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2018 Mac Mini Review

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Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#421

Post by GordonS »

copperx wrote: post #238
muro wrote: post #167

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do you need a PC at all? A TV can play movies directly from a NAS.

Yeah, I thought Media PCs were a thing in the 00's. But it's 2018 now. Why would you have a Media PC?

Because it's 2018 and media format support in smart TVs is still garbage. I have relatively new Samsung and Sony TVs, and they are both really finicky about what they support - various combinations of container format, video codec, audio codec and bitrates work on only one or the other, and plenty works on neither (including 10-bit video).

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#422

Post by vonmoltke »

Alex3917 wrote: post #297
macintux wrote: post #275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "giant security hole" I assume you're referring to isn't particularly worrisome for your own hardware running trusted software. It's more of a problem in a shared environment where you don't know who else is running code.

> The "giant security hole" I assume you're referring to isn't particularly worrisome for your own hardware running trusted software. My concern is mainly javascript or webasm running in the browser. Even if there aren't currently any unpatched exploits of this nature, that's no guarantee that there won't be in the future.

First, that means it isn't a "giant security hole"; it's a potential security hole.

Second, if an exploit is discovered just disable the extra hardware threads until it gets patched.

As an aside, I don't know what your "supposedly" about the i5 is supposed to mean. The i5 has only one hardware thread per core.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#423

Post by maxxxxx »

SyneRyder wrote: post #415
maxxxxx wrote: post #198

I really don't like when reviewers test the high end configuration only. This makes the review pretty useless for most of us who may be considering a lower spec.

What would you want to see tested in the i3 8GB model?

Test how it performs? Maybe some benchmarks? Or even compare it to the high end model?

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#425

Post by GordonS »

graedus wrote: post #249
21 wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might want to look at some Chinese mini/industrial PCs Same 8GB/128 GB, but probably lower CPU for £307: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B077SLPZ63 There are many different configurations on Amazon/Ebay http://www.inctel.com.cn/product/MiniPC.html

Yeah, the model you linked has a i3-5005U - a very large step down from a i7-8559U. Still, could be sufficient depending on what you need it for.

Bear in mind the i7 model in the article is $2,499!

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#426

Post by wild_preference »

copperx wrote: post #408
wild_preference wrote: post #373

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Consider mapping CapsLock to Esc (and Ctrl when long-pressed) with Karabiner. I haven't used my physical Esc key since 2014 or something. Might help with your issue.

If you remap CapsLock to Esc, what key do you use for Control for doing Control A, Control E, Control K, Control Y, Control N, and Control P in every application?

I tried to address this in my parentheses, but Karabiner specifically lets you bind CapsLock to both: Esc when tapped alone, and Ctrl when held down in combination with other keys.

And your post also answers you sibling comment: Ctrl modifier is useful outside of just Emacs.

Try it out. I believe the API changed in the macOS release before Mojave, so they relaunched Karabiner under the name Karabiner Elements. This option is under the "Complex Modifications" tab.

If I was writing a list of tricks for macOS power users to try, this would be my number one. Up there with binding a global show/hide hotkey for iTerm (I use Ctrl-Space, thus CapsLock-Space).

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#427

Post by chipotle_coyote »

saxonww wrote: post #321
berberous wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 h…

At this point HDMI is not a particularly new thing; my Marantz receiver from ~2007 had HDMI connections on it. Audio-only digital connections aren't necessarily going the way of the dodo yet, but they're becoming progressively more niche. So are home theater PCs, of course.

Anecdotally: I do have a Mac mini with my receiver, which I replaced this year. But the new receiver not only has USB input, it has wifi and built-in clients for Spotify, Tidal, Pandora, TuneIn, Roon, whatever protocol Windows uses for media sharing whose name I'm utterly blanking on right now, and a dozen or so other services, with Apple Airplay 2 theoretically coming in an update.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#428

Post by rconti »

Marsymars wrote: post #353
kalleboo wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I want to smash a Sony engineer with a hammer because my goddamned $5000 smart TV keeps insisting on switching from tv audio to external audio to tv audio to external audio to tv audio to external audio.

It doesn't matter that I have my audio preference set to "prefer external audio" because the effing thing decides to switch back and forth between 2 and 30 times on startup, and maybe 80% of the time it settles (properly) on the receiver, and 20% of the time it tries to use the TV speakers, which are off, and of that 20% of the time, at least half of the time I HAVE to power everything down and start all over again. The other half of the time I can go through the menu with the slow-ass on-screen menu, and manually toggle back to receiver.

I just want an effing option that says "never in hell try to use the fucking TV speakers, for the love of god".

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#429

Post by Obi_Juan_Kenobi »

Larrikin wrote: post #130
veidr wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What OSes are better for a "Home Theater" TV computer?? That's a serious question; I recently replaced a creaking old Mac Mini (that couldn't do 4K) with a new Dell, after going a little bicurious with respect to Windows 10 (for software development work)... and, surprisingly, it's a complete and utter shitshow. I was astonished, actually; I had assumed Windows would be better than macOS as a TV computer, other than…

Kodi is recommended if you want a media pc connected directly to your tv, but personally I prefer Plex with a Roku and the media streamed to my tv. Only negative is that it's not useful for anything besides video

It's good for music as well, and I even watch Twitch on my Roku with a custom PLEX channel. It's pretty flexible.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#430

Post by ataturk »

I have the 2014 Mini with 4GB. It is depressingly slow and the horrible part is that it replaced a slightly older Mini that died but that had 16GB of RAM in it which was my little workhorse. When I bought the 2014 one, I didn't know the RAM was soldered on. I have suffered for three years like this (I have other computers, but this Mini is the main "family" computer for storing photos and documents and gets backed up daily). It's relatively important even though we all have other computers at our house.

What is most sad is that a colleague gave me a 2010 i5 Mini with 8GB of RAM and that one is actually faster than the 2014 Mini with 4GB of RAM--OSX needs to manage memory better! WTF Apple? Why sell computers with RAM spec that doesn't work and then make them non-upgradeable? It's inexcusable.

My question is, should I get one of these Minis and is the RAM upgradeable? Or should I buy a refurb Mac Pro and get off the Mini ecosystem entirely? Again, I need a little desktop workhorse that isn't an all-in-one kind of dealie. Laptops are great, but I want a desktop type machine with ports for what I do with it.

I had a 2015 MB Pro in 2015/2016, loved that one. My current work machine is the 2017 Pro laptop, it's not quite as good. Dongles suck!

I was able to re-utilize that RAM from the defunct Mini by getting a refurb 2014 MB Pro for my daughter and adding it to that one instead. That one has also been a great little workhorse at our house.

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