M4 Mac Mini Power Button Has New Bottom Location
M4 Mac Mini Power Button Has New Bottom Location
This is ridiclous
326 comments
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Don't worry, there will be suitable USB accessories available for this.
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Does macOS respond to external keyboard power button presses because if so this could very well be as easy money-making real product
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Just like a Raspberry Pi needs a dongle for a power button, except the Mini has one already.
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Part of the new Apple power bottom design strategy.
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Apple is finally appealing to my interests
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Hello.
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Yes, and if you complain to much they’ll put the power input on the bottom too next year.
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okay, I was gonna say that it’s not that big of a deal because you can just slightly lift it when you want to turn it on (or just slide your finder under it, if they’re small enough) but judging by that photo, it seems like the power button is at the back of the computer? whyyyy??
anyways, im more impressed by the fact that their new shiny mouse who finally uses USB-C still has the charging port at the bottom. im starting to think they think it’s a good design???
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I read someone else musing that they must have thought that keeping it plugged in all the time would be bad, so the made it impossible to use the mouse while plugged in. Seems plausible. I suppose it would degrade the battery? Or the cord drag would be bad?
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On the battery, they should have been able to do whatever they thought best in the battery management system, in that case.
Simple answer is easiest, that they are obsessed with the "clean" minimalist look and want to abolish every visible port and buttin they can.
Surprised though that the mouse didn't do the magsafe thing.
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I just think it’s weird that people are complaining about the power button and the mouse charging situation, but no one is complaining that this DESKTOP computer does not have any USB-A ports. If you want to use any wired keyboard or a Logitech mouse with the adapter you’ll need to attach a dongle. Crazy.
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I'm not an Apple fanboy, nor have I ever purchased one of their products (and I don't plan to), but I'm actually fine with this because there are lots of USB-C mice and keyboards on the market these days in every price range. At the very most, you might have to buy a different cable because the ones I've bought tend to come with USB-C to USB-A cables instead of C to C. But eventually that will change as USB-A is inevitably phased out.
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USB-C has been out for years. The only issue IMO is that since USB-C negotiates power delivery, it might not be as easy to split out a USB-C port into multiple USB-C ports. Spitting USB-A ports is easy since they only do 5V, and spitting USB-C into multiple USB-A ports should be fine. But if your peripherals all become USB-C, you might find yourself running out of ports fast.
I am not an expert. I probably got something wrong there, but that’s my understanding.
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My theory is: free publicity. Just like the fashion industry comes up with ridiculous clothes that no one would ever wear, attention whores will constantly do outrageous things so that people will talk about them. The number of electrons spilled over this stupid mouse port placement over the years is uncountable. But the repeated conversations keep Apple in the public consciousness as a fashionista.
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I think it’s more just their minimal design combined with the fact that a normal user will never press the power button. Most people don’t shut down their computers, and if they do, a key on the keyboard turns it on.
The only argument I’ve seen to this being bad is in a server rack environment.
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Apple doesn't want people using the mouse with the cable attached because it would cost them a fortune due to failed charging ports within the warranty period. It's a wireless mouse. Using it plugged in will fuck it up.
I fix computers and an apple mouse with a bad charge port is just a throwaway.
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Wait, WHAT?
They put the powerbutton on the underside?
For fuck sake Apple...
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Uh how often are you having to power on your Mac mini? I think mines been off like twice last year.
Having the power switch away from where I often blindly poke around to plug cables in, sounds like a good choice.
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After seeing the mouse with ports on the bottom. I'm convinced that there's a disgruntled designer on their team and this is a cry for help.
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Apple insider are already framing this as not a design flaw but an advantage somehow
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it opens up a whole new surface for things. Soon there will be a dozen USB C ports on the bottom and you'll need to buy special apple right angle cables to access them that they charge $30 per 1m cable.
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Trust us. We're THE design company!
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Yeah.. I used to sell Apple gear.
When Apple announced the Mighty mouse 20 years ago, everyone was super excited. There wasn't much info, and we were almost wondering if it was a touch sensitive button on it.
What we got though was a mouse which gave you RSI any time you clicked the right button.
Now, I have a Mac Studio. Every PC has the power button on the top or front. This guy? Nah, lets put it on the back! And the M2 is a professional machine, so lets ship with 8GB ram only.. And MAKE IT SHARED VIDEO MEMORY!
And lets stick an ARM chip with no raytracing on it, because thats what people crave
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It is convenient when you don't hit that button accidentally, only by lifting the thing up.
Seems consistent with the Apple justification of "ape users shouldn't be physically able to do something stupid, then they won't blame the computer".
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design consistent with the Magic Mouse
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I can't wait for Apple to reveal a desk, with a keyboard built-in underneath the back side of it.
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It would be an electric standig desk as well, battery powered obviously, and you would need to flip the table top 90 degrees up sideways to recharge the battery every other month.
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People would sleep outside to get their hands on it ASAP.
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So many people referring to using the button to turn the computer off, but more than 95% of the time, you use the OS to turn a computer off. It’s only when there’s a malfunction you would need to turn it off with a hardware button.
This button is primarily for turning the computer on.
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Sure but you still need to turn it on though?
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Not even 0.5% of the time you're interacting with the computer would you even think about the power button. Maybe in the first week because "lawl it's on the bottom, Apple so stoopid." Then you'd just get used to poking under the bottom of the computer and it turns on.
IMO this is infinitely better than on the back like the old Mac mini. My mini is behind my headphone amp, and under a monitor so any time I need to hit the power button it's a LONG awkward reach.
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Well like a lover you must reach behind and underneath to turn them on!
...I seriously do not like Apples design language that basically requires me to fondle unseeable parts of the computer to find the power button. Too much risk of spiders back there!
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Too much risk of spiders back there!
Found the Australian.
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I turn off my computer everyday maybe I'm one of those crazy ones. I think they did that so people would be discouraged to turn it off. They want the users to use their new AI feature. My other thinking is marketing if people talk about your product that's probably a good thing.
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Can't listen in if the computer is turned off!
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A short press of the power button shuts down almost any computer in existence, why would you use the OS?
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You raise a good point
Honestly for me it's muscle memory from the Windows 95 days of "it is now safe to turn off your computer" but I also don't trust the OS to correctly interpret the ACPI signal sent by the power button 100% of the time. Obviously I'm not an average user, but I could see where an average user might consistently single press the power button to turn off a computer
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Introducing the new Apple Power Bottom.
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Nice pfp
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As someone who has to use heavy/taped-on little toys to cover the power buttons on my PCs or else my cat invariably opens a shutdown dialog in the middle of something… Thank you.
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I don't know how to windows, but in Linux I just disable the power button on my laptop. Long press still works, this was to avoid accidentally putting the laptop to sleep when accidentally pressing the power button
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You can set the power button in Windows to either, do nothing, make the computer sleep, hibernate the computer, shut down, or turn off the display.
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Don't you have to hold the power button in to force to shut down?
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Yes, but even pushing it will bring up a prompt, which is annoying. And also my cat has held it down long enough to force a shutdown on my media server before, as well as on my wife’s PC during Overwatch.
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And you can disable it in the options.
At least in Windows.
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Why can't they put the power button on the front where it belongs. It's already stupid that they put it on the back, putting it on the bottom is downright idiotic. If they don't want to mess up the oh so important Apple aesthetic just make it an invisible touch button or something. Apple hates usability.
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Desktop macs (not tower macs) has had the powerbutton on the back for decades, it's fine, bottom is shit though....
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Back is already bullshit. We have a few trashcan mac pros at work and usually they’re just turned so all the cables stick out towards the user because then you can easily reach the power button. Which makes it look worse than just having a power button in an accessible place aka the front or the top in the first place.
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You realize how ironic your suggestion is right ?
invisible touch button [...] hates usability.
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I'm not going to get a mac anytime soon, but at least it would stop my cat from powering down everything spontaneously
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So they created more vertical space on the case, which would be a perfect spot for a power button - or even more ports… and then didn’t use it.
True to form, if I’m honest.
That aside, I love that they’re getting rid of the idiotic 8GB baseline spec.
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When Think Different turns into differently stupid.
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Stupid Differently. Apple’s new slogan.
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Dare to be Stupid?
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Apparently there is a button on the keyboard, so you get to buy an Apple keyboard (I guess that is bundled?) and don't get to use your own keyboard with it.
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Doesn't look like it, or at least, they've not included one before (you just got a power cord), so it's doubtful they would start including one now. Either that, or they're about to release a power-button/TouchID dongle specifically to use as a separate power switch.
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We went full circle.
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Like a Windows key?
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Apple is powered by the copium of their fanbase, so maybe the next model won't even need a power cable.
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It'll still NEED a power cable, it just won't COME with one.
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YOU won't need one because you'll already HAVE one from the last Mac Mini you bought last year.
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Oh an Apple thread. More people angry at something they were never going to buy anyway.
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I thought it was satire at first, because the magic mouse has a charging port on the bottom making it unusable when charging
Turns out its not 🤡
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Yeah, I used one of those and it made no sense. My Logitech MX Master has it on the front and works perfectly with my work Mac. Sometimes obvious design choices should be followed...
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if it didn't make us angry, and INFLUENCE OTHER BUSINESSES TO DO THE SAME REPUGNANT SHIT, we'd be buying it.
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I guess I'll be the exception as someone who does have a macmini because it is the best priced mini pc that can't be beat, and will likely get the base model for this too for the same reason.
But I still would prefer a power button in the front.
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I'm not angry. I'm just confused.
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Gotta get the Apple haters to be their #1 advertisers for free.
Keep it up people. Apple did almost nothing to advertise this computer. You're the advertisement.
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Please don't ever turn your computer off, it makes it really hard to spy on you. Thanks -Apple
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Looking forward to see the 3D prints made to fix this "feature".
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Can you just flip it over and leave it upside down? Cause I certainly would.
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Same. Ridiculous design decision and I would either leave it on its side or upside down.
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A 3d printed dock with a nub underneath, so you just push the whole thing down and it hits the button.
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Go on facebook/craigslist etc, go get some free pianos.
Use key / hammer assembly to fit into custom dock.
Sell on etsy
Profit?!
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At least it does mean your cat can never turn off your pc ever again with this
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Computer so tiny cat knocks it off the desk instead
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I just stuck a Belgium post WW2 MP helmet on mine, pretty effective at keeping my power button safe. Just like how judging frok the dent it kept some Belgian from getting their head caved in by a beer bottle.
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I had to check if this was an Onion article...
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What is the
<-->port for? HTML? I thought that was port 80 or 443...-
Html doesn't use any port, that's HTTP
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I only program in HTTPS
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It's a joke, note the conflation of port (physical connector) and port (one of 65536 virtual TCP/UDP pathways for applications). Also, HTTP(S) (port 80 or 443 by default) is literally "Hypertext Transfer Protocol" so it's fair to say it was designed to carry HTML.
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I… uh… I know it’s going to be an unpopular opinion, but it makes sense. It’s not intended for daily usage - macs wake up on a keyboard or cursor movement. Sitting on the back increases the chance of accidental presses when you are trying to plug something in.
You have a very few specific incidents where you would need to press the power button. 80% of their user base will not use the power button after the first initial press.
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Standby pointlessly draws power. I switch off all devices that don't run on battery for that reason. But I'm not exactly Apple's target audience anyway since I also consider the price before buying stuff.
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They are doing the Nike mistake - they are targeting users that have already purchased a Mac. Data-driven decisions are great, but this would just result in alienating people who are not already customers, or chase people out who are unhappy with this decision, so their next purchase will not be a Mac.
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These machines draw 1 watt in sleep. There's no need to turn them off.
You're probably using more power shutting down your PC every day than if you just put it in sleep. A minute of chugging away booting and loading all your junk at 100 watts vs 1 watt, and no waiting.
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Optional $200 dock with satisfyingly clicky lever mechanism that is activated from the front.
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This is apple we're talking about. So it'll be $500 and called the iDock and the fans will call it innovation.
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Just run it upside down.
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Or 3D print a stand to keep it sideways.
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Or not buy it
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I’m not really trying to come to Apple’s defense here as they don’t need it, but everyone reacting as though this is as bad as or worse than the mouse charging port seems to be ignoring the fact that most computers nowadays don’t need to be manually turned off or on with any level of frequency. People will push this button like once or twice a month I imagine. I don’t see why that’s the end of the world.
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What the hell are you talking about? I push the power button every single day on my PC. I'm aware that wake on LAN is a thing, but your average computer user doesn't utilize that feature. And only a psychopath who doesn't care about their power bill nor the environment would leave their PC running 24/7.Edit: Thanks for the insight. You were right, I was wrong. My bad.
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You can wake a Mac by clicking the mouse or hitting literally any of the hundred+ buttons on the keyboard.
…also this power button is dumb.
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I should have considered that I was posting this comment to Lemmy before posting it.
Maybe you push the dedicated power button on your computer’s case everyday but I’m very confident most users of any computer do not. And in that regard I’m including all computers - wearable, handheld, and laptops. We’re well past the age where most users feel the need to fully shutdown and boot their computers everyday, AND there are plenty of software buttons and even some physical keyboard buttons for shutting down a computer so I mean it when I say that I think most computer case’s power buttons go untouched for definitely days and possibly weeks at a time.
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Average Windows user L
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I think it’s more about design. Apple is a company that has set a high standard for design and premium looking/feeling products. I understand that it still works, but I also think it’s not the best design. It’s just not the expectation Apple has set as a brand. Same goes for the mouse that charges on the bottom.
On one hand, I’m happy that Apple is breaking away from some of their earlier values (e.g. recently allowing for more iOS customization) but I do appreciate how well designed their products tend to be. I hope they don’t get sloppy with future products. So yeah, it’s just a silly power button, but it just seems out of character for their brand.
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You are just asking for issues not turning off your PC. All the software on your machine is buggy. ALL OF IT. Plus updates require a reboot and we have SSDs so your boot takes like 10 seconds.
Keeping your PC in sleep mode is dumb.-
What? I booted my Linux machine sometime last year and my Mac gets rebooted for updates.
Not all of us use Windows, my friend.
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A Mac is not a Windows PC
The last time I turned off my Mac Mini was when we moved. The time before that was when my UPS battery died and I had to swap a new one in.
I do reboot it though, but why would I bother turning it off?
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I do turn off my PC. But most of the time, I do it by pressing the software-based “restart” button in my OS, not by pressing the physical button on the case. Otherwise I normally use hibernate which is also software-bound and can be undone by pressing the space bar. I’m not saying I never press the physical power button or that I never turn off my computer. I’m just saying it’s in no way a big deal to have to lift up a small box sometimes to press a button like one a week
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You're much more likely to just restart than to shutdown and need to hit the power button. I don't think I've shutdown my MacBook since I turned it on, or my Linux box either. IMO unless there's a power outage you'll never need to hit that button. Still dumb though but i can't imagine this as a deal breaker.
$599 for this thing is an insane deal.
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This could be a nice little computer if it had good linux support
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Asahi linux. AFAIK Linus Tovalds still uses Macs - he has done so at least since the Intel era. I am co nsidering buying one as first a sort of low power gaming console (on MacOs) and eventually as an efficient yet powerfull home server...
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Support for M1 and M2 is pretty good now but M3 is not quite there yet and it'll probably be years before everything works nicely on M4, sadly
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They wanted to put it inside the unit originally
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That's why they put the screen.
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Now you can slam the top of the machine to boot it up
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It looks like you can push the button without lifting the tiny computer.
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That would depend heavily on how accessible the computer is and how fat your fingers are. And I can tell you, mine are pretty fat.
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We need dimensions from raised bit to not raised bit dammit
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I also at first thought it's not that bad, because it looks like the main part of the computer is "hovering", because it stands on that round portion. But then I saw that the button is on the backside! Why? That way you have to reach around everything, making it impossible to fit the thing into some smaller space and still use it. If it was on the bottom but in the front you would still have your beloved button-less design but the button would still be pretty accessible.
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Well at least now you can actually see the damn black ports on the silver chassis. The M2 Mac Mini has the black ports on the black backside and it's such a pain in the ass trying to find the USB C ports when I have to connect something.
But yeah, putting the power button on the bottom is peak Apple stupidity.
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They clearly want you to let this one running 24/7, or, can you turn it on using the keyboard and that low power BT thing?
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That would be no problem, unless your electricity is unreliable and you don't have a UPS. I rarely use the power button on any of my PCs or Macs, except the one old PC that can't do S3 sleep anymore (crashes on wake).
Are y'all not using sleep mode? Also the Apple M-cpus are extremely power efficient so leaving it on without sleep mode is a perfectly fine option too.
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Power efficient if all your software agrees with it. I use an M3 at work and it dies in a couple hours during sleep.
s0ix is the same shit show on all three major platforms
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Assuming you mount it on the back of something that would probably be a pretty good place.
I use a lot of mini Linux computers and mount them to the back of monitors. I could see this design being perfect for that except it's way more expensive lol
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Wouldn't a flatter form factor be better for rear mounting?
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To be fair, aren't those mini PCs meant for HTPCs/home servers? You're not really supposed to turn them off, and if you really want easy power button access you can just set it upside down. I'd say it's a good idea if you take into account that it's aimed at Apple customers who care more about "design" over usability. They truly "think different" over there.
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"different" is just another word for "weird"
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ThInK DiFfErEnT
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Honestly as infrequently as I turn my machines off this really doesn’t bother me. The mouse on the other hand….
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Yeah, fuck that mouse, there's no excuse for that one.
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This is fake right
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No, seems to be real.
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Yeah, must be The Onion or smth
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At least they didn't put the fucking power port on the bottom.
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Unless your computer has issues, can’t you just power off from within macOS?
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And then how do you turn it back on?
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I should have clarified that I was referring to “Restart” rather than “Shut Down” because I’m not aware of how frequently people actually “Shut Down” their devices. My intention was to ask: How often would you need to physically press the power button when the functionality of turning the device on and off is accessible through software?
On another note, I think the amount of attention posts like this get is a pretty clear indication of how deep Apple hate truly runs. I'm fine with Apple, more of a Linux person myself, but stuff like this makes me shrug my shoulders. Only Apple could garner this much attention for putting the power button in a weird spot on a tiny desktop that nobody complaining about it would buy even if it was on top of the device.
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On the bottom, in the back...
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As long as your default mode is sleep it'd be ok. I touch my PCs power button only when it crashes so horribly that a forced shutdown is the only way out...
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This is more like a "power button" in that case lol
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A power bottom?
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Ah too big
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Damn, I didn't notice auto correct killed my pun! OK, you get the point 😀
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Hahaha I thought this was the onion and the button was the big fugly thing that covers the whole bottom
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I really hope this is one of those tactile hit it from the top and it'll trigger from the bottom designs. But more likely they just never expect you to use it.
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Unfortunately "punish them by not buying it" won't work for someone as big as them.
326 comments