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When you have a spare Mac Mini. What to do with it?

M

macuros

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 11, 2020
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I bought Mac Mini M4. Base model, I love it. I don't need more.

But now I am trying to sell my previous Mac Mini M2. No interest for a month. But I don't want to sell it below cost. So, my question is, what to do with a spare Mini? The model is M2 8/512. I know, it can be a nice media device, but I already have a NAS, so I don't need it for that. My wife doesn't need it, my kids also.

Just searching for ideas. What would you do? Sell it even under cost? Use it for something else? Or give it to someone who needs it?
 
macuros said:
What would you do? Sell it even under cost? Use it for something else? Or give it to someone who needs it?
Click to expand...
I don't like selling things, and don't know anyone who needed my old mini (2018 Intel base), and I didn't want it hanging around here doing nothing except reminding me that I didn't need to buy the M4 mini, so I reset it and took it to the Apple Store for a quick and painless trade-in with no appointment needed.

Give the Apple gift card to your spouse.

Add: You won't be the only one with an "extra" mini this holiday season. 2024 mini is simply too tempting, especially to someone who can use the base model. Seeing it at my local Micro Center (which sells them for $500 in-store, which probably affects the resale price of M2 minis), next to the Studio (which is the size of a a Cuisinart food processor base), I can't imagine someone not trying to think of a reason to take it home.
 
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I bought an M1 in 2020 to use as a media server. Moved off of that, and it's a TV box in my rec room now. Wife has a M1 mini she's been using since 2021, that one will probably take over as my IPcam server once I upgrade her. Lots of uses for a low-power PC.

Trade-in value on a mini is pretty low, and the low-spec ones are not worth much to sell either. The money I'd get where I am for something like yours would not be worth the time I'd have to spend to sell it, so if I can't find a use for old hardware, I'll either just give it away or put it in storage until I can find someone to take it.
 
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"Wireless Time Machine" and NAS server for my main laptop.

Every hour my main laptop makes a Time Machine backup via WiFi on an external drive attached to an old M1 Mac mini. It works very well and I should have done it years ago. The first back up should be done with the 2 Macs connected over Thunderbolt, after that, Wifi works for hourly snapshots.
 
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Gave my first 2012 base Mini to my daughter's family back in 2016. A few months later, it started crashing with errors from the internal hard disk, even though it was booting from a SSD. Eventually gave them a new MacBook Air, which is what they really wanted all along. Got the external SSD back, no idea what happened to the Mini.

Got a base 2014 Mini 1n 2016 to replace the 2012 as a media server, it ran until 2019 when I picked up a new higher spec 2014 Mini at a blowout sale and put the base 2014 Mini in the closet. In 2023, that Mini developed bad bearings in the hard drive that didn't affect performance (system was on a SSD) but the noise was terrible. Put it in the closet and went back the original 2014 base Mini as a media server.

Two weeks ago started having software problems with that base 2014 Mini media server, which was still running iTunes on Mojave. Tired of messing with these old machines, picked up a base 2024 m4 Mini at a good price on Black Friday. Hopefully it will last for many years. In the meantime, the two 2014 Mini's are in the closet. Just not worth the time or effort to fix the one with the bad hard drive and don't need it. The other 2014 is probably just a problem with corrupt software, but again, not worth the effort to fix. They're almost worthless today, OWC sells them with a limited warranty for $60, for example.

Current inventory:

2012 quad i7/16gb/256gb ssd Mini: fileserver/time machine destination
2014 dual 1.4ghz i5/4gb/500gb hd Mini: in the closet but hardware seems ok
2014 dual 2.8ghz i5/8gb/1tb fusion Mini: in the closet with failing hard drive
2018 hex i7/64gb/2tb Mini: my primary Mac, also heavily used with Windows/Parallels
2024 base m4 16gb/256gb: media server running home sharing 24/7

How did I end up with all these Mini's?!!? 🤣
 
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Boyd01 said:
Gave my first 2012 base Mini to my daughter's family back in 2016. A few months later, it started crashing with errors from the internal hard disk, even though it was booting from a SSD. Eventually gave them a new MacBook Air, which is what they really wanted all along. Got the external SSD back, no idea what happened to the Mini.

Got a base 2014 Mini 1n 2016 to replace the 2012 as a media server, it ran until 2019 when I picked up a new higher spec 2014 Mini at a blowout sale and put the base 2014 Mini in the closet. In 2023, that Mini developed bad bearings in the hard drive that didn't affect performance (system was on a SSD) but the noise was terrible. Put it in the closet and went back the original 2014 base Mini as a media server.

Two weeks ago started having software problems with that base 2014 Mini media server, which was still running iTunes on Mojave. Tired of messing with these old machines, picked up a base 2024 m4 Mini at a good price on Black Friday. Hopefully it will last for many years. In the meantime, the two 2014 Mini's are in the closet. Just not worth the time or effort to fix the one with the bad hard drive and don't need it. The other 2014 is probably just a problem with corrupt software, but again, not worth the effort to fix. They're almost worthless today, OWC sells them with a limited warranty for $60, for example.
Click to expand...

Sounds like you’ve got $300 worth of tax deductions to me…. 😂

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And maybe an IRS audit as a bonus! 🤣

Seriously, I'm retired with income mostly from social security and a small pension, already pay little or no tax, so this wouldn't help me. But I'd discuss this kind of deduction with my accountant first if I did want to use it.
 
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Boyd01 said:
And maybe an IRS audit as a bonus! 🤣

Seriously, I'm retired with income mostly from social security and a small pension, already pay little or no tax, so this wouldn't help me. But I'd discuss this kind of deduction with my accountant first if I did want to use it.
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Obviously, anyone who has concerns should always check with a professional who does their taxes. But as a 31-year attorney who does his own taxes, and has donated old computers a number of times, I can tell you that it is perfectly permissible and a viable option for someone who pays income taxes to reduce your tax liability.

 
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macuros said:
But now I am trying to sell my previous Mac Mini M2. No interest for a month. But I don't want to sell it below cost.
Click to expand...
So let me get this right...you're actually willing to just let it sit there and rot because you refuse to sell it for less than you paid for it, and neither you nor your family have use for it?

Personally I'd have traded it for the M4. Any trade-in you got is better than the nothing you're going to get for it, because no one is 'bout to spend a new-price on a used machine.

This is indeed an unusual way to cut your nose off to spite your face.
 
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macuros said:
I bought Mac Mini M4. Base model, I love it. I don't need more.
Click to expand...
Here's an unpopular option. If you bought the M4 from Apple, there's an extended holiday return window. If the base M4 is enough, then I'm thinking the M2 could last you a few more years.
 
MajorFubar said:
So let me get this right...you're actually willing to just let it sit there and rot because you refuse to sell it for less than you paid for it, and neither you nor your family have use for it?
Click to expand...
Below cost for a used machine, of course. For instance, to sell if for $300, 1-year-old Mini, then I'd rather seek for some ideas or find someone who really needs it.
 
macuros said:
I bought Mac Mini M4. Base model, I love it. I don't need more.

But now I am trying to sell my previous Mac Mini M2. No interest for a month. But I don't want to sell it below cost. So, my question is, what to do with a spare Mini? The model is M2 8/512. I know, it can be a nice media device, but I already have a NAS, so I don't need it for that. My wife doesn't need it, my kids also.

Just searching for ideas. What would you do? Sell it even under cost? Use it for something else? Or give it to someone who needs it?
Click to expand...

You want to recover your cost? On a 2 year old item? Not going to happen. Give it to your niece/nephew/<insert all family relationships here>/kid that can benefit

Also: It wasn't on the Apple trade-in list?
 
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macuros said:
Below cost for a used machine, of course. For instance, to sell if for $300, 1-year-old Mini, then I'd rather seek for some ideas or find someone who really needs it.
Click to expand...
Ah, I get you. I take back what I said. I thought for a second you were an a hole. Forgive me, there are lots about. Happy holidays.
 
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dcpmark said:
Obviously, anyone who has concerns should always check with a professional who does their taxes. But as a 31-year attorney who does his own taxes, and has donated old computers a number of times, I can tell you that it is perfectly permissible and a viable option for someone who pays income taxes to reduce your tax liability.
Click to expand...

Cool. I'm all for getting the deductions I'm entitled to and certainly did so before retiring. But only when my accountant reviewed them and was comfortable defending them! I'm sure you know more about these things than me. But I've heard that the value of donated items is something which could call attention to your return. Here's one article I found with a quick search.

I had a look at that Amazon link for a 2.6ghz 2014 Mini, says it isn't available but there was another one for $285. I sure wouldn't pay that much for one today. Macsales, aka OWC is a well known source for used Macs, I got my 2012 quad there. They currently sell that same 2014 Mini for $79. They were advertising the base 2014 Mini for $59 recently. Seems to me that valuing them at $300 would be a stretch, they're probably closer to $150. :)
 
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macuros said:
Below cost for a used machine, of course. For instance, to sell if for $300, 1-year-old Mini, then I'd rather seek for some ideas or find someone who really needs it.
Click to expand...

That’s not cost, but market value. No wonder everyone was confused.
 
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YOu don't have a spare room you could use it in? Or like use it as bedroom computer? Unless ofc you don't want to do that. Since it's 512GB maybe use it as file server? Or small NAS?
 
I'm still wondering if there's a prize for the correct answer, LOL, but I'm going to keep trying.

Perhaps, as @Boyd01 has shown us, having a spare Mac mini (or four) is a problem that requires no solution.
 
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Yes, I think there are already enough ideas. My decision for now: I'll wait :)
 
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