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New Mac Mini

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Re: New Mac Mini

#201

Post by AstixAndBelix »

dbbk wrote: post #64
gymbeaux wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not trying to bash Apple in bad faith, but let's be real the $599 model is inadequate. 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD in 2023. There's plenty out there on the M1 Mac mini's 8GB being a bad idea even for casual users. I had an 8GB M1 mini when it first came out and returned it because it was swapping to the SSD with like 3 apps open (nothing like an IDE or Docker or Adobe X Y Z). I just find it humorous that you can s…

The $599 model is for a basic user who barely does anything more than browse the web and send emails (which is to say, a lot of people). It's not a pro machine.

I feel this website is a strange bubble. I use an underpowered laptop from 2013 for all my daily tasks including light photo, video and audio manipulation and I have no problems. Why does it always have to be about videogames, heavy creative work, multiple VMs or compiling gigantic codebases?

Re: New Mac Mini

#202

Post by phonon »

highwaylights wrote: post #106
crypt1d wrote: post #7

disappointed to see them still selling these with 8gb RAM. More than a dozen chrome tabs and a few discord servers has been enough to crash/significantly slow down my m1 mac mini edit: the ad says up to 24/32GB of ram, but seems like 8gb/16gb models are the only ones available for pre-order at the moment.

I was really hopeful for these, but so disappointed. I have a triple monitor setup, and there's essentially a 117% surcharge to add support for the third display.

There are workarounds.

https://www.macworld.com/article/675869/how-to-connect-two-o...

Re: New Mac Mini

#203

Post by GeekyBear »

crypt1d wrote: post #7

disappointed to see them still selling these with 8gb RAM. More than a dozen chrome tabs and a few discord servers has been enough to crash/significantly slow down my m1 mac mini edit: the ad says up to 24/32GB of ram, but seems like 8gb/16gb models are the only ones available for pre-order at the moment.

> disappointed to see them still selling these with 8gb RAM

Doesn't Microsoft still sell laptops with 4 GB of RAM?

Re: New Mac Mini

#204

Post by almog »

simplotek wrote: post #147
Nextgrid wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> More than a dozen chrome tabs and a few discord servers has been enough to crash/significantly slow down my m1 Mac mini On the other hand, maybe there should be pushback against shitty inefficient software? I remember a decade ago being able to have a dozen browser tabs and instant messaging clients on 4GB of RAM just fine, and neither the web nor instant messaging experience has changed significantly enough to war…

> On the other hand, maybe there should be pushback against shitty inefficient software? How would that work? You whine on an online forum over how bloated a software is, and in the process opt to be deprived of it's usage? Or would you continue to complain about bloated software while using it? Because none of those scenarios offer a compelling reason for the software maintainers to rearchitect their whole applicati…

Not saying you're wrong but specifically to address OP's memory usage issue when running over dozen tabs in Chrome, I'd suggest testing it against Firefox for start. I'm not proud of this bad habit, but I have an order of magnitude more tabs than that with FF running on a pre-M1 8GB Macbook and it's pretty great most of the time. I use Chrome mostly for development but wouldn't dream of keeping it running as many tabs as I have open on FF (perhaps that's a good thing if I want to get rid of my tab hoarding habits now that I think about it.).

Re: New Mac Mini

#205

Post by tracker1 »

dougSF70 wrote: post #100
arprocter wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oof - once you bump the base model to 16GB RAM and 1TB of storage it doubles the price Apparently Mini RAM hasn't been user upgradable since the 2014 model https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT205041#2020

You can walk into an apple store and buy 8GB models all day long but 16GB models are special orders...this has always seemed sketchy to me

Think it varies by location... I know the N. Scottsdale Apple Store had 16gb with the M1 models at launch.

Re: New Mac Mini

#206

Post by wyager »

fckgw wrote: post #113
wyager wrote: post #72

Anyone know if the cheap model can handle 4k60 444 10bit over HDMI? "4k 60hz" is almost meaningless without more information. There are some reddit threads where people have issues with 4k60 444 10b on the (now) previous gen mac mini. If they've fixed that, I would consider using this as an HTPC (as Otpimus and Movist are the only desktop video players I've found that seem to actually fully support HDR, my windows bo…

The new model has been upgraded to HDMI 2.1 as opposed to HDMI 2.0 on the M1 model. Not sure if that helps or not.

Yes, thank you. 2.1 should have plenty of bandwidth, so unless there's some other limitation, it can probably handle 10 bit 444.

Re: New Mac Mini

#207

Post by vlunkr »

crypt1d wrote: post #7

disappointed to see them still selling these with 8gb RAM. More than a dozen chrome tabs and a few discord servers has been enough to crash/significantly slow down my m1 mac mini edit: the ad says up to 24/32GB of ram, but seems like 8gb/16gb models are the only ones available for pre-order at the moment.

It feels like they're always wasting the potential of the Mac Mini. I assume the whole point of the product is to be the cheaper desktop option (I could be wrong), but when you compare it to any Windows desktop, it's a bad value. The base model has lame specs, if you upgrade to something reasonable, it's no longer competitive on price, and most components can't be upgraded later, which is half the appeal of buying a cheaper desktop.

Re: New Mac Mini

#208

Post by tracker1 »

cmatthias wrote: post #33
wilsonnb3 wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another anecdote: I have a M1 air and an m1 iMac both with 8GB and have never run into a problem. I think 8gb is still the sweet spot for casual users.

Can you define "sweet spot" in this case? Usually I see that term used when the thing being considered is a pricey upgrade, and you need to strike a compromise between price and performance. In this case, we're talking about an extra 8GB of memory, which would add perhaps $10 in cost to the bill of materials for the machine (or maybe less in sufficient volume). Given that Apple is also overcharging by at least 3x cur…

Worth noting the M1 memory is MUCH faster and higher bandwidth than x86 options at launch (about 2x). That accounted for a lot of the difference in perception. At least for general usage... for Docker + containers, it definitely uses a bit more.

Re: New Mac Mini

#209

Post by JustSomeNobody »

crypt1d wrote: post #7

disappointed to see them still selling these with 8gb RAM. More than a dozen chrome tabs and a few discord servers has been enough to crash/significantly slow down my m1 mac mini edit: the ad says up to 24/32GB of ram, but seems like 8gb/16gb models are the only ones available for pre-order at the moment.

Only thing tighter than Apple is a frog's butt and that's water tight.

They really should be upping this to 16GB RAM. There's just no reason not to.

Re: New Mac Mini

#210

Post by lvl102 »

dnh44 wrote: post #190
lvl102 wrote: post #45

Why get the M2 Pro Mini when you can just opt for Mac Studio with M1 Max? They're roughly in the same price bracket.

Maybe this wouldn't matter to a lot of people but the M2 Pro Mini has HDMI 2.1 while the M1 Studio does not. You need HDMI 2.1 to get more than 60hz out of a 4k monitor.

That’s very interesting info I didn’t realize. Makes me want to wait for M2 refresh of the Studio.
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