Does anyone else have a 2014 Mac mini or other similarly aged Mac that is still impressively fast? Despite being dual core, this Mac mini of mine feels almost as fast as my M2 MBA! Just happy my old Mac still has some life left. Feel free to share your stories.
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2014 Mac mini still fast in 2025?!
- Thread starter Squiggles Chitter
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The 2014 Mac mini is slow, even with m.2 SSD, not in the same league as the M1. But it works fine for a lot of mainstream business app usage.
The 2014 Mini, when it was released, was slower than the 2012 Mini. It's definitely not a fast computer today, and it can't run current, supported versions of macOS, so software compatibility is becoming increasingly worse as time passes.
I have an Early 2015 MBA. Dual-core 'U' chip just like a 2014 mini, just one generation newer and PCIe 2x4 NVMe. It did great with Mojave as my 32b app machine, but it did not take the transition to Monterey well even with a clean install. Today it feels only barely adequate for the modern internet and word-like .docx file editing.
Seriously considering rolling back to Big Sur except that I've also been using it as a portable offline iPhone photos archive that may not take kindly to a rollback.
Seriously considering rolling back to Big Sur except that I've also been using it as a portable offline iPhone photos archive that may not take kindly to a rollback.
We have a 2015 13" i5 MacBook Pro and a 2017 13" i5 MacBook Air. I will replace them fairly soon, especially the MBA.
Not sure of the sale prices where you live, but here in Canada the M2 MacBook Air 13" 16/256 GB is available for CA$899 / US$629 brand new.
However, I am waiting for the Back-To-School sale to replace the 2017 MBA, hoping that Apple will provide a CA$200 gift card again this year for edu purchases. That would effectively be equivalent to CA$1249 - $200 = CA$1049 / US$734 for the M4 MacBook Air 13" 16/256 GB.
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I have a Late-2014 Mac mini, but it was reduced to light duties long before I got my MacBook Pro last year. It’s currently on a shelf somewhere. Maybe I should plug it in and give it a refresh and see how it’s doing. The last thing I did with it was to try out a (very, very small) LLM on it. It worked, but you wouldn’t do it through choice.
Do you have an SSD in it, and how much RAM? Although definitely not fast, it is quite usable even with Monterey if you have an m.2 SSD and 8+ GB RAM, for stuff like basic office productivity, mail, surfing, Messages, etc.
I’m pretty sure it’s a 1TB Fusion drive with, I think, 16GB RAM. I suspect if I give it a good clear out, reinstall from scratch, and use it without all of my years of “junk” on it, it might serve well for basic tasks.
I just found a discarded dell monitor HDMI today and plugged that into my MacBook Pro 2012, mt lion OSX
wow that was fast, streamed a cycling race (Volta a Cataluna) via snow lion browser
and moved some larger files in remarkable speeds.
actually the cycling race launch was easier to launch on the MBPto than the same site on the Mac mini 2021 m!!
these early intel seem to pack a fast enough punch in 20205 still!
That is a bit harsh. The base model 1.4GHz was an absolute dog and really should not have made it out of the factory. The other SKUs were decent enough and faster than the dual-core 2012 models, though outside of benchmarking you would be hard pushed to notice the difference. Of course, there were the quad core 2012 models, something Apple deemed not necessary to carry over to the 2014 lineup.
I have a base model that I originally bought as a cheap HTPC and it is now our Plex server. It runs fine, with an external SSD as the boot drive I still expect to get a few more years out of it. The M4 Mini is tempting as a replacement, though!
The 2.6 GHz 2014 Mini (8 GB RAM and Fusion Drive) purrs happily away in the stereo cabinet playing music and videos. It's on Monterey and that's where it will stay for now. I tried OCLP to run Sonoma on a similar mini with an NVME and it didn't go so well. Lack of Metal 3 apparently is a problem, and two real cores is not enough.
I also have the i7 version with 16 GB RAM and currently 1.5 TB storage, 500 on the NVME and a 1 TB SSD in the 2.5 drive slot. There is also a USB 2 TB drive. Although there is a small Monterey partition on it just in case, it is running the current version of Linux Mint Cinnamon with no trouble at all. It serves as my file server. Setting up Samba borders on witchcraft but I did get it to work. (Samba permissions seem to be completely outside of normal Linux permissions and override them, I think. Anyway, I got it to work.)
A 2014 mini can still be useful if it is not that 4 GB 1.4 GHz cripple. As someone above said, that version should never have been released.
Hint: MacOS cannot read Ext4, and Linux can't read APFS, so if you are building a dual boot machine also create a small ExFAT partition to make moving files between OSs easy.
I also have the i7 version with 16 GB RAM and currently 1.5 TB storage, 500 on the NVME and a 1 TB SSD in the 2.5 drive slot. There is also a USB 2 TB drive. Although there is a small Monterey partition on it just in case, it is running the current version of Linux Mint Cinnamon with no trouble at all. It serves as my file server. Setting up Samba borders on witchcraft but I did get it to work. (Samba permissions seem to be completely outside of normal Linux permissions and override them, I think. Anyway, I got it to work.)
A 2014 mini can still be useful if it is not that 4 GB 1.4 GHz cripple. As someone above said, that version should never have been released.
Hint: MacOS cannot read Ext4, and Linux can't read APFS, so if you are building a dual boot machine also create a small ExFAT partition to make moving files between OSs easy.
My Catalina running 2012 mini with 16GB RAM and Fusion drive runs fast enough for me at least 6 hours every day. Looking forward to the M6...
I actually bought one yesterday. My first new Apple computer since 2016. So far the only thing I don't like is the solid white light when it is sleeping. Apple probably saved 2c on the circuitry to make it pulse and I think a little bit of Apple character died with that decision.
It came with 15.3.1 out of the box, so obviously these are not languishing on the shelves. I would be interested in finding out how many Apple has shifted compared with previous models.
Watch out. IMO any Fusion Drives that have been in service for this long are probably headed for a fall at some point soon. Even if the HDD doesn't give out, the SSDs they put in those were criminally tiny and got absolutely hammered with read/write cycles because of the way the Fusion Drive constantly migrates active files back and forth between SSD and HDD.
The SSD on my old 2014 iMac 5K was down under 10% of estimated lifetime left according to DriveDx. I caught it before it fully failed, but was starting to see lots of beachballs and errors. I'd say maybe take a peek at your SSD health and obviously make sure your backups are frequent and verified.
My main computer is still a 2010 Mac mini, it was upgraded to 16GB and a SSD quite early.
It's not going to win any speeds contests in 2025, but apart from quite complex Sketchup 2017 files, it handles everything I need to do and I can't even remember in what year the last crash occurred.
It's not going to win any speeds contests in 2025, but apart from quite complex Sketchup 2017 files, it handles everything I need to do and I can't even remember in what year the last crash occurred.
Thanks for the heads-up. I wouldn’t be using it as a main machine or anything. It’s buried on the shelf at the moment. I’m just going to fire it it up, and maybe use it to sync some cloud files to keep them on a home device or something. If it fails, no big deal.
OWC is selling a 4gb RAM unit for 49¢ and 89$ for a 8gb one as 4 are left in great condition.
can we upgrade the ssd easily like the 2012 model?
I understand this model also has a blade drive port or something that requires a total logic board removal.
can we upgrade the ssd easily like the 2012 model?
I understand this model also has a blade drive port or something that requires a total logic board removal.
For 49¢, I'll buy 10!
The 2014 is actually easier to upgrade with NVMe SSD than the 2012 model with SATA SSD. BTW, it's probably a bit easier to upgrade the 2014 model with just the hard drive in it, but the Fusion one also appears to be easy to upgrade.
The blade drive port is extremely easy to access. Literally a 5 minute job. You do NOT need to move the logic board, but you need to have the appropriate screwdriver and buy the appropriate SSD adapter. The adapters are different depending upon if it's a hard drive only model vs. a Fusion model.
The key here is you don't actually touch the hard drive. Just leave it there.
Here's my upgraded hard-drive only model:
Using a Standard M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD in the 2014 Mini
My eBay Mac mini arrived today, and to my surprise, inside of it it was absolutely pristine. It looks like the seller must have cleaned it before sending it. I had already ordered the PUSOKEI branded NVME adapter from Amazon Canada, simply because it was cheaper than the Sintek. Like half the...
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Just be aware that the machine needs to have upgraded with a more recent OS, to provide NVMe SSD compatibility. This has to be done before the SSD is installed.
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Nice thorough reply, EugWFor 49¢, I'll buy 10!
The 2014 is actually easier to upgrade with NVMe SSD than the 2012 model with SATA SSD. BTW, it's probably a bit easier to upgrade the 2014 model with just the hard drive in it, but the Fusion one also appears to be easy to upgrade.
The blade drive port is extremely easy to access. Literally a 5 minute job. You do NOT need to move the logic board, but you need to have the appropriate screwdriver and buy the appropriate SSD adapter. The adapters are different depending upon if it's a hard drive only model vs. a Fusion model.
The key here is you don't actually touch the hard drive. Just leave it there.
Here's my upgraded hard-drive only model:
Using a Standard M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD in the 2014 Mini
My eBay Mac mini arrived today, and to my surprise, inside of it it was absolutely pristine. It looks like the seller must have cleaned it before sending it. I had already ordered the PUSOKEI branded NVME adapter from Amazon Canada, simply because it was cheaper than the Sintek. Like half the...
Just be aware that the machine needs to have upgraded with a more recent OS, to provide NVMe SSD compatibility. This has to be done before the SSD is installed.
you are a 2010s mini guru if I remember.....
IF I had the time and was Mac mini-less I would defiantly get one of these at that price and just use Mojave which can perform anything fast as well as 32-bit software like CS4 and still activate iCloud which is unneeded in most situations for me.
I have two 2014 Mini's. Both sit unused on the shelf now. One is a base 2014 1.4ghz/4gb/500gb HD model. I used it for a number of years as a media server running iTunes/home sharing for my AppleTV with my library on an external SSD. Was fine for that, but was pretty useless for anything interactive. For example, you could click the System Preferences icon and it literally took 45 seconds before the app opened.
Later, I replaced it with a 2014 2.8ghz/8gb/1tb fusion Mini at a B&H blowout sale after the 2018 Mini was introduced. Split the fusion drive and used the internal 128gb SSD as a boot drive. That was a much nicer machine, worked really well as a media server. But after a number of years running 24/7, the bearings started going bad in the internal hard drive (even though I wasn't using that drive for anything). The Mini still worked fine but the noise was terrible, so I stopped using that too.
I don't know, if you need some kind of cheap Mac to use as a server or some other non-demanding use, the 2014 Mini might still be useful. Personally, I just don't have a use for mine anymore.
This seems like a good deal if you want an Intel Mini than can run Mojave. A new 2018 hex-core i7 2018 Mini with 32gb RAM for $289. The only catch is the tiny non-upgradeable 128gb internal SSD. I knew Apple sold base models with 128gb in 2018 but didn't realize they had that on the top-spec model. Still, if you want it for a server or some other application where only the system is on the internal SSD, this is a nice machine that would literally run circles around any 2014 Mini and RAM is user-upgradeable to 64gb.
Later, I replaced it with a 2014 2.8ghz/8gb/1tb fusion Mini at a B&H blowout sale after the 2018 Mini was introduced. Split the fusion drive and used the internal 128gb SSD as a boot drive. That was a much nicer machine, worked really well as a media server. But after a number of years running 24/7, the bearings started going bad in the internal hard drive (even though I wasn't using that drive for anything). The Mini still worked fine but the noise was terrible, so I stopped using that too.
I don't know, if you need some kind of cheap Mac to use as a server or some other non-demanding use, the 2014 Mini might still be useful. Personally, I just don't have a use for mine anymore.
This seems like a good deal if you want an Intel Mini than can run Mojave. A new 2018 hex-core i7 2018 Mini with 32gb RAM for $289. The only catch is the tiny non-upgradeable 128gb internal SSD. I knew Apple sold base models with 128gb in 2018 but didn't realize they had that on the top-spec model. Still, if you want it for a server or some other application where only the system is on the internal SSD, this is a nice machine that would literally run circles around any 2014 Mini and RAM is user-upgradeable to 64gb.
I am a huge proponent of keeping tech going, but I find the 2014 Minis to be total dogs at this point.
Given the incredible value and performance offered by the base M4 Mini, I personally wouldn't be able to justify putting a nickel into keeping an 11 year old Mini going any longer.
Given the incredible value and performance offered by the base M4 Mini, I personally wouldn't be able to justify putting a nickel into keeping an 11 year old Mini going any longer.
I think the problem is that those slow devices eat a few seconds here and there all the time. You waste your life with slower hardware where time is more important than the expense of getting a replacement.