2018 Mac Mini Review • Hacker News Board

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#321

Post by saxonww » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:14 PM UTC

berberous wrote: post #162

someguydave wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now that I think about it, axing the optical audio ports was probably a deliberate move by Apple to nudge home TV users of mac minis into using Apple TVs, where they have way more control over the interface and content. edit: apparently Apple TV doesn't have optical audio either.

I doubt it -- the number of users who use a Mac Mini as an entertainment center is probably so small Apple barely thinks about them. More likely is that HDMI has superseded the optical audio port for most users, so they save money by removing a port few use these days.

It's still a little weird. I think a lot of people would have a separate A/V receiver and speakers; maybe this is changing as old equipment gets replaced, but I suspect there are still far more homes with optical-capable A/V receivers than HDMI-capable ones.

This is just a standard annoying thing with Apple though. Their designs are very 'forward looking' in that they don't consider what potential customers already have so much as they do what their own future peripherals are going to need.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#322

Post by tabs_masterrace » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:16 PM UTC

thirdsun wrote: post #174

basejumping wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Looking to buy a 4k 27 inch external monitor for my 2018 macbook. What's the problem with it and why is it not better than a 1080p?

It's better than 1080p as it is much sharper and crisper, but 1080p at 27 inches results in rather large UI elements. An effective resolution of 2560x1440px (as seen in any iMac 27) seems like the proper resolution for a display of that size. Read more about it here: https://bjango.com/articles/macexternaldisplays/

I'm curios about this too, does the Mac Mini offer "scaled" options, like MacBooks do with their built-in display, when connecting to an external 4k monitor? I think it does some supersampling, resulting in higher effective resolution.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#323

Post by bunnycorn » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:16 PM UTC

balladeer wrote: post #307

bunnycorn wrote: post #283

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only complaint that I have is that the UI is ugly ugly ugly and has so much wasted space. The previous version had so much better UI.

I do agree with the wasted space part but why would you call it ugly? Also, I don't find the UI intuitive at all. Many actions like to go to the list of episode of a podcast you have to kind of start from the beginning. But ugly? No. In fact I find it pretty clean.

It's not an eye sore, but I say "ugly" because I don't like the organization, everything is misplaced in my opinion. Also thick lines and rounded corners galore.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

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Post by chvid » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:19 PM UTC

dTal wrote: post #35

>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!"

The MacMini is a near perfect computer in its category; only thing was it wasn't updated for years. Now it is.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#325

Post by na85 » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:19 PM UTC

copperx wrote: post #228

drej wrote: post #165

Macs aside - this video clearly shows the wonderful experience you can get when an audio/video producer cares about audio quality. Spoken word recorded with clear audio is so lovely. I listen to podcasts and audiobooks on a daily basis and I really really appreciate someone putting the effort into this. Thanks!

Anyone looking for crystal clear vocals should do exactly what NPR does: Stick a Neumann U87 six inches from the mouth with the bass rolled off and use a P-pop and Bob's your uncle. Money will be an issue with the U87, so you can look for good clones; there are a few in the market.

What does it mean to have the bass "rolled off", and what is a p-pop?

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#326

Post by slantyyz » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:20 PM UTC

tzs wrote: post #269

KozmoNau7 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which also means the entire thing has to be thrown out when the SSD eventually dies. Sure it's going to take a while, but it will happen. Yay consumerism, I guess.

In late 2014 I replaced the disks in my 2008 Mac Pro at work and my 2009 Mac Pro at home with Samsung EVO 840 and 850 SSD disks. I kept track of accumulated writes. Both machines were heavily used for development and consumer type stuff. No big data stuff or big media stuff. Samsung rates these things at 150 TB write endurance for the 850 and something around 120 TB for the 840. My projection based on that usage is t…

I bought a 1TB Samsung 840 Evo in September 2013, and it just died last month. So it was in operation for around 5 years.

I used it for development type stuff. It outlasted the 2011 MBP I bought it for. In fact, I ran it on 3 different computers during its life span.

Overall, I'm pretty happy that it got the 5 years. With spindles, I prefer to replace them every 2 years to avoid headaches.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#327

Post by rsync » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:23 PM UTC

someguydave wrote: post #143

lucideer wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "Unless you used optical audio, audio input, or the SD-card reader" Craftily hidden in a footnote for that paragraph.

I use optical audio in a mac mini as a home theater TV driver. No thanks.

Isn't that little headphone port a combo optical/electrical port that you can plug either headphones or mini-toslink-whatever into ?

Isn't that what it was before ? I swear I had previous mac minis with a combo port like that ... why would they not continue that ?

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#328

Post by pentae » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:23 PM UTC

crad wrote: post #247

drcongo wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone who owns a MacBook Pro with Touch Bar will definitely be saying "yay it hasn't gotten worse!" about these.

I'm pretty happy with mine, but thanks for speaking for us all with your sweeping generalization.

I'm terribly unhappy with mine and so is everyone else I know, so i'm pretty pleased with it

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#329

Post by IOT_Apprentice » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:23 PM UTC

asfgknionio wrote: post #119

akfanta wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You can find PCIe SSDs for about $150. Like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-860-SATA-Internal-MZ-N6E1T0BW... That isn't a performance monster. But you could get something really top-of-the-line for, say, $400.

so your last sentence contradicts your first. Why would you want the slow PCIe SSD, you would want a better performing one for the technology being offered.

That said, Apple should not be sodering these SSDs to the motherboard.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

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Post by boyce » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:23 PM UTC

dagw wrote: post #118

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just stick the Pi to the back of your TV with some self-adhesive PCB risers. No case required.

What do you use as a remote? Also does RP+Kodi do Netflix/Amazon/HBO etc. streaming in a nice way?

Wife and I use the Kore app. Less likely to forget where my phone is than a dedicated remote. Handy to have the youtube plugin and share a video to kodi from that app too.