Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

New 2014 Mac Mini Has Soldered RAM, Not User Replaceable

As predicted. So glad I picked up a 2012 Mini refurb earlier today.

When Apple transitioned to Intel, and I transitioned fully to Apple, it was great. A lot of PC-standard, user-replaceable parts across the lines. Top of the line processors. Over the past few years, Apple has managed to screw up pretty much every one of their product lines, for my purposes/preferences at least. Looks like I'll be sticking with my fully-upgradable cMP. It's getting harder and harder to remain a Mac user.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ladybug
I'm not surprised at all. I knew Apple would do this eventually. And actually to be honest, I still wouldn't be surprised if one day the 27" iMac was next, making the Mac Pro the only user accessible machine in all of Apple's product lineup.
 
I own 4 Mac Mini


used to repair notebooks, ......Mac Mini is my fave. desktop computer




NOW ITS RUINED


Thanks Apple, you just took a DUMP on the Mac Mini.....


then pissed on it to boot
 
Ther goes cheap RAM for Apple.

What's still remained? 27" iMac, MacPro ... Wow just two left. Livin' on the edge.
 
Stella said:
Wow.. that sucks. Soldered RAM is cheaper to produce.. Apple saving a few dollars to inconvenience its customers who would like to max out RAM, and increasing its profits???
Click to expand...

This is my thoughts on it. If Apple's prices for harddrives and ram were reasonable (as in market equivalent), I wouldn't care in the least. Just max it all out up front, upgrade the whole machine later if I need more.

But the prices Apple charges for spec boosting are ridiculous. And now you don't have any other option. You get a nice, inexpensive entry level option, but have to pay through the nose to go beyond that.
 
I guess you have to weigh the market if you are Apple. My father has a mini, and is in dire need of a new one. The base $499 model is going to do everything he can do now, and much faster. So for him, that's a great deal. For me, I wouldn't touch the base mini. I do like the mini, it was my first Mac back in 2005. But since 2007 I've only had Mac Pros, now on rMBP 15".
 
For me the soldered RAM is not such a big deal. The lack of quad core is more annoying. Apple is trying to push people to get iMac for anything other than a media PC. It's almost like Mac mini was too good and eating up the margins of the more profitable iMacs, and they had to downgrade it.
 
My take on this "upgrade" is that they are looking at the new lower level entry Mac and not the "Super Mac Mini" that many want. Why?

From talk with Apple Store folk who's observations I respect, the Mac Pro had a very good start when released by the sales have been soft since then. Thus, Apple does not want a higher version of the Mac Mini to bite into Mac Pro sales.

Hence why the new Mac Mini is "appliance" like in production and at a lower entry level price. Honestly, I'd love to see a quad-core / 1 TB SSD in a Mac Mini for around $2000. Looks like that is not happening.
 
Oh god I am so happy I have bought older older quad core model when it first came out. I was feeling bad about the upcoming upgrade but it didn't happen. Now i can upgrade ram load an SSD and it'll be even better than the new model.
 
They gotta get you to spend the extra $100 upfront! :p

I knew that $499 was too good to be true.
 
formerapplefan said:
For me the soldered RAM is not such a big deal. The lack of quad core is more annoying. Apple is trying to push people to get iMac for anything other than a media PC. It's almost like Mac mini was too good and eating up the margins of the more profitable iMacs, and they had to downgrade it.
Click to expand...

We have a winner here! What would Steve have done?
 
Well that sucks. I was hoping to buy the new Mac Mini and sell my old iMac, but 16 gigs of RAM is barely enough for what I do now. If they'd updated the Mac Pro as well, I'd be tempted, but I'm not gonna shell out top dollar for a year old machine. Despite Apple's declaration of their best product pipeline this year, they're a bit disappointing. :/

Edit: Seems to me that Apple no longer recognizes the market of those who use a computer connected to an hdtv for both work and play.
 
Last edited:
This really remain a huge disappointment. All along in so many threads, people have said they would be simply happy with a speed bump in both CPU and video and now we have an improvement in video but stuck in dual core cpu land which can be summed up as pathetic.

Perhaps one of the concerns was the requirement for power for the two TB2 ports but I'll be most would be happier with one TB port and a quad core CPU.

Apple - you are not innovative nor cutting edge. You have become another bloated company with a Ford mentality: You can have any colour you want as long as it is black. -And you seem to get your rocks off with form over function.

I'll keep my present Mac Mini and honestly, I wont buy another Mac product again since there is nothing inspiring about your products any more.
 
Renzatic said:
That'd be a decent excuse if Apple were going for a super thin laptop, but here it's just money gouging. You have to pay them $300 for an $80 upgrade of ram.

Intel NUCs are a helluva lot smaller than the Mini, sport roughly the same hardware (the Mini does have a better integrated GPU), yet have replaceable HDDs and ram. The Mini, on the other hand, is exactly the same size as it was before, and was well known for being easy to upgrade.

There's no excuse for it, other than, quite literally, Apple doesn't want you to.
Click to expand...

I can think of at least two reasons, but they're pretty weak:
1) shorter PCB traces (in a sense, using the same PCB assembly line of the iMac or Macbook Pro) and less parts
2) LPDDR3 (which is listed) where as the previous MacMini's were just DDR3, for lower energy use

In the case of LPDDR3, you can't buy SODIMM's, none exist. It's not DDR3L, and the standby power is 1/8th of DDR3L.

http://www.jedec.org/sites/default/files/JY_Jung_Taiwan_Korea_8_12.pdf

Take note of the timeline near the end. 14/15 LPDDR4
 
i'm really surprised people still make an effort to upgrade their ram and not just pass off their 3 year old machine on ebay for half price and buy the next model new. my guess is this is not the case for 95% of the people who buy computers and so this soldering of the ram just makes sense. i'd rather have a unit that is smaller and cheaper and has nothing to tinker with which has been optimized to work with what it has installed.
 
Have been waiting for the new MacMini to replace a hackintosh. Seems like it is not going to happen. Specs are more than disappointing :(
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back