I would return it. Buy a 2012 quad core (or i5 if you must) and upgrade the ssd and ram yourself. There really is no other mac mini option nowadays.
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Bought a Mac mini (returning to store tomorrow)
- Thread starter slooksterPSV
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I would return it. Buy a 2012 quad core (or i5 if you must) and upgrade the ssd and ram yourself. There really is no other mac mini option nowadays.
I have the same mini, but only use it as an iTunes server - it just runs iTunes 24/7 with homesharing and my library on a fast external disk. Works great for that. But if I try to do anything else, it's "beach balls ahoy" as you say. 
But since you said "It's still amazing I’m so happy I got it", I just assumed you had one of the better models with more RAM. Unfortunately, I don't think the base 1.4ghz Mini with 4gb RAM and a 500gb hard drive is acceptable for general use. Adding a SSD (could be external in a USB 3.0 enclosure) will certainly speed things up, but the 4gb bottleneck will always be an issue to some degree.
But since you said "It's still amazing I’m so happy I got it", I just assumed you had one of the better models with more RAM. Unfortunately, I don't think the base 1.4ghz Mini with 4gb RAM and a 500gb hard drive is acceptable for general use. Adding a SSD (could be external in a USB 3.0 enclosure) will certainly speed things up, but the 4gb bottleneck will always be an issue to some degree.
Return it if you still can. 4GB is simply not enough for the current version of macOS. And forget ever upgrading to any newer version down the road. It's a crime that Apple takes advantage of people and still sells the entry-level Mini in 2018.
I may be doing that this weekend. I’m trying the ssd first. It’s restoring as we speak. If the ssd isn’t showing the speeds I’m expecting then back to the store it goes.
The same computer with 8GB of RAM is only $100 more I believe. Buy that one.
The SSD will only be a short-term fix. 4GB of RAM is a severe bottleneck and will significantly shorten the life of your SSD as it will be constantly swapping to compensate for the lack of required RAM.
Sounds like I’m returning it this weekend then. Haha. Maybe I’ll wait for the A12 Mac Mini in June.
It's a shame because you sounded happy with the purchase. I didn't want to mention anything, but then I saw you comment on how slow it was and the beach balls.
I owned the same Mini for about a week and had to return it because it was so awful. A modern Mac needs 8GB of RAM. It's not a "nice to have"; it is a requirement (in my opinion).
Right? And the penryn versus haswell is a large difference. Ddr2 to ddr3 is a mild difference but dang! I bought an HP pavilion x360 that has a Pentium N4200, 4GB ram and 500Gb HDD. It actually performs better as sad as that is to say. But i digress.
Although they have become much more secure in recent years Macs absolutely do get viruses more than most Mac enthusiasts would lead you to believe. Several years ago two of my friends and a third friend of theirs ended up getting very bad spyware/malware on their Macs and those people are all advanced system administrators and network engineers who have jobs involving network security. These weren't small time malware infections either. Two of the three infections required a complete low level formatting of their disk drives and a reinstall of MacOS/OSX.
Whats scary is that these friends knew what they were doing with decades of experience as high paid professional certified network administrators. They had taken more precautions than most users do to secure their networks and their Macs but because on some level they too had bought into the popular Mac culture myth and propaganda that "Macs never get viruses" none of them were using an antivirus for their Mac prior to getting the Mac malware infections.
All my Macs use Avast Free AV for Mac and I have convinced other friends who have used macs for decades to install an AV on their Mac. I have never had a virus infect any of my personal or business Macs because they all use Mac AV and have the Mac firewall enabled. On most of the Macs I own and use I have seen Avira free for Mac block malware and fraudulent web sites in bad browser links and as malicious file attachments in emails.
I strongly recommend a Mac AV that includes broad spectrum active scanning protection for common web browsers and email programs. There are many good free Mac AVs that provide active protection. A major negative against Avira Free is it's nagging pop up ads that try to get you to click to agree to "upgrading" to install the temporary trial for the paid version (...so if you want to use the truly free version beware of this tricky tendency if you decide install or "click to upgrade" it). The free version works great but to avoid the nag pop ups you might decide to simply use this or another brand of paid subscription antivirus. I also would note to those who are hesitant to use an AV on their Mac that the free Avira does NOT seem to noticeably slow down the performance of my Mac.
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Professional experience doesn't always translate to day-to-day intelligence, as this example shows. Regardless, common sense for what apps you download is just as effective as anti-virus, if not more so; and yes, that means not accepting the myth that Macs can't get malware, because they can and do.
It’s been returned. At least my MacBook is still working well.