Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

New Mac Mini with M4

apple.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

491–500 of 789 posts

Re: New Mac Mini with M4

#491

Post by rtkwe »

throwaway48476 wrote: post #478
rtkwe wrote: post #365

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of, they were socketed NAND cards and the controller lived on the mainboard, so as far as getting out of the problem of Apple entirely setting the prices for everything it's not relevant. As far as I'm finding no one managed to find a way to create a compatible card to create an avenue for DIY upgrades. I've found a few upgrades but they consist of buying an entire second Mac Studio to harvest the drive from.

Giles from Polysoft is manufacturing 3rd party mac studio nand cards. There is still a problem sourcing nand because apple doesn't let the owm sell to anyone but them.

I thought I had seen something about that but couldn't find the actual boards mentioned for sale. Sounds even worse though because it should be possible but Apple being Apple has ensured there's no source for Giles or other companies to perform repairs.

Re: New Mac Mini with M4

#492

Post by tootie »

stego-tech wrote: post #197

I love its form factor, less so the price difference between the M4 and M4 Pro models ($800 USD, presumably so it doesn’t cannibalize the Studio). It looks small, friendly, and inviting to the user, despite not breaking its industrial aesthetic. Honestly kind of want one as a desktop, even though my M1 Pro MBP is still insanely powerful for my needs.

To me, it really is just an aesthetic thing. What purpose does this actually serve? It's small, but not portable. If it's going under my desk or on a rack never to be moved or looked at, why does it need to be cute?

Re: New Mac Mini with M4

#493

Post by setgree »

SoftTalker wrote: post #438
setgree wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We can reasonably expect 1) external storage to become faster and cheaper every year (subject to constraints around interface) 2) more and more digital assets to be cloud-native, e.g. photos stored exclusively on icloud and not on your computer So I'm less worried about storage than some. If Asahi Linux achieves Proton-like compatibility with games [0], then we're getting closer to the perfect general purpose game co…

Cloud storage is still painfully slow compared to local.

We can expect different storage solutions by product depending on how fast things need to be. It doesn’t need to be lightning quick to load a frame in a movie, for instance, which is why streaming dominates there.

Re: New Mac Mini with M4

#494

Post by thejazzman »

echoangle wrote: post #467
zemvpferreira wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not really reasonable to compare prices of a used machine with a new one though.

Why not? As long as you discount the price of the new product by the perceived value of new vs used, that’s the correct comparison to make. If a used product is the same quality and $100 cheaper, and just having something that’s new is not worth $100 to you, you should pick the used option. The goal is to get the best value per money spent.

mental gymnastics; used is not new. even new isn't necessarily new when it's not sold by an authorized seller because it can invalidate the warranty.

new is new and has legal ramifications, you cannot compare them unless you're throwing in a trustworthy extended warranty that matches -- and pretty much nothing matches apple in that regard

Re: New Mac Mini with M4

#495

Post by sangnoir »

LeoPanthera wrote: post #448
sangnoir wrote: post #434

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think this easily beats any sort of desktop PC you can buy at that price (let's exclude custom builds, they're not the same market). This is squarely in the NUC/SFF/1l-pc territory, and there is plenty of competition here from Beelink and Minisforum. I just found the Beelink SER7 going for $509, and it has an 8-core/16-thread Ryzen 7 CPU, 32GB DDR4. The 8845 in the beelink is very competitive[1] with M4 (beaten,…

There's a huge difference there. Those PCs have to be ordered from Aliexpress, or some other Chinese site, or else from Amazon via a third party resellers that adds their own markup on top. Neither gets you any kind of useful warranty, at least for most people, who are unwilling to deal with overseas companies. Apple has actual physical stores, and a phone number you can call.

> Those PCs have to be ordered from Aliexpress, or some other Chinese site, or else from Amazon via a third party resellers that adds their own markup on top

I anticipated this concern, the $509 I gave earlier is the Amazon price that includes the mark-up. The Beelink SER7 costs only $320 on AliExpress.

Modern solid-state electronics are very reliable, most reliability issues for electronics are related to screens or batteries; which desktop computers lack. I guess there was a bad-capacitor problem over a decade ago, but nothing since then. If your risk-aversion for a desktop computer is high, you pay the Apple premium (possibly buying Applecare), or self-insure by buying 2 SER7s for nearly the same price ($640) as one regular M4 Mac Mini and keep the other one as a spare.

Re: New Mac Mini with M4

#496

Post by throwaway48476 »

sgerenser wrote: post #364
etempleton wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was a weird win-win for Apple if I remember correctly. They were able to sell more iPods, get iTunes installed on all HP machines, and block HP from creating a rival music player. I honestly am not sure what HP got beyond the logo on the back of some iPods and the ability to try and associate themselves with a popular and cool product.

I think HP in that era was definitely trying to be more "popular and cool." Not sure how much it really helped though.

HP of the era was falling apart and making stupid acquisitions.

Re: New Mac Mini with M4

#497

Post by stalfosknight »

architect64 wrote: post #439
e63f67dd-065b wrote: post #330

With educational pricing this thing starts as $500, and at 16GB of RAM (finally) I think this easily beats any sort of desktop PC you can buy at that price (let's exclude custom builds, they're not the same market). I think this just became the go-to recommendation I'll give to anybody wanting an entry-level desktop computer of any kind. In fact I might buy one for my parents right now to replace the old mac mini the…

One issue to watch out for: Sub-4K res monitors look surprisingly bad on newer versions of macOS with Apple Silicon Macs. And no, it's not simply a matter of non-Retina obviously not looking as nice as Retina monitors - something like a 1440p monitor will look much worse on macOS than it would on Windows or Linux. This is partly caused by a lack of subpixel rendering for text on macOS, but it doesn't affect just text…

Non-Apple displays have awful PPI, even the allegedly high-DPI ones.

Re: New Mac Mini with M4

#498

Post by leetharris »

influx wrote: post #230
leetharris wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally, M2 Mac Mini, M1 Pro laptop, M2 Max laptop (work). All of this runs on either an LG C3 42" OLED or a 34" 1440p ultrawide. Linux GeForce Now can only do 720p or 1080p, can't remember which. Also, it's just kind of laggy in desktop mode. The Macs run so much smoother. My current "main" desktop is actually my Asus ROG Ally. I use one USB C hub that is capable of 4k120hz, and I can move…

What's the model of that USB C hub? Looking for one that I can switch between Windows and Mac (and maybe Linux)

These Cable Matters ones work well, but need their firmware flashed. Luckily, it was extremely easy and worked great for me. Here's an Apple forum thread about it: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/dp-usb-c-thunderbolt-3-...

Here's the exact model I have: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Ethernet-Delivery-Charg...

Re: New Mac Mini with M4

#499

Post by leetharris »

jacktheturtle wrote: post #265
leetharris wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally, M2 Mac Mini, M1 Pro laptop, M2 Max laptop (work). All of this runs on either an LG C3 42" OLED or a 34" 1440p ultrawide. Linux GeForce Now can only do 720p or 1080p, can't remember which. Also, it's just kind of laggy in desktop mode. The Macs run so much smoother. My current "main" desktop is actually my Asus ROG Ally. I use one USB C hub that is capable of 4k120hz, and I can move…

can you share the USB C hub? i need one of these and can't find one that makes it easy to swap between mac & gaming rig

Posted in another comment:

These Cable Matters ones work well, but need their firmware flashed. Luckily, it was extremely easy and worked great for me. Here's an Apple forum thread about it: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/dp-usb-c-thunderbolt-3-...

Here's the exact model I have: https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Ethernet-Delivery-Charg...

Re: New Mac Mini with M4

#500

Post by tasty_freeze »

stalfosknight wrote: post #497
architect64 wrote: post #439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One issue to watch out for: Sub-4K res monitors look surprisingly bad on newer versions of macOS with Apple Silicon Macs. And no, it's not simply a matter of non-Retina obviously not looking as nice as Retina monitors - something like a 1440p monitor will look much worse on macOS than it would on Windows or Linux. This is partly caused by a lack of subpixel rendering for text on macOS, but it doesn't affect just text…

Non-Apple displays have awful PPI, even the allegedly high-DPI ones.

How does that address the point the person you are replying to make:

> something like a 1440p monitor will look much worse on macOS than it would on Windows or Linux.

Post reply on HN