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refurb Mini 2018 or 2014?

Yeah, they still had fusion drives in 2014. The only benefit I think I can see to the 2014 is the second drive bay. I’ve heard storage is soldered in the new Mac Mini. If you didn’t have a fusion drive, the second internal bay is open. Ifixit has a cheap kit to allow you to mount that second SSD. Otherwise, no.
 
There's no room for hard drives in the 2018 because of all the extra cooling hardware. Despite being a crappy update from 2012, the 2014 model has more merits than I thought. TLDR, vintage software support (relatively) and 2.5" hard drive bay for the 2014, in exchange for significant diminished performance and soldered RAM.
 
2014 isn’t all that bad, I own the Late 2014 w/16GB RAM and 750 GB storage (250 in the first bay and added 500 in the second bay). Certainly not a world beater but I mostly use my 2015 MBP - it’s more of a server. Right now, nothing pushing me to the new mini’s that I can see. Occasional photo editing or video. Nothing taxing it.
 
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Dr_Charles_Forbin said:
2014 isn’t all that bad, I own the Late 2014 w/16GB RAM and 750 GB storage (250 in the first bay and added 500 in the second bay). Certainly not a world beater but I mostly use my 2015 MBP - it’s more of a server. Right now, nothing pushing me to the new mini’s that I can see. Occasional photo editing or video. Nothing taxing it.
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Just to be clear, it's just higher end/ BTO 2014 mac mini models that are okay. The base models, and any other models with 4gb ram or standard 5400rpm drives are garbage. Higher end or BTO models are a much smaller percentage of 2014 minis in general.
 
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EightyTwenty said:
We are in the era of 4K monitors now.

2014 mini can’t run 4K @ 60Hz.
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If you been following the thread, you'd know I'm very critical of the 2014 model mac mini. Despite this, it's factually incorrect to say that 2014 can't run 4k@60hz. Both the iris and the 5000 graphics can do this casually (ie: no games, no professional video work). Would I use a 2014 for 4k stuff? Probably not (except maybe the high end BTO, and I had no other mac).
 
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Cheapassmac said:
If you been following the thread, you'd know I'm very critical of the 2014 model mac mini. Despite this, it's factually incorrect to say that 2014 can't run 4k@60hz. Both the iris and the 5000 graphics can do this casually (ie: no games, no professional video work). Would I use a 2014 for 4k stuff? Probably not (except maybe the high end BTO, and I had no other mac).
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If you have the cash for a decent size 4K monitor, you are probably not using a mini. I have an old 27” panel that I bought for $199 5 or 6 years ago when I was on windows and it suits my purposes. I use my rMBP for almost everything.. including remoting into my mini to work.
 
Dr_Charles_Forbin said:
If you have the cash for a decent size 4K monitor, you are probably not using a mini. I have an old 27” panel that I bought for $199 5 or 6 years ago when I was on windows and it suits my purposes. I use my rMBP for almost everything.. including remoting into my mini to work.
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What are you talking about. If a mac user was using a 4k monitor for a desktop, it most likely would have been a mini. Outside of the prohibitively expensive 2013 trashcan, the mini was your only choice for years. The 2018 mac mini can easily run a 4k monitor without issue, and still the best choice to do so until the new Mac Pro ships. You can get 4k monitors for $200 these days, it's a common monitor type now.
 
Cheapassmac said:
What are you talking about. If a mac user was using a 4k monitor for a desktop, it most likely would have been a mini. Outside of the prohibitively expensive 2013 trashcan, the mini was your only choice for years. The 2018 mac mini can easily run a 4k monitor without issue, and still the best choice to do so until the new Mac Pro ships. You can get 4k monitors for $200 these days, it's a common monitor type now.
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Cheapassmac said:
What are you talking about. If a mac user was using a 4k monitor for a desktop, it most likely would have been a mini. Outside of the prohibitively expensive 2013 trashcan, the mini was your only choice for years. The 2018 mac mini can easily run a 4k monitor without issue, and still the best choice to do so until the new Mac Pro ships. You can get 4k monitors for $200 these days, it's a common monitor type now.
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I stand corrected.. last time I looked at these monitors they were very expensive and I didn’t think that monitor prices dropped that much .. we only use 22” monitors at work and that was the last ones I bought. I actually need a 2nd monitor for work stuff at home .. maybe I’ll swap out a 4K for the one I have now. Thanks.
 
Right now, all the cheap 4k monitors offerings seem a little sparse, but I have seen them as low as $180. Linus Tech Tips had a video on that monitor 6 months ago:

 
I was going to say 2018 hands down but then I noticed you just wanted a computer for file management. If that's just working on some office documents, editing them, or whatever then the 2012 mini would probably be fine. The only downsides I can see would be hard drive failure if you didn't replace the original one and possible future upgrades because it'll be a decade old in three years. If that is a concern get the 2018 i3 mini. People rag on the i3 because it's the base model but it's more than powerful enough for general computing.
 
Cheapassmac said:
If you been following the thread, you'd know I'm very critical of the 2014 model mac mini. Despite this, it's factually incorrect to say that 2014 can't run 4k@60hz. Both the iris and the 5000 graphics can do this casually (ie: no games, no professional video work). Would I use a 2014 for 4k stuff? Probably not (except maybe the high end BTO, and I had no other mac).
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You are mistaken. The 2014 Mac Mini cannot output 4K @ 60Hz.
 
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Neodym said:
You most probably can’t downgrade the 2018 mini indefinitely. Probably High Sierra at best. If someone has a software that isn’t working with a newer macOS version (no updates anymore), you may need to stick with a system that can run e.g. Mavericks or El Capitan.

Granted, that’s a pretty theoretical scenario ...
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High Sierra wont work on a 2018 Mac mini. My colleague tried to boot from USB disk and got a white screen. After a minute or so the computer simply rebooted itself.
 
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Boyd01 said:
I don't really disagree with the sentiment to buy the 2018. But if price is important and you only have the modest needs you describe, B&H has a 2014 2.8ghz i5/8gb/1tb fusion Mini for $529 new. Apple wants $849 for the 2.6ghz model in the refurb store
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FWIW, B&H just dropped the price to $499 for these new 2.8ghz 2014 Mini's. A quick online chat was all it took to get a $30 refund on the one I bought last week. :)
 
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Boyd01 said:
FWIW, B&H just dropped the price to $499 for these new 2.8ghz 2014 Mini's. A quick online chat was all it took to get a $30 refund on the one I bought last week. :)
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Just shows that it's not selling even at that price lol. I was tempted to grab one as a spare until I discovered no 4k @ 60hz support.
 
Sure, it's definitely not the right machine for you, but it's perfect for a little server. Also good enough for someone with basic needs. New Macs for $500 aren't easy to find anymore, and Apple is still selling the same model for $849 in the refurb store. :eek:
 
Boyd01 said:
FWIW, B&H just dropped the price to $499 for these new 2.8ghz 2014 Mini's. A quick online chat was all it took to get a $30 refund on the one I bought last week. :)
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Thanks for posting this. I too received the $30 refund with about 2 minutes in online chat.

I upgraded my 2011 Mac Mini iTunes server and Time Machine backup server with this one ... works great on Mojave.
 
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