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2.3ghz quad core 2012 Mac mini advice (or 2014?)

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max_os17

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Oct 2, 2017
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Is the 2012 2.3ghz quad core still a good buy?

It comes with 8gb anda 1tb hd. As I understand it a 2nd 2.5" hd/ssd can be added along side the current one?

I intend to use for music production with logic and maybe some video encoding.

Does the fan get very loud?



Thanks
 
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Here's my experience with that exact same model mini. Yes it will take a second hard drive. I added two 500GB SSD's in a raid configuration so that the system now sees it as a 1TB single SSD and upped it to 16Gb of RAM. It literally boots in less than 10 seconds. Everything opens almost instantly. The fan Never kicks on...never. I'm going to be really sad when this thing dies on me. I guess it just depends on if you prefer an all in one such as the iMac or have your own monitor, keyboard, etc., and like the small footprint.
 
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Put a Samsung 850 Pro in the lower bay, skip adding a second drive and use that money for a solid external drive. For the money for kit and a 2TB drive (a few here have crammed a 5TB drive in that space, you can get a quality 8tb external (Best Buy's WD easyshare drive, a 4TB G-Tech drive, or a 3TB Buffalo DriveStation DDR (1GB DRAM cache which really speeds up smaller file transfers, just don't install the included SW).

The 850 Pro is the best SSD for installing an OS on. I own one personal Mini Server, and there's 8 more in my offices - a 512GB Pro in my personal unit with the stock 1TB HHD for my iTunes media, dual 1TB 850 Pro SSDs in my work units in RAID 0 (all video ingest slaves installed in xMac boxes). All with 16GB RAM, a worthwhile upgrade, and 2.3GHz i7 processors, all Mini Server models.

I skipped the 2014 model. I wouldn't upgrade another non-Server Mini with an internal drive, the install is a PITA and IMO not a cost-effective move. The EVO is a nice second choice for an internal SSD, I tried them in my ingest workstations and it was too easy to choke them with data while the Pro units just kept screaming along. My 2¢.
 
Interesting ideas. Thanks for you replies.

It's weird the 2013 seems to be the same spend in geekbench and has a better gpu, speakers, plus a decent ips full hd screen but they seem to sell around the same price as quad core Mac minis. It makes them look better value.

That being said I do already have a monitor , an old 20inch Cinema Display

https://everymac.com/monitors/apple/studio_cinema/specs/apple_cinema_display_20_2.html

Still seems to be working fine.
 
I have 2x 1TB HDDs in mine and an external 2TB bus-powered USB3 HDD, with a 16GB RAM upgrade. Mine runs 24/7 as a server, hosting my personal website, a wiki used by a few dozen people, a Windows 10 VM with a Discord bot running in it, a Starbound server, a Minecraft server, a Terraria server, and it works as my home media server for video downloading and encoding. In short, this machine is a little beast that handles everything I've ever thrown at it. So far as noise is concerned, it stays silent except when encoding video. Then the fan flares up, then spins back down to silence when it's done. The only sound it ever really makes is the gentle tapping of the HDDs.
 
How could anyone tell you whether it's a good buy when you don't say what the price is? ;)

I have a 2012 2.6ghz quad core Mini and really like it. Sure the fan can sound like a jet engine when I am rendering in Final Cut Pro X, you will probably get that with Logic Pro X also depending on what you're doing. The same thing happens on my MacBook Air, I think this is just the price for using demanding software on a small machine.

My Mini only has the original 256gb Apple internal SSD, I did not want to risk opening it up to install another drive. Read back through this forum and you will find many threads where people damaged their Mini's doing this. Apple clearly did not design it to be user-upgradeable. As an alternative, I am using an external 1tb Samsung T3 USB SSD which is still very fast. I left Mountain Lion on the internal SSD so I can run my expensive legacy software. But most of the time I boot into Sierra from the external SSD and have had no issues. I use this machine exclusively for video and audio editing and my MacBook Air for everything else.

The HD4000 graphics chip is probably the biggest limitation, but it is still supported by FCPX. And of course, it's a 5 year old machine so its lifespan may be limited. I got mine a year ago from a OWC which is a large company that sells refurbished Macs with a 90 day warranty. Still very happy with it, but I will probably be ready to move to something newer in the next year or two.
 
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its around £400 ($530ish).

I have been offered a 2013 imac with iris 5200 and 16gb of ram, 1tb which seems pretty much identical as as this mini in terms of cpu power (according to geekbench) for £500 ? might be quieter? bit less dated?
 
The price is interesting. If you don't mind investing a bit of time (and the buying the tools) to open it up and fit it with an SSD.

High Sierra lists a MacMini mid-2010 or newer as minimum system requirement. So, it should be good for at least another iteration. And then you can usually run that for another one or two years until it won't receive updates.

I've got the 2.3 i7 Mini myself (with 16G and a Crucial SSD) and it really is nice (for what I do). I love the fact that it's really silent.
I'm hopeful there will be an update of the Mini at some point that is actually faster than the 2012 i7. Then, I'll probably buy that.
Top-end Intel NUCs may be much more powerful - but they're also quite noisy when they actually need to draw on that power.
 
That is a good price on the quad mini - assuming everything is in good condition. Yes, the mini is "silent" if you don't push it. But if you do anything CPU-intensive it is quite loud. I can see where that might be a problem if you are recording in the same room. I don't do anything very intense in Logic, I use my MacBook Air more than the Mini for that, since it's portable. So I guess it depends on what your Logic use is like. But the Mini will certainly get loud if you render video.
 
Would the iMac I mentioned be better then? I mean its only another £100, comes with double the ram, ips 1080p screen, better Iris graphics and im pretty sure the fan is not as loud on imac?

geekbench multi for imac is 10345 and mini is 10446.
 
If the screen is only 1080p, forget it (IMO).

The Mini will do 2560x1600 - and that's soo much better.

Also, disassembling (and the reassembling) the iMac will be a PITA.
 
Boyd01 said:
That is a good price on the quad mini - assuming everything is in good condition. Yes, the mini is "silent" if you don't push it. But if you do anything CPU-intensive it is quite loud. I can see where that might be a problem if you are recording in the same room. I don't do anything very intense in Logic, I use my MacBook Air more than the Mini for that, since it's portable. So I guess it depends on what your Logic use is like. But the Mini will certainly get loud if you render video.
Click to expand...
This is one of the areas where it has helped to have an eGPU setup. Since I took that plunge as proof of concept and hobbyist experience, I have noticed my Mini has run cooler when running anything that taxes the GPU (games, video et cetera). I used to hit 80ºC when I regularly pushed it, now I rarely hit 70. Between that and setting the fan curve with Macs Fan Control -- I start kicking up the fan at 50ºC and max it at 75 -- I rarely have the fan going all out. Most often at common heavy usage I'm somewhere around 55-65 and the fan is maybe around 3000-4000 RPM.
 
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well unfortunately i could secure the 2012 mac mini.

Im now looking at 2014 one with 8gb and the i5-4278U (2.6ghz).

I have gone a WD Blue 1tb ssd ready and waiting.

price is £270 ($360 apparently!). good price?

Would it be ok for logic? not sure how loud these 2014 models get?

Thanks
 
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I was just working on a project in Logic with my 2012 quad, I had 3 channels with two or three plug-ins each and was recording automation with a control surface for awhile. Did not notice any fan activity. I think it will have a lot to do with how you use Logic. I can record 4 channels with some plug-ins on my 11" 2013 MacBook Air and usually don't get any fan activity unless I work continuously for a long time and/or if the ambient temperature is high (like working outdoors over 80 degrees).

Might be the kind of thing you just have to try and find out for yourself....
 
Sorry I meant 'now looking at 2014 one' not 'not' in my last post (i have now amended that).

basically I'm wondering if a 2014 model is gonna be quick enough? and is 8gb enough for logic?

Also how does the fan noise compare with the 2012 and 2014 models?
 
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The CPU on that 2014 model is only a little over half the speed of the 2012 you were looking at, and of course it only has half the RAM and can't be upgraded. None of that is good IMO. But it does have the advantage of two thunderbolt 2 ports, faster wifi and a better graphics chip, plus a faster internal SSD interface. Not sure that any of those things will help you with Logic X. When I was shopping last year I narrowed it down to the 2014 3.0ghz Mini with 16gb RAM and 256gb SSD vs the 2012 2.6ghz quad Mini with the same options. I went with the used 2012 because it's about 50% faster and that is significant for a machine that is used to render video.

Here are the specs on the two machines you have mentioned:

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-i7-2.3-late-2012-specs.html
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/mac_mini/specs/mac-mini-core-i5-2.6-late-2014-specs.html


Logic ran fine on my 2011 MacBook Air with only 4gb RAM and I got around 12ms latency recording 4 channels. You still have not said anything about how you use Logic so I don't see how anyone could tell you what specs are "quick enough".
 
I use logic recording one track at a time via a thunderbolt interface - drummer track, layering up guitars and vocals plus some midi keyboard .

The most powerful Mac I have used in daily life was a core 2 duo whitebook so anything would be step up! I never used that with logic though.

I'm very new to logic .

Other things I will be using it for are web browsing, retro console emulators and some 1080p handbrake vide encoding.

Still trying to find comparisons of fan noise.

Thanks
 
Handbrake will make the fans go crazy on all my computers, it seems to use all the resources it can. And it works really well on the quad Mini.

Recording one track is certainly easy and not likely to increase fan noise if that's your concern. But if you then add a bunch of tracks that could stress it. With new Macs in the US there is a 14 day period where you can return the computer if you aren't happy with it. I assume this is similar in other countries? That might be the only way that you can find out how well it fits your style.

You could also try asking about Logic here: https://forums.macrumors.com/forums/digital-audio.81/
 
Doesn't the latest Macbook come without any fans whatsoever? If fan noise is that important to you, perhaps that would suit your needs better? I assume performance won't be as good as a late 2012 quad core CPU, but it shouldn't be a slow machine either. Then again I have never used Logic (heh) so I don't know if that will be enough.
 
I think the lack of fans will be a handicap, because when it gets hot all it can do is throttle down the processor. The top 2017 Macbook model has a geekbench rating a bit higher than the above-mentioned 2014 mini and the base model is about the same as the mini:

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/specs/macbook-core-i7-1.4-12-mid-2017-specs.html
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/specs/macbook-core-m3-1.2-12-mid-2017-specs.html

Have not used them, but this has been discussed elsewhere and I think they will not sustain that performance under stress. I have seen an example of this with my 2013 i7/8gb MacBook Air vs 2012 quad mini. Comparing geekbench ratings, the mini should be 1.5 times faster. But in a test with handbrake, the quad mini rendered video 2.5 times faster. I think this is because the mini has a better cooling system. Of course, both computers had the fans roaring. :)

Now the MacBooks are about the same geekbench rating as my MacBook Air. But with no fan to roar, I think they would have to slow way down during a sustained operating like video compression. For Logic, I don't know, I think it is mostly related to how many tracks and plug-ins you are using.
 
So I bought the mid tier 2014 Mac mini for £270.

All the other 2012 minis I have seen are very expensive.

We'll see how it goes :)
 
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Boyd01 said:
I think the lack of fans will be a handicap, because when it gets hot all it can do is throttle down the processor. The top 2017 Macbook model has a geekbench rating a bit higher than the above-mentioned 2014 mini and the base model is about the same as the mini:

https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/specs/macbook-core-i7-1.4-12-mid-2017-specs.html
https://everymac.com/systems/apple/macbook/specs/macbook-core-m3-1.2-12-mid-2017-specs.html

Have not used them, but this has been discussed elsewhere and I think they will not sustain that performance under stress. I have seen an example of this with my 2013 i7/8gb MacBook Air vs 2012 quad mini. Comparing geekbench ratings, the mini should be 1.5 times faster. But in a test with handbrake, the quad mini rendered video 2.5 times faster. I think this is because the mini has a better cooling system. Of course, both computers had the fans roaring. :)

Now the MacBooks are about the same geekbench rating as my MacBook Air. But with no fan to roar, I think they would have to slow way down during a sustained operating like video compression. For Logic, I don't know, I think it is mostly related to how many tracks and plug-ins you are using.
Click to expand...

Again, I don't know, but, wouldn't the Macbooks also have different cooling system than the other two? I am not saying they will not throttle, just that it might not be an issue in actual work. They probably have better heatsink (or whatever it is called) than the other two.
Anyway, good luck.
 
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