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Comment by brian-armstrong | Hacker News Reader

Too little, too late. The Intel NUC is far and away the better computer in this form factor - it's smaller, faster and cheaper. Also there's a better chance that it will receive an upgrade sooner than 6 years from now.

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Yes, of course! Every time someone says "You could buy a cheaper PC", you forget to mention that I would be forced to run Windows/Linux.

Not just for Mac Mini, there is a cheaper and better PC version of every single Mac hardware.

If you are running XCode, you have no choice but official Mac or Hackintosh.

What's the problem then?

The fact the Macs run pretty much only Mac OS reliably is the biggest reason I'm not buying Apple.

> If you are running XCode, you have no choice but official Mac or Hackintosh.

So... don't run XCode?

doesn’t this equate to “change your career” for iOS devs?

Well, that wasn't true for the Mac Mini form factor for a while. There weren't really any competitive PCs like that. But now I think even in this niche there are.

The Mac Mini is using full desktop components, not NUC laptop components. That's why it supports 4 times as much RAM, Thunderbolt 3, and a 65 watt CPU compared to the 25 watt NUCs.

> That's why it supports 4 times as much RAM

2× (64GB v. 32GB)

> Thunderbolt 3,

NUC also supports Thunderbolt 3

> and a 65 watt CPU

Well, okay, that one is right.

The NUC CPU is 45 watt, IIRC

Depends on which model. I got one earlier this year with a 7th gen core i5 processor: NUC7i5BNH with a i5-7260U, 2 cores, 4 threads, 15W TDP. Now you can get them with 8th gen core processors like these (among others):

  i5-8259U, 4 cores, 8 threads, 28W TDP
  i7-8559U, 4 cores, 8 threads, 28W TDP
  i7-8705G, 4 cores, 8 threads, 65W package TDP
  i7-8809G, 4 cores, 8 threads, 100W package TDP

The last two have fancy integrated graphics and only come in a larger form factor with a skull on the side.

edit: conciseness, formatting

> compared to the 25 watt NUCs

Modern high-end NUCs use 100W CPU, this one: https://ark.intel.com/products/130409/Intel-Core-i7-8809G-Pr...

Full desktop components...? Where do I put the video card?

In a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure -- there's 4 ports available. (Most Intel NUCs seem to have only 0 to 1.)

You are telling me that I can hook up 4 Nvidia RTX 2080's to it? Why are they not advertising this?!?!?

> The Intel NUC is far and away the better computer in this form factor - it's smaller, faster and cheaper.

If you want supported MacOS, it's not.

Also, the Mac Mini has better maximum specs than the NUC.

There is not a single NUC with internal power supply unit, so saying it's smaller is cheating.

The NUC is quite a bit smaller, and has to pay the price of that compromise: can't keep as powerful components quiet in that size. Assuming Apple doesn't mess up the cooling system, that's a clear plus for the Mac. While I agree that it is late and expensive, it's going to be faster and has higher max specs. And of course it's an up-to-date small desktop mac, which at least some Apple users have been waiting for.

Which NUC? I'm not sure the Hades Canyon is smaller.

It's a bit smaller, but you are right, I forgot those are noticeably bigger than the square ones, and the difference isn't that significant.

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