Mac Mini in refurbished store

[jharvey71884]

Wondering, do any mini's with fusion drives or SSD drives come available in the Apple Store refurbished store ever? Would be nice to just get one and not have to upgrade myself.

 

[philipma1957]

Wondering, do any mini's with fusion drives or SSD drives come available in the Apple Store refurbished store ever? Would be nice to just get one and not have to upgrade myself.

rarely but they do.

 

[Special-Ed]

I bought my mini from the refurb store early last year...it came with a fusion drive, i7 processor and 4 GB of ram....which I upgraded to 8 as soon as it arrived!

 

[jharvey71884]

Cool...thanks. I don't care about the ram, but was hoping to snag one that's got either SSD or a fusion in it.

 

[deeddawg]

Use Refurb.Me to be notified when your desired configuration appears in the Apple refurb store. Move quick when you're notified, less common configs can get snapped up quickly. See http://www.refurb.me/us/desktop/mac_mini

As for buying an already-equipped vs. upgrading yourself, consider that the refurb upcharge for a 256GB SSD is $250 and Fusion is $210. Compare to OWC data doubler kit for $30 plus a Crucial mx100 SSD at $75 for 128GB, $110 for 256GB, or $213 for 512GB. For less than the cost of the Apple SSD upgrade you can get double the SSD storage plus retain the 1TB drive. Or build a DIY Fusion drive with a 128GB and data doubler kit for half the cost of the Apple upgrade.

NOTE: if you go with the OWC kit, wait until you get the mini before ordering the kit. If you OEM drive is in the upper bay (mine was) you need a different OWC kit. See http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMM11D2/ vs http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMM11D2B/

I put a 512GB Crucial mx100 in my refurb mini using the OWC kit and the thing flies. I didn't build it into a Fusion drive at this time as I'm not even filling the SSD.

 

[jharvey71884]

Use Refurb.Me to be notified when your desired configuration appears in the Apple refurb store. Move quick when you're notified, less common configs can get snapped up quickly. See http://www.refurb.me/us/desktop/mac_mini

As for buying an already-equipped vs. upgrading yourself, consider that the refurb upcharge for a 256GB SSD is $250 and Fusion is $210. Compare to OWC data doubler kit for $30 plus a Crucial mx100 SSD at $75 for 128GB, $110 for 256GB, or $213 for 512GB. For less than the cost of the Apple SSD upgrade you can get double the SSD storage plus retain the 1TB drive. Or build a DIY Fusion drive with a 128GB and data doubler kit for half the cost of the Apple upgrade.

NOTE: if you go with the OWC kit, wait until you get the mini before ordering the kit. If you OEM drive is in the upper bay (mine was) you need a different OWC kit. See http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMM11D2/ vs http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIYIMM11D2B/

I put a 512GB Crucial mx100 in my refurb mini using the OWC kit and the thing flies. I didn't build it into a Fusion drive at this time as I'm not even filling the SSD.

I watched some of their videos on how to swap out the hard drive on the mini and I'm just not very confident in my abilities to not break something.

 

[Fishrrman]

jharvey wrote above:
[[ I watched some of their videos on how to swap out the hard drive on the mini and I'm just not very confident in my abilities to not break something. ]]

Then just buy the SSD of your choice, and create an "external booter" with either a USB3 external enclosure like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Optimized-Ina...347298&sr=8-1&keywords=inateck+usb3+2.5"+uasp

or

put the SSD into a USB3/SATA docking station, like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Optimized-Ina...347298&sr=8-2&keywords=inateck+usb3+2.5"+uasp

Either way, I trust you will be VERY pleased with the results.
Not a lot of money, either...

 

[jbarley]

Then just buy the SSD of your choice, and create an "external booter" with either a USB3 external enclosure like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Optimized-Ina...347298&sr=8-1&keywords=inateck+usb3+2.5"+uasp

or

put the SSD into a USB3/SATA docking station, like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Optimized-Ina...347298&sr=8-2&keywords=inateck+usb3+2.5"+uasp

Either way, I trust you will be VERY pleased with the results.
Not a lot of money, either...

Is your link to the "Docking station" correct?

 

[Fishrrman]

RE the post above:
[[ Is your link to the "Docking station" correct? ]]

It works for me.
Just tried it (as posted above in both my post and your quote)...

 

[campyguy]

FYI, several configurations showed up this afternoon in the Refurbished Store at 15% discounts, including two each with 1TB Fusion Drives and 256GB SSDs. I'm considering one or two Minis myself.

 

[jharvey71884]

I was already for it and then got cold feet. I'm rethinking, maybe leaning towards iMac now. Just wish Mini had been updated recently. I don't know if my workflow will like HD4000.

 

[deeddawg]

Simple enough to order a refurb, try it out, and return it if the HD4000 isn't sufficient for your workflow.

Just remember that a brand new system, when you've loaded all your stuff onto it, will be running the initial Spotlight index and so performance may be compromised for a day or so.