They say it’s got impressive specs, but I don’t find it impressive at all. This brick-sized Gigabyte (NUC) computer has far more impressive specs than the Mac Mini: https://www.gigabyte.com/Mini-PcBarebone/GB-BRi7-8550-rev-10
Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown
111–120 of 197 posts
Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've booted my iMac from an external thunderbolt SSD for years. Once you set it to boot from an external SSD, it will happily continue doing so. Much faster than the real slow hdd it came with at least, plus I don't have to open it up to clear out the data when I'm finally done with it. I still have yet to figure out how to create a similar hassle-free "live" booting environment which works across various hardware fo…
Once you set it to boot from an external SSD, it will happily continue doing so. What happens when the soldered-on SSD fails? Can you alter a setting in the PRAM or SMC to let the system completely disregard the failed SSD?
It remembers which drive it boots from so as long as you keep the external drive connected it should boot from it
Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown
#113Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown
#114Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 up…
You can at least upgrade the storage on that era Airs, and in the last couple of years there are now adaptor cards for normal M2 SATA drives.
Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown
#115Apple can be proud of using plastic recycled at 60 percent but a not easily serviceable computer will end up in a landfill way sooner than it should. What happens three years down the line when the device is out of warranty and the storage fails? Between paying an absurd amount of money to replace the whole board and getting a new one I bet most people will go with the landfill option. My Mac mini 2012 got a second l…
Some Google searches indicate to me SSDs don't have a worrisome failure rate. If it happens to be a widespread problem for Apple products, there's precedent for them eventually having a replacement program. [1] [2] [1] https://www.apple.com/support/macbookpro-videoissues/ [2] https://support.apple.com/en-my/iphone/repair/service/batter...
I think he means the inevitable failure of all storage devices. They will eventually break down like anything. If they could be replaced, the machine would keep on living.
Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown
#116Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a counterpoint, when I wanted to sell my Mac mini after 5 years of 24/7 use, I found a buyer within one hour. Try that with any other maintainable PC.
I am still using my Mini from 2012, and it runs the latest OS, Mojave.
Sadly, my 2010 MBP 17" is not Mojave compatible :sob:
Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've booted my iMac from an external thunderbolt SSD for years. Once you set it to boot from an external SSD, it will happily continue doing so. Much faster than the real slow hdd it came with at least, plus I don't have to open it up to clear out the data when I'm finally done with it. I still have yet to figure out how to create a similar hassle-free "live" booting environment which works across various hardware fo…
Once you set it to boot from an external SSD, it will happily continue doing so. What happens when the soldered-on SSD fails? Can you alter a setting in the PRAM or SMC to let the system completely disregard the failed SSD?
Yes, if the soldered-on SSD has failed you can boot from an external drive by holding down the alt/option key while the system powers on to bring up the boot selection menu.
Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
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 up…
I think the reason it works well for me is that I don't keep any photos on the machine except for the ones I'm using in Photoshop on current projects. And even then they're on a teeny weeny USB that barely sticks out of the side, and doubles the storage.
Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
Once you set it to boot from an external SSD, it will happily continue doing so. What happens when the soldered-on SSD fails? Can you alter a setting in the PRAM or SMC to let the system completely disregard the failed SSD?
It remembers which drive it boots from so as long as you keep the external drive connected it should boot from it
Still, another dongle to carry (with Mac Mini it's not that important) and a loss of speed/added latency for e.g. video editing. With normal usage patterns even USB 3.0 external thumb/SSD drives were just fine.
Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am still using my Mini from 2012, and it runs the latest OS, Mojave.
Sadly, my 2010 MBP 17" is not Mojave compatible :sob:
macOS Mojave Patcher Tool for Unsupported Macs http://dosdude1.com/mojave/