Mac Power Users 465: The Mighty Mac mini

Perhaps the only time I’ve spoken about Content Caching on a podcast.

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One of the few times anyone has ever spoken about Content Caching.

I wish it wasn’t as opaque. I wish I knew if it actually saved bandwidth even if my wife and son and I all have different versions of iPhones and iPads when the new version of iOS comes out. I assume it does for app updates.

Anyway, a great, Mac-centric episode. Loved it!

(And it dropped a little earlier than usual, which I also liked!)

I loved the deep dive on the Mac Mini, and the content caching is a feature I had not heard about, will definitely want to know more about it, as well as the back-to-my-mac style secure remote access.

This episode comes at a PERFECT time. I just bought an iMac and my beloved 2012 Mac Mini is looking for some new adventures after its retirement. :grin:

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Enjoyed the history (is this the first episode that’s pulled in a Steve clip like that? I am probably forgetting one.)

One thing I wonder about is to what degree Apple sees the Apple TV and the Mini competing with each other (or potentially competing more in the future.) Two different home hub philosophies there.

Really enjoyed the conversation on this episode. While, personally, I am not too interested in the Mac Mini the episode was still enjoyable to listen to.

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Content caching was news to me and I started the service immediately. I’m now hunting down all the background work my mac does based on these tips found in this support doc from Apple. Thanks for the tip

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Great episode. A seemless transition to Stephen. Super helpful as am contemplating a move to a Mac mini setup from iMac.

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Glad you enjoyed it!

I enthusiastically endorse the use of Steve Jobs keynote clips on the show, even if used only occasionally :smile:

Hearing his voice and showman-style delivery hits me right in the nostalgia-feels :dart:

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I have a Mac mini 2011 for a Plex server and it works flawlessly. I am trying to rationalize buying the 2018 version but haven’t got there yet.

I have been thinking about trading in my MBP at home and getting a headless mini with a Drobo and going iPad Pro only to drive it. Would you use Luna and/or Screens app?

Anyone else doing/thinking about that?

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Personally I’d do both. Screens when not at home, Luna at home. Luna is so fast and responsive it’s crazy.

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Same here. Luna at home, Screens when I’m connecting remotely.

They mentioned doing Time Machine backups over WiFi. Does anyone know if those backups are encrypted in transit? Right now I occasionally plug a backup drive into my MacBook Pro at the office. I’d love to wirelessly backup to a drive on my iMac, but don’t want to use the office WiFi if those TimeMachine backups aren’t encrypted in transit (I keep my personal records on the MacBook).

I was also glad to hear about Time Machine over wifi. I have to move to a larger external drive anyway, so I’ll be reconfiguring on my Mac mini. I am not sure about encrypting the drive when creating the partition, or just doing encrypted backups in the Time Machine interface. Anyone have any suggestions? I’d love the advice.

I’m in a similar situation. I have the 5k iMac and a 2014 mac mini. I also bought a Synology and now I’m thinking I shouldn’t have.

It seems to me they are really scratching two different itches.

What she said. Grin.