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Apple Store has refurbished 2012 Minis!

I succumbed to peer pressure; got sick of not being able to score a 2012 i7 on the apple store. I ended getting one used locally.

$500 for a used i7 w/16gb and 1TB of hard drive space. Ill grab a SSD for it and time capsule for backups. The i5 will go to my parents for a media server/internet browser.

Nice having the i7 monkey off my back :)
 
thepixelpusher said:
Basically it's the same packing but no printed outer carton. You still get the same 1-year warranty. The shells of the casing are replaced if scratched before it's refurbed and it's tested as fully or maybe even more so than the factory new ones.
Click to expand...

The retail packaging is much more compact. The box the refurb units come in is much bigger.
 
Yep, I'm very familiar with the refurb packaging and warranty - have had quite a few over the years. Something I read up above made me wonder if these were different.
 
I grabbed an i7 off craigs list, the monkey is off my back. Spending money on stuff for the i7 now. Nice to see there are still 2012's popping up though.

Hopefully a few more people can grab one of the rare models at a good price.
 
Tried to ad the 2.3 QC to my cart, no luck. I'll definitely buy one for $530 on impulse but that's it. If I didn't just buy another Mac Pro last week maybe the server model would have worked. Maybe next time.
 
resale said:
Tried to ad the 2.3 QC to my cart, no luck. I'll definitely buy one for $530 on impulse but that's it. If I didn't just buy another Mac Pro last week maybe the server model would have worked. Maybe next time.
Click to expand...

If I were to do it all again I would get a server. Less tinkering with the chassis and more OEM parts might mean a happier Apple Care experience.
 
First Ever Mac

Guys,

Might sound like a strange question to most of you, should soon recieve my first Mac Mini - Refurb 2012 i7 Quad Server with 2 x TB 5200 Drives. Was an impulse buy after reading this forum. Went to the Mac refurb page and low and behold there it was, purchase went through immediately, thought it would be tricky as most have said they are gone in seconds.

Anyhow it's now mine!! I have no problem with upgrading the machine, quite look forward to it, RAM, SSD and considering a 4TB miniStack w/Bluray.

Here is my dilemma, what do I have to do to distinguish which drive is which when I go to replace one of the 1 TB Drives with the SSD. I obviously have to determine which drive holds the OS, right? Then when I figure that out and replace with the SSD, how do I then get the OS on the new SSD?

I am fairly competent with a PC etc and have no problem opening this mini up, little bit unsure about how to go about getting OS back on the new drive. Basically the machine will be empty.

Any additional feedback on the 4TB miniStack would be great also, alternatives including a NAS could also be an option.

Thanks in advance
 
DesTheRed said:
Guys,

Might sound like a strange question to most of you, should soon recieve my first Mac Mini - Refurb 2012 i7 Quad Server with 2 x TB 5200 Drives. Was an impulse buy after reading this forum. Went to the Mac refurb page and low and behold there it was, purchase went through immediately, thought it would be tricky as most have said they are gone in seconds.

Anyhow it's now mine!! I have no problem with upgrading the machine, quite look forward to it, RAM, SSD and considering a 4TB miniStack w/Bluray.

Here is my dilemma, what do I have to do to distinguish which drive is which when I go to replace one of the 1 TB Drives with the SSD. I obviously have to determine which drive holds the OS, right? Then when I figure that out and replace with the SSD, how do I then get the OS on the new SSD?

I am fairly competent with a PC etc and have no problem opening this mini up, little bit unsure about how to go about getting OS back on the new drive. Basically the machine will be empty.

Any additional feedback on the 4TB miniStack would be great also, alternatives including a NAS could also be an option.

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

I'm also an OSX newbie so there may be a simplier way about it, but what I would do is first boot up the system without any modification, then once you get the initial setup completed, you can download the OSX installer and put it on a USB drive. There are instructions on the net on how to do it. I went through the process myself when I wanted to wipe the HDD and restore a fresh copy of the OS so I can return the Mini back to Apple. Anyway, once you have the USB drive made, then you can proceed with your hardware upgrade. Once that's done, you would boot up the computer with the USB drive inserted and you would do a safe boot (I forgot the key-combination), and then once in safe boot you can do a restore using the installer on the USB drive. You can pick the SSD for the main OS partition.
 
DesTheRed said:
Here is my dilemma, what do I have to do to distinguish which drive is which when I go to replace one of the 1 TB Drives with the SSD. I obviously have to determine which drive holds the OS, right? Then when I figure that out and replace with the SSD, how do I then get the OS on the new SSD?
Click to expand...
Boot the Mini, open a program called "Disk Utility" in the Utilities folder of the Applications folder. In Disk Utility, find the icon of the drive that has OSX. Click that drive for more info. AFAIK, at the bottom of the page, one of the lines should read either "Upper" or "Lower." That is the position of the OSX boot drive.
 
Ok I know this is 2012 thread but I'm only seeing 2014 refurb'd mac mini now. I'd say the trickle of 2012's is down to a drop now and again.
 
I bought one of the 2012s for $419. I'm really glad I was able to get one. I love it so far, but the 5400RPM drive is definitely holding it back
 
I bought a refurb 2014 and am disappointed with the number of beach balls I am seeing, and the start time on some programs (i.e., iPhoto). This all might be due to the fact that I have been using only SSDs in my other computers for a few years = spoiled. So I wonder if I should return my 2014 and keep hunting for a 2012 that I can internally upgrade? Or stick it out with this and plan on attaching an external SSD to run the OS and applications? Any thoughts?
I am also considering spending the same money on a refurb macbook air and keeping everything on external HHDs/NAS.
 
DesTheRed said:
Guys,

Might sound like a strange question to most of you, should soon recieve my first Mac Mini - Refurb 2012 i7 Quad Server with 2 x TB 5200 Drives. Was an impulse buy after reading this forum. Went to the Mac refurb page and low and behold there it was, purchase went through immediately, thought it would be tricky as most have said they are gone in seconds.

Anyhow it's now mine!! I have no problem with upgrading the machine, quite look forward to it, RAM, SSD and considering a 4TB miniStack w/Bluray.

Here is my dilemma, what do I have to do to distinguish which drive is which when I go to replace one of the 1 TB Drives with the SSD. I obviously have to determine which drive holds the OS, right? Then when I figure that out and replace with the SSD, how do I then get the OS on the new SSD?

I am fairly competent with a PC etc and have no problem opening this mini up, little bit unsure about how to go about getting OS back on the new drive. Basically the machine will be empty.

Any additional feedback on the 4TB miniStack would be great also, alternatives including a NAS could also be an option.

Thanks in advance
Click to expand...

If you go to System Preference and "start up disk" it will tell you which one is the BOOT Disk

This is what I did (I had the 2.3 single 1TB model)

1) Installed SSD in "upper" bay.
2) Turned Mac Mini back on and it booted normally from the 1TB
3) It will tell you that it won't recongize the new SSD.
4) Open disk utility and partition it in Mac OS Journaled (etc...details available online).
5) Restart Mac Mini hold down "CMD +R) and then go to "internet recovery". as long as you're connected to the internet you can do this. I "recovered" to the new SSD then booted up normally, changed the drive that booted and picked the SSD.
6) "erase" the 1TB HDD that had the OS on and you're good to go.

Should be pretty simple.
 
gogogut said:
So I wonder if I should return my 2014 and keep hunting for a 2012 that I can internally upgrade? Or stick it out with this and plan on attaching an external SSD to run the OS and applications? Any thoughts?
Click to expand...
It'd be easier to run the OS off an external solid state drive. In fact, if you don't want to take a chance and screw with your warranty by mucking around inside the thing, that'd be a good idea. It's easy enough to try at least. A few people on this forum do it and have no problems.

But if you were planning to upgrade the internal HDD of a 2012 to a solid state drive, why can't you do the same with the 2014? Yeah, it's a little harder to get into, but once you acquire a security Torx T6, how is upgrading the hard drive any different? Not trolling, just curious.
 
jamesdmc I have never done anything like that before. It seems doable, but difficult. I would probably look around for someone a little more tech savvy than me to do the internals.
One of the benefits of the 2012 is that there are 2 bays. So I could put the SSD and HDD in there. While on the 2014, I would replace the internal with an SSD and then have a connected external HDD. Not a big deal, but a little difference. And if I am going to have something attached externally anyways, why not just have the SSD outside? Performance difference?
On a previous post, I actually asked if it would be smarter to invest more in a 2014 that comes with the PCIe-based SSD, and then just attach an external HDD. In the end, the difference in price would be slight.
These all seem like minor points to me, but I am wondering if you all much-more knowledgeable people would recommend one way or another. I am still within my 14-day return window and could easily send back my 2014. I am not in a hurry, but want to make a smart call.
RJ
 
Thanks...

rvs007 said:
I'm also an OSX newbie so there may be a simplier way about it, but what I would do is first boot up the system without any modification, then once you get the initial setup completed, you can download the OSX installer and put it on a USB drive. There are instructions on the net on how to do it. I went through the process myself when I wanted to wipe the HDD and restore a fresh copy of the OS so I can return the Mini back to Apple. Anyway, once you have the USB drive made, then you can proceed with your hardware upgrade. Once that's done, you would boot up the computer with the USB drive inserted and you would do a safe boot (I forgot the key-combination), and then once in safe boot you can do a restore using the installer on the USB drive. You can pick the SSD for the main OS partition.
Click to expand...

Many thanks to all that helped...
Will the OSX Installer keep the Server Portion of the OSX on the USB? Just thinking that I would have to stump up $20 when I don't have to.

Anyone care to comment on the miniStack drives, probably a little off topic apologies.
 
DesTheRed said:
Many thanks to all that helped...
Will the OSX Installer keep the Server Portion of the OSX on the USB? Just thinking that I would have to stump up $20 when I don't have to.

Anyone care to comment on the miniStack drives, probably a little off topic apologies.
Click to expand...
If you upgrade to Yosemite you'll have to purchase the Server app.
If you're just going to do a fresh re-install without upgrading then you can simply copy the Server app from your old drive.
 
gogogut wrote above:
[[ jamesdmc I have never done anything like that before. It seems doable, but difficult. ]]

There is NOTHING "difficult" about booting and running a Mini from an external SSD mounted in either an external enclosure or USB3/SATA docking station.
Nothing.

Here's what's involved:
1. Buy SSD.
2. Buy enclosure or USB3/SATA dock (dock is easiest choice)
3. Put drive into enclosure or put drive into dock. If you can put a slice of bread into a toaster, you can put a drive into a dock
4. Connect drive or dock to Mini
5. Boot Mini.
6. Use CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to clone the contents of the internal drive to the external SSD.
7. When finished, reboot and set the external to be the startup drive using the "startup disk control panel".

All done and running.
 
Fishrrman, I responding to his question about my willingness to open up the Mini to replace the HDD with a SSD.
 
Right now on the .ie apple sotre in the refub section

2 x Refurbished Mac Mini 1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
Originally released October 2014
4GB memory

€439.00
Save €80.00
15% off

V's

Refurbished Mac mini 2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7 with OS X Server
Originally released October 2012
8GB memory
Dual 1TB hard drives

€959.00
(base model with only 4GB and dual 1TB dirces have been €779)

No discount on the 2012 model. Interesting. Maybe they think they'll get top dollar. Lots of 2014 base mac mini turning up with discount now.
 
rvs007 said:
More 2012 Mac Minis back in stock at the refurb store.
Click to expand...

2012 base quad i7 for $589 gone less than 5 minutes after getting a refurb.me notification. The 1TB fusion drive model went just just as fast. 2012 base model i5 units and i7 quad servers are still available. Several 2014 models available.

For those still in the hunt for a 2012 quad core unit good luck. It took me a while to finally land mine, but it is a great little computer and worth the effort.
 
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