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2018 Mac Mini Review

marco.org

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Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#101

Post by LeoNatan25 »

xuki wrote: post #72
LeoNatan25 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you know, we waited years for a new Mac mini replacement, and we got one that is very disappointing on the low end, very expensive on the high end, no clear future support, missing features from previous iterations, but hey, it’s amazing machine because Apple finally graced us with it and I got it for free, so let me overlook that 2500$ price tag.

Those units are not given out for free. Apple get them back after the review period. It would be a massive conflict of interest otherwise.

There is still massive conflict of interest. They want to continue getting these review units, and Apple is known for "being offended" and blacklisting people from media events and review units.

None of the reviews I've seen from "general public" "reviewers", in the year or so Apple has been doing it, have provided real criticism. It's always "fine", always "great", big issues are glossed upon.

At the very least, Apple picks their target "reviewers" very well based on their bias for Apple products. That's fine in and of itself, but it creates a bad image when these people get their review units before even the media reviewers.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#102

Post by yjftsjthsd-h »

jemurray wrote: post #75
winuser wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That has always been Apple's MO. Ever since their "Think Different" marketing campaign, where they realized they can convince the sheep to follow if they associate with the brightest minds and celebrities (e.g., put an Apple logo next to Einstein, next to an astronaut, etc.) without actually offering a better product. It's always been a fashion statement to own an Apple product... What bothers me is how the technical…

Since I am part of this aforementioned technical community, I will spend a few extra dollars in order to get: 1) high resolution screen, 2) large track pad that works well, 3) native "unix like" shell, 4) sleep that works 100% reliably when I close the lid. I don't consider it a fashion statement, I just want it to work. After 20+ years I don't like to tinker with my desktop anymore. I would go back to Gnu/Linux for…

> native "unix like" shell

Funnily enough, IIRC Darwin isn't unix-like - it's an actual certified UNIX™:) Although in the modern ecosystem, perhaps it's more appropriate and useful to say that it's a Linux-like :-)

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#103

Post by simonbarker87 »

LeoNatan25 wrote: post #86
simonbarker87 wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In Marco's defence he has slated Apple for what they are doing to the laptop line for the last few years. If he didn't like it I am certain he would have given a bad review. ATP and Overcast (not to mention Tumblr) are successful enough that he doesn't need to be on Apple's good list to make ends meet.

I wasn't looking to start a fight with specific people. I just dislike the general direction Apple Mac products are heading in, as well as their marketing efforts.

Ah, fair enough

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#104

Post by sgt »

torben-friis wrote: post #11

A $2500 desktop computer with integrated graphics? Honestly, it feels like a bit of a joke.

A huge chunk of that is the SSD. It's actually very reasonably priced, especially considering that you get a Mac ecosystem along with the computer.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#105

Post by needtousexcode »

winuser wrote: post #34
LeoNatan25 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you know, we waited years for a new Mac mini replacement, and we got one that is very disappointing on the low end, very expensive on the high end, no clear future support, missing features from previous iterations, but hey, it’s amazing machine because Apple finally graced us with it and I got it for free, so let me overlook that 2500$ price tag.

I really wish that devs out there, including the HN community, give PCs and Windows another chance. The PC specs are amazing, value for your money is excellent, the OS is beautiful - the biggest obstacle now is so much open source documentation explains how to install or build on a linux based machine, ignoring the Windows users and making them feel like sh*t for working on a Windows box. If more dev's offered docs a…

Windows makes sense for game devs, Android devs, and Windows app devs. It’s my impression that HN devs are mostly web devs, with some mobile devs. Windows is not best for those types of devs.

IOS devs need to run Xcode.

Server devs can and usually should use remote servers for development. So their local machine’s OS doesn’t matter. It could be Windows, but they are mostly ssh-ing to Linux boxes or VMs for work.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#106

Post by LeoNatan25 »

yjftsjthsd-h wrote: post #96
LeoNatan25 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Software and drivers that consistently work without the need for fiddling. Every year I give Linux a chance, and every year I quickly sober up.

I think it must strongly depend on your use case and exact hardware, because those exact reasons in my case are an argument against windows. I have to download and install what in order to get driver support? How many tray icons can one person possibly need? It's the worst in my experience with printers and scanners; "please install this 300MB package which will constantly run in the background and annoy you at the l…

I agree with you that a lot of vendor software is garbage. If the hardware you use is supported by your Linux distro of choice, I'd agree it could be a better experience than installing any driver. But at least there is always a driver. That has not been the case for desktops and laptops I have had in recent years. Always something missing in plethora of Linux distributions, and the ways to solve those issues are not straightforward even for a 10-year experience software engineer. That is not something I want to think about when buying new hardware.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#107

Post by ryanwaggoner »

tomduncalf wrote: post #73
ryanwaggoner wrote: post #52

Ugh, all the comments about how it's overpriced in this thread. "This is crazy! You can just build your own for half the price!" Snooze. You could have made this comment about most of Apple's products for decades. Some people apparently just don't get it, so here it is from my perspective: As long as Apple does what I need, I'm not going to buy anything else. I'm definitely not going to build my own PC to save a few…

100% this, but for people who don't make money from using the computer I can see how the high prices are a real problem

But Apple's strategy has never been to go after the price-sensitive market. Complaining that their prices are way higher than commodity parts you can piece together yourself makes zero sense. That's like complaining that a Ferrari is way more expensive than a Honda.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#108

Post by winuser »

frou_dh wrote: post #76
winuser wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That has always been Apple's MO. Ever since their "Think Different" marketing campaign, where they realized they can convince the sheep to follow if they associate with the brightest minds and celebrities (e.g., put an Apple logo next to Einstein, next to an astronaut, etc.) without actually offering a better product. It's always been a fashion statement to own an Apple product... What bothers me is how the technical…

Most people I've heard this rant from, when further questioned, have barely touched a Mac and don't know anything about macOS to be able to substantively trash it. Approximately how many cumulative weeks have you spent in OS X / macOS?

I unfortunately took a job at a company that thought they were being fashionable and progressive by forcing each employee to use a Mac. They saw it as a benefit. It was idiotic.

95% of their workforce was using Excel for reporting tasks. But, of course, this was Mac Office 20xx (08, 12?), when the rest of the world was on Office2016+. Half the features weren't available, or required people to hold down 8 keys simultaneously to work.

Re: 2018 Mac Mini Review

#110

Post by SmellyGeekBoy »

Jaruzel wrote: post #92
veidr wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No! Looks very interesting, thanks! (^_^) Will give it a shot.

Bung Kodi on a Raspberry Pi 3B+ - You'll be pleasantly surprised I think. Downside is... 99% of raspberry pi cases are really ugly :(

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