M1 Mini Going back today... Bluetooth issues big time.

[harleymhs]

Hey Guys, Just wanted to chime in .. Wife picked up a Mac Mini M1 .. We knew about the bluetooth issues, but all the posts and videos said some had it some didn't! This is a pain in the neck. It happens it stops it happens it stops! Reset the Bluetooth Module still happening. In my 2 week return period. So she is boxing it up and we will wait for the M1X Mini to arrive. Sad Day .. JMO

 

[NARadyk]

That‘s a shame. Sorry to hear that.

I’m purchasing one next month so I will update with my experience as well.

 

[harleymhs]

I guess its better off, Now we can use her M1 Air on the Monitor and wait patiently for the NEW M1x and they are saying it may get smaller. At this point for us it pays to wait.

 

[Fishrrman]

Bluetooth on the Mini has been a "weak spot" for many years. It's not cured by substituting one Mini for a second example, because it's "baked-into" the Mini, so to speak.

I sense that this is due to the product design, and that there really isn't a fix for it, other than being careful what you connect to the back*, or to go with a "3rd party" bluetooth dongle setup.

* Again, this is probably why it works for some folks, and doesn't for others.

I don't use bt, don't care for it.
So it's never bothered me.

 

[JeremyMignolet]

Funny because I exactly thought about this too. I got it 2nd hand and after using it for 2 weeks, performing wise it's good enough for me and almost perfect. But I'm using a magic trackpad, magic keyboard, magic mouse and my Airpods 3rd gen, and my audio just cuts off when watching YouTube. Like it cuts of for a solid 3-4 seconds, I move my head and it starts again.

I can't stand it.. It happens when listening to Spotify and it's frustrating when you're in a certain flow of work, and it gets cut off and I have to stop doing what I'm doing and thus get out of that flow. May sound cheesy, but it's really annoying.

Back up for sale, I guess.

 

[Batch68]

Would a third party bluetooth dongle fix the problem 100%?

 

[farciar]

I am in the same boat and returned the mac mini m1 for the same reason. I have magic keyboard and apple trackpad so heavily rely on BT connection. It's a pity and now I miss this little devil. The m1 mini is super fast, super quiet and things were responsive like never before.

Waiting for M1pro or M2 & hope it's coming in March.

 

[abruisedapple]

I have had the M1 Mini 16/256 for about 15 months now and it is great - set-up with dual Samsung LU28R55s (28-inch, 3840x2160) and is such good value for money, but I too have had some BT issues.

Am using a Magic Mouse 2 and a non-Apple iClever BT keyboard. Sometimes also a Bose QC35 II headphones and HK Esquire speakers but rarely for these two audio devices.

Keyboard and mouse were working fine for months until one day I wanted to 'tidy up' my desk and put the Mini vertical and behind a monitor......then mouse went crazy and I honestly couldn't work it out.

Turns out the location you place your device, the fact whether horizontal or vertical, and whether it is hidden behind/on top/below anything REALLY makes a difference. So weird. It is now sitting under the monitors and fine.....

 

[MajorFubar]

I gave up on BT connections for my computer peripherals...gladly gone back to wired after years of just putting up with it falling off intermittently and sometimes even having to reboot to get it back (which itself is not an easy task when your keyboard, mouse and trackpad have all 'fallen off'). I only put up with it as long as I did because I didn't want to let go of my mk1 Magic Trackpad.

So, late last year I manned up (can we still say that) and bought myself a Matias wired keyboard along with the latest Magic Trackpad, which, unlike the mk1, connects - oh glory of god! - by a cable.
I would also use the most recent magic mouse, but we all know why I can't. So instead I have an el-cheapo unknown-brand wired mouse, which doesn't really aesthetically match. Thanks, Apple.
Happy that my days of peripherals dropping off BT or going flat have ended.

 

[N9JIG]

I only used BT for the mice and keyboard. While I really love the Magic Mouse and Magic Keyboard I replaced them with the Logitech MX Master 3 and MX Keys respectively using the Unifying Dongle on my 2018 Mini with a Satechi fan-dock. The dongle really needs to be at the front and works great plugged into the dock, I also had good luck with a short USB-A extension cable plugged directly into the Mini's USB-A port.

When I got my M1 Mini I noticed that it was better but still not good enough. I could not reliably use either I/O device nor my AirPods but I used a set of wired earphones and later a cheap Logitech wireless earphones with its own dongle.

Each of these same BT devices work just fine on my old 5K iMac (for which I originally got the Magic stuff), my 2019 MBP and my wife's M1 iMac so it is definitely the Mini's problem.

When my new MBP arrives (March I hope) I anticipate being able to go back to BT devices again but might stick with the Logitech stuff as it seems to work just fine. I am liking them much more than I thought I would!

 

[gusping]

Bluetooth on the Mini has been a "weak spot" for many years. It's not cured by substituting one Mini for a second example, because it's "baked-into" the Mini, so to speak.

I sense that this is due to the product design, and that there really isn't a fix for it, other than being careful what you connect to the back*, or to go with a "3rd party" bluetooth dongle setup.

* Again, this is probably why it works for some folks, and doesn't for others.

I don't use bt, don't care for it.
So it's never bothered me.

Yep... It genuinely baffles me how many issues the Mac mini has that are core to its use, e.g. bluetooth and external display issues (both hardware and Mac OS related it seems). I hope the M1X mini is better.

 

[MikeDr206]

USB3 can interfere with Bluetooth as well as with 2.4GHZ WiFi. The way I fixed this was to use a TB dock, and turn off WiFi. Obviously not a solution for everyone

another solution is to buy a third party usb BT dongle, and use that. Granted, you’ll need a usbc to USB adapter, too, and it’ll use up a TB port unless you have a dock

 

[Neodym]

Yep... It genuinely baffles me how many issues the Mac mini has that are core to its use, e.g. bluetooth and external display issues (both hardware and Mac OS related it seems). I hope the M1X mini is better.

As the display issues are present (at least) since the 2012 mini, I wouldn’t hold my breath that a hypothetical M1Pro/Max mini would solve that :-/

 

[turbineseaplane]

I've had BT issues with every Mini generation save for maybe the very original ones.

I'm really hopeful the case redesign rumors are true and that part of that is about getting much better BT reception.

The plexiglass top rumors would likely help a lot here.

 

[DPUser]

Back in the day, I figured out BT with the old cheese grater Mac Pros was bad. Disconnected the internal BT and use a dongle, hung off one of my monitors or my wired keyboard. Proximity and direct line of sight make for one solid connection.

 

[LeeW]

I'm really hopeful the case redesign rumors are true and that part of that is about getting much better BT reception.

Is that the issue though, the case I mean? I have BT issues on just one, it was the 2018 model. My current setup with the M1 is no different to the 2018 model in that all of the other devices around it are the same, nothing has changed at all.

Yet, I gave the 2018 model to a family member and in about a year they have not had a single issue with BT.

There just doesn't appear to be a constant with BT. Some have it, the majority don't, some have had it with one device, not another.

It is not always specific to the MM, I see several other threads about MBA/MBP having the same issues.

 

[Neodym]

There just doesn't appear to be a constant with BT. Some have it, the majority don't, some have had it with one device, not another.

It is not always specific to the MM, I see several other threads about MBA/MBP having the same issues.

A possible explanation could be that USB3 devices can interfere with BT connections. Folks without (m)any USB3 devices connected, experience little to no BT issues, while computer-savvy people like the visitors of this forum often attach one or more - often highspeed - USB3 devices and are thus much more likely to experience troubles.

Edit: Mini connecting to a 2.4GHz WiFi could also be a reason for BT problems.

 

[LeeW]

A possible explanation could be that USB3 devices can interfere with BT connections.

Possibly. The answer is out there, somewhere

 

[robertjoe]

Would a third party bluetooth dongle fix the problem 100%?

Yeah, possible. But It also depends on the dongle which you are gonna use to.

When I faced the Bluetooth issue of mac I thought it was a bug from the macOS version and they might fix it on the next update. But it doesn't happen. Then I searched for a solution on the internet. And got a dongle to resolve this. The dongle was from Hideez. Which I still used to connect all types of Bluetooth devices that are required for my work.

That dongle is still working pretty well, and performance-wise It's good enough. However, my problem is solved, but this might not be a proper solution Apple should fix this asap. It's not expected to have an issue like this in a premium device like Mac.

 

[VitoBotta]

I'm having frequent issues with the magic keyboard and mouse because of the BT. In particular the keyboard, sometimes it goes crazy and pressing one key triggers a ton of characters typed so I need to plug in another keyboard and restart the BT module. Which is something I have to do also when I reboot the system, since Monterey won't detect the magic KB/Mouse at boot automatically. I got tired of all these issues so I ordered a Logitech KB/mouse with their own USB receiver. I still use the BT with the Airpods but luckily that works almost always OK.

 

[MBAir2010]

the best thing for a Mac mini and bluetooth is no metal furniture
and an i7 processor.
this i from my experience since 2012, were my newly acquired mini's BT is perfect!
( trackpad and anker keyboard)

still the m1 should have a better signal.

 

[VitoBotta]

Yeah, possible. But It also depends on the dongle which you gonna use to.

When I faced the Bluetooth issue of mac I already have a Hideez dongle, Which I still used for keyboards, mouses, speakers, and headphones. Also, there's many interesting features available on this dongle.

That dongle is still working great, and performance-wise It's good enough. And I have never faced the Bluetooth issues of mac again duo the dongle used. These are the best things about Hideez Dongle.

How did you configure the Hideez dongle? I have one and I could try it for the Airpods. I had some problems when I first tried it but can't remember the details.

 

[VitoBotta]

I can't believe this..... I couldn't find the Hideez but I found another Dongle I had by Trust so I have configured it with the instructions on the Hideez site and it seems to work well.... the audio with the Airpods isn't dropping at all lol. Keyboard and mouse also work fine. Maybe I should have tried this before ordering the Logitech kb/mouse...

 

[turbineseaplane]

Is that the issue though, the case I mean? I have BT issues on just one, it was the 2018 model. My current setup with the M1 is no different to the 2018 model in that all of the other devices around it are the same, nothing has changed at all.

Sorry I missed this

It's a great question - I don't know..
Maybe just Apple "designs" in general?

My Hackintosh has perfect bluetooth performance and it sits down under the desk in the same mess of stuff (USB2 and USB3) that all my Apple stuff has over the years.

Only the Apple hardware ever has issues with BT -- bizarre

I really wish they'd figure it out.
BT issues are the sort of thing one should have NO issues with on premium hardware

 

[LeeW]

BT issues are the sort of thing one should have NO issues with on premium hardware

Agreed. It would be easier if it was simply a known BT issue caused by x and Apple don't care. No, not ideal but at least it would be clear

Never had any BT issues on anything but my MM whether Apple or anyone else. Hopefully, we will see a new MM next month, maybe a new design. It will either fix it or make it worse