Mac mini 2014 base model

[ActionableMango]

That is a noble enough goal, but IMO, the 2012 model that it replaced was much better, in addition to being user-upgradeable. Geekbench scores are a little better on the 2012 model. Apple made a big deal of dropping the price to $500 from $600 for the base 2012 model. But at the point when the 2014 Mini was introduced, the street price of the 2012 Mini was $550. So for a $50 savings you got a slower machine that was less upgradeable.

Now I will admit, it's not all bad. The 2014 model has 802.11ac wifi which is much faster than the 2012. That probably won't be noticeable unless you are using shared disks on a local network and have a compatible router though. And the 2014 has a better graphics system. But I think it's fair to say the 2014 was a disappointment to many people.

At the high end of the Mini line, it's even worse IMO. I just got a used 2012 top spec quad core Mini. It is 50% faster than the current top of the line 2014 Mini….

I agree with everything you said, but I was answering a very specific question and not trying to imply that the 2014 is better.

 

[robotica]

The thing about picking up an old 2012 mini in what is soon to be 2017 worries me due to the fact that you may only get a few more years out of it before apple no longer updates OS X to support it

 

[Boyd01]

That's a valid point, but my main interest is legacy software running under 10.8.5. Not too worried about Apple no longer updating that. But mine certainly runs fine under El Capitan, and I assume Sierra will also be fine.

But if you want to keep your Mac on the latest and greatest software, I'd agree that the 2014 mini is a good choice, but I'd just avoid the base model. And you also need to buy the maxium amount of RAM you will ever need, since that isn't upgradeable. In this scenario, the Mini can get rather pricey.

 

[robotica]

That's a valid point, but my main interest is legacy software running under 10.8.5. Not too worried about Apple no longer updating that. But mine certainly runs fine under El Capitan, and I assume Sierra will also be fine.

But if you want to keep your Mac on the latest and greatest software, I'd agree that the 2014 mini is a good choice, but I'd just avoid the base model. And you also need to buy the maxium amount of RAM you will ever need, since that isn't upgradeable. In this scenario, the Mini can get rather pricey.

I think the best value one would be one model up with 16gb then swap in a sata ssd
Or do what I am actually doing and waiting for the next model before I spend my hard earned cash!

 

[Boyd01]

B&H has that in stock (2.6ghz/16gb/1TB 5400RPM disk) for $894. Someone looking for an entry level computer might see that as quite a gap from the $500 base model. Then we would be back to the issues discussed earlier in the thread, that Apple has made it more difficult to open and swap drives on the 2014 Mini and there's a real chance of doing some damage and voiding the warranty on a new computer.

It's just tough with these new machines… 8gb would probably be enough for most people, but then you can never upgrade beyond that. If you were OK with 8gb, you could get the 2.6ghz/8gb/256gb SSD model for $899 or the 2.6/8/1TB Fusion model for $864.

Personally, I don't find any of the above very compelling, but I use demanding software. The option I was considering was the i7 3ghz/16gb/256gb SSD which costs $1400. That just seemed like a lot of money for the level of performance though… it's only about 15% faster than my MacBook Air. Very glad that I got the 2012 i7 quad 2.6ghz/16gb/256gb SSD which is 50% faster and cost $1250 with a 3 month warranty and 14 day exchange policy.