While we work on our own Mac mini review, here are some thoughts from around the tech review neighborhood and what they liked and disliked about it,
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Surprising as it may sound, it’s been exactly one week since Apple officially announced the 2023 Mac Mini lineup and the new 2023 MacBook Pro models. Apple also used this launch event to announce the company’s new M2 Pro and M2 Max chips. While customers could order these machines starting January 17, 2023 — the very day these were launched — Apple confirmed that consumers will only get their machines starting Tuesday, January 24, 2022. This is also the day when consumers can walk into an Apple Store (or an authorized Apple reseller) and get themselves the latest iteration of Apple’s small form factor desktop computer.
Interestingly, one day before consumers officially get their hands on the 2023 Mac Mini, the first expert reviews for the product are out. If you happen to be among the thousands of people wondering whether or not to invest their hard-earned money on one of these machines, these reviews should help you make a decision. So even as we at SlashGear work on publishing our own review, we thought it would be great to let our readers know some of the things reviewers liked and disliked about the 2023 Mac Mini.
Apple seems to be a firm believer in the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” philosophy. In the case of the Mac Mini, however, Apple is taking it to extreme lengths. PC Mag’s Brian Westover loves the minimalist design that has long defined the Mac Mini. However, he also notes that the overall design language of the product has largely remained unchanged for well over a decade. However, for some people — including Techradar’s Matt Hanson — this also means that their latest Mac Mini’s look nearly identical to Mini’s that are several generations old. Given that almost all of Apple’s products have been through a design overhaul, isn’t it high time Apple revamped the Mac Mini too? At least give it more color options to play around with, as Apple did with the 24-inch iMacs.
Mac Minis have long been criticized for being machines that are hard to upgrade or repair. Even with the increased interest surrounding the right-to-repair campaign, Apple has done precious little to fix this problem. According to PCMag, the 2023 Mac Minis are just as hard as their predecessors to repair, and it is next to impossible to upgrade these machines once you purchase them.
