The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming

[Santabean2000]

Nice content free post, with an ad hom thrown in as a nice little bonus

I understood the point quite well. OP thinks it’s somehow an embarrassment or shameful for Apple to be selling a 4GB/500 mini for $499.

You ignored my counter arguments, but apparently you disagree with my response that not everyone needs an SSD or 8GB. Or maybe you think an 8GB/SSD mini at $799 should be the minimum config Apple sells, who knows.

Feel free to come back if you’re ready for a discussion

There is no valid counter argument.

Apple should not be selling standalone spinners in 2018. Period.

4GB of non-upgradeable RAM in 2018 is not ok. Period.

To accept otherwise is foolish; it's the equivalent of wooden car wheels, yes they 'work', but not by any modern measurement.

The only more embarrassing part in the equation than your 'arguments' is that Apple even puts these configurations forward as an option up for debate.

 

[Cape Dave]

There is no valid counter argument.

Apple should not be selling standalone spinners in 2018. Period.

4GB of non-upgradeable RAM in 2018 is not ok. Period.

To accept otherwise is foolish; it's the equivalent of wooden car wheels, yes they 'work', but not by any modern measurement.

The only more embarrassing part in the equation than your 'arguments' is that Apple even puts these configurations forward as an option up for debate.

It just warms my heart when someone "gets it". Thanks for your voice of reason and understanding.

 

[PickUrPoison]

There is no valid counter argument.

Apple should not be selling standalone spinners in 2018. Period.

4GB of non-upgradeable RAM in 2018 is not ok. Period.

To accept otherwise is foolish; it's the equivalent of wooden car wheels, yes they 'work', but not by any modern measurement.

The only more embarrassing part in the equation than your 'arguments' is that Apple even puts these configurations forward as an option up for debate.

An HDD and 4GB is how you get a $499 mini. 8GB and an SSD is how you get a $899 mini. There’s your valid counter argument.

It’s embarassing you can’t understand that; is it really that difficult a concept? It seems foolish to think everyone has the same requirements, but black and white thinking is easy I guess.

Why do you think everyone should have to spend an extra $400 just because you might “need” a faster computer than Apple’s entry level model?

 

[Santabean2000]

An HDD and 4GB is how you get a $499 mini. 8GB and an SSD is how you get a $899 mini. There’s your valid counter argument.

It’s embarassing you can’t understand that; is it really that difficult a concept? It seems foolish to think everyone has the same requirements, but black and white thinking is easy I guess.

Why do you think everyone should have to spend an extra $400 just because you might “need” a faster computer than Apple’s entry level model?

Again, you're missing the point. It is like talking to a brick wall...

Apple SHOULD NOT be selling the base mini in its current configuration. It was bad in 2014. In 2018 it's is beyond awful.

We have a responsibility not to buy that rubbish in 2018. Only the ignorant and the foolish would even consider it.

Apple is not doing themselves, or anyone else, any favours by continuing to push that POS out.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Again, you're missing the point. It is like talking to a brick wall...

Apple SHOULD NOT be selling the base mini in its current configuration. It was bad in 2014. In 2018 it's is beyond awful.

We have a responsibility not to buy that rubbish in 2018. Only the ignorant and the foolish would even consider it.

Apple is not doing themselves, or anyone else, any favours by continuing to push that POS out.

No, you are missing the point:

There are perfectly fine use cases for the $499 mini. It was true in 2014 and it’s still true today.

 

[Partron22]

Most of what I can do with a base 2014 mini, I can do with a Raspberry pi.
$60 or so, including case.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Most of what I can do with a base 2014 mini, I can do with a Raspberry pi.
$60 or so, including case.

It’s amazing what you can get for $60. Raspberry pi are awesome!

 

[Miat]

As if there were any legit ones already for keeping the mini at TB2 and dual core?

No argument there. Just that now they can't even pretend.

 

[Santabean2000]

No, you are missing the point:

There are perfectly fine use cases for the $499 mini. It was true in 2014 and it’s still true today.

Ha ha. Rigggght...

Use case like what exactly?

Be specific - if you can.

 

[DesertSurfer]

Did someone say that there would almost certainly be an amazing senior discount on the new mac mini? And there will be no spinners in it so as not to offend the clientele.

 

[Boyd01]

Ha ha. Rigggght...

Use case like what exactly?

Be specific - if you can.

I am certainly not going to defend the base 2014 mini as a general purpose computer. But I use one as an iTunes server and it works great for that. Runs iTunes 24/7 with homesharing, I use it with two Apple TV's, a couple other Macs and it also has a 24" screen directly connected so I can watch movies directly on it. My media is on a fast 4tb external hard drive with two additional drives that I rotate for backups. Running filesharing, I get about 100MB/sec throughput on gigabit ethernet when using it as a network drive.

A SSD and additional RAM really wouldn't do much for me for this kind of usage and I would not pay extra for it. We have seen a number of sales on these at big box stores for around $400 and IMO it's a good value if you need an iTunes server.

Now whenever I try to do something else with this machine, I'm amazed at how sluggish it is. Wouldn't want to use it regularly as a general purpose machine. But you asked for a specific use case, so there it is.

 

[Cape Dave]

I am certainly not going to defend the base 2014 mini as a general purpose computer. But I use one as an iTunes server and it works great for that. Runs iTunes 24/7 with homesharing, I use it with two Apple TV's, a couple other Macs and it also has a 24" screen directly connected so I can watch movies directly on it. My media is on a fast 4tb external hard drive with two additional drives that I rotate for backups. Running filesharing, I get about 100MB/sec throughput on gigabit ethernet when using it as a network drive.

A SSD and additional RAM really wouldn't do much for me for this kind of usage and I would not pay extra for it. We have seen a number of sales on these at big box stores for around $400 and IMO it's a good value if you need an iTunes server.

Now whenever I try to do something else with this machine, I'm amazed at how sluggish it is. Wouldn't want to use it regularly as a general purpose machine. But you asked for a specific use case, so there it is.

ITunes? Don't even get me started on iTunes LOL!
[doublepost=1522856433][/doublepost]

Did someone say that there would almost certainly be an amazing senior discount on the new mac mini? And there will be no spinners in it so as not to offend the clientele.

One thing for sure. We have all gotten a whole lot older since this epic thread was started

 

[Andres Cantu]

I doubt Apple will use Intel's latest and greatest chips for a Mac mini update this year. If anything, they'll use the same chips from the current 13" MacBook Pro so it can remain behind the more expensive macs. And that's IF it's updated at all this year.

 

[ActionableMango]

An HDD and 4GB is how you get a $499 mini.

A 128GB 2.5" SATA SSD and a 500GB 2.5" HDD are essentially the same cost.

Here are current Newegg prices. No cherry picking on my part--these are both first row results:

Virtually everyone will have a better user experience with a 128GB SSD than a 500GB HDD, and this is especially important with a 4GB base model that will be paging out to storage.

Even if you think there should be a spinner, which I don't agree with, it certainly shouldn't be a 5400RPM one. There is effectively no price difference for a 7200RPM spinner.

And I'm saying this from experience. My current Mac Mini is using two 5400RPM drives. With 4GB of RAM, even just the OS itself with no applications can barely get out of its own way--it's ridiculously bad.

 

[Santabean2000]

I am certainly not going to defend the base 2014 mini as a general purpose computer. But I use one as an iTunes server and it works great for that. Runs iTunes 24/7 with homesharing, I use it with two Apple TV's, a couple other Macs and it also has a 24" screen directly connected so I can watch movies directly on it. My media is on a fast 4tb external hard drive with two additional drives that I rotate for backups. Running filesharing, I get about 100MB/sec throughput on gigabit ethernet when using it as a network drive.

A SSD and additional RAM really wouldn't do much for me for this kind of usage and I would not pay extra for it. We have seen a number of sales on these at big box stores for around $400 and IMO it's a good value if you need an iTunes server.

Now whenever I try to do something else with this machine, I'm amazed at how sluggish it is. Wouldn't want to use it regularly as a general purpose machine. But you asked for a specific use case, so there it is.

This my point though. You’d be better running a simple (cheaper) NAS unit for that purpose.

The base mini in its current state is completely unfit for Mac specific tasks.

 

[twalk]

About the 2014 base Mini...:

It was designed around the ideas of running with Mavericks (which was made to run well in 2G + HD), minimal development cost (which has a much greater opportunity cost for Apple than other companies), and non-upgradeability (reduces support costs + forcing upgrades sooner / +$$$). While it wasn't a good machine at the time, it wasn't that bad either

...Unfortunately (?)... Yosemite shipped at the same time it did, which increased the memory and drive usage, hurting performance. The OS's since then have increased memory and drive usage even more. Now with Sierra / High Sierra, if you stress the box even a little, you can get it to dump it's drive cache + over actively compress memory (which takes more memory in the short term) + page out to the drive to try to free up memory. That dumps the Mini to the speed of the really slow HD and programs just thrash and die...

Today, the base 2014 Mini is an inferior machine in any way that you look at it

 

[Boyd01]

This my point though. You’d be better running a simple (cheaper) NAS unit for that purpose.

OK, what's the "cheaper NAS" that will give me the same capabilities (including serving iTunes content with copy protection)? Be specific - if you can,

Don't know what's changed, but I looked carefully at NAS options a few years ago when I setup this system. The "cheap" NAS boxes were pretty slow and didn't provide 100MB/sec network performance. But putting that aside, setting up a mini for an iTunes server is a no-brainer. Take it out of the box, plug everything in, open iTunes, turn on home sharing and you're done. And it's a "real" Mac that runs Apple's software, so when needed, I can use other Mac apps that I already own. And the mac is also a Unix computer with specs that far exceed any of the wimpy linux processors and tiny amounts of RAM in a "cheaper NAS".

I've been using this setup for about 4 years now, first on a 2012 base mini and now on a 2014. Couldn't be happier. But thanks for telling me how I can "be better".

 

[Martyimac]

The base mini in its current state is completely unfit for Mac specific tasks.

Buy this I assume you mean professional level tasks and that the software to do those tasks is only available for the Mac? Because my 2011 mini, upgraded memory and SSD can do all the things I need a computer to do.

 

[Macinto$h]

Soldered 4GB is ridiculous. The user should be able to upgrade their own system if they so choose. At least it is possible to remove the spinner drive and replace with your own preferred brand of SSD. However, it is a hassle and possible to break something unless you're very careful. These 2014 setups are why I still hold on to my old Mini and will use as long as possible.

 

[Count Blah]

I am certainly not going to defend the base 2014 mini as a general purpose computer. But I use one as an iTunes server and it works great for that. Runs iTunes 24/7 with homesharing, I use it with two Apple TV's, a couple other Macs and it also has a 24" screen directly connected so I can watch movies directly on it. My media is on a fast 4tb external hard drive with two additional drives that I rotate for backups. Running filesharing, I get about 100MB/sec throughput on gigabit ethernet when using it as a network drive.

A SSD and additional RAM really wouldn't do much for me for this kind of usage and I would not pay extra for it. We have seen a number of sales on these at big box stores for around $400 and IMO it's a good value if you need an iTunes server.

Now whenever I try to do something else with this machine, I'm amazed at how sluggish it is. Wouldn't want to use it regularly as a general purpose machine. But you asked for a specific use case, so there it is.

So as long as someone is not interacting with the UI on the Mac Mini directly, it's OK?

That is what the Apple apologists(not you Boyd01) are bending over backwards to defend - on what is supposed to be an entry level consumer facing device.

So amazingly sad.

 

[ActionableMango]

I've been using this setup for about 4 years now, first on a 2012 base mini and now on a 2014. Couldn't be happier. But thanks for telling me how I can "be better".

Are you me???

I went through the same analysis for a file server and ended up doing the same thing. Cheap NAS's are slow and severely limited. Turn on file encryption and they slow down almost to a standstill. If you go up high enough in models to get away from performance problems, you're now in the $400 range. At that point, you might as well get a Mini--you can now do anything the NAS does, and anything a real computer can. There's better software, better support, and more frequent updates.

What really tickles my hide is sending low-priority video encoding jobs, running Windows-only software, to the Mac Mini because why not? It's a real computer so it can run a VM, multiple operating systems, and any software for those operating systems.

And if my main computer ever goes down? My file server is a backup "real" computer that can run anything.

And if the file server goes down? The drives are easy to access on the main computer because they are already in external enclosures and have native file systems NTFS and HFS+ instead of ExtFS.

 

[jasnw]

Buy this I assume you mean professional level tasks and that the software to do those tasks is only available for the Mac? Because my 2011 mini, upgraded memory and SSD can do all the things I need a computer to do.

I believe he's talking about the current (2014) base Mini. I also have a 2011 Mini with upgrades, and it's a nice little machine. I hope it doesn't go all tango-uniform on me before we see a real 'new' Mini.

 

[sublunar]

A 128GB 2.5" SATA SSD and a 500GB 2.5" HDD are essentially the same cost.

Here are current Newegg prices. No cherry picking on my part--these are both first row results:

View attachment 756962


Virtually everyone will have a better user experience with a 128GB SSD than a 500GB HDD, and this is especially important with a 4GB base model that will be paging out to storage.

Even if you think there should be a spinner, which I don't agree with, it certainly shouldn't be a 5400RPM one. There is effectively no price difference for a 7200RPM spinner.

And I'm saying this from experience. My current Mac Mini is using two 5400RPM drives. With 4GB of RAM, even just the OS itself with no applications can barely get out of its own way--it's ridiculously bad.

There's no doubt that SSD prices are getting closer to HD but I don't think it's quite there yet. Apple would probably use better quality SSD and I don't see a problem with starting a range with 128Gb SSD in a SATA3 form factor but I don't think they can make the prices the same yet - and Apple would probably want to use PCIe SSD for performance reasons anyway.

Perhaps iMessage in iCloud will help with storage considerations but we haven't seen the last of HD just yet.

 

[PickUrPoison]

Ha ha. Rigggght...

Use case like what exactly?

Be specific - if you can.

Specifically, my Mom. She mostly lives in Safari: Facebook, gmail, google, checking her bank account, paying bills. She likes to listen to Spotify in the background. There are a couple shows she watches on Netflix. She uses FaceTime to talk to a friend of hers in Australia. She likes to write, she uses Pages.

Nothing she does is very demanding. She hates Windows and would never buy or use a PC. She loves her mini and doesn’t think of it as slow. She bought it because a friend of hers had one and she liked it.

Would a $899 8GB/SSD be faster and offer a better user experience? Sure, of course it would. But $400 is a lot of money, isn’t it?

 

[Neodym]

Would a $899 8GB/SSD be faster and offer a better user experience? Sure, of course it would. But $400 is a lot of money, isn’t it?

My understanding (and believe) is that Apple should offer the base config for $499 with SSD and 8GB Ram already. Unless Mr. Operations Guy at the helm purchased a warehouse full of 5400 spinners and 4GB Ram PCB’s, that shouldn’t even have a relevant impact on Apple’s margin.

Heck, I could even imagine that it’d improve Apple’s margin, as buying antique technology as that in the currently offered mini usually is more expensive than going with mainstream parts. And as ActionableMango demonstrated, SSD’s are mainstream nowadays (and so are 8GB of Ram).