Price/Performance Ratio

[Bollockser]

So the day after Apple crippled the Mac Mini, I had to leave work early, rush to the bank and get a $500 loan, and borrow my grandparents credit card and hand them $800 cash, since my debit card has a $750 daily limit. Thanks Apple for making me have a panic attack and jump through a bunch of hoops.

Ended up ordering the 2012 i7 2.3 quad, from Musician's Friend of all places. Total cost was $774.99, brand new, not refurbished. I checked back a week later and MF is sold out of the 2012 model.

I'm a little bit disappointed that I wasnt able to get a 2.6, but looking at the geekbench scores vs the price, I feel like maybe the 2.3 is actually the best value for the dollar. I got to thinking, could the 2.3 i7 quad mac mini be the best value mac for the price, EVER?? The new minis, with their bloated prices and crippled performance have a way lesser price/performance ratio. Can't think of any other mac that has ever offered this level of performance for this price.

I feel like I did allright, slightly bummed that I don't have the bragging rights for the best mac mini ever, but almost. Had I known Apple was going to pull this stunt, I would have bought the 2.6 a long time ago. But, based on geekbench scores the 2.6 looks to be only about 8% faster than the 2.3.

I've never heard of a computer line going backwards in performance! They could have slashed the price by a couple hundred instead of inflating it. Total dick move. I'm worried about Apple's future direction. Screw over those of us who can't drop 3 grand on an entry level Mac Pro and who don't want an iMac. Apple is going to take a hit for this, people who know about computers aren't gonna cough up the money for an underpowered non-upgradable system.

 

[gig]

Use the 100$ difference between 2.3 and 2.6 GHz i7 CPUs for RAM upgrading.

 

[Bollockser]

Absolutely. At least I was able to snag a new Quad Core i7 machine.

It will actually be the fastest Mac I've ever used when I get it set up. A couple years ago I set my doctor up with a 2.0 Quad i7 Mini Server and I was stunned how fast it was.

Unfortunately I don't have another $600 at the moment for 16 gigs of RAM and dual 500Gb SSDs.

Gonna use it for music production, video editing and heavy graphics work. Cant wait.

Pretty damned good deal for a machine that costs $800 and beats Mac Pros from a couple years back. That's what I'm saying, Apple changed the Mini from the best bang for your buck to the worst bang for your buck.

Pricks.

 

[Celerondon]

Bragging Rights Are Overrated

I feel like I did allright, slightly bummed that I don't have the bragging rights for the best mac mini ever, but almost.

First do what gig suggested and upgrade your 4 Gb RAM. Then later, when you have a little cash to burn, purchase and install some SSD storage. Whether you go Fusion Drive or big SSD you will forget all about "bragging rights" as you blast through the universe with your insanely fast quad core powered beast!

 

[Bollockser]

Right on, I'm gonna put 16GB crucial RAM and dual 500GB samsung 840 EVOs in it. It's gonna take me another month to come up with the money to get it tricked out, but at least I snagged the Mac itself.

Here is the link where I got my mini. They are listing it as "out of stock" but more expected, I'm sure they will revise the specs to the 2014 mini but it might be worth a try for anyone still wanting to snag a quad i7:

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/pro-...-ddr3-1tb-hdd-md388ll-a?rNtt=mac mini&index=1

 

[ufon68]

The bigger question is, do we want to get bogged down in the OSX universe, knowing that apple doesn't have a capable desktop now, which is not also a monitor or doesn't cost 3+ grand ? Buying an old mini might be a good move now, but personally, if i have to switch, i'd rather do it now than later.

 

[corvus32]

It's a shame you had to borrow $800 and settle for 2012 notebook technology.

And, not to rub salt in the wound, spend hundreds more to upgrade the RAM and get an SSD.

You could have bought an Asus ROG G20 for $1179 that has a 3.6GHz i7-4790 that turbos to 4GHz, a GTX 760 GPU, 8GB of RAM, 1TB + 8GB SSHD, plus comes with a keyboard and mouse.

 

[Bollockser]

Well I'm happy with it, I don't want to dick around with a hackintosh.
I use my Mac for multitrack music recording and I wouldnt trust a hackintosh because I don't want to end up pulling my hair out over some driver issues or whatever.

And 10.8 is fine with me, I don't trust Mavericks or Yosemite at this point. Seems like the sleekest system I could hope to run is 10.8.

Thank god I got the last Mac with a firewire port though - I hear a lot of people doing digital audio have experienced errors by using the TB to FW adapter. I didnt want all my sound boards to be obsolete. Who knows if Apple will deliberately or inadvertently change OSX in some way that makes these devices no longer work properly.

This machine will tide me over far enough into the future that I'll have time to see what direction Apple goes.

 

[cinealta]

Apple is going to take a hit for this, people who know about computers aren't gonna cough up the money for an underpowered non-upgradable system.

Have you been to an Apple store? All those moms, pops and kids don't even know what RAM is. Apple will do just fine. Probably even increase their profit margin (non-user upgradeable, limited life-span etc).

The theoretical 13% performance increase between 2.3 and 2.6 is not worth $90 extra. You'll never see that difference. Use that money for RAM or SSD.

Don't ever borrow money to buy a computer. Because of Moore's Law a computer is a depreciating asset. You're taking a double financial hit.

 

[corvus32]

Have you been to an Apple store? All those moms, pops and kids don't even know what RAM is.

Yup, and those people would be just as happy and eager (more so probably) to buy a less expensive Mac that ran on Apple's own silicon.