You can get low power CPUs like atom and i3. Hard drives would be the main power draw. 230w for a sever sounds really high.
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New 2014 Mac Mini Has Soldered RAM, Not User Replaceable
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You can get low power CPUs like atom and i3. Hard drives would be the main power draw. 230w for a sever sounds really high.
Apple appears to be using the i5-4288U and i7-4578U, both of which are 28W chips. For quad-core, they'd have had to go up to 47W, as the 37W designs use the HD4600. The chips Apple is using are pretty old, and by now Broadwell was supposed to have been out before Intel delayed it multiple times. Perhaps this is a case of Apple making do with a stopgap update for the base market, with plans for a more proper update next year when the Broadwell chips finally come out (and not just the underpowered M series). I think that's also when we'll see the 12" MacBook.
OTOH, Skylake is supposedly on target, so don't be surprised if 2015 is a year of double updates to a lot of designs (Apple and otherwise).
and if you want fussion, pay as mad
nope, thx, i will buy old model and buy myself 128 ssd and fuse it with original apple spinner
The base Mac mini comes with 4GB and Apple is asking 100$USD to increase the RAM to 8GB. That means 100$USD for 4GB, not 8GB. Apple are charging a premium of over 60$USD, which means 150% more (vs a regular RAM module) for that extra 4GB of RAM.
The base Mac mini should come with 8GB standard to begin with.
As for the storage, we should have three options at no cost:
- 5400 RPM, 500GB hard drive
- 7200 RPM, 320GB hard drive
- 128GB SSD
People already have. They have stopped buying all apples computers somewhat. That is why apple says things like the ipad is their best selling device. Yeah because that is the only device they update properly. They slack on their computers and have for a long while. They confuse slow sales with lack of demand but people aren't entirely stupid. They are waiting for the headless imac, a real mac that will never materialize because apple has had its head stuck so far up its arse for so long. Plus their plan to make everything they sell disposable is sickening. Once the imacs couldn't be upgraded I had enough. The mac mini was the last system that was worth buying. They can take all their computers now and shove them.
That's good logic in my estimation. Reading this would make me think twice about upgrading to this release.
PCIe, that's funny, this thing comes with the same sad little 5400rpm drive minis have had for years, probably a Toshiba unless the could find something cheaper. I've got a drawer full of these dogs. The are so slow that once you put something like a WD Black 750 in (a massive 60 bucks), you feel like a speed demon all of a sudden. Apple's only option fusion drive adds 50% to the cost of this "Bargain" Mini, but of course. if you want to add RAM, you've almost doubled the price of this "entry level computer".
As for Office, it's dog slow on my MacPros, so I don't see how something this slow with minimal RAM and a slow hard drive is going to be worth the trouble. When they get this thing in stores I'll go try and launch Word, Excel and Powerpoint, probably go to lunch while I'm waiting.
I have dozens of professional imaging apps which earn their keep, and the slowest launching and most lethargic apps on any of my Macs are in Office. Considering all they are is a word processor with a bunch of bad clip art and ripped-off, second-rate fonts, a spreadsheet (ooh, pie-charts!) and a cure for insomnia, they are pathetic. Maybe after Bill Gates cures Malaria he can spend his golden years explaining how these ever became the industry standard.
Check your data - demand for computers overall is slowing, it is not problem of apples computers - and whatsmore, apple is doing well in comparison to its competitors (speaking about computer sales)..
In my opinion this just continues the same considerations that spawned the mac pro debacle. Apple has a specific customer in mind. They go relentlessly after that customer and if a different type of customer gets cut... well so be it.
Unfortunately, I am in the collection of customers that Apple no longer values. I suspect that they don't really care, crushed under the weight of all their money, that my business is forced to turn elsewhere. Still, it saddens me because I have become quite used to the Mac OS.
Here is the list of the primary machines that I currently own at home:
27" iMac (a disaster I will not repeat)
Macbook Air
Previous gen Mac Mini
2011 Mac Pro
2013 Dell 5810 Xeon running Linux
As each of these winds down, they will be replaced as they all serve a specific function in my work and personal lives. The only machine on this list that may be replaced with another Mac is the Macbook Air.
There is a huge hole in the Mac lineup that sits exactly where I live and breathe. That hole is the $2000 headless machine. That is about how much I can afford for a professional class machine, and Apple no longer caters to that market. They stopped with the new Pro moving ridiculously upmarket. The old Mini never really lived there but some of us managed to stretch it up there. My current iMac was intended to try to fill that role, but it mostly just fails (substandard video card coupled with THREE trips back to the Apple store for warranty repairs - one for the "computer" and two for the screen.) My Linux box is the only reasonably powerful machine that will continue to get upgraded (and then replaced) with a similar system.
It isn't just my home setup either. This $2000 hole is big enough that at my office we just replaced about 50 Mac Pro's with Windows/Linux machines this year. We had held off because we really like OSX, but the new Pro's were simply too expensive.
We also have a slew of Mac Mini's for lower end graphical work, but those will most likely not be replaced with Macs either. In part this is because the new Mini is so gimped in the price/performance category:
Dual core mac mini with 3.5 GHz turbo boost i7 and 16 GB of ram and integrated graphics - $1400
Quad core Dell XPS 8700 with 4.0 GHz turbo boost i7 and 16 GB of ram and discrete graphics- $880
On top of that, the rate of change is guaranteed because since our other, primary machines will have gone Windows and Linux, the fact that the Mini's are OSX is actually now a liability. (3 OS's to manage vs. 2)
So the Mac Pro debacle has bled over into nearly every other system that we own.
Apple, of course, will be crying all the way to the bank. Their core customer base these days are "consumers" not "creators". My friend who is in the market for a new computer will have no idea that the memory is soldered in, nor that the entry level cpu is much worse than last year's. She just sees: computer + price. But all she does is facebook, word processing, and web surfing. For her this machine will do just fine. And there are many many more of her than of me. There will also always be the "bottled water" set who simply must have OSX and a shiny machine for their Manhattan office who will spend the money on a Mac Pro (they are fantastic machines just like a Tesla is a fantastic car - Just happens that I have Honda money).
Sigh.
Oh well, by stepping away from OSX I am, at least, stepping into a world where I will spend less money and get more performance. I was willing to live with the higher cost because the benefits of OSX outweighed the small increase in cost/performance. Now the increase in cost has severely jumped for me (and people in the same market that I am in) and I am no longer willing to suffer it.
The new Mini just continues that trend.
Unfortunately, I am in the collection of customers that Apple no longer values. I suspect that they don't really care, crushed under the weight of all their money, that my business is forced to turn elsewhere. Still, it saddens me because I have become quite used to the Mac OS.
Here is the list of the primary machines that I currently own at home:
27" iMac (a disaster I will not repeat)
Macbook Air
Previous gen Mac Mini
2011 Mac Pro
2013 Dell 5810 Xeon running Linux
As each of these winds down, they will be replaced as they all serve a specific function in my work and personal lives. The only machine on this list that may be replaced with another Mac is the Macbook Air.
There is a huge hole in the Mac lineup that sits exactly where I live and breathe. That hole is the $2000 headless machine. That is about how much I can afford for a professional class machine, and Apple no longer caters to that market. They stopped with the new Pro moving ridiculously upmarket. The old Mini never really lived there but some of us managed to stretch it up there. My current iMac was intended to try to fill that role, but it mostly just fails (substandard video card coupled with THREE trips back to the Apple store for warranty repairs - one for the "computer" and two for the screen.) My Linux box is the only reasonably powerful machine that will continue to get upgraded (and then replaced) with a similar system.
It isn't just my home setup either. This $2000 hole is big enough that at my office we just replaced about 50 Mac Pro's with Windows/Linux machines this year. We had held off because we really like OSX, but the new Pro's were simply too expensive.
We also have a slew of Mac Mini's for lower end graphical work, but those will most likely not be replaced with Macs either. In part this is because the new Mini is so gimped in the price/performance category:
Dual core mac mini with 3.5 GHz turbo boost i7 and 16 GB of ram and integrated graphics - $1400
Quad core Dell XPS 8700 with 4.0 GHz turbo boost i7 and 16 GB of ram and discrete graphics- $880
On top of that, the rate of change is guaranteed because since our other, primary machines will have gone Windows and Linux, the fact that the Mini's are OSX is actually now a liability. (3 OS's to manage vs. 2)
So the Mac Pro debacle has bled over into nearly every other system that we own.
Apple, of course, will be crying all the way to the bank. Their core customer base these days are "consumers" not "creators". My friend who is in the market for a new computer will have no idea that the memory is soldered in, nor that the entry level cpu is much worse than last year's. She just sees: computer + price. But all she does is facebook, word processing, and web surfing. For her this machine will do just fine. And there are many many more of her than of me. There will also always be the "bottled water" set who simply must have OSX and a shiny machine for their Manhattan office who will spend the money on a Mac Pro (they are fantastic machines just like a Tesla is a fantastic car - Just happens that I have Honda money).
Sigh.
Oh well, by stepping away from OSX I am, at least, stepping into a world where I will spend less money and get more performance. I was willing to live with the higher cost because the benefits of OSX outweighed the small increase in cost/performance. Now the increase in cost has severely jumped for me (and people in the same market that I am in) and I am no longer willing to suffer it.
The new Mini just continues that trend.
It comes down to cost vs size. You want more speed, but don't mine paying a little more, go with SSD. You want a larger drive at a lower price, go with 5400rpm.
Um, Macs have been doing quite well in recent quarters, so much so that they have been able to get to the 5th largest PC manufacturer in the world. Yes, they won't beat HP or Dell, but lets not kid ourselves. We get it, you want a highly customizable machine with top-tier parts (whether or not they can be easily or efficiently manufactured) for little to no cost.
The mac mini makes such a ridiculously small portion of their profit all you people complaining about the fixed ram should be happy they even bothered updating it
I had a really bad nightmare last night. I dreamed that a new mac mini was debuted...iPhone-sized
Why don't you read the tech spec on the Apple store, or look at the upgrade options on the mid and high level model then, or watch the keynote for that matter. There is a PCIe option.
I'm not saying that Office isn't bloated but there are lots of people who use it with a regular laptop, the Air included.
Anti-Mac?
After following MacRumors for some months now I get the sense that most postings I've read here have an anti-mac undertone in their headlines, usually pointing out what's wrong with an apple product instead of what might be good or new. Perhaps the blog should be called MacRuiners instead?
After following MacRumors for some months now I get the sense that most postings I've read here have an anti-mac undertone in their headlines, usually pointing out what's wrong with an apple product instead of what might be good or new. Perhaps the blog should be called MacRuiners instead?
Well it isn't us that are the "MacRuiners". it's apple who Ruined the wac mini, they are the real macruiners!
If you want to rename the site as to dedicate it to the people who are ruining the mac call it "cookandives.com"
That works for you. I've never owned a mac I haven't opened within a month (as soon as I'm sure it's perfect from the factory), and I've been inside all my Macs several times over their lives.
Now Apple is making it crystal clear they don't want my business. And that's fine, there's plenty of other companies happy to offer me what I want and they will get my money. But the fact that the older minis were more capable and upgradable machines didn't hurt them at all for people like you. The changes they've made now make them completely useless to people like me. So there' is simply no benefit for Apple to burn customers like me. And when the iToys fizzle in a few more years, this will come back to bite them.
To be entirely honest with my opinion, it looks like Apple is purposefully limiting the Mac Mini product and making it more limited/less options. Why? Apple wants to phase it out, but knows people aren't ready yet for the discontinuation. So, Apple does the slow, stepping stone approach: downgrade features/remove options, until people no longer want it. Then discontinue the product. It's the passive-aggressive approach of saying "we don't want to sell the Mac Mini anymore, but we also don't want to anger customers yet with the discontinuation of the product, so we'll just make it unlikeable to a point where it'll reduce sales."
If you look at the classic MacBook Pro as another example, Apple is still selling it, but hasn't upgraded it at all since 2012, making it more unattractive. They also reduced the price on the cMBP by $100, similar to what they just did with the Mini. Same analogy, I would think.
The writing, unfortunately, is on the wall.
If you look at the classic MacBook Pro as another example, Apple is still selling it, but hasn't upgraded it at all since 2012, making it more unattractive. They also reduced the price on the cMBP by $100, similar to what they just did with the Mini. Same analogy, I would think.
The writing, unfortunately, is on the wall.
No, I think you missed the point.
Apple have always sought high margins, which we could call greed. But what I'm talking about is short-sighted greed, which results in decisions that may be profitable for the next quarter, but at the expense of long-term profits.
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Did you watch the Apple keynote? Mac's are up 18% year over year and PC's are down 1% YoY.
The target market for the Mini is for the general user, not the power user a far cry from they typical MacRumors reader. Agreed, a powerful headless/upgradable Mac would be great but my guess, it would sell less than the Mac Mini other that the MacRumours following.
My 2012 Mini is doing just fine with LightRoom, iMovie, Office, email, a Windows7 VM and iTunes serving up my music and movie collection around the house.
The target market for the Mini is for the general user, not the power user a far cry from they typical MacRumors reader. Agreed, a powerful headless/upgradable Mac would be great but my guess, it would sell less than the Mac Mini other that the MacRumours following.
My 2012 Mini is doing just fine with LightRoom, iMovie, Office, email, a Windows7 VM and iTunes serving up my music and movie collection around the house.