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100% agreed. People are complaining online about how the new Mac Mini is priced, but they're not just selling a computer. It's a whole ecosystem of things of mo

100% agreed. People are complaining online about how the new Mac Mini is priced, but they're not just selling a computer. It's a whole ecosystem of things of mostly reliable stuff that works well with each other. They can put a price premium for the quality of their software ecosystem, which keeps getting better. Being able to use your phone as a camera to take a photo directly into a document in Pages on your computer is a pretty cool trick. Having your airpods pairing sync between your devices and easily jump to the device you're using is really well done (from what I hear, I don't have them myself). A phone getting more than two years of software updates may not be flashy, but I'm more interested in that than anything else that phone manufacturers are doing.

Apocryphon 8y ago
All of that stuff is great, and does not explain why the Mac Mini, an entry-level Apple computer, is somehow proportionally worth $300 more than it used to be.
- scarface74 8y ago
  The $499 Mac Mini came with 4GB of RAM, a 5400 rpm hard drive and had a 1.4Ghz CPU. A usable Mac Mini was at least $699.
  - wlesieutre 8y ago
    That was 4 years ago, so that was probably as reasonable an amount of memory as 8 GB is today. And the Macbook Airs start at a 1.6 GHz dual core, so Apple isn't above using slower processors in new products. It'll work fine for some people. The SSD is non-negotiable today though, I'll give you that one.
    - 2muchcoffeeman 8y ago
      4Gb is good for a media server and not much else.
      - wlesieutre 8y ago
        Between memory compression and very fast SSDs, I bet you could do it. Especially if you aren’t running a bunch of Chrome/Electron stuff like developers tend to. Of course a lot of the target market for Macs like that would be better served by iPads now.
        scarface74 8y ago
        The 4GB Macs in question were using slow 5400 rpm hard drives. But, until two months ago, I was using a circa 2009 Core 2 Duo 2.66Ghz laptop with 4GB of RAM with an external USB drive running Windows 10 as a Plex Server. It could do one or two streams depending on the bit rate. It could not do a 4K stream.
  - colinjoy 8y ago
    Bought a couple of the old base level minis for a DTP shop back then (more RAM / IO bound than CPU). They allowed for installing 16GB of cheap commodity RAM and 2x 2.5” drives which netted you a decent 1.5 TB Fusion Drive. Good days. Today, with improved vendor lock-in for essential components, you’re looking at 2k+ for an equivalent spec. No thanks :)
    - scarface74 8y ago
      The RAM is user upgradeable, and an external SSD drive connected to TB3 is not going to exactly be slow. If you are so inclined you can use an eGPU something you couldn’t do on any previous Mac Mini.
- fetus8 8y ago
  Well, it's going from a laptop based dual core CPU, to a desktop based quadcore CPU. Not a great reason to increase the price dramatically, but it is a big difference in terms of performance. The other thing I think people are failing to realize, is who is the Mac Mini for? It used to be for Windows switchers who wanted to plug in a small box to their existing mouse/keyboard/monitor situation. It was an introduction to the world of OS X. Nowadays, who uses the Mac Mini? Developers who need to compile in Xcode, and probably some creatives. The device serves a much different purpose nowadays, since most of your casual Apple users can get away with an iPad or a MB/MBA. Personally, the new Mac Mini really appeals to me, regardless of price. I've been using a 2012 era mac mini machine, and the current bottle neck is the CPU. If I can spend $700 today, and have a capable macOS device for another 6-7 years, with some RAM upgrades, I think that's well worth it.
  - yesenadam 8y ago
    I use one from 2006 or so. Was planning to get a 'new' 2012 one sometime soon. :-) Now, not sure which to get! I just like them. (You sure picked me - its my first Mac, am a programmer/'creative')
- lotsofpulp 8y ago
  It's worth more because people are voluntarily paying more. If it wasn't worth $300 more, then people would by paying less for the alternative, but there isn't one. The amount of hours I've wasted on Windows and lost productivity makes me not even think about price when buying something from Apple.
  - wlesieutre 8y ago
    Yeah, I've had Windows 10 uninstall my GPU drivers and replace them with 6-month old ones that don't work. I know they're supporting a bizarre variety of different hardware, but regardless of the reasons the software reliability isn't there. Granted there's some tradeoff with repairs, if your Mac dies you probably can't go on Newegg, get a replacement part, and have it fixed yourself in 2 days. But that tradeoff has worked out well for me so far.
scarface74 8y ago
100% agreed. People are complaining online about how the new Mac Mini is priced, but they're not just selling a computer. It's a whole ecosystem of things of mostly reliable stuff that works well with each other. The old Mac Mini started at $499 with a slow processor even when it was new, a slow hard drive and 4GB of RAM. That was a configuration that no one should have bought. The cheapest previous Mac Mini that anyone should have bought was $699.
- bsder 8y ago
  A lot of people buy the Mac Mini because it is the cheapest way to do iPhone development.
  - scarface74 8y ago
    You really don’t want to run XCode with 4GB of RAM

Apocryphon 8y ago

All of that stuff is great, and does not explain why the Mac Mini, an entry-level Apple computer, is somehow proportionally worth $300 more than it used to be.

scarface74 8y ago
The $499 Mac Mini came with 4GB of RAM, a 5400 rpm hard drive and had a 1.4Ghz CPU. A usable Mac Mini was at least $699.
- wlesieutre 8y ago
  That was 4 years ago, so that was probably as reasonable an amount of memory as 8 GB is today. And the Macbook Airs start at a 1.6 GHz dual core, so Apple isn't above using slower processors in new products. It'll work fine for some people. The SSD is non-negotiable today though, I'll give you that one.
  - 2muchcoffeeman 8y ago
    4Gb is good for a media server and not much else.
    - wlesieutre 8y ago
      Between memory compression and very fast SSDs, I bet you could do it. Especially if you aren’t running a bunch of Chrome/Electron stuff like developers tend to. Of course a lot of the target market for Macs like that would be better served by iPads now.
      - scarface74 8y ago
        The 4GB Macs in question were using slow 5400 rpm hard drives. But, until two months ago, I was using a circa 2009 Core 2 Duo 2.66Ghz laptop with 4GB of RAM with an external USB drive running Windows 10 as a Plex Server. It could do one or two streams depending on the bit rate. It could not do a 4K stream.
- colinjoy 8y ago
  Bought a couple of the old base level minis for a DTP shop back then (more RAM / IO bound than CPU). They allowed for installing 16GB of cheap commodity RAM and 2x 2.5” drives which netted you a decent 1.5 TB Fusion Drive. Good days. Today, with improved vendor lock-in for essential components, you’re looking at 2k+ for an equivalent spec. No thanks :)
  - scarface74 8y ago
    The RAM is user upgradeable, and an external SSD drive connected to TB3 is not going to exactly be slow. If you are so inclined you can use an eGPU something you couldn’t do on any previous Mac Mini.
fetus8 8y ago
Well, it's going from a laptop based dual core CPU, to a desktop based quadcore CPU. Not a great reason to increase the price dramatically, but it is a big difference in terms of performance. The other thing I think people are failing to realize, is who is the Mac Mini for? It used to be for Windows switchers who wanted to plug in a small box to their existing mouse/keyboard/monitor situation. It was an introduction to the world of OS X. Nowadays, who uses the Mac Mini? Developers who need to compile in Xcode, and probably some creatives. The device serves a much different purpose nowadays, since most of your casual Apple users can get away with an iPad or a MB/MBA. Personally, the new Mac Mini really appeals to me, regardless of price. I've been using a 2012 era mac mini machine, and the current bottle neck is the CPU. If I can spend $700 today, and have a capable macOS device for another 6-7 years, with some RAM upgrades, I think that's well worth it.
- yesenadam 8y ago
  I use one from 2006 or so. Was planning to get a 'new' 2012 one sometime soon. :-) Now, not sure which to get! I just like them. (You sure picked me - its my first Mac, am a programmer/'creative')
lotsofpulp 8y ago
It's worth more because people are voluntarily paying more. If it wasn't worth $300 more, then people would by paying less for the alternative, but there isn't one. The amount of hours I've wasted on Windows and lost productivity makes me not even think about price when buying something from Apple.
- wlesieutre 8y ago
  Yeah, I've had Windows 10 uninstall my GPU drivers and replace them with 6-month old ones that don't work. I know they're supporting a bizarre variety of different hardware, but regardless of the reasons the software reliability isn't there. Granted there's some tradeoff with repairs, if your Mac dies you probably can't go on Newegg, get a replacement part, and have it fixed yourself in 2 days. But that tradeoff has worked out well for me so far.

scarface74 8y ago

100% agreed. People are complaining online about how the new Mac Mini is priced, but they're not just selling a computer. It's a whole ecosystem of things of mostly reliable stuff that works well with each other. The old Mac Mini started at $499 with a slow processor even when it was new, a slow hard drive and 4GB of RAM. That was a configuration that no one should have bought. The cheapest previous Mac Mini that anyone should have bought was $699.

bsder 8y ago
A lot of people buy the Mac Mini because it is the cheapest way to do iPhone development.
- scarface74 8y ago
  You really don’t want to run XCode with 4GB of RAM