Quick Mac mini Update

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Well, I think I am a solid 10 weeks into my first ever Mac Computer, Mac mini i5 Computer with a new HP 24 inch display and new Cannon Image Class MF445DW.

As we know, after 25 years of using Windows I got sick of all the updates and problems, plus its gotten so full of stuff I dont need. Windows does everything but a master of none.

Anyway, my past posts on the subject have been good and bad regarding the New Mac mini.
First I happen to buy it just as Apple was doing its annual update and certain issues printing popped up until another updated fixed it.
I also had an issue, corrected by Apple after 3 phone calls (again, sometimes its just getting the right person) about my warranty getting registered. I bought from a certified Apple reseller and something wasn't properly entered or whatever. Its all good now.

Also, the new Canon printer had some funky things going on with it as well and it got frustrating, more or less, I had a new Computer, with new updated operating system and happened to buy a new printer that was so new the printer software itself was only weeks old.

ok, enough said, I am LOVING this Mac mini. As others pointed out, maybe my expectations were too high, no operating system is perfect. I was EXTREMELY impressed who quickly Apple answers the phone, like wow! Again, not that everyone who does knows what they are doing. *L*

With that said, I am constantly still to this day amazed at the speed of the MAC, I LOVE the simplicity of the operating system. Meaning not that its simple and cant do things but just seems so logical and professional. Not bloated with garbage,
When I turn this Mac on, too describe, I feel like I am getting in one of my sons BMWs, not my Dodge Durango or Wifes Mazda. *L*
It just feels precise. So much so, as I stated in the past and maybe more so now, I may complete the whole transition and move into the Apple world of cell phones by getting an iPhone for the first time in the almost 25 years of using cell phones.
(if I get one for Christmas *L*)
 
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I have ubuntu on my MacBook Pro and 16G ram and 254SSD. What a screaming combo. I also have a new HP with Win 10 and an old Toshiba on Win 7. Wife has a 2 year old MacBook with Apple software. Hard to keep up with all of them. The Mac/Apple is very nice stuff. I always wanted a mini but my wife was too steeped in Windows since that was required when she was teaching.
 
Originally Posted by JLTD
Once you go MAC, you never go back. I can't even begin to use a PC without cringing.


I feel the same about the Mac. Can't even use it without cringing. But if you are happy with your machine, more power to you.

I'm typing this on a 13 year old HP desktop running CloudReady, a Chromebook like OS based on the Chromium open source project. Runs great. Machine has a Core 2 Duo E6550 - 2.33 Ghz, 8GB RAM, and a traditional hard drive.
 
I think the windows 10 interface simplified a lot of complaints that people had with the windows 8 interface. At home I have a laptop running Linux Mint. It's quick, the interface is nice and simple, and it handles everything I need. At home I don't run anything windows specific that doesn't have a workaround. I appreciate how simple it is and the fact that it "just works".

Too much time having Windows and MS problems at work.
 
Meh, for the price they are charging, they are just that, meh, IMO.
What they're doing well is shipping their stuff bloatware free, where windows is usually loaded by third party junk up the wazoo.

Get a clean win10 install on similar hardware and it will run just as well.
 
Originally Posted by KrisZ
Meh, for the price they are charging, they are just that, meh, IMO.
What they're doing well is shipping their stuff bloatware free, where windows is usually loaded by third party junk up the wazoo.
Get a clean win10 install on similar hardware and it will run just as well.


Made the change when W10 came out and screwed up my laptop and am I glad I did!
Apple hardware is 1st rate and that's one of the reasons why it's more expensive.
 
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Apples hardware is a actually junk, even in their pro lineup.
Chips literally coming off of the boards due to heat, solder corroding just from humidity in the air, constantly throttling etc.

Just because they have nice aluminum chassis, doesn't mean the insides are of the same quality.

On top of this, they're fighting tooth and nail with the small repair shops and the right to repair movement.

There was a CBC spot where they took their mac pro to one of the genius bars to get it fixed. They got quoted more than the price of new macbook and all data on the laptop would be lost.

They then took ot to an independent repair shop and it turned out to be a display ribbon cable not making full contact. It was fixed in like 5 minutes.
 
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Another issue with apple, they flat out lie to their customers about ability to recover photos or data. If you're not backed up on iCloud, they will tell customers it is impossible to recover the data.

There are plenty of people on youtube alone that show they can fully or partially recover data in most cases and that apple is lying.

Not trying to sound like a hater, but what I'm trying to say be careful with any company. They all have good and bad.

Discussing both actually helps people make informed decisions.
 
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Originally Posted by KrisZ
Meh, for the price they are charging, they are just that, meh, IMO.
What they're doing well is shipping their stuff bloatware free, where windows is usually loaded by third party junk up the wazoo.

Get a clean win10 install on similar hardware and it will run just as well.



That is important. You spend over $1000 on a Mac with no 3rd party bloatware. The bloatware included on windows computers helps the manufacturer subsidize the cost of building it. A $159 acer that you can pick up at Walmart has a highly subsidized cost with bloatware and it is going to have the slowest possible mechanical hard disk that they can find. I have seen them with 4200 RPM drives, even.

At work we have older windows laptops. Even the Dell E5400s from 2008 can run Windows 10 very well with 4GB of ram and a SSD. Of course, we have done a lot of work to customize our image so there isn't even any included Windows bloatware with it.
 
Originally Posted by JLTD
Once you go MAC, you never go back. I can't even begin to use a PC without cringing.


I went back twice, and the third time seems to be the last one. They all have funny and odd behaviour when you least expect it. Add to that corporate fuzzy logic.
Macs used to be superb and superior and a joy to use. Even opening one to upgrade a drive or RAM was enjoyable experience, but that was long time ago.

Good for you, if you like it so much, it is good that it is serving your needs well. It is a bigger hindrance in my usage though.
 
Regardless of our bias, we have to be grateful to the folks who spend their money on things and give us their feedback, be it it something silly or motor oil! Thank you, alarmguy.
 
Originally Posted by Pelican
Originally Posted by KrisZ
Meh, for the price they are charging, they are just that, meh, IMO.
What they're doing well is shipping their stuff bloatware free, where windows is usually loaded by third party junk up the wazoo.
Get a clean win10 install on similar hardware and it will run just as well.


Made the change when W10 came out and screwed up my laptop and am I glad I did!
Apple hardware is 1st rate and that's one of the reasons why it's more expensive.


Yes, I agree!
After 25 years of Windows, Apple is a fresh breath of air.

Ps. to Y_K thanks for your comment, Im no different, I like and respect differing views too. I find learning exciting and have an open mind to real facts. I dont (learning not to) respond to comments based on nothing such as some others on this page, its all good!
 
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Originally Posted by Pelican
Originally Posted by KrisZ
Meh, for the price they are charging, they are just that, meh, IMO.
What they're doing well is shipping their stuff bloatware free, where windows is usually loaded by third party junk up the wazoo.
Get a clean win10 install on similar hardware and it will run just as well.


Made the change when W10 came out and screwed up my laptop and am I glad I did!
Apple hardware is 1st rate and that's one of the reasons why it's more expensive.


Yes, Windows 10 was the driving force for me to switch, had enough. I was ready for change. Priced into Apple is the whole experience and something I wanted to experience and now I wish I did it sooner in life. Also built into Apples price is they dont sell your information to the highest bidder, like anything related to google.

People think Android operating system is cheaper be it on a phone or computer, sure, its cheaper because you agree to let google sell the private information of you, your children and wife to third parties all over the world, highest bidder wins! Its a BIG business LOADED with HIGH paying jobs. So you are paying with your privacy. Google gives out free operating systems, puts you on a leash and studies you, your family and prostitutes your information.

Im in a position to pay with my wallet and dont need my or my family privacy to be sold so I can save a few hundred dollars. Geez! :eek:) Of all the money we spend in life, the difference is nothing.
The price is a bargain compared to the cost difference between a Mazda SUV and a BMW SUV. (nothing against Mazda, we own one and love it, son works for BMW so has two SUVs) IN both cases, whether computers or cars, if you can afford it, the experience is worth it and in Apples case, we are talking mere pennies.
 
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Originally Posted by KrisZ
Another issue with apple, they flat out lie to their customers about ability to recover photos or data. If you're not backed up on iCloud, they will tell customers it is impossible to recover the data.

There are plenty of people on youtube alone that show they can fully or partially recover data in most cases and that apple is lying.

Not trying to sound like a hater, but what I'm trying to say be careful with any company. They all have good and bad.

Discussing both actually helps people make informed decisions.


Without digging into the specifics of cases:

Many times when Apple claims "unrecoverable" it's due to an issue with something called the T2 chip, which has been used in new Mac models introduced/redesigned since 2018.

The T2 chip is VERY tightly integrated into the on-board storage(which is no longer removable) and provides low level encryption. Some computers have ports on the logic board that allow Apple proprietary tools(available to Apple and certified independents) to interface directly and recover data. If there are serious board issues or issues with the T2 chip, though, chances are your data is not recoverable.

This is distinct from Macs even a few years older-like the 2015 13" MBP I just bought as a "travel" computer. Up to ~2017 or so, even computers that didn't OFFICIALLY have upgradeable/removeable storage(like the MBP/MBA) have a small "blade" SSD that can actually be removed. As an example, I can pull the drive out of a 2015 MBP, fit it to a PCIe adapter card-a $10 Ebay item-stick it in my 2012 Mac Pro, and read it or recover the data off of it(provided that it's not encrypted, or if it is encrypted I have the password for it). This is not an Apple-endorsed procedure, but is something I've done before at work when someone had a computer die and needed their data(and in a few cases got to keep the nice, fast PCIe SSD as a thank you prize-my Mac Pro boots off two separate such drives). I also like this since-on the secondary market-I was to save a lot of money buying a computer with the base amount of storage(128gb) and inexpensively upgrade it to a more reasonable amount.

On the whole I don't necessarily like the use of the T2 chip combined with soldered SSDs, but it does offer an extra level of security.

Still, though, I will also add that storage is cheap these days and there are built-in solutions(Time Machine) as well as 3rd party solutions(Carbon Copy Cloner and Super Duper) that make back-ups seamless. In particular, Time Machine is very slick-especially for a desktop-as you can leave it plugged in all the time and it just silently runs in the background and makes hourly backups. Time Machine was a good idea when it was introduced in 2007, and the past 12 years haven't changed that.

Of course, I also have to put in a plug for my 2012 Mac Pro, where I dedicate one of its four built-in drive bays to a 2tb Time Machine drive and a second 4tb drive to more crude "drag and drop" back-up storage.
 
Originally Posted by KrisZ
Apples hardware is a actually junk, even in their pro lineup.
Chips literally coming off of the boards due to heat, solder corroding just from humidity in the air, constantly throttling etc.

Just because they have nice aluminum chassis, doesn't mean the insides are of the same quality.

On top of this, they're fighting tooth and nail with the small repair shops and the right to repair movement.

There was a CBC spot where they took their mac pro to one of the genius bars to get it fixed. They got quoted more than the price of new macbook and all data on the laptop would be lost.

They then took ot to an independent repair shop and it turned out to be a display ribbon cable not making full contact. It was fixed in like 5 minutes.


This is something we can debate all day, and Apple does have their failings in this area.

One important thing, though, is that they do by and large use premium components, especially CPUs. Now that the chintzy retina MacBook is gone, the entire line up end-to-end uses Core i series processors. You can't exactly compare to the $150 Wal-Mart specials using Celerons or their AMD equivalents, and the retail price(yes, I know Apple and all other manufacturers don't actually pay this) of a Core i CPU can be close to what one of the budget models runs. As an example, the 13" MacBook air in base trim, the least expensive laptop Apple sells, uses an i5-8210Y CPU. Intel lists the MSRP for this CPU as $281. The top of the line 16" MBP uses an i9-9980HK, with an MSRP of nearly $600.

Solder issues have been an industry wide problem related to the use of lead-free solder. Some of the things like GPU issues that have plagued multiple 15" and 17" MBPs(I'm using one of the few problem-free ones to type this post-a 2012 non-Retina) are a supplier issue that-again-affected all laptops using those GPUs to varying extents.

I won't argue about heat, as Johnny Ive's unhealthy obsession with thinness combined with Apple sometimes prioritizing quiet operation over adequate fan speeds can make computers-at their defaults-run on the bleeding edge of thermal performance. I use iStat Menus to monitor my system temperatures, and when things start getting toasty I will override the default fan settings and crank the fans up to full speed(6000 rpms on my main laptop). The extra noise is worth the trade-off for a cooler system. With that said, sitting here with Firefox open along with a Lightroom(a moderately "heavy" program) my temperatures are all under 60ºC and the fans are at their virtually silent "idle" speed of 2K rpms.

Apple has been guilty of prioritizing design over thermal considerations. The Cube famously omitted a fan entirely, and ran uncomfortably hot because of it(I have a few of them, and all have fans installed). In the Cube 2.0, the 2013 Mac Pro(AKA the Trash Can), Apple basically admitted a few years after the fact that they'd painted themselves into a thermal corner and couldn't upgrade the design any further.

At the same time, the first hex core i9 MBPs were known to throttle, but IIRC this was fixed with a software update. I don't recall exactly what the issue was, but I do think it was satisfactorily resolved. The computers shouldn't have been rolled out with the issue, but at least it was fixed.
 
Originally Posted by JLTD
Once you go MAC, you never go back. I can't even begin to use a PC without cringing.

Lovely screen. Good CPU's now but for years Mac's were stuck on last-last-gen Intel CPU's.

Mac Book Pro have the world's worst keyboard, chiclets. Hated every moment of it. Used a USB keyboard even on the couch. Changed jobs and SO happy to have a Thinkpad keyboard now. Actually usable for touch typing.
 
Originally Posted by HangFire
Originally Posted by JLTD
Once you go MAC, you never go back. I can't even begin to use a PC without cringing.

Lovely screen. Good CPU's now but for years Mac's were stuck on last-last-gen Intel CPU's.

Mac Book Pro have the world's worst keyboard, chiclets. Hated every moment of it. Used a USB keyboard even on the couch. Changed jobs and SO happy to have a Thinkpad keyboard now. Actually usable for touch typing.


I actually love the chiclet/butterfly keyboard, but I can see why others would hate it.
 
Originally Posted by HangFire

Mac Book Pro have the world's worst keyboard, chiclets. Hated every moment of it. Used a USB keyboard even on the couch. Changed jobs and SO happy to have a Thinkpad keyboard now. Actually usable for touch typing.


I will admit to being a bit of a keyboard snob, and actually a buckling spring Unicomp Spacesaver M on my work Mac Pro(1,1). My MP 5,1 at home has an Apple Extended Keyboard(Alps switches) connected via a Griffin iMate(ADB-USB). I'd like to get another Spaceaver M to use on it.

I actually don't terribly mind the original scissor-type chicklet as used on 2008~2015 MacBook Pros. It's not my favorite laptop keyboard I've ever used(the Titanium PowerBook and 12" PowerBook might get those titles, along with some of the old 100 series PowerBooks, but that's a different topic) but is respectable. It has a decent amount of travel and is crisp enough for me to get good feedback from it. I actually have some worn-through keycaps on a since-replaced keyboard on my 2012 MBP, something that takes a fair bit of typing to do, so I do think it's fair to say that I have put some mileage on the keyboard design. Weirdly enough, I've actually consistently found the 17" models to have the most crisp keys.

I find the butterfly, first introduced in the Retina MacBook and since migrated to almost all other laptops, terrible. It has so little travel that I often find myself uncomfortably bottoming the keys out. They also definitely feel "mushy" to me. I admit to not having a ton of typing time on them, but I don't hear a lot of complements from others on them.

I do think though that Apple has finally admitted defeat on that keyboard, as the new 16" has gone back to scissors. Playing with one in the store the other day, it still didn't have as much travel as I like, but is a big improvement both in feel and travel as compared to the 13"(with butterflys) that was sitting next to it at the store.
 
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