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help decide 2014 or 2012 mini

C

cyberc

macrumors newbie
Original poster
May 18, 2014
19
1
Denmark
Hi guys

As a lot of other people i'm uncertain which mac to pick.

I would go for a i7 no matter what.

The mini would be used for smaller browser tasks, encoding with handbrake, but only 1 movie at a time, editing photos from family vacations in photoshop and some microsoft word/excel. The mini should be connected to my Apple tb display.

I already have an old mac mini 2009, which I use for medie center(plex) and that still runs fine. I thought about swapping them around, but since the old one still runs fine and have no problems playing my stuff why swap. This mini also provides iTunes access for my two ATV3

Since the memory is soldered on the new mini i'd go for 16gb should I choose that one.

I currently run most machines with wifi-ac, so it would be nice to continue to do so. The 2012 don't have wifi-ac but could get it with a dongle but I don't know if I really would get the speed of wifi-ac through a dongle?

Regardsless of choice both machines would receive an extra SSD to ensure speed.

Would I be better off with the old 2012 mini with an i7 or the new one with an i7.

regards.
 
Crosscreek said:
I think you can get by with the new one with 8gb RAM and the SSD. :)
Click to expand...

thanks

but wouldn't it be better to max out since its soldered?. My "needs" could change.

If I opted to run one or two virtual machines the memory would come in handy, but what about the dual core cpu, would it still be enough?

/regards
 
cyberc said:
thanks

but wouldn't it be better to max out since its soldered?. My "needs" could change.

If I opted to run one or two virtual machines the memory would come in handy, but what about the dual core cpu, would it still be enough?

/regards
Click to expand...

Yes if you have spare cash and also get Apple Care because you will void the warranty if you try to service yourself.
 
Just curious but the i5 would handle what you want, yes ?

FYI I have a late 2009 Mini with 8GB which runs well enough and keep looking at these Mini specs but its hard to get excited given the cost (of the 1TB one with 8GM RAM) and the fact I have a working machine. Will probably put in an SSD and keep it another year or even longer.
 
Crosscreek said:
Yes if you have spare cash and also get Apple Care because you will void the warranty if you try to service yourself.
Click to expand...

thanks but dont wanna spend money on applecare. When I "upgrade" with another disk, the warranty will be voided. Should something happend, i'll put in the original disk.

Just curious but the i5 would handle what you want, yes ?

FYI I have a late 2009 Mini with 8GB which runs well enough and keep looking at these Mini specs but its hard to get excited given the cost (of the 1TB one with 8GM RAM) and the fact I have a working machine. Will probably put in an SSD and keep it another year or even longer.
Click to expand...

i'd rather not buy the i5, cause I can't upgrade it at a later point.
i thought about putting in a SSD in my old 2009 mini, just to bump up the speed, but its actually working fine and all storage is on my NAS, so I would only benefit on the boot time with the SSD.

/regards
 
Crosscreek said:
Yes if you have spare cash and also get Apple Care because you will void the warranty if you try to service yourself.
Click to expand...

Or, said another way, don't waste your money on Applecare if you plan on servicing it yourself. The things that are most likely to break are the cooling fan and HDD which are easily replaceable once you get the new T6 security bit to open it up.
 
Last edited:
CausticPuppy said:
Or, said another way, don't waste your money on Applecare if you plan on servicing it yourself. The things that are most likely to break are the CPU and HDD which are easily replaceable once you get the new T6 security bit to open it up.
Click to expand...

I'm pretty sure the fan will need cleaned and one trip to the Genius Bar after warranty will pay for the Apple Care.
 
CausticPuppy said:
Or, said another way, don't waste your money on Applecare if you plan on servicing it yourself. The things that are most likely to break are the CPU and HDD which are easily replaceable once you get the new T6 security bit to open it up.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

How would you replace the CPU it should be soldered to the logic board?

Regards

----------
Crosscreek said:
I'm pretty sure the fan will need cleaned and one trip to the Genius Bar after warranty will pay for the Apple Care.
Click to expand...

In my country we don't have an Apple store so we don't have a genius Bar.

Regards.
 
Handbrake will definitely utilize the extra cores. If you intend to spend time using Handbrake the quad core will definitely outperform the dual core. You also mentioned the possibility of running virtual machines. This is another case where more cores are preferred.

If this were my use case I'd lean towards the 2012 quad core for two reasons:

  1. You have a couple of use cases that would benefit from additional cores. You don't appear to have a use case that benefits from the Iris graphics of the new system.
  2. The memory in the 2012 is upgradable. You can start with the base and add more if you should decide you want to use virtual machines (if you know you already are then, should you buy the 2014, I'd get the 16GB upgrade).

IMO real world performance from 802.11ac is not much better than 802.11n so I'm excluding it as a factor.
 
There's no way I'd buy any of the new ones. They are the worst deals I've seen from Apple in some time.
 
Thanks for all your replies.

I'm mostly keen on the new 2014.

I have used my late 2013 MBPr i7 for handbrake converting and it's taking approx 20min for a dvd flick so if the 2014 is better or similar in speed that's ok by me.

The use case with virtual machines I've thought about it for years but haven't done it yet. So it's more a nice to have where the speed when converting with handbrake is need to have.

/regards.
 
fa8362 said:
There's no way I'd buy any of the new ones. They are the worst deals I've seen from Apple in some time.
Click to expand...

Agree.. cost to performance ratio is not very good compared to 2012 models. Expect to see the quad core option return with premium pricing for Broadwell and Skylake Minis.
 
SoCalReviews said:
Agree.. cost to performance ratio is not very good compared to 2012 models. Expect to see the quad core option return with premium pricing for Broadwell and Skylake Minis.
Click to expand...

Don't expect the quads to return. They will be in direct competition with the nMP. Only reason we got them in the first place (i think) was because the old mac pros didn't see any actual updates for a long time.

/regards.
 
cyberc said:
Don't expect the quads to return. They will be in direct competition with the nMP. Only reason we got them in the first place (i think) was because the old mac pros didn't see any actual updates for a long time.

/regards.
Click to expand...

I guess we will have to wait until the next Mini update before we find out. I still expect the quads to return to the lineup at a premium price point. There has been more than enough stomping of feet and gnashing of teeth from the Mini fan base about their disappearance from the 2014 Haswell Mini lineup to motivate Apple to bring the quad option back.
 
I just picked up a 2012 quad from Best Buy for $634 open box. I hope I didn't make a mistake. Having some buyers remorse. I use lightroom and pixelmator. I'm coming from a late 2009 with ssd and 8 gb of ram. I have yet to hook this new machine up - the thought of the upgrades and data migration are making me feel ill.
 
cyberc said:
Hi guys

As a lot of other people i'm uncertain which mac to pick.

I would go for a i7 no matter what.

The mini would be used for smaller browser tasks, encoding with handbrake, but only 1 movie at a time, editing photos from family vacations in photoshop and some microsoft word/excel. The mini should be connected to my Apple tb display.

I already have an old mac mini 2009, which I use for medie center(plex) and that still runs fine. I thought about swapping them around, but since the old one still runs fine and have no problems playing my stuff why swap. This mini also provides iTunes access for my two ATV3
Click to expand...

IMO you are better off keeping what you have and waiting a year or two more. I7 upgrade is $300; crazy if you ask me. Keep in mind the old mini mid tier was i7 and you didn't have to pay extra.
 
jamesthegator said:
I just picked up a 2012 quad from Best Buy for $634 open box. I hope I didn't make a mistake. Having some buyers remorse. I use lightroom and pixelmator. I'm coming from a late 2009 with ssd and 8 gb of ram. I have yet to hook this new machine up - the thought of the upgrades and data migration are making me feel ill.
Click to expand...

Considering a 2012 too b/c Lightroom 5 has been lagging a bit on my 2011 Mini (8GB RAM, 256 SSD). It's not horrible but noticeable, especially in the develop module. And importing/exporting takes a while. The CPU % is always bumping up pretty high (250% at times) while using it. Wondering what kind of experience you'll have with LR5 and a 2012 quad.
 
trs0722 said:
Considering a 2012 too b/c Lightroom 5 has been lagging a bit on my 2011 Mini (8GB RAM, 256 SSD). It's not horrible but noticeable, especially in the develop module. And importing/exporting takes a while. The CPU % is always bumping up pretty high (250% at times) while using it. Wondering what kind of experience you'll have with LR5 and a 2012 quad.
Click to expand...


It will be awhile before I really know if there's a big difference in my case because I'm going to wait for a deal on a good ssd and memory. I guess I just feel a little silly buying a 2 year old machine. But then again, I would feel very silly buying basically the same thing (but with 2 cores but better GPU) for several hundred more (2014 mini).
 
My money would buy a 2012 Mini.
then a Samsung SSD with ifixit data double kit
16GB of RAM
802.11ac + BT4 chip

and call it a day.
 
mmomega said:
My money would buy a 2012 Mini.
then a Samsung SSD with ifixit data double kit
16GB of RAM
802.11ac + BT4 chip

and call it a day.
Click to expand...

If you will be install Samsung SSD in mac mini late 2012 (i7), there is some surprise.
You have to swap disks. SSD must be put in HDD place and connected to HDD original SATA cable. HDD going down and have to be connected to accessory cable.
Don't ask me why is that should be done. Only in THIS WAY osx see my SSD (Samsung <- maybe this is the key). I read about this also somewhere on the Internet. My two friends had also this same problem.

ifixit should update their guide
 
life27 said:
If you will be install Samsung SSD in mac mini late 2012 (i7), there is some surprise.
You have to swap disks. SSD must be put in HDD place and connected to HDD original SATA cable. HDD going down and have to be connected to accessory cable.
Don't ask me why is that should be done. Only in THIS WAY osx see my SSD (Samsung <- maybe this is the key). I read about this also somewhere on the Internet. My two friends had also this same problem.

ifixit should update their guide
Click to expand...

I put my Samsung 840 EVO in the second bay and left the HDD in it's original place. Working flawlessly.
 
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