I bought my first-ever Mac just over three weeks ago, a refurbished Mac Mini (2010 version, with Core 2 Duo 2.4GHz, upgraded by seller to 8GB and 240GB SSD and High Sierra).
Pretty happy so far.
2018 Mac Mini Review
51–60 of 653 posts
Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review
#52Ugh, all the comments about how it's overpriced in this thread.
"This is crazy! You can just build your own for half the price!"
Snooze. You could have made this comment about most of Apple's products for decades. Some people apparently just don't get it, so here it is from my perspective:
As long as Apple does what I need, I'm not going to buy anything else. I'm definitely not going to build my own PC to save a few bucks. I recognize that not everyone is in this position, but my time is valuable and the difference between "click buy" and "research and buy a ton of parts and assemble them and install software and drivers and blah blah blah" is worth thousands of dollars to me.
I rely on a Macbook Pro for work every day. I generally keep them for 2-3 years, and given my preferences, work setup, software, and how much money I make with these things, I'd pay triple (or more) what Apple currently charges for them vs. getting some shitty Dell or Lenovo and hassling with Windows or Linux. That's not to say everyone should feel that way, but that's my situation, and I'm not alone.
Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review
#53Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, you know, we waited years for a new Mac mini replacement, and we got one that is very disappointing on the low end, very expensive on the high end, no clear future support, missing features from previous iterations, but hey, it’s amazing machine because Apple finally graced us with it and I got it for free, so let me overlook that 2500$ price tag.
I really wish that devs out there, including the HN community, give PCs and Windows another chance. The PC specs are amazing, value for your money is excellent, the OS is beautiful - the biggest obstacle now is so much open source documentation explains how to install or build on a linux based machine, ignoring the Windows users and making them feel like sh*t for working on a Windows box. If more dev's offered docs a…
What advantages does Windows offer over Linux other than gaming?
Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review
#54Slightly off topic but is there cloud Mac/Xcode that I subscribe to for my occasional App development?
Checkout Macstadium. https://www.macstadium.com
Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review
#55Slightly off topic but is there cloud Mac/Xcode that I subscribe to for my occasional App development?
There probably is but it will be built on top of Mac mini or Mac Pro farms as Apple does not allow virtualization of macOS on any hardware not carrying a Apple logo (I believe that is how it is actually stated in the terms even). So of it is available it might not be a cheaper option.
But I believe Travis CI does have macOS workers available for free, but they might be scarce in available time slots.
Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can it really be more clear than this: Apple lent me a high-end configuration for review — 6-core i7, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD — which would cost $2499 (much of which is the SSD)
> much of which is the SSD A 1 TB SSD is on the order of $150.
Not saying the price is not outrageous but I found it ironic that you spec maniacs can’t tell the difference between a sata ssd vs pcie ssd. You will be hard pressed to find retail ssd that’s remotely close to the performance in these new macs.
Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review
#57"...cost $2499 (much of which is the SSD)" The cheapest SSD I can find goes for €129.47, and it doesn't seem to get up to much more for consumer SSDs. Unless this SSD has some crazy specs that I'm missing, it seems seriously overpriced to me.
Little of both. The SSD is a very fast 1TB model running on Apple’s custom controller (so you can’t just compare to a random one on Amazon). It’s also an obscenely high priced upgrade.
Probably more column B (expensive) than A (good)
Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, you know, we waited years for a new Mac mini replacement, and we got one that is very disappointing on the low end, very expensive on the high end, no clear future support, missing features from previous iterations, but hey, it’s amazing machine because Apple finally graced us with it and I got it for free, so let me overlook that 2500$ price tag.
I really wish that devs out there, including the HN community, give PCs and Windows another chance. The PC specs are amazing, value for your money is excellent, the OS is beautiful - the biggest obstacle now is so much open source documentation explains how to install or build on a linux based machine, ignoring the Windows users and making them feel like sh*t for working on a Windows box. If more dev's offered docs a…
I find WSL can really help in this regard. It's being actively developed by Microsoft and they're making the interop between WSL and windows better over time (a good example of this is https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/commandline/2018/11/05/what... on what's new in October)
So what I tend to do is use linux install paths and do my scripting work in WSL, with my more GUI/Corp apps in windows.
All they need to do now is get raw network sockets working and finish off Linux Docker engine support in WSL and I'll be sorted!
Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review
#59>Number one — and this is a big one these days, especially for this product — is that it’s not any less useful or versatile than the outgoing Mac Mini, including the generous assortment of ports. If the previous one served a role for you, the new one can probably do it just as well, and probably better and faster, with minimal donglage. Wow. This is what it's come to. "It hasn't gotten worse! Yayy!"
> "Unless you used optical audio, audio input, or the SD-card reader"
Craftily hidden in a footnote for that paragraph.
Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can it really be more clear than this: Apple lent me a high-end configuration for review — 6-core i7, 32 GB RAM, 1 TB SSD — which would cost $2499 (much of which is the SSD)
How is this statement accurate? > which would cost $2499 (much of which is the SSD) A 1TB SSD is maybe $200 retail?
If this was a PC then a 1TB SSD would be about $200, but the 2018 Mac Mini has a non-upgradable soldered-on SSD on the motherboard so you have to pay Apple's build-to-order prices if you want one. (The RAM is technically upgradable but requires a security Torx bit to access just to be annoying.)