Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Mac Mini 2014 crisis

dogslobber

dogslobber

macrumors 601
Original poster
Oct 19, 2014
4,670
7,809
Apple Campus, Cupertino CA
Given the anecdotal evidence that the 2014 Mini CANNOT work with THREE displays without resorting to USB dongles, then exactly what value add does a Mini 2014 have over a 2012 version?

All things being equal, a 2012 Mini for 450 bucks out of Best Buy is a steal compared to the 2014 version that is crippled by lack of memory upgradability and has a snail paced default processor in the lowest priced version.

Maybe this is why Apple reduced the price by 100 bucks to 499 bucks.
 
No advantage. Get a quad core refurb 2012 if you want a mini.

Side note: I believe that the 2014 mini is a stopgap solution for Apple to continue to offer their customers a mini with recent CPUs (because Intel is only going to be selling the older ones for so long before Apple won't be able to get them anymore.) Combine that with the different logic board being required for the quad core Haswell CPU, it makes sense that Apple would stick to a simpler solution: 1 logic board, lower cost, just for the time being, to give the customers at least something while they continue to develop a newly re-designed mini, assembled in USA (like the new Mac Pro), to be released at a later date.

They did something similar with the Mac Pro. Gave it a slight CPU refresh, then nothing until the new Mac Pro. The Mac mini is more controversial though, due to the lower performance in the refreshed model. I don't think anybody saw that one coming.

At any rate, with a company as large as Apple has become, it's impossible to please everyone all of the time. Controversy is bound to happen.
 
dogslobber said:
Given the anecdotal evidence that the 2014 Mini CANNOT work with THREE displays without resorting to USB dongles, then exactly what value add does a Mini 2014 have over a 2012 version?
Click to expand...

The only reason I considered it was the ability for it to drive my two 2560x1440 displays. I believe with one thunderbolt port, you could only run one 2560x1440 and the second (on HDMI) was capped at something like 1920x1200
 
duervo said:
No advantage. Get a quad core refurb 2012 if you want a mini.

Side note: I believe that the 2014 mini is a stopgap solution for Apple to continue to offer their customers a mini with recent CPUs (because Intel is only going to be selling the older ones for so long before Apple won't be able to get them anymore.) Combine that with the different logic board being required for the quad core Haswell CPU, it makes sense that Apple would stick to a simpler solution: 1 logic board, lower cost, just for the time being, to give the customers at least something while they continue to develop a newly re-designed mini, assembled in USA (like the new Mac Pro), to be released at a later date.

They did something similar with the Mac Pro. Gave it a slight CPU refresh, then nothing until the new Mac Pro. The Mac mini is more controversial though, due to the lower performance in the refreshed model. I don't think anybody saw that one coming.

At any rate, with a company as large as Apple has become, it's impossible to please everyone all of the time. Controversy is bound to happen.
Click to expand...

I'm expecting big things from the "Late 2016" Mac Mini update.
 
dogslobber said:
Given the anecdotal evidence that the 2014 Mini CANNOT work with THREE displays without resorting to USB dongles, then exactly what value add does a Mini 2014 have over a 2012 version?

All things being equal, a 2012 Mini for 450 bucks out of Best Buy is a steal compared to the 2014 version that is crippled by lack of memory upgradability and has a snail paced default processor in the lowest priced version.

Maybe this is why Apple reduced the price by 100 bucks to 499 bucks.
Click to expand...

I have two 1440p monitors that I can finally run with 1 Mini when I finally buy mine.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back