Just bought a 2018 Mac Mini

[Garyed055]

Well, it's more that it shouldn't have been derailed into the Mini at large... but people are trying to help you make the best of your money, as the best chance of a 4-year upgrade to the Mini is within two weeks.

As for your Mini, best bet is 10.13 High Sierra in my opinion. You might be able to get El Capitan (10.11) on there, which is 2015, and runs better on hard drives, whereas newer ones tend to be optimized for SSDs.

I understand that and appreciate greatly but the title is misleading i didn't know it wasn't actually a 2018 Mini.

Gary
[doublepost=1540088308][/doublepost]

Do you think anything could be done software-wise to fix it? Not sure what I will be doing when I buy a new Mac but if I sell it and could fix this for someone before I switch to the new one that would be good.

Keep in mind I'm just guessing based on long history with Computers. If the Cache is not working nothing can be done the CPU is defective.

Gary

 

[revmacian]

Dear moderator please delete this thread! I shouldn’t have started it

Gary

Don't let the opinions of others get in the way of your happiness.

Also, your avatar is cool

 

[myrtlebee]

I understand that and appreciate greatly but the title is misleading i didn't know it wasn't actually a 2018 Mini.

Gary
[doublepost=1540088308][/doublepost]


Keep in mind I'm just guessing based on long history with Computers. If the Cache is not working nothing can be done the CPU is defective.

Gary

Thanks, I hope that’s not the case. Maybe I will have it checked out.

Don't let the opinions of others get in the way of your happiness.

Also, your avatar is cool

Definitely. Hell, I have an SE and I’m happy, and before that I was on a 5C for a year. It just seemed unbelievable for me at least seeing as the new one is coming so soon after 4 years. Also my experience, as well as so many others here, has been so bad with the base 2014 mini. Then again, maybe I do have a lemon. The first 2014 I owned wasn’t that bad, but of course it wasn’t running the most recent versions of MacOS either. But if you’re happy, who cares. Just don’t expect others not to snicker a little on a tech forum, especially for this particular product.

 

[Garyed055]

Don't let the opinions of others get in the way of your happiness.

Also, your avatar is cool

Thanks I'm a big fan of Computers and Cheeseburgers

Gary

 

[dogslobber]

You might love it a bit less when a new 2018 Mini gets announced on 10/30, me thinks? You might be within the 14-day return period then...

Then again, maybe they were right on the money to beat the scramble for sacred 2014 Minis once the 2018 specs are unleashed to an undeserving Mac audience on 10/30. On that date we might wish we were still waiting for the 2018 Mini.

 

[Neodym]

It think even Apple would have a hard time worsening the specs of the 2014 base mini.

For me, the “risk” is that the expected 2018 mini may be one of the first Macs to sport an A series chip and thus could pose some compatibility issues compared to the 2014 models. Also, a potential 2018 model might be a disposable a.k.a. locked down machine akin to an AppleTV.

And suddenly the 2014 mini will become “the last good Mac mini” here on the forums ...

 

[pwm86]

Ok

I’ve been using this mini for a day and have produced a video using iMovie which took less then half the time it did with my 2007 mini. I’ve spent a couple of hours watching Netflix with Safari, and iTunes videos I downloaded. It’s hardly a joke.

Gary

In your place, I would keep it, and exchange the HD to an SSD. See
https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/ssd/owc/mac-mini/2014
for that. I run a 2009 iMac 8GB with the superdrive exchanged to a 1TB SSD, and a 2011 Air i7/4GB/256GB, both under Mojave, without problems, even for quite large programs (sagemath, TeX). But I also have a maxed out 2015 iMac.

 

[getrealbro]

Then again, maybe they were right on the money to beat the scramble for sacred 2014 Minis once the 2018 specs are unleashed to an undeserving Mac audience on 10/30. On that date we might wish we were still waiting for the 2018 Mini.

Seems like just yesterday I was waiting for the rumored 256GB iPhone SE. After the recent iPhone announcement, new 128GB iPhone SEs became “precious”. Now I wish I had purchased a 128GB iPhone SE during the week leading up to the announcement and left it in the box.

GetRealBro

 

[Boyd01]

If you are happy with the base 2014 Mini and the $500 pricetag is the reason you bought it, then it was probably a good purchase. The rumors suggest that the 2018 Mini (if such a thing actually exists) will be more powerful and more expensive, so there may no longer be a $500 option.

I have always suspected that a lot of people buy the Mini simply because it's a Mac and it costs $500. It's also interesting to note that B&H Photo is now selling the base 2014 Mini at the full list price of $499. In the past, they always discounted it to at least $479. So if Apple does introduce a new, powerful Mini with an entry price of (for example) $699, I wonder if the $499 2014 Mini might still be popular.

 

[Garyed055]

I bought it mainly on price alone a total of $529.99 with tax is the best I could do

Gary

 

[Garyed055]

Checking into replacing the HDD with an SDD and it looks like I have to disassemble the entire machine LOL

Gary

 

[Boyd01]

You really don't have to do that at all. Just get a good quality external USB SSD, plug it in, clone your internal drive, set it as a startup disk and you can be up and running in just a few minutes, no disassembly required.

 

[myrtlebee]

You really don't have to do that at all. Just get a good quality external USB SSD, plug it in, clone your internal drive, set it as a startup disk and you can be up and running in just a few minutes, no disassembly required.

Do you have a link on how to do this step by step by chance?

Unbelievably, I decided to restore my mini as new today since I would be doing that to sell it soon anyway, and it is running perfectly fine compared to the mess that it was! I don't know what was causing my issues before, but now I know to, if worse comes to worse, restore it as new and it will be usable. I'm thinking I will keep it now till it dies. I don't even use a computer much nowadays, and I might even put the money I saved from not buying a new desktop towards getting an iPhone XR instead of sticking with my SE. I thought this thing was good for the trash last night...

 

[opeter]

No worries I had no idea there hadn't been a new Mini since 2014

Gary

If you are satisfied with it, it's okay.

 

[Boyd01]

Do you have a link on how to do this step by step by chance?

It's quite simple. I have a couple Samsung T3 external SSD's, but they have been replaced by the T5 now (which is faster). There are other good ones too, but I don't have experience with them. Here's the 500gb version

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1346577-REG/samsung_mu_pa500b_am_t5_500gb_portable_ssd.html

Download the free trial of Carbon Copy here. It is fully functional in demo mode for awhile, which should be plenty of time for what you need (although it's certainly worth the purchase price - I use it every day myself).

https://bombich.com/download

Plug in the SSD and make a bootable clone of you Mini's internal drive. The T5 will probably be pre-formatted for Windows, but I think Carbon Copy will re-format it for you.

When the cloning process is complete, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk, select the external SSD and click the restart button.

That's all. Your Mini will now boot from the external drive and be exactly the same as it was before, but much MUCH faster. If you like, you could erase the internal drive and use it for time machine backups (or anything else you want).

Now you said you already wiped the internal drive. But if it has anything important on it, you should do a full backup to an external hard drive before attempting any of this. Carbon Copy can also do that for you.

 

[myrtlebee]

It's quite simple. I have a couple Samsung T3 external SSD's, but they have been replaced by the T5 now (which is faster). There are other good ones too, but I don't have experience with them. Here's the 500gb version

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1346577-REG/samsung_mu_pa500b_am_t5_500gb_portable_ssd.html

Download the free trial of Carbon Copy here. It is fully functional in demo mode for awhile, which should be plenty of time for what you need (although it's certainly worth the purchase price - I use it every day myself).

https://bombich.com/download

Plug in the SSD and make a bootable clone of you Mini's internal drive. The T5 will probably be pre-formatted for Windows, but I think Carbon Copy will re-format it for you.

When the cloning process is complete, go to System Preferences > Startup Disk, select the external SSD and click the restart button.

That's all. Your Mini will now boot from the external drive and be exactly the same as it was before, but much MUCH faster. If you like, you could erase the internal drive and use it for time machine backups (or anything else you want).

Now you said you already wiped the internal drive. But if it has anything important on it, you should do a full backup to an external hard drive before attempting any of this. Carbon Copy can also do that for you.

Thanks so much. This is very helpful. This would be a good sticky post for the mini forum.

 

[pwm86]

Do you have a link on how to do this step by step by chance?

Another way is the following:
1. Plug in the external SSD (Samsung T5 works very well).
2. Call disk-utility (in Applications/Utilities), choose the external drive, and erase it and reformat with APFS.
Give it a short nice name (like ext-T5).
3. Call Apple Store and download macOS Mojave. When it is downloaded it starts automatically. Select the external drive to install Mojave there.
4. When it finishes, it restarts from the external drive and you see migration assistant. It asks you where you want to migrate from. Choose either time-machine (if you have one), or MacintoshHD (the internal disk), and follow through.
You are left with the the original system on the internal drive and with Mojave on the external. It always starts from the external drive.

 

[Momof9]

A couple months ago, when I started looking at Macs - I almost got a mini too. Then I was comparing specs and saw that it was made in 2014. I own all the peripheals so it would be a good move. But with photoshop etc, I need the newer technology.... So I am still waiting on a computer etc....

 

[Boyd01]

Another way is the following

That will certainly work, and maybe it's a good option to consider. But @myrtlebee has a base 2014 1.4ghz Mini with only 4gb of non-upgradeable RAM. I would think twice about putting anything newer than Sierra on that. But that's just me, and I have not personally tried Mojave so I could be wrong.

I have this same Mini, and it still runs El Capitan. It's a dedicated iTunes server, so I can't see any reason to upgrade it.

 

[opeter]

For that Mini, the best OS would be Yosemite (10.10) or max. El Capitan (11.11) with the limited 4 GB RAM.

 

[myrtlebee]

I have it on Mojave, but at the moment it is working just fine. But good advice for someone who has it on an earlier version and who does more than causal web surfing, mail, document review and printing, and iTunes like me.

 

[Boyd01]

I have it on Mojave, but at the moment it is working just fine.

I realize that you've "restored it" but on the previous page you said "I can’t even do the most basic things without it completely freezing".

Was it running Mojave when you posted that? Have been trying to help a friend with a 2011 MacBook Air that only has 4gb of RAM. One of her students upgraded it to High Sierra and it has become almost unusable for her now. I want to help her get back to El Capitain, but she's in the EU and I'm in the US, and it's a somewhat complicated process to revert and also preserve all her files due to APFS.

 

[myrtlebee]

I realize that you've "restored it" but on the previous page you said "I can’t even do the most basic things without it completely freezing".

Was it running Mojave when you posted that? Have been trying to help a friend with a 2011 MacBook Air that only has 4gb of RAM. One of her students upgraded it to High Sierra and it has become almost unusable for her now. I want to help her get back to El Capitain, but she's in the EU and I'm in the US, and it's a somewhat complicated process to revert and also preserve all her files due to APFS.

It was running High Sierra, but had been running badly since probably Sierra. I really don’t think the operating system was the issue though- it started slowly and ramped its way up to being as bad as it was. It did not just become barely usable one I updated to any particular version of macOS. I think something else was wrong that the restore fixed. What that is I don’t know.

There is no way a MacBook Air on El Capitain should be behaving as you described. Yes, it has 4gb of RAM but the flash storage should make basic tasks run just fine.

 

[Boyd01]

There is no way a MacBook Air on El Capitain should be behaving as you described. Yes, it has 4gb of RAM but the flash storage should make basic tasks run just fine.

Please read my post again, I did not say it was running El Capitan. It is running High Sierra and I want to help her revert it to El Capitan. Plenty of discussion on this topic in the MacBook Air forum, although people seem to have different experiences.

 

[Skeptical.me]

Man, I really hope Apple releases a 2018 Mac Mini, upgradeable model, 4K, much more powerful CPU etc etc. I'll definitely be buying one if that's the case. If not it'll be a sad day this coming 30th of October.