Overall prices of computers have droppen more than overall inflation.
If you look just numbers, windoze boxes selling prices are lower than 5-15 years ago, even if some other things cost more than then.
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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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If you look just numbers, windoze boxes selling prices are lower than 5-15 years ago, even if some other things cost more than then.
Let’s assume that mac dekstops are 90% imac, 2% macpro and 8% of minis.
Lets say that they get $200 average profits for point of sale of desktops. Then 25% mini buyers call for support on how to connect the display x to mini. Average cost for that call is $50. And lets assume tht only 5% of imac buyers do the same.
There’s the need for higher margins for mini.
I don’t like it!but this time I’m gonna order anyway.
jasnw
macrumors 65816
After following all the "new Mini" threads I've come to a wait-and-see decision. No question that I'll be replacing my 2012 Mini with a new Mini when it dies, but I'm a bit on the bubble regarding replacement of my 2011 27" iMac. No doubt that I can configure a Mini to meet my computational needs, but chosing a monitor - ach mein lieber Gott! For every post I see that says "buy monitor X, it's da bomb" I see another warning to never go near monitor X because it causes cow pox and string warts. So, I'm comfortable about my server needs, but not so much for my work system. I'm hoping that in a month or so we'll start seeing reliable and repeatable testing of various monitors on non-eGPU Minis. Testing that would include addressing issues relating to Mojave font rendering (smoothing on/off). Then I can decide. If my iMac died today I'm afraid I'd buy another 27" iMac just to avoid monitor headaches.
Sure would have been nice if Apple had released a couple of nice monitors along with the Mini. (All of a sudden I feel like Oliver Twist asking for more gruel.)
Sure would have been nice if Apple had released a couple of nice monitors along with the Mini. (All of a sudden I feel like Oliver Twist asking for more gruel.)
I think the big difference is, that you can’t have a mini with Fusion anymore. And this is well calculated decision from Apple. So then there’s no 2nd internal storage in mini. I wouldn’t be surprised, if there wouldn’t be an option to Fusion in next imacs either. And Fusion might never be available in APFS...
Count Blah
macrumors 68040
Do you have Apple’s price sheet?
128Gig SSD are pretty cheap these days.
Seems like it’s Apple’s upward pricing to please the investors, versus providing a comparable option for consumers with this generation.
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rrl
macrumors 6502a
The inside of the new Mac mini should have looked something like this:
Well good for you, but if you have watched any news reports over the last decade you will be very aware that the UK workforce as a whole is not.
Apple fanboy
macrumors Ivy Bridge
No one said it was. However, you were the one that stated 'what's an extra $/£200, and that wages have gone up in that time. I simply replied that for many in the UK wages haven't gone up and in real terms are worth much less.
masterbaron
macrumors 6502
I think the new Mini pricing over 5-years is a fair expense relatively speaking ... the SSD should eclipse 5-years service life for consumer usage and frankly the weak point in the chain is that Apple will gimp that machine in some other way by then or some new protocol or standard will obsolete it - the net reality is computers are no longer investments as they once were .. for retail consumers it's becoming a recurring expense that nets less benefits than the corporate scenario.
I don't like to think of my workstation as a recurring expense or retiring gear that, as yet, has not maximized the investment. With each iteration it's becoming clear that the investment is what's enabled for you currently not what you plan on 5-years from now when it's anybody's guess what Apple will be thinking or how technology will effect that path. If you can't afford to build-out your dream system now to achieve total results by the time you can the base-line technology or rationale may have changed and the realization (benefit) of the investment may be lost.
Basically, nowadays you need to have more money to throw at it and not care ... I don't know how that's working for you.
I don't like to think of my workstation as a recurring expense or retiring gear that, as yet, has not maximized the investment. With each iteration it's becoming clear that the investment is what's enabled for you currently not what you plan on 5-years from now when it's anybody's guess what Apple will be thinking or how technology will effect that path. If you can't afford to build-out your dream system now to achieve total results by the time you can the base-line technology or rationale may have changed and the realization (benefit) of the investment may be lost.
Basically, nowadays you need to have more money to throw at it and not care ... I don't know how that's working for you.
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Unless of course you build your own machine which you can then keep going almost indefinitely. What you describe is what you get when you deal with large corporate entities. In this scenario you have to eat what you are served rather than what you might like.
The answer is to become your own 'chef'.
jasnw
macrumors 65816
I'm pretty sure there are a lot of people on this thread that would be more than happy to build their own Mac system IF macOS was truly install-and-go portable within some reasonable range of hardware options. Hackintosh doesn't cut it for many of us as we want to use our computers, not continually tweak them to get them to work/upgrade properly. With the T2 chip becoming more ubiquitous on Mac systems I think we're seeing the likelihood of running macOS on non-Apple hardware fading into nothingness, even in a Hackintosh setting. If you want to use macOS, become resigned to Apple's hardware choices for you. If you cannot do this, it's time to bail out and go back to Windows or Linux. This is certainly becoming a decision point for me.
LeeW
macrumors 601
If I was going to build my own non-windows system I would probably try Hackintosh first, tweaking is one thing, Linux tweaking would mean too much time not using it, for me at least.
jasnw
macrumors 65816
I hear you. This is definitely in the fine-line category, and is one of the main reasons I jumped from Linux to OS X when Tiger came out and looked stable enough to use.
LeeW
macrumors 601
Having said that though, there is so much choice on Linux now, Ubuntu is so mature, ElementaryOS if you want to keep that macOS feeling and Mint has come such a long way. Getting up and running with Linux is far simpler and basically most macOS users will identify with many settings in the distributions.
Where it always fell down for me was driver support and available software. From what I gather that has not improved, enough at least. If it had I would probably give it another go.
Where it always fell down for me was driver support and available software. From what I gather that has not improved, enough at least. If it had I would probably give it another go.
Well I think the least expensive model of any series is the "entry level device". That doesn't mean it's cheap, it's just the "entry" into that line of computers. For example, the "entry level" iMac Pro costs $5000.
Of course it's a fair to compare prices, the cheapest 2014 Mini was $500, the cheapest 2018 is $800. That is just a fact, regardless of the capabilities of the the two machines. However, you chose to quote me out of context. In the next sentence of my OP, I pointed out that you are getting a much more powerful machine with the 2018 entry level model, and it is in fact 50% faster than the top of the line 2014 Mini.
I can easily imagine a world, where consumer laws would demand phones to have user replaceable batteries. Or desktop computers to have user replaceable storage. This would be very easy to justify with green values and consumers right to repair their devices.
People who decide laws would ban soldering wheels to a car easily, but what do they understand about digital devices?
masterbaron
macrumors 6502
I can easily imagine a world like it happened in Lowes 2-weeks ago when their POS systems weren't down but somehow weren't able to record transactions. The Clerk used her iPhone (Safari) to lookup the SKU# - she used a paper receipt to record the information - she used her iPhone to capture a photo of the receipt - she used her iPhone calculator to figure the Tax and Total - as she recorded the Sale by hand she uploaded the photo somewhere. The whole thing took a long-long time but it was fascinating to watch the whole transaction assisted with the iPhone while the entire corporate POS stood useless. For this reason I'm beginning to imagine a world without a desktop ... fascinating!
Primitive technology (handwritten receipt) and the latest technology working together skipping everything in-between (POS - security - backup) - I mean you have to realize the iPhone wasn't company-issued - the register drawers were left open as only CASH transactions could take place (see the irony ... a cashless society is perfect or it's helpless). Equally fascinating .. such collaboration as she actually counted out the change correctly by hand as long lines persisted without one customer complaint or undue oversight (Security Guard).
So ... it is with this epiphany that I will almost certainly pick up a new Mini as it's not entirely certain the desktop will remain a viable platform over the next 10-15 yrs so almost certainly I'm going to ride the wave.
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Apple fanboy
macrumors Ivy Bridge
My next Mac mini almost certainly won’t be coming for a few years now!
galactic orange
macrumors member
My next Mac Mini might come sooner than expected. The one I got has "the coil whine." Hope you have better luck. Not sure if I'll return it. If there are no other issues I might keep it.
Apple fanboy
macrumors Ivy Bridge
Haven’t fired it up yet. Waiting for a usb c to display port cable to be delivered. I’ll let you know.
masterbaron
macrumors 6502
Return it - the coil whine may continue, change or stop and return - changing the outlet it's plugged into may minimize it - could also be a bad capacitor that's leaking - certainly more trouble than you should be experiencing or tolerating.
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Apple fanboy
macrumors Ivy Bridge
Couldn’t tell mine was on it’s so quiet. I’ll be able to properly test it tomorrow once the migration is done.
So much for that plan... was just talking to my daughter and they got rid of the desk they were using for the (now dead) 2012 Mini I gave them a couple years ago. So they don't want another Mini, or even an iMac. They want a laptop - which they really only plan to use at home - they don't want to take up space in their small apartment for a desktop computer. They might actually prefer an iPad with a keyboard and Apple Pencil in fact. So Santa Claus is revising his gift list. 😀
They are both 36 years old, with an 8 year old daughter. I suspect there may be many others that just don't see the value in a big desktop computer for general usage in 2018.