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New 2014 Mac Mini Has Soldered RAM, Not User Replaceable

flyinmac said:
Well, Apple's strategy has just cost them a lot of sales. I have absolutely zero interest in an iMac. In fact, I would say that if I had a choice between a $200 iMac and a $5000 PC as my only options, I would go with the PC. I've been through too many garbage iMac systems over the years. Everything after the iMac switched to LCD's is garbage and only meant to be used for a short while and tossed in the trash.

I've never been able to keep an iMac running for more than a matter of weeks. They've all died horrible deaths and been through so many shops to get them up and running, that it was best to sell them at a loss before it died again. Reminds me of the car shop that sells used cars with a 90 day warranty, then patches them over and over again to get you past the 90 day warranty and hopes you won't smarten up and return it instead.

I've been through that game too many times with the iMac's. Never again.

And, the Mac Pro is a ridiculous price tag for my use. So, not spending that much money.

They've strategized themselves to a position that insures my immediate next machine will unfortunately have to be a PC.

You cannot deliberately create huge gaps in your product line and think that's going to force people to buy in a totally different category.

You leave the big holes, and someone that needs a machine that is somewhere in that gap will have to go somewhere else. I'm not going to jump from a Mini to a Mac Pro just because my needs are somewhere in the middle.
Click to expand...

Well said. Strangely Apple hasn't figured out that its marketing model is flawed. I too will be looking elsewhere for my next computer.
 
I'm not reading 680 posts, lmao.

So is the older 2012 mid-model the better choice than the 2014 mid-model? Or just be sure to max out the ram (essentially raising the price dramatically) on the 2014?

Been waiting on an update to buy one, it will be strapped to the back of our bedroom TV so the better half can stream movies from our iTunes library to the apple TV's in the house when I'm at work with the MBP, but not really much else other than sync'ing his iPhone and iPad too. Maybe the 2014 entry model would handle all of that just fine. Having ac would be nice in the future once everything else gets upgraded to it. A new time capsule will be added sometime early 2015.
 
I'm sure the $499 Mac Mini with 8GB upgrade for 599 would still make for a good server. The software RAID wasn't that great to begin with on the dual HDD setup previously.

I actually plan on upgrading my 2010 and 2012 Mac Mini's for the new ones because I like the dual-TB2 upgrade. However, I may wait until next year when Broadwell comes out and see what they do.

I use my Mini's with OS X Server for DNS, DHCP, OpenDirectory, File Sharing, and Time Machine. None of these services are "CPU intensive".
 
Ploki said:
so... it uses low-power RAM, generates less heat, is consequently more quiet, spends less electricity. Does the job Mac Mini was designed for better?

You could whine if they soldered standard ram, but they did use low-power RAM that only comes in soldered flavour...
Click to expand...

So Mac Mini was designed to use minimum amount of energy while being a somewhat decent computer? Fine, mission accomplished. But do customers really care about that when they buy AC powered computers?
 
Welcome to the Apple soldered world

Well... maybe is time to buy a new PC. Apple clearly wants to kill the word "upgrade", users doing machine upgrades hurt Apple incomes, and Apple doesn't want that, so the best strategy to avoid that is to make all soldered.

My machines:

2011 15" MacBook Pro i7 quad with 5400rpm hard drive 500gb and 4gb ram (stock), today it has 1TB Crucial M550 SSD and 16gb ram.

2013 13" MacBook Pro Retina i7 dual, 512GB SSD and 8GB RAM, today it is exactly the same because Apple don't want to loose a cent, so if I want to upgrade my 2013 rMBP I have to buy another one.

2014 Mac Mini: I was hoping great cpu quad core and user accesible upgrades but, it is impossible because Apple don't want to loose a single cent.

I love Apple operating systems but this soldered strategy is really hurting the value of their products in hardware terms. I'm pretty sure most people prefer better cpu's than 42 useless thunderbolt2 ports.

I never thought I will start thinking like this but now I see myself buying a PC next.
 
Thermonuclear said:
That is not the point. (Also, not true; Chrome runs on Linux and it's possible to access Linux directly, or to dump Chrome altogether.)

The point is that for a typical user, a Chromebox does everything that the low end Mini can do at one third the price.

THAT is the point.
Click to expand...

Google "VLC Media Player Chromebook"...
Or "torrent Chromebook"... or do typical users now download & play video files?
 
djgamble said:
While most won't upgrade the RAM, the Mini is already a very restrictive unit. IMO Apple should have a ~$1000 desktop with an i5/i7, a removable graphics card, 4 RAM slots and 2 HD bays. Modest but expandable!
Click to expand...

While I agree with you, that will never happen!

Apple is looking to make everything proprietary and everything forced obsolescence. Apple wants you to buy at all from them and replace it rather than fix it.
 
Apple is breaking faith with its core customer base with this daft iteration of the iMac. We are not stupid and we can vote with our wallets.
 
flyinmac said:
Well, Apple's strategy has just cost them a lot of sales. I have absolutely zero interest in an iMac. In fact, I would say that if I had a choice between a $200 iMac and a $5000 PC as my only options, I would go with the PC. I've been through too many garbage iMac systems over the years. Everything after the iMac switched to LCD's is garbage and only meant to be used for a short while and tossed in the trash.

I've never been able to keep an iMac running for more than a matter of weeks. They've all died horrible deaths and been through so many shops to get them up and running, that it was best to sell them at a loss before it died again. Reminds me of the car shop that sells used cars with a 90 day warranty, then patches them over and over again to get you past the 90 day warranty and hopes you won't smarten up and return it instead.

I've been through that game too many times with the iMac's. Never again.

And, the Mac Pro is a ridiculous price tag for my use. So, not spending that much money.

They've strategized themselves to a position that insures my immediate next machine will unfortunately have to be a PC.

You cannot deliberately create huge gaps in your product line and think that's going to force people to buy in a totally different category.

You leave the big holes, and someone that needs a machine that is somewhere in that gap will have to go somewhere else. I'm not going to jump from a Mini to a Mac Pro just because my needs are somewhere in the middle.
Click to expand...

Is this a joke post?

What exactly were you doing on the iMacs to burn them out? Or were you buying used ones? I just think it's interesting bc my 2009 iMac 2.66C2D is still running strong according to the person that I sold it to. My wife's late 2009 3.06 C2D is also running perfectly after almost 4 years with zero issues, and a few of my friends on MR and elsewhere have no problems with their iMacs or other newer Apple devices.

I have a new iMac now that is also awesome and has been running very well since I bought it and doing just fine with 10.9 and should do just as well with 10.10.

Why not buy a refurbished Mac Pro and avoid Apple's steep price?

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matgzx said:
Well... maybe is time to buy a new PC. Apple clearly wants to kill the word "upgrade", users doing machine upgrades hurt Apple incomes, and Apple doesn't want that, so the best strategy to avoid that is to make all soldered.

My machines:

2011 15" MacBook Pro i7 quad with 5400rpm hard drive 500gb and 4gb ram (stock), today it has 1TB Crucial M550 SSD and 16gb ram.

2013 13" MacBook Pro Retina i7 dual, 512GB SSD and 8GB RAM, today it is exactly the same because Apple don't want to loose a cent, so if I want to upgrade my 2013 rMBP I have to buy another one.

2014 Mac Mini: I was hoping great cpu quad core and user accesible upgrades but, it is impossible because Apple don't want to loose a single cent.

I love Apple operating systems but this soldered strategy is really hurting the value of their products in hardware terms. I'm pretty sure most people prefer better cpu's than 42 useless thunderbolt2 ports.

I never thought I will start thinking like this but now I see myself buying a PC next.
Click to expand...

I view it as making a machine with fewer parts that need to be removed and lack the need for an upgrade. If you do in fact decide to go the PC route, then feel fee to dump your Apple stuff on my doorstep!
 
KellydenAdel said:
Im always good at predicting the future (retired at age 32).


Apples (accurate) VISION FOR THE FUTURE:



Iphones

Ipads

Iwatch

Imac

Macbook Air


thats IT. period.
Click to expand...


I'd suggest you work on your prediction skills, because the Apple Watch might as well be named the iFlop. Nobody gives a damn about that thing.
 
WHO CARES!!? My iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, etc. etc. etc. don't have user replaceable parts. I've worked in IT for 15 years. I DON'T CARE!

After working with POS PCs all day I just want something that works! And that's Apple products!
 
slffl said:
WHO CARES!!? My iPhone, iPad, Apple TV, etc. etc. etc. don't have user replaceable parts. I've worked in IT for 15 years. I DON'T CARE!

After working with POS PCs all day I just want something that works! And that's Apple products!
Click to expand...

Do you want something that works worse than the model released 2 years ago?

If so, you got what you wanted: A gimped machine.
 
Macboy Pro said:
While I agree with you, that will never happen!

Apple is looking to make everything proprietary and everything forced obsolescence. Apple wants you to buy at all from them and replace it rather than fix it.
Click to expand...

That's what they were doing before they brought Jobs back. It took them to brink of bankruptcy last time. I am a long-term Apple fan, and with the new mini they no longer make anything I want.
 
Hackintosh has been the best way, since OSX started running on Intel.

Desktops: Hackintosh
Laptops: MBA/MBP

Their margins on Mini's and Mac Pro's is ridiculous and their business practices have forced many to build their own.

My last Mac desktop was a Mac Pro 1,1, you know, back when they were affordable. 2006, I think.

Been hacking the tosh's since 2009 :)

Love my MBP though.
 
imola.zhp said:
I'm not reading 680 posts, lmao.

So is the older 2012 mid-model the better choice than the 2014 mid-model? Or just be sure to max out the ram (essentially raising the price dramatically) on the 2014?

Been waiting on an update to buy one, it will be strapped to the back of our bedroom TV so the better half can stream movies from our iTunes library to the apple TV's in the house when I'm at work with the MBP, but not really much else other than sync'ing his iPhone and iPad too. Maybe the 2014 entry model would handle all of that just fine. Having ac would be nice in the future once everything else gets upgraded to it. A new time capsule will be added sometime early 2015.
Click to expand...

Yeah man, I don't imagine you'll need a ton of performance for that. You could probably do just fine with the $499 model.
 
I am going to have to agree with others and wait for the refurbished models. The MacBook Air logicboard as a system base is getting annoying.
 
Some Sanity

MPG is not hesitant at all to criticize Apple, which he has for soldering in the RAM, but on the quad-core vs. dual core he says this:

http://macperformanceguide.com/blog/2014/20141016_1128-MacMini-with-Thunderbol2.html


In practice a fast CPU clock on a dual core can outperform a slower quad core on most all tasks, because most tasks for most users never use more than two CPU cores except briefly. So a 3 GHz Intel Core i7 with TurboBoost to 3.5 GHz can perform very well, including Photoshop.

But it all depends on workload, and if one CPU core is being sucked up by a background task, one remaining core is sometimes not much to work on.
Click to expand...


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imola.zhp said:
I'm not reading 680 posts, lmao.

So is the older 2012 mid-model the better choice than the 2014 mid-model? Or just be sure to max out the ram (essentially raising the price dramatically) on the 2014?

Been waiting on an update to buy one, it will be strapped to the back of our bedroom TV so the better half can stream movies from our iTunes library to the apple TV's in the house when I'm at work with the MBP, but not really much else other than sync'ing his iPhone and iPad too. Maybe the 2014 entry model would handle all of that just fine. Having ac would be nice in the future once everything else gets upgraded to it. A new time capsule will be added sometime early 2015.
Click to expand...

If you have to have a quad-core, go find a used on on ebay or the dwindling supplies from various Apple resellers (Apple has pulled all the old models from the stores, including the refurbished versions). Otherwise, just max out the RAM if you are worried about future proofing.

The base is likely more than sufficient for what you want to do, though for that matter you can do that with a Windows PC and some configuring. Consider the 8GB upgrade since the RAM isn't upgradable later.
 
unplugme71 said:
If Apple is going to pull this ****, then they need to make a 5 year Apple Care option as well as their typical three year.
Click to expand...

I agree. two years on iOS devices and three years on OS X devices is too short.

The two years on the iphone was at least justifiable when they had to be purchased on contract, but now that the cell phone carriers are moving away from those plans they need to be adjusted to a realistic three years. The ipad is a computer to me, and should last (be operable, not get iOS updates that it can't handle) way more than three years.

Just allow us to buy two AppleCare warranies, one at purchase (or within the first year) and then allow us to extend it to a second three year term (total six years) as the first AppleCare nears expiration.

Considering how the replacement costs drop over time with technology, I have no doubts that apple will still make their money from AppleCare, even if there are more issues on a six year old mac than a three year old one.
 
Oracle1729 said:
That's what they were doing before they brought Jobs back. It took them to brink of bankruptcy last time. I am a long-term Apple fan, and with the new mini they no longer make anything I want.
Click to expand...

Actually, before they brought Jobs back they were licensing clones. Jobs was the one who killed the clones through some legal slight of hand (releasing what should have been a point update to System 7 as "Mac OS 8"). He'd have been puzzled by some of Apple's moves on Thursday (the iPad mini 3 non-update update, and having 5 different models of iPad on sale at the same time), but soldering the RAM on the Mac Mini isn't one of them. This is the guy who had the audacity to release a 2G phone with a non-removable battery in 2007. His vision was for all computing devices to be appliances one day.
 
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