Next Mac Mini Will Reportedly Have Mismatched M6 and M5 Pro Chips

Why is it a mismatch? More like various configuration options.

I really miss the days when a Mac desktop (and laptops to some degree) could be opened, tinkered with, and hardware upgraded by users.

I really miss the days when a Mac desktop (and laptops to some degree) could be opened, tinkered with, and hardware upgraded by users.

I really miss the days when a Mac desktop could be bought...

Why do we listen to this idiot. Mark Gurman is rarely right, and most of his “predictions” are so vague that even when he is wrong (usually) he claims otherwise.

I really miss the days when a Mac desktop (and laptops to some degree) could be opened, tinkered with, and hardware upgraded by users.

What has stopped that was the invention of LPDDR5 RAM.

The "LP" means low power, and they reduced the power by removing the big drivers from the interconnect pins. These LP chips can only push the data over a VERY short length of wire, and it can't be just any kind of wire. The complex impedance (the combined effect of resistance and inductance) of the wire must be carefully controlled along with its path length too. The socket and the long wires extending from it make it impossible.

Today's computers are built by robots using nearly microscopic parts. If it were otherwise, they would perform like 1990's computers.

Just like with cars. If you want good gas mileage and very low emissions, you need to make it complex enough that special training and tools are needed to do work on it.

Unless you're a Macrumors chip nerd you might not know which configuration to order without some guidance other than price.

But one could also argue that if you don’t know the difference between a regular M chip and a pro or max chip, it’s probably not the computer for you.
The percentage of users who are purchasing the high-end Mac desktops, and also who have absolutely no idea about Apple’s chip names and strategies and what they represent, is probably 0.0000000001% of customers.
Consider that Apple is rumored to sell around 10 million MacBook Neos this year, and yet they only sell about 600,000 Mac studios annually.
Even the Mac mini makes up less than 5% of annual Mac sales.
The people who are purchasing these machines know exactly what they are looking for.