As I wait for an M1 mini deal for my development box, I've become more curious about picking up an older mini. I'm uncertain though whether to look for a 2011 or 2012 mini. I like that the 2011 supports SL unofficially and Lion as well, but the 2012 has 4000 graphics and Ivy Bridge. Ideally I'll be getting the i7 quad version of either year, so I'm not sure how big of a difference there is in performance. I'm mostly concerned with how the GPU will handle using a 1440p or 1600p monitor potentially with a second 1080p or 1200p monitor to the side. I worry that 3000 graphics won't be enough but I haven't had experience with this GPU on the Mac side of things before. Just curious to see what people's thoughts are on this and if it's worth trading the OS support of the 2011 for the extra performance of the 2012.
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2011 vs 2012 mini
- Thread starter retta283
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Make sure to get the quad-core i7, the dual-core i5 is showing its age.
On the GPU side of things, the '4000 is quite a bit more powerful than the '3000, so I'd definitely go for that if you want to run a high-res monitor, even more so with two monitors. Same goes if you're interested in some gaming - but if you're really serious about gaming, I'd look into hooking up an external GPU via Thunderbolt because the '4000 still doesn't cut it in this case.
Ivy Bridge also brings native USB 3.0. This is big - USB 2.0 is SSSSSLLLLLOOOOOWWWWW.
In a nutshell, unless you absolutely must have native Snow Leopard, the 2012 is the better machine (and can run Lion if you want to).
On the GPU side of things, the '4000 is quite a bit more powerful than the '3000, so I'd definitely go for that if you want to run a high-res monitor, even more so with two monitors. Same goes if you're interested in some gaming - but if you're really serious about gaming, I'd look into hooking up an external GPU via Thunderbolt because the '4000 still doesn't cut it in this case.
Ivy Bridge also brings native USB 3.0. This is big - USB 2.0 is SSSSSLLLLLOOOOOWWWWW.
In a nutshell, unless you absolutely must have native Snow Leopard, the 2012 is the better machine (and can run Lion if you want to).
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Thanks for the info, the GPU is the main concern.
Any info on this? I have looked into it a bit but can't find anything online that actually says you can, only the typical Apple discussion boards with people saying no.
Got me on this one - I thought the 2012 mini was released alongside the 2012 MBPs which shipped with 10.7.4, but it came later; with 10.8.x. However, since it's nearly the same hardware as the 2012 MBPs (minus the dedicated Nvidia GPU in the 15"), I'd be very surprised if Lion (10.7.5) couldn't be coaxed to run on the 2012 mini.
It's just hopefully that the 10.7.5 update has the correct drivers for the Mini, it should certainly work with the i5 model and I don't see why it should have issues with the i7 if it has Ivy Bridge drivers. I'll probably get a 2012 mini and do some installs with TDM to see what I can get working. Good thing Apple recently made Lion free because their installer is the most likely to have all drivers.
The 15" 2012 MBP has the same i7 models (3615QM; 3720QM) and shipped with 10.7.4.
Mountain Lion was pre-installed on the 2012 Mini, I don't know any way to run Lion on it (why would I want to?) unless there is some kind of hack. I had a base model 2012 i5 Mini for a couple years and it was a pretty nice machine for the price, RAM is easily upgradeable to 16gb. Replaced it with the top-spec 2.6ghz i7 quad Mini Server with original internal Apple SSD and that is much nicer. Still use it as a file server.
If you can get one of these, it's much better than the 2011 quad Mini - geekbench rating is about 50% higher and (this is the big thing IMO) the 2011 Mini only has USB 2.0. Yes, the HD4000 is showing its age, but unsupported eGPU's don't make much sense to me. But the base i3 2018 Mini is a far superior machine in every way. Geekbench rating is about the same as the top quad 2012 Mini but all the other internal improvements and better ports will make it much faster.
BTW, I still run the Mountain Lion installation from my 2012 Mini as a VM with Parallels on my 2018 Mini so I can use some very expensive legacy software.
If you can get one of these, it's much better than the 2011 quad Mini - geekbench rating is about 50% higher and (this is the big thing IMO) the 2011 Mini only has USB 2.0. Yes, the HD4000 is showing its age, but unsupported eGPU's don't make much sense to me. But the base i3 2018 Mini is a far superior machine in every way. Geekbench rating is about the same as the top quad 2012 Mini but all the other internal improvements and better ports will make it much faster.
BTW, I still run the Mountain Lion installation from my 2012 Mini as a VM with Parallels on my 2018 Mini so I can use some very expensive legacy software.
Mavericks is the maximum OS that some of my software will work on so I generally like to buy machines supported by this. As I said in the original post I'm in the process of getting an M1 Mini as well, this thread is mostly my search for a specialty computer that won't need the most up to date software or hardware.
Lion support is mostly nice to me because it's the last OS X that can support Front Row with IR remotes and iTunes libraries, which I do like to use in the shop to play music from the topmost speakers. I used to have a Windows 98 box running Winamp for this purpose but having a remote and more modern file support is appreciated.
The HD4000 in the 2012 mini can run three monitors. Two monitors via Thunderbolt are possible. Combined with the HDMI port, it may indeed be possible to run three monitors from a 2012 mini. Sadly (
) I don't have one to test this.
EDIT: No, it isn't. It contains a Parade PS8401 DisplayPort-to-HDMI converter, i.e. connecting something to HDMI kills one of the DPs.
) I don't have one to test this.EDIT: No, it isn't. It contains a Parade PS8401 DisplayPort-to-HDMI converter, i.e. connecting something to HDMI kills one of the DPs.
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I think I’m just gonna go with whatever I find a good deal on, I can always pick up the other year later on if I need to. A 2011 quad core wouldn’t be a bad machine with snow leopard. Great for my mixed work environment so I can finally retire the snow leopard partition on my 2007 mini with the extremely laggy graphics. The graphics in the 2011 might not be as good as the 3:20 AM but I’ll take a quad core i7 over a core 2 duo any day
I messed up my hand so I’m trying dictation. Hence some of the errors
I messed up my hand so I’m trying dictation. Hence some of the errors
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