Is it worth upgrading an old old mac mini? Need it for streaming.

[DrRobF]

I have an old mac mini. I am not positive of the date of purchase but I'm pretty sure its 2012. I want to try and set it upo almost entirely for streaming in a bedroom. Here are my questions for the experts.
I know I can add an SSD drive and i believe more memory... if I put the money in to do that, will it play streams like netflix, hulu, prime video etc.
I am willing to put a few bucks to get it running... my biggest worry is I will do it and it still will not run the streaming services.
Thank you all for whatever help you can give

 

[Boyd01]

See this thread

What to do with my 2012 Mac Mini (uses or sell)?

I have a late 2012 Mac Mini (2.3 GHz i7, 16 GB and 1TB hard drive, 500GB Samsung T5 external SSD) connected to a Thunderbolt Display. It pretty much just sits in a spare room and doesn’t get any use. I’m trying to figure out if there is anything I can use it for. Maybe something I’m not...

forums.macrumors.com

But you need to confirm it is a 2012 Mini, the 2011 is not nearly as nice a machine. And there are a range of different 2012 Mini's, the 2.3ghz and 2.6ghz i7 quad-core models are still very nice machines although the HD4000 graphics are a weakness, and Catalina is the last version of MacOS they support. The base model dual-core 2.5ghz i5 Mini is much slower than the quads, but still usable.

RAM upgrades are really easy on the 2012 Mini, just pull off the bottom cover. Adding an internal SSD is more complicated. Personally, I would just use an external USB 3.0 SSD on a 2012 Mini. In fact, that's how I ran my 2012 quad Mini for several years and it worked well with Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and other demanding software.

If you happen to have a 2014 Mini however, memory is not upgradeable in those and the base 1.4ghz/4gb model is pretty terrible.

Before spending any money, why not just try it and see what happens? Not sure that you really need much memory or a SSD for streaming anyway.

 

[DrRobF]

See this thread

What to do with my 2012 Mac Mini (uses or sell)?

I have a late 2012 Mac Mini (2.3 GHz i7, 16 GB and 1TB hard drive, 500GB Samsung T5 external SSD) connected to a Thunderbolt Display. It pretty much just sits in a spare room and doesn’t get any use. I’m trying to figure out if there is anything I can use it for. Maybe something I’m not...

forums.macrumors.com

But you need to confirm it is a 2012 Mini, the 2011 is not nearly as nice a machine. And there are a range of different 2012 Mini's, the 2.3ghz and 2.6ghz i7 quad-core models are still very nice machines although the HD4000 graphics are a weakness, and Catalina is the last version of MacOS they support. The base model dual-core 2.5ghz i5 Mini is much slower than the quads, but still usable.

RAM upgrades are really easy on the 2012 Mini, just pull off the bottom cover. Adding an internal SSD is more complicated. Personally, I would just use an external USB 3.0 SSD on a 2012 Mini. In fact, that's how I ran my 2012 quad Mini for several years and it worked well with Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro and other demanding software.

If you happen to have a 2014 Mini however, memory is not upgradeable in those and the base 1.4ghz/4gb model is pretty terrible.

Before spending any money, why not just try it and see what happens? Not sure that you really need much memory or a SSD for streaming anyway.

Thank you so much for the information. I did try to stream movies and I kept receive an error. I cant remember the exact wording but It basically said you cant stream here.. haha.

 

[Boyd01]

What kind of monitor are you using? If you are using an old screen with a DVI adapter (for example) then that won't work. You need a newer monitor that supports HDCP - the copy protection that prevents people from recording copyrighted material. Another issue might be that you need to update to a newer version of MacOS.

 

[DrRobF]

What kind of monitor are you using? If you are using an old screen with a DVI adapter (for example) then that won't work. You need a newer monitor that supports HDCP - the copy protection that prevents people from recording copyrighted material. Another issue might be that you need to update to a newer version of MacOS.

Last time I tried I was using a projector with hdmi? would that be the issue? and using my new mac laptop I can stream to the projector.

 

[Boyd01]

That would probably be OK, I think just about anything with an HDMI interface should work. It would help if you told us the specific error you are getting. Also might help to know exactly which Mini you have, what version of MacOS you are running and what browser you're using.

See this thread, I was getting a bogus HDCP error with Prime Video on Safari

MacMini + Amazon Prime Video = HD?

Hello , i was wondering if it is possible on a Mac Mini running MAC OS to stream Amazon Prime Video Movies (not Documentaries or Series) in "HD Quality". tried on a MacMini 2012 in very possible ways but could not achieve such a result. Amazon would play Movies only in SD quality. No such...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[DrRobF]

Ill look it up when i get back from work and share it.. thanks everyone.

 

[shaun.au]

I'm in the same boat - I've got a 2009 Mini as my "HTPC" that's had a RAM & SSD upgrade, but it's getting pretty slow & struggles if I try to do too much at once (eg Plex transcoding & watch a stream).

I'm going to get an M1 Mini as soon as there's a sale (probably Friday!)... I figured a 10 year run for the old one was enough. I'd considered just getting an older mini 2nd hand, but might as well get an M1