Any thoughts on moving from an MBP 17 to a Mini?

[MacBook17]

As I've described in another thread -- one in which I was asking about the closet thing that Apple makes to a [non-glare] MBP 17 -- we 've owned the MBP for nearly 10 years now and, if it weren't for the recent development of the [apparently] common 2011 GPU issue, we would happily keep it in service.

Among the various suggestions I received in said thread was one that I didn't know much about. In short, it was suggested that we think about a Mac Mini and a display of our choice. Now that I've actually seen what a "Mac Mini" looks like, via the Apple website, I'm wondering how the transition from using an MBP for so many years to what amounts to a small desktop might turn out.

The MBP 17, that I'm typing on now, sits on a "keyboard drawer" that slides out from under a desk that is crowded with our paperwork...so, in other words, surface area is very limited. If the MBP 17 is taken out of service, I'm picturing a Magic Keyboard w/ Numeric Keypad and a Magic Trackpad 2 taking up most of the space on the keyboard drawer I mentioned...which seems to mean that the new display and the Mac Mini itself would have to sit on the desk that's presently covered with important paperwork. Does that sound about right?

In short, I'm hoping to hear from some of the folks on the board, who have moved from an MBP to a Mac Mini, about how they've adapted to going to something similar to the typical iMac environment? You know, a huge static display -- and, in this case, a little box underneath it -- that takes up quite a bit of space.

Thank you kindly for your time and your thoughts ~ MacBook17

 

[IowaLynn]

Someone posted photo their mini setup in the forum for "share yours"- underneath table out of the way. And that's just one idea.
I think you'll find mini allows neat custom and organized - i went from laptop to mini - i was never using it on battery so that's a plus too.

Compulocks Mac Mini Security Mount Silver

The Mac Mini Lock and Mount allows you to fix the security bracket to any flat surface. You can safely screw the mount to a wall, desk, underside of a table, cabinet and even the back of a monitor. Once the bracket is secured all you need to do is slide your Mac Mini into the mount, align the cab...

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[Boyd01]

There are a also inexpensive bases to mount the Mini vertically, or you could place it behind your monitor. Some of these solutions aren't great if you need frequent access to the ports on the back (some people just mount the Mini backwards for that though). Some people use wall VESA mounts that keep the screen above the desk, so you have room under it.

But there's a bigger question of software/hardware compatibility with a 10-year-old Mac. What operating system does it run, what software do you have? Any 32-bit software will not run on the past two versions of MacOS and cannot run at all on the new M1 Mini. If you get a 2018 Mini, you can still run newer 32-bit apps by downgrading to Mojave or using virtual machnes with Parallels (which I do for older 32-bit software).

Also, if you get an M1 Mini, spent awhile reading the many monitor threads here, there are some compatibility issues.

 

[MacBook17]

Considering that the Mac Mini is practically unknown to me, I was wondering if...say...mounting it under a desktop would cause overheating issues? I've read that the Apple M1 CPU, for example, is supposed to run cooler than a comparable Intel CPU, but I've never heard of a motherboard that doesn't require any cooling whatsoever; hence, the question about possible cooling issues...