【1989 Archives】

Apple's new Mac mini989 Archivespretty amazing. It's a machine I dreamed about when I was a kid: a quiet little aluminum box that packs immense power (especially if you equip it with Apple's new M4 Pro chip).

There's one thing about the latest Mac mini, however, that strikes me as odd. The device has two USB-C ports and a headphone jack on the front, and three more Thunderbolt ports, an Ethernet port, an HDMI port, and a power plug on the back.

There's no visible power button, though. So how do you turn this thing on and off? Easy: You lift it, reach under it, and (probably) blindly search with your hand until you find the power button — because the power button is located on the bottom of the Mac mini.

Now, the Mac mini does not lay fully flat on the surface of your desktop (floor, etc), so you might be able to turn it on and off without lifting it into the air. But given that desktop computers — even if they're as tiny as the new mini — are typically stowed away somewhere at the back of your table, or beneath it, this could be a bit of a nuisance.

Apple's product design is typically pretty great, but the company does make odd decisions like this every once in a while, with the most egregious example being the Magic Mouse, which is charged via a plug on the bottom. Arguably, the power button placement on the new Mac mini is even worse, as turning the computer on and off (or forcing a reboot) might be something you do more often than you charge your mouse.

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It's possible that the Mac mini is so...well, mini, that Apple had to get creative when it comes to power button placement as to conserve as much space as possible. Still, the power button does seem like something that could fit on the back, or the front, or the top of the mini — anywhere besides the bottom, really. It all seems quite odd, though perhaps it's something you can get used to; we'll tell you how this works in practice once we spend some time with the mini.