2014 Mac Mini Teardown Highlights Increased Difficulty For User Upgradability

[69650]

The macbook Pro will be ENDED within 2 years. The Air and macbook Pro are already almost identical.

Why would they do that? It's more likely they'll merge the MBA and MBP into one new line to maximise production economies of scale.

I think they'll eventually drop the Mac mini and replace it with a cheaper iMac once the production costs and margins make it possible.

 

[KellydenAdel]

It's more likely they'll merge the MBA and MBP into one new line to maximise production economies of scale.
.

you dont read either.


thats exactly what I said.


quote:


There will be an Air and an "Air pro"
3 or 4 machines
SAME as the 2012 Mini....dual core and quad core models spread over 4 machines.
4 versions of the Air, one singular chassis.

 

[xylitol]

Of all the people that bought them, I would be surprised if even 0.1% upgraded them. Macrumors != the average population. Most normal people couldn't care less how much RAM their computer has.

That's because normally they don't really have to think about the amount of RAM at the time of purchase. Now they do, when Apple Store says that 'Please note that the memory is built into the computer, so if you think you may need more memory in the future, it is important to upgrade at the time of purchase'. What do normal people do then? They Google and find these heated discussions.

 

[gnasher729]

A - In the past, after 2 or so years you could upgrade the ram and get another couple of years out of your Mac.

When I bought my first MacBook, the price difference between 512 MB and 1 GB was quite big, and 2 GB was unaffordable. The upgrade later from 1 to 2 GB was really cheap.

When I bought my second MacBook, the price difference between 4 and 8 GB was huge. The upgrade later from 4 to 10 GB was quite cheap (although single 8GB chips are hard to find).

But today, there isn't that much difference say between an 8GB and 32GB iMac. It is much more affordable to buy a Mac Mini with maximum RAM.

In reality, the way to upgrade your Mac is to put the old one on eBay and buy a new one. Say you want to upgrade from a three year old iMac 27" to an iMac 27" Retina, you can do that easily for $1,000. And you get a brand new Mac instead of a three year old one.

 

[master-ceo]

When I see a company doing something to a product I don't agree with, I don't buy it.
Apple caters to the "easy button" generation now. Old School power users just gotta accept it or move on.

 

[69650]

read next time


I said:

The macbook Pro will be ENDED within 2 years.
The Air and macbook Pro are already almost identical.



There will be an Air and an "Air pro"

3 or 4 machines


SAME as the 2012 Mini....dual core and quad core models spread over 4 machines.


4 versions of the Air, one singular chassis.

you dont read either.


thats exactly what I said.


quote:


There will be an Air and an "Air pro"
3 or 4 machines
SAME as the 2012 Mini....dual core and quad core models spread over 4 machines.
4 versions of the Air, one singular chassis.

No you didn't. You said they would end the MBP and keep the MBA. I disagree I think they will either merge the 11" & 13" MBA into one new 12" model in a range or colours and keep the MBP as it is. Or they end the MBA and MBP then bring out an all new MacBook to replace them both.

 

[RockSpider]

I last met a person who upgraded his computer four years ago. Upgradability on computers, removable battery on phones & memory cards on tablets are interesting perhaps to less than 1% of the market.

Some people really need to stop trying to conserve technology products for ages and get a new device when the time comes, just like the rest of us. In 2014 tech products are designed to be easy to manufacture & be thrown away when their time comes. Deal with it

Well mister genius, you can throw away as many products as you like, I've updated plenty and saved heaps, it's people like you that make Apple rich and yourselves poor.
Even something as simple as a faster HDD can make a computer last an extra couple of years, as can more ram and video cards.

 

[DudeDad]

If Apple is looking to kill the mini, this is the way to do it. "Update" it with a castrated machine, then blame lack of sales for killing it.

Personally, most users out there (by "out there", I mean other than those on this forum) get by fine with dual core machines. I have a 2012 mini i7 (I had the Mac Pro 1,1 that needed updating, and could not wait for the new Mac Pro) with a 4-bay thunderbolt array with 4 3-TB drives. For what I do, it works incredibly well (edit raw images in Light Room) and use my large iTunes library for my Sonos system. I also do some video editing, but nothing of great magnitude (very basic). Do I need 4 cores? Not really. Did I upgrade my ram to 16GB myself? Yes, because it was cheaper and easy to do. Would I buy another Mini if my 2012 dies? Probably. I'd be skeptical at first, but I would likely find it to work well and accomplish my needs. A Mac Pro at $3,000 would be nice, but overkill for what I need.

I understand the disappointment, but I'm not sure the sky is falling just yet. Remember the outrage on this forum when Apple changed the iTunes logo? I'm now having a flashback....

 

[fhall1]

It doesn't even have alternative uses after its end of life.

Image

LOL....I have one of those repurposed Cubes too....only I bungied the box up to the top so you can't see it showing out the bottom.

 

[KellydenAdel]

No you didn't. You said they would end the MBP and keep the MBA. I disagree I think they will either merge the 11" & 13" MBA into one new 12" model in a range or colours and keep the MBP as it is. Or they end the MBA and MBP then bring out an all new MacBook to replace them both.

you miss the point entirely.


merge A into B, or merge B into A doesnt matter when both already have nearly the same CHASSIS


Air Pro, or Pro Air....... A that is mostly B, and a B that is mostly A.


Sophistry.

 

[RockSpider]

You forgot the CPU there..

Add $20 for a 1.4ghz CPU, it should be about $10.

 

[Brian Y]

you miss the point entirely.


merge A into B, or merge B into A doesnt matter when both already have nearly the same CHASSIS


Air Pro, or Pro Air....... A that is mostly B, and a B that is mostly A.


Sophistry.

They don't have the same chassis at all. The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are nowhere near being merged - there is simply not enough room in the MacBook Air case for the internals of a MacBook Pro. Plus other reasons:

- The MBA case wouldn't hold a big enough battery to power a retina display and quad core CPU for a reasonable amount of time

- The MBA case would have very crappy heat dissipation with a quad core CPU and a dedictated GPU.

 

[subsonix]

Add $20 for a 1.4ghz CPU, it should be about $10.

I get that sentiments based on gut feel are awesomely rewarded here with up votes and friendly taps on the back. But would it hurt to make sure you know what you are talking about.

The CPU used in the entry level model costs $315 for a tray of 1000.

http://ark.intel.com/products/75030/Intel-Core-i5-4260U-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-2_70-GHz

 

[KellydenAdel]

 

[RockSpider]

What stuns me more than anything is that Apple would waste their own design and engineers time making something worse than before.

You can imagine sitting round a table with a term you want to spend weeks/months on making it worse, saying, ok, people, we need to redesign all the parts that are perfectly fine now, and pay you to make them worse for the customer.

Simply amazing this is the best Apple can think to do with their staff.

They sit around and say how much can we take out without them knowing, so we can make another 10 billion. Most large corporations are doing it when they are in a good position.

 

[KellydenAdel]

They don't have the same chassis at all. The MacBook Air and MacBook Pro are nowhere near being merged .

you still dont read


I said 2 YEARS.

I know they arent the same Chassis, I repair BOTH pro and Air (and Minis and Imacs).


next time , read,.

 

[Akula971]

I would not mind the soldered RAM if the option to buy was at a reasonable price, which it isn't. The beauty of user replaceable RAM was that one could save money by NOT being shafted with Apples prices for RAM. Quite honestly it is disgusting the prices they charge considering their purchasing power and usage. They should be able to offer RAM at better prices than the aftermarket, especially once you consider that no socket or additional RAM carrier circuit board is required.

I was really looking forward to this new Mac Mini. I have money set aside for a new machine, and now I'm just going to go back to my situation as of pre 2005, and build my own PC again. If my 2010 Core Duo bites the dust, I'll have to look around for a 2012 model.

We've seen a gradual degradation in some Apple products, that are crippled versions of their predecessors, Final Cut Pro, IWorks, Mac Mini, Mac Pro, to name but a few. Apple should remember that the people who were the enthusiasts were the people who stuck with them, praised and promoted their products. The people they are now targeting will move to the next "fad" as soon as it comes, and having pissed off their loyal enthusiasts, then what?
Tim is certainly looking like a Balmer in the making. Screw your customers, its the share price and short term profit that is important. Short term expediency always fails in then long term. Bean counters ruin companies.

 

[Count Blah]

With every update, Apple drives some of its loyal fans away. But this was true all through the 2000s, also. I heard the threats of walking away when Apple released the rMBP. I'm sure some of those who made the threats followed through and went to other platforms. But usually more came in to take their place.

Contrary to the cliche, Apple's users aren't sheep. They decide to stay, or they decide to go. They decide to buy or they decide not to buy. They use a feature, or they don't.

My last Mac purchase was the cMBP, because of this same planned obsolescence crap with the retina. The last purchase in the extended family was a 2012 quad-core Mac Mini I advices a family member to buy last month.

I'll hold out as along as humanly possible with the cMBP. It might just be my last Mac.

 

[RockSpider]

Image

Well at least my 2012 core i7 will be going till at least 2017-18 with upgrades.

----------

I get that sentiments based on gut feel are awesomely rewarded here with up votes and friendly taps on the back. But would it hurt to make sure you know what you are talking about.

The CPU used in the entry level model costs $315 for a tray of 1000.

http://ark.intel.com/products/75030/Intel-Core-i5-4260U-Processor-3M-Cache-up-to-2_70-GHz

I'm 100% positive that Apple ain't paying anywhere near that, and like I say, as far as I'm concerned they're worth $20 or less, this 2014 not 2004.

 

[monty77]

I was outraged when I saw the overall spec had been altered like this but now I've taken a step back I get it.

For £375 I can get a compact Mac. It comes with an OS and IR port and everything will just work without mucking about. It's the PERFECT media PC or machine for the light user. With HD 5000 GPU it'll even do some casual gaming.

At £500 I was loathed to put one in the living room. At the new price it's very tempting indeed.

 

[johnnyturbouk]

Agreed, but welcome to Tim's new $$$ driven Apple here. You will either settle for the base $500 Mac Mini, or due to its locked down nature, be coerced into making a much more expensive Mac model purchase than intended. To me at least, this is a little sleazy on Apple's part to drive more sales. I guess many companies in different industries do this, it's just Apple comes from a more 'open' history, and it's hard for many of us to accept this type of sales practice going forward. It's the new Apple, and I'm afraid that it'll only get worse.

Hit the nail on the head right there

 

[MagicBoy]

My last Mac purchase was the cMBP, because of this same planned obsolescence crap with the retina. The last purchase in the extended family was a 2012 quad-core Mac Mini I advices a family member to buy last month.

I'll hold out as along as humanly possible with the cMBP. It might just be my last Mac.

Yeah, so did I. Unfortunately the GPU was made out of chocolate... At least the replacement rMBP came with maximum RAM.

I was toying with an 2014 mini when they came out for HTPC duties, now I'm keeping the '09.

 

[RockSpider]

Well at least my 2012 core i7 will be going till at least 2017-18 with upgrades.

----------


I'm 100% positive that Apple ain't paying anywhere near that, and like I say, as far as I'm concerned they're worth $20 or less, this 2014 not 2004.

"The CPU used in the entry level model costs $315 for a tray of 1000."


Boy I would have thought that they'd be worth more than .30c each, maybe .50.

 

[subsonix]

I'm 100% positive that Apple ain't paying anywhere near that, and like I say, as far as I'm concerned they're worth $20 or less, this 2014 not 2004.

That assumption has been made for all price examples here, and according to the doc "Prices are for direct Intel customers, typically represent 1,000-unit purchase quantities". But how do you convince someone that resorts to their own valuation after a real reference i provided, it's probably not possible, if you think that 2 is really 3 then 1 + 2 = 4. All arguments stops working then.

 

[macaron95]

still a great machine for its price

not many people would need more than 16 Gb of RAM

and the SSD on PCI-E is really fast compared to SATA