Best year mac mini for upgrading

[Celerondon]

Is that correct?

Sure, you are totally correct about all of it. Despite the fact that this is a link to a great 2014 upgrade thread, you should probably just get a 2012 i7 for your intended tasks. Apple PCIe flex cable part number for Mac mini 2014

I will find some more sources for 2012 upgrade kits if you want. Offhand OWC http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMM11D2/ and iFixit https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Mac+Mini+Late+2012+Hard+Drive+Replacement/11716 are two popular options.

 

[SpacemanSpiffed]

Yes it's a good point... Bit of a tough decision really - faster SSD vs faster CPU. On balance I think I'm still tempted by the 2012 model simply for the quad-core processor....

based on your description of what you do with it, I would definitely see if I could get a quad-core model.