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M4 Mac Mini's Power Button Has New Bottom Location

bizarre place but can you turn the computer on by hitting a keyboard button? I know you can shut a Mac down via the menu.
 
I actually love this, typically my Mac mini is in awkward, hard to reach, areas, and I feel like every time I need to unplug a cable, especially unplugging the power cable, my hand that’s holding the body accidentally hits the power button. Which drives me nuts when it’s turned off, and I try to unplug it, but I power it on at the same time. I’m dead serious that I LOVE this change.
 
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CraigsDog said:
A desktop computer that can just be left in sleep mode endlessly when not in-use so you don't need to actually power it off or on very much at all. It also weighs virtually nothing. Lets not pretend its like lifting a tower off a desk.
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Lifting it is not an issue as long as it is sitting on a desk with nothing in close proximity, but the small form factor means many of us would want to stick it away somewhere like in a shelf or cubby hole, completely freeing up the desk area. In that situation there is a big difference between simply reaching around its top (or side if that is how it is oriented) for the button, and actually having to tilt it in a confined space. I shut all my computers down completely unless I am using them regularly throughout the day.
 
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CWallace said:
... Having it in sleep for eight hours probably draws less power than what it takes to power on from a full off state and re-load all your apps off the SSD.
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Every hour in sleep you use 0,4W more than in turned off mode. So in 8 hours you save 3,2Wh by turning it off. Apple has not published power use during boot phase, but 3,2Wh is enough to cover 'turned on in idle' for 48 minutes so I think it is safe to say you are right .
 
Jim Lahey said:
Well sure. Maybe...No. This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. The Babylon Bee would have paid good money for this idea. That sound you just heard is the monumental thud of every design engineer in the entire world simultaneously facepalming. Sorry but no one is talking their way out of this one. It's a meme.
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It's really not as serious or as dramatic as you're trying to make it be. Not even close.
 
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nice UX design just for the sake of change! how inconvenient is this, waiting for third party to create a clip with button for easy access.
 
Mr_Ed said:
Lifting it is not an issue as long as it is sitting on a desk with nothing in close proximity, but the small form factor means many of us would want to stick it away somewhere like in a shelf or cubby hole, completely freeing up the desk area. In that situation there is a big difference between simply reaching around its top (or side if that is how it is oriented) for the button, and actually having to tilt it in a confined space. I shut all my computers down completely unless I am using them regularly throughout the day.
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anywhere you shove it, the bottom of the computer should always be exposed... those little vents you see next to the power button are what lets air in to the internals. So that area should always be exposed anyway.
 
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Quite stupid design. I know a few people who turn off their macs. Even if it only saves a few watthours per day, all mac minis combined which are not turned off now will add up. So much for apple being green. Again.
 
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Maybe apple would actually have the Mac minis sideways on a rack in a server center. That could be preferable given the fan design. As such, the power button would then easily be accessible for possible hard reset situations.
 
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DickieSmith said:
Eugh, I was looking forward to the new Mac Mini but I’m feeling a little let down.
The footprint is not the same as the Apple TV meaning I can’t throw it in a jacket pocket in a hurry and the placement of that button is on the same level of ergonomic genius that gave us the Magic Mouse charging port on the bottom.

I would have been seriously tempted by something with the footprint of the Apple TV, even better if it had the option to be powered by USB-C meaning a single cable to my monitor.

This isn’t it
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That’s what I wanted too. I’m so disappointed at being stuck in the 1990’s desktop era still. Apple really missed the opportunity to make a groundbreaking new product category, the portable desktop. Power it over USB like a MacBook, with one thin cord to the monitor, and with a laptop battery so we don’t need to a giant UPS on the floor. And we wouldn’t have to power down to move it to another room or rearrange desk.
But maybe that will be a new product, with a new name: the Mac Liberty, that isn’t tied to the plug. Introduce it with new line of displays and super cheap laptops that can connect wirelessly to the Liberty.
 
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flybass said:
Maybe apple would actually have the Mac minis sideways on a rack in a server center. That could be preferable given the fan design. As such, the power button would then easily be accessible for possible hard reset situations.
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Upside down would work best since heat rises. Who cares what it would look like.
 
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Ahhh in keeping with the Magic Mouse philosophy. Why not put the USB ports on the bottom too 😂
 
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