Talk To Me About The New Minis.

[Pariah]

Hi all!
After many yearsof being a Mac guy I switched to Linux about 15 years ago after deciding Apple was never going to make any desktop hardware I would want. And Linux has been pretty sweet.
But..
I am kinda tired of being on the outside looking in at a lot of nice features that Macs have gained since Apple started its own line of CPUs. I use an iPhone so I crave the integration that iOS and MacOS have.
My current rig is a i7 3770 based Dell w/ 12GB ram and it handles my needs just fine so I figure the new Apple silicon would be faster than that, right?
I am like 86% of the way towards deciding to drop the hammer on a bottom of the line Mini. What makes me uneasy is in the past Apple has always included some sort of shitty short coming in their low end stuff but in the case of the new Mini I am not seeing that and it appears the new Mini is a genuinely good deal for the dollar, how long has that been going on?
Or am I missing a gotcha?
I guess I just need some assurance before dropping what to me is a substantial amount of money.
Thanks!

 

[TonyAguila]

Among my friends, family, and clients whom I advise when purchasing new Macs, the biggest regret, almost always, is opting for the lowest entry level model, be it a Mac desktop, iMac, or MacBook. Internal storage and memory for Macs are invariably non-upgradeable. Unless their use is better served by an iPad or iPhone, their earliest problems are always connected with lack of memory or drive size.

You mention that you are fine with your present 12 gibibytes of RAM so the entry level mini might suffice with 16 gibibytes but half the storage compared to the upper-level minis could be detrimental. You didn’t mention how much storage you presently have. But minimal memory and storage almost always leads to painful slowdowns that usually require rebooting or quitting most of the other running apps. So my suggestion is to go with the mid-level mini with double the amount of storage. Personally, investing on the top level, for an additional $200, would be a good investment in the future.

Assuming you already have a display, make sure that it will be compatible with your new Mac. If you have external drives, check to see if they will interface with the mini. You will need external storage for Time Machine backups.

I will probably get me one myself—the top-level one—just out of curiosity. My eye is on the next Mac Studio to replace my present one and this mini can replace my son’s 2018 mini which I handed down to him when I got the Studio.

Anyway, I was planning on posting this query regarding the new Mac mini. With the Mac mini’s power button located at the bottom, how the heck do you start or reboot if the thing has peripherals on top, or if it’s mounted somehow, making access impossible. I know that 3rd-party suppliers have come up with gizmos to “press” the button without raising the mini but…

The power button in the Studio is used for booting into Recovery, or for a forced shutdown/restart, and one of the first steps after a system update is to double-tap the power button to initiate touch-ID. I don’t understand this “gimmick” by Apple with the power button, and there seems to be enough room on the back/front/sides/corners to locate it.

I think I will just wait for the M2 Mac Studio to come out. Apple, I dare you to place the power button at the bottom!

 

[Pariah]

Thanks for the thoughtful response!
Here is my reasoning behind not worrying about having just 16gb of ram is because system requirements have drastically slowed from back in the day when a 3 year old PC was getting long in the tooth. The only-times I exhaust even 8gb is when Firefox or Chrome shits the bed, eats all my ram had have to be restarted.
I am the kind of weirdo that keeps System Monitor launched all the time so I am intimately familiar with my ram usage. Like right now I have both Firefox and Chrom open, Netflix playing in chrome on one screen, general browsing in firefox on another and my current ram consumption stands at 2.4gb.
I know Linux is more efficient than MacOS but I use a not light weight distro, Linux Mint. Is the MacOS that much heavier?
Money is tight and I also intend to buy a 4rth gen iPhone SE when they come out this spring and that's a BIG spend for me so that $200 for a measly 16gb of ram just aint in the budget.
How could a monitor not be Mac compatible, mine are just your basic 24in 1080p and 1200p screens with HDMI in. What could go wrong?
How much ram does your Mac typically use?
I feel a bit of presure to buy soon because (not to bring politics into it) but if Trump imposes his tarrafs as promised Macs and phones will skyrocket in price. I want to buy before that happens.

 

[TonyAguila]

What is System Monitor? Is that a 3rd-party app? Okay, I have had my Studio inactive for about three hours and I just woke it up right after seeing the e-mail from Mac Help Forums regarding your comment on my iPhone. After perusing your comment in the e-mail, I checked the state of my memory using Activity Monitor. Remember, I just woke it up about 10 minutes ago and Activity Monitor shows Memory Pressure at:

Physical Memory: 32.00 GB
Memory Used: 19.23 GB
Cached Files: 13.06 GB
Swap Used: 0 bytes

So after a lengthy sleep, all my RAM was in use, and once I start doing work, memory swapping will actively switch cached memory to the tasks at hand. Normally, I have InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, BBEdit, Safari, Numbers, Friendly Streaming, Brave Browser, Mail, Acrobat, Messages, and an assortment of utilities that I would need for the tasks on hand, e.g. Find Any File, Notes, etc., and running in background would be Time Machine, Carbon Copy Cloner, and many others.

So there are times when 32 gibibytes of memory is not really sufficient, but thanks to quick caching and swapping, it’s tolerable. There are times when I regret not opting for 64 gibibytes when I ordered the Studio. I’m not suggesting that you go this far, but my business relies on my being able to work quickly and effectively. From the time of the Quadra models, I always purchased the top of the line Apple computers, then came the G3s, G4s, and the Mac Pros. I always purchased Mac Pros as loaded as I could afford, and upgraded to every new model… until they came out with the Trash Can. Ugh! I was able to keep my last Mac Pro, the 5,1, viable until the 2018 Mac mini came out and I got it fully loaded and kept me going until the Studio came out.

My point is, if you don’t need the speed and power, you can go with the base model, but if the slow-downs and crashes impact your normal routine, you need to consider investing more to improve your workflow. If all you need is to read e-mail, get on X, and watch YouTube videos all day, without deadline pressures or the like, then the base model will probably suffice.

 

[Pariah]

You usage is FAR heavier than mine. In don't use any pro apps and only do some light photo editing, steaming and browsing, for the most part.
"System Monitor" on Linux is the same as Activity Monitor on the Mac.

 

[Lufbrarunner]

I have just got an M4 Mac mini (16gb RAM, 512gb drive) for my wife. Her main usage is genealogy research, some photo editing and home finances. This Mac is well suited to her needs and is very fast in operation.
She keeps most of the data and media on an external NVMe drive, but we thought the 256gb would be too small, so we avoided that.
So my advice would be that the mid level option would be ok, but more RAM and disk space is never a bad thing.

 

[TonyAguila]

I have just got an M4 Mac mini (16gb RAM, 512gb drive) for my wife. Her main usage is genealogy research, some photo editing and home finances. This Mac is well suited to her needs and is very fast in operation.
She keeps most of the data and media on an external NVMe drive, but we thought the 256gb would be too small, so we avoided that.
So my advice would be that the mid level option would be ok, but more RAM and disk space is never a bad thing.

Does it look like there will be issues accessing the power button underneath? I looked at the Mac Mini M4 Hub Stand with M.2 SSD Enclosure by PULWTOP. It goes underneath the mini and has an indent to allow access to the power button without having to lift the Mac mini. I’m still not sure if it will allow double-tapping the switch if need be. It also has an NVMe slot for an external SSD plus a bunch more expansion connectors. Looks promising but I have to wait for the next Studio to come out.

 

[Lufbrarunner]

I 3D printed a base so it just needs a slight press on the back corner to switch on

 

[TonyAguila]

I 3D printed a base so it just needs a slight press on the back corner to switch on

Does it prompt for Touch ID after system update, like it does with the Studio? If so, does it ask for a double tap on the power switch as well?

 

[Lufbrarunner]

Does it prompt for Touch ID after system update, like it does with the Studio? If so, does it ask for a double tap on the power switch as well?

Not that I have seen.

 

[Pariah]

Thanks for all the feedback.
I have decided against buying any new Mac. The way silicone valley has bent the knee to Trump and, specifically the 1 million dollars Apple gave to Trump has convinced me now is not the time to start using a proprietary OS.

 

[willywilly]

That is a great point. Unfortunately, I had already made my decision to purchase a new device before I came across that news. But i am trying to stay positive and think about something good. For dessert today, we have some delightful cookies, which I carefully selected with the help of this nabisco customer service , ensuring we got the best options available. To top it all off, we’ll be enjoying some refreshing punch to complement the sweet treats.