this post was submitted on 12 Nov 2024
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Apple

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  • 🤔 Apple has shared why the power button on the Mac Mini M4 is hidden
  • 🤏 It’s mainly because of the Mac Mini’s compact size
  • 🤷‍♂️ But also because users apparently never use the power button on a Mac
  • 👉 Apple also says the button can be accessed easily, even though it’s underneath
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[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

Or the most obvious answer of all: Macs have a power button on the keyboard

Such a stupid thing to write about. Must be a really slow news day if they are writing about the location of the power button.

[–] that_leaflet 22 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Mac Mini doesn’t come with a keyboard. So unless you’ve owned an iMac or bought a keyboard separately, you won’t have that convenience.

That being said, I haven’t touched the power button on my Mac Mini since I got mine on the 8th.

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[–] Entropywins 6 points 1 month ago

As someone in IT, I loathe non-standard the fuck is the power button designs.

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (7 children)

So Apple is basically like:

We are lazy
We know what you want better than you
You are wrong

[–] Zachariah 33 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Isn’t that just the Apple philosophy?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)
[–] garretble 22 points 1 month ago

They are like, “this computer uses basically no power while asleep and everyone just puts their computers to sleep anyway and this machine weighs 1.5lbs. It’s not a big deal.”

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 month ago

This is “you’re holding it wrong” all over again

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Damn Lemmy, when did you all get so damn salty? In an Apple community no less.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 month ago

Where have you been?

[–] garretble 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

The Linux nerds crawl out of the woodwork to remind us at all times that it's "better."

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

i'm becoming a linux nerd and this power button thing would be fine for me bc ive discovered how good suspend is and never power off my desktop anymore anyway, just spend then bump the keyboard when i want it back.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I’m trying to be a Linux nerd, but my god is there so much research to do to figure out how to get it to work the same way my Mac does.

[–] garretble 2 points 1 month ago

100%. I'm typing this comment on a M4 Mini that the original post is about, and it's just so nice. And things work. And I don't have to worry about it. I can move my mouse to the edge of the screen and connects to my iPad and I can control my iPad that way. It's cool! And I didn't have to read some ancient texts to figure it out.

Linux is not bad, and people who use it aren't bad.

But that doesn't mean they aren't kinda annoying to hear all the time, saying "it's so easy" when you have spent hours trying to figure out why something that feels like it should be simple doesn't work. Or they say, "Oh, yeah you just have to run [some command in the terminal no one would ever guess] to make [your issue] work."

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago

Yeah, you become a trillion dollar company by being lazy and not knowing what people want!

[–] WraithGear 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

I don’t think it’s lazy, Button placement seems neutral in that regard. No this is most likely form over function. They do this all the time. Remember the charge cable for the mouse? They don’t want the port seen, and they didn’t want their equipment to be seen plugged in. But people are willing to buy form over function for clout. What are you going to do?

[–] Nindelofocho 2 points 1 month ago

I think the charge port on the mouse is still really silly but the button kinda makes sense to me. Its right there on the mainboard so its simple to manufacture and compact. Its a lot less likely to be accidentally pressed. These options are in trade off for it being a little bit harder to get to in the everyday. I also think apple expects a lot of these to be used as a HTPC and just never turn it off

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[–] garretble 27 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (2 children)

The power button is one of the biggest non stories this year.

Who doesn’t just put their computers to sleep 99% of the time?

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 month ago (1 children)

My work computer yes, but I always shutdown my home computer when I am done with it.

With NVMe SSDs, computers boot fast enough that sleep mode doesn't matter.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (12 children)

With current hardware the power draw at sleep is negligible, so power off doesn’t matter.

You can spin this argument both ways. And sleep is more convenient, so that’s what most people choose.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Not for you, but it's an issue if you're using Mac Minis as unattended service devices that are hard mounted and will occasionally need to be reset by hand (think kiosks and AV systems in conference room).

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[–] ArdMacha 20 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Total lazy design a power button is just a small button and some wires it could be anywhere

[–] Nindelofocho 3 points 1 month ago

Completely playing devils advocate here but by having it on the bottom isint it right there on the same plane of the main board therefore making it easier to manufacture by simply having smt components vs having manual wires routed elsewhere/long plastic stick power button running the entire height of the machine internally. Its may be lazy but could it also not be efficient?

Imo the way to resolve probably like 80% of the complaints for this would be just have the edge of the machine sit just high enough above whatever surface it is on by way of feet or a thicker base. Just enough be able to put a finger under there and press it. Not very unlike monitors and TVs have done for ages at this point

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 month ago (1 children)

“Honestly, most people almost never use the power button a Mac,” one executive remarked.

Ford: Most people never open their hood so we put the lever under the back seat.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 month ago

In the same train of thought, BMW and Tesla execs need to find courage and remove turn signals.

[–] carl_dungeon 11 points 1 month ago (7 children)

Seems like a non issue to me- the usb c placement on the mouse is way more annoying.

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[–] winkly 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 month ago

🥰so cuuute!

[–] disguy_ovahea 5 points 1 month ago

Mac Minis are primarily used as home or small business servers. They get rebooted, but rarely turned off. It makes sense now that I know the button is accessible without lifting the Mac Mini.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 month ago

I wonder if power buttons are a Windows thing? I recently switched to Linux on my desktop and have a MacBook as well. On the MacBook i'm not sure if i've ever used the power button - it just goes to sleep & I wake it up.

And on Linux the suspend is so good I don't power off at all, but on Windows I always did so needed the power button all the time.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I've said it before on this; with this location, it's much harder to accidently shut off your computer. The number of times I've accidently shut off my work laptop just by holding down the dock to plug in or unplug a cable is absurd...

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