I have returned my M1 Mac mini and here is why

[Chips Stephens]

Early adopters of tech....
You guys are funny...

ya it won’t go well for ya...
And it never does....

muhahaha...

 

[Aoligei]

Early adopters of tech....
You guys are funny...

ya it won’t go well for ya...
And it never does....

muhahaha...

Actually, I was never early adopters. This is my first time, LOL. I was rocking BlackBerry Blod when iPhone 4s was on market. My first iPhone was iPhone 4s which I brought two year after release. I did not purchase iPad until iPad 3, big mistake. I don't have Apple Watch, because I dislike watch in general. I only brought my refurbished AirPod last year.

 

[Aetles]

We all know when Apple decide retire your old iPhone, you are stuck with old OS. The most recent victim is iPhone 6.

It actually says a lot about Apples commitment to old hardware when the "most recent" victim is a six years old model. How many other phone manufacturers are even close to that?

(That being said, I'm still mad about apple removing the ability to every now and then replace the storage and battery. I'm at the end of a seven years old MacBook Pro 13 that still is mostly fast enough for me, but the SSD is failing soon and the battery is swelling again (i've already hade the original battery swell years ago, and spent hours trying to unglue it so I could replace it). But apart from that the hardware still have so much more to give and it's a shame to throw it away just because Apple doesn't care about replacing parts anymore.)

 

[eltoslightfoot]

For example: I use Tableau for my work purpose. However, Tableau seems to stop working on M1 after 2020.4 version, but worked for 2020.3. It seems Tableau blocked application run on CPU without SSE4.2 and POPCNT instruction set. I don't know if they fixed the issue or not, but I didn't really check since have returned my M1 Mac mini. I have no idea when will Tableau support M1 Mac, but none the less, I will have to wait until official support is announced.

This was all you really needed to say. You have specific software (tableau) that doesn't currently run well on an M1 Mac.

I have a Windows machine for anything like that (I don't have anything--I also do data work in my day job, but it is all on servers so I just connect to them.) Since I don't have anything like Tableau holding me back, I love my screaming fast fanless M1 MBA.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I am not sure about future of Apple silicon based Macs. As we all know, Apple controls everything about their hardware, software. In one hand, it is provide excellent experience that no one else able to match. But in other hand, it is Apple get decided when your hardware become obsolete. We all know when Apple decide retire your old iPhone, you are stuck with old OS. The most recent victim is iPhone 6. But that is OK, people change their phone every few years. And when Apple decided no longer sign iOS ipsw files, you have no point of return.

You can still use 'retired' hardware. Apple is not making your hardware die, you just can't update the OS. I have an early Mac Pro, and it's still plenty viable. All the complaining about Apple retiring old OS is just admitting they don't want to spend the effort to bring it up to current security standards. You can't support everything all of the time. Imagine calling Microsoft because your MSDOS 2.11 system is having a problem. You'd be better calling the Smithsonian. I can still do everything I want to on that 'old retired' Mac Pro. I just can't update it. Time moves on...

EDIT: This sounds harsher than it was meant to. Apologies...

 

[Aoligei]

It actually says a lot about Apples commitment to old hardware when the "most recent" victim is a six years old model. How many other phone manufacturers are even close to that?

(That being said, I'm still mad about apple removing the ability to every now and then replace the storage and battery. I'm at the end of a seven years old MacBook Pro 13 that still is mostly fast enough for me, but the SSD is failing soon and the battery is swelling again (i've already hade the original battery swell years ago, and spent hours trying to unglue it so I could replace it). But apart from that the hardware still have so much more to give and it's a shame to throw it away just because Apple doesn't care about replacing parts anymore.)

Excuse me? My 2009 Acer laptop still runs Windows 10. Pretty much all Windows laptop made last decade will run Windows 10.

 

[Aoligei]

You can still use 'retired' hardware. Apple is not making your hardware die, you just can't update the OS. I have an early Mac Pro, and it's still plenty viable. All the complaining about Apple retiring old OS is just admitting they don't want to spend the effort to bring it up to current security standards. You can't support everything all of the time. Imagine calling Microsoft because your MSDOS 2.11 system is having a problem. You'd be better calling the Smithsonian. I can still do everything I want to on that 'old retired' Mac Pro. I just can't update it. Time moves on...

Well... This is not what I am asking for. I can still use retired hardware, but what I want is the ability to install other up to date OS which is up to date.

Note I am not asking Apple support forever, but there are ways to getting most up to date OS.. I can still find 32-bit Linux distribution that will run on my very old Core Duo laptop which I brought around 2006!

M1 however, there is no alternative software. I don't know about future. If there are linux distribution runs on Apple Silicon, then I would get M1 Mac. But if there is not, I won't.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Well... This is not what I am asking for. I can still use retired hardware, but what I want is the ability to install other up to date OS which is up to date.

Note I am not asking Apple support forever, but there are ways to getting most up to date OS.. I can still find 32-bit Linux distribution that will run on my very old Core Duo laptop which I brought around 2006!

M1 however, there is no alternative software. I don't know about future. If there are linux distribution runs on Apple Silicon, then I would get M1 Mac. But if there is not, I won't.

Dude, it sounds like you just need to move on from Mac. It's all good. I used to Hackintosh as well. But mine was more due to performance. Now that the M1 is out, there is no need for me to do so.

That said, as soon as Apple Silicon was announced, the Hackintosh setup is on borrowed time anyway. Sounds like you probably need to switch to linux and stay with Win 10...

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Excuse me? My 2009 Acer laptop still runs Windows 10. Pretty much all Windows laptop made last decade will run Windows 10.

Yes, but does it run WELL? Because I have an i7 2060 laptop from Dell that is only 2 years old and it runs SLOW compared to my MBA...well except for gaming, obviously it does pretty well there...

 

[HDFan]

it is Apple get decided when your hardware become obsolete.

That decision is always in the hands of the original manufacturer. Apple is no different. Google maps in my car no longer works as Google stopped supporting my cars built in hardware. Eventually new software will require features that older hardware cannot support. Kitchen appliances don't get obsolete, they just fail. If you get 10 years of life from an appliance you are lucky. Repair prone dishwashers and ranges are cheaper to replace than repair in just 5 years. In this regard Apple is much better.

I can still find 32-bit Linux distribution that will run on my very old Core Duo laptop which I brought around 2006!

Sure. We found that there are a lot of state unemployment systems that still run Cobol which is over 60 years old. But does it allow you to access all of your media across all of your devices? Will it tell you car where you are going so it automatically sets up the GPS when you get into your car, tells you when to take the off-ramp, traffic? If you don't want all of the latest stuff then sure, stay with a 15 year old hardware and OS.

We don't know how long will Apple support ARM based Macs,

Yes and no. They have committed to the transition, so ARM will be the base platform for some time. How long that will be is anyones guess. When will a new technology appear which is so compelling that it will require the replacement of ARM? 6800 (1984-1994), PowerPC (1994-2005+), Intel (2005-2020+) all lasted in the decade range. No way to to know whether that will be the ARM lifespan.

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Yes, but does it run WELL? Because I have an i7 2060 laptop from Dell that is only 2 years old and it runs SLOW compared to my MBA...well except for gaming, obviously it does pretty well there...

Back in the day (dark ages), I had an HP notebook, and tried to put Windows 7 on it. It did not go well. I had no sound, not the end of the world, but 7 didn't support some basic part of the motherboard because I had no NIC, or wifi. Even a PCMCIA card would not work. I had no network support at all.I reloaded it, and same result. HP just shrugged and said it was 'retired'. It wasn't that old of a notebook, dammit! I ended up scrapping it, and buying a new one. Microsoft won that one...

Windows has caused more people to buy new hardware than just about any other piece of software. One client asked how much Microsoft demanded as a payment for making my clients have to buy new equipment. Unfortunately, they made US buy new equipment too. I switched to a MacBook Pro to service clients, and it worked perfectly!

I guess, to each their own...

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Google maps in my car no longer works as Google stopped supporting my cars built in hardware. Eventually new software will require features that older hardware cannot support.

Will it tell you car where you are going so it automatically sets up the GPS when you get into your car, tells you when to take the off-ramp, traffic? If you don't want all of the latest stuff then sure, stay with a 15 year old hardware and OS.

Some of the GPS retirement was to do with the encryption of the GPS signal, and also the emergence of the differing geo-spatial location systems. There are something like 4 or 5 that are running to some level, GLONASS (Russian system) being the next biggest one. Some devices automatically use both GPS and GLONASS, and some allow you to choose. Things change. I had to toss a few older GPS units I had because of those changes. It stung a little, but the new units are so much faster, and easier to use. Way faster to lock onto the signals...

 

[SuperMatt]

I don’t get it. Why buy it, then elucidate all the reasons why you didn’t want it in the first place? Just don’t buy it if you don’t want it.

 

[Aoligei]

Back in the day (dark ages), I had an HP notebook, and tried to put Windows 7 on it. It did not go well. I had no sound, not the end of the world, but 7 didn't support some basic part of the motherboard because I had no NIC, or wifi. Even a PCMCIA card would not work. I had no network support at all.I reloaded it, and same result. HP just shrugged and said it was 'retired'. It wasn't that old of a notebook, dammit! I ended up scrapping it, and buying a new one. Microsoft won that one...

Windows has caused more people to buy new hardware than just about any other piece of software. One client asked how much Microsoft demanded as a payment for making my clients have to buy new equipment. Unfortunately, they made US buy new equipment too. I switched to a MacBook Pro to service clients, and it worked perfectly!

I guess, to each their own...

I don't know about you, but my Sandy Bridge Acer runs fine. Yes. Upgraded to 8GB RAM and slapped on 500GB SATA SSD. This runs great.

 

[Aoligei]

Dude, it sounds like you just need to move on from Mac. It's all good. I used to Hackintosh as well. But mine was more due to performance. Now that the M1 is out, there is no need for me to do so.

That said, as soon as Apple Silicon was announced, the Hackintosh setup is on borrowed time anyway. Sounds like you probably need to switch to linux and stay with Win 10...

Maybe. My 2020 MacBook Air still runs fine... By its retirement time, I will judge. But there is highly chance that I will ditch Mac all together.

I can hardly justify for my 2020 MacBook Air purchase, it is kind of impulse purchase.

 

[Aoligei]

Yes, but does it run WELL? Because I have an i7 2060 laptop from Dell that is only 2 years old and it runs SLOW compared to my MBA...well except for gaming, obviously it does pretty well there...

Runs OK. It is good for light tasks, such as web browsing and video play back. No 4K kind, but full HD is good. Upgrade to 8GB RAM and put SSD, it will run good.

You can't compare with new MacBook Air with Sandy Bridge Laptop. Any Sandy Bridge Macs can't even run Catalina...

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

I don't know about you, but my Sandy Bridge Acer runs fine. Yes. Upgraded to 8GB RAM and slapped on 500GB SATA SSD. This runs great.

I had a 'Phantom SSD' drive I won at an Intel dealer conference, and found it recently. I could never figure out what to do with it as it was a 60g drive. I ended up throwing it into an older Mac Mini I had laying around. It's a whole new system. Runs faster, boots quicker. SSD's can help squeeze more use out of older systems for sure.

 

[harriska2]

It actually says a lot about Apples commitment to old hardware when the "most recent" victim is a six years old model. How many other phone manufacturers are even close to that?

(That being said, I'm still mad about apple removing the ability to every now and then replace the storage and battery. I'm at the end of a seven years old MacBook Pro 13 that still is mostly fast enough for me, but the SSD is failing soon and the battery is swelling again (i've already hade the original battery swell years ago, and spent hours trying to unglue it so I could replace it). But apart from that the hardware still have so much more to give and it's a shame to throw it away just because Apple doesn't care about replacing parts anymore.)

Just upgraded our 2015 MBP 13” ssd. Cost $150 to go from 128 gb to 480 gb and about 30 minutes.

 

[vbctv]

I got the 2020 refresh of the 2018 Mac mini last March when it was released. i5, 512GB SSD with 8GB Ram, then upgraded the RAM to 32GB myself. I have 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports plus my LG Ultrafine expands that even more. Why would I want to drop ports and need dongles possibly again. I understand ARM is the future and Apple wants to control everything. I'm figuring 2025/2026 at earliest for end of OS updates or 2028 at latest. I don't see Apple dropping OS updates in 2-3 years like they did with PPC because there are so many more, maybe 3-5 times as many users now than there were on PPC at the time.

 

[Abazigal]

I got the 2020 refresh of the 2018 Mac mini last March when it was released. i5, 512GB SSD with 8GB Ram, then upgraded the RAM to 32GB myself. I have 4 Thunderbolt 3 ports plus my LG Ultrafine expands that even more. Why would I want to drop ports and need dongles possibly again. I understand ARM is the future and Apple wants to control everything. I'm figuring 2025/2026 at earliest for end of OS updates or 2028 at latest. I don't see Apple dropping OS updates in 2-3 years like they did with PPC because there are so many more, maybe 3-5 times as many users now than there were on PPC at the time.

Well, there’s still that elephant in the room in the form of the 2019 Mac Pro. For the money some people paid for it, I expect Apple to support it all the way till 2030 at least.

 

[The1Biz]

Having lived through the PowerPC to Intel transition, the M1 transition will happen faster than you think, and Intel support probably won't last past 5 years. Also, the first gen Apple anything is nothing more than an expensive prototype that has a shorter than typical support cycle. The first machines are the debut for the oh an ah of new technology. Yes, there will be growing pains for a year until things get sorted for software updates to the new architecture. They then start a new form factor, tossing the old one, making your first gen machine look dated.

It's best to wait until the second gen of anything Apple per all of the above. And ARM isn't going away if Apple is switching to it, expect at least a decade of machines on this. It is their future.

 

[logaandm]

Sounds to me like you bought the M1 mini on a whim knowing you didn't need it and were content with what you had. It is a good thing you returned it because you wouldn't have been happy. And what you said about upgrading is not really practical. for old devices. Apple does a great job of continue to upgrade device. There comes a time when older hardware cannot keep up and it would be detrimental from a user experience point of view, for Apple to upgrade the software on an old device. You have unrealistic expectations.

The latest versions of Windows run just fine on old MacBook hardware. The latest versions of Linux run just fine on old MacBook hardware. The latest versions of MacOS do not run on old MacBook hardware.

Exact how is this a "great job" when Apple has poorer support for it's own hardware than Windows or Linux?

The correct statement is that Apple is poorer than industry average for hardware legacy support. That may be just fine for most people, but "great" job is a higher bar.

 

[ivanwi11iams]

Returned my Mac Mini today. In all honesty, with my current setup with a Windows desktop, financially doesn't make sense to keep the Mac Mini.

A shame really, because I actually liked the unit. Even more so being able to respond to iMessages while I work (without picking up my phone), and even answering phone calls from it, too.

 

[profcutter]

Having lived through the PowerPC to Intel transition, the M1 transition will happen faster than you think, and Intel support probably won't last past 5 years. Also, the first gen Apple anything is nothing more than an expensive prototype that has a shorter than typical support cycle. The first machines are the debut for the oh an ah of new technology. Yes, there will be growing pains for a year until things get sorted for software updates to the new architecture. They then start a new form factor, tossing the old one, making your first gen machine look dated.

It's best to wait until the second gen of anything Apple per all of the above. And ARM isn't going away if Apple is switching to it, expect at least a decade of machines on this. It is their future.

Yeah, remember the CoreDuo laptops? Dodged a bullet on that one.

 

[Apple_Robert]

Returned my Mac Mini today. In all honesty, with my current setup with a Windows desktop, financially doesn't make sense to keep the Mac Mini.

A shame really, because I actually liked the unit. Even more so being able to respond to iMessages while I work (without picking up my phone), and even answering phone calls from it, too.

Sounds like you got caught up in the forum M1 fever.