Apple today upgraded the company’s diminutive but powerful Mac mini.
Whether they are using it as a desktop computer, a music and movie storage hub for the family, or as a code compile server for Xcode, customers love Mac mini.
The standard configurations of Mac mini now come with double the storage capacity with all-flash PCIe-based storage.
In addition to being a great desktop computer, Mac mini powers everything from home automation to giant render farms. And now with eighth-generation Intel quad-core and 6-core processors and Intel UHD Graphics 630, Mac mini has even more compute power for industrial-grade tasks. So whether you’re running a live concert sound engine or testing your latest iOS or iPadOS app, Mac mini is the shortest distance between a great idea and a great result.
Mac mini now includes all-flash PCIe-based storage, with up to four times the read speeds of previous flash options. So you can load giant files and launch apps faster than ever — and with the available 2TB SSD, you’ll have twice the space for all of them.
The $799 configuration now comes standard with 256GB, while the $1,099 configuration features 512GB of storage, and every Mac mini is made from 100 percent recycled aluminum.
More info: apple.com/mac-mini/
MacDailyNews Take: Mac mini gets even better – for the same price!
These are much needed improvements for the price/performance ratio, but…
RAM and HD/SSD should be easily user upgraded in an entry level desktop computer like this. There is ZERO advantage for this device to be so fussy in this respect, and several disadvantages for making user serviceability impossible or extremely difficult.
8 GB RAM–Why is this even an option? Has anyone at Apple tried running any Mac on 8 GB of RAM in the last 5 years? Could anyone at Apple recommend this configuration to anyone with a straight face? I mean, I guess it’s great for email and FB, but nobody buys this device for those uses—they will use their phone or get an iPad.
The Mac mini is so close to being a GREAT device.
I still can’t understand why Apple can’t offer a Mac mini with the similar RAM/HD/SSD/GPU/CPU options as the iMac.
Even if they had to make it an inch taller/wider, it would still be an incredibly small desktop machine.
8GB of RAM is not unlivable. I bought a MBP in 2017 with 8GB, and it’s fine for everything I do, which includes some coding and many concurrent applications. I also have over a hundred browser tabs open (thanks, Tree-Style Tabs) most of the time.
My parents buy Mac minis or iMacs, and I would not recommend they get more than 8GB. SSDs are so fast now that running out of RAM isn’t the end of the world. It was very noticeable when you were paging off of a HDD, but SSDs have taken a lot of the pain out of this.
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So… an Intel 8th gen processor. Typical Apple using OLD Intel tech. The CPU in this “new Mac mini” isn’t even a 9th gen processor let alone a 10th gen processor!
People complain that Intel is falling behind (and sometimes rightly so), but then we have Apple using two generation old processors.
Plus the output is only HDMI 2.0 while others are shipping HDMI 2.1 (and many TVs announced this year are HDMI 2.1).
Apple used to stand for leading edge technologies and capabilities:
Original iMac was USB only
30″ Cinema display was the only 2560×1600 display available in mass quantities for almost a year
Airport was 802.11n before the standard was 100% official and released
This list could go on and on
BUT NOT ANYMORE and not for the past several years!
I don’t mind the “old tech”—it’s supposed to be an entry level machine after all.
Just don’t charge “new tech” premium prices.
For example, why not offer an “old tech” 3TB fusion drive as a $300 upgrade, instead of a 2TB SSD as a $600 upgrade? (How many dopes buy a middle-of-the-road entry-level computer with no dedicated GP for $800, and then max it out with a $600, bleeding edge SSD? Did anyone at Apple think through this scenario?)
Or how about an “old tech” 2 TB SSD upgrade for around $200 like you can find everywhere on Amazon.(Did Apple suddenly lose its economies of scale when building the Mac mini?)
And why does a Mac mini which is brought to rather modest levels of RAM and Storage, suddenly cost nearly as much as a 27″ iMac which also includes a keyboard, mouse, dedicated GPU, and a gorgeous 5K monitor.
Kind of a tone deaf release? I would love to re-up my mini, but….
Is the SSD still soldered on?
Yes, it’s soldered, so whatever you get, you’re stuck with it for life. Thanks, Apple. NVMe sockets mean nothing to you and the Mac Mini. I bought my recent Mac Mini with a 1TB SSD and that’s all I’ll ever need with it as I plan to buy a NAS which will be more suitable for my needs in the long-term. Apple is always giving mixed signals with hardware but I’m willing to put up with it as long as I get plenty of life out of their products.
128GB SSD should be a thing of the past.