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Apple Mac mini review

91 points by throw0101c 11d ago

AnotherGoodName 11d ago
I’m going to keep an eye out for the incoming refurb $200 M4s. Handy little machines to have as a low power tmux terminal.
- ndiddy 11d ago
  You'll be looking for a while, looks like they're going for $600-700 used currently. You can get a used M1 Mac Mini for around $350 though. Macs don't depreciate nearly as quickly as PCs do.
  - AnotherGoodName 11d ago
    The M6 and M5 haven’t shipped tet, just preorder stage so they’ll come down once the nee one’s land. A good proxy is the M2 mini dropping to ~$250 after the M4 hit. Eg. https://uptradeit.com/buy-used-refurbished-mac-mini-2024-silver https://uptradeit.com/buy-used-refurbished-mac-mini-2024-sil... ($269) I’m hopeful for even lower than $300 prices just because there’s a lot of homelab people spending a lot on these and the M5 ultra really does make the M4 not worth using for that use case. So there should be a flood shortly hopefully.
    - happyopossum 11d ago
      > A good proxy is the M2 mini dropping to ~$250 after the M4 hit. That's really not a good proxy, as the base price of EVERYTHING was way lower in 2024. Heck, that M2 mini you're referring to is selling for more than $250 today. The link you're sharing is a scam - the $269 "2024 M2" takes you to a $269 2014 Intel Core i5 turd.
    - mahboi 11d ago
      $269 doesn't even buy you an M1
    - jolan 11d ago
      You seem to just be extrapolating based on old information and bad comparisons. Click through the $269 link. The M2 listing redirects to an Intel Mac mini model. Apple trade-in value is currently $565 for the base 16GB/256GB M4 mini. (up from $480 a couple weeks ago) https://i.imgur.com/9qgKSZd.png https://i.imgur.com/9qgKSZd.png I paid $500 for it. Why would I sell it to you for $300?
- deleted 11d ago
  [deleted]
datakan 11d ago
The price hikes drove me back to windows. If I'm paying those prices I may as well be able to play games with my kid again. I see no advantage to using Apple right now outside of the iPhone.
- crest 11d ago
  Best of luck getting a good deal for new hardware right now from anyone right now. All hardware pricing negotiations these days start with give us your company credit card, drop your pants and bend over the table.
- linguae 11d ago
  Unfortunately the price hikes are affecting the entire industry, and it's not just high-end rigs for gaming and local LLMs. Game consoles and even the Raspberry Pi have gone up in price. In fact, Apple was one of the last holdouts; it didn't start raising prices until June. I paid $96 for 32 GB of DDR5 RAM for my Framework 13 laptop back in December 2023. When I checked a few months ago, the same RAM cost around $400; I don't know what prices are like now.
- hombre_fatal 11d ago
  Once you price out similar specs for a Windows gaming build, I don't know how much better you'll be doing, and it won't have unified memory so you'll be "paying twice": once for RAM and again for VRAM. $250 just for 2x8gb DDR5 RAM. I'm not even sure you'd save much money on a DDR4 build, all parts considered.
  - makeitdouble 11d ago
    > it won't have unified memory Why wouldn't you choose unified memory if it matters to you ? A central point of Windows/linux is to get the hardware you want.
    - deleted 11d ago
      [deleted]
  - 11d ago
adgjlsfhk1 11d ago
Those L1 cache specs have to be wrong, right? Bigger L1 on the e core than p core seems like it has to be incorrect (unless the lower clock lets them get away with something?)
magicmicah85 11d ago
Noticing how the M6 has finally doubled the M1's single core performance, nearly six years later. The M1 mini was my first foray into mac computing. I used it as my daily driver until I got the M1 Macbook Pro a year later. Been using that ever since. I think Apple's real problem is that they built machines that can last. I've had no interest in upgrading or buying something else, even though I want to just for pet projects but can't justify the extra cost.
- tuesdaynight 11d ago
  Problem? Aren't they selling like cake because of how good their MacBooks are? Other companies aren't that good and I imagine they don't sell as many laptops as Apple does.
  - soperj 11d ago
    Lenovo still sells over double the amount of laptops. 48.5 million to 23.5 million for Apple.
    - tuesdaynight 11d ago
      Surprised. I thought Apple would sell more, specially in USA, where the price is not that high because of the purchasing power
      - mahboi 11d ago
        Apple might be the top laptop seller in the US, not sure. There are more people using Windows, even in the US.
      - Theodores 11d ago
        50% of consumer spending is by the top 10% of consumers, with that 10% generally being Apple ecosystem people. Anyone with ecommmerce stats can confirm this, Apple consumers just shop and consume more, particularly at the high end. This gives the impression that Apple are even bigger than they are.
wombat-man 11d ago
Would love to see them put out a Mac mini Neo to line up with the laptop now that the Mac Mini is becoming a more performant, expensive device.
LetsGetTechnicl 11d ago
On the price hikes on RAM and everything else we're still looking for the guys that did this...
throwaway270925 11d ago
+1100€ for the 2TB upgrade nowadays, thats not an "Apple tax" anymore thats just straight up robbery. Even a pcie gen5 nvme costs only about 300€, even with todays prices, so 600€ would be quite in line with Apple pricing, but 1100€!? Thats just being a dick.
bluedino 11d ago
I hate to be that guy, but computer prices, even Apple machines, are still so cheap. My first 'modern' Mac was the 13" 2010 MacBook Pro, and it was $1299. The current Air is $1299. Inflation be damned. Let's not even go back in time and look at what the PowerBook G4 or PowerBook 5300c cost...

91 points by throw0101c 11d ago

I’m going to keep an eye out for the incoming refurb $200 M4s. Handy little machines to have as a low power tmux terminal.

ndiddy 11d ago
You'll be looking for a while, looks like they're going for $600-700 used currently. You can get a used M1 Mac Mini for around $350 though. Macs don't depreciate nearly as quickly as PCs do.
- AnotherGoodName 11d ago
  The M6 and M5 haven’t shipped tet, just preorder stage so they’ll come down once the nee one’s land. A good proxy is the M2 mini dropping to ~$250 after the M4 hit. Eg. https://uptradeit.com/buy-used-refurbished-mac-mini-2024-silver https://uptradeit.com/buy-used-refurbished-mac-mini-2024-sil... ($269) I’m hopeful for even lower than $300 prices just because there’s a lot of homelab people spending a lot on these and the M5 ultra really does make the M4 not worth using for that use case. So there should be a flood shortly hopefully.
  - happyopossum 11d ago
    > A good proxy is the M2 mini dropping to ~$250 after the M4 hit. That's really not a good proxy, as the base price of EVERYTHING was way lower in 2024. Heck, that M2 mini you're referring to is selling for more than $250 today. The link you're sharing is a scam - the $269 "2024 M2" takes you to a $269 2014 Intel Core i5 turd.
  - mahboi 11d ago
    $269 doesn't even buy you an M1
  - jolan 11d ago
    You seem to just be extrapolating based on old information and bad comparisons. Click through the $269 link. The M2 listing redirects to an Intel Mac mini model. Apple trade-in value is currently $565 for the base 16GB/256GB M4 mini. (up from $480 a couple weeks ago) https://i.imgur.com/9qgKSZd.png https://i.imgur.com/9qgKSZd.png I paid $500 for it. Why would I sell it to you for $300?
deleted 11d ago
[deleted]

datakan 11d ago

The price hikes drove me back to windows. If I'm paying those prices I may as well be able to play games with my kid again. I see no advantage to using Apple right now outside of the iPhone.

crest 11d ago
Best of luck getting a good deal for new hardware right now from anyone right now. All hardware pricing negotiations these days start with give us your company credit card, drop your pants and bend over the table.
linguae 11d ago
Unfortunately the price hikes are affecting the entire industry, and it's not just high-end rigs for gaming and local LLMs. Game consoles and even the Raspberry Pi have gone up in price. In fact, Apple was one of the last holdouts; it didn't start raising prices until June. I paid $96 for 32 GB of DDR5 RAM for my Framework 13 laptop back in December 2023. When I checked a few months ago, the same RAM cost around $400; I don't know what prices are like now.
hombre_fatal 11d ago
Once you price out similar specs for a Windows gaming build, I don't know how much better you'll be doing, and it won't have unified memory so you'll be "paying twice": once for RAM and again for VRAM. $250 just for 2x8gb DDR5 RAM. I'm not even sure you'd save much money on a DDR4 build, all parts considered.
- makeitdouble 11d ago
  > it won't have unified memory Why wouldn't you choose unified memory if it matters to you ? A central point of Windows/linux is to get the hardware you want.
  - deleted 11d ago
    [deleted]
- 11d ago

adgjlsfhk1 11d ago

Those L1 cache specs have to be wrong, right? Bigger L1 on the e core than p core seems like it has to be incorrect (unless the lower clock lets them get away with something?)

magicmicah85 11d ago

Noticing how the M6 has finally doubled the M1's single core performance, nearly six years later. The M1 mini was my first foray into mac computing. I used it as my daily driver until I got the M1 Macbook Pro a year later. Been using that ever since. I think Apple's real problem is that they built machines that can last. I've had no interest in upgrading or buying something else, even though I want to just for pet projects but can't justify the extra cost.

tuesdaynight 11d ago
Problem? Aren't they selling like cake because of how good their MacBooks are? Other companies aren't that good and I imagine they don't sell as many laptops as Apple does.
- soperj 11d ago
  Lenovo still sells over double the amount of laptops. 48.5 million to 23.5 million for Apple.
  - tuesdaynight 11d ago
    Surprised. I thought Apple would sell more, specially in USA, where the price is not that high because of the purchasing power
    - mahboi 11d ago
      Apple might be the top laptop seller in the US, not sure. There are more people using Windows, even in the US.
    - Theodores 11d ago
      50% of consumer spending is by the top 10% of consumers, with that 10% generally being Apple ecosystem people. Anyone with ecommmerce stats can confirm this, Apple consumers just shop and consume more, particularly at the high end. This gives the impression that Apple are even bigger than they are.

wombat-man 11d ago

Would love to see them put out a Mac mini Neo to line up with the laptop now that the Mac Mini is becoming a more performant, expensive device.

LetsGetTechnicl 11d ago

On the price hikes on RAM and everything else we're still looking for the guys that did this...

throwaway270925 11d ago

+1100€ for the 2TB upgrade nowadays, thats not an "Apple tax" anymore thats just straight up robbery. Even a pcie gen5 nvme costs only about 300€, even with todays prices, so 600€ would be quite in line with Apple pricing, but 1100€!? Thats just being a dick.

bluedino 11d ago

I hate to be that guy, but computer prices, even Apple machines, are still so cheap. My first 'modern' Mac was the 13" 2010 MacBook Pro, and it was $1299. The current Air is $1299. Inflation be damned. Let's not even go back in time and look at what the PowerBook G4 or PowerBook 5300c cost...