New Apple Mac Mini M2 Pro released yesterday...totally revolutionary!

[WaveHunter]

Anyone else as impressed by this new computer as I am?  It's actually less than the older Apple Mac Mini M1 and way more powerful.  In all the online reviews so far it blows the new macbook pro away that costs twice as much.  Go figure??

 

It hit store shelves in the US yesterday but not here in Thailand yet.  Does anyone know how long it takes for Apple to start supplying here in Thailand usually?   I mean, is it days, weeks , or months later?

 

• Apple M2 Pro chip with 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16-core Neural Engine
• 16GB integrated memory
• 512GB SSD Storage
• Gigabit Ethernet
• Four Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI port, two USB-A ports, headphone jack
• https://www.apple.com/th/shop/buy-mac/mac-mini/apple-m2-pro-with-10-core-cpu-and-16-core-gpu-512gb

[Etaoin Shrdlu]

Already in the Apple Thailand online store:  https://www.apple.com/th-en/shop/buy-mac/mac-mini

[WaveHunter]

8 minutes ago, Etaoin Shrdlu said:

Already in the Apple Thailand online store:  https://www.apple.com/th-en/shop/buy-mac/mac-mini

Not yet available.

 

Edited January 25, 2023 by WaveHunter

[Woof999]

Impressed with Apple's current breakthroughs in silicon, but not with their price / build ethos nor their OS / ecosystem.

 

[sometimewoodworker]

4 hours ago, WaveHunter said:

Anyone else as impressed by this new computer as I am?  It's actually less than the older Apple Mac Mini M1 and way more powerful.  In all the online reviews so far it blows the new macbook pro away that costs twice as much.  Go figure??

 

It hit store shelves in the US yesterday but not here in Thailand yet.  Does anyone know how long it takes for Apple to start supplying here in Thailand usually?   I mean, is it days, weeks , or months later?

It is the one I’m going to get as an addition to my 2015 iMac. However it certainly isn’t that much better value than the MacBook Pro as you have to add in a monitor, keyboard, and trackpad and if you get the same quality ones you will be paying more for the Mac mini also you can’t get  am M2 Max in the mini.

 

the supply of new Apple items in Thailand is usually around 2 months later than the first world countries though if the specifications are actually the same it can be a few weeks, it was for the AirPods Pro.

[KhunLA]

I see Apple is still full of themselves:

 

[WaveHunter]

13 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

It is the one I’m going to get as an addition to my 2015 iMac. However it certainly isn’t that much better value than the MacBook Pro as you have to add in a monitor, keyboard, and trackpad and if you get the same quality ones you will be paying more for the Mac mini also you can’t get  am M2 Max in the mini.

 

the supply of new Apple items in Thailand is usually around 2 months later than the first world countries though if the specifications are actually the same it can be a few weeks, it was for the AirPods Pro.

As to value, I think it really depends on how you plan to use it.  For me, I have always used my MacBook Pro more or less as a desktop device, so I already have all the peripherals.  The M2 Pro chip meets my needs perfectly. 

 

Actually the regular M2 Chip probably would work in most cases, and would only cost $799, but for the extra $300 I not only get a much more powerful machine but 4 thunderbolt ports instead of two, enhanced graphics speed, and a better fan.

 

So, A mac Mini with the M2 Pro Chip, 512gB SSD, and 16gB of RAM is $1299 USD.  A similarly equipped MacBook Pro would be $2000 USD.  

 

Regarding available, I will probably just order from the States if I'd have to wait months for it to become available in Thailand.  If you buy in Thailand, Apple adds VAT, so really the cost is the same if I import it, except for shipping which is a small price to pay if it means I get it now instead of months from now.

 

Edited January 26, 2023 by WaveHunter

[sometimewoodworker]

22 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

Regarding available, I will probably just order from the States if I'd have to wait months for it to become available in Thailand.  If you buy in Thailand, Apple adds VAT, so really the cost is the same if I import it, except for shipping which is a small price to pay if it means I get it now instead of months from now.

The problem with doing that is the warranty, as even though the company is the same the warranty is sometimes limited to the country or region of sale. This is certainly true of some Apple products, though not all.

 

this is specifically stated in the warranty documentation 

Quote

 

3.1 Hardware Service and ADH Service  

Apple may restrict Hardware Service and ADH Service to the country where the Covered Equipment was originally purchased. 

 

[scotsman]

Don't buy the cheap mac mini M2 599 with the 250GB SSD as it slower than the M1 250GB SSD and if you do a lot of video editing or music editing then up the Memory to 16GB then you have a very fast computer. It always depends on your budget. But this is a good video on the subject. 

 

Regards 

Scotsman 

Edited January 27, 2023 by scotsman

[owl sees all]

 

Unless it's required for work, I think most can do without this stuff.

 

All this tech is taking the world down a dark avenue.

[sometimewoodworker]

Just a FWIW the 512Mb M2 Pro mini has the same problem as the 256Mb M2 in that they both use a single NAND chip so for sure if you get an M2 you need a 512Mb version and probably, though I haven’t seen a tear down yet, you need a 1TB version of the M2 Pro unless you don’t use much in the way of read/write work so don’t mind the single chip throttling.

[WaveHunter]

On 1/27/2023 at 3:31 PM, scotsman said:

Don't buy the cheap mac mini M2 599 with the 250GB SSD as it slower than the M1 250GB SSD and if you do a lot of video editing or music editing then up the Memory to 16GB then you have a very fast computer. It always depends on your budget. But this is a good video on the subject. 

 

Regards 

Scotsman 

Yeah, good point.  Apple really knows the slick game of marketing.  They make the base model sound revolutionary at only 599 but its' performance is pretty bad unless all you want to do is browse the net, check emails, etc.  If you work with Photoshop at all, even casually, it would be a real disappointment.  The 512gB SSD and 16gB of RAM are a must.

[WaveHunter]

On 1/26/2023 at 11:39 AM, sometimewoodworker said:

The problem with doing that is the warranty, as even though the company is the same the warranty is sometimes limited to the country or region of sale. This is certainly true of some Apple products, though not all.

 

this is specifically stated in the warranty documentation 

 

Applecare is pretty relaxed about that sort of stuff actually, and what's more, I've had a 2013 MBP and use it every day for Photoshop and have not had a single issue that required repair except for a battery replacement in year 7.  I guess you could always get a lemon, but this Mini will be my 4th Apple computer and I have never had an issue that required repair with any of them, so if I must buy from the US, I'm pretty comfortable with that.

[sometimewoodworker]

14 hours ago, WaveHunter said:

Applecare is pretty relaxed about that sort of stuff actually, and what's more, I've had a 2013 MBP and use it every day for Photoshop and have not had a single issue that required repair except for a battery replacement in year 7.  I guess you could always get a lemon, but this Mini will be my 4th Apple computer and I have never had an issue that required repair with any of them, so if I must buy from the US, I'm pretty comfortable with that.

@WaveHunterThere is no need to buy from the us as it is available for pickup today and custom order will take up to 14 days, probably less, though that may depend on exactly which you specify.

As to repair, it very much depends on the item you buy if the repair is covered or not. FWIWI have had repairs on a number of MacBooks, 2 of them had so many motherboards that I got completely new machines and since the mini has virtually the same motherboard as the MacBooks there is no guarantee that similar problems may not occur 

Edited January 31, 2023 by sometimewoodworker

[sometimewoodworker]

3 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

@WaveHunterThere is no need to buy from the us as it is available for pickup today and custom order will take up to 14 days, probably less, though that may depend on exactly which you specify.

There is a correction as of 4pm today, as it looks as if the orders are stacking up the delivery is now later almost certainly due to limited supply.

 

Edited January 31, 2023 by sometimewoodworker

[connda]

Apple!  Twice as small!  Twice the price!

[connda]

Just now, connda said:

Apple!  Twice as small!  Twice the price!

..........5x the price.

[sometimewoodworker]

On 1/29/2023 at 6:24 PM, sometimewoodworker said:

Just a FWIW the 512Mb M2 Pro mini has the same problem as the 256Mb M2 in that they both use a single NAND chip so for sure if you get an M2 you need a 512Mb version and probably, though I haven’t seen a tear down yet, you need a 1TB version of the M2 Pro unless you don’t use much in the way of read/write work so don’t mind the single chip throttling.

There is a correction. I was wrong, as the mother board has 4 NAND pads on both sides so allowing for 1 TB chips to give the 8 TB maximum, however the 512 MB model uses 2 x 256 MB chips one on each side, so even the base model will be as fast as is possible.

[WaveHunter]

Apple Mini now in stock in the Magic KIngdom through Apple Stores.  Delivered to your door in a few days. ????

 

[sometimewoodworker]

2 hours ago, WaveHunter said:

Apple Mini now in stock in the Magic KIngdom through Apple Stores.  Delivered to your door in a few days. ????

 

The availability is jumping up and down a bit, as yesterday it was about a week longer. Though I quite surprised at the ineligible for pickup as yesterday it was available, probably they are selling like hot cakes.

[WaveHunter]

15 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

The availability is jumping up and down a bit, as yesterday it was about a week longer. Though I quite surprised at the ineligible for pickup as yesterday it was available, probably they are selling like hot cakes.

Actually, they are not physically in Thailand yet.  That's still a couple of weeks away according to the Apple rep I spoke with on the phone at Central in Bangkok.  He said that if you order today, it is actually coming from Singapore, but delivery is just a matter of days (with no shipping cost to you other than VAT)

[Elkski]

Totally proprietary!  I despise apple.   

[sometimewoodworker]

14 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

Actually, they are not physically in Thailand yet.  That's still a couple of weeks away according to the Apple rep I spoke with on the phone at Central in Bangkok.  He said that if you order today, it is actually coming from Singapore, but delivery is just a matter of days (with no shipping cost to you other than VAT)

It’s almost certainly actually coming from China and the ineligible for pickup is likely because the number allocated to the stores have been booked already. All the larger items have been shipped from China which matches with the week to two weeks required.
 

If they were coming from Singapore 4 days would be more likely given apple’s superb logistics.

[proton]

On 1/31/2023 at 5:51 PM, connda said:

Apple!  Twice as small!  Twice the price!

But having had an HP and an Acer lasting two years they last 5 times as long, at least

[proton]

24 minutes ago, Elkski said:

Totally proprietary!  I despise apple.   

Check out the Mac books, the best sound you will hear on any laptop and the battery lasts 18-20 hours

[ozfarang]

54 minutes ago, Elkski said:

Totally proprietary!  I despise apple.   

Don't buy then if that's the way you feel

Edited February 2, 2023 by ozfarang

[ozfarang]

31 minutes ago, proton said:

But having had an HP and an Acer lasting two years they last 5 times as long, at least

Yeah, my 2011 MacBook Pro is still going with no problems.

 

Only memory upgraded, hard drive changed to SSD and two new batteries. Never been back to the Apple store for any problems that I couldn't sort out

[WaveHunter]

6 hours ago, sometimewoodworker said:

It’s almost certainly actually coming from China and the ineligible for pickup is likely because the number allocated to the stores have been booked already. All the larger items have been shipped from China which matches with the week to two weeks required.
 

If they were coming from Singapore 4 days would be more likely given apple’s superb logistics.

I guess that's possible, even likely it will ship right off the assembly line in China, but Apple is claiming very short delivery times of 1 -5 days, so I don't care where it's coming from really.

 

I talked with Apple in Singapore today and they affirmed the short delivery time, and also affirmed that if I wait a couple of weeks I should be able to pick one up at the Apple store in Bangkok, and that way I can get a refund on VAT when I leave Thailand in September.  It's only a savings of $90 but still, money is money.

[WaveHunter]

6 hours ago, proton said:

But having had an HP and an Acer lasting two years they last 5 times as long, at least

In my opinion Apple is worth the extra money.  I've had my old 2013 MacBook Pro for almost 10 years.  I leave it on 24/7, and it still works perfectly.  When you pay extra for an Apple product, you're paying for quality and innovation that other computer brands usually can't match.  Money well spent IMO.

 

Sure, they're famous for ripping you off on configuration upgrades like RAM and storage.
 

I mean, to increase storage from the basic 256gB SSD to 512gB, all they do is add an extra 256gB chip in an empty socket that's already on the motherboard, and they charge you $200 USD for that!  That's $1.28 per gB.  Given that the chip Apple is installing probably only costs them $5, and they charge you $200 is obscene!

 

Edited February 2, 2023 by WaveHunter

[sometimewoodworker]

17 minutes ago, WaveHunter said:

In my opinion Apple is worth the extra money. Sure, they sort of rip you off on things like configuring extra RAM or storage.  I mean, to increase storage form 256gB to 512gB, all they do is add a 256gB chip, and they charge you $200 USD for that!  For $200 dollars you could buy a Thunderbolt 4 enclosure and a 2 TERABYTE SSD.  $200 for a 256gB cip is a MAJOR ripoff.

While I agree that Apple is making a major profit on the extra RAM, to get a 2TB in an external enclosure you are going to have to spend about $430 if you want Read: 3400MBs / Write: 2900MBs

The $200 will get you Read: 560MBs / Write 530MBs so it’s going to throttle the IO by a significant amount.

If you want a Orico Thunderbolt 3 40Gbps M.2 NVME SSD Enclosure Gray (SCM2T3-G40) it’s about $160 then you have another $250+ for the memory.

I haven’t seen any Thunderbolt 4 enclosures in Thailand.