Friday, April 23rd 2021

Apple Updates M1 Mac Mini with 10 GbE Upgrade Option

Apple has quietly added a new M1 Mac Mini configuration option to their website with an optional upgrade from the internal 1 Gbps Ethernet to 10 Gbps Ethernet at the time of purchase for 100 USD. The upgrade is only available as a factory option and cannot be added after purchase so those who require 10 GbE will want to purchase the upgrade at the time of purchase. For existing M1 Mac Mini owners it is possible to get 10 GbE with a USB 4 / Thunderbolt 3 dongle such as the OWC Thunderbolt 3 10G which retails for 149 USD. Why Apple has only just now decided to include this 10 GbE upgrade as an option and not with the original launch is unknown.
Source: Apple
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35 Comments on Apple Updates M1 Mac Mini with 10 GbE Upgrade Option

#26
R-T-B
Ravenassince gaming will be going cloud based.
Cloud based gaming will be lucky to survive at this point, let alone overtake, home gaming.
Posted on Reply
#27
Ravenas
R-T-BCloud based gaming will be lucky to survive at this point, let alone overtake, home gaming.
That's bold. How well have physical videos and music survived? Gaming is even worse because it requires investment in hardware. $9 a month versus large investment every 3 - 5 years. Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Nvidia are already in the market heavily. To say it won't survive is an absolute bold statement.
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#28
R-T-B
RavenasThat's bold. How well have physical videos and music survived? Gaming is even worse because it requires investment in hardware. $9 a month versus large investment every 3 - 5 years. Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Nvidia are already in the market heavily. To say it won't survive is an absolute bold statement.
Two word: Bandwidth and latency. You aren't ever getting full quality frames that distance. You have to lose quality, the question is how much, thus local gaming survives. And given the market performance thus far of cloud gaming, I'd not call my prediction bold.
RavenasGoogle, Microsoft, Amazon, and Nvidia
Have you looked at how they are doing?

Personally I see both existing, but pc gaming remaining dominant. They are overinvested in the idea right now.
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#29
Ravenas
R-T-BTwo word: Bandwidth and latency. You aren't ever getting full quality frames that distance. You have to lose quality, the question is how much, thus local gaming survives. And given the market performance thus far of cloud gaming, I'd not call my prediction bold.


Have you looked at how they are doing?

Personally I see both existing, but pc gaming remaining dominant. They are overinvested in the idea right now.
Depends on the consumer. I have great bandwidth. I can hope on GeForce Now when I am on vacation and play most games in my Steam library with great gameplay.

I think you are misjudging the consumer.
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#30
R-T-B
RavenasDepends on the consumer. I have great bandwidth. I can hope on GeForce Now when I am on vacation and play most games in my Steam library with great gameplay.

I think you are misjudging the consumer.
No, it really doesn't, as far as the frames being lesser quality / higher latency. You may just be more willing to accept the tradeoff, which indeed depends on the consumer but the market is already showing the consumer is nit biting.

Even a 5gbps connection can just barely pump full low latency (as in full chroma quality / uncompressed) 1080p. Don't dream higher. That's the enthusiast market. Thus both will remain.
Posted on Reply
#31
Ravenas
R-T-BNo, it really doesn't, as far as the frames being lesser quality / higher latency. You may just be more willing to accept the tradeoff, which indeed depends on the consumer but the market is already showing the consumer is nit biting.

Even a 5gbps connection can just barely pump full low latency (as in full chroma quality / uncompressed) 1080p. Don't dream higher. That's the enthusiast market. Thus both will remain.
Enthusiast market is niche and has been. I play CSGO at 144 FPS with 30 ping at 1080p on GeForce Now. The majority consumer would be satisfied with this on a laptop or Mac Mini. Don't replace the enthusiast market with the majority market.
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#32
R-T-B
RavenasEnthusiast market is niche and has been. I play CSGO at 144 FPS with 30 ping at 1080p on GeForce Now. The majority consumer would be satisfied with this on a laptop or Mac Mini. Don't replace the enthusiast market with the majority market.
The initial claim was that "gaming will be going cloud based"

My only claim I'm willing to really bet on is that enthusiast gaming will survive. I see absolutely no reason cloud gaming will survive beyond niche use cases because it loses so many of PC gamings benefits, but fully admit that part is just conjecture really.
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#33
Ravenas
R-T-BThe initial claim was that "gaming will be going cloud based"

My only claim I'm willing to really bet on is that enthusiast gaming will survive. I see absolutely no reason cloud gaming will survive beyond niche use cases because it loses so many of PC gamings benefits, but fully admit that part is just conjecture really.
Let me correct... Mass Market gaming will be cloud based because:
  • Mass market consumers aren't willing to heavily invest in computers or expensive hardware.
  • Corporations receive steady stream of monthly subscription-based income.
Posted on Reply
#34
TheLostSwede
News Editor
RavenasLet me correct... Mass Market gaming will be cloud based because:
  • Mass market consumers aren't willing to heavily invest in computers or expensive hardware.
  • Corporations receive steady stream of monthly subscription-based income.
Mass market gaming is mobile based.
Posted on Reply
#35
Post Nut Clairvoyance
RavenasThe processing power is there. The graphics power is not with exception of casual games.

The M1 computers recognize the eGPU from a hardware standpoint, they just don't have drivers in place. It may not matter much longer for consumers with good bandwidth since gaming will be going cloud based.
I'll fight cloud gaming for as long as I can feasibly do so. With how modern OEM and Software(Microsoft) companies treat us, enthusiast community is the only place left for general purpose computing. (in presence of software-as-service, computing-as-service, and more dreadfully, gaming-as-service).

Thunderbolt has minor latency issues and cost more for the need of thunderbolt controller chip on both the motherboard and TB device, whereas m2 uses PCIE lanes from CPU itself and the dongles of same (signal) quality is much cheaper, with minor performance(overhead) benefit vs TB. But as a novelty market this does not matter.
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