5 ms·

Apple ramping up Mac mini production in Houston to meet demand for Clawbots is wild. When were Mac minis a hot commodity before three weeks ago?

bigyabai 8mo ago
This is not for Clawdbot, this is a re-run of the 2019 strategy where Apple promises to manufacture a low volume of high-margin PC enclosures on US soil.
- arthurcolle 8mo ago
  They mention Mac mini! They have like 3 other desktop lines going, and they mentioned the mini! Also: "In Houston, workers assemble advanced AI servers, including logic boards produced onsite, which are then used in Apple data centers in the U.S." Advanced AI servers!
  - Aurornis 8mo ago
    > They mention Mac mini! They have like 3 other desktop lines going, and they mentioned the mini! Mac Mini is their simplest product. It's the natural place to start training at a new facility. > Advanced AI servers! Yes, they have their own AI servers.
    - jeffbee 8mo ago
      > Mac Mini is their simplest product. How can it be simpler than the Apple TV?
    - LoganDark 8mo ago
      Do they now? I assume they use them internally for something like Private Cloud Compute?
  - chihuahua 8mo ago
    Everyone else (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc) has boring plain AI servers. Apple invented Advanced AI Servers! So much more advanced! Just like in the 2000s when the G4 Mac was a "supercomputer".
- sigmar 8mo ago
  >With its next-level AI capabilities, it has become an essential tool for everyone from students and aspiring creatives to small business owners. Seems to me this part of the PR release is a reference to claudbot/openclaw. What else could it be referring to?
  - minimaxir 8mo ago
    Apple has been taking about Apple Silicon's AI capabilities for the past few years, particularly around Apple Intelligence.
  - gjsman-1000 8mo ago
    How about Apple Intelligence having been in almost every press release from the last year? If you genuinely can't find out what they are referring to, you've been on HN too long.
  - deleted 8mo ago
    [deleted]
  - ErneX 8mo ago
    Not even a maxed Mini with 64GB of ram is useful for local inference related to OpenClaw, that is not the reason people are getting a Mini for that, they get the base model with 16GB because it’s the cheapest device that can interact with your iCloud data (reminders, iMessage, etc).
Aurornis 8mo ago
> to meet demand for Clawbots is wild This is not in response to OpenClaw. It takes a long time to plan a new manufacturing facility. The Mac Mini is a natural place to start training at a new facility because it's their simplest product. Mac Minis are also around 1% of Apple's device sales. Even with an OpenClaw-inspired burst of sales, it's still a small part of their volume.
- gigatexal 8mo ago
  This is to appease pumpkin potus and his merry band of idiots Update: For the record I do hate the POTUS. He’s ruined our reputation around the world. Allowed things like USAID to die removing aid from millions leading to many deaths. He’s incompetent and very stupid which will likely get us killed either in some war or in the next pandemic. Tarrifs are a tax. Congress raises taxes. If you support his right to tax without congress then go live under a king. I’m an American. We don’t want kings. Need I go on? And hating POTUS for what he’s doing to the country is my right as an American. We weren’t perfect. But we were at least respected. Now the world laughs at us. He works for me. And you. And he’s doing a garbage job at his job. Why continue to give him a free pass. Would you give someone like this in your team a pass? Here’s hoping his managers (congress) fires him (impeaches) him.
  - gjsman-1000 8mo ago
    So what? Even if you hate who the president is, it is in the best interest of everyone that the president does a good job. Wanting the president to fail and millions to suffer is scorched earth hatred, not strategy.
    - rayiner 8mo ago
      Even if you hate the orange guy, there's something to be said for his approach of using threats to achieve results instead of carrots like tax breaks.
      - gigatexal 8mo ago
jajuuka 8mo ago
I think there was a rush during the early Intel transition because they were dirt cheap computers you can upgrade yourself and even dual boot Windows. I feel like there was another big bump for them as a set top boxes to run XBMC or something. Might be wrong though. M1 release also saw the Mini's be a cheap entry point to seeing what Apple Silicon could do.
- mikepurvis 8mo ago
  Even to this day there aren't really a ton of options for a non-devkit, non-router arm64 machine that you can use as a desktop workstation.
  - jajuuka 8mo ago
    I was happy to see that x64 mini computers have really come along. Some of the units from China are really impressive with some exposed full PCI-E buses. Arm64 is still limited for sure, but with Snapdragon and Windows finally committing to ARM I think the future is bright for that. Just not here yet.
    - mikepurvis 8mo ago
      A thunderbolt 3 connector is 4 PCIe lanes, isn't it? I know there can be compatibility gaps, but there are definitely TB-connected enclosure boxes available. NVMe connectors are also 4 PCIe lanes, and I believe any of those can be broken out and used for whatever (m.2 cellular data modems for example). Are you thinking of plugging in actual consumer expansion cards, or are you wanting the lanes broken out on some kind of riser where they can go to hardwired stuff on a carrier board?
      - wtallis 8mo ago
        Thunderbolt isn't literally four PCIe lanes; Thunderbolt can encapsulate and carry PCIe traffic, and Thunderbolt controllers are typically connected with four PCIe lanes, though the amount of PCIe traffic a Thunderbolt link can carry is not necessarily as much as four PCIe lanes. Directly exposing literal PCIe signals cuts out the pair of expensive Thunderbolt controllers.
Fergusonb 8mo ago
They're definitely more popular right now, but they've been a winner since M1. Great performance, quiet, efficient. It would be tough to get a windows machine at that price that gets anywhere close on performance, especially if you consider the cost of electricity. Great parent/grandparent machines, home servers.
- bigyabai 8mo ago
  > It would be tough to get a windows machine at that price that gets anywhere close on performance Not that tough. I paid $299 for a Ryzen 5800h mini PC last year, which roughly lands in the same performance bracket. Would have considered the Mac Mini, but the AMD box has much better Linux support.
  - alwillis 8mo ago
    > a Ryzen 5800h mini PC last year, which roughly lands in the same performance bracket [as a Mac mini]. Not really. And this is before the M5 Mac mini which ships later this year. Putting it together in desktop‑mini form factors: - Raw CPU: M4 is much faster single‑core, generally faster multi‑core at lower power. - GPU: M4’s iGPU is roughly 2×+ Vega 8 and more modern. - Memory subsystem: M4 has far higher bandwidth and unified memory, ideal for integrated GPU and many modern workloads. - Efficiency/noise: M4 wins by a large margin; much higher perf per watt. - Compatibility: 5800H wins if you need bare‑metal x86 OSes like FreeBSD or specific x86‑only software stacks. - 5800H: 35–54 W configurable TDP in laptops; mini‑PC implementations often run it fairly hot to maintain clocks. - M4 in Mac mini: ~24 W base TDP, ~40 W boost, but getting clearly higher performance per watt.
    - caminante 8mo ago
      Let's assume the 5800H consumed 50W and the mini consumed 0W and both ran 100% utilization all year at $0.20/kWh. The mini would save $87/year. That's a 3.5y breakeven assuming no reinvestment.
    - bigyabai 8mo ago
      The M4 is from 2024, the 5800h is from 2021. You should be comparing against the M1 or M2, which was Apple's actual competitor at that performance bracket and time period.
ErneX 8mo ago
That’s not the reason.

bigyabai 8mo ago

This is not for Clawdbot, this is a re-run of the 2019 strategy where Apple promises to manufacture a low volume of high-margin PC enclosures on US soil.

arthurcolle 8mo ago
They mention Mac mini! They have like 3 other desktop lines going, and they mentioned the mini! Also: "In Houston, workers assemble advanced AI servers, including logic boards produced onsite, which are then used in Apple data centers in the U.S." Advanced AI servers!
- Aurornis 8mo ago
  > They mention Mac mini! They have like 3 other desktop lines going, and they mentioned the mini! Mac Mini is their simplest product. It's the natural place to start training at a new facility. > Advanced AI servers! Yes, they have their own AI servers.
  - jeffbee 8mo ago
    > Mac Mini is their simplest product. How can it be simpler than the Apple TV?
  - LoganDark 8mo ago
    Do they now? I assume they use them internally for something like Private Cloud Compute?
- chihuahua 8mo ago
  Everyone else (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, etc) has boring plain AI servers. Apple invented Advanced AI Servers! So much more advanced! Just like in the 2000s when the G4 Mac was a "supercomputer".
sigmar 8mo ago
>With its next-level AI capabilities, it has become an essential tool for everyone from students and aspiring creatives to small business owners. Seems to me this part of the PR release is a reference to claudbot/openclaw. What else could it be referring to?
- minimaxir 8mo ago
  Apple has been taking about Apple Silicon's AI capabilities for the past few years, particularly around Apple Intelligence.
- gjsman-1000 8mo ago
  How about Apple Intelligence having been in almost every press release from the last year? If you genuinely can't find out what they are referring to, you've been on HN too long.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
- ErneX 8mo ago
  Not even a maxed Mini with 64GB of ram is useful for local inference related to OpenClaw, that is not the reason people are getting a Mini for that, they get the base model with 16GB because it’s the cheapest device that can interact with your iCloud data (reminders, iMessage, etc).

Aurornis 8mo ago

> to meet demand for Clawbots is wild This is not in response to OpenClaw. It takes a long time to plan a new manufacturing facility. The Mac Mini is a natural place to start training at a new facility because it's their simplest product. Mac Minis are also around 1% of Apple's device sales. Even with an OpenClaw-inspired burst of sales, it's still a small part of their volume.

gigatexal 8mo ago
This is to appease pumpkin potus and his merry band of idiots Update: For the record I do hate the POTUS. He’s ruined our reputation around the world. Allowed things like USAID to die removing aid from millions leading to many deaths. He’s incompetent and very stupid which will likely get us killed either in some war or in the next pandemic. Tarrifs are a tax. Congress raises taxes. If you support his right to tax without congress then go live under a king. I’m an American. We don’t want kings. Need I go on? And hating POTUS for what he’s doing to the country is my right as an American. We weren’t perfect. But we were at least respected. Now the world laughs at us. He works for me. And you. And he’s doing a garbage job at his job. Why continue to give him a free pass. Would you give someone like this in your team a pass? Here’s hoping his managers (congress) fires him (impeaches) him.
- gjsman-1000 8mo ago
  So what? Even if you hate who the president is, it is in the best interest of everyone that the president does a good job. Wanting the president to fail and millions to suffer is scorched earth hatred, not strategy.
  - rayiner 8mo ago
    Even if you hate the orange guy, there's something to be said for his approach of using threats to achieve results instead of carrots like tax breaks.
    - gigatexal 8mo ago

jajuuka 8mo ago

I think there was a rush during the early Intel transition because they were dirt cheap computers you can upgrade yourself and even dual boot Windows. I feel like there was another big bump for them as a set top boxes to run XBMC or something. Might be wrong though. M1 release also saw the Mini's be a cheap entry point to seeing what Apple Silicon could do.

mikepurvis 8mo ago
Even to this day there aren't really a ton of options for a non-devkit, non-router arm64 machine that you can use as a desktop workstation.
- jajuuka 8mo ago
  I was happy to see that x64 mini computers have really come along. Some of the units from China are really impressive with some exposed full PCI-E buses. Arm64 is still limited for sure, but with Snapdragon and Windows finally committing to ARM I think the future is bright for that. Just not here yet.
  - mikepurvis 8mo ago
    A thunderbolt 3 connector is 4 PCIe lanes, isn't it? I know there can be compatibility gaps, but there are definitely TB-connected enclosure boxes available. NVMe connectors are also 4 PCIe lanes, and I believe any of those can be broken out and used for whatever (m.2 cellular data modems for example). Are you thinking of plugging in actual consumer expansion cards, or are you wanting the lanes broken out on some kind of riser where they can go to hardwired stuff on a carrier board?
    - wtallis 8mo ago
      Thunderbolt isn't literally four PCIe lanes; Thunderbolt can encapsulate and carry PCIe traffic, and Thunderbolt controllers are typically connected with four PCIe lanes, though the amount of PCIe traffic a Thunderbolt link can carry is not necessarily as much as four PCIe lanes. Directly exposing literal PCIe signals cuts out the pair of expensive Thunderbolt controllers.

Fergusonb 8mo ago

They're definitely more popular right now, but they've been a winner since M1. Great performance, quiet, efficient. It would be tough to get a windows machine at that price that gets anywhere close on performance, especially if you consider the cost of electricity. Great parent/grandparent machines, home servers.

bigyabai 8mo ago
> It would be tough to get a windows machine at that price that gets anywhere close on performance Not that tough. I paid $299 for a Ryzen 5800h mini PC last year, which roughly lands in the same performance bracket. Would have considered the Mac Mini, but the AMD box has much better Linux support.
- alwillis 8mo ago
  > a Ryzen 5800h mini PC last year, which roughly lands in the same performance bracket [as a Mac mini]. Not really. And this is before the M5 Mac mini which ships later this year. Putting it together in desktop‑mini form factors: - Raw CPU: M4 is much faster single‑core, generally faster multi‑core at lower power. - GPU: M4’s iGPU is roughly 2×+ Vega 8 and more modern. - Memory subsystem: M4 has far higher bandwidth and unified memory, ideal for integrated GPU and many modern workloads. - Efficiency/noise: M4 wins by a large margin; much higher perf per watt. - Compatibility: 5800H wins if you need bare‑metal x86 OSes like FreeBSD or specific x86‑only software stacks. - 5800H: 35–54 W configurable TDP in laptops; mini‑PC implementations often run it fairly hot to maintain clocks. - M4 in Mac mini: ~24 W base TDP, ~40 W boost, but getting clearly higher performance per watt.
  - caminante 8mo ago
    Let's assume the 5800H consumed 50W and the mini consumed 0W and both ran 100% utilization all year at $0.20/kWh. The mini would save $87/year. That's a 3.5y breakeven assuming no reinvestment.
  - bigyabai 8mo ago
    The M4 is from 2024, the 5800h is from 2021. You should be comparing against the M1 or M2, which was Apple's actual competitor at that performance bracket and time period.

ErneX 8mo ago

That’s not the reason.