Advice for base model macMini 2014 ?

[boogiedout]

Hi all,
Our old family computer (windows >10 years old) has died. We are on a very tight budget so can only afford the base model, £399. The wife wants new, not refurb. There are five of us and all either an iphone or ipod touch. We have an ipad 1st gen (still going well enough), apple tv and I have my own macbook air 2012, which is now being used as a desktop.
Now heres the thing. I really just dont want anyone else using my computer. The big pc was only used for internet, movies and music. Since my mac they all now want to use imovie, garageband and maps! I know the base model mini is pretty slow, HDD not SSD, and I know there are options for booting off of an external SSD, but this computer will not be stressed out at all, ever.
My question is, would this mini drive me mad for being too slow and underpowered or will it truly be fine for all its needed for? It doesn't have to be the fastest or bestest, but it does have to be reliable and quick enough.
Any thoughts please?

 

[Samuelsan2001]

Well

Hi all,
Our old family computer (windows >10 years old) has died. We are on a very tight budget so can only afford the base model, £399. The wife wants new, not refurb. There are five of us and all either an iphone or ipod touch. We have an ipad 1st gen (still going well enough), apple tv and I have my own macbook air 2012, which is now being used as a desktop.
Now heres the thing. I really just dont want anyone else using my computer. The big pc was only used for internet, movies and music. Since my mac they all now want to use imovie, garageband and maps! I know the base model mini is pretty slow, HDD not SSD, and I know there are options for booting off of an external SSD, but this computer will not be stressed out at all, ever.
My question is, would this mini drive me mad for being too slow and underpowered or will it truly be fine for all its needed for? It doesn't have to be the fastest or bestest, but it does have to be reliable and quick enough.
Any thoughts please?

It will be fine it'll run much like your MacBook Air once you have booted up. You can actually add an SSD to it at a later date if you think it needs one and you have the money in the future. I would think about getting the Magic Trackpad if you can stretch to it the multitouch stuff is much nicer with one rather than a normal mouse....

 

[boogiedout]

It will be fine it'll run much like your MacBook Air once you have booted up. You can actually add an SSD to it at a later date if you think it needs one and you have the money in the future. I would think about getting the Magic Trackpad if you can stretch to it the multitouch stuff is much nicer with one rather than a normal mouse....

Thanks! just needed the reassurance it would be fine.

 

[MistrSynistr]

Your wife would have absolutely no concept or know you got a refurb, and you'd save yourself some extra $. I have a 2013 iMac Refurb and it's spotless and basically brand new.

If you get a mini, you absolutely have to get an SSD installed eventually. I doubt you'll be happy with the 1.4gHZ with HDD.

 

[Celerondon]

Hi all,
Our old family computer (windows >10 years old) has died. We are on a very tight budget so can only afford the base model, £399. The wife wants new, not refurb. There are five of us and all either an iphone or ipod touch. We have an ipad 1st gen (still going well enough), apple tv and I have my own macbook air 2012, which is now being used as a desktop.
Now heres the thing. I really just dont want anyone else using my computer. The big pc was only used for internet, movies and music. Since my mac they all now want to use imovie, garageband and maps! I know the base model mini is pretty slow, HDD not SSD, and I know there are options for booting off of an external SSD, but this computer will not be stressed out at all, ever.
My question is, would this mini drive me mad for being too slow and underpowered or will it truly be fine for all its needed for? It doesn't have to be the fastest or bestest, but it does have to be reliable and quick enough.
Any thoughts please?

It will be fine it'll run much like your MacBook Air once you have booted up. You can actually add an SSD to it at a later date if you think it needs one and you have the money in the future. I would think about getting the Magic Trackpad if you can stretch to it the multitouch stuff is much nicer with one rather than a normal mouse....

That 2014 base model mini will perform the basic tasks better than your original Windows machine ever could. The Mac applications will run on that base model even though 8Gb of RAM is apparently the sweet spot for Yosemite. Apple's Magic Trackpad is similar to the one on a MacBook but somewhat better.

If you do not already have one, I suggest that you should obtain a Mac style keyboard as well. Whether it is wired or Bluetooth it will provide the same (proper) keys and arrangement that your family has learned with your Macbook.

 

[Celerondon]

That is Some Slippery Advice... A Twist on Genesis 3?

Your wife would have absolutely no concept or know you got a refurb, and you'd save yourself some extra $. I have a 2013 iMac Refurb and it's spotless and basically brand new.

If you get a mini, you absolutely have to get an SSD installed eventually. I doubt you'll be happy with the 1.4gHZ with HDD.

Good name there Mister!

Bad advice though! I don't know what your wife is like (if you have one) but mine has unboxed plenty of Apple gear. Perhaps his has opened a few Apple goodies too. Since she uses a computer his wife may be literate and familiar with the Internet. Is lying to one's spouse usually a good strategy?

1. Our OP would need to hide the box and packaging from his spouse.
2. The OP is toast if his wife reads Macrumors and knows his ID
3. Extra Sensory Perception (suspicious nature)

 

[marclondon]

Your wife would have absolutely no concept or know you got a refurb, and you'd save yourself some extra $.

Or £££s. I second this - a Mini is an ideal machine to buy on Apple's refurb site and you get £60 off - they have the base model now:

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/FGEM2B/A/Refurbished-Mac-Mini-14GHz-Dual-core-Intel-Core-i5

I bought my 2012 i7 on the UK refurb store and it looked absolutely brand new.

But you should tell her...

Personally though I wouldn't buy the base model, at least not without 8GB ram and I would always add an SSD or buy one with an SSD.

M.

 

[Celerondon]

Apples/Snakes/Truth/Knowledge/£s

Or £££s. I second this - a Mini is an ideal machine to buy on Apple's refurb site and you get £60 off - they have the base model now:

http://store.apple.com/uk/product/FGEM2B/A/Refurbished-Mac-Mini-14GHz-Dual-core-Intel-Core-i5

I bought my 2012 i7 on the UK refurb store and it looked absolutely brand new.

But you should tell her...

Personally though I wouldn't buy the base model, at least not without 8GB ram and I would always add an SSD or buy one with an SSD.

M.

I agree with the value of a refurbished mini but not with the lies. Look at the Apple refurb page. These machines are probably close enough to new for your wife anyway. After all they feature:
- Coverage by Apple's one-year limited warranty
- Coverage by Apple's 14-day returns policy
- AppleCare Protection Plan can be purchased

That difference could help to pay for a Magic Trackpad. As for the 4Gb versus 8Gb RAM question, here is a link to some interesting comments in another recent thread.
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/21068550/

 

[marclondon]

Jigsaw is selling the base model for £299 + VAT = £358.80

http://www.jigsaw24.com/apple-mac-m...gb-intel-hd-5000/mac-mini/-/fcp-product/23359

They also have the 2012 i5 models in stock for £325 + VAT = £390

http://www.jigsaw24.com/apple-mac-m...gb-intel-hd-4000/mac-mini/-/fcp-product/12170

This one you can add memory to as well as upgrade the disk.

M.

 

[MistrSynistr]

Good name there Mister!

Bad advice though! I don't know what your wife is like (if you have one) but mine has unboxed plenty of Apple gear. Perhaps his has opened a few Apple goodies too. Since she uses a computer his wife may be literate and familiar with the Internet. Is lying to one's spouse usually a good strategy?

1. Our OP would need to hide the box and packaging from his spouse.
2. The OP is toast if his wife reads Macrumors and knows his ID
3. Extra Sensory Perception (suspicious nature)

If your wife is cool enough to be involved in tech specifications and in-depth Apple hardware she would be awesome enough to know the Apple site refurbs are absolutely the best choice on a budget and basically brand new models, and would never make a statement "IT MUST BE NEW!".

 

[boogiedout]

If your wife is cool enough to be involved in tech specifications and in-depth Apple hardware she would be awesome enough to know the Apple site refurbs are absolutely the best choice on a budget and basically brand new models, and would never make a statement "IT MUST BE NEW!".

My wife is not tech savvy at all. She likes new things and does have the ESP a previous poster mentioned. I know that apple reforms are practically new and just as great as a brand new product. Also no one else in this house will notice a slightly slower machine than me.

 

[Altis]

How long do you plan on keeping this machine? Base mini is okay, ultimately going refurb then using the savings to add SSD will make it much, much better.

I'm not sure how many good years you'll get from it, though... won't likely be 10+. The latest OS X for a 2008 Mini is 2013's release, for example.

 

[Meister]

Always get an ssd.

 

[inscrewtable]

Refurbished comes with a new warranty and I've had plenty of problems with new macs. SSD, hmmm, I would have thought so but I don't think it's a big deal really, 40 seconds start up as opposed to 15.

 

[redheeler]

I recommend going with an SSD above all as that will result in a noticeable speed increase immediately. The bump from the 1.4 to 2.6 model is worth it if you plan to keep it a long time.

How long do you plan on keeping this machine? Base mini is okay, ultimately going refurb then using the savings to add SSD will make it much, much better.

I'm not sure how many good years you'll get from it, though... won't likely be 10+. The latest OS X for a 2008 Mini is 2013's release, for example.

The early 2008 is still supported by the latest version of OS X. The mid 2007 maxes out at 10.7.5 which dates from 2012. Of course this does not mean that model's useful life is done if its uses are light, although 10 years for such a low-end machine like the current baseline Mac mini is a stretch for sure.

 

[Altis]

The early 2008 is still supported by the latest version of OS X. The mid 2007 maxes out at 10.7.5 which dates from 2012. Of course this does not mean that model's useful life is done if its uses are light, although 10 years for such a low-end machine like the current baseline Mac mini is a stretch for sure.

According to Apple's website, Yosemite requires a mini "early 2009 or newer".

Contrast this with Windows 10 which should run better than ever on even midrange machines back to '06/'07, especially with an SSD.

 

[Giev]

Refurbished comes with a new warranty and I've had plenty of problems with new macs. SSD, hmmm, I would have thought so but I don't think it's a big deal really, 40 seconds start up as opposed to 15.

With 4GB of RAM, SSD can make a alot of difference if you have page-ins which is quite possible with minimum RAM.

 

[boogiedout]

How long do you plan on keeping this machine? Base mini is okay, ultimately going refurb then using the savings to add SSD will make it much, much better.

I'm not sure how many good years you'll get from it, though... won't likely be 10+. The latest OS X for a 2008 Mini is 2013's release, for example.

I plan on keeping this machine until it dies. This mini will hardly ever be switched off, so i'm not worried about start up times. I really just want to spend as little as possible. I know I could get another windows machine, better spec same price, maybe cheaper, but since i've gone mac I ain't going back. I really want to thank everyone for their input.

 

[xylitol]

My only advice is to bookmark this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1861858/

 

[MattA]

The only thing I would do is go to 8GB of memory. You can add an SSD later, but the memory is not upgradable. Do yourself a favor and spring for the extra memory. You'll be really glad you did.

 

[boogiedout]

My only advice is to bookmark this thread:

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1861858/

I've read that thread. The general view is, its not a bad computer, just has a crappy hard drive.

 

[MRrainer]

If he's on a very tight budget, he should rather get a 2012 IMO.
At least, it's (more) upgradeable.
Neither the 2012 nor the 2014 models will do 4K, so it doesn't matter from that perspective.
And I doubt he's every going to worry about connecting more than one TB-device...

If I needed to buy a Mini today, I'm not sure which one I would take.

 

[inscrewtable]

With 4GB of RAM, SSD can make a alot of difference if you have page-ins which is quite possible with minimum RAM.

Better, (as in more useful, easier and cheaper) to put in 8 Gig of ram.

 

[redheeler]

According to Apple's website, Yosemite requires a mini "early 2009 or newer".

Contrast this with Windows 10 which should run better than ever on even midrange machines back to '06/'07, especially with an SSD.

My mistake, there is no early 2008, I was looking at the early 2009. Of course my late 2008 MacBook Air here (which was already underpowered for the time) is still supported by Yosemite. The reason the early 2008 MBA and mid 2007 Mac mini stopped at 10.7.5 is because of 32-bit EFI. Another thing to note is that while '06 Mac Pros stopped at 10.7.5 for the same reason, they can run Yosemite quite easily with a bootloader.

 

[phrehdd]

I'll admit I belong to that camp that is very unhappy with this last round of Minis. As for making the most of the most basic model - yes you can later add external drives that may prove faster than the anemic 5400 rpm drive internal but given how they are built, - truly consider getting 8 gigs of RAM rather than 4 gigs. Remember, you can't get around that one later as they have soldered the RAM to the board. Yosemite might run on 2-4 gigs, but is far happier with 8 gigs.

My least powerful Mini at this time is a quad 2.0 and it just keeps chugging away (with SSD internal and 16 gigs of RAM) doing a virtual Windows and also various apps that do take advantage of multi-core.