“After several years of silence on the Mac Mini front, fans of Apple’s diminutive desktop computing slab had given up hope of ever getting a replacement,” Lori Grunin writes for CNET. “But in the 2018 models, Apple’s delivered a great upgrade, with only one possible drawback.”
“Apple fixed one of the big complaints about the 2014 model: Soldered memory. Upgradable memory is back, and it takes two industry-standard DDR4 SO-DIMMs,” Grunin writes. “But like most Apple products, it’s not really end-user upgradable, requiring a trip to a service center. This undercuts one of the perks, namely being able to buy less expensive memory elsewhere. But if it’s going to be another four years until Apple updates the Mini again, then every little bit of upgradability helps.”
“Though the price of entry has gone up from $500 to $800, much faster than the pace of inflation over the same period, it’s still not out of line. The comparable Windows configurations in a compact design — and there really aren’t many — are actually pretty expensive in comparison,” Grunin writes. “So what’s the drawback? For many pros, it may be hamstrung by Intel’s integrated graphics processor. I’m not saying it needs a powerful gaming or rendering GPU. A Kaby Lake G CPU, for example, would be a nice alternative to the i3 simply to make the system low-end VR ready, to take some of the video decoding burden or to help reduce overhead in audio production.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: If you need it, an external GPU is an option, of course.
SEE ALSO:
Macworld reviews Apple’s new $799 Mac mini: ‘A huge improvement that’s well worth the cost’ – November 6, 2018
Hands on with Apple’s all-new Mac mini powerhouse – October 30, 2018
Apple unveils all-new Mac mini with a massive increase in performance – October 30, 2018
If they can open that bottom port to take a picture, I can open it to replace the RAM.
It has to do with the new T2 security chip. Do it wrong and you can disable the computer…
I’m certain that in a day or two we will be able to read accounts of what actually happened when people tried to open up their new Mac Minis and upgrade the RAM. Speculating at this time about what might happen seems pointless when they’re just reaching customers who will be doing it for real. Reviewers seldom upgrade new Macs, it’s customers who do that.
Just as with OS upgrades, I’m happy to let others tread that path before me and will follow once I know that the path doesn’t have any unexpected hazards.
They should have make it as flexible as past MacMini,
being able to replace RAM + Storage,
putting the SSD onto a ‘m.2’ like Module;
BEST would have been a dedicated Graphics Chip,
I wonder how well the GPU of the A12X Bionic
compares to the Intel onboard Graphics?
This:
“They should have make it as flexible as past MacMini,
being able to replace RAM + Storage,
putting the SSD onto a ‘m.2’ like Module”
The past Mac minis could actually hold 2 HDs.
$800 Mac + $800 1TB storage upgrade = Insanity
(And you’ll still need to bump up the RAM!)
And why would you buy a “mini” Mac, if you have to hook it up to an external GPU? That’s makes no sense. What’s the point of having a mini computer, if it has to be attached to a bunch of external devices? (Didn’t the MacPro trashcan put this idea to rest?)
as fans have said for years we are missing a ‘mid tower’
twice the size of the mini
Upgradable RAM, Drives, GPU
i suspect Apple can make a T2 chip work around if they wanted to
it doesn’t have to have the max expandibilty of the Mac Pro although there’s a place for the MP as well. ( I’ve got three upgraded cheese grater pros)
I think the mid tower would hit a ‘sweet spot’ for many consumers
AppleInsider says not many users traditionally upgrade anything, but maybe Apple just makes it too hard?
I suspect all this ‘glued in- service centre thing’ is just a desire to max profit. Even as an Aapl investor myself I think it’s short sighted, Apple should be ‘best bang for buck’ , customer satisfaction is how Apple will thrive.
I’m satisfied with what Apple is offering in the Mac Mini. It supports 4K at 60fps through an HDMI 2.0 port and can even support additional monitors with TB ports. The version I want will cost me $1700 but will last me for at least 5 trouble-free years. It’s definitely worth the price to me. I only need enough internal storage for the OS and applications and all my content will be on a NAS.
Maybe the Mac Mini has a lot of haters because of the high initial cost, but nothing comes cheap from Apple. As long as it’s built sturdy and doesn’t thermal throttle like crazy, I’m a buyer.
I completely understand your point but why would Apple consider targeting the mini towards normal home computer users who…
1. Don’t need overpriced SSDs, but would be perfectly happy with a Fusion HD
2. Are never going to hook up an external RAID
3. who would want a Mac mini precisely because it is small, and therefore don’t want to have to hook up any external device because it would negate the small form factor.
4. Who wouldn’t hesitate to buy a $1000 Mac mini with a 2TB Fusion HD, but will choke at a $1600 Mac mini with a 1TB SSD.
Why wouldn’t Apple keep an entry level desktop for Windows switchers or for MacHeads who are looking for a second computer, or a media computer for their home theatre system?
All of these issues would be solved by offering Fusion HDs as well as SSDs.
I sure hope iMacs don’t go exclusively SSDs in their next update.
All the whining about price needs a little factual clarity.
The $499 Mac mini Steve Jobs presented to the world would cost $650 2018 US Dollars.
Then factor in that this version uses fast SSD, a much faster desktop grade multi-core CPU, much improved and faster Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, the option of faster Ethernet, the latest USB C (Thunderbolt 3) I/O, the security of the T2 chip and a much faster system bus.
Is that worth the asking price, I would say yes. My only gripes are these:
1- Apple should have offered a BTO option of a discrete GPU. Not a world beater, but something better than Intel Integrated Graphics.
2- The design should have allowed for easy user upgradeable memory. If H-P can figure this out, I am sure Apple can.
That said, I am happy for a modern spec headless Macintosh. I am hoping for some 3rd party to come up with an eGPU in a housing that matches the Mac mini form factor kind of like the Newer Stack extra HDs. That would be very cool.
When you say Apple SHOULD HAVE ALLOWED “easy user upgradeable memory”, I assume you are talking about the level of difficulty to actually remove those memories. From the look of the photo Apple provided, it looks like an easy snap in deal and the specified memory is SO-DIMM. But….
1. The way it looks, it appears to have a bit of interference with the case, and might have to dig into the internals before getting to it.
2. I am also reading that the T2 chip might require a service provider to run some software that the replacement of RAM won’t shutdown the system. If Apple did this trick, they are a real evil 🙂 Will see.
True, there is a value of money inflation factor to consider, but one shouldn’t use the CPI when assessing cost profiles on IT gear.
For example, the original Mac mini came from the period where hard drive data storage cost $1/GB .. and today, that storage costs $0.03/GB. And even an SVMe M.2 SSD is now hitting under $0.30/GB…and thats in 2018 dollars.
And so on for RAM, CPU, etc. Their prices have all consistently declined over time, in addition to currency devaluation due to inflation.
As such, MSRP’s should be holding steady or going down, not up. It’s what technology does.
Why won’t Apple give us an ATA slot like the Playstation 4 has? Adding storage via thunderbolt is stupid-expensive and not as fast as ATA. Adding it via USB-C is even slower, and still an unneeded cost.
My old G3 Mac had ATA and it worked effortlessly.