$549 it isn't value; @ $459 is.

[supercooled]

Apparently that was the thought process going through my head when I purchased a low end Mac Mini. Funny how a 'sale' can make people irrational, no? Anyway..

I have been wanting to buy a new generation Mac Mini to do some HTPC duties, NAS, etc. and now I can. I have been looking at the Apple Canada website on and off for a refurbished unit, but it was finally shown to have stock so I jumped on it.

So as I understand it, this refreshed 2014 units are not upgradeable, AT ALL. I'm thinking the specs are enough to do some light streaming over the wireless network? My router is an ancient Apple Express which only has 802.11n before ratification so I hope it's enough but as far as the Mini is concerned, I'll probably just run Plex on it and enable remote desktop so I can jump in there and run some downloads overnight, etc.

1.4 i5, 4GB of ram, 500GB HDD. No idea if the onboard Intel graphics is enough to drive 1080p smoothly.

 

[talmy]

It will do fine. I've run Plex on base 2009 minis, 2GB RAM, and 1080p with no problems. The 2014s are better. They score just about 2x on Geekbench.

 

[supercooled]

It will do fine. I've run Plex on base 2009 minis, 2GB RAM, and 1080p with no problems. The 2014s are better. They score just about 2x on Geekbench.

Thanks for the comment.

Can I ask why you run Yosemite Server as oppose to the desktop version?

 

[talmy]

Thanks for the comment.

Can I ask why you run Yosemite Server as oppose to the desktop version?

The minis used as HTPCs run the desktop OS. The mini running Yosemite Server is being used as a server -- I use many of the Yosemite Server features. See http://almy.us/server.html for the story. I've had a server setup for almost 5 years now using minis.