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are you satisfied with your MM2018/2020 ? drop configs and lets talk !
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2018 Mini i7/500/8 upgraded the ram to 32gb and got an RX580 eGPU. Really like TB3. Have a few external GDrive SSD that is fast and reliable.
Pretty happy overall. i7 runs hot when pushed hard. A fan base and Macs fan control fixed that. The boot prosses in Catalina is a little wonky with the eGPU but it works with a second screen. Had Bootcamp working with Mojave pretty good. BootCamp was not workable for me with the eGPU and Catalina. Got a new Alienware gaming box so Bootcamp is not needed. The Mini is no gaming rig when compared to Anything else.
Looking to get a second 2018 Mini to upgrade my 2014 headless Mini that is dedicated to Security Spy NVR software and IP cams. HATE my 2014 Mini i5/500/8. Slow from day one. Even with a hard drive upgrade. POS. I would like to retire it with a hammer and a torch. But with probability donate it.
Also had a 2012 Mini i5 and 2010 Mini Core 2 Duo liked both a lot at the time.
Pretty happy overall. i7 runs hot when pushed hard. A fan base and Macs fan control fixed that. The boot prosses in Catalina is a little wonky with the eGPU but it works with a second screen. Had Bootcamp working with Mojave pretty good. BootCamp was not workable for me with the eGPU and Catalina. Got a new Alienware gaming box so Bootcamp is not needed. The Mini is no gaming rig when compared to Anything else.
Looking to get a second 2018 Mini to upgrade my 2014 headless Mini that is dedicated to Security Spy NVR software and IP cams. HATE my 2014 Mini i5/500/8. Slow from day one. Even with a hard drive upgrade. POS. I would like to retire it with a hammer and a torch. But with probability donate it.
Also had a 2012 Mini i5 and 2010 Mini Core 2 Duo liked both a lot at the time.
How you like your Alienware machine? I am still debating on whether to return my Mini and get an Alienware r9, but just can't make up my mind.
I don't PC game anymore, and the power would probably goto waste on me, but still, a killer PC system for the same price I paid for the mini is tempting.
I absolutely love my 2018 Mac mini (specs are in my signature). It does everything I ask it to do with ease (even gaming). I love the flexibility the mini provides (ie with TB3 and an eGPU I can upgrade the video card in the future when my Vega 56 gets long in the tooth, the desktop class processor provides more than enough power, I like the fact I can upgrade the RAM, and [again] with TB3 I can expand the storage almost limitlessly). It can run hot depending on how hard you push it, but you can get creative on the cooling: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/cooling-solutions-for-the-mac-minis.2157182/
I am staying on Mojave at the moment because I have had zero issues with 10.14 (why fix it if it ain't broken) and I am a bit hesitant on replacing iTunes with Music.
Having owned three different generations of mini's, I am by far the most impressed with the 2018 model.
I am staying on Mojave at the moment because I have had zero issues with 10.14 (why fix it if it ain't broken) and I am a bit hesitant on replacing iTunes with Music.
Having owned three different generations of mini's, I am by far the most impressed with the 2018 model.
Bought the 2018 i5. I was planning on getting an external thunderbolt NVME, 32GB of ram and eGPU but the machine work pretty good so far. I just added a tiny Seagate 500GB external SSD over USB 3.0 for $50 and likely just 16GB of RAM.
I got a good deal on a standard i5 with 256GB/8GB and upgraded it to 32GB from Crucial before even initiating it the first time.
Connected by HDMI to a Dell U3818DW running native at 3840x1600 at 60 Hz with which I have no issues except that the volume controls on the keyboard doesn't change the volume of the monitor's speakers. I am waiting on a USB-C cable to do a direct connection to the monitor's USB-C input as I have read that might solve the issue.
There is a lot of talk about the Intel graphics not being powerful enough for big monitors. My experience is that if you stay with monitor's that use their native resolutions it is fine. I do not do much photographic work and practical zero video work and am very happy with the monitor's image and do not miss having gone 4K and then needing it to be scaled down.
The only other small problem I have had is that a couple of times it has not found my Magic Mouse 2 when starting up, and I have had to plug in a USB mouse to log-in, from then it goes fine. I have read this same problem elsewhere.
I also have connected a 500GB TB3 Samsung X5 for additional storage - as fast as the internal SSD.
All in all I am happy and satisfied.
I still have a Mac mini 2014 i5/8GB that now has a 500GB Samsung SSD and a Sabrent Rocket 256GB NVMe.
Connected by HDMI to a Dell U3818DW running native at 3840x1600 at 60 Hz with which I have no issues except that the volume controls on the keyboard doesn't change the volume of the monitor's speakers. I am waiting on a USB-C cable to do a direct connection to the monitor's USB-C input as I have read that might solve the issue.
There is a lot of talk about the Intel graphics not being powerful enough for big monitors. My experience is that if you stay with monitor's that use their native resolutions it is fine. I do not do much photographic work and practical zero video work and am very happy with the monitor's image and do not miss having gone 4K and then needing it to be scaled down.
The only other small problem I have had is that a couple of times it has not found my Magic Mouse 2 when starting up, and I have had to plug in a USB mouse to log-in, from then it goes fine. I have read this same problem elsewhere.
I also have connected a 500GB TB3 Samsung X5 for additional storage - as fast as the internal SSD.
All in all I am happy and satisfied.
I still have a Mac mini 2014 i5/8GB that now has a 500GB Samsung SSD and a Sabrent Rocket 256GB NVMe.
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I wouldn't trade my Mini for the Dell. I like Mac's OS, it works better for me. I had some fantasy that I was going to use Bootcamp and play games on the Mini. Found the Mini with Bootcamp and an eGPU it's stupid.
The Alienware is an Aurora R9 i7-9700, 16, 512-NVMe, RTX1080. It's nice. No issues. Doom Eternal plays great. I wish I had more time to game. Windows 10 is Bla... OK. Found a good deal on Slickdeals using Deal Alert.
+1 , I am in this camp. My gaming (lucky) works well enough in macOS, thus I do not need to dual boot windows.
Why the disappointment?
I've used everything from IIfx to iMac, Mac Book and Mac Pro, and MM 2018 has easily been the best experience.
I've used everything from IIfx to iMac, Mac Book and Mac Pro, and MM 2018 has easily been the best experience.
I replaced a Late 2012 iMac 27 with the 2018 Mini i7/32GB, 1TB SSD. I've added an Asus XG Station Pro with a Vega 56 card. I run a 32" 4k monitor for photography editing.
Other than random bluetooth disconnects with the trackpad and keyboard, no real issues. Except for the eGpu which annoys me to no end having to switch inputs from HDMI to DP just to get it to work.
If my needs were a bit less demanding for graphics work, I'd be more than satisfied with the Mini setup.
I don't think I'd go this route again though.
Other than random bluetooth disconnects with the trackpad and keyboard, no real issues. Except for the eGpu which annoys me to no end having to switch inputs from HDMI to DP just to get it to work.
If my needs were a bit less demanding for graphics work, I'd be more than satisfied with the Mini setup.
I don't think I'd go this route again though.
I find this odd too. I have a 2020 Mac Mini and I love it. Bags of power for what I do (programming). Upgraded the RAM myself to 32GB for £120 and now I have a machine that is much faster than the 2018 15" macbook pro it replaced, doesn't sound like a jet taking off 90% of the time and I'm not waiting for the day it breaks due to awful thermal management.
The macbook pros I have had since 2016 have always disappointed me in a major way. Be it the keyboard, touchbar, power or thermal management. The mac mini hasn't disappointed me at all apart from when I was running it with 8GB RAM while waiting for the 32gb to arrive. My workflow asks far too much of 8GB ram especially on an integrated GFX card and 2 full 4K monitors so I can't really blame the MM for that.
The 2018 MBP this has replaced is currently getting sent to be repaired because the battery has swollen after less than 2 years of very careful care. Apple refused to repair it for free because apparently a year is reasonable for a £2500 laptop to last and after that its not their concern. Even though the 2016 model has an acknowledged issue with the battery, the 2018 is fine... Having god awful thermal management that causes constant throttling even with the fans on full doesn't damage any components or reduce their lifespan apparently.
I have a 2018 i5 with 32GB memory and an RX570 egpu. I got it to replace a 2009 Mac Pro tower that I ran into the ground and upgraded as far as I could. So far, I am very pleased.
The mini with the eGPU is much faster than my old tower (backed up by the Geekbench stats) and I think the TB3 allows for quite a bit of upgradability. Was originally holding out for a new Mac Pro and then gave up (only for them to finally announce a couple months later) but I think my $1200 investment in the Mini fits my needs better than spending 5k on the lowest level Mac Pro.
The mini with the eGPU is much faster than my old tower (backed up by the Geekbench stats) and I think the TB3 allows for quite a bit of upgradability. Was originally holding out for a new Mac Pro and then gave up (only for them to finally announce a couple months later) but I think my $1200 investment in the Mini fits my needs better than spending 5k on the lowest level Mac Pro.
I may have the most tricked out Mini there is short of Cupertino.. or pretty close to it. i7 64GB, Radeon VII EGPU, 16TB SSD (2TB internal, 2TB NVME TB3, 2x2TB NVME USB-C, 2x 4TB SATA USB-C). 9TB Raid5 (Final Cut), 2 8TB (1 for Time Machine, the other is a backup for the RAID 5). CalDigit TB3 dock adds more USB-C ports, have a 16 port USB3 hub about half full. Myriad of other <2TB SSD/HDD/BluRay drives.
Audio and video production. It's a beast.
Audio and video production. It's a beast.
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I have a refurbished 2018 i7 with 16 GB RAM (Mojave) and a Sonnet eGFX Breakaway Box + Sapphire Pulse RX 580 (8GB). The eGPU was acquired last week primarily for goofing off with Davinci Resolve.
At some point I might acquire an inexpensive (<$1000) Wintel PC (similar form factor to my Mac mini) with Thunderbolt 3 but I haven't found a great candidate yet.
At some point I might acquire an inexpensive (<$1000) Wintel PC (similar form factor to my Mac mini) with Thunderbolt 3 but I haven't found a great candidate yet.
Disappointed with my 2018 mini with i7 6 core. I had the 2009 mini, and the 2012 quad core i7 mini and loved them. Skipped the 2014 mini because of the soldered memory. Bought the 2018 on the news that you could once again swap memory, but didn't hear that the ssd was not swappable. So I got the minimum and regret it. Also, I have the same bluetooth problem as many do and another problem where it won't recognize my monitor when rebooting. I have to unplug the power and wait 10 seconds every time. Worst mini yet in my opinion. Also it doesn't seem all that much faster than my 2012 mini. At least it will display in 4k... so there is that.
After a month with my refurb 2018 base model, I'm thinking it's probably more than I need, but it's also the minimum I could buy, as I'm in love with the 4K monitor I bought for working from home during the pandemic. Since 2006, my MM's were only ever connected to my TV. This is my first desktop setup since 2004 and I'm enjoying MacOS a lot more now. I'm sure I'm not the only one who set up a desktop and even bought a desk this year.
I have the base model 2018 and I’m perfectly happy. I’ve been using just an iPad Pro for two years and was happy with that until I decided I wanted a bit more professional setup for my LSAT tutoring business than I cared about when I was working for someone else. But that shows you that my tech needs are not super advanced. Really the only thing I am gaining is more extensive multitasking ability. But I’m enjoying my new setup!
I love my 2018 mini. I use it for video editing, web browsing, and sometimes gaming. Its my replacement from the ol mac pro 5’1 tower, and it also replaces my 2012 mini. Specs i7 3.2GHZ, 32GB RAM, 1Tb ssd. I also use a razor chroma x with an rx580 from the mac pro i had. I use bootcamp to game sometimes. Were talkin pcsx2, While i hate the buggy drivers, the new fast insider build has fixed my egpu issues.
Just built my "work from home" rig using a Mac Mini:
Working very well for me so far, other than the occasional black screen at startup using the eGPU. Since I don't have to reboot all that often, it's not a big deal... can get it to work by unplugging the Razer Core X TB3 cable, powering on, waiting a few seconds and plugging it in. Hopefully this is fixed in a future software update.
- Mac Mini (2018) i7 6 core, 1TB SSD, upgraded to 64GB RAM
- Razer Core X with 5700 XT
- CalDigit TS3+ thunderbolt dock/hub (mostly for accessibility, the Mac Mini is a bit tucked away)
- (2) Dell P2715Q 4K monitors, (1) Dell P2415Q 4K monitor
Working very well for me so far, other than the occasional black screen at startup using the eGPU. Since I don't have to reboot all that often, it's not a big deal... can get it to work by unplugging the Razer Core X TB3 cable, powering on, waiting a few seconds and plugging it in. Hopefully this is fixed in a future software update.
the mac mini i have purchased doesnt seem to work with a none 4k monitor pleasantly ( havent tried one yet) causing eye pains and fatigue quickly
kind of defeats the object of buying a cheaper mac for audio etc
i use the mac for basic streaming and audio nothing taxing for the onboard graphics
is the mm just to be used as a server?
kind of defeats the object of buying a cheaper mac for audio etc
i use the mac for basic streaming and audio nothing taxing for the onboard graphics
is the mm just to be used as a server?
@mctrials23 My daughter has an 2018 MBP so I am very aware of the issues you cite. We found that placing a fan controlled cooling pad underneath in normal use has made a tremendous difference. The fans no longer rev up like a jet engine at the first sign of activity and it seems a lot more composed. It can pretty much run all day like a desktop now.
Time will tell with the battery, but I do wonder about the high number of cycles it has accumulated in a relatively short period. This replaced a 2017 MBP under warranty that was an absolute disaster and it really put me off buying an Apple laptop. Given the sort of work I am doing the mini seemed like the only real alternative now that the Mac Pro is starting to look old. So far it's working well but I've only had it a short time. The temperatures get a bit high under load compared to the Mac Pro.