read your request when the current sitting president of the United States admits to being wrong. Tim is a CEO of a multi-trillion dollar corporation. He's not going to read emails about Ram/storage option requests or request for specific Mac mini models. Just consider this to be a unicorn dream because there will be no reality to it.



OP, I am sure they thought and modeled a variety of configurations, customer basis, niche....
 

bb_mac

macrumors member
Jul 22, 2005
57
34
Nope.
I can't see the point of such a powerful machine being used for a media server or something like that.
That's the only point of having just 64gb of storage.

Heck, I'm struggling to keep my anxiety levels low with 256gb as it is!
Going from 1tb to 256gb requires a mind shift.. and external drives.
 

AnthonyHarris

Cancelled
Jun 4, 2009
510
580
Cambridge, England
If Apple’s ultimate goal for their design is simplicity, then this is anything but simple.

There are few issues for this:
1. 1TB external SSD is is like over 100-150 dollars. Your total cost of ownership is already close to base line Mac Mini.

2. The very customers who purchase 64GB Mac mini is one who aren’t willing to pay more for Mac mini, otherwise, they will just go for base Mac mini

3. Boot from external is getting complicated with Mac, especially one with T1 chips. You would need go recovery, enable boot from external. Not lots of people are capable or willing to do this.

4. I doubt your external SSD would work on both M1 and Intel based machine.

To get external drive boot to work for me (using bootcamp) I had to enable boot from external and disable the security.
 
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4sallypat

macrumors 601
Sep 16, 2016
4,034
3,782
So Calif
If Apple’s ultimate goal for their design is simplicity, then this is anything but simple.

There are few issues for this:
1. 1TB external SSD is is like over 100-150 dollars. Your total cost of ownership is already close to base line Mac Mini.

2. The very customers who purchase 64GB Mac mini is one who aren’t willing to pay more for Mac mini, otherwise, they will just go for base Mac mini

3. Boot from external is getting complicated with Mac, especially one with T1 chips. You would need go recovery, enable boot from external. Not lots of people are capable or willing to do this.

4. I doubt your external SSD would work on both M1 and Intel based machine.
1. I have tons of 1TB LaCie SSD I paid $50 each.
2. The 64GB was a very low cost solution to entry level Macs like my MBA:
IMG_6599.jpg

3. Boot from external is fine with my existing iMac, Macbook Pro, rMB, and Mini.
4. I don't need M1 and Intel cross compatibility as I have many devices at home and work to choose from.
 

bb_mac

macrumors member
Jul 22, 2005
57
34
You could’ve spent a few more bucks and got the 512GB.
In the UK, £200 more - a third of the price of the base model. Not exactly a "few" more bucks considering the base model price.

I may regret it, as it is 256gb of astonishing performance, but I'm already learning to live with it.
I just need to "clean up" after myself more often - no more dumping tons of **** on the desktop, leaving the downloads/documents folder full of stuff I don't need, being more ruthless with the apps I need, or moving some to external storage.

On my previous Intel mac, I was spoiled with 1tb of NVmE storage on the primary drive, but on inspection before migrating, after 6 months, I'd only used about 350gb. And 150gb of that was ... stuff I didn't need.

Sure, there's a tiny bit of regret here - maybe a little bit - but £200 for 256gb? OUCH. That hurts!

Besides, I'll be selling this on as soon as other options come out that I like - this is my "test" new Mac, that just happens to be kicking the **** outta my mac pro :)
 
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