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Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

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Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#41

Post by iotku »

juergbi wrote: post #38
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…

M.2 wouldn't be a bottleneck. It supports up to PCIe 3.0 x4 which has a maximum bandwidth of 4 GBps in each direction.

NVMe specifically, as M.2 is just the connector (which can also use the slower SATA interface) rather than the interface.

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#42

Post by stefan_ »

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.

They also of course charge $1400 on top for a 2TB SSD, a user accessible storage medium would simply eat into the margins real quick. That was the tradeoff, and it's why the base models have so little storage.

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#43

Post by moftz »

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.

If you really don't care about unauthorized access, just write the password in sharpie on the box. I have a bunch of machines hooked up to test equipment that sit on their own network. I just write the username and password on the box and no one ever needs to worry about trying to find the sticky note or find me and ask or waste time guessing. The name of the computer, the username, and password are all the same and reflect what the box setup for.

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#44

Post by jamiek88 »

riobard wrote: post #39
sneak wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your use case where ECC ram is that important?

I plan to ditch NAS and just connect external storage directly to the mini, and it needs to run 24/7. ECC should give me better reliability, no?

Yeah, but for a NAS it’s overkill in my opinion.

You’re more likely to run into on disk than in RAM issues with silent bitrot depending on OS and FS even then pretty rare but if your NAS is huge becomes more likely just law of averages.

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#45

Post by MrTonyD »

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.

Not justifying anything...but back when Steve was alive I had a conversation with him on this topic. I was at NeXT writing drivers (NeXTStep) and I had tested a few disk drives on my cube. When I suggested that we might certify them, Steve said that he wanted simplicity, and only wanted to provide a few well-tested and working choices - so he didn't want more than a few basic choices. He also said (disparagingly) that more sophisticated users would figure out how to change things. From his tone I got the impression that it was ok if they did that, but we weren't going to support them at all. Such users weren't our target market, since all my interactions with Steve were focused on beauty and simplicity (Steve wasn't technical at all, as has been well documented - and I can certainly confirm.)

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#46

Post by post_break »

riobard wrote: post #39
sneak wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is your use case where ECC ram is that important?

I plan to ditch NAS and just connect external storage directly to the mini, and it needs to run 24/7. ECC should give me better reliability, no?

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.

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#47

Post by jamesfmilne »

robin_reala wrote: post #26
jamesfmilne wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aquantia, same as the iMac Pro.

Is there anyone else manufacturing 10G controllers at $100 end-user prices?

Yes, Tehuti Networks[1], which is used by some Thunderbolt 3 Ethernet adapters, like the Akitio Thunder3 10G [2].

(OK, not quite [1] http://www.tehutinetworks.net/?t=LV&L1=3&L2=0&L3=0&L7=156 [2] https://www.akitio.com/adapters/thunder3-10g-network-adapter

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#48

Post by deepaksurti »

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.

Why not use a password manager? I use it for every kind of username/password entry. Safe and reliable at least relatively depending on which manager you use.

Re: Mac mini Late 2018 Teardown

#49

Post by kojeovo »

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.

There are better ways to solve the forgetting password problem than turning off encryption.
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