Wanting to buy a mac

[bigbucksnowhammies]

Hello. I am thinking about buying a mac. I am leaning towards purchasing a mac mini. Was looking at three machines: 2012, 2014, and 2018. My usage consists of web surfing, emailing, music listening, watching videos/movies, game emulation. Do not do any type of photo or movie editing. My budget is around $650. Will most likely purchase through eBay. Suggestions? Thanks.

 

[hobowankenobi]

One thing to consider, moving forward, is OS support. Older Macs at a certain point can longer be updated....and then the clock is ticking on usefulness or value. For that reason alone, I would be looking at 2014 or newer.

You should also be aware that older Minis (Macs in general) suffer from slow performance if they have hard drives. From about 10.13 on, you really need a SSD to have a happy Mac.

If you are handy, consider installing a new SSD and perhaps more RAM in an older mini to breathe life into it.

 

[hallux]

perhaps more RAM in an older mini

Didn't the 2014 have soldered RAM?

The 2012 was the easiest to upgrade, just needing an inexpensive kit to add a second drive and any 2.5" SSD would work, but will likely not receive the next OS release and will be relegated to only security updates for 1-2 more years. The 2014 I don't think had upgradable memory. The 2018 might have reverted that.

 

[bigbucksnowhammies]

You have a point on the hardware and software issue. I tend to keep my electronics for as long as I am able to. So, it would make sense to get a newer mac. Looking at the 2018. I was reading that the storage is soldered so updating is impossible. However, the RAM is user upgradable to max 64GB. Thinking that 512GB of storage would be the sweet spot. I can live with the RAM at 8GB for now, and update at a later date.

So, next question, i5 vs i7? Given my usage, would I be fine with the i5?

Appreciate your replies. Thank you.