Advice: 2018 Mini for $325 or save-up for M1?

[Trioptre]

I have the opportunity to buy a 2018 3.0 Ghz/16GB/512GB Mini for $325 (Apple sells the same 2018 Mini for $1099 as a refurb, so $325 seems like a good deal).

I have an M1 Air that I love, but I was hoping to get a Mini for video encoding/school/R programming. My current Mini is a 2012 i7/16/256 SSD.

Any thoughts?

 

[Heat_Fan89]

That is a really good deal. I have the i5 Mini which I paid around $799 from Amazon a few years ago. The only thing to consider is that this could be the final year of OS upgrades. Hopefully Apple will still consider supporting it with a new OS next year.

The weak spot of the 2018 Mini are the Intel graphics. Besides that the system is fast. I would not hesitate to buy it at that price.

 

[Boyd01]

That is a great price. I also have a 2012 Mini just like yours and even the base model 2018 is big upgrade in every way. Of course, it's not the same thing as an Apple Silicon Mac though.

 

[pshufd]

There is a base M1 mini in my area for $450 at https://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/sys/d/boston-2020-mac-mini/7516082367.html

Most base M1 minis in my area are $500 - $525. It would be a difficult choice for me between these two as $325 is a very low cost of entry. I could see M1 minis going down to $400 after the M2 mini has been out for a couple of months.

We have a 2018 mini which my wife is very happy with. I have an M1 mini which I'm very happy with. I do a lot more on mine, including video editing and development, than she does with hers. I'd guess that your video stuff might run better on your M1 Air than the 2018 mini.

 

[Fishrrman]

I agree with the comment above -- that is a REALLY good deal.

A 2018 Mini has some advantages, in that:
- it's one of the last Macs to be able to run Intel Windows (if you need to).
- it's one of the last Macs to run 32 bit software.
- it may be able to run software that is impossible to run on an m-series Mac (as in, "not upgraded").

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS to ask:
Is there a firmware password set? (if so, DO NOT buy unless it's removed)
Are all "Apple connections" removed, such as iTunes, iCloud? (if not, DO NOT buy until they're removed).