2018 Mac Mini Review • Hacker News Board

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#351

Post by Marsymars » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:50 PM UTC

kalleboo wrote: post #287

mikestew wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shockingly, I need optical for a $300 set of gaming headphones I purchased within the last year (Astro A50). Maybe it’s the only way they can do pass through, dunno.

Never would have guessed that for headphones! I guess they have some kind of a dock?

Wireless (non-Bluetooth) Sennheiser headphones also take optical input (as well as 3.5mm). Since they're only doing stereo, and require a digital-to-analog conversion on the headphone side, makes sense to avoid an additional analog-to-digital on the transmitter side.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#352

Post by exabrial » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:53 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!"

That's a reasonable expectation from Apple these days. Their "War on Ports" and "War on Repairability" has gotten to groan inducing levels.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#353

Post by Marsymars » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:53 PM UTC

kalleboo wrote: post #194

throwaway9d0291 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These days optical audio is dying when it comes to home theater systems, primarily due to its lack of codec support. You can't passthrough DTS-HD over optical, you can over HDMI.

I used to use optical audio but it was superseded by HDMI for home theater and USB for hifi. edit: I'd be curious to see what people are using optical for today (I'm under the impression audio pros mainly use USB interfaces as well)

I've got a pre-ARC TV, so use optical for my home theatre. Am hell-bent against smart TVs, so my next display will probably be either a digital signage display or a projector still without ARC.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#354

Post by fallenhitokiri » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:54 PM UTC

bluedino wrote: post #188

thirdsun wrote: post #171

Side discussion: What are everyone's thoughts when it comes to external HiDPI monitor options to use with this Mac Mini? Ideally I'd want 5K displays (I'm used to the iMac 5K) but it seems that LG's UltraFine is the only real option and the rest of the industry has settled on 4K/UHD at 27 inches, which results in a) limited screen real estate due to an effective resolution of 1080p at 2x scaling and b) slightly less…

Why does Marco call the LG 5K “not great”?

Just one data point: I have two of those screens connected to an iMac Pro. This is a setup officially supported by Apple, but sometimes when waking up the Mac one of the displays doesn't turn on and the only option to get it back to work properly is disconnecting either the power or the USB cable.

This is reproducible by connecting both screens to a 15" MBP Pro 2016.

If the screens would at least have an ordinary power switch so I would have to crawl over my desk once every two weeks my life would be a lot better,...

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#355

Post by TomVDB » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:55 PM UTC

Elidrake24 wrote: post #318

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.

Chiming in to agree that it wasn't a problem here. Though I also never understood why someone would be crazy enough to leave ESC as the default keybinding anyhow.

Some people use both ESC and Caps Lock all the time.

How else would you bind ESC?

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#356

Post by hindsightbias » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:56 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!"

This is going to best outcome as Moore's Law ends.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#357

Post by LeonM » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:57 PM UTC

hi5eyes wrote: post #334

bluedino wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Car manufacturers rarely send their low end models out to reviews as well.

and Ferrari sends tuned versions of the car

Basically all performance car manufacturers send out cars to journalists with a higher power setting, top tier tires, optimized suspension settings, etc. But journalists know that.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#358

Post by TomVDB » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:57 PM UTC

ap3 wrote: post #268

Mindwipe wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And it has got a bit worse. Just not as worse as we'd expect from Apple.

Worse how? There are a couple of directions you can go in, just curious (price/storage)?

Probably price. $800 is pretty steep for the entry version, when you can buy a better equipped Lenonvo ThinkCentre for $200 less.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#359

Post by FireBeyond » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:58 PM UTC

ricardobeat wrote: post #347

teolandon wrote: post #338

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My text editor needs the processing power of my $100 ThinkPad, and that's where I'll be using my text editor. What is it that justifies the $2500 price?

6-core latest CPU, 32GB RAM, 1TB SSD, plus “apple tax” (design, thermals, build/hw quality, OS, support). You can build a similarly spec’d PC for maybe $1500, with a better GPU, but 20x as large, not silent, higher power consumption, etc. Many trade-offs, not for everyone.

Or it'll be right around $1250, the same size or smaller, and still silent:

https://www.amazon.com/NUC7i7BNH-Dual-Core-i7-7567U-Bluetoot...

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#360

Post by rsynnott » Tue, Nov 06, 2018, 4:59 PM UTC

kalleboo wrote: post #194

throwaway9d0291 wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These days optical audio is dying when it comes to home theater systems, primarily due to its lack of codec support. You can't passthrough DTS-HD over optical, you can over HDMI.

I used to use optical audio but it was superseded by HDMI for home theater and USB for hifi. edit: I'd be curious to see what people are using optical for today (I'm under the impression audio pros mainly use USB interfaces as well)

My (very low-end) Samsumg soundbar only has optical and 3.5mm in. I think a lot of cheap equipment still uses optical.