7 ms·

I've been debating my next "laptop" purchase actually be a Mac mini. Ie, every day I'd throw it in my backpack, head to work (when I go into office), and plug i

I've been debating my next "laptop" purchase actually be a Mac mini. Ie, every day I'd throw it in my backpack, head to work (when I go into office), and plug it in there. Why? Well, I already do that. I have a MacBook Pro 2017, and I treat it like a MacMini. I don't use it like a laptop. Partially because I have monitor/keyboard setups that I prefer at both work and home, but also because I simply don't trust the laptop to withstand any real usage. The keyboard, mainly. I have two friends with the same laptop, under sane conditions and both have experienced problems (with the keyboard). So what do I do when I actually need a laptop? I travel with my trusty 2014 (or whatever year it is) MacBook Pro. I love it to death. And when it dies I guess I'll upgrade it. But I've realized I prefer a lesser, small and portable machine for my travel laptop. My "main" work machine is too expensive to feel safe traveling with. My travel laptop is in a separate category. So when the need occurs, I'm debating hauling a Mac mini between work and home as my daily driver. For travel, it will be a smaller, much more cheap laptop that if I lose/damage I won't be out $3.5k. It just seems to fit my needs better. On that note, anyone think a Mac mini will survive daily hauls like that? I am concerned that it will be too much movement for a non-laptop. Thoughts?

detaro 8y ago
I know people who've done that, didn't appear to be a problem. (not surprising, since it has little in the way of moving parts or connectors inside) I'd look into protective bags for DJ gear: some of that has similar sizes and should make a good equivalent to a laptop sleeve.
ianai 8y ago
They’re 100% solid state. You’ll be fine. Just be sure you find a sleeve or something to protect from scratches and dents.
- ChrisRR 8y ago
  Just because they're solid state doesn't mean they're not still susceptible to impact and thermal shock between the PCB and components. Obviously the failure rate won't be anywhere near the same as a spinning disk, but it still is a possibility for a system that was designed to not move.
- extra88 8y ago
  > 100% solid state The storage is but the mini still has moving parts, a fan. Still, I wouldn’t worry much about transporting it daily.
csjunkieno23 8y ago
I've got a Mini right now, i7, 64 G ram (upgraded myself), it's a beast. Light as well, attached a bluetooth monitor for when I'm on the go, no messy cables. It just works. Ditched my MBP 2015 for it, well worth it.
- extra88 8y ago
  > Bluetooth monitor What product is that?
- mikeevans 8y ago
  Do you have a link to where you bought the RAM? Having trouble finding a 64GB kit.
  - a012 8y ago
    I spot it on Newegg, and its cost is almost equal to a Mac mini.
  - protomyth 8y ago
    https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/owc/apple-mac-mini/2018 https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/owc/apple-mac-mini/20... has a 64 kit for $1,079.99 I bought 32 for the one we ordered and will wait on moving it to 64.
p2detar 8y ago
I'm seriously considering asking my employer for a Mac mini next. My iMac is rather old now (2011) and I need an upgrade anyway. I also have a MacBook Pro 2015. I'm doing lots of Java/JVM languages development including Android from time to time and using Parallels for VMs. The MBPro feels considerable slower to work with than the 2011 iMac. The big plus of a mini is that, just like you describe it, I can put it in the backpack and bring it with me pretty much anywhere and plug it in. I do travel and work remotely from time to time, so this would be of a benefit to me. Right now I have to always keep my iMac and MBPro in sync and that costs time.
lostgame 8y ago
A Mac Mini G4 was my first Mac ever, back in 2005...I used to drag it to and from school every day with no issue. To be fair, Apple's hardware seemed a lot more solid back then.
HugoDaniel 8y ago
The Mac mini battery life might be considerably lower than the MacBook Pro ;)
- Fnoord 8y ago
  Yeah, I was thinking about that. If you commute to work via public transport and use your MBP on the go then a MM isn't an alternative. However if you travel by car you cannot use the MBP on the go anyway. I currently use an Intel Compute Stick as 'mobile laptop'. There are tons of other (more capable) devices out there which could do the trick however I use it together with a HHKB and an Apple Magic Trackpad 2. Both of which are also usable together with a tablet or smartphone. Monitor-wise I'm roaming, but I've seen some neat 720p and 1080p screens. Even touchscreens.
SkyMarshal 8y ago
I can see this working for going between home and office, where you have keyboard/mouse/monitor already setup at each. But for other travel where you don't have that setup at your destination, are you going to lug keyboard/mouse/monitor along with your mini?
deepaksurti 8y ago
>> hauling a Mac mini between work and home Have done that for 3 straight years without a hitch. Yes, you might feel the weight a bit, but the only time I had to carry it was from home to home parking and office parking to cubicle. For portability (think making presentations in a conf room), I would just have Screen Sharing & Remote access enabled. Worked fine. I used Carbon Copy Cloner for bootable backups to 2 disks, the second disk being my bootable volume for the Air. When traveling and updating my Air volume, I would just use Chrono Sync to sync my home folders on the mini and the Air. This was at my earlier workplace, and hope this helps.
rb808 8y ago
Chomebook and cloud server rocks.
danso 8y ago
I'm in the same boat. I bought a new MBP several months ago and I'd be surprised if I've used the Touch ID or Touchbar more than a dozen times. I don't travel much these days, and I can't seem to focus on work unless I'm at my desk, so my laptop is more or less permanently connected to its power brick, 2 external monitors, and an external keyboard and mouse (which probably explains why I haven't had many qualms about the purportedly bad MBP keyboard). I think I would've bought the equivalent Mac mini had it been out at the time I got my MBP. Would've saved me about $1,200, while seeming to offer many more ports, more options for self-upgrade, while taking up less desk space. My main hesitation is the lack of discrete GPU, but I suppose that's not much of a concern with the Mac's support for external GPUs.
sys_64738 8y ago
Unless the Mini has a hibernate mode then it's missing one of the key fundamental reasons to use a laptop instead. Namely, you close the lid then open it again to resume work. A machine that boots from scratch doesn't generally provide that.
- detaro 8y ago
  Not surprisingly for an OS running on laptops, OS X supports hibernate. It's not the default on desktop macs, but you can turn it on.
  - hollerith 8y ago
    Just because it exists as an option does not mean that it works reliably. Have you personally used hibernate mode more than a few times? (I ask because if you have, then I'm willing to try it on my mini.)
reasonablemann 8y ago
This has to be my favourite comment regarding the keyboard debacle. I hope Apple is not seriously thinking that the laptop market isn't worthwhile because sales are poor. No, sales are poor because people were/are terrified of keyboard issues! Myself included. Edit: At least you're guaranteed you won't have keyboard issues with the Mac Mini!
CydeWeys 8y ago
Is there some reason you don't just get two Mac minis, one for home and one for work? I used to bring my laptop back and forth between work and home frequently, but now I just have two work laptops, one that lives at work and one that lives at home (and comes with me when I travel). I find it a lot more convenient. Everything is in the cloud these days anyway, so it's not like I need files stored on the local machine.
- emblaegh 8y ago
  Dunno about you, but I'd prefer to have one top spec box than two mid spec ones (assuming you're working on a fixed budget here).
  - CydeWeys 8y ago
    You're not going to get top spec at all in laptop formfactor if that's what matters to you. Two decent desktops are each going to be individually more powerful than a good, expensive laptop. But realistically we're probably not working on a fixed budget. My job is how I get almost all of my income, so I will do whatever is necessary to continue being able to do it. If that means spending more money on another computer so be it -- what that money is buying is less hassle from having to move a computer around twice a day, and reducing risk of forgetting it or not having it at the right place, as well as reducing risk of damage or theft in transit. I don't pay for these extra computers anyway, though. I simply have two work laptops. The refresh cycle here is two years long, and the first laptop I had was a top spec 15" ~2014 gen Macbook Pro, so it's still way more than adequate. I simply didn't turn it in when I got another laptop two years later, so now I have two -- the powerful Macbook Pro at home, and a lighter Chromebook at the office I carry around and primarily use in meetings (nothing comes close to touching my monster of a workstation in performance anyway).
- akvadrako 8y ago
  I guess it depends what you are working with. Some things are just a pain to keep synced, like large files, lots of repos, installed packages, containers, customizations, etc.. For a while I did have an iMac at work, iMac at home and small laptop for whatever. But it was too much hassle.
jlos 8y ago
I did this for a while and found it fine. I did keep 2 verions of all the necessary cords at each destination though. One benefit of the mac-mini is that monitors usually outlast hardware. Think of how many laptop/iMac screens still look amazing, and amazing you paid for, but have to be ditched with the rest of the machine because the screens is so tightly integrated with the rest of the hardware.
- wiredfool 8y ago
  Funny, my one and only iMac was abandoned due to the screen dying from excess heat. (After frying 3 hard drives over the years). The external Dell ultrasharp bought at the same time is still in use daily. (but now it's not as pretty on Mojave as it was on High Sierra)
  - Macha 8y ago
    Most monitors don't have to cool the heat from an entire computer so it's probably not surprising that the iMac display has more thermal issues than regular displays.
mrbonner 8y ago
I have a 2016 13” MBP for work. I love it. But, when I plug it into my external 4K monitor at home and scale the resolution down a notch, the whole thing slows down to a grind. I also have a Mac Mini (2016) at work and contemplating bringing it home to use with the 4K. Giving somewhat the same spec between the 2 I doubt it makes any difference though. Do you guys have any slowdown experience when hooking up a MBP to a 4K monitor in scale-down mode?
protomyth 8y ago
The older plastic Mac mini fit into a camera case I had perfectly. Looking at the new dimensions, I think I can find a case. I too have a setup at home and work, and am considering using the Mac mini in this manner. My MacBook Pro has a bad keyboard, and I don't use the computer on my commute.
hollerith 8y ago
>anyone think a Mac mini will survive daily hauls like that? I am concerned that it will be too much movement for a non-laptop. It will survive. I've hauled my 2011 mini between my home and my girlfriend's home on approx 200 round trips. Sometimes I hike the distance; usually I take 2 buses. At first I'd haul it in the very-high-quality white cardboard box it came in but a year or 2 ago I stopped bothering. Since then my only precaution has been to try to remember to put the mini in my travel bag with the "holes" (ports) up so that cruft from the bottom of the bag won't work its way inside the mini. My model of the mini uses laptop components. If Apple has changed that in the new model, then my experience might not apply to you. Interestingly, it never bothered me that the mini is about an inch thick. I'd rather it weigh a few oz less than it be as thin as a Macbook or an iPad.
kbutler 8y ago
If you have an SSD, the only moving parts would be the fan, and that's replaceable. It's largely laptop-style components anyway. It should be more durable than a laptop (hinge, keyboard, display, and trackpad are laptop failure points).
- Aaronn 8y ago
  The new Mac mini is SSD only
maxhedrome 8y ago
Look at the 2012 Mac mini models. 1tb SSD upgrade + dual 8gm ramses and its currently my favorite machine VS a tricked out windows box, 2014 mbp and the shitpile of 2014 minis I have.

detaro 8y ago

I know people who've done that, didn't appear to be a problem. (not surprising, since it has little in the way of moving parts or connectors inside) I'd look into protective bags for DJ gear: some of that has similar sizes and should make a good equivalent to a laptop sleeve.

ianai 8y ago

They’re 100% solid state. You’ll be fine. Just be sure you find a sleeve or something to protect from scratches and dents.

ChrisRR 8y ago
Just because they're solid state doesn't mean they're not still susceptible to impact and thermal shock between the PCB and components. Obviously the failure rate won't be anywhere near the same as a spinning disk, but it still is a possibility for a system that was designed to not move.
extra88 8y ago
> 100% solid state The storage is but the mini still has moving parts, a fan. Still, I wouldn’t worry much about transporting it daily.

csjunkieno23 8y ago

I've got a Mini right now, i7, 64 G ram (upgraded myself), it's a beast. Light as well, attached a bluetooth monitor for when I'm on the go, no messy cables. It just works. Ditched my MBP 2015 for it, well worth it.

extra88 8y ago
> Bluetooth monitor What product is that?
mikeevans 8y ago
Do you have a link to where you bought the RAM? Having trouble finding a 64GB kit.
- a012 8y ago
  I spot it on Newegg, and its cost is almost equal to a Mac mini.
- protomyth 8y ago
  https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/owc/apple-mac-mini/2018 https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/memory/owc/apple-mac-mini/20... has a 64 kit for $1,079.99 I bought 32 for the one we ordered and will wait on moving it to 64.

p2detar 8y ago

I'm seriously considering asking my employer for a Mac mini next. My iMac is rather old now (2011) and I need an upgrade anyway. I also have a MacBook Pro 2015. I'm doing lots of Java/JVM languages development including Android from time to time and using Parallels for VMs. The MBPro feels considerable slower to work with than the 2011 iMac. The big plus of a mini is that, just like you describe it, I can put it in the backpack and bring it with me pretty much anywhere and plug it in. I do travel and work remotely from time to time, so this would be of a benefit to me. Right now I have to always keep my iMac and MBPro in sync and that costs time.

lostgame 8y ago

A Mac Mini G4 was my first Mac ever, back in 2005...I used to drag it to and from school every day with no issue. To be fair, Apple's hardware seemed a lot more solid back then.

HugoDaniel 8y ago

The Mac mini battery life might be considerably lower than the MacBook Pro ;)

Fnoord 8y ago
Yeah, I was thinking about that. If you commute to work via public transport and use your MBP on the go then a MM isn't an alternative. However if you travel by car you cannot use the MBP on the go anyway. I currently use an Intel Compute Stick as 'mobile laptop'. There are tons of other (more capable) devices out there which could do the trick however I use it together with a HHKB and an Apple Magic Trackpad 2. Both of which are also usable together with a tablet or smartphone. Monitor-wise I'm roaming, but I've seen some neat 720p and 1080p screens. Even touchscreens.

SkyMarshal 8y ago

I can see this working for going between home and office, where you have keyboard/mouse/monitor already setup at each. But for other travel where you don't have that setup at your destination, are you going to lug keyboard/mouse/monitor along with your mini?

deepaksurti 8y ago

>> hauling a Mac mini between work and home Have done that for 3 straight years without a hitch. Yes, you might feel the weight a bit, but the only time I had to carry it was from home to home parking and office parking to cubicle. For portability (think making presentations in a conf room), I would just have Screen Sharing & Remote access enabled. Worked fine. I used Carbon Copy Cloner for bootable backups to 2 disks, the second disk being my bootable volume for the Air. When traveling and updating my Air volume, I would just use Chrono Sync to sync my home folders on the mini and the Air. This was at my earlier workplace, and hope this helps.

rb808 8y ago

Chomebook and cloud server rocks.

danso 8y ago

I'm in the same boat. I bought a new MBP several months ago and I'd be surprised if I've used the Touch ID or Touchbar more than a dozen times. I don't travel much these days, and I can't seem to focus on work unless I'm at my desk, so my laptop is more or less permanently connected to its power brick, 2 external monitors, and an external keyboard and mouse (which probably explains why I haven't had many qualms about the purportedly bad MBP keyboard). I think I would've bought the equivalent Mac mini had it been out at the time I got my MBP. Would've saved me about $1,200, while seeming to offer many more ports, more options for self-upgrade, while taking up less desk space. My main hesitation is the lack of discrete GPU, but I suppose that's not much of a concern with the Mac's support for external GPUs.

sys_64738 8y ago

Unless the Mini has a hibernate mode then it's missing one of the key fundamental reasons to use a laptop instead. Namely, you close the lid then open it again to resume work. A machine that boots from scratch doesn't generally provide that.

detaro 8y ago
Not surprisingly for an OS running on laptops, OS X supports hibernate. It's not the default on desktop macs, but you can turn it on.
- hollerith 8y ago
  Just because it exists as an option does not mean that it works reliably. Have you personally used hibernate mode more than a few times? (I ask because if you have, then I'm willing to try it on my mini.)

reasonablemann 8y ago

This has to be my favourite comment regarding the keyboard debacle. I hope Apple is not seriously thinking that the laptop market isn't worthwhile because sales are poor. No, sales are poor because people were/are terrified of keyboard issues! Myself included. Edit: At least you're guaranteed you won't have keyboard issues with the Mac Mini!

CydeWeys 8y ago

Is there some reason you don't just get two Mac minis, one for home and one for work? I used to bring my laptop back and forth between work and home frequently, but now I just have two work laptops, one that lives at work and one that lives at home (and comes with me when I travel). I find it a lot more convenient. Everything is in the cloud these days anyway, so it's not like I need files stored on the local machine.

emblaegh 8y ago
Dunno about you, but I'd prefer to have one top spec box than two mid spec ones (assuming you're working on a fixed budget here).
- CydeWeys 8y ago
  You're not going to get top spec at all in laptop formfactor if that's what matters to you. Two decent desktops are each going to be individually more powerful than a good, expensive laptop. But realistically we're probably not working on a fixed budget. My job is how I get almost all of my income, so I will do whatever is necessary to continue being able to do it. If that means spending more money on another computer so be it -- what that money is buying is less hassle from having to move a computer around twice a day, and reducing risk of forgetting it or not having it at the right place, as well as reducing risk of damage or theft in transit. I don't pay for these extra computers anyway, though. I simply have two work laptops. The refresh cycle here is two years long, and the first laptop I had was a top spec 15" ~2014 gen Macbook Pro, so it's still way more than adequate. I simply didn't turn it in when I got another laptop two years later, so now I have two -- the powerful Macbook Pro at home, and a lighter Chromebook at the office I carry around and primarily use in meetings (nothing comes close to touching my monster of a workstation in performance anyway).
akvadrako 8y ago
I guess it depends what you are working with. Some things are just a pain to keep synced, like large files, lots of repos, installed packages, containers, customizations, etc.. For a while I did have an iMac at work, iMac at home and small laptop for whatever. But it was too much hassle.

jlos 8y ago

I did this for a while and found it fine. I did keep 2 verions of all the necessary cords at each destination though. One benefit of the mac-mini is that monitors usually outlast hardware. Think of how many laptop/iMac screens still look amazing, and amazing you paid for, but have to be ditched with the rest of the machine because the screens is so tightly integrated with the rest of the hardware.

wiredfool 8y ago
Funny, my one and only iMac was abandoned due to the screen dying from excess heat. (After frying 3 hard drives over the years). The external Dell ultrasharp bought at the same time is still in use daily. (but now it's not as pretty on Mojave as it was on High Sierra)
- Macha 8y ago
  Most monitors don't have to cool the heat from an entire computer so it's probably not surprising that the iMac display has more thermal issues than regular displays.

mrbonner 8y ago

I have a 2016 13” MBP for work. I love it. But, when I plug it into my external 4K monitor at home and scale the resolution down a notch, the whole thing slows down to a grind. I also have a Mac Mini (2016) at work and contemplating bringing it home to use with the 4K. Giving somewhat the same spec between the 2 I doubt it makes any difference though. Do you guys have any slowdown experience when hooking up a MBP to a 4K monitor in scale-down mode?

protomyth 8y ago

The older plastic Mac mini fit into a camera case I had perfectly. Looking at the new dimensions, I think I can find a case. I too have a setup at home and work, and am considering using the Mac mini in this manner. My MacBook Pro has a bad keyboard, and I don't use the computer on my commute.

hollerith 8y ago

>anyone think a Mac mini will survive daily hauls like that? I am concerned that it will be too much movement for a non-laptop. It will survive. I've hauled my 2011 mini between my home and my girlfriend's home on approx 200 round trips. Sometimes I hike the distance; usually I take 2 buses. At first I'd haul it in the very-high-quality white cardboard box it came in but a year or 2 ago I stopped bothering. Since then my only precaution has been to try to remember to put the mini in my travel bag with the "holes" (ports) up so that cruft from the bottom of the bag won't work its way inside the mini. My model of the mini uses laptop components. If Apple has changed that in the new model, then my experience might not apply to you. Interestingly, it never bothered me that the mini is about an inch thick. I'd rather it weigh a few oz less than it be as thin as a Macbook or an iPad.

kbutler 8y ago

If you have an SSD, the only moving parts would be the fan, and that's replaceable. It's largely laptop-style components anyway. It should be more durable than a laptop (hinge, keyboard, display, and trackpad are laptop failure points).

Aaronn 8y ago
The new Mac mini is SSD only

maxhedrome 8y ago

Look at the 2012 Mac mini models. 1tb SSD upgrade + dual 8gm ramses and its currently my favorite machine VS a tricked out windows box, 2014 mbp and the shitpile of 2014 minis I have.