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New 2014 Mac Mini Has Soldered RAM, Not User Replaceable

Razeus said:
Apple is really starting to question my loyalty to them. I'm tired of playing these games.
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It's taken you this long? The writing has been on the wall for the last couple of years. You will buy what Apple wants you to buy, and you will buy again soon because they only sell sealed, non-upgradable units. You will also buy their overpriced upgrades to ensure you're covered, only to be AMAZED during each years dog-and-pony show and want the newest, latest, Apple innovation.

They're brilliant.

I've been holding off waiting for yesterday's extravaganza as we need a couple mini's for servers, but with only dual core options, I'm going to BB tomorrow and buying last gen i7 Quad Core mini's now...was contemplating the Server version, but BB doesn't sell that. I'm sure this was also planned at Apple...clear out all our old stock of quad i7's by not offering a new quad option. "Those lemmings will buy them up so fast!"
 
"The mini RAM sounds like it will be user upgradeable."

Observe how they word it on Apple's website -

Mini on the left. iMac 21.5" and 27" on the right.
 

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crawler1975 said:
what mission critical apps are you running that 16GB of RAM is barely enough?
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A big one is audio apps like Logic along with big sample libraries. I use more than 32 gigs on a regular basis - a mini quad with 32 gigs of ram would be nice for that.

But the issue here isn't limiting to 16, it's that that has to come from apple and is crazy expensive. Plus no quad core.

justin216 said:
I'm actually more surprised they didn't go the laptop route and do soldered storage too.
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Which laptops have soldered storage?

cfedu said:
I think remove the hard drive on every mac ever made I believe, so I'm not surprised. I will be surprised you can find a PCIE SSD to put in,
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It may be the same form factor as some of the other macs. Hopefully we'll see third party replacements soon.
 
Renzatic said:
Give me a screwdriver, some duct tape, a bottle of hot glue, and a first aid kit, and I can do ANYTHING! :mad:
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There is no doubt when there is an iFixit teardown or a user confirming it, there is some doubt when that doesn't exist and there's conflicting messages about it.
 
milo said:
It may be the same form factor as some of the other macs. Hopefully we'll see third party replacements soon.
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The same Macs that have not had third party replacements for the past year?
It might be a long wait!!
 
What a joke.

If any other company did this to their desktop computer we would never hear the end of it.
 
subsonix said:
There is no doubt when there is an iFixit teardown or a user confirming it, there is some doubt when that doesn't exist and there's conflicting messages about it.
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Oh, you're being serious.

...and I won't say you're wrong, but every one of the hands-on previews I've read go out of their way to specifically mention it. If it turns out not to be the case, I'll be pleasantly shocked.

Though on the plus side, you can apparently upgrade the HDD at least. It's harder to get to, and it voids the warranty, but it can be done.
 
Looks like Apple decided to keep the arrogance after Jobs passed.

Unfortunately they also decided to give Ive too much power. Why was he allowed to design software?
Yosemite looks like a 10 year old designed it and why is the search bar and back/forward arrows so small in safari?
I would love to see Ive shown the door. I'm tired of his skinny mania at the expense of function. What's the big deal with this guy anyway?
Make it white and make it skinny. Wow

The Mini was a huge let down and I'm not giving this company one dime until they start listening to their customers and come down off their freaking high horse.
 
steve333 said:
The Mini was a huge let down and I'm not giving this company one dime until they start listening to their customers and come down off their freaking high horse.
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Apple is making 90% (more actually) off PHONES and IPADS



they dont GIVE A DAMN what you (and us) care / think about their 1/10th of 1% Mac Mini
 
groovyd said:
i'm really surprised people still make an effort to upgrade their ram and not just pass off their 3 year old machine on ebay for half price and buy the next model new. my guess is this is not the case for 95% of the people who buy computers and so this soldering of the ram just makes sense. i'd rather have a unit that is smaller and cheaper and has nothing to tinker with which has been optimized to work with what it has installed.
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In the case of this Mini it starts to make a little sense. If you spent more though - not so much.
 
Typical Apple as they close in on their objective to be a closed ecosystem. I had thought to use the new Mini as a replacement for the 2011 iMac I have, but they are pushing the new iMacs and the Mac Pro. Apple have pushed me away and I understand the direction they are taking but it is not mine. Good bye Apple, I liked you for a while and I love Yosemite, but not enough to pay the money you need from me.

I think, unfortunately, that this is the direction all manufactures are taking. The old guard are irrelevant and those that like to upgrade by opening the box are getting to be a very small and increasingly irrelevant minority to Apple and their ilk. Most people just trade up, which is where Apple have been for a while and the rest are following.

Bottom line is that the old guard will hang on for as long as they can and then give up. We need to focus elsewhere. Computers and their progeny are the old the game, now where else can we play?
 
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Renzatic said:
That'd be a decent excuse if Apple were going for a super thin laptop, but here it's just money gouging. You have to pay them $300 for an $80 upgrade of ram.

Intel NUCs are a helluva lot smaller than the Mini, sport roughly the same hardware (the Mini does have a better integrated GPU), yet have replaceable HDDs and ram. The Mini, on the other hand, is exactly the same size as it was before, and was well known for being easy to upgrade.

There's no excuse for it, other than, quite literally, Apple doesn't want you to.
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I doubt it's because they don't want us to. This move is all about protecting profit margins. Soldered in, non-replacable, components are cheaper to manufacture than components that can be user replaced.

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johnnnw said:
What a joke.

If any other company did this to their desktop computer we would never hear the end of it.
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I've come across cheaper Dell and HP machines in the sub $500 price range that also include soldered in components.
 
whitby said:
Typical Apple as they close in on their objective to be a closed ecosystem. I had thought to use the new Mini as a replacement of the 2011 iMac I have, but they are pushing the new iMacs and the Mac Pro. Apple have pushed me away and I understand the direction they are taking but it is not mine. Good bye Apple, I liked you for a while and I love Yosemite, but not enough to pay the money you need from me.

I think unfortunately that this is the direction all manufactures are taking. The old guard are irrelevant and those that like to upgrade by opening the box are getting to be a very small and irrelevant minority. Most people just trade up, which is where Apple have been for a while and the rest are following.

Bottom line is that the old guard will hang on for as long as they can and then give up. We need to focus elsewhere. Computers and their progeny are the old the game, now where else can we play?
Click to expand...

If all the 2014 Mini's were 20%-40% faster then the 2012 mini's I would not be upset with non user upgradable memory. Offer 8Gb standard and an extra 200 for 16Gb and I would have bought a new mini. The fact is all 3 Versions of the mini are slower than there predecessors and that they have locked the RAM and Disks upgrading. If the is confirmed, i'm going to say goodbye! Frick, they even took our 29$ dvi adapter away!!!
 
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.




The newest macbook Pro is just a beef'd macbook Air.



The beloved Mac Mini is an obsolete turd in Apple's eye. :D

 
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