The Mac Mini, coming soon
Apple’s event wasn’t just about the iPad Pro. In fact, it started out with a discussion about the Mac. I was most excited about the least exciting machine, the Mac Mini. No screen, no Face ID, no Apple Pencils, nothing of that sort. Nope, just a small, portable, (somewhat) affordable little Mac. Perfect for building iOS apps with a distributed system, controlling your house, or perhaps controlling the lighting and sound at your next gig.
If you just want an entry point into the Mac ecosystem it’s the perfect way to play with a Mac without breaking your bank account. The Mac Mini has always been a secretly exciting little machine, the first adventure PC users have switching to macOS, a machine that makes iOS and macOS apps, and tests them too! Okay, maybe that’s not exciting for you, but to me, it’s the best little appliance Apple makes.
The new Mac Mini looks a lot like the old one. However, it has improved internals, improved cooling, and new ports. Furthermore, you can get it in space gray now.
Miniature Powerhouse
The old Mac Mini was a bit of a joke by 2018. 2014 hardware, ridiculously high price for what you were getting. However, Apple has finally given us what we want, a new, faster, more powerful Mac Mini. A Mac Mini for the modern age.
Apple’s 2018 Mac Mini is completely new on the inside, not just a quick spec bump. The new configuration can be a whopping 500% faster than the old one. The lowest configuration comes with a processor that starts as a 3.6GHz quad-core Intel Core i3. That configuration also comes with 8GB of memory and 128GB of storage and costs $799.00.
Memory and storage specs for the Mac Mini. Faster in every way
But the configuration worth geeking out about is a little bit more expensive. Upgrade to the 3.2GHz 6-core Intel Core i7 with 4.6GHz Turbo Boost, an extreme 64GB of RAM, 2TB of SSD storage, and 10 Gigabit Ethernet for reduced latency, the Mac Mini could cost as much as $4,199. Most of that is in the cost of the storage. Dropping down to a more reasonable 512GB of storage, and we’re talking about $2,999.
For me, for a simple app development machine, a $2,199 machine could easily build multiple versions of the same app on the same machine, testing them along the way. It’s pro performance on a budget, but it’s a little expensive for a build machine. I could build something comparable that runs Linux for a few hundred dollars less. However, it wouldn’t be as easy to set up or maintain. Not difficult, just not as easy. It also would be about the size as your average desktop. You could fit numerous Mac Minis in that space. Power per inch, the Mac Mini cannot be beaten.
Ports
What’s in a port? Well, it’s a huge problem on some computers that don’t have the right ports. The MacBook, for example, has only one USB-C port, and it can become a hassle. In a situation where you’d build a server rack of Mac Minis, a bunch of dongles would be unbearable. It might not even fit in a server rack.
The Mac Mini won’t have that problem. It has ethernet, four Thunderbolt 3 ports (USB-C), an HDMI port, and two USB 3 ports. It even has a 3.5mm headphone jack. Thank goodness Apple hasn’t started getting rid of those from the Mac lineup yet.
Mac Mini Maximized
The Mac Mini is more capable than ever. It’s perfect for developers, anyone who needs a Mac server, would-be switchers, musicians who need a computer on the road, or anyone with a large house that needs automation. Maybe it’s a niche machine, but, for many, it’s the perfect little computer.