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Returned my Mac Mini thread

I

inmnbob

macrumors regular
Original poster
Aug 6, 2014
247
87
Chicago and Twin Cities
As those of you who participate in this forum know I have spent a lot of time recently trying to get the 2018 Mac mini to work. I purchased the loaded up Mini with I7/32GB/1TB and also bought the Blackmagic eGPU.

Today I returned everything.

I very much liked the Mac Mini design and functionality and the gap that it filled between consumer and professional. I am very disappointed in the performance of my device and the reports here from other's problems and since I was in the 14 day window decided to return everything and see how this plays out.

My specific problems included:
1. Bluetooth interference on devices that I have been using for years:
-- with the worse being the Magic Mouse was horrible. It had about a six inch range before acting jittery.
-- My bluetooth Beats headphones wouldn't stay connected
-- I have a wireless midi keyboard that also was challenged to stay connected
2. The Mac mini had several shut downs because of some kernel errors or T2 chip issues
3. The monitor was now starting to flicker occasionally or go black for a second
4. The Mac mini would freeze for a few seconds occasionally
5. Some USB devices (like my external SSD and my Focusrite 2i1) would not always be recognized on startup and would have to be disconnected and reconnected manually.
6. The only way to get the eGPU to work with one monitor was to turnoff FileVault--which I get is somewhat of a common eGPU and one monitor problem but none-the-less a hassle and risk.

I hope that my unit was just bad and that all of your devices work better because it has the promise of being the perfect device for the music and video studios.

I am interested in how many others are returning their systems with the hope that Apple direct the appropriate resources to fix this quickly. I am still in need for a desktop and trying to figure it out.
 
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I don't have any of those issues, at least for the ones i've done. Mine has never shutdown. Ran handbrake all night long without issue.
Why not just exchange it? It mostly sounds defective to me.
 
I noticed some of the problems were made worse with the eGPU which I would need with this device so I wanted to wait. Others are having the wifi and kernel issues too so I debated to order another or wait. (I hate waiting btw). The last straw was the beats headphone that wouldn't connect with the Mac mini using the Blackmagic eGPU.
 
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inmnbob said:
3. The monitor was no starting to flicker occasionally or go black for a second
Click to expand...

This is the monitor you're talking about, right?

Screen Shot 2018-11-19 at 5.09.49 PM.png
 
For what it's worth, there is a known interference problem between bluetooth and USB3 on nearly all computers. Some insulate it better than others. In my 2012 Mac Mini, I remember adding more shielding to help with the issue. Using USB3 cables with ferrite beads also helped reduce the interference.
 
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As I understand it, you have decided to exchange your Mac mini for a new one, except that you have not re-ordered the Blackmagic external GPU.

If you are still considering an external GPU, and you aren't already aware of it, I'd like to suggest that you check out this thread: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/external-gpu-egpu-resources.2154653/

I looked carefully at the Blackmagic and alternatives, and personally I've decided to go with a DIY solution, for both cost and future proofing reasons. My eGPU will be ready to go tomorrow morning, although Mojave may not be quite ready because I'm using a new GPU that AMD released only a few days ago.
 
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The coil whine seems to be a huge problem for people. As I mentioned before, I am always running my fan so there is audible noise coming from my machine and I wonder if that would cover up the whining.
 
Love the mini, but returning. The whining, scratching or "legacy old harddrive" noises got to me. Thought I didn't care and that it didn't bother me, room is rarely quiet.. yet here I sit in quiet and it's like some insect trying to get out of it. Given that the replacement most likely will whine too, guess, I'll just use a MacBook for now.
 
I returned mine today. For what it is worth, the only issue I had was a little bit of what I assume to be coil whine from time to time. I did not actually consider it an issue since it was not constant, and when it was, it was easily drowned out unless the room was dead silent.

My reason for returning was more an incompatibility with my workflow than I had originally thought would not be a problem. I did not realize how much I value portability and decided to go with a MacBook Pro instead and forgo a desktop Mac. As far as the machine itself, it was great! Very fast and was great to use.
 
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Returning mine as well. For nearly $2k that I spent on it - it really isn't much better than my 2012 i7 mini. Today was my last day to decide to send it back and I just clicked the button.
 
mikethewxguy said:
Returning mine as well. For nearly $2k that I spent on it - it really isn't much better than my 2012 i7 mini. Today was my last day to decide to send it back and I just clicked the button.
Click to expand...

Whine? Just not worth the money? Why?
 
aloshka said:
Whine? Just not worth the money? Why?
Click to expand...

Not sure if I have the coil whine or not (mini is kept in a rather loud environment) but have had Bluetooth issues and display/HDMI issues non-stop. Just not worth the hassle. My 12” mini was being used more than this one actually.
 
Ice Dragon said:
The coil whine seems to be a huge problem for people. As I mentioned before, I am always running my fan so there is audible noise coming from my machine and I wonder if that would cover up the whining.
Click to expand...
I wonder how huge of a problem really is, statistically.

My 2018 15" didn't have it and my Mini doesn't have it. Hopefully my 13" won't have it either.

I'm super happy with my Mini
 
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Ploki said:
I wonder how huge of a problem really is, statistically.

My 2018 15" didn't have it and my Mini doesn't have it. Hopefully my 13" won't have it either.

I'm super happy with my Mini
Click to expand...

I've had two 2018 minis and both of them have been silent.

There's a whole YouTube cottage industry based on identifying problems with Apple products, and the issues complained about here, starting with this one, have not been the subject of any exposés :)
 
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There may be a lot of people with coil whine. I just don't think it is much of an issue. I mean, the room has to be pretty close to dead silent and the mini cannot be too far away to hear it. If it bothers you, put the mini under a desk or something and you likely will never notice.

Mine had it as best I can tell, but it was not consistent. It only happened from time to time and when it did, it went away after a few minutes at most. Of all the problems Apple products have had lately, this one really seems to be a nonissue and way overblown.
 
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I have never ever head it in real life yet (the whine).
picking up my 13" in an hour. Here's hoping that i won't hear it today.
 
Some of these posts are worrying. Is it the case there are more problems with the higher spec Mini's where they are being asked to do a lot of work, or are there issues for the ordinary casual user on lower spec models?
 
Lankyman said:
Some of these posts are worrying. Is it the case there are more problems with the higher spec Mini's where they are being asked to do a lot of work, or are there issues for the ordinary casual user on lower spec models?
Click to expand...
The coil whine issue seems to be completely random.
Bluetooth issues are USB3/BlueTooth issues and affect most cramped computers.
T2 crashing issues are random. I haven't experienced any kernel panics on the Mini and the returned 15".

It seems like specs of the computer have nothing to do with it. Also most of people who come here come here because they have issues... People who don't have them don't open a "everything is ok" thread.
 
Ploki said:
I wonder how huge of a problem really is, statistically.

My 2018 15" didn't have it and my Mini doesn't have it. Hopefully my 13" won't have it either.

I'm super happy with my Mini
Click to expand...

Ordered 10 of these for a client, I got to set up all 10. They all had coil whine when under load–it felt more like SSD load though, like when I was copying tons of small files. Mine had it too and I returned it. In my experience thus far (read MINE), 100% of them had coil whine. Only 2 people complained about it. Both had their mac minis sitting on their desk near their monitor stand.

Cashmonee said:
There may be a lot of people with coil whine. I just don't think it is much of an issue. I mean, the room has to be pretty close to dead silent and the mini cannot be too far away to hear it. If it bothers you, put the mini under a desk or something and you likely will never notice.
Click to expand...
I think it depends on a person and how good their hearing is. Some people swear they don't hear it, when I am right there and can clearly hear it. Not necessarily older people either. I think if it was a tower and was sitting on the floor or if you put it further away it's not bad. You definitely have to be closer to it to hear it. A few folks actually thought it was a regular harddrive...I didn't have the heart to tell them it has an SSD.
 
just got and setup the 13". it's completely fine, no coil whine here either.
 
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