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Mac Mini now or wait for refresh?

SayCheese

SayCheese

macrumors 68000
Original poster
Jun 14, 2007
1,720
919
Oxfordshire, England
Hi all,

I'm now in the market for a Mac Mini having sorted out my taxes I've a bit of spare cash that'll buy me a mini.
Question is, do I buy now or wait for a refresh? The buyers guide on here says wait but thing is, how long? Is the refresh (when it arrives) likely to be that much different?
 
To be perfectly honest, unless you REALLY need the form factor of a Mac mini, if you want a computer to last a long time and one that has an amazing form factor, get an iMac.
 
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SayCheese said:
Thanks all. I'm probably going to go down a different route now and buy a Mac Pro tower from Create.pro that I'll be able to upgrade at a later date.
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I would say that's a wise decision.
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g33k said:
To be perfectly honest, unless you REALLY need the form factor of a Mac mini, if you want a computer to last a long time and one that has an amazing form factor, get an iMac.
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Why do you troll the Mini forum? Do you understand that people may not be able to afford a two thousand dollar computer?
 
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Crosscreek said:
I would say that's a wise decision.
[doublepost=1453047862][/doublepost]

Thanks. I think it's going to work better for my needs both now and then the expandability in the future.

Why do you troll the Mini forum? Do you understand that people may not be able to afford a two thousand dollar computer?
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I already have a screen so don't need an iMac.
 
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Apple could surprise us and release a redesigned Mac mini in October (the last redesign was in 2010, so there's a good chance).

Honestly, if you're considering a Mac mini or even a Mac Pro, I would wait for their refreshes. Buying 2014 and 2013 technologies at the same prices from those years in 2016 is not worth it, in my opinion.
 
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Crosscreek said:
I would say that's a wise decision.
[doublepost=1453047862][/doublepost]

Why do you troll the Mini forum? Do you understand that people may not be able to afford a two thousand dollar computer?
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How was I being a troll when I speaking the honest truth? The Mac mini is a great computer, but its not the best computer for everyone. Sadly, Apple has neglected it from the rest of it's lineup, and it's hard to compete with the simplicity of an iMac.
 
SayCheese said:
Thanks all. I'm probably going to go down a different route now and buy a Mac Pro tower from Create.pro that I'll be able to upgrade at a later date.
Click to expand...
That'll be an order of magnitude faster than the Mac Mini. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
 
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I'm sure you'll enjoy the Mac Pro, I'm just not sure how we went from the lowest to the highest ends in just a few comments tho - not quite the same price range.

That said, the Mac Pro is also grossly outdated, not sure it's that great of a purchase for that price nowadays.
 
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crsh1976 said:
I'm sure you'll enjoy the Mac Pro, I'm just not sure how we went from the lowest to the highest ends in just a few comments tho - not quite the same price range.

That said, the Mac Pro is also grossly outdated, not sure it's that great of a purchase for that price nowadays.
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That's one thing I can't stand about Apple is they keep the same price on their hardware even when it hasn't been updated in several years. That to me is just wrong. Outdated hardware should not continue to keep the same value year after year.
 
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\-V-/ said:
That'll be an order of magnitude faster than the Mac Mini. I'm sure you'll enjoy it.
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Thanks. I'm still narrowing spec but it should be really fast.

crsh1976 said:
I'm sure you'll enjoy the Mac Pro, I'm just not sure how we went from the lowest to the highest ends in just a few comments tho - not quite the same price range.

That said, the Mac Pro is also grossly outdated, not sure it's that great of a purchase for that price nowadays.
Click to expand...

I was looking at a Mac Mini, however I then realised for a little more cash I can afford to get a really fast Mac Pro that I can upgrade in the future. The Mini as we all know is pretty much unable to be upgraded. It just makes more sense for the sort of work I do.

\-V-/ said:
That's one thing I can't stand about Apple is they keep the same price on their hardware even when it hasn't been updated in several years. That to me is just wrong. Outdated hardware should not continue to keep the same value year after year.
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I agree, but it's always been the way with Apple.
 
The way Apple is I think it would be a misnomer to expect a new model "refresh". More like "redux" at best. Or at worst a "reduce". Except for the price tag - that of course is sure to go up.

I definitely would not hold off on the purchase. Or you might end up in the store looking at the world's most expensive closed box media player - an Apple TV Pro, rather than a real computer.
 
Andres Cantu said:
Honestly, if you're considering a Mac mini or even a Mac Pro, I would wait for their refreshes. Buying 2014 and 2013 technologies at the same prices from those years in 2016 is not worth it, in my opinion.
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Quoted for truth. These long product refresh cycles have made me contemplate drifting over to the Intel NUC (hackintosh). I'm willing to wait it out a few more months but if there's ever a simple way to get Yosemite running on a NUC then that will be enough for me to jump. My allegiance is to OS X, not the pretty boxes it comes in.
 
minton said:
Quoted for truth. These long product refresh cycles have made me contemplate drifting over to the Intel NUC (hackintosh). I'm willing to wait it out a few more months but if there's ever a simple way to get Yosemite running on a NUC then that will be enough for me to jump. My allegiance is to OS X, not the pretty boxes it comes in.
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Well said. Would it kill Apple to have yearly refreshes for the Mac minis and Mac Pros? We're not even asking for major refreshes, even minor ones would be better than nothing, right?
 
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I'm also planning on moving over to a NUC. User upgradable, seriously fast and much more compact/smaller than the mini. I'm going to run windows over it however. It does make me smile

Everytime i see the 1.4 mac mini, i cant help but wonder what apple were thinking releasing that.
OS X is nasty without flash storage.
 
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