Apple Caught Off Guard by AI Demand for Mac Mini and Mac Studio

[Smartuser]

I am all for privacy but $20K setup to keep privacy is a bit ridiculous for the average joe. It is also handicapped and runs in slow motion. There are solutions for privacy orients AI usage.

Nobody said that the average person should buy a maxed out Mac Studio right now. Also, the 20k are typical of how propaganda works. First, it's $18299, not 20k. Second, it includes a 16TB SSD, which isn't necessary because external TB5 drives can be used. With a more reasonable 4 TB SSD (even that may not be necessary), you end up at $12299 and can run the same models. That's still outside of the range of regular people, but it's closer to $10k than $20k.

There are privacy solutions like Proton Lumo and Venice AI.

That's all well and good, they have strict policies against storing chats and using them for training and I have no reason not to trust them. There are, however, situations in which "strict policy" doesn't cut it. Hackers, moles, management changes, missed security updates etc. etc.

 

[Smartuser]

Yep. As a veteran designer, it saddens me to see everything looking the same, the lack of creativity and surprise. Sure, AI can be very helpful for annoying tasks and speed up the process; however, when it becomes the norm, it just destroys what humans do so well.

Humans in general don't do design well. Good designers do, of which there are not enough.

Even with human design, everything looks largely the same.

It's not a matter of getting used to. That's not the point. You probably are not a creative person to understand the main point. Plus nobody said anything about AI bubble. SMH

Your post was in response to one of several generic non-substantiated posts in this thread where somebody said they wanted the bubble (whatever that is) to burst so bad. Therefore somebody absolutely said that here, and you responded approvingly, so your post is most definitely in relation to that.

Additionally, gatekeeping is not the solution here. People can absolutely understand the criticisms you bring up. It doesn't mean that they must share them or that if they don't, they just don't understand.

 

[mrhick01]

When people stop wasting their time on meaningless things using AI

That's not going to happen on its own.

There is the problem of actually getting a return on investment for what these frontier companies are offering to the world, beyond the carny-barking and financial engineering manipulation. In the next three-five years, the music will stop, and there will be multiple companies that will fail.

 

[deconstruct60]

When people stop wasting their time on meaningless things using AI

Ac

Oh yeah, the most performant mini is an M5 Pro with 15-core CPU with 5 super cores and 10 performance cores. The M5 MacBook Pro released in March has an 18-core CPU with 6 super cores and 12 performance cores that ALREADY beats that.

Errr. Mini M5 Pro tech specs:

“…
Configurable to:

• M5 Pro with 18‑core CPU and 20‑core GPU

…”

Mac mini - Technical Specifications

See all the technical specifications for Mac mini with the M6 or M5 Pro chip.

www.apple.com

The MBP allows for a Max SoC that has a bigger GPU chiplet and more memory bandwidth, but the CPU core chiplet is the same . You just have to pay more to get it in a Mini than the default version. The additional RAM packages needed to get that extra bandwidth won’t fit in a mini .

Anyone wanting peak performance at any price already has a system that outperforms a mini. So this isn’t a “WOAH, people like AI, better ship something performant!” It’s just a refresh putting appropriately downscaled solutions inside a product that will sell far fewer units.

If it is pay any price for additional internal volume and get to better performance then there is the Studio .

The persformane at any price is the primary driver of mak8ng the unit sales smaller. Relatively few folks like to throw money blindly at problems. The hire the price the fewer the people.