Exactly. What happened to fun? Maybe those M1 iMac sales aren't great...
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2024 Mac Mini to Feature No Design Changes
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What I was wondering… Is the aluminium body still the same as the 2010 without optical drive?
And could they be swapped?
And could they be swapped?
Of course no design changes as that would require some kind of innovation which Apple has not been able to do lately. In all fairness however, what more could they really do to the design to make it better? Make it smaller? Give it cool lights?
Apple just seems to be phoning it in, design-wise, when it comes to Mac mini updates, but I suspect there’s a pretty good reason behind it: drop-in rack/collocation server compatibility.
Agreed, but as asked before: what real company is using Mac Minis as servers in 2023? There's a whole NAS market for that now.
Given how small and functional it is — or even how likely it is to sit in a rack beneath a desk — it’s fine. It’s not an ugly device, and it’s hella practical. Besides, leaving it the same = discount. I’d rather upgrade for less and have the same design, working with the same desk accessories, than paying more for something I barely look at with a new “flashy” design.
It also seems to have the least fail rates, because they’ve been building that exact design for several generations now, just changing out the “guts” slightly.
It also seems to have the least fail rates, because they’ve been building that exact design for several generations now, just changing out the “guts” slightly.
I'd genuinely be keen to see how a spec'd up M2 Mac mini measures up in the real world against the base Mac Studio because the UK price difference is something like £150 for additional monitor support and a load of extra ports.
The Studio has two extra front-facing USB4 or Thunderbolt 4 ports on the Max and Ultra versions, respectively, plus the SD card reader. The ports on the back are the same, but the Max enables 5 monitors on the Studio instead of 3 on the Pro Mini.
Darth Tulhu
macrumors 68020
I think this machine is pretty perfect as is right now; clean and elegant as is typical of Apple products.
For those of you that want an appearance change, there's skins available that'll give it that extra pizazz you may be looking for.
But I think that at least for the foreseeable future, this is a mature product.
It won't (and doesn't need to) change.
For those of you that want an appearance change, there's skins available that'll give it that extra pizazz you may be looking for.
But I think that at least for the foreseeable future, this is a mature product.
It won't (and doesn't need to) change.
I tend to agree, but a December 2024 update would be almost two years from the current January 2023 update, so it's not impossible.
My 89-year-old dad is one of them. He surfs the web, watches YouTube videos, answers email, and listens to music. He's been using Mac minis for years. The last version of macOS on his 2012 i5 Mac mini stopped getting security updates, so I gave him my 2015 MBP as a replacement. He uses it in clamshell mode with his external keyboard, monitor, and mouse. If he didn't have my MBP, the base-model 2023 Mac mini would be perfect for him.
Not quite:
Mac mini - 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports, 2 USB‑A ports, HDMI port and Ethernet
Mac Studio (base model) - 4 Thunderbolt 4 ports, 2 USB‑A ports, 2 USB-C ports, HDMI port, Ethernet, SDXC card slot (UHS‑II)
Also, the design variant is the Mac Studio which is already on the market.
Just realised, Apple has moved past making products thinner now. With exception to the M1 iMac, they seem determined not to repeat the mistakes of 2013-2020 by making enclosures too thin and thermal throttle. As has been discovered, the M2 Pro Mini weighs more than the M2 base, probably because there's another fan inside. This indicates that they don't want to sacrifice the space in future, in case more cooling/larger chips are needed some day (i.e. M3/M4).
Perhaps the power draw is below the level where regulations require grounding? At least in the US, lower powered devices are not always grounded.
Yes, definitely. You’ll get a much longer life out of your Mini…
More ports, like I said. We use them as mobile media management stations. The more card readers we can connect, the faster we can relax.