Which Mac Mini for my wife?

[GameGuru38]

I want to buy a used Mac Mini for my wife and wondered what year I should get her. I can't afford a new one, I want to stay under $250 if possible. I have a couple 19" monitors and some PC keyboards and mice I could use so I just need the Mac Mini itself.

Here is what she does with her current Windows laptop:

1. Facebook
2. Minor picture editing with Pic Monkey or GIMP
3. Facebook Games

She gets herself into trouble with he Windows laptop with viruses and browser plug-ins because she just clicks when things pop up. This is why I am thinking of a Mac.

So give me a spec recommendation for her within my price range please. Thanks.

 

[jpietrzak8]

So give me a spec recommendation for her within my price range please.

Hmm, not easy. The software demands here are light, so Minis going way back should be fine for that. However, Facebook can use some features of modern browsers, and with browsers like Chrome now dropping support for older versions of OS X, and OS X more recent than 10.7 only usable on Minis from 2009 onward, that kind of limits things. (Also, if you wanted to use both monitors at the same time, you'd want to select a mini starting at 2009.)

The problem, of course, is that Minis have stubbornly refused to lose resale value as they age. I haven't seen a 2010 going for less than $300 (and usually they'll cost quite a bit more); you might be able to get a 2009 in your price range, but I'm not sure they're down that far yet.

Also, I think you should aim for a machine with at least 4GB of RAM; recent versions of OS X really demand that much memory to run apps comfortably.

 

[MultiFinder17]

A 2009 or 2010 mini would do her quite well. A 2011 would probably last her a bit longer, but the prices on those are still fairly high, and the 2012s are crazy expensive still.

 

[tibas92013]

and the 2012s are crazy expensive still.

How many dollars would a i5 MM(Late 2012), 2.5GHZ, 16GB Ram, 500GB HD with Four(4) months of AppleCare left sell for??

 

[MultiFinder17]

How many dollars would a i5 MM(Late 2012), 2.5GHZ, 16GB Ram, 500GB HD with Four(4) months of AppleCare left sell for??

Prolly right about its original selling price. $500-600.

 

[iceman42]

i would say $650-$700.OWC has the one you are looking for$ 600 but it has only 8gb of ram.i would go to apples refrub store online you a pick up a refrub from them

 

[MrWillie]

Why don't you just take away her administrator privileges on the laptop ? Change her account from admin to user.