This doesn't comply with physics. We will see reviews, but I think Apple should get a strong physicist in the board meetings.
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Apple's Much Smaller M4 Mac Mini Has All-New Thermal Architecture to Maximize Speed
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Well, considering it vents from the bottom, the logical way to use it is upside down. Improved thermals and easy access to the power button. Apple should just update their product photography to reflect this.
I'm sceptical too, an intake next to an exhaust - even if they have "zones" - will always lead to hot air being sucked in. It reeks of the butterfly keyboard scenario - we are the physics and if you don't agree you're typing it wrong.
Maybe they want to make sure the life of components matches the 7 years of OS support.
Maybe it sucks on one half and blows on the other and it should be on its side. Oh, and that would make the power button easier to get to.
I mean because of the ventilation design not just the how it looks.
Even on a MacBook Pro the fan noise is minimal unless you’re in a soundproofed room etc and pushing it hard. And I’d guess in most “pro” environments like that, a studio would be the more likely device, maybe.
I would imagine the noise level to be similar to a MacBook Pro given the compactness of the form factor being akin to a laptop.
But one thing Apple have going for them is that in general, acoustics of their hardware is usually better than most others. Some laptops sound like jets taking off in a library 😂
I would assume a good part of that power budget is the ability to provide full specification compliant power to the Thunderbolt ports. If Apple provides fewer ports and the power requirements is less
Oh, so you needed it spelled out for you...?
Maybe it sucks on one half and blows on the other and it should be on its side. Oh, and that would make the power button easier to get to.
Like the "racks" of all-new Mac mini units in the background of the "lab" shots in the videos Apple gave us this week...!
Speak for yourself. I bought a MacMini 2012 Server Quad i7 in 2012 and 12 years later, upgraded to 2TB SSD internal and 16GB RAM (one dust clean out while upgrading the drive), it's still very usable for daily activities and running my whole house media center. I've encoded so many MKVs and dumped so many 4K Atmos blurays on it, it's ridiculous and no failures in 12 years (manual set fan limits while encoding). And I thought my Amiga 3000 got a lot if use, lasting me 9 years.
The only reason to upgrade it at all as far as I'm concerned is the lack of browser updates. I've kept it with Mojave to run old non-rental version of Photoshop and some other Pro sound software that now costs a fortune to update when the old version works fine for my needs.
Oddly, it has Windows 10 on it that rarely gets used (but has capability to read Mac drives for the media center SMB support so KODI doesn't know the difference around the house). It can still run hundreds of older games as well. All that's lost on the the newer Macs, but at least the new Mini finally comes with 16GB of ram at the lower price (you can always boot off an external drive if you want, say 2TB for what you pay for an extra 256GB from. Apple, who purposely solders the drive to the MB so you can't easily change it yourself.
Apple has gotten so greedy anymore it's ridiculous. Steve Jobs didn't sell Apple cheap, but Apple didn't purposely make Macs unserviceable to most people when he was there. My old PowerPC Digital Audio was the most accessible tower case I ever owned, not even needing a screwdriver to open it. I ran the house audio and later video system through it originally until 2012. I could easily update the CPU, RAM, add a SATA controller, etc. Now if you don't build with what you nerd, it's an external mess or no (RAM option at all. That's just stupid and builds Apple's already dismal reputation for being a hardware ripoff).
But this notion that one model should be inferior is a joke given Apple's dismal update schedules! I'd probably buy a Mac Studio instead if it had a M4 Pro or Max option, but it's still on M2! There's NO EXCUSE for that! NONE!
The way they treat their Pro customers is absolutely abysmal, IMO. They finally updated the new Mac Pro and then dumped Intel completely shortly thereafter. WTF does that tell their customers? Don't bother! You'll get no support! Need to stay on top? Buy several different models! Because unlike every PC manufacturer out there Apple can't manage to update their hardware every year! Worse yet, they don't lower the prices to compensate!
Who in their right mind bought a Mac Pro that wasn't updated for over a half decade at one point at full retail because Apple thinks old hardware is worth maximum money forever when they sell it, but won't give you a dime for older hardware in their upgrade programs!
Greed greed greed! If Microsoft weren't the aware pushing shill of a company it is, I'd be moving to Windows 11 for sure. But they seem to think your privacy doesn't matter one whit. As it is, will probably get a Mini for max usage and a Windows laptop for portable usage since I need some Windows only programs for updating certain things in my home theater and Apple no longer supports Intel Windows on their ARM machines even with a good CPU emulator (doesn't need to be super fast for subwoofer optimization software. It just needs to run.) But then there's gaming to consider with Windows....
My question re the cooling: will it work as well while inverted? If so, mine will be placed with the power button on "top."