Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
M4 Mac Mini's Power Button Has New Bottom Location
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
I don't think you want people to accidentally push the power button if it's mounted inside a car. If you need to use the power button to service it, you really would want them to go through some physical impediment to get to the button.
If I can reach the button without having to pickup the machine, then I don't care. If I literally have to pick up the machine, rattling the already precarious connection security that is modern USB/Thunderbolt... then this goes down for me as a design decision far worse than the magic mouse.
Shut your computer off every night. If you go to bed the computer should be off. You can add years of life to the computer, and modern computers start up in seconds.
Pretty sure it actually reduces the life of the computer to do this
It used to be that we could fit two Mac Minis in a rack using a 1U RackMac mini enclosure from Sonnet. But not any more!
Now, we have to waste 2U for two side-by-side Minis, AND they'll have to come up with a contraption to hit the power button from underneath using the front power buttons on the RackMac. Thanks, Apple! We LOVE wasting rack space!
Now, we have to waste 2U for two side-by-side Minis, AND they'll have to come up with a contraption to hit the power button from underneath using the front power buttons on the RackMac. Thanks, Apple! We LOVE wasting rack space!
Who needs to add years of life to a computer? They get outdated long before they die because of leaving it on.
Probably just a lot cheaper and simpler to have it there based on whatever the power supply looks like and not having to cut a button into the aluminum... but that's only a guess. There's no plastic back panel like the old Mini had.
Either way... who cares. This is Apple Silicon, putting it to sleep will be basically the same as turning it off.
Magic Mouse team: "We put the charging port on the bottom and people STILL buy it!"
Mac Mini team: "Hold my beer."
Mac Mini team: "Hold my beer."
As a bunch of others have stated, this change is really a bizarre thing to get bent out of shape about. For those that claim they shut down and power up their Macs every single day to save on power, do you do the same when you go to bed for your iPhone? For your microwave? Do you unplug your washing machine when you aren't using it? I have a 2006 Mac Mini in my house that stores files for my older Macs to use and does backups for my MacBook and stuff, and it's been running for over 200 days. I don't think I've fully shut down my MacBook Air since I got it last summer, and I rarely ever did it for my 2012 I had before that. Also, you are all acting like lifting up a 1.5-pound Mac once in a while is suddenly the most inconvenient thing in the entire world. 
If you read my post, I was not talking about the power requirements of sleep vs off.
The parent post I replied to was talking about Apple themselves using our Macs for their own AI processing when we don't use them. That would push the power requirements into the maximums, thus increasing our power bills, possibly also increasing our cooling requirements for at least the room the Mac is in. It would also use our internet bandwidth, which many of us have monthly quotas with huge costs for going over them.
Oh this is total bullish**. I have dozens of Macs, including Minis, iMacs, MacBook Pros, MacBook Airs, and Xserves, and they stay on 24/7 for years. Some of them are over 12 years old.
This is such misinfo... leaving it on is what adds years of life. On top of that, Apple Silicon is so efficient that letting it go into sleep mode instead will be no different power efficiency-wise.
Hrm, power button on the rear corner is plenty awkward enough when doing restarts that require pressing and holding it. Trying to shimmy a hand in under there with your peripherals plugged in, whilst needing to see the screen so you can press key combinations wouldn't be much fun.
Granted, you hopefully don't have to do that often, but when you do it is because you're already trying to resolve some sort of problem, and probably not feeling at your most relaxed.
Are there any advantages to putting it there?
Granted, you hopefully don't have to do that often, but when you do it is because you're already trying to resolve some sort of problem, and probably not feeling at your most relaxed.
Are there any advantages to putting it there?
155 Watts through a USB C cable? 8 amps at 20 volts? You have a lot a faith in those tiny wires.
not good for people with fat fingers, other than that… not a big problem but why no in the front part?
I don't know that anyone has ever studied this and come up with a conclusive answer. If you shut the computer off each night and then restart it to work the next day, you're increasing the load on the power supply. But if you leave it on all the time, the power supply ends up running 24/7.
After supporting Macs for over 35 years, I don't think I've ever had to replace a power supply. We keep our Macs on 24/7, with restarts every three weeks or so.
Really? I turn mine off at the end of every day. Sleep may not use very much power at all, but it still uses some.
It's the cheapest place to put the button. That's their whole reason. Button elsewhere might complicate assembly, especially if it was attached to the aluminium enclosure. It's not cheaper to the point where it would impact selling price, but minor cost savings add up to measurable additional profits after you sell a couple hundred thousand devices. That is everything Tim Cook's Apple is about. Fortunately this will only be a minor annoyance to many people (but will be much worse for some), so it's probably one of the less consequential decisions in this area.