Technology - Google News

Mac mini 2018 Review: Apple's mightiest mini yet
Google Chrome Will Soon Block Abusive Ads: Here's What That Means For You
Google confirmed that it's working to fix one of the Pixel 3's biggest problems

Mac mini 2018 Review: Apple's mightiest mini yet

Posted: 06 Nov 2018 03:02 AM PST

With the Mac mini finally refreshed after four years, we finally have our hands on the newest model. We've spent some time running it through the wringer to test Apple's mightiest mini yet.

2018 Mac mini

In the box

Apple's Mac mini has always been a bare-bones machine and this new model still only ships with the device itself plus a color-coordinated black power cord. Keyboard, mouse, display, all are necessities you will have to provide yourself.

We also have the usual getting started guide, which walks you through the new ports, as well as highlights the Mac mini connected to a display that looks eerily similar to an updated version of Apple's long discontinued Thunderbolt Display. Apple has teased a new Pro display coming next year alongside a refreshed and modular Mac Pro. Perhaps this is our first look at it?

What you get

Our review unit has an Intel i3 quad-core processor with a base speed of 3.6GHz, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of PCI-E flash storage. But, if you're so inclined, there are i5 and i7 versions with six cores, RAM options up to 64GB, and storage up to 2TB of flash storage.

That is a wide range of configurations and is perfect for this machine that spans so many different use case scenarios, from a home media server to sitting in stacks within a render farm.

If you want a maxed out one, however, be prepared to pay —it'll cost you over $4,200. Our configuration retails for $799.

First impressions

Initially, the Mac mini looks like a lot of the same. It has that same stout body, just with a new finish. We wouldn't hold it against you if you confused the new mini for the old.

Previous Mac mini (top) and 2018 Mac mini (bottom)

Apple made a big point to note that like the MacBook Air, the Mac mini's enclosure is made from 100-percent recycled aluminum. The quality of the metal looks as good as ever, creating a great and minimalistic look.

Flipping it around, there is a quartet of Thunderbolt 3 ports, two USB-A ports, auxiliary audio out, Gigabit or 10-Gig Ethernet depending on configuration, and HDMI 2.0. The cooling system has been redesigned, as has the external vent on the back of the machine which is slightly narrower than the previous, four-year-old model.

2018 Mac mini ports (from left to right): power, Ethernet, (4x) Thunderbolt 3, HDMI 2.0, (2x) USB 3.0 Type-A, 3.5mm headphone jack

We're guessing there will be some tears shed over the lack of any optical audio output, but ultimately that will become a non-issue. For most users, HDMI 2.0 will do a better job and is more flexible than the optical TOSlink connector. It will pass Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD Master Audio, neither of which can get transmitted across that TOSlink cable.

We opted to pair our new Space Gray Mac mini with Apple's Space Gray Magic Mouse 2 and Magic Keyboard to complete that all-black aesthetic.

Upgradability

Our base model came with 8GB of RAM, though it can go all the way up to 64GB. Considering Apple's costs on memory upgrades, the fact that the chips are slotted and not soldered into the board is giant.

This means a user can actually open up the bottom and upgrade the RAM themselves.

2018 Mac mini

It's a fairly simple procedure, though not as easy as some of the previous minis from 2012 and earlier, necessitating a spudger, and a set of security Torx drivers. We'll be going into the upgrade process at a later date.

Should you opt to upgrade the RAM yourself, you won't void your warranty, but if you happen to somehow damage the machine in the process, you will be out of luck.

You should also keep the original RAM handy because Apple straight won't service the mini without that original pair of chips. Luckily, since they are relatively easy to swap, it isn't a big deal to pop them back in when taking into the Apple Store or Apple Authorized Service Provider —and frankly, if you're troubleshooting some problem, going back to the original RAM is a good test.

As a downside, the storage is soldered into place, so replacing that yourself is a not possible. Fortunately, external storage is a lot more acceptable on a desktop device.

Benchmarks

Soon, we will be putting the Mac mini through more intensive thermal testing, but for the review, we threw it up against the CineBench R15 and Geekbench 4 tests.

Now that the mini starts with a 3.6GHz quad-core 8th generation Intel Core i3 processor, it should show quite an improvement.

Mac min with Space Grey Magic Mouse 2

We ran Geekbench 4 a number of times, averaging 4,769 and 14,202 on the single and multi-core tests. That compares well to the late 2012 Mac mini with an i7 processor —the previous multi-core champ —running at 2.3GHz which pulled 3300 and 11480 on the single/multi-core tests.

This also compares very well to the 2014 dual-core 3GHz Core i7 which was the previous single-core champ with 3705 and 7062 single and multi-core performance respectively. Both of these tests put the new low-end Mac mini ahead of all previous models in the family.

The performance gap gets even larger as you go up to the six-core i7 processor, which we will be talking more about in the future.

For CineBench R15, we averaged around 40 fps on the OpenGL test and a tick above 220 on the CPU test.

A max amount of mini improvements

Other than upgraded processors and ports, Apple packed in a ton of other improvements to this year's Mac mini.

Internally, we've got Apple's T2 security chip which performs a variety of different functions. Other Mac's use it for running the Touch Bar and Touch ID, but the Mac mini doesn't come with a keyboard and so far there isn't an optional one that includes these features. So for this machine, the T2 chip is relied on for secure boot, on-the-fly disc encryption, and hardware-assisted video encoding.

Mac mini with Thunderbolt 3 Akitio Node Lite SSD

We also love that there are so many Thunderbolt 3 ports, as many as there are on a MacBook Pro. This opens up so many possibilities from external GPUs to crazy fast SSD storage.

One area that didn't see much an upgrade is the internal speakers. They exist, but they aren't amazing. Especially as the volume goes up they start to sound a bit fuzzy and they certainly don't have much bass.

Distributed computing

Once upon a time, there was Xgrid, and it was promising, but in actuality finicky as hell and hard to configure properly. Apple killed it as a discrete product in macOS 10.8 "Mountain Lion" —but the concept of distributed computing lives on.

Apple obliquely referred to users having a stack of them, which set off a flurry of speculation that Apple had some kind of fancy interconnect between machines. However, the truth is more mundane than that.

Apple's Compressor has the ability to distribute the "embarrassingly parallel" batch task for media transcoding across multiple computers connected to a Gigabit Ethernet network, and this is what Apple both talked about on stage, and demonstrated in the hands-on area after the reveal. But, at present, distributed processing can't be used for jobs sent to Compressor from Final Cut Pro X or Motion.

Coders can benefit from this stack, however. Xcode allows for distributed builds that can theoretically speed compiling times on big projects —but your mileage may vary on any one of a number of factors that are beyond the scope of this review.

A huge upgrade, with a matching price

The new 2018 Mac mini is impressively powerful, even for the entry-level model. It is encouraging to see Apple deliver such a well-thought-out upgrade that was desperately needed.

We are sure that there will be a wide variety of uses for the new mini, but perhaps not as wide audience for it as there could be. The price has gone up now to $799 for the entry-level model, an increase of $300 over the previous. As a result, fewer people will be able to buy into the new mini.

2018 Mac mini

People who are looking for a basic Mac are stuck deciding between the newly inflated price or going for the cheaper, and woefully outdated predecessor, at least while it's still available at third-party retailers.

Still, Mac mini remains the cheapest Mac you can buy and it is more powerful now than it has ever been. While the "low-end" Mac mini packs a lot of performance in a small box and is a decent value assuming you don't need a ton of storage space internal, the ecosystem could use a less expensive one, at a $499 or $599 price-point.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Where to buy

Apple's 2018 Mac mini is available for preorder from Apple authorized reseller Adorama with no sales tax collected on orders shipped outside New York and New Jersey. Orders are shipped on a first come, first served basis and your cart will not be charged until your Mac mini is ready to ship.

For a full list of deals and product availability across multiple Apple authorized resellers, be sure to check out our 2018 Mac mini Price Guide. And for more information on how to save up to $310 on Apple's new hardware at Adorama, check out our buyer's guide.</span>

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Google Chrome Will Soon Block Abusive Ads: Here's What That Means For You

Posted: 06 Nov 2018 06:04 AM PST

Chrome 71 will block ads on websites that serve abusive ad experiences. The update is part of Google’s longstanding fight against terrible internet experiences because of ads. ( Gerd Altmann | Pixabay )

Once Google updates Chrome to version 71, the world's most popular browser will begin blocking every abusive ad on a website that's filled with them.

Abusive ads, of course, come in many forms. Popups, ads that block an entire webpage, or links that automatically open a new window regardless where the user clicks are just some of the few examples of annoying ads. Anything that causes the browser to misbehave are categorized as abusive.

Google And Abusive Ads

The update is part of Google's longstanding fight against abusive ads on the internet. This past July, the company rolled out Chrome 58 to try and address this same problem. That version of Chrome came with a bunch of features that would prevent sites from opening new tabs or windows if they were reported for serving abusive experiences. Such measures, of course, have been insufficient to prevent misleading or dangerous ads, which is why Google is taking action.

As such, Chrome 71 will take those measurements even further. Google is releasing this version on December, and it's giving site owners a grace period of 30 days to clean up their site supposed they're reported for serving abusive ad experiences. Should they fail, Google will promptly block their ads. Chrome users can override Google's ad blocking in case they prefer it that way.

Google, The Internet, And Ads

The changes mentioned above should make millions of internet users pretty happy, and at the same time, it should definitely make a lot of publishers and site owners more wary about what kinds of ads they choose to show on their sites. If there's any company that site owners need to comply strictly with, it's Google. Not only is Chrome the most used browser in the world, but as we've mentioned, Google also controls a massive chunk of the overall advertising traffic on the internet. As such, the company has considerable latitude to shape how we use the web and what we see in it.

That kind of power is both reassuring and terrifying. Reassuring because Google is clearly using it to improve the web experience for everyone; terrifying because that kind of power, when in the wrong hands, could lead to catastrophic, ethics-breaking results. One can only hope Google doesn't get any further ideas about controlling the internet or perhaps even censoring what people see, which already occurs in some countries.

Thoughts about Chrome 71? As always, feel free to sound off in the comments section below if you have anything to share!

Let's block ads! (Why?)

Google confirmed that it's working to fix one of the Pixel 3's biggest problems

Posted: 06 Nov 2018 05:35 AM PST

For Android fans, Google’s new Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL have been somewhat disappointing. These two new phones had been hyped for months ahead of their release, and they actually managed to deliver on most of the hype. They’re fast and powerful with cool new features enabled by the latest version of Android, Android 9.0 Pie. They also sport sleek new designs, with the Pixel 3 XL in particular having gotten a much-needed modern overhaul that includes a better screen-to-body ratio than we’ve ever seen on any other Pixel phone. In our in-depth Google Pixel 3 review, we dove into all the reasons these new Pixel phones are the best Pixels yet. So, why have they been disappointing? As it turns out, the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL have been riddled with bugs.

The problems Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL users have been experiencing range in severity. Some issues are quite serious while others are quite minor. Of course, even the minor bugs are amplified when there are so many issues that people have been dealing with. Examples include a second notch randomly appearing on the screen and remaining until the phone is rebooted, problems with audio and video quality in recordings, buzzing and speaker distortion, and plenty more. Google has responded to a few of the issues out there, but now we have good news: The company has finally confirmed that it’s working to fix one of the most serious problems users have encountered.

Remember how bad the RAM management problems were on Apple’s iPhones in iOS 11? They were so bad that iPhone models powered by the A11 Bionic chip from 2017, which is still more powerful than anything in Android phones even now in 2018, were losing speed tests to lesser handsets. In other words, the issue was actually hindering performance… and yet you’d have to multiply that by an order of magnitude before it would even approach what many Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL users are experiencing.

Imagine having RAM management problems that are so bad, taking a picture in the camera app causes other apps to crash. That’s where some users are at with the Pixel 3 right now. It’s obviously infuriating, but now we at least have some good news to share.

In an email sent to Google news blog 9to5Google, a Google spokesperson confirmed that the company is aware of the issue and is working to fix it. Specifically, the spokesperson said that Google is working on a fix that will “keep background apps from being prematurely closed.” Of all the Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL problems out there, this definitely seems to be the one that has been causing the biggest headache for users. We know we would definitely be annoying if performing simple tasks was enough to crash a music stream in the background on our phone.

As for when Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL owners can expect the update to arrive on their phones, we unfortunately don’t have an exact date just yet. According to Google, we should expect it “in the coming weeks.”

Image Source: Zach Epstein, BGR

Let's block ads! (Why?)