7 ms·

I would bet the majority of Mac minis sold are used as ci/cd servers for iOS and Mac development. I would also bet the Mac mini is the third lowest selling Mac

I would bet the majority of Mac minis sold are used as ci/cd servers for iOS and Mac development. I would also bet the Mac mini is the third lowest selling Mac with the Mac ultra and Mac Pro being the least.

willcipriano 3y ago
I'd take that bet
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
sgjohnson 3y ago
anecdotal evidence: that’s the exact purpose of all of our mac minis at where I work. It’s also the exact purpose of my home mac mini
solardev 3y ago
The Mac Minis are a great value compared to the rest of Apple's lineups. The NUC is overpriced, like why would I get that instead of a generic laptop? It was just a poor value for what it offered.
- adrian_b 3y ago
  A generic laptop has much less peripheral ports and also slower peripheral ports and a much slower CPU. There are a lot of users who need many other peripherals besides keyboard and mouse and who prefer to not use a ton of dongles. Sometimes no dongle can help with a laptop, because the aggregate throughput of all its USB ports is just too small. A NUC is much faster than a generic laptop which uses the same CPU, because it has much better cooling. In all recent 0.5 L NUCs the CPU can dissipate 35 W forever without overheating. No generic laptop can do that. There are plenty of gaming laptops or mobile workstations that can match or exceed the speed of a NUC, but those cost between two and eight times more than a NUC, so a NUC or a similar SFF computer is a much better value than such a laptop and even together with a portable monitor and a compact keyboard it is easier to carry in a backpack than a big and heavy laptop. I have done this for years.
  - solardev 3y ago
    Thanks, that is a useful differentiation: laptops for portability and "good enough" for office work, NUCs and small form factor computers for performance in a limited space.
jychang 3y ago
I strongly suspect the iMac sells less than the Mac mini.
- pavlov 3y ago
  Just from anecdotal observation, the iMac seems to have several niches where a fashionable desktop is called for: at least higher-end shops and lobbies, and musicians and other artists who dabble in production enough to need the larger screen but not enough to invest in a more expensive setup. The Mini seems more specialized. I’ve bought many of them over the years for things like video installations, but I never see them in “regular people use”.
  - justsomehnguy 3y ago
    > “regular people use”. For quite some years I just said "buy a notebook and (if you really need it) monitor with keyboard/ mouse". With an SSD and a decent amount of RAM any notebook is fine for 95% of what people want from the home computer, with a small exception of gaming with a better settings than low/middle. At this point nor Mini, nor any other SFF 'desktop' doesn't make sense, because you can't take it with you if you need.
    - CameronNemo 3y ago
      IMO a laptop is bulky and inconvenient to place on my desk. The battery is an unnecessary hazard. Having to open the screen to power on the device is inconvenient I think there are lots of reasons to prefer a minipc to laptop. Personally if I need a computer on the go, I use my phone. Much lighter and smaller.
      - brewdad 3y ago
        I’ve found I have little use for my laptop, as a portable machine, since adding an iPad alongside my phone. I doubt I’ll buy another laptop in the future and certainly not a new one (3 y/o Thinkpad maybe). I’ll probably go with a gaming desktop or a NUC sized machine and a gaming console depending on what the market looks like in a couple years.
paganel 3y ago
I do my day-to-day work on a Mac mini, people are losing out if they're only using them for testing purposes. They're not terribly expensive (when compared to other Apple products), really good form and volume factor, i.e. a Mini can do a lot of stuff even though is, well, not that big, plus a Mini doesn't consume all that much power, to the contrary.

willcipriano 3y ago

I'd take that bet

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

sgjohnson 3y ago

anecdotal evidence: that’s the exact purpose of all of our mac minis at where I work. It’s also the exact purpose of my home mac mini

solardev 3y ago

The Mac Minis are a great value compared to the rest of Apple's lineups. The NUC is overpriced, like why would I get that instead of a generic laptop? It was just a poor value for what it offered.

adrian_b 3y ago
A generic laptop has much less peripheral ports and also slower peripheral ports and a much slower CPU. There are a lot of users who need many other peripherals besides keyboard and mouse and who prefer to not use a ton of dongles. Sometimes no dongle can help with a laptop, because the aggregate throughput of all its USB ports is just too small. A NUC is much faster than a generic laptop which uses the same CPU, because it has much better cooling. In all recent 0.5 L NUCs the CPU can dissipate 35 W forever without overheating. No generic laptop can do that. There are plenty of gaming laptops or mobile workstations that can match or exceed the speed of a NUC, but those cost between two and eight times more than a NUC, so a NUC or a similar SFF computer is a much better value than such a laptop and even together with a portable monitor and a compact keyboard it is easier to carry in a backpack than a big and heavy laptop. I have done this for years.
- solardev 3y ago
  Thanks, that is a useful differentiation: laptops for portability and "good enough" for office work, NUCs and small form factor computers for performance in a limited space.

jychang 3y ago

I strongly suspect the iMac sells less than the Mac mini.

pavlov 3y ago
Just from anecdotal observation, the iMac seems to have several niches where a fashionable desktop is called for: at least higher-end shops and lobbies, and musicians and other artists who dabble in production enough to need the larger screen but not enough to invest in a more expensive setup. The Mini seems more specialized. I’ve bought many of them over the years for things like video installations, but I never see them in “regular people use”.
- justsomehnguy 3y ago
  > “regular people use”. For quite some years I just said "buy a notebook and (if you really need it) monitor with keyboard/ mouse". With an SSD and a decent amount of RAM any notebook is fine for 95% of what people want from the home computer, with a small exception of gaming with a better settings than low/middle. At this point nor Mini, nor any other SFF 'desktop' doesn't make sense, because you can't take it with you if you need.
  - CameronNemo 3y ago
    IMO a laptop is bulky and inconvenient to place on my desk. The battery is an unnecessary hazard. Having to open the screen to power on the device is inconvenient I think there are lots of reasons to prefer a minipc to laptop. Personally if I need a computer on the go, I use my phone. Much lighter and smaller.
    - brewdad 3y ago
      I’ve found I have little use for my laptop, as a portable machine, since adding an iPad alongside my phone. I doubt I’ll buy another laptop in the future and certainly not a new one (3 y/o Thinkpad maybe). I’ll probably go with a gaming desktop or a NUC sized machine and a gaming console depending on what the market looks like in a couple years.

paganel 3y ago

I do my day-to-day work on a Mac mini, people are losing out if they're only using them for testing purposes. They're not terribly expensive (when compared to other Apple products), really good form and volume factor, i.e. a Mini can do a lot of stuff even though is, well, not that big, plus a Mini doesn't consume all that much power, to the contrary.