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no 10Gb Ethernet option either, no indication of ram modules that can be replaced... going to have to find an i7 model, haven't seen any sign of eGPU support (the integrated on the M1 should be pretty fast, but still some things that being able to upgrade a GPU would be a big thing)
 
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The ‘traditional’ way of thought has been more and more RAM for best performance, however, that old way of thought may have now changed. Perhaps in the future (from now on) the sign of max performance capability will be how little RAM is needed.
I agree, but it's a pretty difficult thing to accept at the moment. Especially when being faced with a buying decision.
 
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The limitations are a bit worrying. Super limited RAM and SSD capacities, no 10Gbps Ethernet and only two thunderbolt ports.
I know it’s just the beginning but I wouldn’t expect to see a PC to max out at 16GB in 2020.

What is also weird is that the SOC has no differences between a laptop and a desktop machine. Maybe only the clock speed? I was hoping we would have something more powerful on the Mac mini than what’s available on the MacBook Air.
 
There might be good sales coming up for current i5 Mac Minis so some people might still wanna look out for those. Good CPU performance, upgradable RAM and 4 TB3. Still solid machines
 
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no 10Gb Ethernet option either, no indication of ram modules that can be replaced... going to have to find an i7 model, haven't seen any sign of eGPU support (the integrated on the M1 should be pretty fast, but still some things that being able to upgrade a GPU would be a big thing)

They are clearly on-package like it is on their A-series of chips.
 
Why does apple not change case when a massive shift occurs with internal changes? This was obvious when Apple flipped to intel. Update the case! Or is it bad for the environment?

Even Microsoft and Samsung get this concept. Make it new looking so it's exciting to the masses.

Imagine a car company releasing the same looking vehicle with just engine changes.

It's almost like they think all these intro animations with bangs and booms make up for the "uh, this looks the same... still..." :\
no good designers in the world since Sir Jonny left. (sarcasm)

probably it did save them time and money, maybe being a COVID production run they opted not to go there.

I just want it in space grey, expandable to 64 GB, with 4x TB3 ports.
space grey sooo much better aesthetic than these silver boxes.
 
Why does apple not change case when a massive shift occurs with internal changes? This was obvious when Apple flipped to intel. Update the case! Or is it bad for the environment?

Even Microsoft and Samsung get this concept. Make it new looking so it's exciting to the masses.

Imagine a car company releasing the same looking vehicle with just engine changes.

It's almost like they think all these intro animations with bangs and booms make up for the "uh, this looks the same... still..." :\
It’s classic “tick-tock” strategy. With such a massive internal change, with lots of potential first-generation issues, it stresses the organisation to also revitalise the outside. Once Apple Silicon is settled in, an update to the outside with minor changes to internals will arrive.

It’s clear to me this is the first of two chips. This one for all the low end, then next year a higher end one for 16” Macbook Pro and iMac, with more RAM, i/o etc. Mac Pro will either get that or wait for next gen in 2022. I think the distinction between chips vs computer model will be more clear in the future. This was just the start. Two years from now, this lineup will kick ass. Right now the transition has started, so there will be weird things about the lineup.

Personally I am still hoping for an Apple TV-sized M1 Mac. Seems to be viable to do Macbook Air performance in that form factor.
 
This was a nice surprise from the event. I wonder how much the top of the line model will cost? Not that I will be buying one right now, but I bet this could undercut sales of the Mac Pro for some pro workflows if the performance is as good as they say it is.
This was a surprised? I think the mini was the very least surprising. They already had the Mac mini converted to Apple Silicon for the developer systems which have been out for several months so it was a guarantee that it'd be the first to see the new tech.
 
The limitations are a bit worrying. Super limited RAM and SSD capacities, no 10Gbps Ethernet and only two thunderbolt ports.
I know it’s just the beginning but I wouldn’t expect to see a PC to max out at 16GB in 2020.

What is also weird is that the SOC has no differences between a laptop and a desktop machine. Maybe only the clock speed? I was hoping we would have something more powerful on the Mac mini than what’s available on the MacBook Air.
They said it was able to sustain peak performance. Hence it won't throttle and have a higher Thermal Design Power than afforded by the MacBook Air fanless form factor (10W).
 
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Unified memory is very vague. Also, if I remember correctly, one of the major complaints about the Mac Mini was on the soldered RAM. Which lead Apple to release the current Mini with user accessible RAM upgrade.
 
So no 10 GbE, not even as an option??

Very odd choice to go with 1 GbE only, especially with the old model offering 10 Gig ethernet as an option.

This is very annoying.
I don't really need 10 GBe. But 2.5GBe or 5 GBe should be available at least as an option. Ugly Workaround: Thunterbolt.

Other disadvantages
- Only max 16 GB Ram; Ram can't be upgraded anymore
- Only 2 x Thunderbolt
 
So no 10 GbE, not even as an option??

Very odd choice to go with 1 GbE only, especially with the old model offering 10 Gig ethernet as an option.
Yeah I hope that changes- that’s a disappointment
I love the way Apple pushes their only display, a $5000 display, as compatible with the $700 Mac mini. Yeah that's realistic and not anti-customer at all.
Anti consumer? Don’t be absurd. If that was the only monitor option, then fine. But it has an hdmi port. It will plug into ANYTHING sold in the past 5+years.
 
The ‘traditional’ way of thought has been more and more RAM for best performance, however, that old way of thought may have now changed. Perhaps in the future (from now on) the sign of max performance capability will be how little RAM is needed.
RAM needs depend on the user and what applications they use - as well as how many applications at one time - processor architecture has some impact, but certain things will take a certain amount of ram - if there isn't enough ram, it has to page it out to disk (SSD helps, but still much slower than ram, and increases wear on the SSD).

My mother has more than enough ram with 16 GB (she was hitting swap a bit with 8GB), My wife does 2d graphic design, 32 GB helps over 16GB for sure (rarely hits swap). For me 32GB is a minimum, 64 GB keeps me out of swap 99% of the time - on one computer with 32GB of ram I'm currently at 6 GB of swap used after 25 day uptime (typically have 10 apps on the go, with at least 2 web browsers each with multiple windows & tabs open)
I personally wouldn't sell someone a computer without at least 16GB of ram - especially not one with soldered ram, it is one of the most effective things to keep a computer feeling like it's fast even with several things running.
 
It’s classic “tick-tock” strategy. With such a massive internal change, with lots of potential first-generation issues, it stresses the organisation to also revitalise the outside. Once Apple Silicon is settled in, an update to the outside with minor changes to internals will arrive.

It’s clear to me this is the first of two chips. This one for all the low end, then next year a higher end one for 16” Macbook Pro and iMac, with more RAM, i/o etc. Mac Pro will either get that or wait for next gen in 2022. I think the distinction between chips vs computer model will be more clear in the future. This was just the start. Two years from now, this lineup will kick ass. Right now the transition has started, so there will be weird things about the lineup.

Personally I am still hoping for an Apple TV-sized M1 Mac. Seems to be viable to do Macbook Air performance in that form factor.
they said the transition from intel to apple silicon will take several years. don't expect a macPro in 2022.

agree about tick-tock, plus Covid, it's hard enough as it is doing QA on massive new fit and finish runs, normally they would send lots of staff onto factory floors in China to supervise tooling up and initial line runs. not possible with COVID.
 
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