Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown • Hacker News Board

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#71

Post by mrpippy » Fri, Nov 09, 2018, 5:28 PM UTC

cptskippy wrote: post #57

sanketskasar wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's more because of the PCIe interface, and access control and encryption through the T2 chip. The PCIe interfaces SSDs that Apple's been using allow really fast speeds of upto 3Gbps, which is almost double those offered by other interfaces like M2 or even more faster than SATA. What's disappointing is the base storage. 128GB in 2019 is so ridiculous. I would't otherwise mind a soldered SSD when I can just u…

> The PCIe interfaces SSDs that Apple's been using allow really fast speeds of upto 3Gbps AnandTech reported int heir review of the 2015 Macbook that this was just NVMe. Has something changed since then? This is just Apple again trying to pass off a standard as their own innovation to justify their proprietary incarnation.

It's NVMe to the T2 SoC, which acts as the storage controller (among many other tasks). It would be nice to have the raw NAND on a removable card, but the market for "raw-NAND-on-a-stick" would be entirely limited to these machines.

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#72

Post by lotsofpulp » Fri, Nov 09, 2018, 5:33 PM UTC

ddtaylor wrote: post #50

That thing has like $400 worth of hardware in it.

For your services, do you charge only the amount you need to live on, or as much as you think you can get?

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#73

Post by bluegreyred » Fri, Nov 09, 2018, 5:34 PM UTC

OskarS wrote: post #2

A bit disappointing to see that the storage is not user-upgradable. I guess it matters less on a device like this where you could more easily use external storage, but still. I wish Apple stopped soldering in stuff and just made things a centimeter taller if that was the tradeoff.

Would it be feasible to order the model with the smallest buil tin storage and put the home (/User/*) directories on a fast external TB3 SSD?

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#74

Post by lostlogin » Fri, Nov 09, 2018, 5:45 PM UTC

SloopJon wrote: post #3

More accessible than the previous gen (although oddly iFixit gives it the same score of 6/10), but it's harder than I'd hoped to get to the RAM.

The previous one was a horror. Security t6 screwdrivers are a nightmare to source. I have bought 5 sets and none have been correct. Resorted to attacking them with pliers and eventually had success.

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#75

Post by atmosx » Fri, Nov 09, 2018, 5:46 PM UTC

isolli wrote: post #20

sanketskasar wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's more because of the PCIe interface, and access control and encryption through the T2 chip. The PCIe interfaces SSDs that Apple's been using allow really fast speeds of upto 3Gbps, which is almost double those offered by other interfaces like M2 or even more faster than SATA. What's disappointing is the base storage. 128GB in 2019 is so ridiculous. I would't otherwise mind a soldered SSD when I can just u…

Is encryption optional? In general I'm more worried of forgetting my password (and thus losing all my data) than of unauthorized access to my home desktop.

You can always writw it on paper and save it at a physical location where it can be retrieved at a later time or use a password manager.

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#76

Post by reaperducer » Fri, Nov 09, 2018, 5:47 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #31

jws wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The two I installed this week are using 70GB and 90GB all set up for development with my files. I think there are plenty of people who needn’t spend on an extra 128GB. Especially since the USB ports are plenty fast for bulk, non speed critical storage should you decide to archive something locally.

128 GB doesn't work because it doesn't scale well with age. You can run MacOS or Windows on 256 GB almost indefinitely, even as they grow it would be five or more years before it becomes a headache, to keep 128 GB happy you have to babysit/rebuild semi-regularly. I'm yet to see an OS which doesn't bloat as it ages, even on mobile devices. 30 GB free won't be 30 GB the next major OS update, including rollback files, l…

128 GB doesn't work because it doesn't scale well with age

As a counterpoint, my 2011 MacBook Air has 128GB, and works just fine. Photoshop, coding, and lots of personal projects.

Maybe 128GB isn't enough for gaming, but I don't think that's what the "mini" is for.

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#77

Post by xeeeeeeeeeeenu » Fri, Nov 09, 2018, 5:49 PM UTC

riobard wrote: post #55

post_break wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have done this for 6 years, mini with two drobos connected to it running plex 24x7. No issues without ECC ram. I have since switched to a synology because it's easier to manage and won't have bit rot.

To clarify, I’m more concerned about silent data corruption instead of crashing. Why does Synology not have bit rot? Becuase of ZFS? I thought ECC memory is almost required for ZFS?

There is nothing special about ZFS that makes it require ECC. It's a myth. See: http://jrs-s.net/2015/02/03/will-zfs-and-non-ecc-ram-kill-yo...

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#78

Post by mattnewton » Fri, Nov 09, 2018, 6:04 PM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #76

Someone1234 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

128 GB doesn't work because it doesn't scale well with age. You can run MacOS or Windows on 256 GB almost indefinitely, even as they grow it would be five or more years before it becomes a headache, to keep 128 GB happy you have to babysit/rebuild semi-regularly. I'm yet to see an OS which doesn't bloat as it ages, even on mobile devices. 30 GB free won't be 30 GB the next major OS update, including rollback files, l…

128 GB doesn't work because it doesn't scale well with age As a counterpoint, my 2011 MacBook Air has 128GB, and works just fine. Photoshop, coding, and lots of personal projects. Maybe 128GB isn't enough for gaming, but I don't think that's what the "mini" is for.

Counter counter point, my 128gb 2013 mbp I use for development has 90gb of “system” cruft somehow and I regularly have to shuffle files around, and have been thinking I need to re-image it since I can’t dig deeper into what the “system” bucket is made up of easily.

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#79

Post by rvense » Fri, Nov 09, 2018, 6:07 PM UTC

sanketskasar wrote: post #19

OskarS wrote: post #2

A bit disappointing to see that the storage is not user-upgradable. I guess it matters less on a device like this where you could more easily use external storage, but still. I wish Apple stopped soldering in stuff and just made things a centimeter taller if that was the tradeoff.

I think it's more because of the PCIe interface, and access control and encryption through the T2 chip. The PCIe interfaces SSDs that Apple's been using allow really fast speeds of upto 3Gbps, which is almost double those offered by other interfaces like M2 or even more faster than SATA. What's disappointing is the base storage. 128GB in 2019 is so ridiculous. I would't otherwise mind a soldered SSD when I can just u…

PCIe SSDs are still a common point-of-failure, aren't they? I feel like they should be replaceable.

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#80

Post by rconti » Fri, Nov 09, 2018, 6:11 PM UTC

reaperducer wrote: post #76

Someone1234 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

128 GB doesn't work because it doesn't scale well with age. You can run MacOS or Windows on 256 GB almost indefinitely, even as they grow it would be five or more years before it becomes a headache, to keep 128 GB happy you have to babysit/rebuild semi-regularly. I'm yet to see an OS which doesn't bloat as it ages, even on mobile devices. 30 GB free won't be 30 GB the next major OS update, including rollback files, l…

128 GB doesn't work because it doesn't scale well with age As a counterpoint, my 2011 MacBook Air has 128GB, and works just fine. Photoshop, coding, and lots of personal projects. Maybe 128GB isn't enough for gaming, but I don't think that's what the "mini" is for.

I have the exact same machine, 2011 MacBook Air, and it's always bloody out of disk space. It's the only machine I am constantly shuffling data around on. Delete photo library so I can upgrade xcode, let it resync from icloud next time I feel like having my photo stream.

Can't use it to offload and edit photos while traveling, despite the convenient SD card slot, because the disk is too small.

can't download an os update, disk full. And no, I'm not a gamer. I've been fighting that small disk for at least the past 4 years.