• PennyRoyal@sh.itjust.works
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      2 months ago

      I’m not an apple hater, I have a Mac mini. However, our power goes out fairly regularly in the winter, and it’ll get old having to get the thing out of the back of my desk at start it again pretty bloody quickly, it’s an obviously daft place to put it.

        • PennyRoyal@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          That’s the most useful thing anyone’s said so far, thanks. My current mini is hard enough to get at, as it’s under the back of the desk, so I’ve used this, as even though the power button is in a vaguely accessible place, there computer isn’t. Why would I want it taking up room on the top that could be used for synths I can’t play, and coffee I haven’t drunk?!

        • ninja@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Is the keyboard not bluetooth anymore? The computer would have to be on to connect to a bluetooth device. If they still had wired keyboards on the other hand…

        • PennyRoyal@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          Ah, if I used a Mac keyboard then I’d probably have known that. I generally don’t really like Mac peripherals, I’ve got a full size mechanical keyboard and a thumb wheel mouse. I get that it’s not an insurmountable problem, but there’s only one face out of the six that you can absolutely guarantee isn’t going to be immediately accessible, so why put the only button on the whole machine on that face, as opposed to next to all the I/Os?

        • scarabic@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Can you also use that button for hard reboots? Because I use the power button for that with some regularity.

      • reddig33@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Set your energy saver preferences in System Settings to automatically restart the computer after a power failure.

      • garretble@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Do you not already have to reach behind your current Mini to turn it on in the instance the power goes out?

        Now instead of reaching around, you just would have to reach to basically the same area and press a button underneath. Unless you have a bunch of junk on top of the computer, it’s going to take the same amount of effort.

        • PennyRoyal@sh.itjust.works
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          2 months ago

          It looks like the foot/base bit isn’t tall enough to get a finger to the button without lifting the thing up. That seems daft to me. You’re having to move the whole unit about to push a button

        • scarabic@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Mine is rotated sideways so the button is on the corner nearest me. I care more about good access to the cables than I care about the ooh aesthetics of looking at the smooth front. Bottom of the fucking device is not what I call good access.

          • Celestus@lemm.ee
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            2 months ago

            You could just use the new one upside down, and mash that unobstructed power button to your heart’s content. You’ll have the same great access to the ports too!

            • scarabic@lemmy.world
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              2 months ago

              Unfortunately that screws up the air flow for heat dissipation, which is an integral part of the case design. Otherwise I’d totally just do that.

                • scarabic@lemmy.world
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                  2 months ago

                  Apple thinks that loud fans are a bad user experience, and I can’t fault them on that. So they design around convection as much as possible: hot air rises and leaves the case, cool air enters from below and the case geometry and plastics guide it to the areas that need it most, just by their static shape. That carefully crafted path for the air to follow is designed around the computer being right side up and it doesn’t work the same if the thing is inverted.

    • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      Apple fanboy here. This will prevent me from upgrading from my M2 Pro Mini. I’ll likely end up buying a Studio at some point if they don’t come out with an iMac Pro.

      It’s genuinely one of the dumbest things Apple has done. And that list is growing with nearly every product they release.

        • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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          2 months ago

          What’s unreasonable is Apple’s design philosophy.

          I don’t want to have to unbuild my desktop and unplug everything from my computer just to turn it back on. I don’t even know how I would use this computer in my setup. Because Apple didn’t want to expose a power button. Or because they chose to cut corners.

            • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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              2 months ago

              That would be your belief that it’s not unreasonable to have to physically pick up and upend a desktop computer in order to turn it on. For the rest of human civilization, the concept alone is ridiculous.

              No. It’s not Apple’s fault I configured my desktop to be efficient and ergonomic. It is their fault that they first made a large screen iMac (with an inaccessible SD card slot on the back) which was best suited for my needs, then discontinued that product which required I replace it with a Mini (and third party monitor equalling more than the price of the iMac), put the button on the Mini which is nearly impossible to feel in the first place, left out an SD card slot requiring that I purchase accessories to reasonably use my computer for computing, and then created a replacement product which requires unplugging things from it and physically lifting it up to turn it on, hindering the ability for a reasonably efficient desktop configuration to be upended so they could save a couple dollars on their product.

              Please, you can feel however you want about this but it’s an objective fact that this is not a reasonable location for a computer power button. I really don’t care that much other than the fact that that I’m already prepared to not replace my current Mini with another Mini. The Studio Mac will probably be my next computer because it reasonably has a power button in an accessible-ish location and comes with an SD card slot; even though it’s far more computing power than I’ll ever need and more than I can reasonably afford.

              I would imagine you also believe it’s “reasonable” to forgo an SD card slot in favor of plugging your camera into the computer or having to purchase one or more accessories to reasonably use a desktop computer to add files to it.

              Edit: I will note, to Apple’s credit, they put the headphone jack on the front. It’s sad how awesome something so obvious can be.

              • garretble@lemmy.world
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                2 months ago

                The funny thing about your edit is that I wish the headphone jack was still in the back because I use regular speakers and all my headphones can connect via usb. Now, unless I use a dock (which will probably have to happen anyway eventually, to be fair) I’ll have to plug things in the front and back at all times.

                • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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                  2 months ago

                  I guess that does make sense for powered speakers.

                  My speakers are passive so I have a preamp and amplifier powering them which comes off USB-A. Both the preamp and amp have a headphone jack on the front. I also have one of those Satechi Mac mini docks that has a headphone jack.

                  The Satechi reminds me that there are some smart third parties out there there. I could imagine a peripheral that’s loaded with some front mounted ports (usb, headphone, SD card). And maybe they could figure out a purely mechanical lever to press the power button. I would think that issue is more about the force of the press being enough to press the button without lifting the computer itself off the peripheral. Such a device would get me more excited about the new Mini. Although, I despise having to purchase peripherals to resolve bugs (I just bought an iPhone 16 that required a case so it doesn’t wobble on a flat surface).

                • oxjox@lemmy.ml
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                  2 months ago

                  I like that Lemmy has this function to block trolls.

    • scarabic@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I actually have to press this all the time when my mini freezes or there has been a power failure. My mini has quite a few cables plugged into it and a stack of drives on top. So yeah lifting it up to press a button is decidedly inconvenient and inelegant. It’s not killing anyone’s babies but we’re talking about product design here. Inconvenient and inelegant are 100% fair game.

    • stupidcasey@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      It’s not, we solved this issue before the invention of the computer, just use a capacitive touch sensor, you can literally make any power button completely invisible, this is malicious design.

      • Xtallll@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        2 months ago

        They did that on the old G4 cube, it illuminated when it was powered on to show where the capacitive power “button” was, but it was basically invisible when the device was powered off.

    • body_by_make@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      2 months ago

      I’ve seen a decent number of people mention that current placement is too easy to accidentally hit while plugging something in. I’ve also experienced that.

      However, if you think Apple is ever going to get over form over function, you’re very mistaken. It’s literally their entire identity.

    • reddig33@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      It’s a subtle hint that you don’t have to power off your computer between uses. Most modern computers go into an ultra low power mode when not in use.

    • thehatfox@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Functionally it’s harder to accidentally press on the bottom.

      Although it’s also now harder to intentionally press too. It looks like a finger can fit under there, otherwise you’ll be flipping it over to power on.

  • schizo@forum.uncomfortable.business
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    2 months ago

    Finally, a power button my stupid cats can’t sit on and turn the computer off with.

    Laptop? Oh yeah, they’ll turn that off. Gaming desktop? Yep, but only if it’s annoying for them to have done so. Home server? Yes, but only because they know that’s the most annoying thing to power cycle.

  • tunetardis@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    I had a mini sitting there for about a year before someone pointed out it was upside down on my desk. I thought the side that says “Mac mini” was supposed to be facing up? But no, apparently it’s the Apple logo side. With the power button on the model name side, I think that could fuel a nice, juicy OCD argument with my coworker?

  • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    2 months ago

    I actually kinda like that. The amount of times I’ve accidently shut down my laptop through the dock (very similar shape as the mac mini) just (un)plugging a cable and bumping the power button is ridiculous

  • lobut@lemmy.ca
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    2 months ago

    I’m gonna guess the hard drive and RAM are still not upgradeable by us?

  • fubarx@lemmy.ml
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    2 months ago

    Sheesh. How often do you need to reach for the power button? It’s got solid state storage. Just flip it on its damn side and stop whinging.