Mac Mini 2018 space grey worth buying for tv/server?

[breh]

I am thinkin I am about to pull the trigger on one of the 2018 minis (Mainly because of the color if I am being honest)

I want to replace my apple tv in my bedroom and have it as a netflix machine/media server with an external hard drive of all my owned movies.

Is the i3 with 16gb ram and 256gb ssd all I would need? Any need for the i5 instead? I have a few external HDD's and SSD's i'm considering so the hard drive space is not an issue, mainly ram and processor for my needs for HOPEFULLY the next 5 years.

I am trying to complete my ecosystem.

I have watch series 7, Iphone 13 Pro, All airpods except for the newest 3rd gen, 2 homepod mini's and appletv 4k.

I've had many macs/accessories as the years have gone on and decided I really want to just keep with what's current and replace phone and watch yearly or bi-yearly.

Last think I need is a sturdy mac and using it mainly as a tv machine in either my bedroom or living room and then I think I will feel complete with everything! I also want to be able to do light editing in the future on music and/or photos as I am hoping to start a new hobby soon.

 

[Apple_Robert]

You should be fine with that machine. I use a Mac mini as my home server with lots of TB attached. I use Plex Media Server to view on my Apple TV's.

 

[breh]

That is my endgame! Your setup is damn near the same as mine. Work has me running a m1 mbp but it's works computer so I want something of my own. Thank you for the advice!


Any recommendations on where to get one?

 

[Apple_Robert]

That is my endgame! Your setup is damn near the same as mine. Work has me running a m1 mbp but it's works computer so I want something of my own. Thank you for the advice!


Any recommendations on where to get one?

eBay has a lot of older Mac minis to pick from. I would start there unless you don't like buying used. If that is the case, I recommend the Apple refurbished store where everything is eligible for AC+.

 

[chrfr]

I am thinkin I am about to pull the trigger on one of the 2018 minis (Mainly because of the color if I am being honest)

I want to replace my apple tv in my bedroom and have it as a netflix machine/media server with an external hard drive of all my owned movies.

Is the i3 with 16gb ram and 256gb ssd all I would need? Any need for the i5 instead? I have a few external HDD's and SSD's i'm considering so the hard drive space is not an issue, mainly ram and processor for my needs for HOPEFULLY the next 5 years.

I'd just make sure you aren't able to find an M1 mini that's close in price. The M1 outperforms the 2018 Intel mini in every respect, unless you also need to run Windows on it, and the M1 will be better supported by Apple for much longer.