Rant about the new Mac Mini.

[neomorpheus]

The way i see it:

Base Mac Mini should start with 512gb.

RAM and storage upgrades should be at a maximum, 100 per bump, not the current.

Mac Mini M4 Pro base mode needs a 300 bucks price cut.

I dont understand why Apple doesn’t try to really go for market share and instead it’s complacent in abusing their loyal customers.

Windows is horrible in its current state, Linux Desktop looks like it will never happen.

The current crop of mini pcs might not have a faster cpu, but they have more cores plus way better gpus, with user upgradable ram and storage.

Hell, apple showed us their true colors by going out of their way in making sure that the Mini doesnt have industry standard storage connectors JUST so we cant avoid their insulting prices.

But many of us will never complain, will instead attack the one that does dare call out their bs and will continue buying Macs and defending poor apple and their lack of consideration for our loyalty.

Personally, i will reluctantly buy a base mini, simply because I need to have a Mac in my homelab, but not happy that i cannot buy (in good conscience) the system that i want.

A shame, I feel like the current Mini Pro is paying a nice homage to the legendary SE/30.

 

[haruhiko]

To me the Mac mini starts at USD799 since 512GB storage is nearly necessary in today’s standard. (Don’t convince me otherwise, thanks )

 

[neomorpheus]

To me the Mac mini starts at USD799 since 512GB storage is nearly necessary in today’s standard. (Don’t convince me otherwise, thanks )

Then this breaks my heart…

.

Edit But if i were to spend that money, I would get the 24gb model and hope that one day, someone will be able to sell more reasonable priced SSDs, since there is no way to upgrade the ram.

 

[redheeler]

To me the Mac mini starts at USD799 since 512GB storage is nearly necessary in today’s standard. (Don’t convince me otherwise, thanks )

External storage.

Did I convince you yet?

 

[haruhiko]

External storage.

Did I convince you yet?

Even the 512GB will need external storage. So yes you convinced me of adding external storage but I still went for the 512GB… It’s the typical upselling tactics to make a very appealing entry price but you will need to have compromise using it so that it’s easy to upsell us to pay $200 more. Better view it as a $799 product to feel better

 

[waloshin]

Then this breaks my heart…

View attachment 2455909
.

You really think that u reliable Chinese junk no name NVmE is at the same quality as what Apple has engineered? 😂

 

[neomorpheus]

You really think that u reliable Chinese junk no name NVmE is at the same quality as what Apple has engineered? 😂

So….you really, truly believe that the nands used by apple are really worth 200 bucks per each 256 gb?

Yikes….


But lets say that there is a possibility that you are either trolling or being a fake white knight, here is another one with better reviews and perhaps a better brand.

.

 

[cjsuk]

Then this breaks my heart…

View attachment 2455909
.

Edit But if i were to spend that money, I would get the 24gb model and hope that one day, someone will be able to sell more reasonable priced SSDs, since there is no way to upgrade the ram.

I wouldn't put my data near that SSD.

But A decent 1TB one (Samsung 990 Pro) will set you back $100 though which is still heart breaking!

 

[ducknalddon]

Apple probably isn't the best option if you are price conscious.

 

[JPack]

No, it should not start at 512GB. Many people are fine with 256GB.

The real problem is the cost of the upgrade. $200 for an additional 256GB is too expensive. Apple literally charged that same amount a decade ago in 2014 for 512GB.

Ditto for RAM upgrades before 16GB became standard. Plenty people fine with 8GB. The upgrade should have been $80 or $100 at most.

 

[cjsuk]

Apple probably isn't the best option if you are price conscious.

Nor is the alternative if you value your time (or that costs money) and sanity.

 

[henkie]

You really think that u reliable Chinese junk no name NVmE is at the same quality as what Apple has engineered? 😂

While, that post has a point though: for the upgrade price to from 256GB to 2TB on the mini (920 euro), I can buy:
*a PS5 Pro, which has a faster 2TB ssd: 750 euro
*and a 2TB SSD that is faster than the mini's from a reputable brand (Lexar, Samsung, etc): 130 euro.
And have money to spare to buy a PS5 game.
So yes, the upgrade prizes from Apple are outrageous.

 

[TechnoMonk]

OP just assemble everything with Chinese junk from Ali express, and new egg. The way I see it, it will be lot cheaper, just not sure if that junk will work.
If you spend enough on Newegg and Aliecpress, you will realize the fraud that goes on there, something that says 2 TB will turn out to be 256 GB with a Drive named 2 TB. lol.

 

[theluggage]

No, it should not start at 512GB. Many people are fine with 256GB.

…and they’ll be just as fine with 512GB unless Apple raised the price... which they shouldn’t need to do because the cost-per-GB of storage has fallen significantly over the years since Apple chose 256GB as the base. We’ve just been through that with RAM - Apple showed that they could easily supply 16GB as standard without raising prices (probably paid for by the economies of scale and logistics savings of not having to make and distribute an 8GB version of the M4).

If Apple charged closer to market rates for SSD upgrades then getting a 512GB or 1TB SSD would be a no-brainier, and it might not be worth making a base model.

If I were getting a new PC then I’d probably start with 32GB/1TB before starting to think whether I needed more, because the savings from getting less would be insignificant.

External storage.

Sure - for backups, archives, video editing projects etc.
Not for the system, applications, temporary files, libraries and work-in-progress. 256GB is getting too small for anything beyond “personal productivity“ - and I’m not sure that’s the market for a Mac Mini (base MacBook Air maybe).

 

[TechnoMonk]

While, that post has a point though: for the upgrade price to from 256GB to 2TB on the mini (920 euro), I can buy:
*a PS5 Pro, which has a faster 2TB ssd: 750 euro
*and a 2TB SSD that is faster than the mini's from a reputable brand (Lexar, Samsung, etc): 130 euro.
And have money to spare to buy a PS5 game.
So yes, the upgrade prizes from Apple are outrageous.

Apple subsidizes the base model with those upgrade prices. I just picked up a Mac mini for 499 at Costco, to replace couple of my raspberry pi s which cost me over 350 bucks. Can’t beat value in base model. If you need more storage get an external drive. Or just build a Linux desktop, I have been running a Linux workstation for years, I care about upgradability on my workstations. M4 mac mini is my first apple desktop after 2009 Mac mini and 2012 Mac Pro. Not many alternatives at 499.

 

[haruhiko]

I think you all misunderstood Apple. Apple just want you to feel that the Mac mini is a bargain. They don’t want you to really take that bargain.

“Wow the Mac mini @ $599 is really a great bargain!!!”
(Ended up paying $2000)

 

[henkie]

OP just assemble everything with Chinese junk from Ali express, and new egg. The way I see it, it will be lot cheaper, just not sure if that junk will work.
If you spend enough on Newegg and Aliecpress, you will realize the fraud that goes on there, something that says 2 TB will turn out to be 256 GB with a Drive named 2 TB. lol.

See my post above:
- 2TB Samsung SSD: https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/2115312/samsung-990-evo-plus-2tb.html: 124 euros
- PS5 Pro with faster 2TB SSD than the mini: 749 euros
- Elden Ring: Shadow of the Endtree (one of the best PS5 games this year): 49 euros
vs.
upgrade from 256GB to 2TB SSD in the Mac mini, with a SSD that is actually slower than the ones above: 920 euros

The upgrade prize is simply outrageous.

 

[TechnoMonk]

See my post above:
- 2TB Samsung SSD: https://tweakers.net/pricewatch/2115312/samsung-990-evo-plus-2tb.html: 124 euros
- PS5 Pro with faster 2TB SSD than the mini: 749 euros
- Elden Ring: Shadow of the Endtree (one of the best PS5 games this year): 49 euros
vs.
upgrade from 256GB to 2TB SSD in the Mac mini, with a SSD that is actually slower than the ones above: 920 euros

The upgrade prize is simply outrageous.

Don’t buy if it is outrageous for your needs. Heck what a strange time to compare. I haven’t touched an Apple desktop in over a decade. Those Mac minis were selling like hot cakes at Costco and for 499, my raspberry pi’s look expensive. If you need PS5 and all that you listed, build your own computer and buy PS5.

 

[henkie]

Don’t buy if it is outrageous for your needs. Heck what a strange time to compare. I haven’t touched an Apple desktop in over a decade. Those Mac minis were selling like hot cakes at Costco and for 499, my raspberry pi’s look expensive. If you need PS5 and all that you listed, build your own computer and buy PS5.

I agree, the Mac Mini is really a great computer at the current prize. But that does not change the fact that 256GB is paltry and the upgrade prizes are outrageous. I am solely highlighting what you could buy for the exact same amount of money. And I agree, buy an external SSD, which might actually be faster than the internal 256GB(!), and have plenty of money to spare for other things.

 

[CharlesShaw]

Personally, i will reluctantly buy a base mini, simply because I need to have a Mac in my homelab, but not happy that i cannot buy (in good conscience) the system that i want

Look up the original prices of the previous base Mac mini models going back to 2005 and adjust for inflation and you'll see that it's not such a terrible deal to buy what you need in 2024. Why poison your headspace with resentment?

 

[EmanuelF]

Agree, there's no easy way to not be upset for their greedines but another way to see it is that if you upgrade the base model is because you use it professionally to make money so you can afford those upgrades.

Then it gets better when you consider that you could've spend thousands on a MAC PRO for a similar performance few years ago.

 

[nikitadyatko]

Apple is a business, and they do what they believe will bring them the most money. I think they prefer to drip-feed consumers with incremental upgrades so they can always have something new to offer in the future. Maybe they'll increase the base storage if sales start to decline or something.

As a consumer, I also dislike the steep price for upgrading from 256 GB to 512 GB. As others have mentioned, it's a price for the convenience of having more internal storage rather than for the hardware itself.

Speaking of hardware, you can't compare Apple's SSD to some of the cheaper brands. I would compare it to Samsung in terms of quality. Of course, with Apple, we also pay the "Apple tax."

 

[throAU]

The way i see it:

Base Mac Mini should start with 512gb.

There are people who literally just use the internal SSD to boot, they should have the option for a minimal SSD at reduced price. Oh wait, they do - its the base model.

RAM and storage upgrades should be at a maximum, 100 per bump, not the current.

This I agree with, their storage costs are BS, but captive audience... you want nice hardware, you pay... and it is very nice hardware. Some of the cost is no doubt due to diverging from the mass produced models which means custom build and the associated production line issues associated with that. But comparing cheap PCIe 3.0 SSDs off Newegg isn't really like for like.

Mac Mini M4 Pro base mode needs a 300 bucks price cut.

I dont understand why Apple doesn’t try to really go for market share and instead it’s complacent in abusing their loyal customers.

The M4 Mini is a total bargain as is. Build a PC that is anywhere near competitive in terms of performance, noise, power consumption and anywhere near the base price. Don't forget case, os, power supply, core count, multi-threaded performance, wifi, bluetooth. Don't forget something like an RTX 4050 or thereabouts. Which is still limited to 6 GB of usable VRAM vs. 8 or more on the Mini... which has real world impact on LLM performance, texture stutter in games, GPU rendering, etc.

I'll give you a pass to have 10% worse single thread (because an equivalent PC CPU doesn't exist at any reasonable price). I'll even let you skip the cost of your time to build, install, troubleshoot, download OS, turn all the nagware off, etc. Because if you value your time at even $10/hr that is going to be SIGNIFICANT.

Windows is horrible in its current state, Linux Desktop looks like it will never happen.

The current crop of mini pcs might not have a faster cpu, but they have more cores plus way better gpus, with user upgradable ram and storage.

Hell, apple showed us their true colors by going out of their way in making sure that the Mini doesnt have industry standard storage connectors JUST so we cant avoid their insulting prices.

This is the market the mini exists in. it will be fine. The issue with mini sales isn't price, it's that most people buy a laptop instead like an Air.

But many of us will never complain, will instead attack the one that does dare call out their bs and will continue buying Macs and defending poor apple and their lack of consideration for our loyalty.

Personally, i will reluctantly buy a base mini, simply because I need to have a Mac in my homelab, but not happy that i cannot buy (in good conscience) the system that i want.

A shame, I feel like the current Mini Pro is paying a nice homage to the legendary SE/30.

Mac hardware is now cheap if you value your time, privacy and sanity.

If you don't, Windows PCs can give you cheap performance at the cost of sanity and privacy, and linux can give you more performance and privacy at the cost of sanity.

I run all three... so I'm not sure what that does for me...

 

[SpotOnT]

I have no comment on Apple’s starting prices, but I absolutely agree on their SSD and RAM upgrade costs.

The price structure turns a lot of people I know away from Mac. They have a specific minimum spec requirement in mind, and they just can’t justify paying the unreasonable upgrade prices Apple charges.

As for why Apple is doing this, obviously because it maximize profits. They would rather rip off a few people, than have more users, but charge a moral upgrade price. And yes, I do think this is a morality issue (for all the people who believe there is no morality in what a company chooses to charge for its products/services) that will likely result in government intervention/regulation at some point.

 

[ubinko]

The way i see it:

Base Mac Mini should start with 512gb.

RAM and storage upgrades should be at a maximum, 100 per bump, not the current.

Mac Mini M4 Pro base mode needs a 300 bucks price cut.

I dont understand why Apple doesn’t try to really go for market share and instead it’s complacent in abusing their loyal customers.

Windows is horrible in its current state, Linux Desktop looks like it will never happen.

The current crop of mini pcs might not have a faster cpu, but they have more cores plus way better gpus, with user upgradable ram and storage.

Hell, apple showed us their true colors by going out of their way in making sure that the Mini doesnt have industry standard storage connectors JUST so we cant avoid their insulting prices.

But many of us will never complain, will instead attack the one that does dare call out their bs and will continue buying Macs and defending poor apple and their lack of consideration for our loyalty.

Personally, i will reluctantly buy a base mini, simply because I need to have a Mac in my homelab, but not happy that i cannot buy (in good conscience) the system that i want.

A shame, I feel like the current Mini Pro is paying a nice homage to the legendary SE/30.

Don't you just love first world problems

Firstly, let's not quote full prices. There are deals out there (and EDU pricing) to get the mini's for cheaper than R.R.P. For example, I got the M4 Pro mini for 10% off in the Black Friday sale.

Secondly, I disagree with your premise. Think about the technology you are getting for the price, compared to just a couple years ago. The M4 Pro chip is faster than the highest-end M2 Ultra chip in terms of peak multi-core CPU performance. So you could say the base M4 Pro Mini is outstanding value.

The base Mini is also incredible value. Personally I would upgrade it to 512HD, but if you are really on a tight budget, you can opt for external storage.