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The Apple Mac event 2018 was a highligths catch-up session, decision-making.
The MacBook Air 2017, which was essentially more in line with a 2015 laptop, saw almost all its aspects begin in 2018 in a new mega MacBook Air completely revised. Ditto for the long neglected Mac mini: with this update, Apple was accelerating the essence of its four-year business.
The Mac mini has not seen any major update for so long (2014!) That many Mac observers had assumed that Apple's smallest computer would slowly die from neglect. But not so. This revision of the Mac mini does not seem as radical outside as the MacBook Air's brutal reboot (it only appears in gray and looks a lot like its predecessor), but an oversized component upgrade is widespread. Let's dig in
What's inside the new Mac Mini?
More basic power (and more kernel) is the big story here. At this time of traditional eight-core / 16-core processors like the Intel Core i9-9900K processor, the number of cores / threads on desktops is not unusual. I would not call the raw numbers on the 2018 Mac mini enough this, but a minimum of four hearts (in a skinny Core i3 SKU that I suspect most mini-loyalists will bypass the six-core beef) and the possibility of bouncing it is very promising for a machine of this size.
Apple has not specified whether any of the new chips (four-core or hex-core) support hyper-threading, but relying on assertions ranging up to the point of time. to "5 times better", I will hazard some, if not all, support thread doubling technology.
In some of the demos I witnessed, the basic power was full screen. Apple's Logic Pro X According to one of my interlocutors, the music creation software is among the most evolutionary Apple software to use all available cores. He manages a song of more than 100 tracks of Beck with aplomb.
Of course, it was a six-core model that allowed for optimal handling on the fly. In addition, some of Intel's latest additions to its new generation processors include specialized optimizations for video encoding. Apple therefore claims, in some cases, considerable gains for conversion tasks such as HEVC coding. Fear this until the new silicon.
A surprise, and a bit disappointing, is the widespread trust in the Mac mini on Intel's integrated graphics. Macs from top to bottom rely on the Intel UHD Graphics 630 for their video acceleration. Now, for basic display needs, it's a very powerful solution. It will power up to three 4K monitors (two on Thunderbolt 3 and one on HDMI 2.0), or a 5K panel (on Thunderbolt 3) and a 4K (on HDMI). But for applications that benefit from graphical silicon dedicated to performance accelerated by the graphics processor, or for Mac games, Intel UHD no matter what is not a power station.
That said, Mac mini Thunderbolt 3 ports support external graphics cards, or eGPUs, so that the potential for improvement is present. But I was rather expecting to see an implementation of some kind of AMD Radeon RX graphics, at least optional on a higher SKU, as with the MacBook Pro. If a Mac laptop can do it, I'd expect it to be its last powerful desktop computer, too. In addition, you can set up a Mac mini at $ 4,199. (That's what I did for fun.) This gives you a six-core Core i7, 64 GB RAM, a 2 TB SSD and a 10 gigabit Ethernet network.) Pay as much for a computer with built-in graphics –integrated graphics! –seems wildly ridiculous.
Beyond the ramping up of the processor and decisions related to graphics acceleration, the Mac mini now boasts a 2666 MHz RAM. The standard add-on is 8 GB, expandable at the time of purchase to 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB, the latter constituting a new ceiling for the Mac mini and a presumptive advantage for converters, demanding musicians and editors of media.
An Apple representative I spoke to said that the RAM was technically not intended to be upgraded by the user, but that Apple was implementing it here as a SO-DIMM, that is to say, not welded. It is therefore conceivable that suspicious aftermarket secondary market vendors, such as OWC or Crucial, sell kits and instructions that allow daring users to solve the problem and increase RAM memory. need it later. (The memory itself is DDR4.)
Storage loading
This is an interesting aspect of the 2018 Mac mini. First, Apple went full SSD. You can not get an additional 2.5-inch internal tray drive, which marks our farewells to the long-standing merger of the Apple Fusion Drive, its combined tablet and flash solution available in the latest Mac mini review .
I'm supportive of the 100% Flash approach, especially since there is more port connectivity than enough to drop an external tray drive on the unit for additional storage, as well as the rear panel connection technologies of the Mini (USB 3, Thunderbolt 3). ) are powerful quickly. In addition, Apple has moved internal SSDs, like its latest laptops, to the faster PCI Express bus, supplanting the Serial ATA.
Storage can not be upgraded by the user. Therefore, you will want to buy the capacity you need at the time of purchase or resign yourself to external add-ons. The basic Mac mini model starts at $ 799 and offers a four-core Core i3 and a rather modest 128GB storage, while the $ 1099 model is a six-core Core i5 and a 256GB SSD. SSD drive consumption at the time of purchase reaches 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB or 2 TB. (But they are expensive.)
Connectivity: key points
Many things have changed on the connectivity front, in my eyes for the better. You have the option to support the gigabit Ethernet standard, with 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 Gb) highly disturbed as a configuration option. Indeed, Apple presented Final Cut Pro rendering with stacked Mac mini computers, acting as mini-rendering farms, connected to their respective networks via 10 Gb interfaces. The ability to put several Mac minis online for demanding rendering tasks brings a whole new face to what a team equipped with these machines can do on the fly.
In addition to the Ethernet enhancements, you have four Thunderbolt 3 / USB Type-C ports, as well as two USB Type-A ports (probably reserved for working devices such as a keyboard and a mouse), and two USB ports. an HDMI output. Note the lack of conventional DVI or DisplayPort video outputs; you will use HDMI, Thunderbolt 3, or a dongle or two.
A nice detail for those trying to maintain minimalist workspaces? Note the power connector on the left. This leads to a straight AC power cable, with no power brick online. Apple has managed to integrate the power of this machine into the chassis itself, which, given its size, is an achievement in itself and will be overlooked by most buyers.
Around the edges: Thermals and More
One of my first questions about these little Minis was how Apple handled processors whose core had been drained of its core in terms of cooling. It's still an active cooling system, but this one, even when I've watched several mini's doing their homework, including difficult rendering tasks, has gone off very quietly. I also wondered how Apple could solve this problem without a litany of ventilation grills on the sides.
If you flip the Mac mini, you will notice a plastic disk that serves as its base. By removing it, you should have access to a hatch that leads to the internal elements. (In my demo, Apple said this verboten, but give us the chance …) Around the perimeter of the disc is a space that allows air to circulate freely. I did not notice a puff of air on the edges of the Mini while she was recoiling, but Apple assured us that there was an active fan directed at the heart of the silicon.
Here at PCMag, we expect to have our mittens on one of the Mac mini SKUs in the near future. Stay tuned for a complete review of the machine.
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