How can you say that?! We've been in the year of the Linux Desktop for decades!
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Rant about the new Mac Mini.
- Thread starter neomorpheus
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How can you say that?! We've been in the year of the Linux Desktop for decades!
It's not that it's 'enough', it's that many people just can't justify the steep charges for more storage. If someone is spending $600 on a mini, they might resent spending an extra $200 on 256GB of SSD. They could certainly make use of the space - if not initially, then almost certainly later - but can't stomach paying 33% more for their computer.
My family uses base 256 GB m2 air, I just got a new Mac mini with 256 GB. I cap all my Pro devices at 1 TB, though I max out on ram. I have external enclosure for my M1 Max/ and an old MBP along with raspberry pi s running dev utilities and file back up. My new Mac mini with 256GB is replacing those old devices. I have an 8TB DAS for my Linux work station that can be upgraded, but I got two 4TB Nvme drives in an enclosure. I just like my data to be independent of device memory.
Apple could give 512, some one will post 1 TB upgrade price and say it should be 1 TB. It is what it is, don’t find price attractive buy something else.
When you have a really unique product, you can charge whatever you want for it. That's what's going on here. I paid $2500+ for my Mac mini because I need a bunch of storage space. Nothing else made sense. I sure wasn't getting a PC.
I just picked up 8 TB for $400 on sale, a thunderbolt 40 Gbps enclosure for 250. Unless you maxed out on RAM and M4 pro. Storage you always have decent external options.
While I would prefer the base model Mac Mini to have 512GB of storage at the minimum I don't think the price is bad.
Going off Canadian dollars because I live in Canada the base Mac Mini is $800. So for $800 you get...
The Thunderbolt ports alone have a lot of value. A quick look for motherboards with at least one Thunderbolt 4 port had me come across some ASUS motherboards and the cheapest I saw was $400 for a motherboard with two TB4. And that is just the motherboard. You haven't added memory, a CPU, power supply, graphics, or storage yet.
I definitely do not like how much I spent for 32GB of memory and 512GB of storage. I also upgraded to 10Gb networking. But I honestly don't think I'm going to be grumbling about the price tag as I use the Mac when it arrives.
Going off Canadian dollars because I live in Canada the base Mac Mini is $800. So for $800 you get...
- 16GB of memory
- 256GB of storage
- 3 Thunderbolt 4 ports
- 2 USB-C 3.1/3.2 ports
- HDMI 2.1
- Aluminum chassis
- M4 SOC
The Thunderbolt ports alone have a lot of value. A quick look for motherboards with at least one Thunderbolt 4 port had me come across some ASUS motherboards and the cheapest I saw was $400 for a motherboard with two TB4. And that is just the motherboard. You haven't added memory, a CPU, power supply, graphics, or storage yet.
I definitely do not like how much I spent for 32GB of memory and 512GB of storage. I also upgraded to 10Gb networking. But I honestly don't think I'm going to be grumbling about the price tag as I use the Mac when it arrives.
That will be a surprise to the Linux desktop literally on my desk since 2019. It will also be a surprise to the 2014 Mac mini running Linux Mint 22 that is now my server since Apple quit supporting Monterey. It is also a surprise to the 2012 Mini in the shop that is running Mint 21.3 as the music player and PDF reader and general lookup device since Apple can't be bothered to put out security updates for Mohave and Firefox is also dumping Mohave support soon.
I can’t be the only one who’s thoroughly bored with threads about all the things wrong with Apple devices or pricing or whatever, only to have them say “I’m going to buy it anyway.”
Aside from the clickbait, what’s the point?
Okay we’ve paid attention to your post and we understand your reluctance. Go buy whatever and I hope it brings you years of productivity and happiness.
Yep, it's like listening to a friend who's always saying they're going to quit their job, but never do.
Entitlement if can’t be backed up and fulfilled breeds frustrations,fear negativity, obsession, and anger. Neither are healthier for mental health.
I totally agree. I have a family member with a MacBook Air and it’s the base model 256 GB. It will never ever be close to full on storage. Buying a storage upgrade for her would be a complete waste of money. For people who browse the web and do a few office documents 256 GB is more than enough.
I agree with you here, but I think Apple is doing something people don’t realize. They are over inflating the price of upgrades to keep the base price lower than it should be. Wealthy people that want higher end computers are paying to subsidize computers for poorer people. That’s only my conspiracy theory but I think it makes sense based on Apple’s public statements. Obviously, I can’t discuss the details of why here because that would be not allowed on this forum. Either way it doesn’t bother me personally.
Exactly. Peeps need to compare Apple's with Apple's.
The MacBook Pro M4 Pro was getting around 8000 MB/s read/write times on one review. Where is anyone going to get that read/write speed at? On an external drive? No.
OWC Thunderbolt 5 external drive was getting around 5100-6000 MB/s read/write, and that is $599 for 4TB of space, which is half of Apple's cost for the same, but it comes at a performance cut.
But you can also buy SanDisk 4TB with up to 2800 MB/s for $374...
And then a 4TB for $279 for up to 1800 MB/s.
The lower costs of non-Apple add-on's come at a speed hit. Anyone complaining that 4TB can be had for $279 compared to Apple's $1200 price tag, is not doing a fair comparison.
I'd be happy with the 5100-6000 MB/s from the TB5, so I went that route, still twice as fast as my 2019 iMac which was getting around 2700 MB/s from the internal drive.
I think it’s more geared towards generic users who aren’t tech savvy but need a basic computer at an entry level price point. If you are tech savvy, you can easily get a 2TB Nvme and good enclosure for under 200 bucks and get 2500 MBPS speeds with external drive attached to mac Mini. Storage in Macs is still expandable.
True it’s easy to get external storage, but some people don’t need storage. I’ve seen people do the same thing with iPhone where they’ll buy 512 GB iPhone but they won’t even have 100 GB on it. I’ve been that person because you think well what if I decide to start a YouTube channel. I haven’t started the YouTube channel yet 😂
You realize that the SSD for the M4 does like 2000-3000Mb/s right? And what is the cost of 4TB internal in the MBP?
I think the storage should be bumped up and/or made cheaper, don't get me wrong.
But, I also laugh whenever I see comments like this, because it implies the soldered/proprietary SSD/RAM is a new thing, when it's been in the Mac mini since 2018 for SSDs and 2014 for RAM, and a thing in MacBooks and some other Macs since 2008.
Not sure if I vibe with this, I use Photoshop, CSP, Final Cut, etc to do graphic design and commission character design work, and all of my work is on an external SSD, I use 100GB on my main drive for apps and the like.
Granted, I know all work loads aren't the same, which is why I made this reply, you can't know every workload to make that broad of a statement.
It's fairly common to see this. Not only is external storage fast, but it's portable. If the Mac fails, the data is preserved. With internal soldered or proprietary SSD, who knows if it'll be recoverable.
In theory, yes, everyone should use Time Machine, but in reality most people don't backup.
I’m not reading all that…but I had to laugh at “more cores” in other machines.
What does that get you if the overall machine isn’t any better?
If you want pure brute force regardless of energy consumption, build a PC and stop looking for Apple to make an enthusiast machine. They’re never going to do it.
What does that get you if the overall machine isn’t any better?
If you want pure brute force regardless of energy consumption, build a PC and stop looking for Apple to make an enthusiast machine. They’re never going to do it.
The problem is too many people want Apple to sell them a $599 computer that they can use to edit 4K movies which would be about the dumbest thing Apple could do.
It is sort of insane that a Mac with as much horsepower as the mini is only $599 as it is, and it will be a monster for every day use for a long time. Which is what it is meant for.
If you want to use ProTools and Premiere and create 4K movies then buy one with a bigger drive, they have the 512gb one for $799.
For 95% of the people out there, 256 is fine because everything is in the cloud and they stream everything. Have had 512 the last couple years and don't even use half the space and the only reason I even use as much as I do is because I let Photos manage my storage and it adjusts how many Photos are on my drive based on the size of my drive.
It is sort of insane that a Mac with as much horsepower as the mini is only $599 as it is, and it will be a monster for every day use for a long time. Which is what it is meant for.
If you want to use ProTools and Premiere and create 4K movies then buy one with a bigger drive, they have the 512gb one for $799.
For 95% of the people out there, 256 is fine because everything is in the cloud and they stream everything. Have had 512 the last couple years and don't even use half the space and the only reason I even use as much as I do is because I let Photos manage my storage and it adjusts how many Photos are on my drive based on the size of my drive.
This. Haha. I am going to get this exact model and it is still a good deal.To me the Mac mini starts at USD799 since 512GB storage is nearly necessary in today’s standard. (Don’t convince me otherwise, thanks)
While I agree with and feel your frustration myself, complaining about it is futile:
Apple has meticulously crafted an indirect monopoly with its many, highly proprietary solutions, and is the only brand that sells its products and software, products that are both unique in the market but also have a very wide mainstream appeal across several many demographics.
That's not to apologize or give Apple a thumbs up for their up-selling tactics. We aren't even getting top of the line RAM and storage components when we go for the upgrades.
But this is what happens when one company sits on the entire supply of a product that's in very high demand.
-As long as no other brand can mimic or outdo Apple, or consumers do a boycott, then Apple can, largely, keep setting its prices as it wants.
Of course, then there's also the glass half full perspective of this argument of Apple offering a uniquely high value computer with the base-configuration M4 mini at $599.
Yes, the upgrade pricing slashes most of what makes the entry-level configuration such a great value. But have we, comparatively, ever gotten this much performance and value from any $599 Apple product? I'm pretty sure we haven't.
Apple will never give you a good deal without you compromising on specs or on total amount spent. But they still hit some sort of good balance of value/$ that has us feeling this frustration in the first place.
No, you can't have your
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