M4 Mac Mini Power Button Has New Bottom Location

It's a bit of a bummer given the power of the machine it would be otherwise good in IT environments. The small size would allow a rack or stack of them. This one feature design choice makes that not possible. It's on purpose.

Introducing the new Apple Power Bottom.

Looking forward to see the 3D prints made to fix this "feature".

As long as your default mode is sleep it'd be ok. I touch my PCs power button only when it crashes so horribly that a forced shutdown is the only way out...

This is fake right

Just run it upside down.

At least it does mean your cat can never turn off your pc ever again with this

Now you can slam the top of the machine to boot it up

Apple insider are already framing this as not a design flaw but an advantage somehow

This is more like a "power button" in that case lol

excellent marketing strategy to get us talking about their stuff that would otherwise get almost completely under our radar.

i mean fuck where the power button of a product ill probably never need is.

Oh an Apple thread. More people angry at something they were never going to buy anyway.

Guess the Magic Mouse design team was getting bored

Just be thankful they didn’t put the power cord there like they did with the mouse.

Assuming you mount it on the back of something that would probably be a pretty good place.

I use a lot of mini Linux computers and mount them to the back of monitors. I could see this design being perfect for that except it's way more expensive lol

At least they didn't put the fucking power port on the bottom.

Just put it on its side.

What is the <--> port for? HTML? I thought that was port 80 or 443...

This could be a nice little computer if it had good linux support

Apple is powered by the copium of their fanbase, so maybe the next model won't even need a power cable.

I can't wait for Apple to reveal a desk, with a keyboard built-in underneath the back side of it.

okay, I was gonna say that it’s not that big of a deal because you can just slightly lift it when you want to turn it on (or just slide your finder under it, if they’re small enough) but judging by that photo, it seems like the power button is at the back of the computer? whyyyy??

anyways, im more impressed by the fact that their new shiny mouse who finally uses USB-C still has the charging port at the bottom. im starting to think they think it’s a good design???

Don't worry, there will be suitable USB accessories available for this.

I’m not really trying to come to Apple’s defense here as they don’t need it, but everyone reacting as though this is as bad as or worse than the mouse charging port seems to be ignoring the fact that most computers nowadays don’t need to be manually turned off or on with any level of frequency. People will push this button like once or twice a month I imagine. I don’t see why that’s the end of the world.

After seeing the mouse with ports on the bottom. I'm convinced that there's a disgruntled designer on their team and this is a cry for help.

Unless your computer has issues, can’t you just power off from within macOS?

Part of the new Apple power bottom design strategy.

As someone who has to use heavy/taped-on little toys to cover the power buttons on my PCs or else my cat invariably opens a shutdown dialog in the middle of something… Thank you.

To be fair, aren't those mini PCs meant for HTPCs/home servers? You're not really supposed to turn them off, and if you really want easy power button access you can just set it upside down. I'd say it's a good idea if you take into account that it's aimed at Apple customers who care more about "design" over usability. They truly "think different" over there.

Yes, and if you complain to much they’ll put the power input on the bottom too next year.

So they created more vertical space on the case, which would be a perfect spot for a power button - or even more ports… and then didn’t use it.

True to form, if I’m honest.

That aside, I love that they’re getting rid of the idiotic 8GB baseline spec.

Apparently there is a button on the keyboard, so you get to buy an Apple keyboard (I guess that is bundled?) and don't get to use your own keyboard with it.

Wait, WHAT?

They put the powerbutton on the underside?

For fuck sake Apple...

So many people referring to using the button to turn the computer off, but more than 95% of the time, you use the OS to turn a computer off. It’s only when there’s a malfunction you would need to turn it off with a hardware button.

This button is primarily for turning the computer on.

design consistent with the Magic Mouse

I'm not going to get a mac anytime soon, but at least it would stop my cat from powering down everything spontaneously

I wonder how many people will just have the thing upside down?

Oh no, I'll have to slightly lift a tiny box on my desk several times a year!

When Think Different turns into differently stupid.

Why can't they put the power button on the front where it belongs. It's already stupid that they put it on the back, putting it on the bottom is downright idiotic. If they don't want to mess up the oh so important Apple aesthetic just make it an invisible touch button or something. Apple hates usability.

Here we go again making mountains out of mole hills for Apple.

I am all for calling out Apple for their treatment of workers in ASIA, or their wealth, heck even the closed garden, but this… nah fam I don’t care where the button is.

Unfortunately "punish them by not buying it" won't work for someone as big as them.

Please don't ever turn your computer off, it makes it really hard to spy on you. Thanks -Apple

I had to check if this was an Onion article...

I guess you could flip it around and make the bottom the top 🙃

I… uh… I know it’s going to be an unpopular opinion, but it makes sense. It’s not intended for daily usage - macs wake up on a keyboard or cursor movement. Sitting on the back increases the chance of accidental presses when you are trying to plug something in.

You have a very few specific incidents where you would need to press the power button. 80% of their user base will not use the power button after the first initial press.

They wanted to put it inside the unit originally

It looks like you can push the button without lifting the tiny computer.

Well at least now you can actually see the damn black ports on the silver chassis. The M2 Mac Mini has the black ports on the black backside and it's such a pain in the ass trying to find the USB C ports when I have to connect something.

But yeah, putting the power button on the bottom is peak Apple stupidity.

I really hope this is one of those tactile hit it from the top and it'll trigger from the bottom designs. But more likely they just never expect you to use it.

On the bottom, in the back...

This is peak nerd rage over something nobody is going to actually care about.

Seeth and bitch over minor design choices while apple prints money.