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Buy Mac Mini 2018 now or wait?

Buy Mac Mini 2018 i7 now or wait for next model?

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Fraserh02

Fraserh02

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 18, 2017
122
429
Hello,

I am looking to get the top end I7 Mac Mini from 2018. I was just wondering if you guys think it would be worth buying now or holding out and seeing if they do update it in Oct/November.

They did take a very long time to update the last model, but it feels to me that this will be a product that they may now update every year as it is more of a pro model than the older ones were intended to be.

I was just wondering if you guys think I should wait or just buy it now? And if I were to wait, what do you speculate the 2019 model would bring to be worth the wait?

I am not in a desperate need for a new Mac, but would like to get one this year, and the sooner the better as it would help, but isn't essential.

Thank you very much.

Update: So I decided to buy a 128gb I7 configured from the Apple Store with my student discount. I got this because it was the cheapest I could get the I7 which I wanted and I'm plugging in my 1TB Samsung X5 and using it as my boot drive which should be just as fast if not faster than the internal drive at half the cost. I've just ordered some Ram to get it up to 32GB. + I'm going to use Vega 64 in Razor Core X as my EGPU! It should last me for a few years to come. Even though it's annoying to me that you can't upgrade the internal storage easily, I'm happy with how good thunderbolt 3 seems to be so in not concerned about the future. The processor should be good for a while!
 
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If you need it then buy it now as I seriously doubt there will be another Mac Mini refresh for at least a couple of years.
 
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SandboxGeneral said:
If you need it now, buy it now.

I wouldn't count on any update this year. If they do get an update, it'll likely be very minor and probably not worth the wait.
Click to expand...

That's what I was thinking, I doubt it would be a big update. But knowing my luck they would add an i9!
 
I've got an i5 that's running pretty smoothly after the OS 10.14.6 update. I had a few problems with earlier versions of the OS and with Creative Cloud but everything is humming along nicely now. If I were in the market I'd pick up a refurbished machine from Apple but I was an early adopter so there weren't any refurbs.
 
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I'd guess 2021+ for the next Mac mini hardware update. The 2018 i7 is a capable machine especially when loaded up with ram.
 
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tpivette89 said:
However, this years i9 in the MBPs runs cooler than last years i7s (which is what's also in the Mini) in the same chassis... something to think about
Click to expand...

Although the Mini doesn’t use U-series parts. It uses desktop parts. Those have been a little less impressive with the Coffee Lake refresh, especially the 9500 and 9700 parts that would be the upgrades for the i5 and i7 versions. Those both rely on higher boost speeds to best the older parts, and the Mini already is boosting about as hard as it can on the 8000 series parts. I’m impressed that my i5 can hold 3.9 GHz 4 core, or 3.6Ghz all-core loads, but I’ve almost never seen it go to 4.1Ghz for a single-core load. It seems like the Mini can handle about 75-80W TDP, and if you need to push beyond that on a 9700 to hit the new boost clocks, you don’t really gain anything.

I figure a refresh with Ice Lake is possible, because those iGPUs are going to be a noticeable step up, and 18% IPC uplift is very respectable, but it seems like the desktop parts are a ways off. Spring 2020 maybe would be my wild guess?

weaztek said:
I've got an i5 that's running pretty smoothly after the OS 10.14.6 update. I had a few problems with earlier versions of the OS and with Creative Cloud but everything is humming along nicely now. If I were in the market I'd pick up a refurbished machine from Apple but I was an early adopter so there weren't any refurbs.
Click to expand...

Yeah, pick up a refurbished model if you can. But refurbished Minis tend to be popular, so stock can be tight. I would have had to wait around a month or more to get the model I wanted refurb. But the savings are worth it if you don’t want a BTO configuration (more likely to be in stock), or can find the BTO you want.
 
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Krevnik said:
Although the Mini doesn’t use U-series parts. It uses desktop parts. Those have been a little less impressive with the Coffee Lake refresh, especially the 9500 and 9700 parts that would be the upgrades for the i5 and i7 versions. Those both rely on higher boost speeds to best the older parts, and the Mini already is boosting about as hard as it can on the 8000 series parts. I’m impressed that my i5 can hold 3.9 GHz 4 core, or 3.6Ghz all-core loads, but I’ve almost never seen it go to 4.1Ghz for a single-core load. It seems like the Mini can handle about 75-80W TDP, and if you need to push beyond that on a 9700 to hit the new boost clocks, you don’t really gain anything.

I figure a refresh with Ice Lake is possible, because those iGPUs are going to be a noticeable step up, and 18% IPC uplift is very respectable, but it seems like the desktop parts are a ways off. Spring 2020 maybe would be my wild guess?



Yeah, pick up a refurbished model if you can. But refurbished Minis tend to be popular, so stock can be tight. I would have had to wait around a month or more to get the model I wanted refurb. But the savings are worth it if you don’t want a BTO configuration (more likely to be in stock), or can find the BTO you want.
Click to expand...
I am thinking just going ahead and doing it as it seems unlikely they will upgrade in a while. With student discount the i7 is decently priced and I would upgrade the Ram myself.
 
I think with the philosophy change on the Mac mini (hobby type machine to a more viable pro-sumer type product) it's more likely that we see more consistent updates. The mini is still the only reasonably priced Mac that gives you screen flexibility. I'm loving it as my daily driver with dual widescreen 34" monitors via USB-C. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a segment that continues to grow for AAPL.
 
I would wait. October is not far off, and even though the chance of an update is unlikely, it wouldn't hurt to get an updated model if they release one.

Only buy one now if you can find a good discount or if you need it.
 
I bought an i7 refurb last week wtih egpu. I only bought it b/c my old mac pro 2010 decided to stop booting and I'm fed up with the little issues it had (not finding keyboard from sleep, bluetooth sucking etc).

Personally, I would've preferred to wait for October.
 
So I decided to buy a 128gb I7 configured from the Apple Store with my student discount. I got this because it was the cheapest I could get the I7 which I wanted and I'm plugging in my 1TB Samsung X5 and using it as my boot drive which should be just as fast if not faster than the internal drive at half the cost. I've just ordered some Ram to get it up to 32GB. + I'm going to use Vega 64 in Razor Core X as my EGPU! It should last me for a few years to come. Even though it's annoying to me that you can't upgrade the internal storage easily, I'm happy with how good thunderbolt 3 seems to be so in not concerned about the future. The processor should be good for a while!
 
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AR15MBP said:
I think with the philosophy change on the Mac mini (hobby type machine to a more viable pro-sumer type product) it's more likely that we see more consistent updates. The mini is still the only reasonably priced Mac that gives you screen flexibility. I'm loving it as my daily driver with dual widescreen 34" monitors via USB-C. I wouldn't be surprised if this is a segment that continues to grow for AAPL.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I tend to agree with this. I think the days of the Mac Mini wallowing in oblivion are behind us.... (or at least I hope so). No idea if we'll see an update this year, but if not then likely within the first half of 2020. But as others mentioned, it would undoubtedly be a very minor update. If there is no update (or strong rumors) by iPhone 11 announcement, then I would safely recommend buying one.
 
Personally, I believe they will give it more attention going forward, you are not going to see major updates or as regular an update as the MBP.

But, the issue is there is only so much you can do with the Mac Mini in its current form. i9? Doubt it, not enough space to cool it. GPU? Doubt it, Apple wants you buying accessories for that, i.e. eGPU.

So small incremental updates, nothing worth waiting to see what that will be over buying one today.

Now, even if they kept the unit the same size but removed the power into an external brick, the space that would create for more cooling and other opportunities, the Mini could be stunning. I know people don't like the idea of a power brick but it would be worth it if the additional space in the Mini was utilised properly.
 
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Fraserh02 said:
Hello,

I am looking to get the top end I7 Mac Mini from 2018. I was just wondering if you guys think it would be worth buying now or holding out and seeing if they do update it in Oct/November.

They did take a very long time to update the last model, but it feels to me that this will be a product that they may now update every year as it is more of a pro model than the older ones were intended to be.

I was just wondering if you guys think I should wait or just buy it now? And if I were to wait, what do you speculate the 2019 model would bring to be worth the wait?

I am not in a desperate need for a new Mac, but would like to get one this year, and the sooner the better as it would help, but isn't essential.

Thank you very much.
Click to expand...

Do you need it now? Then buy it now. Even if they do an update we are talking a minor spec update at best. Even if they move to an 8 core CPU we are not talking a massive performance boost. For example while the 8 core MBP is faster than the Mac Mini it is also an i9 and right now the Mac Mini does not use the i9 for whatever reason. Even then the 8 core MBP is only about 23% faster in a raw benchmark test. In the real world it may be even depending on the use and application. It could get the iMac top 8 core CPU but I doubt it. The Mini may not be able to handle it due to the thermal design.

The TB3 ports likely will not change and there will still be 4 TB3 ports. It will likely still take up to 64GB of Ram and it will likely still have an Intel GPU. The Intel GPU could be slightly faster but we are talking some games getting 10 fps instead of 9 fps kind pf performance boost. Not anything to really get excited about.

I just don't see a massive potential upgrade so if you need it now get it now. A new version will always come out after you buy something. Just a reality you have to accept and you buy what you need at the time.
 
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EmlynDewar said:
Any reason you're wanting to use the external drive as boot, rather than boot off internal and keep files on external?
Click to expand...
Mainly because I want to keep all my programs and everything on it, and it should be faster than the 128GB/256GB SSD. It's mainly because it's cheaper to do so instead of paying more with Apple. And it's nice to be able to plug it into any other of my macs that's support thunderbolt 3 and boot from it so that it has everything on there.
 
Fraserh02 said:
Mainly because I want to keep all my programs and everything on it, and it should be faster than the 128GB/256GB SSD. It's mainly because it's cheaper to do so instead of paying more with Apple. And it's nice to be able to plug it into any other of my macs that's support thunderbolt 3 and boot from it so that it has everything on there.
Click to expand...

The 1TB X5 vs the 1TB internal SSD are about equal on speed, and the upgrade cost is 30$ cheaper through Apple going by the Amazon/B&H price of the X5. If you are buying a used X5 or have one already, you can save a few bucks, maybe.
 
Krevnik said:
The 1TB X5 vs the 1TB internal SSD are about equal on speed, and the upgrade cost is 30$ cheaper through Apple going by the Amazon/B&H price of the X5. If you are buying a used X5 or have one already, you can save a few bucks, maybe.
Click to expand...
It's just that I'll buy the 500GB X5 and upgrade the NVME inside it works out cheaper. Mainly like that I can upgrade the drive inside it in the future, but mostly because I can take it anywhere and boot from it on any thunderbolt 3 Mac and access my files and apps.
 
Sorry to bring negative but the X5 is not made to boot from (it ?*). I've tried and it crashes nearly each day. Wake from sleep works poorly and high CPU usage completely freezes and crashes the iMac. The Samsung support told me the X5 is for storage only.

I think it's a better way to boot from internal NVME and maybe put the ~/Library folder externally.

This is also written here
https://smap.today/review-portable-ssd-samsung-x5-nvme/

*sorry for my english
 
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