2020 Mac mini says its a 2018 Mac mini

What people are "seeing" is the "new" when selecting Mac on the home page:

and on the purchase page:

and because of it people posting are calling it and assuming

it is a 2020 model even though the only thing that changes

was the base SSD installed.

Even I also have this problem! Is apple lying to us? I purchased mac mini, saw serial number printed outside the shipping box, out of curiosity checked my warranty coverage. Surprised to see apple says my mac mini is of 2018 model!

2018 is the year the current model was introduced. There has

been no other updates with the exception of adding larger

SSD in the base models. That has been the ONLY thing that

has changed since its introduction in 2018.

Why does Apple say Early 2020 model instead of late 2018 model then? I know all the Mac Books show they current model year? It's weird to me that people would start discounting their 2018 models since Apple has just released the newer "2020" models? I'm aware that the internals are pretty much the same besides some bigger SSDs, but it seems like not much more than a marketing ploy if that's the case?

Also, talking with Apple tech support, they seemed to agree that it should state 2020 version in the About this Mac? So those dudes don't even know what they're looking at? Seems pretty shady.

Yea they should say they're just offering better pricing on larger drives - instead of stating it's the "early 2020" model. It confuses people including the actual techs that work at Apple. The Apple tech even stated that this "new" one has the 6-core processor and on the older models, that was a "special order"? I had to inform him I didn't believe that was the case. wtf?

Oh well -- getting a discounted one coming thanks to Apple and them I guess not knowing what's going on?

jsdrexel wrote:

Yea they should say they're just offering better pricing on larger drives - instead of stating it's the "early 2020" model.

But that doesn't attract the eyes of perspective buyers as much as having

the word "NEW" put on the web page. Typical marketing ploy of many companies.

woodmeister50 wrote:

What people are "seeing" is the "new" when selecting Mac on the home page:

I don’t know. I have to double-check. The “About This Mac” display can use the machine’s serial number to query an internal Apple database. It could very well return “Early 2020”. The only people who can tell are those with that specific machine.

etresoft wrote:

.... It could very well return “Early 2020”. The only people who can tell are those with that specific machine.

I don't think Apple updated the firmware (or whatever) to indicate a

new model since all they did was bump the base SSD sizes. They just

upped the drive capacity, plastered new on the web page (which marketing

probably told them to do) and now new buyers are complaining they are not

getting 2020 models and getting ripped off.

The data isn’t in the firmware. It is in an Apple database, tied to serial number. It is easy enough to check if one had a (partial) serial number or a screenshot of About This Mac.

But I’m guessing these are just new users who never bought a MacPro 2013 in 2019.

Take this issue up with Apple. As fellow users, we cannot do anything about your sense of being ripped off, or what Apple marks as new. If within 14 days of purchase, you can return the Mac mini for a refund.

Agreed 100%!! I just chewed out B&H for false ads. Which they are. Regardless of whether this is the identical machine to the 2018 model or not. the difference is that in 2023 this is a 5 year old MAC and not a 3 year old MAC. folks on the second hand market will not care if you tell them it is really only 3 years old. Come on Apple get it together!

BoulderPapa wrote:

It’s not the same model. They changed the cutout for the camera on the back. They added the LiDAR scanner which the 2018 model doesn’t have and they claim the microprocessor is an A12Z while the 2018 model has an A12X microprocessor. So, the memory is not the only thing that changed.

What in the world are you talking about?

We are talking about MacMinis here not some iDevice.

woodmeister50 wrote:

BoulderPapa wrote:

It’s not the same model. They changed the cutout for the camera on the back. They added the LiDAR scanner which the 2018 model doesn’t have and they claim the microprocessor is an A12Z while the 2018 model has an A12X microprocessor. So, the memory is not the only thing that changed.

What in the world are you talking about?

We are talking about MacMinis here not some iDevice.

The OP also talked about "system settings menu General, About". Perhaps we are just being trolled for someone's amusement.