2014 Mac Mini Teardown Highlights Increased Difficulty For User Upgradability

[Santabean2000]

This is just a Transition device. Because Broadwell is not ready. They could either spend a lot of money to make 2 different motherboards for 6 months with dual and quad chips as they are different or wait and realise a unified broadwell which i suspect will come with a new design and possibly be built in the US.

The other thing of course is they could easily release a Quad core in a month or 2. Perhaps it's just not ready as they had to create a stopgap because Intel delayed broadwell 8 months!

Problem is the new machine will be even more locked in than this, just like every other Mac (except the MP maybe).

Ram ALWAYS fails at the Connectors and blows out. Inconsistent gold coverage Dust/moisture and heat etc. Soldered ram is and has always been much more reliable. Had many ram errors on your tablets or phones recently? Or how about that 4K tv with 8gb ram... Soldered.

All well and true perhaps, but this is more of an outcome rather than a reason to Apple.

I'm gutted. Just wish they'd make one 'hobbyists' machine (kinda like the mythical xMac), to appease folks like us. I believe that we are the tech influencers in our families; lose us and they might lose a lot more.

 

[dilbert99]

if you knew real people who were poor you would know there is no way they would own an apple product, instead they would have some cheap no name brand computer and use the money for something more important.

Wouldn't a $499 mac mini have lower total cost of ownership than a pc.

• Uses less electricity
• has free photo software
• has free music software
• has free spreadsheet software
• has free presentation software
• has free word processor software
• has free movie software
• has free os upgrades
• has higher resale value
• has lower support costs, less chance of viruses
• free genius support

 

[mlody]

Why doesn't Apple's flagship MacPro have soldered RAM if it's that much better?

They haven't gone to soldered RAM for better reliability, it's all down to cutting costs and making bigger profits.

I do not think that a perceived better reliability of soldered memory has anything to do with Apple allowing consumers to upgrade memory on Mac Pro.
It is just a different class of system for different business purposes (at least in their mind), unlike mac mini. Yes it is a bummer that mini can't be upgraded post purchase, but we just have to accept it.
I would be fine with this practice if only Apple upgrade prices were more reasonable. I would be very happy to not spend days on finding cheaper and compatible memory or storage, instead, I would purchase what I need right from Apple, but that is not an option since there upgrade prices are a rip off.

 

[Brian Y]

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,.

Stop being so rude to anybody who doesn't agree with you.

Within 2 years, we still won't be at a point where you can get a machine as powerful as the MBP into a MBA chassis.

 

[Wingsnbeer]

Wow... I agree with, but if you budget minded you need to be looking elsewhere for computing products. Apple is a designer IT company.

Sorry the rest of the world dares to be poor, and yet tries to keep some form of technology available for their family and children to use.

You're right, they should either suck it up, and starve their family for a year to buy some extreme piece of hardware that they don't need, or just destine their children and family to be unfamiliar with the technology so that they can never better their situation.

How dare they ever think about buying something with what little money they can spare and try to get it to last as long as possible by seeking something that can be upgraded incrementally as needed.

You're right, if you're not rich, you should just disappear and die. You do realize that you cannot even interact with the very agencies which help you find work, get food for your family, further your education to get a better job, etc. without a computer in my area.... If you don't have a computer at home, you're screwed if you need help to lift yourself out of poverty.

And, you're attitude that people should just throw stuff away and replace it frequently is short sighted, ignorant, and denies people the right to do their best to survive in a technology based world on an often very tight budget.

I can't tell you how many people I know who are in unfortunate situations because of circumstances beyond their control, and would be flat destitute right now if they didn't have a computer to interact with the agencies who can help them...

Get out of your billionaire mindset for a moment and consider that not everyone can throw things away and replace them frequently. Some need to make choices that will get them what they need, and enable them to stay current with incremental upgrades over the years. Not everyone can live the life of luxurious waste that you seem to think we should all submit to.

 

[Macist]

Here comes the "Pro's" complaining how stupid it is that Apple soldered the RAM so the .01% of people who open up and upgrade their components can't.

How dare this $500 box not be comparable to a $2,500 Mac Pro!

To be honest, the upgradability on the Mac Pro's hardly stellar either.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

I think apple can can have it both ways - appeal to the masses and their die hard, prosumer / fanboi market.

I think this is a good point, because the very arguments that go against what your saying actually work for the argument as well, namely volume sales.

How many Mac Mini's can we estimate are sold every year? It can't be more than a million or globally, especially given that Apple sold circa 20m Macs globally in total in 2013. I can't imagine Mac Mini sales being even 10% of those sales, so definitely under 2m sold last year.

At that volume doing what they did to the machine is a travesty, because saving a couple of dollars per machine doesn't equate to the 100's of millions of dollars in manufacturing savings like it would for the iPhone or iPad, or even the iMac and Macbook lines. It just doesn't compare.

The Mini was a opportunity for Apple to have that enthusiast product in the line-up without it costing them very much at all. They could have provided the 4 core Haswell U-series processor on the required different logic board than the dual core (to keep it lower performing than the respective iMac 4 core i7), they could have kept the bottom panel twist access, kept the RAM socketed, provided for easier installation of a 2nd SSD or HD.

For me it all points towards a form factor change that for some reason didn't make it in the end.

That would explain the power supply being the same, when it apparently isn't necessary due to the 50% more efficient power draw as a whole.

We might not ever know. If this Mini's sales go in the toilet as a result of what they've done to it, it might never get the real update it almost got this time?

 

[Macist]

I've made a couple of Hackintoshes. The first when Hackintoshing was a new thing and it was a moderate hassle (worked well when set-up though).

The second for a friend that really, really wanted Mac OS but had no budget - we found a used midi-tower machine with a Gigabyte MB good for hackintoshing and a fast i5 for £250 - it was super, super easy to put Mac 0S X on it and it's been running flawlessly for over 18 months. We added a 256GB SSD recently and it just feels so damn fast that it's amazing it didn't really cost that much at all. Cheap and fully upgradable.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

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,.

He's completely right and I think he read your post perfectly.

The MBA chassis is going to continue to get thinner, and the MBP will also, there will never be a merge, because the different classes of processors will always be differentiated in their thermal envelopes. If Skylake's architecture means you get the most powerful quad-core i7 laptop processors running at the same power draw as Haswell's Y series, Then Skylake's equivalent of that will be even that much more efficient allowing for the MBA to be designed much differently than today and much differently than the same generation MBP which will continue to offer better performance than the MBA.

In other words there will never be an opportunity for Apple to offer only one laptop series for everyone, there is no way they could cover the different market segments with just one line. They do that adequately with two distinct lines of laptop right now, but it would be quite the stretch for them to be able to do it with only one chassis without making fatal compromises in either performance or design.

 

[Santabean2000]

I think this is a good point, because the very arguments that go against what your saying actually work for the argument as well, namely volume sales.

How many Mac Mini's can we estimate are sold every year? It can't be more than a few million globally, especially given that Apple sold circa 50m Macs globally in total in 2013. I can't imagine Mac Mini sales being even 10% of those sales, so definitely under 5m sold last year.

At that volume doing what they did to the machine is a travesty, because saving a couple of dollars per machine doesn't equate to the 100's of millions of dollars in manufacturing savings like it would for the iPhone or iPad, or even the iMac and Macbook lines. It just doesn't compare.

The Mini was a opportunity for Apple to have that enthusiast product in the line-up without it costing them very much at all. They could have provided the 4 core Haswell U-series processor on the required different logic board than the dual core (to keep it lower performing than the respective iMac 4 core i7), they could have kept the bottom panel twist access, kept the RAM socketed, provided for easier installation of a 2nd SSD or HD.

For me it all points towards a form factor change that for some reason didn't make it in the end.

That would explain the power supply being the same, when it apparently isn't necessary due to the 50% more efficient power draw as a whole.

We might not ever know. If this Mini's sales go in the toilet as a result of what they've done to it, it might never get the real update it almost got this time?

This is definitely a hobbled together 'Plan B' as Intel's Broadwell chips were pushed back significantly.

Problem is, I don't think we're going to love 'Plan A' either...

 

[Ethosik]

My 2008 Mac Pro runs fine and won't need a replacement. Same with my neighbor's 2009 Mac mini. Too bad for you and Apple (if one isn't a subset of another).

So? There are still A LOT of people out there with 10+ year old Dell computers running Windows XP and 512MB.....yes 512MB of ram. They do not need to OMG UPGRADE UPGRADE UPGRADE!!!!!

 

[gwales123]

Wow... I agree with, but if you budget minded you need to be looking elsewhere for computing products. Apple is a designer IT company.

Plenty of people are locked into the Apple ecosystem and want to buy a basic machine for under $1000 that they can upgrade as they see fit. I got the MacMini in 2011 because I wanted to run two displays, and so that I can run music software. My other machine is a PC. I also have an iPhone 4S and sn iPad Air.

I got sick of Logic Pro X crawling and freezing , so I upgraded to 16GB of RAM (not Apple RAM, of course), extending the machine's usability for some years to come, hopefully.

This move by Apple is pathetic, and I'm disappointed once again at their cynicism. I've just had a run in with the new Pages also. What a load of **** that is.

----------

So? There are still A LOT of people out there with 10+ year old Dell computers running Windows XP and 512MB.....yes 512MB of ram. They do not need to OMG UPGRADE UPGRADE UPGRADE!!!!!

How do you know? Did you ask them?

 

[gamrin]

I've made a couple of Hackintoshes. The first when Hackintoshing was a new thing and it was a moderate hassle (worked well when set-up though).

The second for a friend that really, really wanted Mac OS but had no budget - we found a used midi-tower machine with a Gigabyte MB good for hackintoshing and a fast i5 for £250 - it was super, super easy to put Mac 0S X on it and it's been running flawlessly for over 18 months. We added a 256GB SSD recently and it just feels so damn fast that it's amazing it didn't really cost that much at all. Cheap and fully upgradable.

Exactly. It's finally come to the point where if you want a powerful Mac at a reasonable price, you have to build it yourself. The Mac Mini was the last Mac that you could upgrade at a reasonable price without paying Apple's ridiculous 2.5x - 3x overcharge for RAM and HD. Soldered RAM and a difficult-to-upgrade HD wouldn't be so bad if Apple charged reasonable prices for their BTO upgrades... but they don't. It's sad to see the Mac Mini go.

 

[Steve121178]

This is Apple's way of making more money.

A) People who buy the Mac Mini, especially the 4GB ram one have no upgrade option for when OS X 10.12 comes along and cripples their Mac (4GB is allready too little) and they'll need to buy a new one.

B) More people will BTO their Mac Mini with more ram, so more money to Apple straight away.

C) Others will spend even more money and jump to an iMac (the mid range 21.5 which is still semi upgradable).

As far as I can see Apple wins with every option, they make more money and the consumer is left worse off. It seems to be all that Tim Cook wants for Apple.

A few people I knew who were waiting for the mini refresh went and purchased some fully customisable micro PC's.

This is an appalling decision from Apple and may well be the final update before they kill it.

 

[kazmac]

For the price of the base machine now and where Apple are headed, this is not that surprising.

It's too bad Apple has to go this way, since folks own their minis for a very, very long time. I wanted to buy one, but I'll wait since this 2014 seems like a stopgap. At least that is what I keep telling myself.

 

[prowlmedia]

Yes.

I find it insulting really.

Apple honestly think they are clever and are selling to the dumb masses.
And the sad thing is, it's true

I do wish the dumb masses would actually say NO, and not all rush to buy the latest thing as it has the Apple logo on it, but I fear we are still living in this era.

Perhaps it may happen at some point in the future.
Logically EVERY company fails, Apple will fail, but they are locking more and more people into Apple's way of doing things, Trying to push iPads into schools to capture children into their world from a young age.

It's pretty bad really.

At least with the PC / Android and other worlds people are more free to pick and choose what they want and change and alter things to suit their needs.
Of course, Apple will argue it's not as safe.

But then, do you want to be in a safe Zoo, or in the Wild with a little risk ?

Well that's one way to look at it.
Or as I see it.
My 12 year old nephew who get a freaking Virus on his cheap Android phone.
Constantly having to look after my parents old windows PC until I bought them an iMac - almost no issues.
Not having to relearn everything on each release.
Apple's world is incredibly easy and integrated.
Android / PC world is relatively Hard.
We are geeks on here and perhaps like to tinker. 99% of people don't give a crap and just want things to work

**Car Analogy alert**
Do you buy a car to get you from A to B in comfort. Apple.
Do you buy a car you can upgrade and put spinners on. Android/PC

 

[OldSchoolMacGuy]

Here comes the "Pro's" complaining how stupid it is that Apple soldered the RAM so the .01% of people who open up and upgrade their components can't.

How dare this $500 box not be comparable to a $2,500 Mac Pro!

People are also failing to realize that the new low-power RAM, which generates less heat, which means a quieter machine and less electricity usage. Low-power RAM only comes in soldered variety.

But most will complain about it not being user upgradable when most users would never upgrade it anyways.

 

[Tmac593638]

Lol... really, the idea of objecting to throwing machines away rather than updating them to extend their useful life upsets you???

You think poor people wouldn't have Apple products in the first place? Really? You are obviously so far removed from poverty that you don't have any idea what you're talking about.

You know how you identify poor poverty stricken people in my area? They have iPhones. Most of the iPhones I see this year are in possession of the people who are given free phones and free ($1 to $5 for taxes) telephone service on those phones as part of a federal program to insure that all people have communication options.

This year they got iPhones. Last year they all had the same model Samsung Phone. The year before, they all had the same model Motorolla phones... I remember a year when they all had the same model Blackberry Phones.

LOL, poor people wouldn't have Apple products. Apple is currently how you identify poor people. Just wait and see which phone model they pull out of their pocket.

Yes, and the fact you complain about a premium brand not being accessible to poor people. Poor people don't need a computer as much, it's a luxury item (if you took a basic economic class you would know that)

Oh yes, I'm soooo sure poor people have iPhones. I guess they care more about angry birds then getting a job or their life together. I guess everyone with an iphone I see one is poor. Lol. Seriously you seem like you never leave the basement enough to see real life and how things work.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

This is definitely a hobbled together 'Plan B' as Intel's Broadwell chips were pushed back significantly.

Problem is, I don't think we're going to love 'Plan A' either...

Probably not, but if we got it in a "Macro" ATV form factor for example, I think it would have been easier to swallow, and you would've gotten much less outcry.

But their should be an "enthusiast/hobbyist" model in the line-up. Now Hackintoshes will be that, and Apple won't get any money from those...

 

[Mistrblank]

So wait a minute... On step 9 of the teardown, ifixit notes the following regarding the RAM...

Samsung K4E8E304EE-EGCE 8 Gb LPDDR3 DRAM (8 Gb x 4 = 32 Gb = 4 GB)

Wtf? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that looks like 4 8GB chips in there on a machine they say is spec'd at 4GB. Is the RAM capacity some sort of firmware limitation? I'm nuts for thinking this...right?

Those are 8 Gigabit (Gb not to be confused with GB Gigabyte) modules on the board. Thus four 8Gb modules is 32Gb or 4GB.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

Lol... really, the idea of objecting to throwing machines away rather than updating them to extend their useful life upsets you???

You think poor people wouldn't have Apple products in the first place? Really? You are obviously so far removed from poverty that you don't have any idea what you're talking about.

You know how you identify poor poverty stricken people in my area? They have iPhones. Most of the iPhones I see this year are in possession of the people who are given free phones and free ($1 to $5 for taxes) telephone service on those phones as part of a federal program to insure that all people have communication options.

This year they got iPhones. Last year they all had the same model Samsung Phone. The year before, they all had the same model Motorolla phones... I remember a year when they all had the same model Blackberry Phones.

LOL, poor people wouldn't have Apple products. Apple is currently how you identify poor people. Just wait and see which phone model they pull out of their pocket.

You really are truly on an off-base rant here - what you perceive to be your personal anecdotal experience is way off of the reality of the situation, which is that the opposite is true.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/where-rich-people-live-aka-143244199.html

 

[MarcelEdward]

People are also failing to realize that the new low-power RAM, which generates less heat, which means a quieter machine and less electricity usage. Low-power RAM only comes in soldered variety.

But most will complain about it not being user upgradable when most users would never upgrade it anyways.

Apple should worry when we would not complain about it ...

I have not got an illusion complaining will change the matter, but al least it shows we still care.

 

[RedRaven571]

... this will allow Apple to make nothing upgradable by you, and only the "Genius".

An honest question: will that even be possible? Without replacing MB?

 

[mr.steevo]

hmmm. A maxed out 2014 mini, which you would have to do at the time of purchase is only a few hundred dollars away from a Refurb Mac Pro.

 

[Piggie]

Well that's one way to look at it.
Or as I see it.
My 12 year old nephew who get a freaking Virus on his cheap Android phone.
Constantly having to look after my parents old windows PC until I bought them an iMac - almost no issues.
Not having to relearn everything on each release.
Apple's world is incredibly easy and integrated.
Android / PC world is relatively Hard.
We are geeks on here and perhaps like to tinker. 99% of people don't give a crap and just want things to work

**Car Analogy alert**
Do you buy a car to get you from A to B in comfort. Apple.
Do you buy a car you can upgrade and put spinners on. Android/PC

To be honest, I'd hardly even call it tinker.

2 years time, my Mac is struggling as it does not have enough memory, so buy some, unclip the panel and plug it in.

2 years time my mac's hard drive/SSD is so full I need to keep deleting things., buy a second HDD or SSD, unclip the panel and plug it in.

I'd barely call that tinkering.
It's little more than the same as pushing a games cartridge into an old games console.