Mac Mini buyers beware! - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: blueskull
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 05, 2019, 09:23:55 pm
content: I bought an i5 stock version of Mac Mini 2018 two weeks ago, and I'd say I absolutely love it.I love it so much that it became my main workstation the next day. Parallels works exceptionally well, and the macOS is exceptionally stable for non-power off operation.So, I decided to return it and get the real big gun -- a topped off i7 version with 1TB of SSD, then replace its 8GB sticks with 2*16GB ones.And today I got my new ones, returned my old one, and my nightmare starts.THIS THING WHINES A LOT!Basically when you are not doing anything, its coil whiles, a lot. Some say it's from the SSD section, some say it's from the CPU section.I tested this with yes > /dev/null to force at least one CPU core to 100%, and the whine became much more stable, so I'm more leaning towards the theory that the CPU VRM is whining.Don't know if it's from the added hyper threading cores (problem existing for all i7 units) or from just manufacturing defects of my own unit, but there're quite some users pointing out this bug.Someone even made a video:So all Apple perspective buyers, stay away from the i7 version!I decide to live with it as I've already returned the old one and I no longer have a target disk mode device to migrate from, and Adorama won't ship a new one before receiving the old one.Also, it will live on the lowest level of my computer desk, so practically I won't be able to hear it once I moved it down there, away from the bench top.

author: r3bers
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: March 05, 2019, 11:10:15 pm
content: Is it curable by software/firmware update thing, or it will be there on this generation forever?

author: helius
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2019, 02:11:44 am
content: So it comes with a free party van?Apple hardware is generally very good, but they do have some annoying flaws sometimes. And of course they don't admit mistakes.The Late-2012 Retina has a flaw that causes video flicker when the Wifi card encounters interference. It's been widely reported since the machines were released, but there was never any fix. You pays your money and takes your chances.On the plus side, the glued-in battery that so many complained about has proven to have excellent durability and will outlive most of the machines.

author: Halcyon
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: March 06, 2019, 02:13:46 am
content: Quote from: helius on March 06, 2019, 02:11:44 amIt's a bit sad when the lithium pack in your product is more durable than the machine it's powering.

author: magic
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2019, 01:14:50 pm
content: I believe it's MLCCs singing to the tune of changing P-states (and therefore Vcore).Had a similar problem in one AMD system and it went away after disabling turbo.Not sure why would it affect i7 and not i5. Are these different motherboards? Just different CPUs? Diffrent batch of caps?

author: Howardlong
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 06, 2019, 05:47:24 pm
content: Soldered in SSD. No thanks, been caught out with that one very recently on a MacBook.

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2019, 02:34:08 am
content: Put some lacquer on the coils and see if that helps.Personally I have a PC whose motherboard does that and I don't mind it --- I can even tell how much CPU load there is by ear, which I consider more of a feature than a bug.

author: stj
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 07, 2019, 06:30:53 pm
content: Quote from: Halcyon on March 06, 2019, 02:13:46 amit is?

author: Ampera
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: March 09, 2019, 01:21:48 pm
content: Quote from: amyk on March 07, 2019, 02:34:08 amThe fan curve on my CPU cooler is insane. It will react to CPU load with a latency of only a few seconds. This is neat in that I can tell just by ear if a certain task I want to be chugging the CPU is or is not, but an issue in that if I am running something of varying load, I will definitely hear it.