As you may be aware, I am a huge Apple fanboy. We have our new iPhone 12Pro Max’s on order, they should be here Friday. I use a fully tricked out 2018 Mac Mini and a MacBook Air, the wife has a MacBook Pro and we both have iPhones Watches and iPads and we have 4 AppleTV boxes. Yeah, we swim in the Apple Kool-Aid.
I use my Mac for my work-from-home job which is mostly browser-based. I also use it for light web development, live-streaming, writing, browsing and watching streaming content in lieu of a TV. I use Windows via Parallels for radio programming and out phone system for work which do not have Mac alternatives.
Today (November 10) Apple announced new Apple Silicon Macs. While they look promising, I do not see me getting one anytime soon. My current Mac Mini works great and is only a year and a half old. It does everything I could want and has performance to spare.
I might look into replacing my 5-year old MacBook Air down the road. It is getting old and it might be a good way for me to test the waters in the new M1 Mac world.
The new Mac Mini reduces the I/O from 4 USB-C/TB3 ports to 2 and eliminates the option for 10GB Ethernet. I can live with the slower 1GB Ethernet as I do not currently have any other 10GB devices on my network but the reduction in USB-C ports is troubling. It also appears that the M1 Mac Mini will not support eGPU’s and only 2 monitors. I use 4 monitors on my current Mac Mini via an eGPU so that is another strike against it for me. While most people are fine with one or two monitors it is hard to go back after being so used to 4.
Aside from the monitor situation with only 2 USB-C and 2 USB-A ports one is more likely going to need some sort of hub to expand I/O. While most people use Bluetooth for keyboards and mice they still need to be charged with Lightening (if you buy Apple devices) so there is one port. Use an external hard drive for storage or Time Machine? There goes another. How about your FaceTime/Streaming camera? Microphone? Audio devices? Streambox? SD-Card reader? OK, so I will need a hub for sure!
One thing that I am unsure is going to be an issue is that they are currently only shipping with 16GB of RAM maximum. With the new architecture this may not be an issue, but I have 32GB now and my current Mac Mini has a limit of 64 should I wish to upgrade it. No word yet on if this will be possible to upgrade in the future.
A couple ongoing problems with the Mac Mini they appear to not have addressed with the new M1 version include:
Most redesign models I have seen have a more rectangular base replacing the trapezoid they have now with the reduced bezels and chin and flatter rear replacing the old but graceful bulge. I would also have them use a VESA mount as the default, with the supplied base using that instead of making the VESA mount an option and complicated to install. Ask Snazzy Labs about that.
As for the laptop group, I have no real issues as I am not much of a laptop guy. I have a MacBook Air that I use for traveling and occasionally to sit outside with so if I upgrade it to the M1 version it would pretty much a way to see if the M1 series would work for me in my current workflow. I can do my work with all Mac stuff except for access to our phone system. To access voicemail I need Windows so I use Parallels to do so. I assume that Parallels will have a Universal version so I can continue with using it if/when I get an M1 Mac but I would try it out first to be sure.
For the Mac Pro there were rumors of a “Mac Pro Mini” but that did not seem to pass. This was suggested to be a smaller-sized box similar in appearance to the Mac Pro announced last year, hopefully at a greatly reduced price. I had delayed getting the Mac Mini last year to see what the Mac Pro would be like but even the most basic entry-level version started at $6000, twice what I paid for my fully tricked-out Mac Mini with performance to spare for me.
A smaller sized and priced Mac Pro with M1 processors would have been an interesting product for me, especially if it supported 3 or 4 monitors. I assume something like this is in the works and that Apple will announce it when they are ready.
For now I plan to sit back and see what shakes out. If it turns out that the Mac Mini works fine with less RAM and I can use a hub for the extra connectivity I might take a leap and get one. It is more likely that I will replace the MacBook Air however and try that out for work purposes to see if the new platform works for me down the road.
I use my Mac for my work-from-home job which is mostly browser-based. I also use it for light web development, live-streaming, writing, browsing and watching streaming content in lieu of a TV. I use Windows via Parallels for radio programming and out phone system for work which do not have Mac alternatives.
Today (November 10) Apple announced new Apple Silicon Macs. While they look promising, I do not see me getting one anytime soon. My current Mac Mini works great and is only a year and a half old. It does everything I could want and has performance to spare.
I might look into replacing my 5-year old MacBook Air down the road. It is getting old and it might be a good way for me to test the waters in the new M1 Mac world.
The new Mac Mini reduces the I/O from 4 USB-C/TB3 ports to 2 and eliminates the option for 10GB Ethernet. I can live with the slower 1GB Ethernet as I do not currently have any other 10GB devices on my network but the reduction in USB-C ports is troubling. It also appears that the M1 Mac Mini will not support eGPU’s and only 2 monitors. I use 4 monitors on my current Mac Mini via an eGPU so that is another strike against it for me. While most people are fine with one or two monitors it is hard to go back after being so used to 4.
Aside from the monitor situation with only 2 USB-C and 2 USB-A ports one is more likely going to need some sort of hub to expand I/O. While most people use Bluetooth for keyboards and mice they still need to be charged with Lightening (if you buy Apple devices) so there is one port. Use an external hard drive for storage or Time Machine? There goes another. How about your FaceTime/Streaming camera? Microphone? Audio devices? Streambox? SD-Card reader? OK, so I will need a hub for sure!
One thing that I am unsure is going to be an issue is that they are currently only shipping with 16GB of RAM maximum. With the new architecture this may not be an issue, but I have 32GB now and my current Mac Mini has a limit of 64 should I wish to upgrade it. No word yet on if this will be possible to upgrade in the future.
A couple ongoing problems with the Mac Mini they appear to not have addressed with the new M1 version include:
- No front panel ports. They need to put a USB and audio port on the front!
- No SD Card reader.
- A computer this small should have an external power supply like the Hades Canyon NUC does to reduce internal heat. They could also reduce the footprint even more this way if they chose.
- Not specifically Mac Mini related but they STILL have not relocated the lightening port on the Magic Mouse to the rear edge to allow use while plugged in like the Magic Keyboard already does. Ugh!
Most redesign models I have seen have a more rectangular base replacing the trapezoid they have now with the reduced bezels and chin and flatter rear replacing the old but graceful bulge. I would also have them use a VESA mount as the default, with the supplied base using that instead of making the VESA mount an option and complicated to install. Ask Snazzy Labs about that.
As for the laptop group, I have no real issues as I am not much of a laptop guy. I have a MacBook Air that I use for traveling and occasionally to sit outside with so if I upgrade it to the M1 version it would pretty much a way to see if the M1 series would work for me in my current workflow. I can do my work with all Mac stuff except for access to our phone system. To access voicemail I need Windows so I use Parallels to do so. I assume that Parallels will have a Universal version so I can continue with using it if/when I get an M1 Mac but I would try it out first to be sure.
For the Mac Pro there were rumors of a “Mac Pro Mini” but that did not seem to pass. This was suggested to be a smaller-sized box similar in appearance to the Mac Pro announced last year, hopefully at a greatly reduced price. I had delayed getting the Mac Mini last year to see what the Mac Pro would be like but even the most basic entry-level version started at $6000, twice what I paid for my fully tricked-out Mac Mini with performance to spare for me.
A smaller sized and priced Mac Pro with M1 processors would have been an interesting product for me, especially if it supported 3 or 4 monitors. I assume something like this is in the works and that Apple will announce it when they are ready.
For now I plan to sit back and see what shakes out. If it turns out that the Mac Mini works fine with less RAM and I can use a hub for the extra connectivity I might take a leap and get one. It is more likely that I will replace the MacBook Air however and try that out for work purposes to see if the new platform works for me down the road.
