The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

[DesertSurfer]

I'm not sure if this was directly discussed already, but do you know what really bugs me?

$599 - Mac mini 16 GB / 256 GB
$1198 - 2 x Mac mini 16 GB / 256 GB
$1199 - Mac mini 32 GB / 512 GB

So, it's actually cheaper to buy two Mac minis than it is to buy one with same total amount of memory and storage.


Sequoia was already on there. I just started the migration right at the initial setup.

That does seem ridiculous. The upgrade pricing is offensive. I wonder what it actually costs Apple to make a base machine, and what it costs them to go from 256 to 512GB of storage and from 16 to 32 GB of memory? You have to think the cost of those upgrades to Apple is tiny compared to the cost of making a base machine. I'm guessing that if the costs of upgrading things was cut in half, Apple would still be making a lot of money.

 

[sublunar]

I'm not sure if this was directly discussed already, but do you know what really bugs me?

$599 - Mac mini 16 GB / 256 GB
$1198 - 2 x Mac mini 16 GB / 256 GB
$1199 - Mac mini 32 GB / 512 GB

So, it's actually cheaper to buy two Mac minis than it is to buy one with same total amount of memory and storage.


Sequoia was already on there. I just started the migration right at the initial setup.

That’s if you can get away with 256gb storage, as I’ve said before the base SKUs are always best value but the only question is can you live with that little storage?

 

[EugW]

That’s if you can get away with 256gb storage, as I’ve said before the base SKUs are always best value but the only question is can you live with that little storage?

256 GB is tight for me, but I could live with it, considering I'm only using 170 GB at the moment, and some of that could be moved off. I'm using a 2 TB external SSD though for other stuff. However, I was just re-making the point that the pricing of the upgrades is harsh, because it made for a ridiculous situation in the comparison.

 

[Che Castro]

I’m posting this cause it could be useful to some

3Colors 3.5mm Headphone TYPE C Metal Dust Plug Cover Port Caps Anti Dust Stopper | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 3Colors 3.5mm Headphone TYPE C Metal Dust Plug Cover Port Caps Anti Dust Stopper at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!

www.ebay.com

Is a headphone jack cover plug and a usb c plug dust covers both in silver or black
I don’t plan to ever use the head phone jack and I’ll probably only use one of the 2 usb c ports upfront ever
Is only a dollar and some change from china
This can’t damage the Mac right ?

I just got this in the mail, I wasn't sure which color to get so I got both, the silver is the winner, looks like it is part of the mini, and the headphone port now looks like a power button

 

[EugW]

I just got this in the mail, I wasn't sure which color to get so I got both, the silver is the winner, looks like it is part of the mini, and the headphone port now looks like a power button

Need pix

 

[Che Castro]

Need pix

 

[840quadra]

View attachment 2451088

Interesting, though I don't understand the purpose.

Everything from my 1993 Quadra 840av - to modern systems ( all in my signature) have had open ports for decades, in dusty environments, and even stored in poor conditions (mini storage days) without any issues.

Worst case I have had to blow, or use a bit of canned air to get a little dust out.

 

[Che Castro]

Interesting, though I don't understand the purpose.

Everything from my 1993 Quadra 840av - to modern systems ( all in my signature) have had open ports for decades, in dusty environments, and even stored in poor conditions (mini storage days) without any issues.

Worst case I have had to blow, or use a bit of canned air to get a little dust out.

🤷‍♂️ for $1 I rather not blow or use canned air, my 2012 mini had a lot of dust in the open ports, that was after 10 years but still lol

 

[840quadra]

🤷‍♂️ for $1 I rather not blow or use canned air, my 2012 mini had a lot of dust in the open ports, that was after 10 years but still lol

How dare you do what you want with your own system!!

No worries, and it is an interesting solution I never considered.

I use my ports too much and feel I would lose the caps lol

 

[DesertSurfer]

View attachment 2451088

Apples sells these. $200.

 

[Che Castro]

How dare you do what you want with your own system!!

No worries, and it is an interesting solution I never considered.

I use my ports too much and feel I would lose the caps lol

I already lost the black headphone cover lol, so I wasn't gonna use that one anyway, I'll probably use the front USB C port once every few months, the headphone port never

 

[redheeler]

I find it a bit frustrating that all the reviews I’ve watched in YoutTube so far, are from the M4 Pro variant…

Now that it's later and the real-world reviews have come out, here's a good one where he reviews the base model M4:

 

[WC7]

View attachment 2451088

Yep, don't think Steve would have liked those 'ports' on the front. Better to cover them up, haha.

I think not the location of the power button but those front facing ports was the most controversial decision of the Apple designers ... can you imagine if Steve was in that design meeting ... 'only a media slot and nothing else!'.

 

[saulinpa]

Yep, don't think Steve would have liked those 'ports' on the front. Better to cover them up, haha.

I think not the location of the power button but those front facing ports was the most controversial decision of the Apple designers ... can you imagine if Steve was in that design meeting ... 'only a media slot and nothing else!'.

Simple solution: Put them on the side. Can get to them if needed but out of sight for most.

 

[WC7]

Simple solution: Put them on the side. Can get to them if needed but out of sight for most.

Yep. but they thought they had broken the ground with the Studio. It's not the ports per se but the 'wires' from those ports.

 

[DesertSurfer]

I ike the new design with ports in the front, good for plugging in audio interface, midi instruments, transferring files to thumb drives.

I'm leaning toward the base M4, if I think I can live with 256gb. I'm messing with my 2018 512 to see how much I can offload to the T7 1 TB drive. If I have to pay for more storage, then the M4 Pro starts to be tempting.

 

[EugW]

I ike the new design with ports in the front, good for plugging in audio interface, midi instruments, transferring files to thumb drives.

I'm leaning toward the base M4, if I think I can live with 256gb. I'm messing with my 2018 512 to see how much I can offload to the T7 1 TB drive. If I have to pay for more storage, then the M4 Pro starts to be tempting.

YMMV, but the Pro was not tempting to me because it doesn’t have any more ports and because with the same 512 GB storage and 24 GB RAM, the M4 is still $400 cheaper. (And with 16 GB RAM, the M4 is $600 cheaper.)

However, my CPU and GPU performance needs are not high, so the Pro’s extra cores are of little benefit to me.

 

[MacPoulet]

Yep, don't think Steve would have liked those 'ports' on the front. Better to cover them up, haha.

I think not the location of the power button but those front facing ports was the most controversial decision of the Apple designers ... can you imagine if Steve was in that design meeting ... 'only a media slot and nothing else!'.

The PowerMac G5 and Mac Pro 1,1 to 5,1 all had ports on the front. And those were all developed under Jobs' watch.

 

[WC7]

The PowerMac G5 and Mac Pro 1,1 to 5,1 all had ports on the front. And those were all developed under Jobs' watch.

I didn't know that! Wow, Jobs must have relented. I remember him lovingly look at the Next cube and gushing over it's nearly unblemished perfection (except for the disk slot) ... he always looked at the side or front.

 

[MacPoulet]

I didn't know that! Wow, Jobs must have relented. I remember him lovingly look at the Next cube and gushing over it's nearly unblemished perfection (except for the disk slot) ... he always looked at the side or front.

And the old Studio Display at the time (the 21" CRT) of the G3 and G4 PowerMacs had a built-in USB hub, which helped for port access. And those were hidden behind a flip-down door on the bottom side of the monitor.

 

[DesertSurfer]

I wanted to try setting up the App Store so that downloads larger than 1 GB would go to an external drive. I have a 2018 mini running Sequoia 15.1. In order to do this, the external drive has to be re-formatted to APFS, but there is no option for that in disk utility. I have read that this is a bug that only shows up on older Macs that have upgraded operating systems multiple times. Has anyone heard of this, and how to fix it if it can be fixed?

I also saw a video about how to move your Home directory to an external drive. This too requires formatting the external drive in APFS, so I can't do that either. But I'm also wondering if that is a good idea, so any thoughts would be appreciated. This is all in service of trying to see if I could be comfortable with a base M4 mini and not regret having only 256MB.

Here is the video on moving the Home folder to an external drive on a new Mac.

 

[Easttime]

Judging by all the chatter about the M4 minis, looks like the mini has come a long way since back in the day when I bought my first mini and this thread got started. Back then the mini was seen as a weird poor cousin to the iMac and mini owners were not mainstream. Now if only the industry could pair it with an easy-to-pick, less expensive monitor ...

 

[polyphenol]

Judging by all the chatter about the M4 minis, looks like the mini has come a long way since back in the day when I bought my first mini and this thread got started. Back then the mini was seen as a weird poor cousin to the iMac and mini owners were not mainstream. Now if only the industry could pair it with an easy-to-pick, less expensive monitor ...

I got a 27" 4K LG monitor and am pretty content with it. My previous monitor, which had always seemed fairly OK when using Windows, just wasn't very nice on my M1 mini.

 

[WC7]

Judging by all the chatter about the M4 minis, looks like the mini has come a long way since back in the day when I bought my first mini and this thread got started. Back then the mini was seen as a weird poor cousin to the iMac and mini owners were not mainstream. Now if only the industry could pair it with an easy-to-pick, less expensive monitor ...

'Paired' mine with my iMac. Don't know if you can count that? It just works.