wow apple release new mac mini with NO quad core at any price

[jdnz]

Well, I guess one would replace the 5400rpm with an ssd, not with a 7200rpm.

if you don't mind the whole ungluing the display thing it's really easy to get to the sata drive, and you could just replace it with a generic 2.5" sata ssd in a 3.5->2.5 carrier

however I wouldn't want to be going in there whilst it's under warranty - now if only there were cheap thunderbolt external enclosures (the pegasus j4 is lovely, but US$400!!!)

[mhog]

Well, I guess one would replace the 5400rpm with an ssd, not with a 7200rpm.

if you don't mind the whole ungluing the display thing it's really easy to get to the sata drive, and you could just replace it with a generic 2.5" sata ssd in a 3.5->2.5 carrier

however I wouldn't want to be going in there whilst it's under warranty - now if only there were cheap thunderbolt external enclosures (the pegasus j4 is lovely, but US$400!!!)

Well, I would prefer to take the risk, then: I just read a direct SATA connection is faster than this Thunderbolt connection, because the Pegasus j4 hosts SATA3 drives (so their protocol has to be translated in Thunderbolt’s protocol, which involves some overhead). If there were drives which were natively Thunderbolt, this would not be the case, but such a thing does not exist at this time.

Oh, they sell front glass panels replacements on ebay, in case (glue included)

[jdnz]

Well, I would prefer to take the risk, then: I just read a direct SATA connection is faster than this Thunderbolt connection,

the J4 (and J2) can both hit 600+mb/s on thunderbolt - which is more than most ssds can pull natively on sata, so I wouldn't worry about it being a bottleneck

[mhog]

Well, I would prefer to take the risk, then: I just read a direct SATA connection is faster than this Thunderbolt connection,

the J4 (and J2) can both hit 600+mb/s on thunderbolt - which is more than most ssds can pull natively on sata, so I wouldn't worry about it being a bottleneck

Ok, but my problem is the bloody money. The J4 comes without storage, right? So, it's about 600 € (32 gb RAM) + 400€ (J4) + 340€ (Samsung SSD) + Thunderbolt cable (30€) = € 1,370,000. Instead, opening the imac and taking the risk: 600+340 = € 940.

[jdnz]

Well, I would prefer to take the risk, then: I just read a direct SATA connection is faster than this Thunderbolt connection,

the J4 (and J2) can both hit 600+mb/s on thunderbolt - which is more than most ssds can pull natively on sata, so I wouldn't worry about it being a bottleneck

Ok, but my problem is the bloody money. The J4 comes without storage, right? So, it's about 600 € (32 gb RAM) + 400€ (J4) + 340€ (Samsung SSD) + Thunderbolt cable (30€) = € 1,370,000. Instead, opening the imac and taking the risk: 600+340 = € 940.

I hate to say it, but if you're that cost driven Apple probably isn't the brand for you

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Well, I would prefer to take the risk, then: I just read a direct SATA connection is faster than this Thunderbolt connection,

the J4 (and J2) can both hit 600+mb/s on thunderbolt - which is more than most ssds can pull natively on sata, so I wouldn't worry about it being a bottleneck

Ok, but my problem is the bloody money. The J4 comes without storage, right? So, it's about 600 € (32 gb RAM) + 400€ (J4) + 340€ (Samsung SSD) + Thunderbolt cable (30€) = € 1,370,000. Instead, opening the imac and taking the risk: 600+340 = € 940.

I hate to say it, but if you're that cost driven Apple probably isn't the brand for you

indeed.

if i were looking for a desktop unit, and wanted that kind of expandability, then the mac pro is a much more attractive proposiion

[Jolaff]

Now... I have no plans to replace the Mini anytime soon. But when the day comes, I'm going to have to think seriously about something else. It's clear to me that Apple is eventually going to abandon the desktop/laptop market, except for a few high-end, ultra-expensive products that will mainly be sold to app houses for use as development systems. Maybe by then Linux will have enough of a foothold in the music software industry to make that practical.

For half the price of a mac....

What pieces buy:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/446-building- ... -2014.html

How to install OSX:
http://www.tonymacx86.com/445-unibeast- ... ed-pc.html

I built one and it's running perfectly since almost a year now and it's fully customisable.

[mhog]

Well, I would prefer to take the risk, then: I just read a direct SATA connection is faster than this Thunderbolt connection,

the J4 (and J2) can both hit 600+mb/s on thunderbolt - which is more than most ssds can pull natively on sata, so I wouldn't worry about it being a bottleneck

Ok, but my problem is the bloody money. The J4 comes without storage, right? So, it's about 600 € (32 gb RAM) + 400€ (J4) + 340€ (Samsung SSD) + Thunderbolt cable (30€) = € 1,370,000. Instead, opening the imac and taking the risk: 600+340 = € 940.

I hate to say it, but if you're that cost driven Apple probably isn't the brand for you

indeed.

if i were looking for a desktop unit, and wanted that kind of expandability, then the mac pro is a much more attractive proposiion

Conclusion: Apple products were convenient until 2012: one just bought the basic device and the rest (ram, ssd etc.) on ebay for half the price or even less. Now Apple products are instead only for rich people (imac/macbook expanded, mac pro) or for "blind mac enthusiasts" (so to speak) who think it's something "cool" or such but don't need it for particular aims. For us (not rich musicians), no way: "basic options" imacs and macbooks come with soldered components and poor in performance (4/8 gb ram, 5400 rpm hdd or only 128/256 gb ssd). Let alone the toyish mac mini. That ugly black ashtray called "mac pro" is out of the question. Not only it is so ugly, it is ultraexpensive, too. Now it's like Apple claimed: "want high performance? Sorry, our high performance devices are for rich people, just take a look at our idiotic prices (32gb ram + 1gb ssd = 1,600 €. Actual price: 600 €). But you can feel rich and cool buying our mac for the masses products". In the end I guess I'll go for a second hand 2012 mac or for a trusted hackintosh product. I don't need a status quo, I just need a working device for the next three-four years, since my core2duo starts being obsolete.

[Ciberithm]

Well, I guess one would replace the 5400rpm with an ssd, not with a 7200rpm.

if you don't mind the whole ungluing the display thing it's really easy to get to the sata drive, and you could just replace it with a generic 2.5" sata ssd in a 3.5->2.5 carrier

however I wouldn't want to be going in there whilst it's under warranty - now if only there were cheap thunderbolt external enclosures (the pegasus j4 is lovely, but US$400!!!)

Seagate makes a 3.5 inch external thunderbolt adapter for $89 on Amazon. It isn't really an enclosure - it's designed to dock their enclosed portable drives, but the bare SSD slides right on and works perfectly. It's not as pretty as a $400 dollar exposure, but it is behind my monitor and it can't normally be seen. The only downside is that there is no extra Thunderbolt port, so you can't chain to another device, but the price is hard to beat.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

Well, I would prefer to take the risk, then: I just read a direct SATA connection is faster than this Thunderbolt connection,

the J4 (and J2) can both hit 600+mb/s on thunderbolt - which is more than most ssds can pull natively on sata, so I wouldn't worry about it being a bottleneck

Ok, but my problem is the bloody money. The J4 comes without storage, right? So, it's about 600 € (32 gb RAM) + 400€ (J4) + 340€ (Samsung SSD) + Thunderbolt cable (30€) = € 1,370,000. Instead, opening the imac and taking the risk: 600+340 = € 940.

I hate to say it, but if you're that cost driven Apple probably isn't the brand for you

indeed.

if i were looking for a desktop unit, and wanted that kind of expandability, then the mac pro is a much more attractive proposiion

Conclusion: Apple products were convenient until 2012: one just bought the basic device and the rest (ram, ssd etc.) on ebay for half the price or even less. Now Apple products are instead only for rich people (imac/macbook expanded, mac pro) or for "blind mac enthusiasts" (so to speak) who think it's something "cool" or such but don't need it for particular aims. For us (not rich musicians), no way: "basic options" imacs and macbooks come with soldered components and poor in performance (4/8 gb ram, 5400 rpm hdd or only 128/256 gb ssd). Let alone the toyish mac mini. That ugly black ashtray called "mac pro" is out of the question. Not only it is so ugly, it is ultraexpensive, too. Now it's like Apple claimed: "want high performance? Sorry, our high performance devices are for rich people, just take a look at our idiotic prices (32gb ram + 1gb ssd = 1,600 €. Actual price: 600 €). But you can feel rich and cool buying our mac for the masses products". In the end I guess I'll go for a second hand 2012 mac or for a trusted hackintosh product. I don't need a status quo, I just need a working device for the next three-four years, since my core2duo starts being obsolete.

so you're a blind mac enthusiast on a tight budget ??

nearly 8 years ago, i paid 2000 for a macbook pro, core2duo, 2.33 with 2g ram, gfx with 256ram, and 100gig 7200 drive

what i can now get for 500 quid more is a mac pro, 3.7GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon E5 processor, 12GB 1866MHz DDR3 ECC memory, dual gfx cards with 2g ram each, a 256gb pci-e ssd. plus all the expansion possibilities

you still need to buy a screen, but that needn't be so expensive. however, once you factor in the inflation from the last 8 years, you can see how much more mac you get for your money these days

imac and mini are not marketed to the 'pro' market, hence your frustration in trying to mold it to your needs. the mini was clearly an anomaly, being that it could be expanded to such a point as it would be taking sales away from their more 'pro' offerings. they have now rectified that, relegating it back to family media centre/education machine (which imac also serves)

if it turns out that apple continue with this approach, then why are you buying in again ?? the next time you won't have the 2012 option. maybe it's time to go hackintosh, or pc

[mhog]

if it turns out that apple continue with this approach, then why are you buying in again ?? the next time you won't have the 2012 option. maybe it's time to go hackintosh, or pc

As I wrote before: for Logic Pro. The rest I don't mind. Unfortunately, there are no comparable Windows products. Let's say the mac is my Logic dongle, alas Now, I tried some new plugins on my core2duo macbook pro, such as Bazille and Serum, and the cpu starts "coughing" like "please leave me in peace". Nothing else. For all the rest I have windows and tablets.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

if it turns out that apple continue with this approach, then why are you buying in again ?? the next time you won't have the 2012 option. maybe it's time to go hackintosh, or pc

As I wrote before: for Logic Pro. The rest I don't mind. Unfortunatelly, there are no comparable Windows products. Let's say the mac is my Logic dongle, alas Now, I tried some new plugins on my core2duo macbook pro, such as Bazille and Serum, and the cpu starts "coughing" like "please leave me in peace". Nothing else. For all the rest I have windows and tablets.

that doesn't answer the question. i think logic is great, but if i felt like you did then i would find another daw...simples.

my point is that you are going to find yourself going through this whole thing again in a few years time, by which point all the customisable 2012 options will be long-gone. you are just avoiding the inevitable. at least with hackintosh, you get to keep using logic and you get much better bang for your buck

[mhog]

if it turns out that apple continue with this approach, then why are you buying in again ?? the next time you won't have the 2012 option. maybe it's time to go hackintosh, or pc

As I wrote before: for Logic Pro. The rest I don't mind. Unfortunatelly, there are no comparable Windows products. Let's say the mac is my Logic dongle, alas Now, I tried some new plugins on my core2duo macbook pro, such as Bazille and Serum, and the cpu starts "coughing" like "please leave me in peace". Nothing else. For all the rest I have windows and tablets.

that doesn't answer the question. i think logic is great, but if i felt like you did then i would find another daw...simples.

my point is that you are going to find yourself going through this whole thing again in a few years time, by which point all the customisable 2012 options will be long-gone. you are just avoiding the inevitable. at least with hackintosh, you get to keep using logic and you get much better bang for your buck

Of course I tried all sorts of daws and sequencers before, either multiplatform or windows only, in order to finally abandon the mac need. No way: Logic is the best daw ever, expecially regarding midi operatins, this is out of the question. If it only was multiplatform

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

if it turns out that apple continue with this approach, then why are you buying in again ?? the next time you won't have the 2012 option. maybe it's time to go hackintosh, or pc

As I wrote before: for Logic Pro. The rest I don't mind. Unfortunatelly, there are no comparable Windows products. Let's say the mac is my Logic dongle, alas Now, I tried some new plugins on my core2duo macbook pro, such as Bazille and Serum, and the cpu starts "coughing" like "please leave me in peace". Nothing else. For all the rest I have windows and tablets.

that doesn't answer the question. i think logic is great, but if i felt like you did then i would find another daw...simples.

my point is that you are going to find yourself going through this whole thing again in a few years time, by which point all the customisable 2012 options will be long-gone. you are just avoiding the inevitable. at least with hackintosh, you get to keep using logic and you get much better bang for your buck

Of course I tried all sorts of daws and sequencers before, either multiplatform or windows only, in order to finally abandon the mac need. No way: Logic is the best daw ever, this is out of the question. If it only was multiplatform

ok

[maschinelf]

I've tried in vain to get my hands on a quad core Mac mini ever since they announced the new line, but no luck. Abandoning my search now, as I had some unanticipated expenses to take care of recently.

Imac is out of the question, because I don't want to lug it around between my two rooms. Anyway, it gets too expensive with the i7 upgrade in India, and I'm not even sure it's available. I already have a non-retina macbook pro and thought the mac mini would be perfect for my intended use. The mac pro, even if i could lug it around (which I can't), is way too expensive to even consider. Which leaves the retina mbp as the only product in their lineup that could work. But there is no way I am buying another mbp right now, because I wasn't looking for a laptop, and they're not exactly cheap. Gotta hand it to them though, I think Apple still makes great laptops. But even here, as many would tend to agree, the retina variant is a step back in some important aspects. I hope they bring back quad core mac minis in the next iteration. Otherwise, goodbye Apple.