still not buying that 16 GB of RAM on ARM is equivalent to 64 GB on intel. Sure, the RAM access will be more directly available to CPU and internal GPU and therefore faster, as will the CPU and GPU bus, but there's a limit on how much you can compress raw data, and large files associated with Pro work are all data not compute instructions.
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Apple Unveils New Mac Mini Powered By M1 Chip, Pricing Now Starts at $699
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I won't be pulling the pin on a new Mac Mini - the limit of 16GB RAM is concerning. A desktop should be able to go up to at least 64GB at the the moment. They have also removed 2 Thunderbolt ports. This looks like a first revision that has been rushed out the door.
We aren't talking about those "general compute users" though are we? We're obviously talking about users who would actually buy 64 GB of OWC RAM and put it in an existing macMini.
BTW a great way to freeze your "General user" macOS on any Mac worth <$4,000 is to open tens of Chrome browser tabs until RAM is overloaded.
You just contradicted you comment about how ARM use less RAM than intel so 16 GB is fine. Why would Apple continue a line if it is redundant. Apple is famous for killing lines.
What's a general user? A uni student who works with audio or video media? Many people have been buying macMini's for AV work because it has 4x TB3 ports unlike the iMacs (and the iMacs have other limitations) for a decent price. Also pairing them with eGPUs. The need to put an eGPU on the new Mac minis has shifted now, which would make them even more applicable for Pro users who don't have $8,000 lying around to spec out a macPro or iMac Pro
The conversation has only just begun. If you don't want to be a part of it that's totally fine @cupcakes2000. Don't assume it is not a relevant conversation for others. I've been holding back from an intel Mac mini purchase to replace my 2015 MBP since they sent out the dev Apple silicon minis. Was obvious Mac mini was going to be an early model to get Apple silicon.
my thoughts exactly. almost forcing us to wait up or go intel Mac mini and sell it in 2 years.
except whenever we dream these days, Apple resists! Tim isn't SJ.
This Apple silicon Mac mini is huge news for a lot of users. It's $400 cheaper than an intel Mac mini and noticeably faster at the small stuff and the big stuff if the developer and test user testimonials are to be believed (I trust Panic, but also they would hype it). Clearly some of us are not in that box though, we need/desire 4 TB ports, have concerns about HDMI 2.0 for main display, and we definitely max out our RAM on bigger files.
Seems odd that the 512gb i5 mini is still $200 more than the 512gb M1.
It seems to me the $100 price cut on the minis are just Apple dropping the Intel license costs, they still have to pay Intel for the minis that have i5’s 😉
I agree with your statement. I really believe these are all entry level machines and are great for a lot of users. I also believe that much more capable models will come along in due time. This transition is not going to fully happen overnight. It will take at least 1-2 years I think to fully get up to speed. I also believe, in my opinion, that a smaller more affordable entry level Mac Pro will eventually be added. Once real world usage numbers come out we will have a better feel on where it's going.
Not just Tesla - car companies use “tick-tock” *all the time*.
This is true for any Apple (nd probably non-Apple...) product. When the first edition is out, we focus on all the limitations. After a few iterations, and the product line expanding, we see the full potential. Noone should expect the first product to to replace every Mac in the lineup, and this is why there are still Mac Minis with i5 and i7 in the store, but not i3’s. This was the replacement for all the i3’s, not for i5 and i7. Those will come later. Show me ONE person that specced an i3 with 64 GB of RAM.
Gotta be because of power draw requirements. In other words, the M1 just wasn't designed with 10GbE support in mind, and any external controller would go against the Apple Silicon ethos, in addition to blowing the power envelope out of the water.
It looks pretty neat, but I might wait until later next year or even the year after to replace my 2012 quad-core i7 Mac Mini with one of those new M1 Chip Minis, which I will admit DO look and sound really cool. But I may want to wait a bit and hear reviews about them, and once there's more support and software from them and such. But they DO sound promising to me. If they perform better than the Intel predecessors, I'll definitely want to buy one as my first M1 Mac! (I'm already planning to get a 13" Intel MacBook Pro ($1799 model) to replace my 2009 polycarbonate MacBook as my first Mac that can run Big Sur.)
As for pricing, I'm surprised they lowered the prices for the Mac Minis again. Though if I were to configure one of the new models to my liking, it'd still run me up to $1299 (with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD, like my 2012 Mini currently has), but it's not too bad to me though, as it'd definitely be $500 less than the MacBook Pro I plan to buy soon! (Though my new computer job has pretty good pay, so that helps a lot!)
As for pricing, I'm surprised they lowered the prices for the Mac Minis again. Though if I were to configure one of the new models to my liking, it'd still run me up to $1299 (with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD, like my 2012 Mini currently has), but it's not too bad to me though, as it'd definitely be $500 less than the MacBook Pro I plan to buy soon! (Though my new computer job has pretty good pay, so that helps a lot!)
So you'd prefer a machine that is literally half as fast in any measurable metric, just to get a couple more TB ports?
I have a high spec’d 2018 mac mini with 64 gb of ram. These first croppings of AS macs are base configurations. That’s all there is to it. There are still high spec minis on the store. As I said, firstly wait to see what these machines offer before you freak out, and secondly wait for higher spec’d models if you want to do pro stuff on one and feel they don’t offer what you need yet.
I have a Mac Mini (late 2014) that I bought in 2016 so it is almost 5 years old. And an LG 34" 21:9 Ultrawide monitor that runs at 3440x1440 instead of 5120x2160 which I suspect I would get out of the new Mini, so this upgrade is appealing, but given I am still running Mojave due to a couple 32bit apps and waiting to transition to Catalina or direct to Big Sur, I am not willing to render most of my apps to the whims of emulation on the Apple Silicon instead of waiting another year or two for apps to universal over.
What a ridiculous comment. The user wasn't "crying" about it, they was making a relevant comment about the topic in hand; that's, ya know, what forums are for.
And a perfectly reasonable comment. Apple might have technical reasons for reducing the Thunderbolt ports, but it's not without it's shortcomings. A typical example might be where someone wants to hook up one or two external displays and one/two permanently attached hard drives with Thunderbolt ports, and prefer to then use one Thunderbolt port for a front-facing docking station (without having to have lots of devices permanently attached to it).
When you say "hubs", I'm assuming that you're meaning proper powered full-fat well-reviewed docking stations, such as the CalDigit TS3 Plus, since they'd be the only logical choice to make up for the reduction in Thunderbolt ports.
You're able to source those for under $10??! Ring me up, I'll buy a thousand of them.
With the new architecture you don’t need more then 16GB - with 11 trillion threads - sounds logical ?
No. It. Doesn’t. Although Space Grey would have been nice 😬. Maybe people Stateside are not so familiar with Porsche?! Haven’t majorly changed the basic design in over 5 decades, yet the engineers have tweaked that car so much, it is one of the best handling and nicest cars in the world to drive. If they fundamentally changed the design, they’d probably lose sales!!!
New Mac Mini won’t accept an eGPU being connected supposedly...
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