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Other Apple Announces Mac Mini Refresh

ondert

ondert

Airflow Optimizer
Apr 16, 2017
345
163
You know what? I really really liked this Mac Mini, because it is the most user-upgradable system for now. You may put your own ram, 65w i7 version looks promising (hope it can cool it down well), you can pick your own peripherals and monitor (5k iMac is great but when the time comes people will sell it because of the old hardware inside of it although it has a great screen.). Also, you can connect this to any AMD Polaris & Vega eGPU you want. That is great. I have an 5k iMac now but for the future I might pass to this system. You can combine this little thing with a Gigabyte Gaming Box and at total you'll get a 4.5 liters super nice macOS system.
 
A

all-in

Average Stuffer
Feb 20, 2017
57
23
Also if you prefer 21:9 over the 16:9 of the imac 5K, the just available LG 34wk95u (5K minus the upper 1/4, can’t be driven by “mere” 4K machines) would be the perfect companion for this 5K capable Mini...at 5120x2160, this is the first ultrawide ever that can give you a vertical real estate of 1080 when in HiDPI mode in macOS...and the new Mini is the first headless Mac desktop that can drive it (single tb3 cable) even without an eGPU...funny that they became available at the same time, a retina5K-ultrawide-macOS perfect storm..
 
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Boil

Boil

SFF Guru
Nov 11, 2015
1,253
1,094
GuilleAcoustic said:
Am I the only one that worries for the surrounding components ? It must be hot as hell inside, even the chassis might be hot. SSD and memory modules won't live a long life if it runs likes that for too long.

I'm also worried for use in summer at this point...
Click to expand...

It's designed for you to warm your coffee on, which also assists in pulling heat from the chassis...

VegetableStu said:
hmm, tophat mod to open up the lids and place a fan on it...
Click to expand...

Remember, the logic board is inverted once you flip the SG mini right side up, so a fan up top would just be either pulling or pushing against the backside of the board...

And I don't think I would want to cut into that chassis...

all-in said:
- RAM is free floating at an angle over the CPU, within an airy cage
Click to expand...

Actually, it's hanging under the CPU, since the logic board is inverted once you flip the SG mini right side up...

ondert said:
You know what? I really really liked this Mac Mini, because it is the most user-upgradable system for now. You may put your own ram, 65w i7 version looks promising (hope it can cool it down well), you can pick your own peripherals and monitor (5k iMac is great but when the time comes people will sell it because of the old hardware inside of it although it has a great screen.). Also, you can connect this to any AMD Polaris & Vega eGPU you want. That is great. I have an 5k iMac now but for the future I might pass to this system. You can combine this little thing with a Gigabyte Gaming Box and at total you'll get a 4.5 liters super nice macOS system.
Click to expand...

https://www.sonnettech.com/product/egfx-breakaway-puck.html

Only RX560s & RX570s (both 4GB) though, no 8GB RX580...

all-in said:
Also if you prefer 21:9 over the 16:9 of the imac 5K, the just available LG 34wk95u (5K minus the upper 1/4, can’t be driven by “mere” 4K machines) would be the perfect companion for this 5K capable Mini...at 5120x2160, this is the first ultrawide ever that can give you a vertical real estate of 1080 when in HiDPI mode in macOS...and the new Mini is the first headless Mac desktop that can drive it (single tb3 cable) even without an eGPU...funny that they became available at the same time, a retina5K-ultrawide-macOS perfect storm..
Click to expand...

But does it offer a webcam, mic & speakers for FaceTime...? ;^p
 
Thauner

Thauner

Average Stuffer
Oct 5, 2017
63
26
Love the design and the idea, but this can't cool the i5 and the i7 cpu enough. At least I don't believe it!

I have the i7 8700 cpu in my streacom (Mac mini ish design) case. I have not been apple to find a solution to keep a lit on the case without alot of holes.
I even delid and made a little undervolt.

Anyone that can tell how this Mac mini is gonna work? Cuz then I want my original top on my pc too :D
 
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VegetableStu

VegetableStu

Shrink Ray Wielder
Original poster
Aug 18, 2016
1,949
2,619
Boil said:
Remember, the logic board is inverted once you flip the SG mini right side up, so a fan up top would just be either pulling or pushing against the backside of the board...

And I don't think I would want to cut into that chassis...
Click to expand...
oh no, i meant placing the mac mini upside down o_o with the access side up
 
A

all-in

Average Stuffer
Feb 20, 2017
57
23
Thauner said:
Love the design and the idea, but this can't cool the i5 and the i7 cpu enough. At least I don't believe it!

I have the i7 8700 cpu in my streacom (Mac mini ish design) case. I have not been apple to find a solution to keep a lit on the case without alot of holes.
I even delid and made a little undervolt.

Anyone that can tell how this Mac mini is gonna work? Cuz then I want my original top on my pc too :D
Click to expand...

CPU is a BGA variant so maybe not exactly comparable.
Also the motherboard is based on mobile workstation chipset Intel CM246, apparently.
Also -ish doesn’t say much, probably cooling is different.

VegetableStu said:
oh no, i meant placing the mac mini upside down o_o with the access side up
Click to expand...

Only mod I would do is bare Mini + bare eGPU board + tb3 drives aplenty within a Powermac G5 or MacPro case...
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thauner

Thauner

Average Stuffer
Oct 5, 2017
63
26
all-in said:
CPU is a BGA variant so maybe not exactly comparable.
Also the motherboard is based on mobile workstation chipset Intel CM246, apparently.
Also -ish doesn’t say much, probably cooling is different.
Click to expand...

This was new to me :)
- Do you or anyone know the difference from BGA to normal?

I know my "ish" is not the same as their case. Sizes are pretty close tho, so any cooling solutions is very limited. And thats why i ask in the first place - I would love some new options to test with my mini case.
 
ondert

ondert

Airflow Optimizer
Apr 16, 2017
345
163
Thauner said:
This was new to me :)
- Do you or anyone know the difference from BGA to normal?

I know my "ish" is not the same as their case. Sizes are pretty close tho, so any cooling solutions is very limited. And thats why i ask in the first place - I would love some new options to test with my mini case.
Click to expand...

This is a bga cpu. You may think it is already delidded and embedded.

 
H

Howdy

Chassis Packer
Mar 30, 2018
16
9
Hey All! I just picked up the 8700b i7 so just let me know if there's any questions you have about it. Gonna open it up to upgrade the ram in the next couple of weeks.

My guess is that I'll have a similar experience working in single threaded applications such as after effects compared to my 8700k PC build. Also really excited to test acoustics as it'd be nice to have it in the same room while recording audio which is unfortunately near impossible with my current pc build.
 
Boil

Boil

SFF Guru
Nov 11, 2015
1,253
1,094
Howdy said:
Hey All! I just picked up the 8700b i7 so just let me know if there's any questions you have about it. Gonna open it up to upgrade the ram in the next couple of weeks.

My guess is that I'll have a similar experience working in single threaded applications such as after effects compared to my 8700k PC build. Also really excited to test acoustics as it'd be nice to have it in the same room while recording audio which is unfortunately near impossible with my current pc build.
Click to expand...

You should replace the thermal paste with some nice Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut while you have it opened up...
 
parlinone

parlinone

Trash Compacter
Nov 3, 2017
54
19
This is an awesome small yet powerful machine but like others have said the RAM and SSD upgrades are hard to swallow. I think pricing would've been somewhat more reasonable if it started with 256 GB around $750 and topped out around $3750 for the maxed out model.