Suggestions on Mac mini

[cheezeit]

Received a 2014 base Mac mini to use. It's been good but the 4gb a ram is a little bothersome. I see I'm constantly using 3.2+ of ram and just started to think I should upgrade to a little more machine. I already changed the hdd to a ssd but now am debating a whole new system.

Is the mid model with either the i5/i7 going to be a good upgrade path or should I look for a 2012? I figure the 2014 has a better gpu?

I use a dual monitor setup and surf and do office apps and occasionally do sc2z

Suggestions are appreciated, thanks

 

[tibas92013]

Received a 2014 base Mac mini to use. It's been good but the 4gb a ram is a little bothersome. I see I'm constantly using 3.2+ of ram and just started to think I should upgrade to a little more machine. I already changed the hdd to a ssd but now am debating a whole new system.

Is the mid model with either the i5/i7 going to be a good upgrade path or should I look for a 2012? I figure the 2014 has a better gpu?

I use a dual monitor setup and surf and do office apps and occasionally do sc2z

Suggestions are appreciated, thanks

Last June I purchased from the Apple On-line Store a Refurbished i5 MM(Late 2014), 2.8GHz,8GB Ram, 256SSD. I mainly surf, do office apps and this machine handles it with ease. I am very satisfied with this purchase.

 

[cheezeit]

Last June I purchased from the Apple On-line Store a Refurbished i5 MM(Late 2014), 2.8GHz,8GB Ram, 256SSD. I mainly surf, do office apps and this machine handles it with ease. I am very satisfied with this purchase.

That's what I'm leaning towards. I see on eBay they are about $500-$600 for 2.6 and 8gb ram. I can always upgrade hdd later. Trying to hunt for one that has an i7 and see what the difference is. Then gotta sell my base and hope I can get some to help offset the upgrade costs

 

[Fishrrman]

If you want a 2014 Mini, I'll repost my oft-repeated advice:

DO NOT buy ANY Mini UNLESS it has at least 8gb of installed RAM.

DO NOT buy ANY Mini UNLESS it has either a fusion drive or a "straight" SSD inside.

The easiest way to get a "usefully-configured" Mini is to buy the top-end model. It comes with 8gb of RAM and a 1tb fusion drive.

Slightly cheaper ($100) alternative:
Get the "Mid-range" Mini (comes with 8gb of RAM) and add the 1tb fusion drive option.

 

[cheezeit]

If you want a 2014 Mini, I'll repost my oft-repeated advice:

DO NOT buy ANY Mini UNLESS it has at least 8gb of installed RAM.

DO NOT buy ANY Mini UNLESS it has either a fusion drive or a "straight" SSD inside.

The easiest way to get a "usefully-configured" Mini is to buy the top-end model. It comes with 8gb of RAM and a 1tb fusion drive.

Slightly cheaper ($100) alternative:
Get the "Mid-range" Mini (comes with 8gb of RAM) and add the 1tb fusion drive option.

Yeah, I didn't buy mine. It was gifted. That is what I was thinking. Get one with at least 8gb ram, HDD doesn't matter to me as I've learned I can swap it out when I get it and save money upgrading it my self.

Guess I'll hunt for one with at least 8gb ram. Now the question is, what is more beneficial?: i7 or 16gb ram?

 

[Spyharpy]

I was gifted a mid 2010 4,1 server edition. Spec sheet shows it has a 2.66 GHz Intel "Core 2 Duo" (P8800) processor, a 3 MB on-chip level 2 cache, a 1066 MHz frontside bus. Also has two 7200rpm 500GB drives. Plan to get a 500GB Samsung Evo 850 SSD, 16GB RAM from OWC and a dual link DVI adapter to use on my 30" Cinema Display. Will leave one of the 500GB hard drives as a secondary one. It will run me $300 for all these upgrades and I believe it will still be a usable Mini. Will use El Capitan for the OS.

 

[Celerondon]

Guess I'll hunt for one with at least 8gb ram. Now the question is, what is more beneficial?: i7 or 16gb ram?

That is an interesting question. It depends on the year of the mini and your intended use.

If you are after a 2014 mini then the i7 is a non-issue. I say this because the 2014 i7 is not a quad core processor like the 2012 i7. Even with a 2012 the i7 only demonstrates its worth if you work it with software that can take advantage of the extra cores. Video rendering and virtual machines are two uses that benefit from quad core processors.

16GB of RAM is better than 8GB of RAM but the difference is not nearly as great as the difference between 8GB and 4GB. I suppose for a 2014 the answer is that the 16GB of RAM is more beneficial. But I fear that is not the right question!

If you are after a 2014 you need to ask yourself a question. With a 2012 mini you can upgrade RAM to 16GB any time but a 2014 mini has soldered RAM. Is the benefit offered by 16GB of RAM worth the cost premium over an 8GB mini? (to you)