Mac Studio/mini on/off switch placement & remote

Mac Studio can be set to start on power up. Use a remote power switch.

Or place the UPS where you can use its button. Or get a UPS with remote switching.

You could conceivably use a Matter power switch too, so long as you have a hub.

The Mac Studio airflow does not rely on the 'chimney effect'. Fan-forced warmed air exits out what the designers called the "back", where there are a lot of ports and cables.

You can place it in any orientation, even upside-down. There is no need whatsoever to maintain the designer's choice of "front". Turn it sideways and push it all the way back. Warm air then exits to one side and the power button and All the cables are visible and accessible.

ineed2practice wrote:

Those are great points, to be looked into. This is a large music recording console. There are power switches that turn equipment on a power priority basis. The devices are in an on state. When this was on my office desk, this was not an issue.

Jokes aside, the “have you tried turning it off and on again” troubleshooting technique has a long history.

iMac, Mac mini, and Mac Studio have all had the power button on the back, and for a long time.

Various fixed and sliding rack-mount kits are available for Studio. At least one offers a power button kit.

Your electrician will want to calculate current and likely future power requirements obviously, and from there cooling. Particularly if airflow is constrained, a UPS is involved, or such.

As for power sequencing, that’s a very familiar topic. Larger computers and older computers can draw lots of power. Sequencing power can be configured to start the Mac Studio too, which seems to reduce the need to access the power button.

Being able to re-select power for specific subsystems can be helpful too, and that’s also a well-solved problem.

Network power switches and related topics including NUT servers can be helpful for some configurations.

FWIW, these Apple Support Community forums are peer-to-peer support forums. You are not speaking to Apple here, only other users, and we understand Apple don’t actively participate here.

You can leave product feedback directly to Apple using this link: Product Feedback - Apple

ineed2practice wrote:

1. I have been an apple user since early 90's. I have seen and experienced a lot of Apple changes. Of all the apple products I own the worst product idea is on the Mac Studio and Mac mini placement of the on/off switch. This is absolutely the dumbest place to put a switch. On the back! really- I thought that I could adapt to my not so new any more M2 studio.

The power switch on a Mac Studio is somewhere low, on the rounded left back corner of the Mac, and it's mounted flush, which can sometimes make it hard to find by feel.

But at least it's not underneath the Mac, like the power switches on the M4 and M4 Mac minis.

What about putting the switch on the Mac Studio monitor.

Apple had power switches on keyboards back in the ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) days. When they switched to USB, those power switches went away. If I remember correctly, the USB specification does not allow them.

Many Mac Studio owners (including myself) do not have an Apple Studio Display, so that can't be the only or main way of turning the machine on, even if it turns out that having an on/off switch on the monitor would be acceptable from a standards viewpoint.

Also note that the Studio Displays are supposed to be compatible with a lot of Macs (not just the Studio), so if there was a power button that worked, say, for certain Mac Studios, but not for other Macs, there might be people posting complaints about why it didn't work on their machines …

Hi,

I'm using Mac mini which has power switch at back panel edge. I'm always my Mac mini is ON, so don't care much about it.

As D.I. Johnson told, you should feed back directly to Apple, since this is users of Apple products communities.

Hi,

Personally, it' a good design the back panel of Mac mini, especially power Botton at curved back panel end without sticking out.