Rant about the new Mac Mini.

[familychoice]

It's one of those things where you're so used to being crapped on that when you get a sniff of Febreeze everything seems rosy in the world.

Nah, after spending a fortune on expensive Dell tower PC’s for years that invariably broke down or got hacked, the silent, cool, speedy M1 was a fantastic deal. Still working perfectly 4 years later.

 

[JuicyGoomba]

Value is subjective so it is only for the individual and the market to decide. That's why I don't involve myself with these types of debates except to point that out, plus another idea that is often overlooked:
The only consistently accurate way to judge the value of a product (even subjectively) is by looking at its entire package*. Specs, performance, design, build, OS, apps, ecosystem integration, support, privacy/security--everything, basically the entire UX of a product, seen as a whole along with its price. Then that can be compared to the entire package of a competitor along with its price, and a value judgement can then be made by the individual and in turn the market.

However, the tendency I see in these forums is to make a micro comparison and judge value based on that, but that is often not accurate because micro comparisons are often not 1-to-1. Companies' pricing strategies can differ, so they can build different costs into packages differently. For instance, many people compare Apple's storage and RAM upgrade prices to that of the competition and conclude unfair prices, but not many seem to compare Microsoft's OS and app prices to that of Apple (free) and conclude unfair prices. In that case they seem to understand the different pricing strategies at play. Or they don't care because they simply don't want Microsoft's software. But the fact is both cost real money to produce, and the two companies have distributed those costs differently.

That said, not everything in a package will be of value to every individual, which is why different packages exist.

*It appears OP has instinctually done precisely this--judged value based on the entire package and decided Apple's was better.

Which is perfectly fair, everyone should be doing just that, weighing the pros and cons for themselves and then deciding which option is best.

Too many blind Apple loyalists still live in the bubble of "it just works", despite this not being the case since Jobs passed.

A few people I work with are Mac only as they hate Windows 10 (even though we're all on 11, but I digress), and because MacOS just works and rarely has updates that put the computer out of action like Windows. Funny thing is, Windows 11 gets a single small monthly update that takes <5mins to install, and a half-yearly feature update that takes <10mins to install. I recently did a security update on my work Mac, and it took over half an hour of staring at a blank page with an Apple logo before it booted back up. It's even longer for actual OS upgrades on Mac, 2-3 hours if you have slow internet, but even on fibre it's 1.5 hours minimum. I can install Windows 11 from a USB and boot into desktop within 10 minutes, on linux it's even quicker.

There was once a time where the Apple Watch was considered the thing keeping folk with Apple and iPhones too, but again the competition has caught up and surpassed.

Windows 11 still has a lot of flaws, but right now it's a significantly more polished OS than MacOS. All Apple actually have right now is great silicon, but Qualcomm have quickly caught up and others will soon follow.

 

[ThailandToo]

Can only speak for yours truly:

Everyone KNOWS they take you for a ride with upgrades, and it is not about defending "poor Apple".

The reality IS: This is their business model, and I am entirely free to choose if I want to get Apple products or not. I can get more or less everything I do done on Windows and Linux, and I prefer services and software allowing me to swap if I want to. But I don`t. If YOU do, you are entirely free to abandon Apple, their hardware, their business model and their ecosystem anytime you like.

You have to relate to the field you are playing on whether you like it or not. If you don`t, it is easy to walk the talk and get something which suits your preferred take.

In case you are not aware: Within the digital ecosphere, Apple hardware is considered to be of high quality and it resides in the premium market, bordering the luxury market. What you pay extra for is a certain level of (premium) quality and the sniff of luxury. Luxury pricing isn`t driven by spec. It is driven by desireable products and the illusion of image these products bestow upon the owner in the owner`s mind.

That`s why whatever you see of Microsoft branded portable machines are trying to achieve. They add a bit of spec to become as desireable as Apple objects. They want to charge you what Apple do.

Try moving out of the consumer market and get a high spec Thinkpad or equal, they were never cheap at all. And that is without the slightest notion of luxury.

It’s not really like that. For my work, all my clients have iPhones. They all use Messages on iPhone. There is no way around that. It has become a standard. It should be treated as such. Apple can make money without screwing over its customers. This is why people who want to upgrade are ticked. It should be as easy as take the cover off the bottom of the MacBook and install my own SSD that’s far faster and cheaper than the Apple tax version. It’s a standard. Apple’s greed will catch up to it. It has all ready started in Europe. In America, Google is now and Apple is next.

 

[JuicyGoomba]

Nah, after spending a fortune on expensive Dell tower PC’s for years that invariably broke down or got hacked, the silent, cool, speedy M1 was a fantastic deal. Still working perfectly 4 years later.

You bought a Dell. I'm not entirely sure what you were expecting with this. "Got hacked" is also quite alarming, as this is almost always user error if it's actually that serious. Silent and speedy mini PCs aren't anything new, Apple just sells it in a mass produced package with an arguably more accessible OS.

The M1 was and is still fantastic though. Just a shame it'll be ewaste for many once the non-replaceable SSD dies, not many know or care for external boot drives to save these machines.

Again a lot of people still have the perception that PC = huge bulky slow unreliable junk. Hasn't been the case since SSD's became mainstream like 15 years ago. Noise also isn't an issue, you just have options when you aren't on a Mac. Apple intentionally lets it's chips run stupidly hot for the sake of noise reduction, but you also have the M4 Pro Mini struggling with noise output now that the power is going up. Mac Studios also aren't known for being silent under load either, and even the old M1 iMac I had would turn into a jet from more than a few minutes of CPU being pushed.

You can install 3rd party fan controllers at least, so you aren't completely crippled by Apple's decisions. I'd always recommend people tune the fans to where they're barely audible anyway just for longetivity. This also reduces noise long term as you're actually cooling the components properly, and they aren't waiting for a massive heat soak before full sending the fans.

 

[Tago]

Late to the party but if you're not trolling here then... actually I wouldn't be surprised if you were being serious given it's the MR forums.

Perception of quality is the only reason Apple became a trillion dollar corpo. The speeds on the basic $50 1TB gen 4 NvME drive in my Lenovo prebuild from COVID days absolutely embarrass the specs on the storage used by Apple.

Apple are genuinely still using 2015 SSD speeds across the board. The industry has long left Apple behind when it comes to technology standards, but bean counter Timmy is solely responsible for that.

Actually I say solely, but the legions of rabid Apple fans who drop $2k on Facebook machines are the real issue.

There's always toxic fanboy v fanboy discussions, but I genuinely try to help people in the real world make good tech decisions for the products they buy, and it's sad how many Apple evangelists will treat you with disdain at the mere suggestion that a value pick at a quarter of the price of the Apple equivalent actually performs the same or better in daily usage.

Quite like Thinkpad T/P, keyboards, trackpoint, modem and stuff like a smart card reader and what not. After all the only alternative I`s consider to a MBP/Air would be Thinkpads. I like them a lot. If I remember correctly, my first was a T22.

Just for fun, I "built" a 14P like I would have wanted it and a bit more than I need, then I specced a MBP 14 for best possible match. At rrp, I would have saved a buck (USD 450) on picking the MBP. Both specced beyond my needs, but certainly to what I like. As Intel is fighting tooth and nail to adapt to the "paradigm shift" of the Apple M-concept, the longivety concept which has been a feature of Thinkpads (scores of them becomes available 2nd hand when corporations replaced them after 3-4 years when the service contracts expires) that longivety aspect has changed.

There is no way I`d pick the Thinkpad ahead of the MBP, and certainly not at retail. Consumer Lenovos is a different ballgame, and so are the hybrids leaning upon the Thinkpad T/P legacy reputation. I`d pick a MB Air any day of the week, I`d await M4 iterations though.

It`s not about fandom. I can use either, and I get what I need in both Win, Lin and MacOS.

It`s simply better quality and a better user experience. I don`t give a toss about the ram/ssd shebang, speccing up / after market upgrade costs or what not. I get what I need regardless, and Apple simply provides the better package. Macs are not cheap, neiter are the competing variations - Pro Thinkpads - From Lenovo. Until they arrives the 2nd hand market. That`s where I`d get decent Thinkpads with decent specs at palatable prices. Not by purchasing Lenovo consumer laptops.

With the 2-3 year value drop bestowed upon 2nd hand Thinkpads, the loss of value is significant even for a nice specimen. Cost of ownership is not particularly advantageous bought new at rrp, and the longivety retaining useful performance is nowhere near Pro Thinkpads as far as consumer Lenovos are concerned.

 

[Tago]

It’s not really like that. For my work, all my clients have iPhones. They all use Messages on iPhone. There is no way around that. It has become a standard. It should be treated as such.

Then your iPhone is a tool and you make money out of it. Good for you.

Apple can make money without screwing over its customers. This is why people who want to upgrade are ticked. It should be as easy as take the cover off the bottom of the MacBook and install my own SSD that’s far faster and cheaper than the Apple tax version.

You don`t need that for communicating with your iPhone. You don`t need a Mac for that.

Apple’s greed will catch up to it. It has all ready started in Europe. In America, Google is now and Apple is next.

Clearly, you don`t understand what`s driving that thing at all. That stuff isn`t driven by consumers, It is run by corporations who wants to pocket your cash without letting Apple in on their deal. The green bubble argument arised out of Google/Samsung wanting to reduce the advantage Apple has.

None of these "consumer concerns" will save you a dime. It will just drop your cash in a differently lined pocket, and by your own words - you are not a consumer, you are using it for business.

Don`t get me wrong, I understand the blur between business and personal use. But strictly speaking, you are a business customer and not a consumer.

Where I reside that is somewhat blurred too, the distinction is if you can write off purchase and abs within you registered business, it isn`t consumer usage even if used for that purpose. No consumer law covers devices or services for business/corporate usage.

 

[dmr727]

Hmm no, I haven't bought anything.

As a matter of fact, sold my MBP 2018 for this and I might end up simply buying a server and virtualize MacOS, together with Windows and run Fedora or Ubuntu on the main PC.

Or buying a base mini, use the student discount of 100, upgrade memory to 24 GB and wait for someone to start selling bigger ssds.

Also looking at used Mac's.

I was just going off the initial post where you said you intended to. If you have to have a Mac, buying used isn't necessarily a bad thought - at least that keeps the dollars out of Apple's pocket.

 

[familychoice]

You bought a Dell. I'm not entirely sure what you were expecting with this.

It’s going back a few years, but at the time they were a decent option for Windows desktops. I had a MacBook Pro too for Mac compatibility.

The last one went through a full motherboard replacement (proactively provided by Dell), a hard drive and three graphic card failures. The soundcard died almost immediately. I used it for years though - the benefit being it was easy and cheap to replace components. A local power surge did for it eventually.

In contrast the Mini has been a relative joy. It just works, as the old saying goes, and for £250 a year (so far, that figure will reduce if it keeps going) it’s been a good purchase.

 

[dmr727]

The speeds on the basic $50 1TB gen 4 NvME drive in my Lenovo prebuild from COVID days absolutely embarrass the specs on the storage used by Apple.

Apple are genuinely still using 2015 SSD speeds across the board. The industry has long left Apple behind when it comes to technology standards, but bean counter Timmy is solely responsible for that.

Show your work here. Looks like midrange M4 MBPs are getting about 6.7GB/s and 5.5GB/s for write and read. Don't think laptops were doing that in 2015, but happy to be proven wrong if you can show it to me.

 

[Abazigal]

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

Let me turn this question around.

Why should Apple go for market share, especially if it results in less profits overall?

My guess is that Apple has done the math, and determined that their current pricing strategy is what allows them to maximise profits. Like, sure, lower prices may mean more Macs sold, but it also means less profit per unit, which could mean less earnings overall.

At the end of the day, it is what it is. The price of McDonald’s has risen a fair bit over the years, but I don’t go demonstrating outside my local fast food outlet about how this is unfair. Eat or don’t eat, the choice is mine.

As it is yours.

 

[Tago]

It’s going back a few years, but at the time they were a decent option for Windows desktops. I had a MacBook Pro too for Mac compatibility.

The last one went through a full motherboard replacement (proactively provided by Dell), a hard drive and three graphic card failures. The soundcard died almost immediately. I used it for years though - the benefit being it was easy and cheap to replace components. A local power surge did for it eventually.

In contrast the Mini has been a relative joy. It just works, as the old saying goes, and for £250 a year (so far, that figure will reduce if it keeps going) it’s been a good purchase.

In my opinion, when I still were using Thinkpads, they were quite a bit better than MacBooks of any kind (Apple did an effort with screens that IBM/Lenovo didn`t) up to and including the first unibody. Gen II unibody and beyond have had better build quality than Thinkpads.

After unibody, the Win PC`s have been chasing the tail of MBP. Lenovo did some work replacing the T2xx series with X series, but it took quite some time to ramp up specs for the X-series and I still don`t think they are a match to Air and MBP in terms of build quality. I might consider a preowned X as a spare replacing my T for that purpose, but I might aswell fix my MBP or get a newer MBP/Air for that.

The Thinkpads is easier go get/keep running with Linux, but a MBP/Air nailing the compatibility and installation will be preferable to Thinkpads for that too. I do suspect applications like Blender and DaVinci Resolve (toys for me) will make older TPs/MBP`s obsolete due to integration of AI in the applications. Blender cut my graphics card out of the loop earlier this year.

 

[CharlesShaw]

That is all sweet and dandy, but why doesnt it bother you that they are taking you for a ride?

Why is that apple fans keep defending poor Apple at their own expense?

I'm seeing less defense of Apple's pricing and more people pointing out the futility of getting upset about something that, based on history, seems very unlikely to change. This forum simply does not have the power or scope to incite change at Apple, but it's a good venue for sharing information about the alternatives, the workarounds, and sometimes just helping someone talk it out while they decide which Mac would be good for them.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Why is that apple fans keep defending poor Apple at their own expense?

Stockholm syndrome

 

[familychoice]

In my opinion, when I still were using Thinkpads, they were quite a bit better than MacBooks of any kind (Apple did an effort with screens that IBM/Lenovo didn`t) up to and including the first unibody. Gen II unibody and beyond have had better build quality than Thinkpads.

After unibody, the Win PC`s have been chasing the tail of MBP. Lenovo did some work replacing the T2xx series with X series, but it took quite some time to ramp up specs for the X-series and I still don`t think they are a match to Air and MBP in terms of build quality. I might consider a preowned X as a spare replacing my T for that purpose, but I might aswell fix my MBP or get a newer MBP/Air for that.

The Thinkpads is easier go get/keep running with Linux, but a MBP/Air nailing the compatibility and installation will be preferable to Thinkpads for that too. I do suspect applications like Blender and DaVinci Resolve (toys for me) will make older TPs/MBP`s obsolete due to integration of AI in the applications. Blender cut my graphics card out of the loop earlier this year.

I used Macs originally as Adobe didn’t support Windows (going back a few decades now…), but once they did a lot of users swapped over to Windows PC’s as they were cheaper, basically.

Aside from a Mac ‘Classic’, and Powermac, I’ve only had Mac laptops - the Mini was the first after a long line of Windows desktops.

It’s not perfect, I’ve had a few niggles, but I’d rate my Mini + 4k LG monitor as the best work setup ever, and the cheapest.

I’m waiting for a sale for the base MBP 14” M4 here in the UK (Amazon doesn’t even have them in stock). The M1 Mini will probably last another year or two, and I’ll definitely be replacing it with an M4 when it’s served its time.

 

[CharlesShaw]

Stockholm syndrome

Stockholder syndrome

I have a feeling the unresolved arguments in this thread will keep it alive long after my M4 mini has been recycled by Apple.

 

[pig pile]

Which is perfectly fair, everyone should be doing just that, weighing the pros and cons for themselves and then deciding which option is best.

Too many blind Apple loyalists still live in the bubble of "it just works", despite this not being the case since Jobs passed.

A few people I work with are Mac only as they hate Windows 10 (even though we're all on 11, but I digress), and because MacOS just works and rarely has updates that put the computer out of action like Windows. Funny thing is, Windows 11 gets a single small monthly update that takes <5mins to install, and a half-yearly feature update that takes <10mins to install. I recently did a security update on my work Mac, and it took over half an hour of staring at a blank page with an Apple logo before it booted back up. It's even longer for actual OS upgrades on Mac, 2-3 hours if you have slow internet, but even on fibre it's 1.5 hours minimum. I can install Windows 11 from a USB and boot into desktop within 10 minutes, on linux it's even quicker.

There was once a time where the Apple Watch was considered the thing keeping folk with Apple and iPhones too, but again the competition has caught up and surpassed.

Windows 11 still has a lot of flaws, but right now it's a significantly more polished OS than MacOS. All Apple actually have right now is great silicon, but Qualcomm have quickly caught up and others will soon follow.

Yet here you are, posting in an Apple forum, its still in your head.
Also, Apple Watch keeping folk with Apple and iPhones? lol

 

[theluggage]

I'm seeing less defense of Apple's pricing and more people pointing out the futility of getting upset about something that, based on history, seems very unlikely to change.

Apple just changed the base memory from 8 to 16GB - despite all of the people here proffering the same "8GB is good enough" arguments even when the change was the subject of pretty credible rumours... Even their RAM upgrades are slightly cheaper on some M4 Pro models - $100-per-6GB rather than $100-per-4GB...

I can't imagine Apple slashing their SSD prices overall, but getting rid of the ridiculous 256GB base & $200 for that first step to 512GB (twice the price of the larger upgrades) would be a very good start - and one that probably wouldn't upend their business model.

Start at 512GB, offer 1TB for $200 extra and I'd be interested - beyond that I would use externals or NAS for bulk storage - but my current machine is using > 200GB for system, apps etc. which belong on the internal system drive, and while I could trim that down you really don't want your system drive to ever become anywhere close to full - especially with a SSD that needs space for garbage collection, wear levelling, bad blocks etc.

It's not just Apple being capitalist - 256GB on a machine that they're certainly promoting as much more than a "personal productivity" tool is just poor design.

 

[Tago]

Stockholm syndrome

50 bucks a year and will cover my needs throughout ownership. I surrender to the willing and fertile blonde, being taken advantage of 😭

Aside from a Mac ‘Classic’, and Powermac, I’ve only had Mac laptops - the Mini was the first after a long line of Windows desktops.

It’s not perfect, I’ve had a few niggles, but I’d rate my Mini + 4k LG monitor as the best work setup ever, and the cheapest.

I’m waiting for a sale for the base MBP 14” M4 here in the UK (Amazon doesn’t even have them in stock). The M1 Mini will probably last another year or two, and I’ll definitely be replacing it with an M4 when it’s served its time.

Bet you`ll be fine with your present Mini. Pulled the trigger today, and it will work just fine with my budget monitor and the rest. Bought at discount it`s a no brainer, but stock is thin everywhere thus not sure when I`ll get it. There`s going to be a lot of Mini M4s under Christmas trees this year, and I bet many will migrate from Windows. There is a small discount on all Macs including MBP M4`s in this market. Not significant, but it transfers about half of the ownership costs from me to the retailer, and I don`t mind that at all.

I`m a budget guy, and the Mini is a bargain. Guess I have to live with "being abused by Apple", makes me consider masochism 🤣

 

[phoenix-mac-user]

Stockholder syndrome

I have a feeling the unresolved arguments in this thread will keep it alive long after my M4 mini has been recycled by Apple.

Let me tell you, this has argument has been going on forever.

The way Apple treats its consumers now is 1000x better than the way they have in the past. I actually stopped using Macs for about 5 years after I spent full price on a PowerPC G5 so I could do video editing with Avid in college and they switched to Intel and my 2006 $2000USD top of the line Mac only got 3 years of OS upgrades, and all of the software makers abandoned the architecture quickly because Apple did. I was bitter for years.

Have actually been surprised at how long they've continued to support Intel chips. They are still supporting those 2018 Mac minis.

Ultimately I came back because I love Mac OS more than Windows (which I use every day for work) and now, the entire Apple ecosystem. They way they make everything work together, from your Phone to Desktop to your TV or you health with the watch, and even your Smarthome with Homekit, if you use it all of it together it is amazing.

But it costs a lot and if you take one piece out it sort of all falls apart. Tried using a Android tablet a couple years ago and returned it because I couldn't watch Apple TV or control my Apple TVs or use my Smarthome.

Apple is a premium platform and they charge premium prices and this argument could be applied to any product they make, Apple TV or Apple Watch, iPads....

 

[Tago]

Apple just changed the base memory from 8 to 16GB - despite all of the people here proffering the same "8GB is good enough" arguments even when the change was the subject of pretty credible rumours... Even their RAM upgrades are slightly cheaper on some M4 Pro models - $100-per-6GB rather than $100-per-4GB...

I can't imagine Apple slashing their SSD prices overall, but getting rid of the ridiculous 256GB base & $200 for that first step to 512GB (twice the price of the larger upgrades) would be a very good start - and one that probably wouldn't upend their business model.

Start at 512GB, offer 1TB for $200 extra and I'd be interested - beyond that I would use externals or NAS for bulk storage - but my current machine is using > 200GB for system, apps etc. which belong on the internal system drive, and while I could trim that down you really don't want your system drive to ever become anywhere close to full - especially with a SSD that needs space for garbage collection, wear levelling, bad blocks etc.

It's not just Apple being capitalist - 256GB on a machine that they're certainly promoting as much more than a "personal productivity" tool is just poor design.

256 and 16 is just what I want. I would have been happy with the base M1/16 too, if it wasn`t for USB A. No need for 512 and no need for 32. Got 16 on my MBP, and I never maxed it out. Ever. No reason to spec up for someone else needs.

 

[CharlesShaw]

Apple just changed the base memory from 8 to 16GB - despite all of the people here proffering the same "8GB is good enough" arguments even when the change was the subject of pretty credible rumours...

Whether or not 8 is good enough for basic uses, people will say that 16 was too late and no longer good enough, especially now that it's on the entry model for baby users to do baby work (paraphrasing). I agree with that you that the bump to 16 is good news, but the next bump in baseline storage is not going to be any time soon, right?

 

[russell_314]

A Mac should start with 1TB base

This proves it doesn’t matter what Apple sets the base specs at, someone will want more. If it was 1 TB people would say they should offer 2 TB.

 

[IvyKing]

Stockholder syndrome

I have a feeling the unresolved arguments in this thread will keep it alive long after my M4 mini has been recycled by Apple.

Apple could try to increase market share by reducing Mac prices, but that would reduce gross margin and thus draw the ire of the institutional stockholders. On a somewhat related note, Buffet's unloading of Apple stock was probably due to saturation in the non-China iPhone market and China discouraging purchases of iPhones.

One other thing that's limiting market share for Macs is Apple's breaking backwards compatibility with user interface APIs. An example is Emerson/National Instruments shutting down development of LabView for the Mac despite the fact that the original version of LabView was only available for the Mac.

As for upgrade pricing, I do wonder if Apple would get more revenue from a lower mark-up on memory and storage upgrades. I opted for the 1TB storage on my M4 Pro Mini as the price delta for 2TB was a bit too much for my taste.

 

[eltoslightfoot]

Which is perfectly fair, everyone should be doing just that, weighing the pros and cons for themselves and then deciding which option is best.

Too many blind Apple loyalists still live in the bubble of "it just works", despite this not being the case since Jobs passed.

A few people I work with are Mac only as they hate Windows 10 (even though we're all on 11, but I digress), and because MacOS just works and rarely has updates that put the computer out of action like Windows. Funny thing is, Windows 11 gets a single small monthly update that takes <5mins to install, and a half-yearly feature update that takes <10mins to install. I recently did a security update on my work Mac, and it took over half an hour of staring at a blank page with an Apple logo before it booted back up. It's even longer for actual OS upgrades on Mac, 2-3 hours if you have slow internet, but even on fibre it's 1.5 hours minimum. I can install Windows 11 from a USB and boot into desktop within 10 minutes, on linux it's even quicker.

There was once a time where the Apple Watch was considered the thing keeping folk with Apple and iPhones too, but again the competition has caught up and surpassed.

Windows 11 still has a lot of flaws, but right now it's a significantly more polished OS than MacOS. All Apple actually have right now is great silicon, but Qualcomm have quickly caught up and others will soon follow.

As someone who owns both a gaming laptop and an M1 MBP, I can absolutely tell you that Windows 11 is NOT significantly more polished than Mac! That is hilarious!

For one, try getting Windows without telemetry slowing things down. I’ll wait. That is part of what I get when I pay for the extra space for $200 more on my forthcoming M4 Mac Mini. I definitely pay more. But I don’t have to pay $100 for Office every year and I don’t get nagged endlessly about Onedrive backups especially after I removed the dang thing. I am free to actually use the different browser I select instead of having Edge constantly foisted upon me.

I’ll pay the money, just give me Mac for everything but gaming at this point.

Edited to add: I can pinpoint the exact time Windows started going downhill. It was 2014/2015 when they laid off the entire Windows Quality Control teams.

Former Microsoft Employee explains why bugs in Windows updates increased - gHacks Tech News

Has the number of bugs in Windows updates increased in the past couple of years? If so, what is the reason for the increase in bugs?

www.ghacks.net

 

[theluggage]

This proves it doesn’t matter what Apple sets the base specs at, someone will want more. If it was 1 TB people would say they should offer 2 TB.

No, sorry, slippery slope fallacy nonsense. Sure, it would be nice to have 2TB or more built-in for a more reasonable price, and some people will always need more, or want the convenience of storing their bulky documents/projects on the built-in drive - but the immediate problem is that it's too easy for the OS and Apps to grow to occupy more than half of your 256GB system drive, which is a Bad Idea... and, on top of that, Apple's cost for the 256 to 512GB upgrade is $200 - or twice the rate-per-GB of even *Apple's* other SSD upgrades.

The fact that Apple has added a feature to install apps to an external drive is pretty much an admission of the problem. I've no issue with using externals, NAS or cloud for bulky documents, projects, media archives etc. but applications & the files and libraries they need to run belong on the system drive. 512GB would be quite adequate for people who wanted to install a couple of pro apps - 1TB would be "stop worrying" for the majority. Personally, I wouldn't want more than 1TB for the system drive (eggs, basket, Time Machine backups growing like crazy...)

...and the thing is, it's 2024 and - unless you go specifically trawling the web for bad deals - any other computer north of $500 (or $1000 for a laptop) will either come with 512GB or offer an upgrade for a fraction of Apple's price. Increasingly, 512GB is entry level for SSD. It's not some exotic, super-expensive thing any more.