New 2014 Mac Mini Has Soldered RAM, Not User Replaceable

[AppleScruff1]

I've been using Windows for almost two decades now, Linux for the last few years, and I've been getting more and more into Macs as time goes on. In all that time, I've come to one conclusion:

Computers are stupid.

It doesn't matter what you buy or use, at some point, something terrible will happen, and your house will probably catch fire.

Though the thing with Hackintoshes (from what I hear) is that you have a much higher than usual chance of it breaking on even the smallest OS updates. There's too much potential for risk to safely use one as your every day machine.

You're just trying to throw people off the trail. Samsung is probably coming out with a min computer with replaceable RAM.


Disclaimer: This post was intended in jest. Renzatic doesn't work for Samsung and does not have inside info on their upcoming products. Well, maybe he does.

Disclaimer: This disclaimer is for the above disclaimer. The above disclaimer was also intended in jest. And in case someone isn't familiar with the term jest, I have provided a handy link.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jest

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Yup. They used to use Crucial, but I think recently they've been using...*gasp*...Samsung for their ram.

And in all the years I've been building my own computers, slapping all kinds and brands of rams in and out of the things, I've only ever had one stick go bad on me. Unless you're buying cheap, no name stuff, ram is about the most reliable thing you have in your computer.

I put a stick of gum in my last computer by mistake.

 

[cfedu]

True the commenters fail to appreciate that the earlier MacMinis were a source of revenue for other companies that provided tools and wherewithall to upgrade the minis storage, often requiring removal of the motherboard and potential damage to the tiny connectors. An Apple engineer told me that 90% of Mac mini faults were due to the DIYers and much disagreement when disks were changed, and voided warranty issues.

People should be happy that at least with Yosemite Apple have not disabled the kext-dev-mode=1 so that hackers are still able to mod kexts, I can understand that the likes of OWC will be sore, about this new trend, but those in support will be happy.

How does soldering ram reduce the risk of logic board damage due to hard drive replacement on the 2014 Mac mini?

Plus if the warranty is voided, an out of warranty repair is revenue for apple!

Maybe apple should get rid of all third party revenue and make their own standard for peripherals. Have lightning style connectors. I don't see why any third party should be able to sell an apple compatible product without apples 30% cut!!

 

[Renzatic]

I've had Macs come with Micron, Samsung, and a couple of other manufacturers. Never seen Crucial from the factory.

Well, Crucial is a brand of Micron, and I have the bad habit of using the names interchangeably.

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I put a stick of gum in my last computer by mistake.

I used to use my computer as a handkerchief. It was really uncomfortable.

...though my nose was ALWAYS clean.

 

[Oracle1729]

Though the thing with Hackintoshes (from what I hear) is that you have a much higher than usual chance of it breaking on even the smallest OS updates. There's too much potential for risk to safely use one as your every day machine.

My point is even with a real Apple, you shouldn't just click okay to install patches. Apple makes major machine ruining mistakes too. So you wait a couple of days and see. Same with a Hackintosh.

 

[Sonmi451]

The Mac Mini does NOT play into Apples vision of the future.
Apples wet dream is 5 skinny anorexic tools.
Iphone
Ipad super-anorexic Air
Imac (which gets slimmer year after year)
Macbook Air (NEXT MODEL ALREADY CONFIRMED EVEN THINNER)
Apple watch which will get thinner and thinner
Mac Mini is the ugly redheaded stepchild that doesnt play into Apples DREAM OF ITS FUTURE[/B]
Deny it all you want, but thats the FACT

Why are you posting the same thing in every thread? Hopefully your time out will slow you down.

 

[Jayomat]

What will I ever do with just 16GB of RAM?

you don't get it, don't you? the point is that apple forces you to pay a ridiculous amount of money to upgrade only 8GB. 8GB cost way below 50€, do you know what apple charges you? stop drinking the kool aid

 

[Naimfan]

Well, Crucial is a brand of Micron, and I have the bad habit of using the names interchangeably.

Ah!

I thought I remembered that - all the Crucial RAM I've used has always been sourced from Micron. I didn't realize Micron owned Crucial.

Out of all the Macs I've had and all the RAM I've upgraded, the only time I've seen a stick go bad was an OWC 512 MB module in my son's eMac (!). To OWC's credit, they had a replacement module out to me quickly, which has worked flawlessly (as has the eMac, for that matter - not bad for a machine from around 2002).

 

[mozumder]

Apple doesn't manufacture RAM, so your "Apple RAM" is another vendor's RAM anyway.

Apple doesn't randomly pick vendors.

 

[DudeDad]

The ones using the mini to code are usually the some ones utlilizing the quad to also perform media processing, which greatly takes advantage of the quad core.

But keep on painting your happy picture, and we'll keep on painting the reality of a lot of people.

The percentage of people bitching on this forum pales in comparison to the number of mac users and customers. I don't think the sky is falling. Everyone is overreacting. If you need 4 cores, don't get a mini -- pretty simple. In 6 months apple will quietly add it back. Then what will you complain about? Apple's doing pretty well without your input....probably will continue to do so.

Just watch your head on that falling sky...

 

[mozumder]

I've had Macs come with Micron, Samsung, and a couple of other manufacturers. Never seen Crucial from the factory.

Crucial is Micron.

 

[Lolito]

not surprised with these news, unfortunately.

Apple is still lacking a decent desktop box. Some kind of iMac brain but with no screen.

Also buying a new Retina iMac makes little sense to most users; who would want such an awesome and pricey screen tied up forever to ANY computer, instead of the flexibility of using it in any machine for the next 10 years?????

shame on Apple.

TIME FOR A GREAT HACKINTOSH!!!!!!!

 

[mozumder]

you don't get it, don't you? the point is that apple forces you to pay a ridiculous amount of money to upgrade only 8GB. 8GB cost way below 50€, do you know what apple charges you? stop drinking the kool aid

And you don't get that Apple can charge whatever it wishes. It doesn't need to charge market rate for DRAM.

This is an Apple appliance product, not a commodity. You buy an Mac Mini. You don't buy a generic CPU/Motherboard/DRAM/hard drive.

You save by not having to give a damn about parts. You can thank Apple for the time you save, because you saved more money for not wasting your time.

Although I suppose there are some people that like to waste time on computer parts? These people do not use computers for a living, though.

 

[USER1010101]

If the watch sales are mediocre

They will be mediocre. Nobody that I've spoken to thinks it's anything other than ugly.

Of course hardcore cultists will love it, but I'm pretty sure they'd love an Apple shaped turd (in gold or space gray, naturally; add 4GB ram for only $200).

 

[macnylonguitar]

Completely disappointing, completely.

Apple is clearly pushing user's to the MBP, iMac, or Mac Pro, basically very expensive and possibly not fitting options.

Anyone want to take bets on where this top of line dual core i7 4578U Haswell Geekebench scores (64 bit multicore) ?

I am looking at the i5 GB scores (dual core) at around 6000.

You have got to be kidding me. So I am thinking 6000-7000 max benchmarks, that is 2010 Mac Mini scores, really, Apple, unacceptable.

To the post prior on haswell 4 cores taking up too much power: the 4770, 4870, 4980 (4 cores / 8 threads) take up 45 watts, while the current Ivy Bridge 4 core is the same 45 watts. Doesn't make sense, the Haswell is supposed to run cooler and more efficient, so I am not sure heat is the reason Apple opted for no 4 core.

The Mac Mini is (was) the perfect machine: as a Apple admin / engineer, using it for development, servers, etc. it is great, especially using the iFixit mods and getting 2 drives in there.

First thing Monday, I for one am going to propose buying (stocking up on) 2-4 Ivy Bridge 2012 versions and use them for development and servers.

Possibly by the time Skylake comes out, we'll see the Mac Mini restored back to it's proper glory.

 

[USER1010101]

And you don't get that Apple can charge whatever it wishes. It doesn't need to charge market rate for DRAM.

This is an Apple appliance product, not a commodity. You buy an Mac Mini. You don't buy a generic CPU/Motherboard/DRAM/hard drive.

You save by not having to give a damn about parts. You can thank Apple for the time you save, because you saved more money for not wasting your time.

Although I suppose there are some people that like to waste time on computer parts? These people do not use computers for a living, though.

Wow.

 

[GizmoDVD]

They will be mediocre. Nobody that I've spoken to thinks it's anything other than ugly.

Of course hardcore cultists will love it, but I'm pretty sure they'd love an Apple shaped turd (in gold or space gray, naturally; add 4GB ram for only $200).

LOL. Nobody you talked to could probably afford the watch.

 

[mozumder]

Ok there appear to be two kinds of people on this thread:

1) What's the problem? These things are cheap appliances that will do whatever is expected of them. Nobody normal needs more. You guys are all whiners.

2) These machines are totally gimped compared to what they used to be/could have been. Apple sux and is going down in flames.


You guys are talking past each other. You are also both (generally) correct.

These are low end machines and as such we shouldn't expect too much from them. Apple will sell them by the truck load.

But

There used to be a way to option them up to be fairly substantial machines for the majority of us who cannot afford the overpriced/overspec'ed pro. That option is gone and there is nothing left in Apple's lineup that can fill that role.


So the arguments and flame wars are moot because both of these things can be true.

Apple's strategy is the correct one. #2 people do not matter. There is no business case for supporting these low-margin PC hackers. Apple should encourage those people to buy PCs, and cause those vendors to go bankrupt, since those people do not add value anyways.

Most people know that it's better to just sell off the computer and buy a replacement computer, since people that upgrade are going to replace all the parts anyways.

 

[Renzatic]

Apple's strategy is the correct one. #2 people do not matter. There is no business case for supporting these low-margin PC hackers.

Never run a business, Moz. You'll only end up losing people money.

 

[mozumder]

Never run a business, Moz. You'll only end up losing people money.

I'm assuming you're being ironic considering you're complaining about the business model of the most profitable company in the world?

 

[iBlazed]

Wow.

Mind numbing, huh? There's plenty more where he came from....

 

[Eidorian]

Never run a business, Moz. You'll only end up losing people money.

I am still putting in new components into my September 2009 Windows desktop.

 

[Thermonuclear]

For 25 years...

For 25 years from the Mac Plus forward, every Mac model has had user upgradable memory and in the days before advanced video, the video memory was also user upgradable.

Why is it that what had been a good decision for a quarter century is now not so good?

The answer is simple. For a very long time, a typical Mac purchaser was fairly bright, had a decent long range idea of their needs, and had the money to spend. But now the typical Mac buyer is not so smart, nor do they have the same capacity for long range thought. But they still have the money, and Apple takes advantage of these users by selling them shiny fashion and planned obsolescence which together fits their need for instant gratification.

Apple's current approach is not sustainable. Unless their course is significantly altered, within not that many years Apple will shrink to become a niche player. Yes, the brand name will be well known; kind of like Rolex who has fanboys even more dedicated than Apple's.

 

[Count Blah]

The percentage of people bitching on this forum pales in comparison to the number of mac users and customers. I don't think the sky is falling. Everyone is overreacting. If you need 4 cores, don't get a mini -- pretty simple. In 6 months apple will quietly add it back. Then what will you complain about? Apple's doing pretty well without your input....probably will continue to do so.

Just watch your head on that falling sky...

If they added a Quad core in 6 months, that would be half the battle. Charging 2-3 times the going rate for RAM would be the next, if it is non-user serviceable.

 

[Glideslope]

Vary Sad

Starting to miss Bob Mansfield yet?

 

[deviant]

It's funny cause the only mac minis i ever saw were used as home theater. I use it like that too. I mean, who needs quad core crammed in that tiny box? It's weak anyways, just like laptop CPUs. Yeap, it says i5 i7 on them too, but they're weak as hell. Damn, my pentium g haswell is better than my macbook's i5. Mac mini is apple tv on steroids, nothing more nothing less. i'm amazed they USED TO put a quad core in it. i'd never do so