So I have a 2014 Mac mini coming tmorrow. I have a bootable Mavericks backup waiting to transfer everything over to the mini. Still searching for the right monitor but will use my 1080p hdtv for now. But I think I may have found a monitor I like. I've noticed lots of division over Yosemite. Many are for it but also many are against it. I'm just wondering what I should expect seeing as I can't put Mavericks on the Mini. As many have stated no one asked for the visual change to the Mac OS which also plays into functionality. I've played with Yosemite many times in the Apple Store and can't get a good feel for it. In any event what should I expect? I really didn't want to upgrade to Yosemite. At least not yet. Should I return the Mac Mini and get a Mac that can run Mavericks? Maybe an Apple refurb?
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2014 Mac mini with Yosemite on the way. What should I expect??
- Thread starter bigpoppamac31
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I was told that the 2014 Mac mini (which debuted after Yosemite was released) cannot run Mavericks cause it doesn't have the drivers needed to do so. The Mac mini I ordered will have a Fusion Drive.
interesting, i was unable to set up mavericks on my 2014 mini...used an external drive, and when the machine attempted to boot, i got a white screen with a circle with a line through it.
That would be new to me. What would prevent you from simply installing the needed drivers?
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the no parking sign? I sometimes get that in my 2012 mini and then it goes to the recovery screen. A reboot solves the problem.
i guess the "no parking sign" anyway, i was just messing around seeing if i could get the mini to boot into mavericks. i had it installed on an external thunderbolt drive that could boot my rmbp. got to the boot drive selection menu, selected the mavericks drive and it went right into the white screen and stayed there. i could't make it work...
You have 14 days to decide. You have nothing to loose setting up the Mac-Mini and using it for 14 days. Don't like it return it for full refund. I was not sure how I would like Yosmite reading all the complaints but when I installed 10.10.2 on 3 of my Mac computers I found that I really liked it after I starting using it.
Yeah I guess. I'm kinda on the fence with Yosemite. But it still seems to be a big change.
Functionality-wise next to nothing has changed from OS X Mavericks to Yosemite. It the same OS X, just with a new look and some added features. It's not like you have to relearn how the OS works just because windows have a slightly different appearance.
I understand that. But by changing its appearance it changes some functionality. Safari and iTunes are glaring examples of that and those I'd say are the two apps I use most often. The look in general I don't entirely mind although I still prefer the look of Mavericks and prior. I never updated to the latest iTunes or Pages in Mavericks. Would I still be able to use those in Yosemite? I hear Pages lost many features when they overhauled it.
I have been able to run Pages 4.3 (iWork '09) under Yosemite without issue. Not sure about iTunes though as I always run the latest version. Apple is adding back in functionality with each version of Pages that they release. Keep in mind that once you run the latest version of iTunes it will convert the format of your iTunes library making it impossible to run the older version again.
Yes but did you upgrade to Yosemite or buy a Mac with Yosemite preinstalled? I think that would make a difference as the latest iTunes and Pages would come preinstalled. I wouldn't be able to port over the older versions.
I come be wrong about this but Pages does not come pre-installed on the Mac. You have to download it from the Mac App Store. The only way to install the older version is if you saved it off at some point in time. I saved off my iLife '11 and iWork '09 apps at the time the new iLife and iWork apps were being released. Even if you were to buy a refurbished Mac with Mavericks installed on it, it would not come pre-installed with Pages on it.
Yes it does. If you look at the tech specs page of the Mac mini you can see what apps it comes with. The latest iWork/iLife and iTunes come preinstalled.
http://store.apple.com/ca/buy-mac/mac-mini
Actually if you look at the footnote 4 it states:
Hence not pre-installed but need to be downloaded.
No I think that means that once you have upgraded an existing Mac to Yosemite you can download the apps for free to upgrade your existing apps. If you buy a new Mac it would come with the apps installed. Same with the iPad. If you buy a new iPad it comes with the iApps already installed.
What it means is that any computer purchased after Oct 1, 2013 is eligible for free iWork and free iLife apps but need to be downloaded from the Mac App Store using your Apple ID.
When I bought my new iPad Air it did not come installed with Pages I had to download it from the App Store. The same is for the Mac computers.
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Okay so how would I transfer over my older versions of iTunes and the iLife/iWork apps?
This also lists the apps that are "built in" to any new Mac.
http://www.apple.com/ca/mac-mini/built-in-apps/
To use old versions, copy them on to a external device like a hard drive and then copy them over to the new machine. I don't know about using a old version of iTunes as I have never tried using an old version under Yosemite.
So I just copy the app itself? There's no hidden files somewhere? Keep in mind I can't boot from Mavericks on the new mini.
There are no hidden files just the app. Beware of one thing, OS X will see you have a previous version of Pages installed and will report a new version is available. If you update it will replace the old version with a new version. I would suggest you rename the old Pages version to something else. I have mine renamed to "Pages 4.3". And if you do update just copy back the old version named something different.
Okay. But if I can't boot up from Mavericks how do I get the apps? Will the Mavericks backup show up on the desktop?
Do you have a Mac computer installed with older version of Pages? You need to have a installed copy of the old version of Pages on another Mac computer. Depending on how you did the Time Machine backup, the application can be backed up by Time Machine. Plug you Time Machine backup hard drive into the new computer and then copy the apps from the Time Machine backup if the apps had been backed up.
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