Imac vs. THIS mini

[BigBoy2018]

Not everyone wants or needs a dGPU, as evidenced by the millions of people who already have laptops and desktops (Mac and PC) that do not have discrete graphics right now.

Granted, some of those who have a tower-based PC with an x16 PCIe slot have that option already, but adding a video card is an additional cost for those people should they decide that they need one to extend the life of their PC. Unless your workflow suddenly demands a GPU, I suspect those people will not do that. If they do, what are they going to buy to go in their $500-$600 PC? An NVIDIA 1050 is the only real economical option for that price range PC. The 1060 starts at $200, which is a third of the cost of that $600 PC, so I suspect it is a tough sale in that market.

What dGPU should Apple have used? I suspect there is no satisfying answer for members of this forum, because everyone wants something different. Guaranteed, it would have been an AMD GPU. It would also be soldered to the board, which would have made no one happy, especially those complaining about the UHD 630 solution.

For now, anyone purchasing a Mac mini retains the option of adding an discrete GPU down the road via an eGPU. My hope is that prices for eGPUs continue to come down and that solutions begin multiplying. The proliferation of eGPUs also helps the PC industry as Thunderbolt 3 become more prevalent and users who prefer a Windows-based laptop gain access to Thunderbolt 3 ports on even value priced laptops that do not contain a dGPU.

Intel has indicted that they are going to integrate the Thunderbolt 3 controller into the CPU at some point, which will make adding Thunderbolt 3 an even easier proposition. It is up to users and the industry to make sure that Intel follows though on this sooner, rather than later.

I have no problem with them offering the intel 630 as the 'standard', but it would have been awesome if they allowed us to choose an internal dGpu as an upgrade, just like they allow you to choose an i7, or a bigger SSD or ram. That's all.

As far as the eGpu goes, for me, since it work at all in Bootcamp (or it's a massive pain in the ass to get it to work) that's kind of deal killer for me.

 

[Zdigital2015]

It hasn't been confirmed yet whether the RAM in the new Mini is user friendly replaceable. We know it's not soldered in, but what we don't know is if it requires disassembling the entire computer to get at it.

I think all those who ordered a new mini with 8GB of ram are going to be in for a surprise — gotta take it to a Apple Service shop to have a pro install extra ram. Not a biggie- but more expensive than what we thought. Maybe the BTO 16GB ram option at purchase isn't so expensive after all.

Based on the website, it looks like the hardest part will be getting a spudger in there to push the top retention pin/bracket, so that the existing SO-DIMM will “pop-up” to be removed. It will be tight, but it does not look like it will require disassembly of the mini to do so.

I am looking forward to the iFixIt tear down to really tell us the nitty gritty.
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I have no problem with them offering the intel 630 as the 'standard', but it would have been awesome if they allowed us to choose a dGpu as an upgrade, just like they allow you to choose an i7, or a bigger SSD or ram. That's all.

I know...but even with the “x4 PCIe penalty” of using an eGPU, I would rather be able to choose an upgradeable solution down the road. One where I decide that a BlackMagic eGPU works wonderfully despite its limitations or where I roll my own with a Sonnet Technology eGFX 650 w/ a $170 Radeon RX570/8GB now and then switch to a Vega Instinct (7nm Navi) next year.

I suspect that there would have been a fair amount of discord if Apple had equipped the mini with an AMD Radeon Pro 555X/4GB in that chassis. Would its presence have been worth the extra 35w TDP added to the heat load? My biggest hope for this Mac mini is that they engineered it to be able to cool that 65w CPU enough to allow it to work with extended workloads for hours and hours. Putting a dGPU in that chassis along with a 45w TDP H-Series CPU just would not have been a good trade off in my mind, as we all know that the 555X or 560X are not cutting edge parts.

The bottom line is that is still a small, but vocal number of users that want Apple to sell a tower PC-style computer with PCIe slots and, as I have said before, Apple has zero interest in doing that for a variety of reasons.

It’s a pickle, I tell ya!

 

[Zdigital2015]

Clearly the prudent thing to do is wait and see what our friends at iFixit discover during their teardown. I can wait a couple more weeks. For me, I will only buy one if not only can the ram be replaced, but also the ssd (with a little bit of disassembly work of course). We shall see.

The wording on the Apple Store website indicates that it is most likely soldered to the motherboard as that is the trend at Apple, but the picture on the Mac mini site https://www.apple.com/mac-mini/ - under the Storage section, the top down view of the storage certainly looks like it is soldered down, but there is slim chance that Apple put the same NVMe module that Apple used in the 2016 nTB 13” MacBook Pro.

Here’s hoping for a minor miracle.