Mac Mini 2018 (re)design: what you would have done differently?

[mathemabeat]

Things I would have realistically like to have seen (i.e stuff Apple could have actually done):

Better cooling. The cooling is perfectly fine for the i3 chip and probably the i5 (until you start to really push it), but I think it's a bit lacking for the i7. 100% utilization going to 100c within seconds is understandable on a laptop, but I think for a desktop that's a bit underwhelming. Maybe we will see a third party replacement cooling system.

Pricing across the board is a bit higher than I think it should have been. Would have liked to see the i3 come in at $599 or maybe $699. i5 at $899. Basically I think all the configs are about $200 more than they should be.


Those are my only real beefs with the Mini. Overall I have been really enjoying mine and the addition of the Vega 56 in the eGPU really souped up video performance for stuff like video editing and even day to day desktop activities.

 

[brentsg]

Things I would have realistically like to have seen (i.e stuff Apple could have actually done):

Better cooling. The cooling is perfectly fine for the i3 chip and probably the i5 (until you start to really push it), but I think it's a bit lacking for the i7. 100% utilization going to 100c within seconds is understandable on a laptop, but I think for a desktop that's a bit underwhelming. Maybe we will see a third party replacement cooling system.

Pricing across the board is a bit higher than I think it should have been. Would have liked to see the i3 come in at $599 or maybe $699. i5 at $899. Basically I think all the configs are about $200 more than they should be.


Those are my only real beefs with the Mini. Overall I have been really enjoying mine and the addition of the Vega 56 in the eGPU really souped up video performance for stuff like video editing and even day to day desktop activities.

Did you grab a pre-fab eGPU or make your own?

 

[mathemabeat]

Did you grab a pre-fab eGPU or make your own?

Rolled my own. Asus XG Station Pro and Sapphire Vega 56. I picked up both used from ebay. Have a little over $500 total in it. About $200 for the XG Station Pro and around $300 for the Vega 56. And performance is a screamer.


Ohh, and the color of the XG Station Pro is damn near a perfect match to Apple's Space Gray on the Mini.

 

[brentsg]

Rolled my own. Asus XG Station Pro and Sapphire Vega 56. I picked up both used from ebay. Have a little over $500 total in it. About $200 for the XG Station Pro and around $300 for the Vega 56. And performance is a screamer.


Ohh, and the color of the XG Station Pro is damn near a perfect match to Apple's Space Gray on the Mini.
View attachment 820700

Thanks, looks good.

I pondered making an eGPU for my HTPC b/c it's in a SFF case and my 2080 Ti was cooking it. In the end I'm switching cases, but it was interesting to consider.

Now I've picked up a second (returned the first) Mini now that refurbs are available, so I may head down your path depending on how things work out. I'm not doing anything too demanding, but I want to see how it feels at 3440x1440.

 

[Ploki]

- 2 non-soldered m2 NVMe blade drives
- ECC ram

Of course I am talking about the upcoming mac pro. I bet one reason why the flash drives are soldered in is to push sales of the new mac pro which won't have them locked down.

like the iMac Pro?
also non-xeon chips generally don't support ECC ram.

Really the only big thing I'd change is to add a Vega option, and give each thunderbolt port its own controller.

not even iMac Pro has that, nor did the Mac Pro have it.

The iMac Pro has PCIe lanes for it, the Mac Mini doesn't.

afaik: x16 lines PCIe directly to CPU, used x4 by SSD, two x4 by the TB port.
The 10GbE is via x4 PCH.

It has total of x16 direct to CPU + x8 through the PCH, meaning x24 PCI lanes.

We have already used x16 by what I listed up, another x4 is probably used by the USB hub, which leaves x4 free WIFI/BlueTooth maybe? i dont know. Anyway, there's no space for 2 nVME blades. There's maybe space for one.
There' no space for Vega in this config.
Also there's no cooling space for Vega either.

 

[weaztek]

• No brainer: a decent or excellent AMD GPU
• SD card reader
• Keep IR remote for Apple remote
• Lower RAM & SSD prices (they're outrageous)
• Keep optical audio port
• Is a wired keyboard by Apple too much to ask?

 

[Hessel89]

When you start options like this you're simply getting into Mac Pro territory. The consumer chipset simply doesn't have enough lanes to do everything. With TB3 (and ppl wanting additional controllers), 10GbE, 2 SSD's, a theoretical Vega GPU people are theorizing.. there'd be a good bit of resource (lane) sharing going on.

I'm currently running the Z370 chipset with an Intel Optane SSD in PCIE, plus 10GbE, 2 M.2 drives.. I'd have to glance at the diagram but SATA/USB/WiFi/2xM.2 are sharing 4X PCIE lanes via DMI3. The GPU is only using 8x lanes b/c I'm short. And the slot that -could- house a TB3 card is occupied by the network card.

I think you're quoting the wrong person. What kinda options? I'm only opting for an M.2 slot instead of an SSD soldered to the board. literally takes the same amount of PCI lanes. Again, I highly doubt Apple will ever go this way but it would be nice if we could replace the SSD ourselves.
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Rolled my own. Asus XG Station Pro and Sapphire Vega 56. I picked up both used from ebay. Have a little over $500 total in it. About $200 for the XG Station Pro and around $300 for the Vega 56.
View attachment 820700

That's a good deal. an Asus XG Station Pro alone is €399,-

 

[F-Train]

Is a wired keyboard by Apple too much to ask?

I've used this one both wireless and wired.

 

[brentsg]

I think you're quoting the wrong person. What kinda options? I'm only opting for an M.2 slot instead of an SSD soldered to the board. literally takes the same amount of PCI lanes. Again, I highly doubt Apple will ever go this way but it would be nice if we could replace the SSD ourselves.
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That's a good deal. an Asus XG Station Pro alone is €399,-

There was no one post in particular. You mentioned the second SSD, others mentioned various other extras. You mentioned the Mac Pro and I thought you were right. That’s what a lot of people are asking for.

 

[pshufd]

I would like something in-between the Mac Pro and the Mac Mini. Some kind of small form-factor desktop with maybe half-tower size so that you could add a video card to it. The only additional option that I'd like from the Mini is a discrete video option - doesn't have to be a high-powered option - but just something. And there's not enough airflow for it in the current packaging.

 

[pl1984]

True. Let's put it this way: RAM is not simply upgradeable by laymen and requires some effort. Not sure if warranty is voided if done by the user. However, its meant to be done by service personnel.

The RAM can be upgraded by laymen without much effort. More than the 2012 model but certainly not something that requires anything more than following some basic instructions and having a bit of patience.

 

[09872738]

The RAM can be upgraded by laymen without much effort. More than the 2012 model but certainly not something that requires anything more than following some basic instructions and having a bit of patience.

Well, for you and me no problem, agreed. However, for someone who isn't computer-literate certainly a hurdle.

Anyway, since the SSD is non-upgradeable and upgrade pricing is off the scale the Mini is not for me.

 

[Spectrum]

Better cooling (if possible) so that max boosts can be maintained, easier RAM access, and an M2 storage slot are what I would have liked. The GPU is surprisingly competent for regular usage. But a cheaper/smaller external EGPU solution would also be nice to see. If a MBPro can fit in a dedicated GPU, why can't a relatively small external eGPU box be manufactured to contain a mobile GPU?

From the review and benchmarks I've seen, the black magic external GPUs only boost performance about 2x relative to a MBPro, yet are >10x the volume!

 

[pl1984]

Well, for you and me no problem, agreed. However, for someone who isn't computer-literate certainly a hurdle.

Anyway, since the SSD is non-upgradeable and upgrade pricing is off the scale the Mini is not for me.

I think the soldered on SSD is my largest compliant with the new Mini. But then that might be changing if, as I've recently read, it struggles to browse a handful of web pages with 8GB of memory.

 

[LeeW]

I am with others in that the only thing I would do differently would be moving the power to the outside. A power brick would make it no more conspicuous or not a mac, suggesting it would is ridiculous.

Without the power in there, no need to make the case bigger, there would now be enough room to add a GPU, improve the cooling and so on.
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as I've recently read, it struggles to browse a handful of web pages with 8GB of memory.

Where? I have never heard or experienced that on any mac with 8GB.

 

[pl1984]

Where? I have never heard or experienced that on any mac with 8GB.

Here you go:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-mini-buying-advice.2167065/page-2#post-27080199

 

[Plutonius]

Leave out the T2 chip.

 

[LeeW]

Here you go:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mac-mini-buying-advice.2167065/page-2#post-27080199

Yeah, not going to give that any credence based on the information provided.

 

[Fishrrman]

1. Make the ENTIRE rectangular bottom panel removable. 4 screws would do it. This would make RAM changing easy and allow for option #2.

2. Offer a "super-cooled" option (again with the removable back panel design as above) that has a higher-volume quiet fan built into the base. Just remove old back panel, replace with fan-equipped version.

3. No t2 -- of course.

EDIT:
4. EXTERNAL power supply -- keep that extra heat "outside the box".

 

[hagjohn]

Easy to change RAM & m2 SSD's. And make a Ryzen APU version that can be upgraded to any APU version with compatible socket.

 

[pl1984]

Yeah, not going to give that any credence based on the information provided.

You'll have to debate this with Spectrum and Loddonlily as they're the ones supporting such a claim.

 

[Apple_Robert]

1. Make the ENTIRE rectangular bottom panel removable. 4 screws would do it. This would make RAM changing easy and allow for option #2.

2. Offer a "super-cooled" option (again with the removable back panel design as above) that has a higher-volume quiet fan built into the base. Just remove old back panel, replace with fan-equipped version.

3. No t2 -- of course.

I don't mind the T2. That might change if I was a having problems with it as some others have. I support the other options, along with the member who suggested moving power to the outside.

 

[russell_314]

Make it a bit thicker to fit in better cooling and a decent GPU

I thought about this but I see why they didn't do it. First it would add cost to an already expensive computer. I wouldn't have bought it. Secondly a GPU inside the mini would have been a laptop GPU soldered to the board. It starts off weak or super expensive then quickly becomes outdated. Right now I can buy an eGPU separately and get desktop GPU performance and easy upgradeability. Also bigger is a no go because it's a "mini". I think what some people want out of this is a Mac Pro because it hasn't been updated in years. I hope they come out with the old style Pro case instead of the trash can for the next version.
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256GB SSD as smallest. Fixed the perennial Bluetooth issues. 16GB ram minimum.
Brought the price down about $200. Input and output mini jacks. APFS optional, also T2 disable. Along that line, a way to generally relax security theater. Make the cloud and iTunes less pushy.

Hopefully Blutooth issues are hopefully software fixable. As to more RAM, larger SSD for less $$$, relax security, iTunes less pushy.... It sounds like you want a PC and not a Mac. There are many compact PC options that might fit your needs.

 

[Partron22]

relax security, iTunes less pushy.... It sounds like you want a PC and not a Mac.

Got one.
Relax security theater: What is point of asking for password every time I move something in or out of Apps folder?
That's not usually my stuff. The stuff that needs to be kept secure is in docs and pix folders. Apple doesn't ask for pw then. The scheme is set up more to irritate than to secure. Change an AppleScript App? Sorry, you'll have to reauthorize thru security prefs. It a dumb set up, that annoys, but doesn't really protect the things that most usually need protecting.
I don't wan to be "impressed", I want to be protected. Maybe T2 will do that, but it looks to me like it blocks me off from access to the metal; a process that's gone too far already.

There's no reason for iTunes to try to push me into cloud every time I open. I got fed up enough with that that I'm running iTunes 10.4 under Mojave. It lets me listen to the music I want to hear, without suggesting what to play next, or trying to get me to surrender my version of a piece of music to their version of the music, that goes away when I leave WiFi or cell range. These are MY Macs, not some funny little clone pieces of a corporations garden. I want to do with them as I bloody well please, not as Some guy with bad mechanical and software engineering skills, and his giant corporation please.

These days I'm moving more towards Raspberry pi/Debian than Windows. Lots of pinouts, and very few "I'm sorry Dave, I can't let you do that". Be nice to have USB 3, but if I can get the hardware to do what I want without triggering "Hackerzzz!!! Alerts!!!! from Hell" I am happy.

 

[F-Train]

Got one.
Relax security theater: What is point of asking for password every time I move something in or out of Apps folder?
That's not usually my stuff. The stuff that needs to be kept secure is in docs and pix folders. Apple doesn't ask for pw then. The scheme is set up more to irritate than to secure. Change an AppleScript App? Sorry, you'll have to reauthorize thru security prefs. It a dumb set up, that annoys, but doesn't really protect the things that most usually need protecting.
I don't wan to be "impressed", I want to be protected. Maybe T2 will do that, but it looks to me like it blocks me off from access to the metal; a process that's gone too far already.

There's no reason for iTunes to try to push me into cloud every time I open. I got fed up enough with that that I'm running iTunes 10.4 under Mojave. It lets me listen to the music I want to hear, without suggesting what to play next, or trying to get me to surrender my version of a piece of music to their version of the music, that goes away when I leave WiFi or cell range. These are MY Macs, not some funny little clone pieces of a corporations garden. I want to do with them as I bloody well please, not as Some guy with bad mechanical and software engineering skills, and his giant corporation please.

Yes, Mac security pales in comparison with Windows and Chrome. And Windows 10 is so less invasive on marketing than macOS. I mean, I just installed Windows 10 for the first time in five years, and it only took me an hour to get rid of the useless apps installed for my "benefit". Reminded me of why I got rid of Windows in the first place.
[doublepost=1549856058][/doublepost]You've since added this:

These days I'm moving more towards Raspberry pi/Debian
​

Been there, done that. I use Raspberry Pi to run a device that I use when flying an aeroplane. Never used Debian, but I did play around with Arch Linux for years. Meanwhile, neither runs Logic or Final Cut.

Enjoy.