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2012 Mac Mini vs 2018 Mac Mini..Which to get??!??

ashleykaryl said:
I haven't read the entire thread but for me this is a no brainer to buy the new machine, because of ongoing OS compatibility and security updates for at least another 5 years. I would take a new i3 over a 2012 i7.
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Yes, purchasing the new machine would be wise. However, from my experience, the i5 processor in my late 2018 Mac Mini performs just as well (maybe better) than the i7 processor I had in my late 2012 Mac Mini (was was a fine machine, by the way). Unless someone can show me some actual test results, I believe the i3 processor would be a step down from the i7.
 
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Hmm, interesting. Did not realize the core i3 scores are better than the core i7 scores on the late 2012 model. According to those bench marks, my "score" increased from 694 for my late 2012 Core i7 to 1013 for my late 2018 Core i5. The score for the late 2018 Core i3 is a respectable 909, still a decent increase. But I'm happy with my model, and via 3 "financial" events, I got it for a very good price.
 
My father has an entry level 2012 mini with the original SATA and 4 gigs of ram that could reasonably be described as unusable on Catalina with near constant spinning ball. It is now sat unused in a cupboard.

Not long ago he picked up the entry level i3 with 8 gigs of ram and after migrating his data it was fairly obvious it was faster than my Mac Pro around the Finder, Safari and Mail. This is despite having fitted an SSD, 32 gigs of ram and 4 gig graphics card to the Mac Pro.

For many users with basic computing needs an entry level i3 mini is quite adequate. It's snappy, whisper quiet and not hugely expensive, plus you'll have software compatibility for years to come. In terms of speed I am still reasonably happy with the old Mac Pro, but these are running out of road for continued safe usage online. When Apple stops providing security updates for Mojave I hope to keep it in useful service as an offline production machine for a few more years.
 
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My late 2012 still runs great, but it's the quad core i7 with 16gb of RAM and a 512gb SSD. Mine's got the 3.2gHz i7; the 3.7gHz would be a little faster. Honestly, for most of what I do I don't notice the fact that the late 2018 (i7, 32gb RAM, 1tb SSD) next to the late 2012 is capable or running rings around the late 2012. Myself, I just don't often need that kind of horsepower. I bought the late 2018 because I'm getting concerned that the late 2012 is going to croak some day soon.
 
In theory my i7 with 32 gigs of ram should be here tomorrow and it will be curious to see how it compares in practice. My guess is that is will feel generally more snappy, but in terms of completing tasks that require frequent manual intervention, such as photo retouching or web design it should make little difference. More automated tasks like batch exports should be faster.

A 10 year old computer is always at risk of something going wrong. Mine has run practically 24/7 since new, however I have always kept it clean inside and maintained good ventilation, which I think helps.
 
ashleykaryl said:
A 10 year old computer is always at risk of something going wrong. Mine has run practically 24/7 since new, however I have always kept it clean inside and maintained good ventilation, which I think helps.
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I tend to keep my machines for a long time. The late 2012 Mac Mini I had ran flawlessly for the more than 7 years I owned it. I did upgrade to a 256 gig Samsung 840 Pro SSD after only 4 months of use, and upgraded the Ram to 8 gig about 5 years later. I noticed the SSD upgrade the most, but having he extra Ram was comforting.

I also keep my machines clean externally, but have never really done anything to clean the inside. However, I always keep all my machines "lean, mean, and clean". By that I mean 1) I immediately get rid of files, folders, EMails, etc. I do not need, 2) I use Onyx once a week to do some maintenance, 3) I also run Tech Tool Pro to do even more maintenance (plus any repairs), and 4) I use SuperDuper! to make 2 backups for each of my Macs to separate external SSDs.

Right now, both of my macs are only "consuming" about 85 gig of space on the internal SSDs. The Mac Mini has a 256 gig SSD, and my Mac Book Air has a 252 gig SSD. So, I definitely have plenty of free space. That also makes a significant contribution to keeping my Macs "lean, mean, and clean".
 
ashleykaryl said:
A 10 year old computer is always at risk of something going wrong. Mine has run practically 24/7 since new, however I have always kept it clean inside and maintained good ventilation, which I think helps.
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you're right, my 2012 model is running fine for what I need, however it can't last forever, the question is how long should I wait???, I dont like the 2020 option, it doesn't jump out at me.
 
The great surprise for me is that a lot of users have clearly been able to use the mini as a daily workhorse for many years, so evidently they are not badly made with obvious design flaws. I find that encouraging, since there is a slight sense of "downgrading" when migrating from a Mac Pro, irrespective of the raw performance figures.

An Apple technician told me last year that the secret of longevity for the Mac Pro was the superb ventilation and easily being able to keep the insides relatively free of dust. Contrast that to the old iMacs with their heat problems that had regular drive failures and burned displays.

The new mini i7 probably runs hotter than the 2012 model, however they have improved the ventilation. I purchased a Tecknet cooling pad to place underneath, having done the same thing for my daughter's MBP where it made a huge difference and that laptop can now be used like a desktop computer without having the fans race under heavy load.

Chances are that the 2012 mini will not be eligible for an upgrade beyond Catalina, just as my Mac Pro cannot be upgraded beyond Mojave and even that required a new Metal enabled graphics card to upgrade from High Sierra. The best case scenario for a 2012 mini is another two years of online usage before Apple stops releasing security patches. At that point it is only safe for offline tasks, assuming you wish to keep it rather than sell it now.

My original plan was to keep going with the Mac Pro for another year and hope that new models appear with ARM processors, which are almost certainly coming. I changed my mind after being told by an app developer that any transition will likely take 5 years. I also remember that the move from PPC to Intel was expensive and bug laden for a couple years, so for at least the next three years a current model is likely to be the safest bet. I doubt there will be new minis until at least the end of 2021.
 
Can't wait to see how you get on with your new Mac mini i7 ashleykaryl. I missed the recent spate of refurbs in the UK store. I'm still on the fence yet. I love my MacBook 2017, it is silent, my main requirement. Plugged into a 4k display it is fine, I'm just worried it's clamshell and plugged in all the time. (swell the battery?)
 
All the Windows laptops I have ever used allowed me to remove the battery and run them from the mains like a normal tower. If Apple don't want to allow battery removal they should at least have an option to bypass the battery when connected to the mains. Perhaps Apple doesn't allow this to avoid undermining their desktop sales and force many to buy two computers.

The mini is out for delivery and should be here within the next few hours. I have had to buy a bunch of external drives to try and replicate my current setup with the Mac Pro that has 5 internal drives, plus a couple external drives with room to spare for additional PCI cards and the rest. It's still ridiculous how usable a 2010 Mac Pro is 2020.

Despite all that, the Mac Pro is an old machine and certain features like Firewire 800 are no longer that useful, plus there are other limitations like no Filevault and limited Airdrop. A photographer I know with a Mac Pro and a new mini assured me the mini is a vast improvement and it should be nice not having to worry about problematic security updates, plus issues related to non Apple upgrades with the SSD and graphics card. The new computer should be easier to live with in theory.
 
For me, even though my late 2012 Mini was running fine (and was very, very dependable), it came down to the distinct possibility that Catalina will be the last Mac OS which that machine can support. Hence, that was the primary reason why I recently purchased the 2018 model. Plus, as I have previously stated, there were some financial/cost reasons why I made the purchase. And I was able to sell the 2012 model for a decent price.
 
honestone33 said:
For me, even though my late 2012 Mini was running fine (and was very, very dependable), it came down to the distinct possibility that Catalina will be the last Mac OS which that machine can support. Hence, that was the primary reason why I recently purchased the 2018 model. Plus, as I have previously stated, there were some financial/cost reasons why I made the purchase. And I was able to sell the 2012 model for a decent price.
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I was in the exact same situation. My MacMini Late 2012 has been my work horse since 2014, working practically 24/7. It is such a wonderful and dependent machine, but when Apple announced they were moving away from Intel I knew I'd better get the best and newer Intel Mac I could (I use my Mac to virtualize Windows in order to perform a great deal of my work, so Intel is a must for me).

Last year I got a MacMini Late 2018 with 8 gb RAM and 512 SSD. I still have to upgrade the RAM (I want to take it to 32 GB) and buy an external SSD to store all my user files from my current Mac. I hope this new Mac would serve as well as my beloved MacMini Late 2012 for at least another 8 years.
 
I upgraded to a fully-loaded (i7 hex-core/2tb/64gb/10gbe) 2018 Mini in June 2000 2020. It's a fantastic machine for my needs, I use a Windows 10 VM heavily in Parallels, have been processing (literally) terabytes of GIS data recently and exporting it to tens of millions of .png map tiles. Works great and is faster than the old HP Windows desktop that it replaced, plus the huge advantage of Parallels integration with MacOS.

I also use MacOS Mountain Lion and Sierra virtual machines in Parallels with my very expensive legacy database, CAD and 3d software. That is something you just cannot do with Apple Silicon.

My 2012 quad Mini was re-purposed as a headless file/time machine server with 20tb of disks running 24/7.
 
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Boyd01 said:
I upgraded to a fully-loaded (i7 hex-core/2tb/64gb/10gbe) 2018 Mini in June 2000. It's a fantastic machine for my needs, I use a Windows 10 VM heavily in Parallels, have been processing (literally) terabytes of GIS data recently and exporting it to tens of millions of .png map tiles. Works great and is faster than the old HP Windows desktop that it replaced, plus the huge advantage of Parallels integration with MacOS.

I also use MacOS Mountain Lion and Sierra virtual machines in Parallels with my very expensive legacy database, CAD and 3d software. That is something you just cannot do with Apple Silicon.

My 2012 quad Mini was re-purposed as a headless file/time machine server with 20tb of disks running 24/7.
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I salute you, Mr Time Traveler!

To buy a 2018 in 2000 is truly a marvel to brag about!

I ran a 2008 refurbished mini until it died. I'd love to get another, but really would prefer the studio, which is way out of my budget.
 
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Is it worth getting mini 2018 now ?
The main issue for me is that there is no proper scaling on M1 with 5140x1440 on m1 and multimonitor (I'm using 4 external monitors) support is a dud.

Will the font smooting work on Intel, i heard that was only M1 issue?
 
The big complaint has been that the Intel UHD-630 struggles with scaled resolutions. I decided to get a 32" (2560x1440) QHD monitor and run it at native resolution to avoid those issues. I also have a 1080p Sony production monitor as a second screen for video editing. Just plugging in/turning on that screen causes my 2018 Mini to run noticeably hotter, even if I'm not "doing anything" on it. So I only use that screen when editing video, the 2018 Mini already runs hot - especially the way that I push it!

Of course, you can solve all this with an eGPU, but they have their own issues (and costs).
 
Boyd01 said:
The big complaint has been that the Intel UHD-630 struggles with scaled resolutions. I decided to get a 32" (2560x1440) QHD monitor and run it at native resolution to avoid those issues. I also have a 1080p Sony production monitor as a second screen for video editing. Just plugging in/turning on that screen causes my 2018 Mini to run noticeably hotter, even if I'm not "doing anything" on it. So I only use that screen when editing video, the 2018 Mini already runs hot - especially the way that I push it!

Of course, you can solve all this with an eGPU, but they have their own issues (and costs).
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What does it mean it struggles ? You cannot run HiDPI on it ?
I was thinking it should be able to drive many monitoris (and 5420x1440 ) without issues right ?
 
No personal experience, sorry. For the most part, I only use one QHD screen without hidpi and that works well. But there are some long threads about graphics issues if you look back a couple years in this forum. Here is one of them

forums.macrumors.com

Officially giving up on the Mac Mini 2018 + 4K monitor dream

I'm getting the i5 Mac Mini and will probably stay at 8 gigs of RAM for a while. I buying this computer as a desktop replacement for media consumption and word processing for the next 6-8 years. I was dreaming of getting something like the LG 27UK850 4K monitor and scale it at 1440p so that...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
 
Boyd01 said:
The big complaint has been that the Intel UHD-630 struggles with scaled resolutions. I decided to get a 32" (2560x1440) QHD monitor and run it at native resolution to avoid those issues. I also have a 1080p Sony production monitor as a second screen for video editing. Just plugging in/turning on that screen causes my 2018 Mini to run noticeably hotter, even if I'm not "doing anything" on it. So I only use that screen when editing video, the 2018 Mini already runs hot - especially the way that I push it!

Of course, you can solve all this with an eGPU, but they have their own issues (and costs).
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Is 5140x1440 a scaled resolution ?
 
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