The "I just ordered / bought / got my new/refurb Mac mini" threads, merged

[tibas92013]

So I finally jumped in the Mini pool. Is the used price still inflated on the quad core Mini's...just wanting to know if I got a decent deal and what the price was as a refurb for what I got?

"Happy Camper" here as Last June I purchased for around $1000, from the Apple On-Line Store, a i5 Refurbished MM(Late 2014), 2.8GHZ,8GB Ram, 256 SSD which also included AppleCare and State Sales Tax. Your question as to if you got a decent deal is really "In-The-Eyes-Of-The-Beholder", so, I recommend you do not look back and enjoy your New MM.

 

[ruffdeezy]

Just ordered my first mac mini from the Apple website.
Got:

• 2.6GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5

• 8GB 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM

• 256GB Flash Storage

I've had an iMac since 2008 and it finally just stopped working. Wouldn't turn on. The genius bar couldn't do anything with it since it was too old. I didn't feel like having it repaired for a few hundred dollars at least. It's probably the power supply or logic board or something but it's been super slow for over a year and I felt like it was time to move on.

Funny thing is I wanted to get a new one, but the one with the specs I wanted was nearly 3 grand. So I went to Costco and bought a PC with 12 gb's of ram 2TB hard drive etc, I was so happy to have something so powerful. After 2 days I couldn't stand it and it's going back as soon as the mini comes in. I use PC's at work so I thought it would be fine but it's so frustrating dealing with all these workarounds trying to make stuff work.

Then I remembered there was such a thing as a mac mini and since my MacBook air runs so nicely with the flash storage, I chose that option.

Can't wait.

 

[Celerondon]

Any good guides for the upgrade process?

You are on the right path now aman74. Once you purchase your RAM it will be easy to pop the bottom cover and install the memory. With USB 3.0 you can configure and use the SSD without even that much effort. As a matter of fact, an external case would allow you to enjoy SSD performance without any upgrade drama.

 

[blindside217]

I ordered my Refurb 2012 yesterday. 2.6 quad i7 with the base 4gb and 1TB HDD. Just shipped and should be here on Tuesday. I have been eyeing these for over a year and I was always either out running around when they came in stock or it was just not quite the right time for me to buy. Right now I am using my 2013 13" MBA connected to my 30" Cinema Display. I am looking forward to having a little more power and having a dedicated Desktop so I can actually use my MBA mobile more often. I will be ordering Crucial 16gb RAM and 1TB SSD soon. I am bummed that I passed on that Amazon deal a couple weeks ago for the 1TB SSD for $269. Hopefully it dips that low again around Black Friday.

 

[satcomer]

I ordered my Refurb 2012 yesterday. 2.6 quad i7 with the base 4gb and 1TB HDD. Just shipped and should be here on Tuesday. I have been eyeing these for over a year and I was always either out running around when they came in stock or it was just not quite the right time for me to buy. Right now I am using my 2013 13" MBA connected to my 30" Cinema Display. I am looking forward to having a little more power and having a dedicated Desktop so I can actually use my MBA mobile more often. I will be ordering Crucial 16gb RAM and 1TB SSD soon. I am bummed that I passed on that Amazon deal a couple weeks ago for the 1TB SSD for $269. Hopefully it dips that low again around Black Friday.

Look at MacMini 2012 Server install videos to do some installs.

 

[ecschwarz]

Also, a tip for you guys and gals, that might already be known here....Discover is doing 10% cashaback on in store Apple Pay purchases through the end of the year. New customers get double cash back...including the normal 1%, that's 22% off!!! That's a lot of money to save and people looking to buy anything and especially at the Apple Store, would so well to take advantage.

Do you know if you can do built-to-order purchases at an Apple Store (since Discover doesn't work with in-app Apple Pay transactions)? Tempted by a new Mac mini and 10% back wouldn't be bad, but I'd want to get it with a few "improvements"

 

[Prey]

Early 2009 started making some awful noises and write operations were almost at a standstill so I ordered the top-tier 2014 with the default options and received it 3 days later. Enjoying the speed difference.

At some point I'd want to fix the 2009.

 

[ruffdeezy]

The exact same model I ordered 3 days ago came up in the refurb store today and since I saved nearly 200 bucks, I somehow ordered a refurb thunderbolt display to go along with it. Now the acer monitor I bought is going back as well.

 

[ecschwarz]

Is it just me, or were the models on the refurb store back as of today? I ended up ordering one and it would've been cheaper than the cash back from Discover with an in-store purchase. Plus, I got a 256GB SSD model (I might get the SSD cable/mount and put an extra drive I have lying around in the space, but pure SSD is fine for my needs).

 

[ruffdeezy]

Is it just me, or were the models on the refurb store back as of today?

yeah there was a whole bunch that came back today including a lot of the 2012 models at 10am pacific
I signed up for alerts at refurb.me

 

[Hardy1989]

I really wanted an imac but for the one I wanted it would cost a lot. I've been waiting for the old mac mini on apple refurb uk to get some stock but sick of waiting.

Spotted a late 2014 brand new mini still sealed 12 months warranty on uk ebay by an authorised reseller. Quick search shows they supply education etc so guessing one left over. I managed to win the auction for £670. Same spec is £900 on apple. The spec is i5 2.6ghz, 16gb ram, 256gb ssd. Should this be okay for a bit of music production etc nothing major. And what's the best option for external hard drives? For all my music, films etc.

 

[blindside217]

I ordered my Refurb 2012 yesterday. 2.6 quad i7 with the base 4gb and 1TB HDD.

It arrived today and I got a surprise upgrade to the memory. The box even says 2x2gb on it but I opened it up and it is 2x4gb. Now I have to decide how quickly I will upgrade to 16gb and how worth it it will really be. If only they would have given me a Fusion Drive as well, I would be all set. I am still keeping an eye out for SSD sales around Black Friday. The really surprising thing to me is that it came with 10.9.4 installed. I was expecting at least some version of Yosemite.

 

[aman74]

Is it just me, or were the models on the refurb store back as of today? I ended up ordering one and it would've been cheaper than the cash back from Discover with an in-store purchase. Plus, I got a 256GB SSD model (I might get the SSD cable/mount and put an extra drive I have lying around in the space, but pure SSD is fine for my needs).

Just my luck. My refurb.me alerts had stopped working for me awhile ago and I kinda gave up on it. Can you folks give me the price breakdowns? I just bout a used one on the bay and wonder if I spent more than I would have on a refurb. I got a 2.3 2012 1Tb HD.

Can't get multiquote to work here, it just quotes the last message in the sequence.

 

[aman74]

You are on the right path now aman74. Once you purchase your RAM it will be easy to pop the bottom cover and install the memory. With USB 3.0 you can configure and use the SSD without even that much effort. As a matter of fact, an external case would allow you to enjoy SSD performance without any upgrade drama.

It won't be slower over USB3? Any recommendations on USB3 external cases? Ultimately though I think I'd like to install it internally, so a guide and what I need to buy would be great.

 

[aman74]

Do you know if you can do built-to-order purchases at an Apple Store (since Discover doesn't work with in-app Apple Pay transactions)? Tempted by a new Mac mini and 10% back wouldn't be bad, but I'd want to get it with a few "improvements"

Anything you buy IN STORE would qualify when using Apple Pay. You get the 11% cashback after a couple billing cycles and then the other 11% at the end of your first year. Hope that helps!

 

[ruffdeezy]

Got my refurb mac mini yesterday - 2014 2.6 dual core 8gb ram 256 flash storage, was 919 cdn. New price for the same model is 1089 cdn. Working speedy fast with the flash storage compared to what my old iMac was doing.

 

[c8rlo]

bought a Mid-2011 Mac Mini 2.3GHz i5 preinstalled with 8GB and replaced the 500GB HD to (2) Samsung 850 Evo 500GB SSD and now running El Capitan 10.11.1.

 

[Celerondon]

It won't be slower over USB3? Any recommendations on USB3 external cases? Ultimately though I think I'd like to install it internally, so a guide and what I need to buy would be great.

It will be a bit slower over USB 3.0. But surprisingly, USB 3.0 is fast enough so that some folks never open the case to transplant their SSD inside of the mini. You can configure the drive in an external enclosure and swap it over with confidence after verifying your setup.

Just make sure that the enclosure that you select supports UASP. I use a Thermaltake case but there are many options to choose from. Here is a link that may help:


External SSD as Boot drive: USB 3 vs Thunderbolt?

 

[c8rlo]

sold the mid-2011 MM(only had 2 days...) and got the late-2012 MM.

 

[kazmac]

Nice turnaround there... where did you pick up the 2012 MM?

 

[c8rlo]

Nice turnaround there... where did you pick up the 2012 MM?

locally on Craigslist, Dad bought it for his son who opted for an iMac instead. barely used, it was still running ML and i got it cheaper than what i paid for the mid-2011...

 

[kazmac]

locally on Craigslist, Dad bought it for his son who opted for an iMac instead. barely used, it was still running ML and i got it cheaper than what i paid for the mid-2011...

That's a great deal congrats.

 

[aman74]

I got an alert from refurb.me that there were some 2012 Minis. A couple questions:

I went right to Apple's site outside the app and they were not listed. I thought maybe I had set my alerts improperly as there were only 2014's available. However, when I clicked through from the App they were indeed there. Does refurb.me somehow get the notifications early? I can't understand how they could be available only when clicking through their App and not on Apple's site?

I had trouble logging in so I missed out unfortunately. How often have they been coming up? Is there a usual time and/or day this happens?

Is refurb me trustworthy with our logins? Maybe they can't access our login, but it seemed as though I was still in their App when I was directed to the Apple site and logging in?

Thanks!

 

[G4er?]

So many people are desperate for minis that are worth having that any refurb is gone before the electrons get to your email.

 

[blindside217]

It arrived today and I got a surprise upgrade to the memory. The box even says 2x2gb on it but I opened it up and it is 2x4gb. Now I have to decide how quickly I will upgrade to 16gb and how worth it it will really be. If only they would have given me a Fusion Drive as well, I would be all set. I am still keeping an eye out for SSD sales around Black Friday. The really surprising thing to me is that it came with 10.9.4 installed. I was expecting at least some version of Yosemite.

I can't believe how slow this thing feels with the HDD. It is so much slower at basic tasks than my 2013 MBA. I ordered a SSD yesterday and will be installing it ASAP. I got the Sandisk Ultra II 960gb for $219 as the Amazon deal of the day yesterday.