I can hardly see why this is an "issue." Is my experience not valid in comparison to yours? I wasn't aware that you knew me so well.
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Entry level Mac Mini (late 2014) too slow for Yosemite
- Thread starter ivassilis
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I can hardly see why this is an "issue." Is my experience not valid in comparison to yours? I wasn't aware that you knew me so well.
Or, if you don't want to risk the safety of your beloved Mac Mini you could possibly get the $200 Fusion Drive. Whenever you open the 2014 Mac mini it goes against the warranty, too.
I just read from a bunch places that it doesn't go against your warranty. Some law from the 70's says that companies can't stop you from doing upgrades on your machine. Even OWC had an article from a few years ago saying that it won't avoid your warranty (although I'm not sure if OWC is (or will) take responsibility if Apple actually refuse any kind of repair).
I wish apple would get over the need for only using ultra fast PCI-e SSDs. For entry level models an entry level SATA SSD would make a night and day difference to the user experience at a price that is palatable to most entry level buyers. Keep the PCI-e SSDs for the higher end models.
Hmm. It might be time for me to say something I haven't seen many times here: I was wrong in assuming the base model machine is junk. I was curious, and in a bind this week having had to shell out a few hundred for a car repair. So, I was debating selling the 2014 mid range model with SSD that I have. Stopped by Microcenter and picked up a base model for $399. I was expecting it to be like the other older Mac mini my family has (2011 still on 2GB RAM) -- that thing is Beach Ball City. I assumed it was due to the hard drive rather than the 2GB RAM. Well, this 2014 base model is running just fine - no beach balls. Yes, some apps take a few jumps before launching, but it isn't horrible. For someone like me who does research, writing, surfing, and light photo editing it's fine. It obviously doesn't have SSD boot and download speeds, but it's really not bad. So, now I'm selling the mid range model I was using in Marketplace.
I'm glad you posted this! I'm shopping to replace my good old 2008 iMac 24" , which is showing its age. I'm working a lot in Lightroom and Photoshop (as a hobbyist, not a pro). And I'm seeing so many beach balls, you'd think we were near the ocean instead of in Colorado.
I have a decent 22" HD monitor, so I'm looking at a mini.
But I've been dithering on the SSD vs. HDD issue, with my budget in mind. I'm close to ordering the mid-range 2014 mini with 16 GB RAM (upgrade) and the 1TB HDD (standard). I know that in the 2014 mini, the RAM can't be upgraded but (warranty issues acknowledged) the HDD can be replaced. Much as I'd like to start out with a roomy SSD under the hood, I just can't afford a new mini all tricked out with one. (I configured it on the Apple store site. Ouch!)
Your post has encouraged me to get the mid-range mini with 16GB of RAM and the 1TB HDD. If it really sucks, there's always the return period.
Thanks!
This is the critical factor. SSDs are blazing fast and one could make this mid-range mini a real screamer. However, the RAM cannot be upgraded. Why buy a top-flight machine that is permanently crippled when you could have a machine that is (fully?) upgradeable.
In a way, a 2014 mini with maxed RAM and a 1TB HDD is no less upgradeable than a similar 2012 mini with 4Gb of memory. Of course, some would say the PCIe SSD option gives the 2014 an edge in upgradability that the older machines cannot match. Enjoy!
I agree with you. Some people give the entry-level Mac Mini a hard time when in reality it is more than enough for many. While I wouldn't have bought mine at $499 (or I would have gotten one the day it was released), I was able to get it for $349 at Best Buy, and at that price, it was a steal.
It runs very well. Nothing out of this world, but it does its job plenty fast, and OS X El Capitan can only make it better. Certainly was a much better deal than any Windows machine I could have bought at that price.
Have you considered upgrading the ram on your 2011 Mac Mini to 4GB? I have a feeling you would see much less beachballs that way.
I know, if it was mine I would have done it when Yosemite came out, but it's my parents'. All they do is check email and read news articles, and I keep telling them I could do the upgrade for them in five minutes, but they are in a tough financial position so it will have to wait. I'm not thrilled that mine is capped at 4GB (I had 8 in my previous mini to "future proof" for later versions of OS X), but can't complain for the price.
Last month I purchased from the Apple On-Line Store a Refurbished i5 Mac Mini(Late 2014) , 2.8 GHz, 8GB Ram, 256 SSD for $1014 which included Sales Tax and Apple Care. So far I have really be impressed with it's performance, especially the speed of the SSD!
Although I think my original plan to buy a mid-range new mini with 16GB of RAM and the stock 1TB HDD was sound? I went with Plan B last evening after all. Because, money. 
myrtlebee's post reminded me to check the MicroCenter website - there's a store close to my home. They're selling the mid-range mini with 8GB RAM and 1TB HDD for $599. That's significantly less than the cost of that machine with 16GB RAM - at any rate, the difference is significant for my budget, right now. So I bought one and intend to set it up this weekend. There's always the return period if I don't like it. In which case, I'll have to scrape up more money to pursue Plan A.
OK, the REAL Plan A would be to replace the old iMac with a sweetly equipped MacBook Pro, but I seriously can't afford that this year. The Mac mini plan is more like Plan A Minus.
If this Plan B works, I'm set up with a new Mac, for a few years, for comfortably less than a thousand bucks (I'll probably add AppleCare and splurge for a Magic Trackpad - and it's still way under a thou). Sweet!
I appreciate the comments posted here - very helpful. Thanks!
myrtlebee's post reminded me to check the MicroCenter website - there's a store close to my home. They're selling the mid-range mini with 8GB RAM and 1TB HDD for $599. That's significantly less than the cost of that machine with 16GB RAM - at any rate, the difference is significant for my budget, right now. So I bought one and intend to set it up this weekend. There's always the return period if I don't like it. In which case, I'll have to scrape up more money to pursue Plan A.
OK, the REAL Plan A would be to replace the old iMac with a sweetly equipped MacBook Pro, but I seriously can't afford that this year. The Mac mini plan is more like Plan A Minus.
If this Plan B works, I'm set up with a new Mac, for a few years, for comfortably less than a thousand bucks (I'll probably add AppleCare and splurge for a Magic Trackpad - and it's still way under a thou). Sweet!
I appreciate the comments posted here - very helpful. Thanks!
Yes the price is right, and with your Plan B you can "future proof" that mini anytime you want by adding an SSD. For some users, a path like yours beats spending for expensive options up front in an effort to avoid the inevitable march of progress.
The Magic Trackpad unlocks many of the best features of the OS X GUI. I seldom use a mouse anymore.
As I just posted in the pinned "I just . . . got my new" thread above, I was disappointed in the performance of the mini with the 1TB spinning hard drive. Rather than return it and order a BTO mini from Apple with SSD, I took the mini to a local Apple certified repair shop, where they replaced the HDD with a new Samsung 1TB SSD. And, BTW, gave me a decent amount of trade-in credit for my 2008 iMac.
I picked up the mini last night and got it set up this morning. I'm a very happy camper with how it performs - so much faster than before, that I can't believe it's the same computer!
Because I have a TON of photo files, I'd have hated having only a 256GB or even 512GB SSD in my main computer, and those are the more affordable SSD options Apple offers. To get a 1TB SSD in a new mini, would cost in the neighborhood of $1600 - $1700. My mini's ended up costing more like $1100. No, I don't have AppleCare and I'm OK with that. I'll take the risk.
I picked up the mini last night and got it set up this morning. I'm a very happy camper with how it performs - so much faster than before, that I can't believe it's the same computer!
Because I have a TON of photo files, I'd have hated having only a 256GB or even 512GB SSD in my main computer, and those are the more affordable SSD options Apple offers. To get a 1TB SSD in a new mini, would cost in the neighborhood of $1600 - $1700. My mini's ended up costing more like $1100. No, I don't have AppleCare and I'm OK with that. I'll take the risk.
AGREED. Close to processor is cache > ram > hard drive. if computer wants to access data it looks for processor cache first. then in ram. then the hard drive. 5400 rpm on core2duo macs are running great. all you need to do is upgrade ram on base level macmini 2014 from 2gb to 8gb. but I would say the SSD would probably be a more noticeable upgrade. Unless you are already noticing memory shortages. Applications are loaded in RAM from hard drive, if there is not enough ram, the apps may run slower because it'll constantly look for data in hard drive instead of ram. so just get a low cost ram upgrade (ssd are expensive than ram) and all will work nicely.
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I am a longtime loyal Apple user and up until now have sworn by their products and often recommended them to friends and colleagues. However I am shocked by the latest technical specs and short-comings of most of their current low end offerings. Apple are now obviously building down to a price point and compromising their reputation in the process. I recently recommended a neighbour to buy a new MacMini (late 2014 model), base model as that is all her budget could stretch to. I am horrified at the sluggish performance this model exhibits - it is much slower than a 4 year old budget Windows laptop she replaced. I have traced the sluggish performance down to the hard drive that Apple now seen to be fitting to all base Macs & MacBooks - a really slow conventional 500Gb 5400 RPM SATA 2 (3gb speed) drive. This despite the fact that the rest of the hardware is capable of supporting SATA 3 (6Gb speed) drives. This is slower than the drives they were using a number of years back and is spoiling the ship for a ha'peth of tar! In this day when SATA 6 is the norm why oh why use SATA3 technology - or even why use rotational drives in preference to SSD's now that SSD's are so much more competitive in price.
To prove my point I created a OSX El Capitan boot drive on a £20 USB 3 memory stick and booted the MacMini from that - in comparison the internal drive, the machine flew and that was just using the USB 3 interface which is much slower than the internal SATA3 interface the machine has!!
It seems all computer manufacturers are touting CPU performance - whereas the speed bottle neck in most computers has always been the hard drive interface.
This unfortunately is how most consumers are led to believe over the years. The name "Intel" is pretty much a household name, and we are generally told that faster CPU = faster computer. Also it doesn't help when people go to places like Best Buy and such, and the sales person are telling them the same thing.
I never understand why people put so much trust in floor sales they work at the store, it's not unreasonable to assume that most of them are bias.
I'm no tech expert, and I'm not disagreeing with the statement that insufficient RAM will slow down a machine's performance. But it's my understanding that you can only "upgrade" the amount of RAM in a 2014 Mac mini at the time of purchase. RAM isn't user replaceable in a 2014 mini. Also, the base 2014 mini has 4GB RAM; I don't think they sell one with only 2GB. The mid-model 2014 mini I bought off the shelf at MicroCenter came with 8GB RAM (also, see above re my experience with the sluggish internal HDD vs. the night-and-day improvement when I had the HDD replaced with a 1TB SSD).
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To those on a budget shopping for 2014 minis: Although the 1TB Fusion Driver (1.1TB, really) is indeed a paid upgrade, it feels really fast, dare I say as fast an older mini with a fast "pure SSD". The OS X implementation of Fusion Drive seems so solid, that I never notice there is a traditional hard drive in there supplementing the PCIe SSD. Normal tasks on the late 2014 mini seem just as fast as my Late 2013 Mac Pro with PCIe SSD.
Yes quite! - or actually the floors sales don't know their arse from their elbow! - One wonders if Apple do now??
To illustrate that faster/better CPU doesn't necessarily mean a faster PC - I recently upgraded a friends base 2007 iMac 20" to include a replacement 250 gb SSD and another 2gb of ram (making 4gb total) - That machine with a Core 2 Duo CPU is miles faster than my neighbours brand new MacMini with i5 CPU & 4gb Ram. So and 8 year old iMac with new SSD is measurably better than an new base MacMini!
I personally would not buy any new Apple product on a "Beer Budget". Last June I purchased from the Apple On-line Store a Refurbished MM(Late 2014), 2.8GHz, 8GB RAM, 256 SSD and it is one HECK of a machine that meets all my computer needs far into the near future. With AppleCare it cost me around $1000 which was within my household Budget and I paid my Credit Card in-full for this purchase the very next month.
There are quite a few posts on this Forum regarding displeasure with the Base Model MM 2014 without an SSD and a little research before buying would have avoided your neighbor's displeasure. She could have then saved up some extra money to buy the MM that she needs at a later date.
This Forum really assisted me BEFORE making the decision to pony-up some extra dollars for a MM with a SSD and this advice was RIGHT-ON.
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