This is bad. Some installations in tight corners would not allow to tip it. Power button should be on the front.
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M4 Mac Mini's Power Button Has New Bottom Location
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I can’t think of the last time I needed to restart windows 11 for anything other than patches- which all operating systems restart for. Windows server 2019 doesn’t even need to do that. But then again I built my rig so it’s filled with high quality components that don’t suffer from bad drivers
It isn't arbitrary at all to refer to the bottom as the bottom.
The only way the letters "HDMI" are right-side-up is if you have the bottom at the bottom.
I have a lot more than that connected and I let my MBP sleep instead of turning it off. Most devices have different power modes and macOS sets them on sleep.
I suspect that you really won't know how much of an issue (good or bad) the power button is until you actually try to use it on a real Mac mini. The location/position of the computer on your desktop in relation to where you sit or stand will obviously make a difference.
That said, I'm sure Apple had some "good" reasons to put it on the rear bottom of the enclosure. They may not want people to completely power down the computer simply because they did a total cost of ownership study and found that for various reasons it is cheaper in the long run to keep the Mac mini is a sleep state rather than to repeatedly turn it off and on.
Thus, for most people the power button MIGHT be considered more of a hard reset button when you have to force a shutdown.
That said, I'm sure Apple had some "good" reasons to put it on the rear bottom of the enclosure. They may not want people to completely power down the computer simply because they did a total cost of ownership study and found that for various reasons it is cheaper in the long run to keep the Mac mini is a sleep state rather than to repeatedly turn it off and on.
Thus, for most people the power button MIGHT be considered more of a hard reset button when you have to force a shutdown.
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Such a stupid design especially since there are many modes require you to press and hold the power button AND a way to reset the memory by shutting down the computer and leave it for 10~30 sec.
See? I called it! I knew Apple would find some way to inconvenience users with the redesign...Apple just can't help themselves!
They did it with the MacBook Pro redesign, introducing a notch, when it wasn't even needed and doesn't serve any purpose; they did it again with the Studio Display, with no apparent off switch on the display, and they did it with the AirPods Max - again, no power button.
Now that Jony Ive is gone, why can't Apple just follow standard industry conventions and make a product that follows their aesthetic, but also follows standard industry practices, like including the power button on the front or top of a chassis on their desktops, and including a power button on their Studio Display and AirPods Max?
They just couldn't be normal, could they.
I have a ton of studio equipment and it makes sense to shut it all down at the end of the workday, including Mac, attached internal storage, peripherals.
The room looks like a Christmas tree at night unless I flip the master switch off.
Hope this design change doesn’t make it to the Mac Studio models. Having to lift the computer to turn it on is stupid.
I can’t even easily access the bottom of mine.
The room looks like a Christmas tree at night unless I flip the master switch off.
Hope this design change doesn’t make it to the Mac Studio models. Having to lift the computer to turn it on is stupid.
I can’t even easily access the bottom of mine.
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The notch takes the cake, in my opinion. A notch on a freakin’ laptop. LOL
The notch came about due to increase of screen real estate. We essentially now have pixels for the menu bar where before it was dead space.
I much prefer having more screen to use.
This. For the most part my 2019 iMac refuses to go to sleep. The screen goes dark, but otherwise it's still running full out. If I do manage to get it to actually sleep it'll sometimes randomly wake up and turn on the screen for about a minute before going back to sleep. I've got power nap and all the "wake for...." settings turned off. No weird USB devices plugged in just a KB, mouse and external drive for Time Machine.
So every night I have to shut it down completely and reboot in the morning. Luckily the power button is somewhere I can easily reach.
Apple wants you to regularly check the bottom of their products
If true this would completely answer all the criticism. Does the currently available Touch ID keyboard do this on M2 Minis? I suspect not or there wouldn’t be so much reaction. If so it would mean the Touch ID keyboard for the M4 Mini is a new design, which I haven’t heard mentioned.
As far as I know it does not work this way nor has it ever. The Mac mini has to be powered on. Maybe that user was referring to the Mac mini being in sleep mode, which then yes the keyboard can wake it up. Though any keyboard could.
Don't know what to think. With Sequoia and Xcode 16, I needed to hard reboot my Mac Mini M2 Pro a few times in the last days. Very annoying. For a moment I felt like I was on a PC.
Otherwise I just put it to sleep all the time. Sleeping Macs consume a negligible amount of energy.
Otherwise I just put it to sleep all the time. Sleeping Macs consume a negligible amount of energy.
No because Bluetooth is off when the Mac is off.
The entire keyboard takes like 10 seconds to be responsive even on the login screen. I've seen this behavior on all of my Macs since I've had a Bluetooth keyboard.
Pretty tall assumptions here. I manage IT for a school. The nature of my workplace requires people to be onsite.
Simple fact is that in my workplace, these Macs would use less power if they had a sensible power button location.
The point of it is the mini is so small and cute now that the designers want users to grab it and hold it when turning it on. In design speak this creates a physical relationship between user and product.
People defending this des
Agreed, and if Apple really want to prioritise form over function that much it would be very Apple to have a hidden haptic power button where you just squeeze the sides.