What to do with broken late-2012 Mac mini?

[carbontune]

I have an old mini that will no longer be needed in a month or so due to a replacement computer being acquired. Unfortunately it is not in good condition as I opened it up a few times to change memory and add a disk. One SSD I added stopped working so I added a regular HDD and ended up with 2 x 500GB HDDs in the mini.

Due to the SSD failure, the mini was opened and reassembled many times to the point that eventually it wouldn't all fit together properly. So it's now the casing is just loosely assembled but still works.

My plan was to destroy the HDDs and bin the unit but I'm wondering whether it could still serve a useful purpose. I don't think I could sell it as it's technically broken.

Currently it's my main computer at home so it's not too broken! Spec is late-2012, 16GB RAM, 2 x 500GB HDDs. I would love to give it away to a charity or someone in need but would feel bad that the casing doesn't hold together and it might fail soon.

 

[Kebabselector]

As it's in bits a charity probably isn't the best option. You could ebay it as sold as seen condition/no warranty and donate the winning bid to whoever.

 

[andg]

My guess is charities often need money rather than computers. I would sell it on eBay/craigslist, and then decide if you want to donate something from there.

I think it would be fun to have a working Mac Mini and attempt to fix the casing problems, but I'm not any need in particular

 

[sean barry]

I have an old mini that will no longer be needed in a month or so due to a replacement computer being acquired. Unfortunately it is not in good condition as I opened it up a few times to change memory and add a disk. One SSD I added stopped working so I added a regular HDD and ended up with 2 x 500GB HDDs in the mini.

Due to the SSD failure, the mini was opened and reassembled many times to the point that eventually it wouldn't all fit together properly. So it's now the casing is just loosely assembled but still works.

My plan was to destroy the HDDs and bin the unit but I'm wondering whether it could still serve a useful purpose. I don't think I could sell it as it's technically broken.

Currently it's my main computer at home so it's not too broken! Spec is late-2012, 16GB RAM, 2 x 500GB HDDs. I would love to give it away to a charity or someone in need but would feel bad that the casing doesn't hold together and it might fail soon.

Hi there! You could give it to me ;D I'm a 72 year old fixed income veteran living on $1100 a month. My hobby is reconfiguring Minis.

I currently have a functioning 2011 (2.3 GHz i5, 250 SSD, 1TB HHD, 8 gig RAM, Sierra 10.12.6), functioning 2012 (2.3 GHz quad i7, 750 SSD, 1 TB HHD, 16 gig RAM, High Sierra 10.13.6) and a 2011 basket-case. Basically a bag of parts. I do have the case for it.

2011 and 2012 cases are identical. I obviously have to save pennies for quite some time to buy a Mini to reconfigure.

 

[California]

I have an old mini that will no longer be needed in a month or so due to a replacement computer being acquired. Unfortunately it is not in good condition as I opened it up a few times to change memory and add a disk. One SSD I added stopped working so I added a regular HDD and ended up with 2 x 500GB HDDs in the mini.

Due to the SSD failure, the mini was opened and reassembled many times to the point that eventually it wouldn't all fit together properly. So it's now the casing is just loosely assembled but still works.

My plan was to destroy the HDDs and bin the unit but I'm wondering whether it could still serve a useful purpose. I don't think I could sell it as it's technically broken.

Currently it's my main computer at home so it's not too broken! Spec is late-2012, 16GB RAM, 2 x 500GB HDDs. I would love to give it away to a charity or someone in need but would feel bad that the casing doesn't hold together and it might fail soon.

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