Big Sur on Mac mini 2014 (8Gb RAM, 2.6Ghz processor)
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Taz Mangus
macrumors 604
What OS are you currently running on the 2014 Mac mini? Because of APFS, if you computer has a spinner hard drive, it will probably feel sluggish. APFS is geared toward using SSD storage.
Catalina on APFS, which seems ok.
honestone33
Suspended
Again, though, what type of internal storage do you have? If it's a traditional HDD, it's going to be sluggish. An SSD is much, much better.
Running a spinner and Catalina doesn't seem to have issues with that.
honestone33
Suspended
While not any issues, it's still going to be slower than a Mac with an SSD. And I suspect it will be worse with Big Sur.
ScreenSavers
macrumors 68020
macOS a Big Sur and Catalina are about the same performance wise. If you can handle a spinning disk on Catalina, you should be able to endure it on Big Sur. I know I personally couldn’t though.
honestone33
Suspended
Me neither. I have only SSDs now (internal ones in each of my Macs, and 3 external ones). Can never go back to HDDs.
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Thanks, this was kinda the response I was after, real world experience with it, rather than people just telling me spinning disks are slower, as I know that
I got my Mac mini 2nd had the other week on the cheap, as I needed something that can be on longer without hitting the battery, now I'm working from home more. I will eventually trade up the Mac mini 2014 for a newer one, with an SSD, but that's not until bonus payday in February lol
ScreenSavers
macrumors 68020
Thanks, this was kinda the response I was after, real world experience with it, rather than people just telling me spinning disks are slower, as I know that
I got my Mac mini 2nd had the other week on the cheap, as I needed something that can be on longer without hitting the battery, now I'm working from home more. I will eventually trade up the Mac mini 2014 for a newer one, with an SSD, but that's not until bonus payday in February lol
You can actually upgrade the HDD to an SSD relatively easily if you ever wanted to as well.
My days of fiddling with things like that are long past, after 25 years of building my own desktops, etc, I just don't want the hassle anymore.
satinsilverem2
macrumors 6502a
Ive been running the beta since day 1 on my mini. The only difference is mines running an SSD in place of the spinner. its been running fine all summer long. it was never a powerhouse but its fine for web browsing and day to day tasks. I would get an SSD no matter what you do as that will speed it up immensely from what you are used to.Has anyone tried Big Sur on a 2014 Mac mini? How's the experience? I'm running it on my MacBook Pro (2017) and loving it, but just not sure whether to dive in on the Mini.
honestone33
Suspended
Thanks for the report. I suspect I'll see a similar performance on my late 2018 Mac Mini. And yes, an SSD is just about a must these days. It's also advisable to use SSDs for external devices, especially if one use either SuperDuper! or Carbon Copy Cloner to make bootable backups/clones.
One difference for me, though, is that I will not move to Big Sur until (most likely) V11.3 or V11.4 arrives, as that will be the time when Tech Tool Pro will have a compatible version available. I do plan on testing V11.1 of Big Sur, however, on one of my external SSDs.
Yes , runs BigSur and Safari 14 without any issues ( A additional Apple pcie SSD was added ) and the original drive remains as back up ! Well worth the updateHas anyone tried Big Sur on a 2014 Mac mini? How's the experience? I'm running it on my MacBook Pro (2017) and loving it, but just not sure whether to dive in on the Mini.