New 2014 Mac Mini Has Soldered RAM, Not User Replaceable

[fa8362]

I predict when the benchmarks come in, the 2014 mid range mini will demonstrate significant improvements over the 2012 for essentially the same cost.

Notwithstanding the dubious dual core vs four core distinction for most users, the new generation CPU/GPU/motherboard, along with a most likely upgradable PCIe bus for SSDs, will most likely make this 2014 mini a great value overall.

I especially can't yet see paying for a 2012 i7, although ram and SSD upgradable, and lose the very significant GPU advantage.

The chip benchmarks are already published. There's no way in hell that paltry video upgrade is going to make up that performance in multicore aware software. None, nada, zilch.

Obviously, some people don't use multicore aware software, but the people really interested in the quad i7 do use it. For them, there is nothing now, unless they want to spend $1000 plus more on an iMac or Mac Pro, that's beyond their needs or budget.

 

[MrGuder]

I have a feeling that a late 2012 with a quad core will be mighty hard to find in say 4-6 months when stocks run out every where.

 

[Zellio]

If you know the difference between a 7,200 and a 5,400 rpm hard drive, then you are not the target audience for the Mini.

If you know how much RAM your devices have, you are not the target audience.

If you know which version of the OS you are running, you are not the audience.

Apple is now selling the mini like an expensive piece of chewing gum. It is a short term buy, requires no obvious technical understanding or ability, and performs only simple basic tasks.

But, all of these people already have iPads!

 

[bergmef]

I have a feeling that a late 2012 with a quad core will be mighty hard to find in say 4-6 months when stocks run out every where.

I'm thinking 1-2 weeks

 

[Count Blah]

lol @ all the nerd rage.

You guys have NO idea that absolutely no one gives a crap about upgrading RAM.

How many women do you know have ever upgraded their PC?

Face it, dweebs, but PCs these days are appliances, not a rubble-bucket of low-margin tinker-tailor nerd parts.

Get used to it.

People usually get the tech-savvy relatives to do it for them. That's what happens in my family, and I've upgraded many macs over the years.

Now I can't recommend macs to my family. That is close to two dozens macs over the years. Most of those monetary commitments to apple are going to go poof for Apple.

But hey, it's just nerds. Amirite?

 

[Yurieff]

I'm jumping on the whine train. Let me start off by saying that I'm from Bulgaria (I'm saying that because our minimal wage is ~170 EURO). I want to take iOS Development courses and I need a Mac computer for that job. I was waiting for the Mac Mini refresh so I can get one. I freaked out out of joy when Apple did refresh the little machine only to find out how disappointing it is. I like the middle-tier model and the CPU is more powerful than the one I'm currently using, but.. soldered ram? Really? So instead of spending 70EUR on a new RAM module if it fails I'll have to pay for the whole motherboard? I have no Idea how much it will cost, but the i5-4288U, that is soldered down to it, costs $315 alone.. duh. 8 gigs are really enough for me, and probably will be still enough even after 2 years, but that bothers me a lot. The second thing is.. 5400 rpm hard disk? What? And if I replace it with my 120GB Kingston HyperX 3K SSD I will void the warranty.. I could use the disk for an external storage and the SSD for fast system disk but.. And as far as I noticed, the mid-tier model can be upgraded to 256GB standard SSD while the high-tier model can be upgraded to a PCIe one.. for the same price? PCIe SSDs are probably 3x more expensive but Apple charge 200EURO for both standard and PCIe based one. This bothers me a lot, because I can't spend 1250 Euro for a computer being a student in my country... /my2cents

 

[hachiman]

I really do think apple is trying to make everyone forget about the Mac mini. I liked it because it's basically a valuable alternative, headless mac compare to the mac pro.

See what they did here? The mac mini was basically sidelined, an afterthought.

How about this one? Not very specific is it?

 

[MyopicPaideia]

Jeez, Macrumors really knows which articles to leave on top for the weekend, they are in a roll lately. I will laugh my *** off at this 1200+ post thread, a lot of people pouring their hearts and souls into lamenting the destruction of the mini, if the RAM is indeed not soldered on.

Indications are that it is not, just that Apple has changed their official stance on it being "user upgradable" from a warranty point of view.

We'll see early next week for sure - I could just as easily be more wrong than the soldered brigade.

 

[DaveN]

I run my old, early 2009 mini headless. So I am trying to find an old one (late 2012) in a local store. I think handbrake, iVI and iflicks will run better on the quad core.

That is my fear. However, if the 2012 design's limiting factor was a RAM to CPU data bottleneck and if the new memory flow is faster, we might be surprised. Years ago I would have known the details and could speculate on an answer but it has been a long time since I've paid that close of attention to the details. Now I just wait for the tear downs and speed tests.

 

[fa8362]

Jeez, Macrumors really knows which articles to leave on top for the weekend, they are in a roll lately. I will laugh my *** off at this 1200+ post thread, a lot of people pouring their hearts and souls into lamenting the destruction of the mini, if the RAM is indeed not soldered on.

Indications are that it is not, just that Apple has changed their official stance on it being "user upgradable" from a warranty point of view.

We'll see early next week for sure - I could just as easily be more wrong than the soldered brigade.

It's already been confirmed 100 times over that it's soldered. Some people are just in denial.

 

[dighn]

I really do think apple is trying to make everyone forget about the Mac mini. I like it because it's basically a valuable alternative, headless mac compare to the mac pro.

See what they did here?

Image

How about this one? Not very specific is it?

this is bang on. notice that not even the mac pro is on there. apple only wants to make appliances, not computers. the fact that they made a mac pro is because they can't fit that much processing power into a sleek appliance and don't want to lose that market entirely. hell it took them forever to even update the mac pro.

 

[hachiman]

Jeez, Macrumors really knows which articles to leave on top for the weekend, they are in a roll lately. I will laugh my *** off at this 1200+ post thread, a lot of people pouring their hearts and souls into lamenting the destruction of the mini, if the RAM is indeed not soldered on.

Indications are that it is not, just that Apple has changed their official stance on it being "user upgradable" from a warranty point of view.

We'll see early next week for sure - I could just as easily be more wrong than the soldered brigade.

That my friend, is basically a nerdy version of "market manipulation". They knock something down they don't like, say a spot prices of gold and silver, it sets the tone for the weekend readers, and by Monday, it's usually back to up. They're doing a great job.

 

[xylitol]

This is a sad post. Over 1200 comments and counting......
No quad core i7 version
No 256ssd upgrade from the base model
No server model
No upgradable ram
SAME FORM FACTOR

I would be surprised if you can put 2 hdds in this thing.

how can anyone "defend" this? I mean really apple???!!!!

There would only be 200 comments if Apple offered something between the Mac Mini and Mac Pro for those of us who absolutely don't want an iMac for whatever reason. In that case I for one wouldn't care at all if Apple's budget computer had soldered RAM and 5400rpm spinner.

 

[cashville2400]

Oh well, the more money I save to buy Apple products the more they do to push me away. I love iOS but this company just pisses me off more each time they have a keynote.

 

[hachiman]

this is bang on. notice that not even the mac pro is on there. apple only wants to make appliances, not computers. the fact that they made a mac pro is because they can't fit that much processing power into a sleek appliance and don't want to lose that market entirely. hell it took them forever to even update the mac pro.

I wouldn't doubt it.

When was the last time you bought a new version of the same watch every year?

Here comes Watch.

They won't even give you details about the battery life. If Motorola is any indicator, I would give Apple a 24-hours maximum life at best.

Compare this to my cheap Casio G-Shock watch. The battery lasts for several years at least. When was the last time anyone wore a watch and still have a smartphone in their pocket?

Not trying to go off topic, but Apple probably had to implement automatic timekeeping. Without it, and the chances of the watch shutting down because of a dead battery, people would be pissed having to reset and adjust the time after every charge from a dead battery. In the end, this only drains more battery.

 

[bpcookson]

I don't know what to make of this. I spoke to sales twice yesterday and both sales reps assured me that the RAM is user upgradable. Later in the evening I spoke to tech support on an unrelated issue and asked him also. He put me on hold and came back a few minutes later to also say that it was indeed upgradable.

The source in the OP only says that it's "looking like" the RAM is soldered. That's a lot different than confirming. In fact he didn't confirm anything.

Yeah, I think you're right. I was checking the Apple Store app on my phone and I see that the (i) button on the RAM section for MB Airs includes a warning about how the RAM cannot be upgraded... but the same section on the mini, which uses nearly identical verbiage, does not include this statement.

Looks to me like Mac Rumors is in need of a really big bandaid for this.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

It's already been confirmed 100 times over that it's soldered. Some people are just in denial.

I've never heard nor seen any source from anyone who has physically seen the internals or gotten a real quote from Apple that says, "the RAM is soldered." The only official Apple word we have gotten is that the RAM is not "user serviceable," or "user replaceable."

Never has Apple said it is soldered directly, and the language on their website suggests that it isn't. We've even had a few people claim they have heard from Apple reps that they were certain the RAM would be accesible.

This whole article is based on a guys blog saying soldered is confirmed, but he refuses to answer the question about how it is confirmed on Twitter, leading me to believe he is speculating on his own interpretation of what he was told by an Apple rep, which is the line, "not user replaceable/serviceable."

Like I said, we'll see, and I will definitely be owning my incorrect speculation if I'm shown to wrong as early as this week when someone actually gets their hands on one for a proper tear down, but until then, it seems like there are 100's of posters jumping the gun here...

 

[GizmoDVD]

I have a feeling that a late 2012 with a quad core will be mighty hard to find in say 4-6 months when stocks run out every where.

Yes, now that eBay and Craigslist have closed down you'll never be able to find these. Ever.

 

[MyopicPaideia]

That my friend, is basically a nerdy version of "market manipulation". They knock something down they don't like, say a spot prices of gold and silver, it sets the tone for the weekend readers, and by Monday, it's usually back to up. They're doing a great job.

Yup, you're on to something their. I have speculated about this very concept several times recently here.

----------

I don't know what to make of this. I spoke to sales twice yesterday and both sales reps assured me that the RAM is user upgradable. Later in the evening I spoke to tech support on an unrelated issue and asked him also. He put me on hold and came back a few minutes later to also say that it was indeed upgradable.

The source in the OP only says that it's "looking like" the RAM is soldered. That's a lot different than confirming. In fact he didn't confirm anything.

This is exactly what I am talking about. Shhhh....Don't tell the lynch mob though, they have already worked themselves into a frenzy.

 

[triptolemus]

How many women do you know have ever upgraded their PC?

How many women do you know period?

 

[GhostRaider]

For those that need a small computer like the Mac Mini, just build your own hackintosh. Or you can make it bigger and make your own Mac Pro with the parts you think you need.

For those that want to stay in the realm of Apple but you have your own monitor, keyboard, mouse, external HDD, then consider buying a MacBook Pro. You can always use it in clamshell mode and as a bonus, its a laptop whenever you need it. Of course parts are not upgradable and its expensive.

Either of these two choices at least give you OS X.

 

[fa8362]

I've never heard nor seen any source from anyone who has physically seen the internals or gotten a real quote from Apple that says, "the RAM is soldered." The only official Apple word we have gotten is that the RAM is not "user serviceable," or "user replaceable."

Never has Apple said it is soldered directly, and the language on their website suggests that it isn't. We've even had a few people claim they have heard from Apple reps that they were certain the RAM would be accesible.

This whole article is based on a guys blog saying soldered is confirmed, but he refuses to answer the question about how it is confirmed on Twitter, leading me to believe he is speculating on his own interpretation of what he was told by an Apple rep, which is the line, "not user replaceable/serviceable."

Like I said, we'll see, and I will definitely be owning my incorrect speculation if I'm shown to wrong as early as this week when someone actually gets their hands on one for a proper tear down, but until then, it seems like there are 100's of posters jumping the gun here...

I've seen it multiple times from reputable sources. Anyone can find the info. It's posted multiple times on these Mini threads and in other locations on this site. Why would anyone care what you have seen?

 

[NMBob]

I've never heard nor seen any source from anyone who has physically seen the internals or gotten a real quote from Apple that says, "the RAM is soldered." The only official Apple word we have gotten is that the RAM is not "user serviceable," or "user replaceable."

I'm far more worried/pissed off about the storage (and CPUs). I have two 1.5TB drives in my mini with every movie, TV show, and song I own. No extra wires or crap sitting around. That ain't going to happen anymore...without a mortgage loan. Very bad direction.

 

[vjpulp]

Kind of strange. Apple keeps repeating how environment friendly their products are. But when you have to throw away the whole thing when you want to upgrade it, I'm not sure what they mean by that.

 

[cfedu]

I would argue that audience is better served by the iMac or a laptop. You don't even need to buy a monitor and plug that in. Mini was one of the last power user friendly machines, and now you've got only the Mac Pro which is extreme overkill for all but a specific type of power users. It's quite obvious that Apple doesn't care about power users though.

To come think about it, I think you are correct. An iMac would be an easier an easier transition for the ignorant. I'm sure many would think could not use there old display, keyboard, mouse with a Mac mini. They see the individual components 1000$ ACD, $140 K&M and $600 and just buy a base iMac.