Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
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?
 
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 :cool:

I'd like to imagine that even tech company CEOs aren't that glib about the impact of products on the environment and don't think so little of their consumers. Why shouldn't we expect a long product life? When you say "throw away" remember that "away" is somewhere. Better that the product be useful to the next person who uses it or easy to take apart to recycle. It's going to be harder and harder to reuse parts the way devices are made now.
 
Planned obsolescence

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planned_obsolescence

If you continue to support this bad behavior, then you'll only get more of it.

You can never get back the time you may have spent being a victim of intentional, unnecessary limitations. That time is gone forever. Gone! But you still have the choice of how to spend your future time, so choose wisely.
 
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?

memory chips are usually denoted in bits. 32 gbits / 8 = 4 gbytes
 
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?

Little "b" is bit, big "B" is Byte. 8 bits in a byte.
 
"iFix it had to make a prototype new screwdriver to open the desktop"
Wow, can you imagine how much they will charge customers for that tool?

So it's confirmed, Apple no longer wants us to be techies and do the work ourselves. They purposely redesigned the internals for one purpose and one purpose only...to prevent the user from changing ram and hardrives. They purposely mixed it up inside so it's harder to get to and the outer shell is the same.

This is so wrong on an entry level machine. So disappointed.

On a positive note, I own a late 2012 mac mini model that I put 16 GB ram and large SSD inside and I saved money. That feels good that I didn't wait for this model.
 
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!

Thank you, apologist.

There is no reason for this. It's a processor bump, no changes to the footprint of the machine. Yet, Apple feels the need to solder RAM and add Torx screws. Why?

I look forward to your bending over for a huge corporation and explaining this to us.

:D
 
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 :cool:

Your small social circle doesn't make the sample size big enough for the millions of Mac owners to suggest that no one upgrades their RAM anymore.
 
I suppose it's off to the unemployment line for RAMCat.

SrCIdNm.jpg
 
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 :cool:

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.
 
I have myself been into building PC's and pulling off some impressive overlocks. I understand the whole DIY thing, but you guys always knew that the Mac mini was intended as the entry level Mac.

It's not the "Mac modular" or the "Mac DIY". I do understand computer DIY and I can understand the disappointment if you have grown accustomed to getting into it and popping in RAM, but I don't understand the outrage per se over this.
 
Thanks to MacRumors for All Info on New Mac Mini

I have to give props to MacRumors for getting such quick info to us "users" with information about the Mac Mini. We basically know everything now on the new Mac Mini and it's not good news. However, MacRumors has been great in getting us the information we all wanted to know right away.
 
Of note, the new mini now uses less power than your average LED Light Bulb, and under half of the last gen when doing the same tasks. However, the old one used so little power anyways...

That isn't in any way called for by making the system less serviceable but rather 2 years of improvements from Intel for their processors, gpus and chipsets.
 
I have myself been into building PC's and pulling off some impressive overlocks. I understand the whole DIY thing, but you guys always knew that the Mac mini was intended as the entry level Mac.

It's not the "Mac modular" or the "Mac DIY". I do understand computer DIY and I can understand the disappointment if you have grown accustomed to getting into it and popping in RAM, but I don't understand the outrage per se over this.

For one thing these are a step down from the mini's of 2 years ago with no way to make them even as good. Here it costs about 325. us dollars to max out the memory through apple. The mac mini is no longer worthwhile, not to mention no more quad core processor.

I don't see why even the most hard core apple worshipers don't get that.
 
I have to give props to MacRumors for getting such quick info to us "users" with information about the Mac Mini. We basically know everything now on the new Mac Mini and it's not good news. However, MacRumors has been great in getting us the information we all wanted to know right away.

Yes, they saved me personally over $1000 with their coverage.

----------

Of note, the new mini now uses less power than your average LED Light Bulb, and under half of the last gen when doing the same tasks. However, the old one used so little power anyways...

That isn't in any way called for by making the system less serviceable but rather 2 years of improvements from Intel for their processors, gpus and chipsets.

Good point... all of the 2014 mac mini improvements have come from Intel. All of the drawbacks have come from Apple.
 
My mid 2011 mini was almost being replaced but will remain as my main computer for unspecified time period.

After being disappointed, the girl on iFixed tear down movie looked pretty.

I know there are not many people out there upgrade computer by yourselves. My wife even does not know what is a RAM. She even call HDD or SSD simply a memory.

Remember us. There are people who put a lot of memory even they do not use even half of them, or set RAID 0 with two SSD. We are not just consumers, we are DIYs.
 
They made a good point about not being able to clean the fan... you would want to typically do that every couple of years unless you have a HEPA air filter continuously running. Now you need a special anti-tamper security driver to keep your fan running smoothly.
In two years, you'll be able to easily buy that driver from eBay or Amazon, and your two-year AppleCare will have ended. Open that thing up and clean your fan!
 
Thank god I brought the 2.6GHz, 1TB Fusion Drive, and 4GB of RAM 2012 Mac Mini during the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus keynote from the Online Apple Store or else there will be a serious crisis concerning my Mac Mini. Lucky me.

I'll keep my 2012 Mac Mini for minor use and I'll get this new soldered RAM Mac Mini for some intensive work.
 
That thing is pretty. It could have also been a marvel of functionality in a small package, but Apple nerfed it. Now if they would create some sort of seamless low-overhead clustering over thunderbolt, so one could hook a few Minis together and use them as one, that'd make up for it. Don't see that happening, sadly.
 
I have to give props to MacRumors for getting such quick info to us "users" with information about the Mac Mini. We basically know everything now on the new Mac Mini and it's not good news. However, MacRumors has been great in getting us the information we all wanted to know right away.

Let's give credit where it's due... iFixIt did the teardown. MR did what they do and wrote up a report on someone else's work.

Remember that MacRumors gave us this gem on the FRONT PAGE of this very website!

iwatchmockup.jpg
 
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.