ya, not available yet.. but it may/will be soon, u can bet on that..
Thus, would the score change ?
I wish Apple did come to MR... They would learn allot from us
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
2014 Mac Mini Teardown Highlights Increased Difficulty For User Upgradability
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
ya, not available yet.. but it may/will be soon, u can bet on that..
Thus, would the score change ?
I wish Apple did come to MR... They would learn allot from us
Sometimes I have a hard time to tell if someone actually makes jokes in this forum, or posting in all seriousness.
So, let's sum up what we've learned from this thread:
Apple Reality Rule #1: Upgrading RAM is a need of Pro users
Apple Reality Rule #2: Building inferior machines as upgrades of a specific model line, is a futuristic strategy
Apple Reality Rule #3: Only computers stuck in 1994 are allowing users to upgrade their memory (I'll admit, that was my favorite)
Apple Reality Rule #4: Soldered RAM is the future of computers, why some people can't see that ?
Apple Reality Rule #5: Apple is right to punish users because they prefer to upgrade using 3rd party ram instead of buying from them with their stealing prices. So they solder it. Now that will show those rascals who's the boss here ! Options and opinions don't belong to the future, right ?
So, what's the next futuristic trend in Apple's ecosystem ? Users lashing themselves while singing the company's anthem ?
And one more thing (see what I did here? ) , maybe upgradeable RAM comes from 1994. But you know what ? Soldered RAM comes from 1980. But don't tell Apple this.
Last edited:
And that's fine. They aren't targeting people like you with the mini. They're targeting the general user and those folks order a computer with the specs they want and never upgrade it themselves.
Think of it like people that modify their cars. Most order them as they want them and never change a thing. A very small number will modify them with new exhaust, turbos, etc. They make the cars for the greater buyer group.
johnnyturbouk
macrumors 68000
I fear this may prove to be there ultimate aim - push people into buying the base imac - or even the retina imac; as it comes with a beautiful display - albeit one that can not be used with any other machine.
I genuinely feel this was a farcical attempt of an update, and eventually apple will axe the line as sales will likely not match those in the past. i could be wrong, the broadwell/skylake iteration may blow us all out the water, but we can see which direction the wind is blowing over at the apple mothership.
So upgrading the ram in a computer is considered a pro thing now? Upgrading the ram is usually the first and only thing people do when they feel they need more "speed". Thanks for letting me know is 0.01% of the people.
I guess if you are 18 y/o you wouldn't understand that in the old days most people upgraded the ram of their PC as their most basic upgrade even non techies.Yeah, why bother with repairing anything. Humans will die eventually too. Who needs medicine?
No, just a short note to point out the plainly incorrect usage. I realize not lot of people think about this kind of thing, but anyone who writes for others to read certainly should. Word definitions don't change simply because many writers are sloppy and careless.
Ah a 'sub-base' model is what they introduced, haha... now i get it
its exactly what they did with the iMac line last year
http://store.apple.com/us/buy-mac/imac?product=MF883LL/A&step=config#
What a discussion here ... not a long time ago computers had mainboards with physical bus systems, socketed CPU(s) and RAM. Components like video cards, network cards, harddisk controllers or sound cards could be plugged into the mainboard bus. This modular concept helped to repair and upgrade systems.
And now, only because Apple does this, everything soldered to one logic board should be a good thing ? It saves Apple a few cents in manufacturing and everything else is worse. Is this so hard to understand for some people ?
... not a long time ago computers had mainboards with physical bus systems, socketed CPU(s) and RAM. Components like video cards, network cards, harddisk controllers or sound cards could be plugged into the mainboard bus. This modular concept helped to repair and upgrade systems.And now, only because Apple does this, everything soldered to one logic board should be a good thing ? It saves Apple a few cents in manufacturing and everything else is worse. Is this so hard to understand for some people ?
What do you expect for a low end computer that's this small? They are trying to make it as inexpensively as humanly possible, plus people have reliability issues when they screw around with these things and start installing 3rd party components.
What we don't know is the amount of Support Calls from customers that install 3rd party drives/RAM, and have problems due to faulty components and people simply screwing up the computer because they weren't wearing a wrist strap. It causes a lot of frustration for the customer and it drives up support costs for problems that wouldn't have happened if they just kept the unit the way it was from the factory. The cons to having user upgradeable systems are it makes the unit exposed to problems caused by the consumer and the use of bad quality components.
Buying a computer and going on iFixit does not make someone an expert service tech or selecting and procuring quality 3rd party components.
Most products people buy are usually not user serviceable. Ever look at your other appliances, TVs that have those stickers on the product that tell you NOT to open up the unit and to contact the company for servicing? It's just a way to ensure that any problems are fixed by an authorized person that's trained to fix the product.
If you want to add storage, they have Thunderbolt ports for that.
There will always be pros and cons to this.
iFixit is more concerned with selling parts and tools to make money. Consumers just want to get something as cheaply as possible and a computer they can become Tim "the Tool Man" Taylor with.
Apple is trying to build a reliable product for as little as possible so they can drop the price and offer something that's reliable and not altered by the customer.
If you don't like it and you want to let Apple know. By all means, submit your feedback to Apple directly as they do read the submissions. They may not always do as you want, but many times they might surprise you. I've submitted LOTs of ideas and many of them do get implemented in future products and it's a great way to let them know directly.
www.apple.com/feedback
----------
Apple will repair whatever is in need of being replaced. Think of it as a normal consumer product that has a sticker on it that is serviced through the mfg. that made it.
Do you break open your TV when it needs to get a new power supply or some other serviceable part? How about your refrigerator, other appliances.
I'm sure what they are doing makes it a more reliable product, which makes for a happy customer because the thing doesn't have as many problems, and Apple's Tech support doesn't have to get involved with discussions with the customer over falty 3rd party components that were installed improperly by the customer.
People seem to get an attitude that they are a qualified service tech when they buy a computer, it's kind of hilarious. The Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor syndrome surfaces amongst mostly men with a righteous set of tools when it comes to computer. It's funny.
OK Mr joined September with 186 posts of anti apple bile. Whatever you say.
how much you getting for your 1 sentence 'Negativity' posts? 5 cents a post? Don't spend it all at once.
Welcome to Disposable Mac Mini Appliance Land!
Although this is not completely unexpected for those of us who are old enough to remember Steve Job's original vision for the Mac. Steve always wanted Macs to be closed systems that the end user could not upgrade.
RAM goes bad out of warranty, take it to Apple and hope they replace it for an exorbitant fee (compared to DIY). Forget that RAM was designed to be user replaceable for a reason.
HD fails out of warranty, take it to Apple and hope they replace it for an exorbitant fee (compared to DIY).
Or you can throw the device away and buy a new one. (Apple preferred solution). NO THANKS.
The new Mac Mini could have easily maintained the original design that allowed owners to upgrade/replace the RAM and HD at will. This move is nothing short of the fleecing of Apple customers to increase Apples already immense cash reserves.
I am happy with Apple most of the time and I love my Macs, but this recent move by Apple is a total disappointment.
Although this is not completely unexpected for those of us who are old enough to remember Steve Job's original vision for the Mac. Steve always wanted Macs to be closed systems that the end user could not upgrade.
RAM goes bad out of warranty, take it to Apple and hope they replace it for an exorbitant fee (compared to DIY). Forget that RAM was designed to be user replaceable for a reason.
HD fails out of warranty, take it to Apple and hope they replace it for an exorbitant fee (compared to DIY).
Or you can throw the device away and buy a new one. (Apple preferred solution). NO THANKS.
The new Mac Mini could have easily maintained the original design that allowed owners to upgrade/replace the RAM and HD at will. This move is nothing short of the fleecing of Apple customers to increase Apples already immense cash reserves.
I am happy with Apple most of the time and I love my Macs, but this recent move by Apple is a total disappointment.
So upgrading the ram in a computer is considered a pro thing now? Upgrading the ram is usually the first and only thing people do when they feel they need more "speed". Thanks for letting me know is 0.01% of the people.
I'm wondering what the percentage of units actually get upgraded from the original state? Out of those that get upgraded by the owner having problems and call Apple blaming them for a problem that's related to the owners bad choice in components or poor servicing? How many buy bad quality RAM, Storage devices for these things? How many additional problems do people have because of the consumer cracking the thing open so they can become Tim "the Tool Man" Taylor when they aren't a Certified and Trained Apple Service Tech? How many people service computers without wearing a prescribed wrist strap?
Countless people I know within Apple. They use their ticketing system to identify issues. Support tickets get filed with them from phone support and their stores. This ticketing system is used to see where there are common issues happening.
Without a ticketing system to see how many actual problems there are, you're running blind. If one was stupid enough to go to forums like this to see if there are issues, they'd believe everyone was having a problem. Look at the whole iPhone bending deal. These forums made it look like it was something that was happening to almost every iPhone 6 and 6+ out there. Instead it was only a very very very very small number that made up less than a fraction of a percentage of users. Forums like this make every issue look much more widespread than it is.
Source showing they come here to check for problems?
Check for problems? well AppleCare reps or Apple Store techs doubtfully come here for documentation purposes, but its definitely known Apple corporate visits here and reads through things,,,documented or not.
the late 2013 imac is a quad core around 20 to 25% faster than the 1.4 for single core, and easily double it when firing full bore on all cores.
however the 2012 2.5GHz mini that you reckon shouldn't be compared to the 1.4GHz mini actually shares same processor (i5-3210M) as the original 2012 13" retina MacBook Pro, and the 13" 2012 classic MacBook Pro (the one that's still being sold by Apple)
that puts it barely 10 percent ahead of the 1.4GHz i5-4260u in the new baseline min/basic imac/and MBAs when running both cores (and a dead heat for single core performance)
if those 1.4GHz 2014 machines are net-tops then those three 2.5GHz 3210M models (2012 i5 mac mini included) are hardly far behind.
Welcome to Disposable Mac Mini Appliance Land!
Although this is not completely unexpected for those of us who are old enough to remember Steve Job's original vision for the Mac. Steve always wanted Macs to be closed systems that the end user could not upgrade.
RAM goes bad out of warranty, take it to Apple and hope they replace it for an exorbitant fee (compared to DIY). Forget that RAM was designed to be user replaceable for a reason.
HD fails out of warranty, take it to Apple and hope they replace it for an exorbitant fee (compared to DIY).
Or you can throw the device away and buy a new one. (Apple preferred solution). NO THANKS.
The new Mac Mini could have easily maintained the original design that allowed owners to upgrade/replace the RAM and HD at will. This move is nothing short of the fleecing of Apple customers to increase Apples already immense cash reserves.
I am happy with Apple most of the time and I love my Macs, but this recent move by Apple is a total disappointment.
Where does it state that RAM is user replaceable? Because computer companies allowed for this? Do you know how many RAM modules are improperly installed by the consumer? Do you know how many 3rd RAM modules are POS? Almost every computer I installed 3rd party RAM had problems about a year after I installed the memory.
Getting quality 3rd party memory and storage is difficult because a lot of it isn't passing the same tests that Apple requires. If you go to Kingston Memory site, they discuss how their memory is tested, which is consistent to Apple, as they are a certified RAM supplier, but the majority of the RAM that people buy is pure crap RAM that Apple wouldn't use.
But it's not just the quality of the RAM, it's the user's inability to comprehend that they need to wear a wrist strap, and these RAM modules are EASILY installed improperly.
You have to look at this from Apple's perspective. Why would they want a customer, that's typically not a trained service tech that's been trained using quality service parts can fix or upgrade these things? Would you want to sell a product that became more problematic when your customers start to do their own modifications to the unit? Remember, every time your customer screws up, it costs your company money to deal with the problem. You have to pay people to answer calls on issues that were caused by the customer and/or a 3rd party component that failed. These things have very slim margins as is.
Last time I checked Apple wasn't our Nanny... But it appears that a lot of you out there would like Apple to be your Nanny.
It's not. An upgrade from 8 to 16 GB is $200, an upgrade from 4 to 16 is $300. Add the cost of the original RAM, and you'll get double market price.
Thoroughly agree. It has been getting worse and worse of late as well. Sloppy writing and sloppy journalism.
That power supply is an unnecessarily difficult piece of engineering. Apple should be simplifying the product much more.
With the next gen of processors in 2015, the Mini should redesign into something thinner, less complex, and more sealed. The disappointment of ridding the 4-core processors was bad enough, but then to have an elderly design clinging in production is a flag raiser.
Apple is getting sloppy and lazy. Lackluster attitudes have conquered the infinite loop.
With the next gen of processors in 2015, the Mini should redesign into something thinner, less complex, and more sealed. The disappointment of ridding the 4-core processors was bad enough, but then to have an elderly design clinging in production is a flag raiser.
Apple is getting sloppy and lazy. Lackluster attitudes have conquered the infinite loop.