Power button placement on Mac Mini M4 and USB audio interfaces in sleep mode

seaandnature wrote:

Someone on Twitter suggested this:

Hey' I know a few people with two left hands. 😉 😊

Personally I think most folks will be able to slip in an index finger, instead of using some awkward lift and poke pose..

Sleep is unnecessary on later Macs and should be disabled. Energy savings with Sleep are trivial and self-deceiving. The planet gains absolutely nothing.

For proper, planet-responsible operation, shut your Mac for long absences/idle overnights (i.e. do not manual-sleep), and for regular operation, use the settings exactly as shown below (reboot after changes) should fix.

Additionally, avoid manual sleeping your Mac and use the Lock Screen settings to switch the display off on timer:

The latest silicone Mac's use a very small amount of energy in standby/sleep mode.

I also doubt that most audio interfaces use much power. Certainly they don't consume anywhere near as much power as would an audio amplifier, and I know of few music studios that turn all their amplifiers off at night. So there's really little point that I can see in shutting any Mac off regularly.

In any case, we are all just fellow users here and can only speculate as to why Apple put the button on the bottom. And it really doesn't matter what we think; the fact is that it's on the bottom and people will need to adapt their processes accordingly.

Regards.

Remember you are not asking Apple here but rather other end users like you. We cannot give you an "official" answer to "Why does Apple..." questions. Anyone who knows is likely under a non-disclosure agreement.

The power button for the Mini M4 is on the bottom of the left rear corner, and the unit doesn’t sit flat on the surface it’s placed on. Like the Mac Studio, there is finger space between the bottom of the unit and the surface of a desk, I can easily get my finger under the left rear corner of my Mac Studio.

Should you need to use the power button on the Mini M4, looks like it is possible to get a finger under the unit to reach the power button without having to lift the unit.

I plan on getting a Mini M4 to replace my Mini M1 that’s in another room, but not in a big hurry since I have a Mac Studio.

I have solved the power button location on my M4 Mac Mini Pro. I simply oriented it on its side with the fan facing left. I can simply lean forward and reach around the edge of my display and press the power button now. With my M2 Mac Mini Pro, this required me to stand up and reach behind the display owing to the older mini case dimensions and power button location.

The newer Broadcom BCM4388C2 chip also means my Wi-Fi 6 signal is stronger and more consistent than the previous M2 Mini Pro that had the BCM4388 chip. The Wi_Fi radio is no longer on the bottom of the M4 mini (as it was in the M2 mini).

One would need the finger size of an arthropod to reach under the M4 Mac Mini Pro oriented with the fan side down.

It is true. Plus that initial power surge requires as much power as standby mode for an extended period of time.

No one here is trying to persuade you into changing your ways. If you want to standby or shut down then that is your choice.

Personally I have left all of my various iMac's and Mac mini's in standby mode 24-7 for the 20+ years, and none have ever suffered a hardware failure.

Despite what some have said in this thread, I don't know anyone with a 1/4" thick finger. Hard to believe any claim that a person can reach the button w/out moving the device.

I found a slick DIY solution however. You just need black electricians tape, and a 3 inch core from an empty roll of masking tape. Just wrap the used core once or twice with the electricians tape. This provides a near perfect diameter base that doesn't block the venting. The black tape disguises the core, looks as if it were part of the device, and lifts it high enough for any finger.

A typical USB-powered audio interface takes less power than the average household LED light bulb. And most modern devices still consume a bit of power even when "shut off". The only way around that for many devices is to disconnect the device completely from AC (which opens up a number of other issues). So what people may think they're doing to conserve power is often a phantom and not really as effective as they believe.

In any case, it's your decision what matters most to you. If having the power button on the bottom of the new Mac mini doesn't fit into your workflow or needs, you'll want to choose a different device. There's still the old Mac mini, while supplies last, and if Apple releases an M4-based Mac Studio, that may have the power button in a different, more accessible location. Or there are the MacBooks.

Regards.

That’s very funny, thanks for posting.

I am left handed and think this is a non issue. For those that disagree, the link varjak paw posted is a very simple solution 👍🏻😁

Simply place a marble beneath the Mac mini power button, so that whenever you need to use it, you can just press down on the top. 😊

seaandnature wrote:

"Cycling on/off/on [...] uses more power than just letting it sit in standby/sleep mode."

I have absolutely no idea why this should be true.

Is it true for light bulbs?