I was thinking more of a second NVME for Time Machine. Or for that matter infrequently used files, or movies. A second internal drive saves one of the very scarce USB ports.
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Apple's 2024 M4 Mac Mini: What We Know
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They shouldn't have to pay - nobody wants Apple to up the base spec to 16GB and hike the price by $200 as a result, they're saying that it's 2024, technology has progressed, and its long past the point where 16GB of RAM should be standard without needing a price hike. Competing "premium" laptops with LPDDR5x memory are increasingly coming with 16GB as standard and/or lower priced upgrades, and now even Microsoft (who were one of the hold-outs for 8GB standard and Apple-esque upgrade pricing) are going to 16GB minimum for their latest ARM-based laptops.
The problem is what Apple currently wants people to pay if they want more RAM and storage - bumping a base $600 Mac Mini to 16/512 costs $400 adding 66% to the price. That's ridiculous - even fast LPDDR5x RAM and 4x NVMe Flash isn't that expensive.
You missed the point of why people want upgradable RAM. They want to save money by ordering the base model and backfilling it with cheap RAM.
But now with unified RAM, the RAM is as expensive as the VRAM on an Nvidia GPU card
The best thing people can do is vote with their wallets and purchase a competitor product.
Or...write TC or CF a *thoughtful* letter expressing their views. I suspect most here wouldn't be bothered taking the time to do that, though - as it's easier to vent on a forum for years and years believing Apple will pay attention and change their policy. Which will likely never happen as the majority of average (not techy) Apple customers will do fine with 8gb.
Beelink, GTR7 Pro 7840HS Mini PC 32GB RAM 1TB SSD Windows 11 Desktop Computer, $700.
There is a new version with a 7940HS CPU and two NVME slots too. But it seems to be sold out at the moment.
Apple needs to up its game, or cut its prices. The Beelink will run Linux just fine.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
I went with one of those Mac-Mini PCs to replace Bootcamp needs when I adopted Silicon (not trusting ARM Windows, which is well known to not be fully compatible). Besides, after you pay the annual Paralells cost for only a few years, it covers one of these.
All I can say is I'm quite happy with it, with Windows 11, etc. It's NUC with a gaming card, 32GB of upgradable RAM and 10TB of fast SSD in 2 slots (also upgradable). Imagine the Apple pricing of that if they offered that much SSD storage inside! How much did it cost? Less than only the 8TB SSD upgrade in a Mac (not counting the Mac or the RAM- just the SSD upgrade alone).
I thought I would ONLY use it for Windows-exclusive stuff but I was reminded of the great benefit of Power vs. PPW. Computer power translates to SPEED. If you want to get things done fast on a computer, crank the power. If you want to get things done efficiently- but slower- lean into PPW. What's been happening is a number of power-apps I regularly use that run on both have been migrating to PC... where they can do their thing FASTER than my Mac Studio.
And then there's all that want for AAA gaming and the new desire for rich emulation in Appleland... both of which are abundantly available on PC. Mix in the Moonlight app for AppleTV and the games stream from PC through AppleTV to TV and it's great. Launchbox/Bigbox for everything emulation now and any AAA games available immediately.
ASD is not a great option for a TWO computer setup. So knowing I was going this way steered me to a Dell Ultrawide 5K2K monitor... about the same price as an ASD with stand option but much wider screen with built-in hub including FOUR video inputs. Both Mac and PC share this monitor. It can even split screen to give me Mac Left & PC Right at the same time. That's Parallels-like, except with 100% Windows compatibility and NO annual upgrade fee.
It's all great... and I'm no longer an "all Apple guy" after about 20 years that way. In fact, due to the outrageous RAM & SSD pricing, my aging MB might be replaced with a PC laptop instead... where, once again, robust competition will get much more of commodities like RAM & SSD than we can get from the lone "company store" seeking "another quarter of record profit." I've NEVER owned a non-Apple laptop before but recent corp choices have driven me in this direction and now its a real possibility. 5 years ago, I couldn't even consider it but I might soon be more PC than Mac for the first time EVER.
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When the new M4 mini ships there will be a flood of used M1 base minis just right to replace the 2014 in the stereo cabinet.
As I understand it, the Apple internal SSDs connect using a PCIe bus (although they're not standard NVMe SSDs, which have the disc controller on the SSD module, they're just raw Flash storage and the controller is built into the Mx CPU). Also, things like the Ethernet controller and the extra USB controller on the Studio Max seem to connect via PCIe.
So it is probable that there aren't enough PCIe lanes in a non-ultra Mx Mac to run a full 4-lane NVMe slot as well as the existing internal stuff.
Looks like the Mac Pros have PCIe lanes because they're two Mx Max dies fused together so the first die has enough PCIe for the SSD and other internal stuff, leaving all the PCIe lines from the second die free for slots.
Hello.. where is the iMac PRO? 32inch 6k screen an M4 ultra's! lets go!
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
...probably waiting on people to have enough cash or credit to pay what will be a "magical" price for it. 💰💰💰
Whenever I see these calls for iMac "bigger," I do think it will be resurrected and branded PRO. But I wonder if people recall the pricing of that iMac Pro... or is some of the love for iMac "bigger" interwoven with its former "starting at..." price, which can obviously never come again now that so many have proven they'll pay that full price for only its monitor alone.
...then add some inflation and consider that THAT was commodity RAM & SSD instead of Apple's premium RAM & SSD for Silicon, available exclusively from only ONE "company store."
Whenever I see these calls for iMac "bigger," I do think it will be resurrected and branded PRO. But I wonder if people recall the pricing of that iMac Pro... or is some of the love for iMac "bigger" interwoven with its former "starting at..." price, which can obviously never come again now that so many have proven they'll pay that full price for only its monitor alone.
...then add some inflation and consider that THAT was commodity RAM & SSD instead of Apple's premium RAM & SSD for Silicon, available exclusively from only ONE "company store."
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I hear that! I'm ready to upgrade too. My 2018 Mini has been great with World of Warcraft, though the heat it generates made me invest in a heat sink and fan for the top of the chassis!
But let’s make it the thinnest Mac mini ever! /s
🤣🤣🙁 (I’m kinda over all the thinnest devices bs. Who cares. LOL)
🤣🤣🙁 (I’m kinda over all the thinnest devices bs. Who cares. LOL)
Same on the Pro laptops. I get having everything soldered for the Air where portability is the main focus, but on the Pro laptop an internal M.2 (in addition to the built in storage) should be on all of them.
Agreed. I'd like to get one with 36 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD; it'd be the next step up from my M1 MacBook Air, and a great replacement for my 2012 quad-core i7 Mac Mini (with 16 GB of RAM and a 1 TB SSD).
I am going to help the environment and not upgrade. Really doing my part lately.
I made the switch to the mini lifestyle with a 2018. I use a keyboard from an old iMac (15 years old now? I don't know) and the trackpad that eats AA batteries (which I use rechargeable). Added the Apple Studio Display (which was a great Christmas gift and very unexpected). Then upgraded to the M2 Pro mini in 2023. The M2 Pro is a beast and runs silent and cool (unless I'm gaming, that gets it warm and the fans come on, but still very quiet). Amazing machine. Now I'm in a great place where in a few years (maybe 2027, maybe 2028) I can get another mini, keep all my peripherals and just keep rolling along.
What I'm saying is folks should jump on this M4 refresh when it happens.
What I'm saying is folks should jump on this M4 refresh when it happens.
Would be sweet. Would also likely base price at $7000 and push $10k fully maxed out.
Not sure how much of this kind of ultra-prosumer market there really is.
I've been waiting for a Mac nano for so long.
To actually compete with the Tiny PC form factors and Intel NUC. The Mac mini form factor is large for today's standards. But I guess the AppleTV device takes that market segment. Whatever. I'll probably finally drop my Hackintosh for a real Mac mini M4 after ~18 years on Hackintoshes.
To actually compete with the Tiny PC form factors and Intel NUC. The Mac mini form factor is large for today's standards. But I guess the AppleTV device takes that market segment. Whatever. I'll probably finally drop my Hackintosh for a real Mac mini M4 after ~18 years on Hackintoshes.
This is getting offtopic, but Qualcomm just announced a $900 dev kit for their Windows on Arm chipset:
$899 mini PC puts Snapdragon X Elite into a mini desktop for developers
Well-specced box includes the best Snapdragon X Elite, 32GB RAM, 512GB SSD.
arstechnica.com
Not that I'm suggesting anyone buy the dev kit, necessarily, and definitely not suggesting Windows-on-ARM with all its ad-laden, "telemetry"-sucking, keyboard-stroke-and-screenshot-recording privacy issues, but:
- They're working on debian support. There's an experimental install already for the chipset, mentioned in the official blog, but I can't tell if this is the target hardware
- As this is the dev kit, I expect there will be better/cheaper/possibly more expandable small form factor retail boxes later, since big manufacturers for the Windows PC space have already announced laptops with this chipset.
What are you talking about, upgradeable storage? and give up $200 per 500GB upgrade option. What kind of complete nonsense is this.
Tempted to make the jump from my 2019 iMac and pass it to my kids.
But I won’t be buying the Studio display. Is the Samsung 5K monitor worth it?
But I won’t be buying the Studio display. Is the Samsung 5K monitor worth it?