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[...] Yes, you can leave the power on and sleep it most of the time, but periodically the power needs to be cycled, both on and off.

Where are people getting this information from? This is completely false, ask anyone who studied electronics. In fact it's the complete opposite. Apart from power surges and overheating, I would say cold/hot/cold cycles is the third thing that damages the hardware the most.
 
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You're supposed to pull the plug, not the cable!
 
So I generally turn off my Mac Mini at the end of the day. Have done with several generations of the device and they have lasted a long time. Have never had an issue with any Mac mini ever and never required a service.

The only devices I don’t switch off are iPads, iPhones etc but I do occasionally switch off my MacBook if not using it a while.

So this for me comes across as a bizarre placement for the power button.

Just bizarre to have to tip up the device to switch it on and off. Or technically just to switch it on etc.

🤔
Never turned off my Mac minis Macs, my experience is the same as yours though.
But yeah, quite a silly placement.
 
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Form over Function. Just wait until you see our new MacBook Pro design with the new Retina XXDR display UNDER the base of the laptop. It's like it's not even there!
 
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It seems that the base model, priced at $599, is the most cost-effective option. If you make any upgrades here and there, it ends up being just as expensive as getting a Mac Studio."
I see it the other way around - an upgraded Mini M4 Pro seems like a pretty good deal compared to a Studio, at least until they upgrade that.

At 1999,-, you get: M4 Pro Mini, 14 core CPU, 20 core GPU, 48GB RAM, 512GB SSD.

Base Studio M2 MAX for 1999,-: 12 core (slower) CPU, 30 core (but each is slower) GPU, only 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD.

Upgrading both to 64GB would be another 200USD for the Mini, but 400 for the Studio, making the Studio seem even worse.

It may change when they eventually upgrade the Studio, but until they do, noone should buy a low end Studio in my opinion.
 
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How do I lift a tiny computer to switch it on?

How do I plug headphones into the front of the tiny computer?

How do I recharge a mouse every 4 months?

How can I post these complains on Linkedin for likes and make my fake job profile look a design guru?

iu
 
if you are so married to the idea of turning it off regularly, just flip the mini upside down. More ventilation this way. Problem solved. Buy me a coffee.
 
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.
Exactly. A few watts for 8-10 hours is still energy that you don't need to burn. But that's not the only reason.

Then, I've got a dozen other devices and wall-warts connected to the same multi-way adapter which all use a bit of standby power - so I like to switch that off at the wall overnight - of at least if I'm going to be away for a few days.

Plus the occasional need to force a power off because shutdown hangs. Yes, in the real world, it does happen.

In the case of my current Studio, I have two 3rd-party displays plugged in and if you turn on the Mac before they've finished powering up it tends to forget the screen layout, not auto-detect the displays etc... so, no, setting it to auto boot on power on is not a solution.

The people who come up with - and defend - these "brilliant" design decisions must live in an echo chamber where nothing ever goes wrong and the mantra is "I don't need it, therefore nobody needs it" - as if the very presence of a feature somehow forced them to use it.

There's a power LED on the front. Would it really be an impossible engineering feat to have combined that with a power button? It's only a low-voltage, 2-wire momentary switch - it's not like the old days where the power switch was a double-pole/double throw 240V switch with thick wires.

I honestly thought this was a Photoshopped joke riffing on the Tragic Mouse power socket...

155 Watts through a USB C cable?
USB-C Power Delivery goes up to 240W these days. So, whether or not it is desirable it would be possible. However, good luck finding a current display or dock that would supply that.
 
This will get annoying quickly. I use Mac mini for my secondary monitor. Input is happening using Synergy, thus I have to manually wake my Mac mini, as the input from Synergy won't work until the Mac mini is awake. Need to get myself a wake on lan solution I suppose.
 
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155 Watts through a USB C cable? 8 amps at 20 volts? You have a lot a faith in those tiny wires.

Maybe I’m alone in this, but I don’t need anything more powerful than what I expect we’ll see from a base model M4 MacBook which should be able to be powered by USB C without draining the battery.

Obviously there would be trade-offs to achieve the form factor I was hoping for, but it should be achievable.

Perhaps there’s a market for 3 tiers:
  1. Mac Studio for professionals with demanding workloads.
  2. Mac Mini for mid tier performance at an affordable price
  3. Mac Nano for lower performance users who value a portable and flexible form factor
 
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I'm really glad Apple did this. It allows everyone who would be otherwise complaining about where the Magic Mouse charging port is to flood this thread, allowing the rest of us to read the useful threads of MR in relative peace.
 
So literally they are making these useless for a data center got it. I was ready to get my company to buy a pair of these to replace the M1 in our datacenter that compiles our mobile app.

The M1 is rack mounted which looks impossible for these new devices. Great plan.

You don't think Sonnet is at this very moment working on a MacRack for these?
 
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Those defending the design saying it isn’t a big deal to lift up the computer once a day to turn it on are simultaneously right and wrong.

Sure, in the grand scheme it isn’t a big deal, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a really stupid design.

When I had a Magic Mouse, if I ran out of battery I’d give it a quick 5 minutes while I grabbed a coffee which would see me through the day and then give it a full charge over night, so it wasn’t a big deal that I couldn’t charge my mouse and use it at the same time. But it meant I was having to work around bad UX.

It’s not a huge deal to lift up the computer, but it would have been much more ergonomic to have the button on the front, top, or if necessary the back.
 
I use a secure VESA mount cage to fix the current model to the rear of our monitors. That is not going to work so well with that ill-conceived power button position.

I guess I'll use the Kensington Security Slot instead...
Yeah, rack mounting these might be a little bit more difficult 🤔
 
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Power off an Apple silicone mac?

we-dont-do-that-here-black-panther.gif

I always put M1 MBP to sleep and wake up by lifting the lid and signing in automatically using my Apple Watch…or slam the space button on the external keyboard when connected to my monitor.
 
What about folks that install these in creative ways? I’ve worked with many artists that use minis and it’s not as easy as your simplistic dismissal leads on
What "creative way" are you installing this that makes this sooooo difficult?
 
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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.
Even if that's true, at least put the button on the front of the bottom (and preferably in the center to reduce guesswork), not the back.
 
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