Mac Mini’s are cool, and I appreciate that Apple has some of the most experienced and talented designers in the world… But they put the power switch on the bottom. You have to lift it up and turn it over to turn it on and off.
The previous model has it in the back, you can’t even feel it properly because it’s not recessed.
On the other hand the last time I turned off my M1 mini was when we moved. It’s 100% silent and takes less power than a lightbulb when it sleeps, so why would I bother powering it off.
People treat it like a mistake but not be able to use the mouse while it’s plugged in is the entire point of the design. Right or wrong the Apple designers thought a cord drag was a bad experience and designed to prevent it.
They probably looked at their target audience and realized there was a certain percentage of folks that would just leave the mouse on the cord 24/7 and wanted to prevent that.
I don’t understand what was wrong with the original version that just took 2 AA batteries. Reaching for the AA charger and swapping cells not awkward enough or something?
Smart and elegant design would be hiding a battery charger in the iMac it self (maybe even use something smaller than AA), not expect you to flip and plug in your mouse every time ya leave it. The Nintendo Switch, while a completely different form factor, is a great example of an elegant (you could even say “wireless”) charging solution.
I’m getting really sick of the Apple esthetic of sticking out wires, be it the mouse or the dozen dongles for every portable device they now make. Uh! Can’t forget the world’s only pen that needs charging, for seemingly no reason.
They can fit a bigger rechargeable battery in the same space as a battery bay for replaceable batteries. Plus it eliminates the waste of throwing away batteries, and has longer battery life than similarly sized alkalines.
I don’t understand why this is so hard to understand. You’re supposed to stop using the mouse while it is charging, and use the mouse unplugged. That’s the purpose. It’s not a stupid decision, it just prevents some user’s preferred operation of using the mouse while it is charging
I’m 100% OK with that; Apple is heavy on design aesthetics. If a user doesn’t like that, they can just use their own preferred mouse - wired or otherwise.
I’m the reverse. As I get older, all the things I used to consider deal breakers just don’t matter as much. I don’t really care about how upgradable or repairable the device is, I’m just gonna pay Apple for the upgrade and pay them again to fix it. Whenever I have to solve an issue on my gaming PC I get an inch closer to just throwing it out and buying whatever overpriced gaming laptop comes working out of the box.
If I could game on my MacBook Pro I already would be. There’s a decent library of games that can run but it’s a lot more work than a windows or Linux box if you want to venture beyond 64-bit native ports.
It was very likely a designers decision. It forces the use the use case they wanted; wireless mice should be used wirelessly. I would bet they fought marketing and management to get this on the final product.
Marketing would want the mouse they can advertise as being useable with and wireless. Female ports are easier to mount and manufacture with they have depth to set the socket. So a plug on the front is much cheaper and easier to manufacture.
The fact the charging cable doesn’t get used in motion means it will last longer and you wouldn’t have people useing fraying cables on the front of their mouse.
Yeah and I hear they might bring that back lol. Why haven’t there been any wireless mice that use wireless charging? They could include a super thin coil that you could place under any mouse pad. It doesn’t even need to charge fast so heat shouldn’t be an issue. Just trickle charge when it’s not being used.
Edit: guess I should have searched first. Of course it was Logitech
In case it wasn’t a joke, I imagine it would be high enough for your finger to just poke under it to push the button, like you would a monitor with buttons on the bottom of the screen.
The new design seems more lifted, I think it should be fine to fit your finger below there without having to lift it up yourself. At least for most people.
I bought my iMac in March 2020… since then it’s been powered down maybe half a dozen times (a couple of those were power cuts) and rebooted (outside of macOS updates) maybe ten times.
It just sits there reliably doing its thing and sucks little juice in power saving so 🤷🏻♂️
We used to have racks of these things for automated testing …. And eventually they stop responding, so someone needs to power cycle them. In the computer room. In a rack
I seriously don’t understand why Apple won’t make server macs, with proper server features like IPMI, rack mounting support, virtualization. As a software developer, macs are horrible to work with.
Beyond the nightmare that is code signing and certificates (required even for debug builds), the physical devices are special snowflakes. Getting them to play nicely in a CI/CD system is really difficult. They often freeze or misbehave requiring physical access to fix. Also, if you want to target older OS X or iOS versions, you need to use an older version of XCode (that Apple makes really difficult to find) and an older version of MacOS.
There are many other use cases beyond software development, such as render farms, network storage, backup etc.
This but non-sarcastically. I have a Mac mini and I don’t think I’ve ever touched the power button (except after plugging in of course, but then you’re already fiddling)
Perhaps, but for the price of those flat non-rgb or mechanical things they should either shine my shoes or provide some kind of utility, such as a headphone jack.
Mac Mini’s are cool, and I appreciate that Apple has some of the most experienced and talented designers in the world… But they put the power switch on the bottom. You have to lift it up and turn it over to turn it on and off.
But WHY??
The previous model has it in the back, you can’t even feel it properly because it’s not recessed.
On the other hand the last time I turned off my M1 mini was when we moved. It’s 100% silent and takes less power than a lightbulb when it sleeps, so why would I bother powering it off.
So while it sleeps, it still wastes electricity on literally nothing. Gotcha
Why would you run a lightbulb 24/7?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longest-lasting_light_bulbs#:~:text=The world’s longest-lasting light,off a handful of times.
I’d just get two toothpicks and make a seesaw to press it, although I pretty much never turn off my computers so I still wouldn’t mind too much
Don’t worry, there will be suitable USB accessories, for just 99$.
Remember these are the same engineers who put the Magic Mouse charging port on the bottom, making the mouse unusable while you charge it
Even worse, that was done intentionally. They wanted to prevent retail stores from leaving them plugged in at all times.
That’s not true at all. Apple likes minimalism, and putting ports and buttons where you can’t see them adds to the aesthetic.
People treat it like a mistake but not be able to use the mouse while it’s plugged in is the entire point of the design. Right or wrong the Apple designers thought a cord drag was a bad experience and designed to prevent it.
They probably looked at their target audience and realized there was a certain percentage of folks that would just leave the mouse on the cord 24/7 and wanted to prevent that.
I don’t understand what was wrong with the original version that just took 2 AA batteries. Reaching for the AA charger and swapping cells not awkward enough or something?
Smart and elegant design would be hiding a battery charger in the iMac it self (maybe even use something smaller than AA), not expect you to flip and plug in your mouse every time ya leave it. The Nintendo Switch, while a completely different form factor, is a great example of an elegant (you could even say “wireless”) charging solution.
I’m getting really sick of the Apple esthetic of sticking out wires, be it the mouse or the dozen dongles for every portable device they now make. Uh! Can’t forget the world’s only pen that needs charging, for seemingly no reason.
They can fit a bigger rechargeable battery in the same space as a battery bay for replaceable batteries. Plus it eliminates the waste of throwing away batteries, and has longer battery life than similarly sized alkalines.
They also know their target audience has plenty of people who gobble up every bad design decision and even defend it online years later.
People treat it like a mistake, but the Emperor has no clothes and people are catching on.
I don’t understand why this is so hard to understand. You’re supposed to stop using the mouse while it is charging, and use the mouse unplugged. That’s the purpose. It’s not a stupid decision, it just prevents some user’s preferred operation of using the mouse while it is charging
…
It’s not a stupid decision, but a stubborn one.
I’m 100% OK with that; Apple is heavy on design aesthetics. If a user doesn’t like that, they can just use their own preferred mouse - wired or otherwise.
Yes. Disagree with their decision, fine. But it was thought out and purposefully done.
I used to buy Macs when I was a teenager and young adult, but finally grew tired of the “my way or the highway” approach to design.
Windows is guilty of this too, but it’s more subtle, but getting worse all the time with w11.
Linux has more of a “you break it, you buy it” approach to design lol
I’m the reverse. As I get older, all the things I used to consider deal breakers just don’t matter as much. I don’t really care about how upgradable or repairable the device is, I’m just gonna pay Apple for the upgrade and pay them again to fix it. Whenever I have to solve an issue on my gaming PC I get an inch closer to just throwing it out and buying whatever overpriced gaming laptop comes working out of the box.
Not an Apple one, for sure.
If I could game on my MacBook Pro I already would be. There’s a decent library of games that can run but it’s a lot more work than a windows or Linux box if you want to venture beyond 64-bit native ports.
Honestly, the mouse charger screams marketing or management. Apple’s brand is partially form over function.
PARTIALLY!? The Vision shipped without a lens cover. It did ship with a cover for the outside face.
It was very likely a designers decision. It forces the use the use case they wanted; wireless mice should be used wirelessly. I would bet they fought marketing and management to get this on the final product.
Marketing would want the mouse they can advertise as being useable with and wireless. Female ports are easier to mount and manufacture with they have depth to set the socket. So a plug on the front is much cheaper and easier to manufacture.
The fact the charging cable doesn’t get used in motion means it will last longer and you wouldn’t have people useing fraying cables on the front of their mouse.
What marketing genius uses a mouse upside down.
It’s better for display
Users aren’t trying before they buy so the display is the most important aspect
Trying before you buy is literally the entire point of the apple store
Yeah and I hear they might bring that back lol. Why haven’t there been any wireless mice that use wireless charging? They could include a super thin coil that you could place under any mouse pad. It doesn’t even need to charge fast so heat shouldn’t be an issue. Just trickle charge when it’s not being used.
Edit: guess I should have searched first. Of course it was Logitech
The side with the power button is now the top. There is no ports or io on the bottom.
You’re holding it wrong!
What.
The fuck.
Is it meant to stay on forever once you set it up?
You’ll be able to fit a finger under it I bet.
In case it wasn’t a joke, I imagine it would be high enough for your finger to just poke under it to push the button, like you would a monitor with buttons on the bottom of the screen.
Doesn’t look like it is.
You’re using it wrong: Just place the whole computer upside down on your desk.
The new design seems more lifted, I think it should be fine to fit your finger below there without having to lift it up yourself. At least for most people.
But once its on why would you ever turn it off? /s
I bought my iMac in March 2020… since then it’s been powered down maybe half a dozen times (a couple of those were power cuts) and rebooted (outside of macOS updates) maybe ten times.
It just sits there reliably doing its thing and sucks little juice in power saving so 🤷🏻♂️
We used to have racks of these things for automated testing …. And eventually they stop responding, so someone needs to power cycle them. In the computer room. In a rack
I seriously don’t understand why Apple won’t make server macs, with proper server features like IPMI, rack mounting support, virtualization. As a software developer, macs are horrible to work with.
Beyond the nightmare that is code signing and certificates (required even for debug builds), the physical devices are special snowflakes. Getting them to play nicely in a CI/CD system is really difficult. They often freeze or misbehave requiring physical access to fix. Also, if you want to target older OS X or iOS versions, you need to use an older version of XCode (that Apple makes really difficult to find) and an older version of MacOS.
There are many other use cases beyond software development, such as render farms, network storage, backup etc.
This but non-sarcastically. I have a Mac mini and I don’t think I’ve ever touched the power button (except after plugging in of course, but then you’re already fiddling)
Assuming the desktop takes the same power saving techniques from their laptops, there is no real reason to turn it off.
The next 900$ monitor stand will attach the monitor at the bottom with the screen facing the desk.
You need to buy the ar/vr set to see what the screen is displaying.
At the very least, the keyboard functions for power.
There is plenty of room on the front for a power button. Should have removed the headphone jack.
Lol, lmao.
Why didn’t they put the headphone port on the back…
Or on the keyboard?
That’s horrible. I want you on my design team.
Perhaps, but for the price of those flat non-rgb or mechanical things they should either shine my shoes or provide some kind of utility, such as a headphone jack.
Or sold as a separate device that costs only a bit less that this whole pc.
It doesn’t come with one last I checked.