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New 2014 Mac Mini Has Soldered RAM, Not User Replaceable

KPOM said:
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
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So because some guy with a website imagines most people just use their computers for web surfing, nobody needs a real computer anymore?

And even standing on that jenga-tower of bad guesses, the best he can say is the crippled machine can perform well. So even still he won't go so far as to say as well as a quad core.
 
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!
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Comments like this are the ones that make Apple owners look bad
 
KPOM said:
Actually, before they brought Jobs back they were licensing clones. Jobs was the one who killed the clones through some legal slight of hand
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That too, but before jobs came back, you couldn't put standard memory or hard drives into a mac, and even most standard peripherals mice, printers, etc wouldn't work without a lot of effort because you were supposed to buy Apple trackballs and printers.

One of the first things Steve did to start fixing Apple was make them support industry standard ram, hard drives, and peripherals.
 
fa8362 said:
Who cares what MPG says? The people who are complaining know they need the quad. They don't need any advice or guidance from MPG.
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I'm guessing some of the people complaining think they need the quad-core. Sure, some people legitimately do, and for them the iMac or Mac Pro may be the only options left if they want to stay in the Mac fold, but a lot of the same people who actually need a quad-core likely would have needed something better than HD4000 graphics, too.
 
Have iphones and always get the new one when it comes out and ipad, apple tv as well and macbook. Mini was going to be my first mac desktop and move away from a pc, but not anymore, thanx for making it easier to make up my my apple
 
xylitol said:
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?
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As a home server - yes. My server equipment draws 230W at idle and that's using as much energy efficient gear as I could find. When I had my 2008 Mac Pro server it made the room unbearably hot in the summer. Once I decided to switch to the mini as the main server it made a huge difference in my comfort and my electricity bill (less AC and less power at idle)
 
mtneer said:
Unfortunately, Apple may have calculated that they have outgrown the need for such network effects. Airlines have just been relentless on crapping on its most dedicated and loyal flyers by gutting their frequent flyer programs because industry consolidation assured that they have a steady stream of customers who don't know which end of the plane the pilot sits. Why waste margins trying to appease a demanding/ discerning customer - when they can load up with customers who have no expectations. You should check out their forums such as Flyertalk to see the pattern that I think all industries will soon follow...
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Yep, thats me. I no longer recommend Apple's to friends/family. A computer can be easy to use and configurable/upgradable at the same time. However, Apple forgot about me, a power user that 80% of the time likes the ease of use, but every once in a while needs to do something different.

All I want is one top-of-the-line computer that is upgradable and powerful. Thats right make the CPU and RAM changeable in the very top, highest price, Mac Mini. That would work for me. Give me a 17 inch Mac Book display, again top price is fine. Make 12 inch screens and throwaway computer cubes for the masses. That way everyone wins.

But now I am slowly bracing for my next laptop being Windows or Linux. I know its going to suck, but I can't really afford to continue to spend money with a company that has abandoned me.
 
Oracle1729 said:
So because some guy with a website imagines most people just use their computers for web surfing, nobody needs a real computer anymore?

And even standing on that jenga-tower of bad guesses, the best he can say is the crippled machine can perform well. So even still he won't go so far as to say as well as a quad core.
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MPG maxes out his Macs. His biggest worry about the 5K iMac was whether he could get 64GB of RAM into it. He's actually very critical about what he considers to be "core rot" in OS X. His focus is on photography as he's a photo editor.
 
rei101 said:
Damn, I have 8 GB and I am doing 3D on my iMac and doing full HD editing at my office with it. Stop being pretentious, you just are making a fool out of yourself. You can tell you are not doing anything professional, justa show off. I do not know how to be more blunt to you kid. Grow up.
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Uhhh, look at the brain on this one. Sorry you couldn't pick up on the satire. Perhaps, in the future I will send you a message warning you of just that. I would hate for you to get your panties all in a bunch again. Have a nice weekend!!
 
FuNGi said:
I stopped reading at this comment. Spot on.
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Uhhh, look at the brain on this one. Sorry you couldn't pick up on the satire. Perhaps, in the future I will send you a message warning you of just that. I would hate for you to get your panties all in a bunch again. Have a nice weekend!!
 
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.
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You are exactly right. The Mac only took off when the went Intel and decided they would work with others and not rely solely on proprietary crap. The rMBP was the start back. The are too confident in iPhone. It will be a long hard fall for them eventually.
 
Oracle1729 said:
That too, but before jobs came back, you couldn't put standard memory or hard drives into a mac, and even most standard peripherals mice, printers, etc wouldn't work without a lot of effort because you were supposed to buy Apple trackballs and printers.

One of the first things Steve did to start fixing Apple was make them support industry standard ram, hard drives, and peripherals.
Click to expand...

That was purely a cost move. Apple didn't have the purchasing power it has now, and so by switching to industry standard parts they were able to reduce manufacturing costs. If I recall correctly, he hired away an executive from Compaq to be Apple's COO and manage the supply chain. ;)

Apple still supports industry standard peripherals (although even Jobs preferred to promote FireWire and then later Thunderbolt, which have yet to catch on in the rest of the market). But it was under Jobs that they switched to SSDs before the rest of the market, and introduced devices such as the iPhone that didn't conform to a lot of the existing industry standards (the SIM card hadn't changed between the mid-1990s until 2010, and it's changed twice since then, at Apple's urging). I'm sure Jobs would have approved the move to PCIe (if he didn't know about it in Apple's long-term plans already), and the MacBook Air was one of the first notebooks with soldered RAM, no optical drive, and nothing user serviceable.
 
KPOM said:
a lot of the same people who actually need a quad-core likely would have needed something better than HD4000 graphics, too.
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They would have been satisfied with the 5000 or Iris, but Apple didn't give them that choice. So, once the 2012s are gone, Apple won't get a dime from most of them.
 
A few thoughts: The soldered memory means that you can't easily replace it. However, I haven't ever replaced the memory since I got my Mac Mini almost 3 years ago. In terms of pricing, it would cost me $80 on newegg right now to get nice crucial memory (8 Gb, 1600 DDR3) for the mac, which Apple charges a $20 premium over. Yes, there was a time when ram was dirt cheap a year plus back, but those days are over. What Apple is asking isn't in any way unreasonable. As for the processor, the processor idles at 1.4 Ghz, but it turbos up to 2.7 Ghz. It's a fine processor and will make a fine machine for any who buy it. I still have the old spinner in my Mac Mini; while a fusion drive or SSD would indeed be faster, the 5400 RPM spinner works quite capably.Yes, it might be nice to have some "peace of mind" that I can futz with the system if i had to at some point, but I realistically wouldn't. I think people are making this out to be something far bigger than it really is.
 
Macboy Pro said:
You are exactly right. The Mac only took off when the went Intel and decided they would work with others and not rely solely on proprietary crap. The rMBP was the start back. The are too confident in iPhone. It will be a long hard fall for them eventually.
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The Mac went Intel because IBM and Motorola couldn't produce power-efficient PowerPC chips. Mac began its rise with the original iMac, and the Mac Mini goes back to the G4 days. Mac didn't really take off until after the iPod took off. Switching to Intel helped, since it made virtualization and Boot Camp popular, but that's software, not hardware.

Apple is too dependent upon the iPhone, but the Mac isn't the answer to the future, either. PCs are a mature market. They need to find some new product categories. The Watch isn't a long-term answer in itself, but if it succeeds it could buy them some time. Things like the iPhone don't come around very often.
 
fa8362 said:
There's no quad with Iris or 5000.
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I'm talking about the current offering. There is no quad, and if the quad doesn't have Iris what's the point of mentioning that people would be satisfied with it in the context of a quad core.
 
xVeinx said:
A few thoughts: The soldered memory means that you can't easily replace it. However, I haven't ever replaced the memory since I got my Mac Mini almost 3 years ago. In terms of pricing, it would cost me $80 on newegg right now to get nice crucial memory (8 Gb, 1600 DDR3) for the mac, which Apple charges a $20 premium over. Yes, there was a time when ram was dirt cheap a year plus back, but those days are over. What Apple is asking isn't in any way unreasonable. As for the processor, the processor idles at 1.4 Ghz, but it turbos up to 2.7 Ghz. It's a fine processor and will make a fine machine for any who buy it. I still have the old spinner in my Mac Mini; while a fusion drive or SSD would indeed be faster, the 5400 RPM spinner works quite capably.Yes, it might be nice to have some "peace of mind" that I can futz with the system if i had to at some point, but I realistically wouldn't. I think people are making this out to be something far bigger than it really is.
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sorry but 5400rpm is dated technology, SSD for system is a must...
 
ProfessrHenry said:
Summary:
Apple is now courting the masses. It doesn't care what you think because you're a minority.
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Yeah, those who develop the software for apple mobile dvices are being shown the door.

Great model Apple - remove the choose, force knowledgeable users to spend 2-3 times as much as they should for the privilege of building apps for the almighty Apple.

The base models were ALWAYS for the regular consumers. The ONLY thing this release did was to alienate those who have grasp of the cost of tech - those who develop the lifeblood of their walled garden.
 
subsonix said:
I'm talking about the current offering. There is no quad, and if the quad doesn't have Iris what's the point of mentioning that people would be satisfied with it in the context of a quad core.
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I was engaged in a sub discussion about the quad, not the the dual core current offering.
 
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