2020 Mac Mini or wait for ARM?

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

I notice the new mini has only two TB3 and two USB3 ports. They might have picked up on the problems many of us have with utilizing the four TB ports on the 2018 causing wireless interference.
But only two TB ports? hmm.

The next question is that two ports on one Thunderbolt bus or on two busses?

They are no longer using Intel Alpine Ridge type Thunderbolt chips and have moved Thunderbolt (and presumably the full USB4 for the USB-C/thunderbolt ports and USB 3/3.1 Gen 1 for the USB-A ports) onto the SOC. I suspect it's likely that this first generation silicon only has a single Thunderbolt port and both ports are on the same bus.

[drumzalicious]

I’m skeptical of the new MM working with the Apple Silicon. I just picked up a 2020 MM today and will upgrade the ram to 32 gigs in a couple of days. I’m going to put the rig through it’s paces for a week and if it’s solid I’ll keep it if not I’ll return it.

So to answer your question I’d wait. No way I’d do for profit work and be a scapegoat. Maybe a M1 machine as your personal ?

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by drumzalicious

I’m skeptical of the new MM working with the Apple Silicon. I just picked up a 2020 MM today and will upgrade the ram to 32 gigs in a couple of days. I’m going to put the rig through it’s paces for a week and if it’s solid I’ll keep it if not I’ll return it.

So to answer your question I’d wait. No way I’d do for profit work and be a scapegoat. Maybe a M1 machine as your personal ?

So, you're skeptical of the M1.
OK. Why? You don't bring much to the table here.


Good luck with the MM.
(By the way, there's no such thing as a MM2020. The model was made in 2018. So it's a "Late2018".

[Obsidian Dragon]

This statement is interesting:

"Run powerful apps built for M1. All your existing apps work thanks to Rosetta 2. And for the first time, you can use your favorite iPhone and iPad apps directly on macOS Big Sur. Altogether you’ll have access to the biggest collection of apps ever for Mac."

Notice the second sentence, "All your existing apps work thanks to Rosetta 2."

I am skeptical but wouldn't it be interesting if Protools ran on the M1 and Big Sur right out of the box. I know Avid will take months or more to test and certify it, but there are some of us brave souls that will try it anyways.

The other question is if the Mac Mini with the M1 processor is upgradable for RAM or SSD. Again I suspect these to be soldered in and not user upgradable but since Apple's last generation Mac mini allowed RAM upgrades, there is still hope.

[Darryl Ramm]

Originally Posted by Obsidian Dragon

Again I suspect these to be soldered in and not user upgradable but since Apple's last generation Mac mini allowed RAM upgrades, there is still hope.

The 16 GB memory in two chips is packaged onto the M1 chip carrier in these new Macs. I suspected it from the descriptions Apple mentioned but had missed they made it clear in an image on their website, which I attach here. It won't be user upgradeable. Whether the M1 could support larger DRAM chips in future I have no idea. Could the whole chip carrier assembly be socketed on a Mac Mini?... very very unlikely... it will be a ball grid array package for the laptops and I doubt they would spin a custom socketed version for the Mini.. and the photos/illustrations don't show any obvious socket hardware.

Screen Shot 2020-11-10 at 5.30.26 PM.jpg

[musicman691]

When I see statements like soldered in and not user upgradeable does anyone remember years back when end users added extra ram to their HP 48 calculators?

[Obsidian Dragon]

Never did a calculator, but I remember inserting individual DRAM chips onto and AST Six Pack Plus memory expansion card into my IBM PC with an Intel 8088 processor. I miss those days. It was a fun hobby then.

[TimothyJohn]

Now that they're out, I will be looking at both these and anything on the refurb store. Any recommendations? Need to replace i7 17" laptop. Two internal SSD's 1gb each. I need to factor in UA sharc processor somehow. I run 8 I/O through a scarlet interface 18i20. HAS to be mobile, cos I travel quite a bit; obviously not with my 18i20. Im REALLY concerned about HEAT, throttling and fan noise. (isn't everyone?) Plus the obvious need to change my 18i20 over. Is the 16" 6 core my best bet? Usually around 2200-2400, depending on ram. If I wasn't as nervous as many others, and if it had more than two TB ports, the ARM 13" MacBook Pro would be tempting. 16g of RAM and 2tb ssd is $2119.

Thanks ahead of time!!

I might get the ARM mini for my wife. Also very price friendly. $1599 for 16gb and 2tb ssd...Her iMac needs replacing as well. But once the new ones hit, often the refurb market opens up a bit, with price drops...

[@tention]

Originally Posted by Darryl Ramm

The 16 GB memory in two chips is packaged onto the M1 chip carrier in these new Macs. I suspected it from the descriptions Apple mentioned but had missed they made it clear in an image on their website, which I attach here. It won't be user upgradeable. Whether the M1 could support larger DRAM chips in future I have no idea. Could the whole chip carrier assembly be socketed on a Mac Mini?... very very unlikely... it will be a ball grid array package for the laptops and I doubt they would spin a custom socketed version for the Mini.. and the photos/illustrations don't show any obvious socket hardware.

Attachment 13665

I listened to a tech podcast from heise.de. They clarified that the RAM is built into the M1 processor chip. Since Apple ship M1 with 8 or 16 GB this is the absolute upper limit for this first generation of Macs. So for most audio use cases they are not very interesting.

[Southsidemusic]

Anyone else MISS Steve Jobs after watching Tim Cook rambling on about people ”Pushing the boundaries” and Pushing the ”Limits” of their Apple products Hahaha

I bet PC users also do that and maybe even more ...

Geez I was all Fired Up about the ”One More Thing” last night but that was just bla bla bla to me. It feels more like a Infomercial than an Event from Tim.

Look ... Over here instead of over there typ thing.
https://macworld.idg.se/2.1038/1.742...ns-apple-event


Anyone else felt this or is it just us Swedes who see right thru that mumbojumbo?

And IF someone has a good explanation of WTF Apple released the 7.1 Macs with Intel processors soo close to the new ARM versions I would be happy!!!! We just spent over 55K on 2X 7.1 Mac Pro’s just this year and they will be vaporware as soon as the new Macs come out ...

Never ever ever thought I of all people would say this but these Apple Apples are starting to ROT IMNSHO anw PC starts looking better and better each new BS event from Apple. If TB3 and onwards gets the PC love we are gonna buy the fastest PC on the market and start trying it out for a move come next year or so.

And we do have our older 6.1 12 core MINT Macs 64TB Ram and 4TB drives inside for sale now so if anyone wanna make a deal let me know