Catalina kills my 2012 Mac Mini

[mrjohnnyglass]

Performed a fresh install of Catalina last night on my 2019 15" MBP 8-Core and everything works flawless.

Tried to upgrade my Mac Mini as well last night, and when it opened up, Finder would crash every single time, and no programs would open. Made a bootable USB installer of Catalina, and it did the same thing. Installed Catalina on a fresh install, and same issue. Downloaded from the App Store.

Went back to Mojave, and I have no issues. Anyone else have this issue?

 

[zosobao5150]

Installed on my 2012 Mac Mini i7 and have not had any issues....thus far.

Performed a fresh install of Catalina last night on my 2019 15" MBP 8-Core and everything works flawless.

Tried to upgrade my Mac Mini as well last night, and when it opened up, Finder would crash every single time, and no programs would open. Made a bootable USB installer of Catalina, and it did the same thing. Installed Catalina on a fresh install, and same issue. Downloaded from the App Store.

Went back to Mojave, and I have no issues. Anyone else have this issue?

 

[JusVan.exe]

Had no issues with my updates my suggestion is to do a internet recovery

 

[Che Castro]

which macOS version runs the best/plus features you absolutely need on a Mac mini 2012?

Sierra or high Sierra

 

[JusVan.exe]

High Sierra but I would recommend upgrade the standard HDD to SSD if you have haven’t done so.

 

[millar876]

my mini (2012 i7) is terrible after catalina, cpu seems to be in a low power state constantly, youtube and finder everything really) keep stuttering and getting stuck and hardly ever reaches the 3.1GHz boost speed it previously managed all day, and after install was hitting 95C before hammering the fans full speed. im monitoring it with intel power gadget and controlling the fans with Macs fan control. about 2 years ago i changed out the failing stock hard drive for a 120GB SSD and 1TB HDD and merged them in terminal to create a fusion drive, when i had it apart i also changed the thermal paste to liquid metal between the CPU die and copper cold plate of the heat sync and normal thermal paste on the platform controller chip so ive been monitoring temps and speed since.

 

[millar876]

ive used this as an excuse to get a new mac mini for myself (i7, 1TB SSD 16GB DDR4), and when it arrives ill wipe the 2012, reinstall 10.14 (made a USB installer a few weeks ago) and set it up for my kid, because up until i installed 10.15 i was still happy with its performance (for its age) and she has just started high school and needs a better computer than the 2009 Core2Duo iMac she currently uses

 

[Boyd01]

I'm sticking with Sierra for now on my 2012 Mini Server. Am running Mojave on my 2014 Mini without problems, but it's just an iTunes server whereas the 2012 Mini is used for Audio/Video editing and software development.

 

[eneisch]

Do you have HDD or SSD? I've read Catalina is a dog on a Mac with a non-SSD.

 

[Richard8655]

Also no issues and very smooth on my late 2012 I7 Mac Mini. But then a couple years ago the hard drive was failing and installed a Samsung 1TB EVO SSD. SSD may be the big difference on those older Mac Minis as eneisch and Justvan above state.

 

[Boyd01]

Do you have HDD or SSD? I've read Catalina is a dog on a Mac with a non-SSD.

My 2012 i7 quad server has an original Apple internal 256gb SSD. I have kept MacOSX 10.8.5 on that drive however, for the rare times I need to use about $5000 worth of legacy software. Normally it boots into Sierra from a 1TB external Samsung T3 USB SSD, which works very well.

But I've been thinking of cloning the internal SSD to an external 500gb Samsung T3, since I don't need the legacy apps very often. But I would probably install Mojave on the internal SSD, based on the number of issues I read about with Catalina. Really, the only reason I'd do this at all is because I like Mojave's dark mode on my 2014 Mini.

 

[nollimac]

I installed Catalina the day the general release came out on my 2012 Mac Mini...never had any issue installing...only three minor issues working with Catalina: 1 - Apple...please stop pestering me about your new iCloud user policy, I don't use it; 2 - why I cannot play the songs on my iPod?; 3 - give us back the Internet Radio.

 

[Alameda]

ive used this as an excuse to get a new mac mini for myself (i7, 1TB SSD 16GB DDR4), and when it arrives ill wipe the 2012, reinstall 10.14 (made a USB installer a few weeks ago) and set it up for my kid, because up until i installed 10.15 i was still happy with its performance (for its age) and she has just started high school and needs a better computer than the 2009 Core2Duo iMac she currently uses

Chromebook seems to be killing it for high schoolers. My kid's HS gave him one for the entire year. Schools seem to be flocking to the Google apps for performing and submitting assignments. The Chromebooks are inexpensive, lightweight, and they can perform all fo the Google Suite applications used in high school these days.

I've been a Mac fanatic since 1987, but you've got to call these things what they are. Apple gave up education to Google. Before giving your child this Mac, see what the high school uses. A $400 Chromebook might be a much better solution, because he or she will be able to (or maybe required to) bring it along to school.

 

[Boyd01]

That's fine for a kid who needs a laptop.... but a Chromebook isn't going to be a good replacement for my Mini with multiple monitors and peripherals.

 

[CSeye]

10.5 on a 2012 Mini running smoothly here. Latest versions of Logic, DP, UAD Apollo, and many others working fine. A few bumps in the road as well.