Category: Technology

My New-To-Me Mac Mini

Buy Mac mini - Apple

I had been kicking around the idea of a “Family” Mac for a few reasons:

( 1 ) I’ve wanted some central Mac that could house my entire photo library and back it up to my NAS

( 2 ) A family member has a Windows laptop is that is nearly dead, and is Mac-curious. There is a high likelihood that I will be the tech support for their new laptop, so I have a vested interested in ensuring they move to a Mac

(3) My wife really loves her M4 iPad Pro, so much so that she hardly uses her MacBook anymore. She does need a Mac from time to time, but it is very infrequent.

This provided an interesting opportunity: give my wife’s MacBook Pro to the Mac-curious family member, and buy us a Mac mini for the family. This way, I could set up my wife’s iPad to access the Mac mini, so that she would have access to a Mac when she needs it. I would also have a desktop Mac I could use when at my desk, or for any automations, and still have my M1 Pro MacBook Pro for while I’m around the house or on the go.

The introductory model for the Mac mini has 256 GB storage, 16 GB RAM, and an M4, and while it’s a bargain for its $599 price, it is insufficient for my needs:

( 1 ) I wanted a new Mac that was clearly an upgrade relative to my existing M1 pro MacBook Pro (otherwise, why would I use it?)

( 2 ) I needed enough internal storage to house all my data and photos.

( 3 ) I wanted enough RAM that I wouldn’t ever push the device into using swap memory.

Processor

The Mac mini can be configured with either an M4 or an M4 Pro chip. To decide between the two, I compared GeekBench 6 scores back to my M1 Pro MacBook Pro:

CleanShot 2025-11-11 at 14.30.21.

M4 Pro it would be.

Storage:

I have about 1.1 TB of data in iCloud between my documents, back-ups, and photos. Upgrading to a 2 TB internal drive was a no-brainer, especially when the price gap between 2 TB and 4 TB is an additional $600.

RAM:

This is where I splurged. I was, and am, tired of being RAM limited on my laptop. I usually only hit a clear slow-down when I’m editing photos on my MacBook Pro, but I regularly see it using swap. With an M4 Pro, you have choices between 24, 48, and 64 GBs of RAM. I wanted to at least double the RAM on my laptop, but ideally this machine will last us 5+ years and not start moving to swap memory. 64 GB – no regrets.

Accessories:

I wanted a new monitor to go with the new desktop. At work, I have three monitors: one positioned centrally in landscape, flanked by two portrait monitors on either side. I already had two 27” HP Z27n monitors, and woot.com had a great sale on a Samsung M80 32” monitor. I’ve just re-created my set-up at work at home. This monitor technically falls into “The Bad Zone” for Mac monitors, but it’s fine.

Lastly, I set up Screens Connect and bought a subscription to Screens 5 for the family. This way both my wife and I can access the Mac mini remotely from our preferred devices.

I did hunt for a refurbished model on Apples site for the better part of a month, and I bought the configuration described above: M4 Pro, 2 TB SSD, 64 GB of RAM. The thing is so fast. I’ve seldom seen my memory usage above 20% so far, with the lone exception being when I selected every application in my application folder and hit enter.

One Foot Tsunami: Tahoe’s Terrible Icons

Paul Kafasis has a nice run down of some of the worst icons in macOS Tahoe.

For my money, the single worst change is the photos app icon, shared across the OSs. The old icon did a great job of using transparency to mix the colors. The ovals are nice and sharp with high contrast to the white background. I constantly think something hasn’t loaded correctly with the new icon. The roundedness and specular highlights around the edges of the ovals lose the contrast with the background and suddenly the whole thing feels blurry.

 

Apple TV Ideas

I love my Apple TV. It’s better than any smart TV interface, or any Roku I’ve used while traveling or visiting friends. However, it seems that Apple has let the platform stagnate over last three years or so, in part, I’m sure, because they have effectively zero competition. I’d like to see Apple care about this product, like its fans do. If Apple really cared about this product, these are the sorts of things they’d be working on.

1) Connect Apple TV Profiles to Profiles within apps

My Apple TV has three user accounts: one for me, one for my wife, and one for my child. My Netflix App has three use accounts: one for me, one for my wife, and one for my child. My HBO app has three profile: one for me, one for my wife, and one for my child. Are you getting it yet? Have Netflix just know which account to go to based on the Apple TV user. I am sure there are going to be examples where there is an app Profile that isn’t represented in the Apple TV and vice versa. Thats fine, but allow me to connect them to one another.

 

2) Disallow custom video players

It seems that every app has a custom video player, and they are all crap. Disney+’s is terrible, HBOs is terrible, Amazon Prime’s is terrible, and the list goes on. The video player in the Apple TV app for Apple TV+ and iTunes purchases is genuinely good! Third party video players often don’t use system features, like “reduce loud sounds”, and imagine how great SharePlay could be if there was system-level integration from the control center all the way down to the video player. People might actually use it! Now, perhaps Apple needs to build in some APIs so that third parties can build in their own proprietary features, like Amazon’s X-ray, or YouTube’s pause-screen ads. Apple needs to listen to these developers as to why they’re not using the default.  It’ll be the platform better for everyone.

 

3) Add widgets

Why not? Weather, family calendar, things like this. They’d be great. Make them show data from users iPhones, like the Mac does, and like the rumored HomePod with a screen is rumored to work. 

 

4) Provide major changes to Up Next

Up Next used to be the primary thing when you launched the Apple TV app, and it displayed a great poster for the item listed. In the last 3-4 years, Apple moved to an auto-playing trailer for the latest thing they’re Promoting from Apple TV+. This is bad! I already paid $200 for this hardware. Let it serve me first, and let you advertise Apple TV+, which I also already pay for, second.

 

I have a few other ideas regarding Up Next that I’m going to just quick-fire below:

 

a) Separate out TV shows from Movies.

b) Allow me to create folders in Up Next. Imagine having easy watching shows separated from hard-hitting dramas, or scary movies from fun comedies, so that when October comes around, I know what are the best movies to watch get me in the season.

c) Allow for shared users for an up next list. This way my wife can keep track of what we’re watching with us, with our, kid, and we can separately track lists of what we’re watching separately

 

5) Netflix support in the Apple TV app

We know they built it, and they’re just waiting for… something. Just pay them. Pay them what they want, get them in the ecosystem. Again, this will make it better for everyone.

 

6) Better support for sports

Apple has done a great job with MLS support in the Apple TV app. For instance, if you’re late to a match, it can play a highlight reel catching you up. Thats great! Do it for other sports! Open it up! Apple heavily promoted the F1 app for their F1 movie this summer. Add Practices, and qualifying to my Up Next! Do the same thing for Formula E, and IndyCar

 

7) Add in Shortcuts

This would be great for Home automation. I’m not sure what else you’d do with it, but why not? Could be fun.

RIP LaunchPad

I know LaunchPad has been the bud of many jokes ever since it was introduced in OSX 10.7 Lion, but I have been an avid user for years, meticulously organizing the pages and pages of apps. LaunchPad is gone in macOS Tahoe, which releases today. Clearly, Apple was trying to make the Mac more accessible to its larger, and growing (at the time) iPhone user base. Evidently, it never quite caught on. I found it to just be easy to use. Sometimes I use my Mac one-handed with a trackpad in my lap, and I could four finger pinch to access any app I want to launch.  In the end, I had two pages: my most-used applications for personal use, and those for more professional use. 

2025 iPhone Predictions

There are lots of rumors swirling around Apples iPhone announcement this coming Tuesday. I want to note a few observations, and connect some dots.

1) The iPhone 6 Plus was embroiled in a “bendgate” scandal whereby people were able to bend the phone.

2) The first iPhone Pro sported a stainless steel chassis, as opposed to the aluminum chassis the primary iPhone line had used since the iPhone 4. Apple really highlighted this as a “Pro” feature, highlighting it as “surgical grade”.

3) In 2021, reports started surfacing that Apple was exploring incorporating titanium into iPhone, and that Apple was working on a folding iPhone.

4) Two years ago, the iPhone 15 pro shifted to a titanium chassis. Again, Apple promoted this as a premium feature to differentiate this from the primary iPhone line. The stainless steel was *heavy* and the change to titanium was advertised as improving the weight of the phone.

5) The rumored iPhone 17 Pro is rumored to be the the first iPhone Pro manufactured w/ an aluminum chassis, albeit with a glass cut-out in the back to support wireless charging.

6) This year Apple is set to release a thin iPhone, rumored to be called the iPhone 17 Air. I haven’t seen much discussion regarding what that phone will be built with, although a cursory read through macrumors suggests it will be made with a titanium chassis. 

7) Next year, Apple is rumored to release a folding iPhone.

It seems to me that somewhere along the way, Apple determined that the folding iPhone needed a material that could balance the need to be light, as well as strong enough to avoid the embarrassment of the iPhone 6’s bendgate. They landed on titanium. Over the last several generation of iPhone Pro, they effectively have de-risked the production of the folding iPhone by having their vendors work with the material, and now are further advancing their manufacturing by slimming the device. I think laying this all out really highlights the years-long roadmap Apple executed, which has lead us to the imminent debut of the iPhone Air, but really points to the climax of this roadmap: a folding iPhone.