5 Reasons to Get Excited About the New Mac Mini

[turbineseaplane]

I don’t understand why the Mac mini can’t stay the same size and maintain a nice mix of useful ports and even be made of a very high-quality plastic if they want to get the cost down

That would solve all the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi issues also

How about we make some products that are actually great products and not just serving some financial strategy for Tim?

 

[raythompsontn]

Another dongles that you never learned?

I have one dongle, singular. Provides all kinds of goodies. Small, portable, works.

 

[Think creative]

I'm excited when it comes out and the price should be the same as the m2 pro mini. And Then I can actually see reviews, and if it meets my needs, I can finally buy it.

 

[MrGuder]

I just bought a 2023 Mac mini to replace my late 2012 Mac mini. I couldn’t wait any longer lol I was completely out space on my 512 SSD and was having compatibility issues with Safari with websites due to old MacOS.

Any feedback on what I should do with my 2012 instead of recycling it back to apple (no money it’s too old) but it still works perfectly. Lol

The Mac mini is what got me to switch from windows to Mac OS in 2012 and it was best thing I did. I love the Mac mini.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Oh stop it. If a consumer has cats/children/earthquakes/wind that he/she believes will cause an insolvable problem with a Mac Mini, at least give them credit for being able to make a proper purchase decision. It's not that difficult. This is a non issue for reasonably intelligent people.

Are you actually calling a whole bunch of people- including me- unintelligent for being worried that this "smallest and <presumably> lightest Mac ever"... allegedly about the size of an AppleTV... may be at risk of falling off of a desk with only modest catalysts for it? You do realize there's probably 50 threads about this thing with many people expressing that very concern.

Now granted, most should be intelligent enough to "lock it down" if this "too light" speculation becomes reality. But then the question is: is it really innovation to drive buyers to have to lock down a desktop to stay on a desktop? Shouldn't Apple- the maker of all things wonderous and amazing- proactively resolve this possible issue? Why does this need to become a potential problem for Apple customers to address?

I take offense to the implication of being called unintelligent. But that's just "sticks & stones." I'd rather the great and wonderful Apple deliver an update that doesn't bring novel problems for us buyers. Does this have THIS problem? Nobody knows yet. But it's obviously smaller and very likely lighter and thus there's at least potential of this worth discussing.

One way to make us poor unintelligent minds grow our intelligence is talking about potential "gotchas" so we can avoid them if they manifest. Else, if we can't "what if" a negative, we can't really learn to watch out for a scenario that seems at least plausible with what we think we know about this thing.

Hopefully, Apple anticipated the possibility so that it has enough weight to not easily slide/tumble. We'll see soon.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Are you actually calling a whole bunch of people- including me- unintelligent for being worried that this "smallest and <presumably> lightest Mac ever"... allegedly about the size of an AppleTV... may be at risk of falling off of a desk with only modest catalysts for it? You do realize there's probably 50 threads about this thing with many people expressing that very concern.

Have you considered just getting AppleCare+

You'll need to also stack on the new AppleCare+ Pro Max, which covers cable pulls off the desk for the new Mac Mini 2024

 

[Chuckeee]

I currently have an M2Pro Mac mini. The mini chassis and fan are way over designed for the cooling needs of the M2Pro chip. I have never had any issue with thermal throttling with heavy use, and the fan is all super quiet (limited by my hearing, environment and set up of course).

I wonder what impact will be with the new smaller chassis and (with what I suspect) a more restrictive cooling system (smaller fan, tighter packaging). The new M4 and M4Pro chips are more powerful and don't need to be pushed as hard as the M2Pro chip. But there is the concern that cooling might be a more of a constraint. Will there be thermal throttling?, will there be audible fan noise?

 

[MacMikePro]

The phrase “iPad pro in a small box” drives me absolutely insane, it makes no sense whatsoever. Does it run iPadOS? Does it have a battery? Does it have only one thunderbolt port? No, all of those answers are no. This is not an “iPad pro in a small box“ just because it has the M4 chip. You know what it is? A smaller Mac mini. Goddamn what a stupid phrase.

 

[citysnaps]

Are you actually calling a whole bunch of people- including me- unintelligent for being worried that this "smallest and <presumably> lightest Mac ever"... allegedly about the size of an AppleTV... may be at risk of falling off of a desk with only modest catalysts for it? You do realize there's probably 50 threads about this thing with many people expressing that very concern.

I take offense to the implication of being called unintelligent.

Nope. Not even close. Nice try on playing the victim card.

I said no such thing. I said: If a consumer has cats/children/earthquakes/wind that he/she believes will cause an insolvable problem with a Mac Mini, at least give them credit for being able to make a proper purchase decision. It's not that difficult. This is a non issue for reasonably intelligent people.

The above is pretty clear.

If you have cats/children/earthquakes/etc that will constantly knock it to the floor, and you're not able to think of a solution to keep it on your desk -> Don't purchase a MacMini.

If you have cats/children/earthquakes/etc that will constantly knock it to the floor, and you are able to think of a solution to keep it on your desk -> Consider purchasing a MacMini.

A reasonably intelligent person will be able to assess the above two choices and make a good decision.

This has nothing to do with you.

 

[nt5672]

Or better yet, a stiff cable causes it to raise itself from the desk, partially or fully. Joy!

Exactly what my AppleTV does today.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Does it have a battery?

Why does a battery matter?

There are Macs both with and without batteries

 

[MacMikePro]

Why does a battery matter?

There are Macs both with and without batteries

And this Mac mini will NOT have a battery, look at the point I was making

 

[picpicmac]

That has left Apple open to criticism from users who believe that 8GB is not a sufficient amount of RAM for most creative professional workflows

Only for those who want to pretend that one could not order a Mac with more RAM.

 

[picpicmac]

We don't need small

Speak for yourself.

I'd like a computer that can fit in the stand that holds my SSDs.

 

[turbineseaplane]

And this Mac mini will NOT have a battery, look at the point I was making

I don't really understand your point

The lines between what's an iOS/iPadOS or macOS device are incredibly fuzzy and fully arbitrary now that they all run nearly the exact same ASi

Apple could very easily make a device that does it all ... the only reason they don't is they'd like people to be forced into multiple purchases

 

[picpicmac]

may be at risk of falling off of a desk with only modest catalysts for it?

Maybe don't bring your mugs of coffee to take up table space?

For those looking for a recommended stand, I bought a couple of these and like them:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B83Y2MGM?th=1

Three of the sliders are adjustable.

All aluminum, so heat is exchanged quickly.

The allegedly smaller new Mac Mini should fit in one of the slots.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Maybe don't bring your mugs of coffee to take up table space?

For those looking for a recommended stand, I bought a couple of these and like them:

View attachment 2441012

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B83Y2MGM?th=1

Three of the sliders are adjustable.

All aluminum, so heat is exchanged quickly.

The allegedly smaller new Mac Mini should fit in one of the slots.

A nice organizer for the required dock, external storage, cables going all over and the Mini itself!

$54 seems a little high though

 

[Cervisia]

There are cheap adapters available. USB-A to USB-C or USB-C to USB-A. I have a couple of each. I keep a portable multi-port adapter with my laptop that supports both interfaces. I have had no issue using USB-C or USB-A.

I prefer that USB-A be eliminated from the Mac mini. The USB-C ports are smaller thus there is room for more ports on the case.

It's not a space constrain at all, but the number of usb-c ports will be constrained by the CPU, because Apple insists on all the ports having the max speed available. What you get with usb-c ports is that your mouse will eat up the full 40 gbps bandwidth, unless you use a dongle. But in my book anything that needs a dongle to function is not a desktop computer. And since it comes without a battery, it won't be a portable one either. I'm all-in with macbooks having only usb-c, but they returned the stupid magsafe and the pointless card reader. Now they take away usb-a on a desktop. Damn you, Timmy.

 

[Cervisia]

Oh stop it. If a consumer has cats/children/earthquakes/wind that he/she believes will cause an insolvable problem with a Mac Mini, at least give them credit for being able to make a proper purchase decision. It's not that difficult. This is a non issue for reasonably intelligent people.

I'm looking forward to all the reports from people who purchase a new mini and having to take them back (or sell them) because they keep falling on the floor due to the above causes.

Yet a bunch of people were demanding the magsafe charger back, because they were afraid they'd pull their macbooks to the floor somehow. By your standards, most of Apple users mustn't be reasonably intelligent people then.

 

[dogface1956]

Thanks. I 100% understand that we can readily buy other stuff including clamps and various kinds of presses that would hold anything so solidly a linebacker couldn't move in a full speed tackle. I'm not confused about the impossibility about how to avoid a "desktop" potentially made too light & small from moving.

The incredulousness is in having to think about any such solutions... and then people just rolling with the idea that anyone worried about this SHOULD be taping/gluing/affixing/clamping/etc a DESKTOP computer down.

I really don't see the big deal, but since it has not even been announced, I wouldn't spend too much time worrying about it until you can see the actual machine, maybe if it is small and light Apple will provide suction cups to stick it to your desk or it might weigh in at 15 pounds so you don't worry about it moving around your desk.

I see little fault with the existing design. I understand there was a lot of unused space inside but the alternative to shrinking it to a fat AppleTV size might be to repurpose that space for other consumer utility... like maybe adding a few m.2 slots for the option to have big storage inside at market rates. The existing size is big enough to not worry as much about being pulled off a desk so easily.

But hey, Apple is going there, so we just accept it and then sling ideas at each other how to lock down a cute, little form factor... or pretend there's nothing to worry about at all... as we've done many times before such as when Apple rolled out fusion drives and some were worried about the little SSD side burning out before life of device. That too had abundant defense and now there are plenty of threads with failed SSD-sides of Fusion drives and the remedy offered is "buy a new Mac." Same here I guess. When it accidentally slips off the desk and is perhaps damaged beyond repair, just "buy a a new Mac."

There is no way that Apple is going to include any user installable upgrades for any computer less than the Mac Pro Desktop. That ship sailed a long time ago, everyone needs to let go of internal upgrades, you are beating a dead horse. That is why the newer mac's have Thunderbolt and USB ports to add additional storage, connect multiple monitors, etc. If you want an Mac that is user expandable you will need to pony up for the big dog, otherwise either live with buying what Apple offers or purchase a Windoze machine. Myself I love the Mac OS and would rather have someone stick a hot poker in my eye than use Windoze, so I live with the limitations in the machines Apple Offers.

 

[omenatarhuri]

If they get it down to the size of matchbox or so, that would open up a whole new world.

 

[bp1000]

Will this be able to power a 5k display at 120hz or higher if one gets released in the next year? I wasn’t sure if TB4 could handle it?

 

[steve333]

My 2018 Mini is due for a replacement. Out with Intel.
Hopefully Safari and Facebook will work better

Apple shouldn't cheap out and should include at least one USB-A to USB-C adapter so people don't get home and curse when they can't plug in their keyoboard

 

[Allen_Wentz]

I don’t understand why the Mac mini can’t stay the same size and maintain a nice mix of useful ports and even be made of a very high-quality plastic if they want to get the cost down

That would solve all the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi issues also

How about we make some products that are actually great products and not just serving some financial strategy for Tim?

We disagree.
A) We think Apple is making actually great products.
B) Some folks whine for new design, others whine for plastic [seriously?], whatever.
C) We personally think the Mini line has been actually great products and expect it to continue.

 

[citysnaps]

Yet a bunch of people were demanding the magsafe charger back, because they were afraid they'd pull their macbooks to the floor somehow. By your standards, most of Apple users mustn't be reasonably intelligent people then.

Not my "standards" at all. Go back and read what I actually said.