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Real world comparison of 2012 vs 2014
- Thread starter crazzapple
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OK, you can quit sticking up for the common man, the ignorant yet innocent sap who just buys anything. A computer that is not equally at home with both the Web surfer and the enthusiast is not much of a computer.
Please, get off the lowest common denominator stuff!
"Mac Mini had gotten progressively more versatile and interesting over the last half-decade or so, and the 2014 version nukes most of that progress from orbit." -Arstechinca
Every argument I've read against the 2014 mac mini is completely irrelevant to me.
Upgradability - who cares, I just ordered it with 16GB and SSD
Quad Cores - who cares, I never would have gotten a quad core model if it was even offered
Same Form Factor - who cares, I like the way it looks
Reminds me a lot of all the bitching and moaning that occured when Apple removed the optical drive from their iMac. Turns out they were right to do that.
Upgradability - who cares, I just ordered it with 16GB and SSD
Quad Cores - who cares, I never would have gotten a quad core model if it was even offered
Same Form Factor - who cares, I like the way it looks
Reminds me a lot of all the bitching and moaning that occured when Apple removed the optical drive from their iMac. Turns out they were right to do that.
In a cynical way, I'm glad the 2014 turned out the way they did. Prices dropped significantly on the 2012 quadcore refurbs, I which I was able to get. Meanwhile, being the high water mark for for all mac minis, the 2012 quad core will likely not dip below that refurb price point on the secondary market for over a year.
I don't care what joe-blow is doing. In fact joe-blow is buying that chrome book right now on aisle 9 in Walmart. Video encoding/photo editing is a very important aspect for me is why I bought the 2 2012 refurbs in the last 2 weeks. When it was announced that Apple stripped the quads from the 2014 mini's, I was going to build a 2nd gen Haswell hackintosh to replace my 5 year old core 2 duo hack, but Apple's basically crippled Yosemite on hackintosh for now especially in things I care about like handoff and iMessage.
I hear you. I'm just saying the target demographic for the Mini is entry-level and families. Apple assumes you'll get a Mac Pro or iMac for digital audio/video editing.
Why buy two?
Well doubling the price of the mini just to get 16 Gigs and a 1TB Fusion Drive is not really something most people would want to do - not right away anyway. After all the Mini is suppose to be an entry level Mac.
I liked the older one for giving you a lowcost option and a more powerful one for people who needed it.
how come they were right? i still want to watch my blurays and rip my music cds without using an external device
Because it's the last upgradeable mac with the exception of the ridiculously overpriced nMP's. (Even with those Apple took away the ability to upgrade the GPU which allowed the previous Mac Pro's to stay relevant for so long) I foresee even the iMac/riMac 27 going completely sealed in the next generation also and therefore becoming a $2500+ disposable desktop.
If you're OK with that level of equipment then quit trying to run the unsatisfied people down and just go buy one. Pick up an entry-level MBA and an entry-level iMac too. I'm sure those are great machines for easily satisfied users with simple needs.
Only place to "buy" it is in the AppStore, where is it is a free upgrade to people who already own OSX in the AppStore. Of course to get into the AppStore you have to be running on an OSX Machine already.
However buy one of the laptops will get Yosemite appear in the AppStore, Download it, create a USB Stick then stick on the Hackintosh if that is the route you want to go.
CDs were on their way out as a technology as they'd been replaced by the vastly superior USB drives.
Dual-Core CPUs aren't replacing quad-cores. Quad cores have been the norm for years now, so offering one at the top-end would have been great -- especially if you keep it for 4-8 years.
This is exactly what everyone is doing buying ANY mini. Paying for laptop performance in a desktop machine.
I pay money for a computer to perform various tasks. Handbrake is not among them for me, nor I guess for many other average users. If it was something I was using on a regular basis, I would stump up for a Mac Pro.
Performance in use in the real world is the sum of the whole, hardware and software…...
It is not the specification of any one part, or some geeky test score of some hypothetical parameter or another.
My original 2005 Mini was priced at $US499 (and 24,000 baht in Thailand at the exchange rate then). It had a 1.25 MHz processor, 256 MB of RAM, a 40 GB HDD, 2 USB 2 ports and a DVI display port. To make it useful I had to pay to licence the preinstalled Office for Mac and buy a USB hub. Before long I needed to install an extra 256 MB of RAM to run some peripherals…. all of which added considerably to the base cost. All up, with monitor and other basic peripherals, the system set me back the best part of 2 months' pay. In use it did what I wanted at the time.
The early 2009 Mini I am using now cost a little less (22,000 baht), plus about 5,000 baht for iWork (and a friend gave me a spare copy of Office for Mac, which I seldom use these days). Using the peripherals I had, it just slotted in, and I could ditch the USB hub….. Just over a month's pay for the upgrade. Upgrading to Mountain Lion and adding 4 GB of RAM cost about 5,000 baht a couple of years ago. (My pay has increased just 13% since 2003, and not at all since 2008).
The 2009 is still fine for me, though doing more photography now I'll stump up for an upgrade to a SSD and maybe another 4 GB of RAM, as well as Aperture….. all up I guess about 10-12,000 baht, though maybe a mid range 2014 Mini with the SSD option would be more cost effective overall…… will look into it.
The 2014 base model Mini costs $US499 (and about 17,000 baht in Thailand). It has a 1.4 MHz processor, 4GB of RAM (though upping that to 8 GB seems favourite), a 500 GB HDD (though, why not an SSD option), and SD card port, 4 USB 3 ports, 2 Thunderbolt 2 ports, and HMDI. It comes with iWork productivity software preinstalled….. just over 2 weeks pay for the basic (non-upgradeable) computer, which would perform out of the box, without the need additional hardware or software.
If I was setting up a whole system from scratch around a 2014 1.4 MHz Mini, including a monitor, UPS and all, it could now be done for less than a month's pay….. and it's performance in use a heck of a lot better than what cost twice as much a decade ago.
Geeks whinging over the cost of hypothetical performance parameters of a low end Mac, that would cost them relative pocket money is churlish, and out of touch with the real world.
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FYI Aperture is optimized for multicore, but get go ahead and get the lesser computer for more money.
The iFanboys will buy anything.
PS - don't spend a months pay on an icrap mini. That's just nuts.
i have owned both Mac Minis (2014 and 2012) for a few days
and franckly, for daily tasks, i don't see any difference
but when it comes to converting FLAC files into Apple lossless or mp3
or editing my raw pics with Photoshop
well, my quad i7 2.3 2012 Mac Mini is way faster than the dual i5 2.8 2014 Mac Mini
for all the rest, no one will ever see a difference
i guess that for video editing (i don't do any, maybe in a near future if i finally stop hesitating buying a Gopro
), i guess that the quad will be faster
and franckly, for daily tasks, i don't see any difference
but when it comes to converting FLAC files into Apple lossless or mp3
or editing my raw pics with Photoshop
well, my quad i7 2.3 2012 Mac Mini is way faster than the dual i5 2.8 2014 Mac Mini
for all the rest, no one will ever see a difference
i guess that for video editing (i don't do any, maybe in a near future if i finally stop hesitating buying a Gopro
), i guess that the quad will be faster