Mac minis are sold out in NYC these days because everyone gets them to try out openclaw. Even if this move by Apple is unrelated to the recent demand, it certainly was timed right for the policy and market makers.

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sigmar 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's so funny to me that HN seems convinced that artists have a sudden renewed interest in desktop computers, when LLMs have been driving mac mini sales for more than a year

	▲	F7F7F7 44 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		I'm a product exec now but used to be designer and lead UX teams. Even though I don't use those skills as much nowadays it's still a almost daily hobby of mine. Like the rest of HN (maybe it's HN's fault!) I managed to convince myself that I not only needed a Mac Mini desktop but also a 4090 rig for AI. The 4090 hasn't been booted up in 9 months and the Mac Mini is now the world's most amazing 10GBE NAS server. My older M1 Max Macbook Pro and underpowered newer Macbook Air are the only things I use.

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locusofself 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

why were mac minis so popular for this compared to any other machine, cloud VPS or local VM?

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hackingonempty 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Macs have "unified memory" meaning the GPU uses the same memory as the CPU and minis can have up to 64 gigs. So its a lot faster than running on a CPU and a lot cheaper than any other GPU based rig with similar memory.

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mholm 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Most openclaw users are not running the models locally.

	▲	locusofself 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		This is what I thought. The iMessage integration makes sense I guess though.

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matthewfcarlson 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

It allows your Claw to access all your iCloud data easily like reminders and iMessage for example

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mountainriver 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Mac’s are still pretty terrible at running LLMs. They will be there someday, but that isn’t today

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PlatoIsADisease 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Unified Memory and Integrated GPU.

Apple is amazing at marketing to make 1990s technology sound cutting edge. I'm sure they change something for plausible deniability, as a nominalist, not even 2 of the same computers are the same.

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amelius 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Because these people have Apple IDs, and they need a machine that can access their various accounts.

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retired 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

The Mac mini has a very good value for money if you need raw performance in a small silent package. Frequently available for between $399 - $499 discounted.

A VPS that can perform like a Mac mini will likely cost the same as a Mac mini in 12 months time.

	▲	piskov 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Openclaw is running via api. The reason people are bying separate machines is for security isolation and 24/7 power — performance is irrelevant.

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3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

[deleted]

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llmslave 4 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

so you can use the full operating system

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Phemist 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

More importantly iMessage

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FitchApps 4 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

And get hacked via prompt injection

	▲	piskov 3 hours ago \| parent [-]
		That’s why people buy separate machines / use VPS.

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PlatoIsADisease 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

In classic Apple fashion, they fooled people into thinking an integrated GPU is the same as Nvidia.

Gosh I wish I could hire their marketing company.

	▲	usef- 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Where did they say this?

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PlatoIsADisease 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The wild part is that these are awful and not usable.

Both my fortune 20 company and my buddy got these for LLMs... and the champion/my buddy had the look of shame when it wasnt usable.