2014 mid or 2012 quad core

[yourtoys7]

I stopped by local apple and they had new pricing for older machines. I picked up 2012 i7 quad core, started to look into upgrades, buying 8gb ram, around 100., buyng 240 ssd, around 200., my total after taxes 1150.
If I would to get 699. with 256ssd, my total after taxes 1010., Savings about 140. for basicaly quad core.
I mostly gonna use as Media center. I'm almost thinking of returning 2012 mode and getting New one, do I even need ssd for my aplication?
Coments Welcome...

 

[dighn]

unless you are transcoding to multiple clients the mid 2014 is plenty. it also has lower power usage which is great for a media center. I think SSD is overkill for a media center, but 5400 RPM HDDs are horrid.

 

[yourtoys7]

if I go for the hard drive, can I load operating system to flash usb 3 (33 or 64gb).

 

[fa8362]

if I go for the hard drive, can I load operating system to flash usb 3 (33 or 64gb).

I've never done that with a usb flash drive, but why would you do that if it's just a media server?

 

[Neodym]

if I go for the hard drive, can I load operating system to flash usb 3 (33 or 64gb).

Yes, you can install OSX and boot a Mac from a USB thumb drive, though it's far from ideal. If you insist on this route, take care to get a really fast stick, as there are huge differences and quite a lot are equal to or even slower than the internal HD.

In my opinion a SSD does also make sense in a media center. Besides less noise and heat your media center would be available basically instantaneously, whereas a spinning drive takes few seconds to spin up from power saving mode, thus making your media center feel unresponsive.

 

[Crosscreek]

Amazon has 8GB set for $77.

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_s...+mini+ram,aps,666&rh=i:aps,k:mac+mini+ram+8gb

And SSD for$129

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-Elect...e=UTF8&qid=1414022207&sr=1-1&keywords=250+ssd