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George Dawes

Suspended
Jul 17, 2014
2,980
4,331
=VH=
A 2TB FD will give you tons of storage not available with SSD only. Also you now have OEM connections for both storage locations so future upgrades will be easier.

IGNORE MY COMMENTS ON HERE

2tB version is soooo slooooooooowwwwwww
 
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Scottmac1

macrumors newbie
Dec 26, 2014
3
0
Got my refurbished 2012 mac mini 2.3 quad core in getting ready to hook it up to the 65" panasonic display we got for free , just ordered the dual hdmi card for that off ebay came in yesterday, ready to record for the ultimate in cool studio set up
 

ron7624

macrumors 68020
Oct 14, 2011
2,228
437
Houston, Texas area
New MacMini owner

Jan 30, 2015
Although I haven't picked it up yet, I just paid for a shiny new mid range MacMini w/ 2.6, 8gb and 1tb hd. This is my first and I'm excited. I have 2 iPads and a 4.7 iPhone 6 so I don't think using it will be a problem except it is really for my wife. I just get to set it up for her lol.
Anyway I'll pick it up from the Apple Store tomorrow and look out for my stupid questions. Hopefully I won't have too many.
Feb 15
Update after 2 weeks of use.
What a sweet experience. My iOS background is enough to make this os easy for me to use. Funny thing is that everything I couldn't find easily that I wanted to do, is located by clicking on the Apple in the upper left corner. Everything.
 
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George Dawes

Suspended
Jul 17, 2014
2,980
4,331
=VH=
Well , where do I start ?

The useless migration assistant that was more hassle than it's worth ? the taking 5 hours to get nowhere.

And the 2tb FD being as slow as a snail ! ITS RUBBISH !!! MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT !!!

Tested it on the blackmagic drive test and it's hopeless , max 300 but normally c 90 !!!! The 1tb was getting 400-700 !!

The 1 tb on the other mini is much faster - stay away from this 2tb version , it's so slow I'm giving it to my sister and keeping my old one.

Will definitely go all SSD next time I buy a mac , this fusion drive is a great idea in theory , in practise it just doesn't work very well !!

:(

I was copying files over internally and it's like treacle !! Pathetic tbh, NOT a happy bunny here !!!
 

FrancoisC

macrumors 6502a
Jan 27, 2009
546
281
Montreal, Qc
I received mine today, 2012 quad i7 2.6, paid for and expected 4GB ram, got 16GB instead in it :cool:

I just finished installing my 1TB 850 EVO in it, that machine just scream!
 

Celerondon

macrumors 6502a
Oct 17, 2013
683
125
Southern Cal
It Sounds Like Your Box Is Broke Pal!

Well , where do I start ?

And the 2tb FD being as slow as a snail ! ITS RUBBISH !!! MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT !!!

Tested it on the blackmagic drive test and it's hopeless , max 300 but normally c 90 !!!! The 1tb was getting 400-700 !!

The 1 tb on the other mini is much faster - stay away from this 2tb version , it's so slow I'm giving it to my sister and keeping my old one.

Are you so certain that the slow performance of your mini is caused by some intrinsic defect of the 2Tb FD? Why would the larger version of the Fusion Drive be so much slower than the 1Tb type? Perhaps you have some outdated software or a balky peripheral that is gumming up the works.

Are the forums loaded with accounts of 2014 FD equipped Macs that are slower than non-PCIe 2012 Macs? Isolated reports of poor performance could be anything from OS X upgrade glitches to background tasks that have gone feral. Please try to resolve that problem before you dump the machine on your sister. Has Apple had a look at the mini yet?
 

brentsg

macrumors 68040
Oct 15, 2008
3,578
936
Well , where do I start ?

The useless migration assistant that was more hassle than it's worth ? the taking 5 hours to get nowhere.

And the 2tb FD being as slow as a snail ! ITS RUBBISH !!! MASSIVE DISAPPOINTMENT !!!

Tested it on the blackmagic drive test and it's hopeless , max 300 but normally c 90 !!!! The 1tb was getting 400-700 !!

The 1 tb on the other mini is much faster - stay away from this 2tb version , it's so slow I'm giving it to my sister and keeping my old one.

Will definitely go all SSD next time I buy a mac , this fusion drive is a great idea in theory , in practise it just doesn't work very well !!

:(

I was copying files over internally and it's like treacle !! Pathetic tbh, NOT a happy bunny here !!!

I used a Fusion Drive for quite some time in my Mac Pro (I set it up), and it was superb. It sounds like your machine might be new and still doing maintenance tasks.
 

davebquinn

macrumors newbie
Oct 31, 2002
22
0
london
Refurb 2.6 quad

Just posted this on another thread, didn't notice there was as sticky, so sorry for the double post

I just picked up a refurb 2.6 quad with 8Gb and a 1TB fusion drive. I'm having to give back my work macbook that I have been using.

A little uneasy about dropping £810 on a new computer when I'm skint but I can always sell it on ebay if I run out of money. Right?
 

mashmosher

macrumors newbie
Mar 17, 2009
26
15
refurb 2.3

I guess they sometimes really mean it when they call them "refurbished" : out of the box, the fan rattles something mean when you first turn it on, luckily the sound slowly goes away after an hour or so of use. I wonder if they're starting to refurbish macs that in the past would have been junked, given the insane demand for these.

Still happy to have snared a 2.3 quad w OS Server. Nice deal given the 2 1TB drives, although I don't need OS server so swapped out the OS drive for a SSD. Was hoping the fan rattle issue would somehow disappear after disassembling the mini to switch the HD but it remains. Speedwise, the two internals seem no slower than a fusion drive or my other mini that has 2 internal SSDs, not sure why someone would choose to "fuse" 2 internal drives ...
 

rvs007

macrumors member
Oct 27, 2011
67
0
Canada
Jo go to the Apple Store or call Applecare, you have the same warranty on refubished as if it was new! :)

The problem in mashmosher's case is that he swapped out a HD for a SSD, which meant taking the Mini apart which voids warranty. So if the Apple Store wants to be pricks, they could just blame it on the drive swap. The proper thing to do when he first got the unit and noticed the noise was immediately go to the Apple Store to get it fixed. They might have been able to fix it on the spot, and if not, they would just give him another refurbished unit.
 

FrancoisC

macrumors 6502a
Jan 27, 2009
546
281
Montreal, Qc
The problem in mashmosher's case is that he swapped out a HD for a SSD, which meant taking the Mini apart which voids warranty. So if the Apple Store wants to be pricks, they could just blame it on the drive swap. The proper thing to do when he first got the unit and noticed the noise was immediately go to the Apple Store to get it fixed. They might have been able to fix it on the spot, and if not, they would just give him another refurbished unit.


I've had one of my mini's logicboard replaced with my own SSD plus an additional hdd intalled (with OWC's kit) without any problem whatsoever.

Changing the hard drive/ssd DOES NOT void warranty, you'll only have problems if you damage something (think marks on the logicboard for example).

Also, he can always put back the original hdd before bringing it in.
 

solaris

macrumors 6502a
Apr 19, 2004
706
98
Oslo, Norway
I just ordered a brand new Mac mini Server. :)
The 2,3 GHz quad-core i7, with 4GB ram and 2x1TB HDD which discontinued last year. 16GB ram and SSD in the pipeline.
 

mashmosher

macrumors newbie
Mar 17, 2009
26
15
refurb clunker

Well re: my noisy-fan refurb, turns out this is truly a clunker and it's going in for repair or replacement. Barely 2 weeks of use, the mini suddenly went black and makes the dreaded 3 short beeps - 3 long beeps - 3 short beeps for about five minutes before shutting down (holding down the power button doesn't shut it down anymore). Went to one authorized tech, they're pretty sure the logic board will need replacing (it isn't a HD or RAM issue). First time buying a refurb -- hope the service is swift. Having changed the RAM and one of the HD (it's a server model w 2 HD) doesn't affect the warranty, although the tech said I'd best put the original HD in there if I end up bringing it to the Apple store, to avoid being accused of having broken it when changing the HD.

Hope y'all are getting better refurbs than I got!
 

rza49311

macrumors member
Sep 7, 2007
44
3
Got my first ever mac last week. Ordered a refurb 2012 mac mini i5 2.5/4GB/500GB thanks to refurb.me notification. Nice little machine but it appears to need more RAM. The activity monitor says I've used up all the RAM with just a few programs open. Placed an order with Crucial to upgrade it to 8GB. I think an SSD upgrade will happen down the road too.
 

JPark

macrumors 6502a
Jun 5, 2006
662
158
I just picked up two minis off Craigslist.
- 2010 Server model, fully maxed out build options (Core 2 Duo 2.66Ghz, 8 GB RAM, 500 GB HD x 2)
- 2012 2.6Ghz i7, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD

All for $1000!

I'd been looking for an i7 2012 model for awhile, but never thought I'd find this good a deal. I'll be selling the 2010 mini to cover some of the cost of the 2012 model and to keep my wife happy. Any idea what I should charge?
 
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Diana Prince

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2011
105
46
I'm super excited and I know I'm probably late to the party but I just purchased my first mac mini (mid 2010 2.4ghz, 2gb, 320gb HD). It came w/ a brand new apple bluetooth keyboard and mouse. All for $100. I plan to upgrade the ram.
 

Celerondon

macrumors 6502a
Oct 17, 2013
683
125
Southern Cal
The Party Just Started!

I'm super excited and I know I'm probably late to the party but I just purchased my first mac mini (mid 2010 2.4ghz, 2gb, 320gb HD). It came w/ a brand new apple bluetooth keyboard and mouse. All for $100. I plan to upgrade the ram.


That is a Wonderful deal Diana! The keyboard and mouse are worth more than $100.
 

rza49311

macrumors member
Sep 7, 2007
44
3
Got my first ever mac last week. Ordered a refurb 2012 mac mini i5 2.5/4GB/500GB thanks to refurb.me notification. Nice little machine but it appears to need more RAM. The activity monitor says I've used up all the RAM with just a few programs open. Placed an order with Crucial to upgrade it to 8GB. I think an SSD upgrade will happen down the road too.

Just got the RAM installed yesterday. Huge difference. Running much smoother and faster!
 

loby

macrumors 68000
Jul 1, 2010
1,827
1,449
I just picked up two minis off Craigslist.
- 2010 Server model, fully maxed out build options (Core 2 Duo 2.66Ghz, 8 GB RAM, 500 GB HD x 2)
- 2012 2.6Ghz i7, 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD

All for $1000!

I'd been looking for an i7 2012 model for awhile, but never thought I'd find this good a deal. I'll be selling the 2010 mini to cover some of the cost of the 2012 model and to keep my wife happy. Any idea what I should charge?

"..selling...to keep my wife happy..."

I laughed when I read what you said and my wife asked me what I was laughing at. I explained to her why....she did not think it was funny... ;)

Great deal, but trying to explain spending $1,000 is difficult. WE all know that what you bought is gold, but explaining to our wives Spending that amount of money on a small three year old desktop is hard to do...

I purchased back in December 2014 a new Mac mini 2012 i7 quad 2.3 (could not get hands on an i7 2.6 and looked hard) from a store that had it on sale and needed to make room for the weak new 2014 mini line so I bought it. I was one of the out-of-luck fans that waited for the new Mimi's but saw that the 2012 quad was a better situation for my need instead of buying a 2014 duo core mini. I needed the fire power, and did not want to buy an iMac and cannot afford a Mac Pro. I had to talk my wife into the purchase and promised to sell other things to cover the cost. It was hard to explain to her. I said, "Yes, it is a 2012 model, but it is new even though it is old, and is better than the 2014 models.

So..."yes" we agree and a great deal you got in the 2012 i7 fully load prize. I don't want to covet you quad 2.6' but 16. Gigs with 256 SSD is awesome!

I ended up putting in my quad 2.3 mini a 512 SSD with 16 gigs and I am very happy with the performance!!!
 

Diana Prince

macrumors regular
Oct 11, 2011
105
46
That is a Wonderful deal Diana! The keyboard and mouse are worth more than $100.

Thanks, actually I got it up and running and realized it's actually the Mid 2011 model with 2.3 ghz i5 intel core with 500gb hard drive. For $100 (including brand new mouse and keyboard) I'm stoked!
 

Silver78

macrumors 6502a
Aug 24, 2013
523
275
Denmark
I throw my hammer at the screen... Im free. Just ordered the new NUC (Better specs, half the size and much lower price)
4k 60hz here we go.... Too bad apple did not want my money (even more sad that apple did not let me complete my apple circle/puzzle because now i do not even want to)
Also changed two of my ipads with windows tablet which works fine even not the same feeling when just surfing safari but love everything else especially the multitasking and hey... The IOS app marked was getting borring anyway and kind of been there.

I will hold on to my iphone untill windows 10 comes
 

Johnlpi

macrumors member
Feb 17, 2015
36
4
"I throw my hammer at the screen..."

lol Hey, use what works for you! Cool story bro...:cool:
 

RockPortTech

macrumors regular
Mar 10, 2011
136
7
South Texas
Hi all, I just received my new (to me ) 2005 Mac Mini 1.42Ghz with Leopard 10.5.8 and finally have it all just about squared away.

She has a PPC G4 (i think) with 1Gb Ram and 80Gb HDD, Radeon 9200 GFX and now am on the hunt for some software for it. Hopefully I can snag iLife '06 or something to try out Garage Band and iBook.
 
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