Deciding 2012 or 2014

[Cassady]

I pulled the trigger on an 2.3GHz i7 1TB 2012, partly because of what I read here, but mainly due to one of the big Tech suppliers down these parts, seemingly trying to get rid of old stock - and thereby letting it go for the same price as the 2012 base-model... Figured that was a deal to good to pass up...

I've installed Yosemite already, and must be honest - was expecting it to be slower than what is appears to be - which is obviously a nice surprise. Granted, I haven't really played around with it much - but it's quite nippy - possibly due to the i7 over my i5 mid-2012 cMBP (albeit with a 500GB SSD installed) - I was expecting to see far more lag...

Scrolling rapidly up and down my (fairly large) iTunes library in Album view, sees all the album art fill up almost instantly. When the day comes that I put 16GB RAM, and a 2nd SSD in - it will probably cruise along nicely...

So my point?

Despite my pleasant surprise - I cannot but help have a tinge of buyer's remorse. I am someone who runs with plenty of Spaces open, with plenty of windows/files open in my information manager (Devonthink), reference manager (Bookends) and Scrivener. Safari will regularly see 20-30 tabs open, and Windows on Parallels will also be running - so no doubt the i7 will help, but will any of that tax the QuadCore to the point where a DualCore couldn't handle it? Not likely.

So what's left is my biggest fear - that I've spent $700 on a machine that will probably last me 2/3 OSX's - but is ALREADY two years older than what is currently available... I'm rambling now - but it is something that sits at the back of my mind.

But then - in typical self-justification mode - I end up thinking that were I to have gone out today, and had to buy an Apple laptop - I think I would still have looked long and hard at the cMBP over the rMBP... Why? Because upgradeability is hands-down the most sensible approach to computing... And just like with my MBP, where I initially lusted over a non-upgradeable MBA, I'm very glad I went with the MBP... I'm hoping I will feel the same about the Mini in a few years time....

 

[Praxis91]

I don't game much on computers any more (mostly consoles now), but I am also considering a MM 2012 (that I would upgrade) or 2014 to replace my 50lb gaming tower.

 

[majkom]

Pulled the trigger - middle mac mini 2014 config and 1TB fusion...

 

[scottsjack]

So what's left is my biggest fear - that I've spent $700 on a machine that will probably last me 2/3 OSX's - but is ALREADY two years older than what is currently available... I'm rambling now - but it is something that sits at the back of my mind.

Don't think of it as two years old. The 2012's CPU is just one generation behind the 2014's. The 2014 was introduced months and months after it should have been.

If you would rather have the latest thing it does have some advantages. Get one and enjoy it.

 

[brdeveloper]

The 2014 Mini can be a good modular computer, that is, you can add an external SSD through a Thunderbolt 2 port running OSX. Later you can add an expensive external TB2/PCIe enclosure for GPUs, so you can actually have much more video power in a 2014 Mini... spending much more money than a high-end 2012 one, though.

 

[gugy]

Pulled the trigger - middle mac mini 2014 config and 1TB fusion...

Yeah, thats the one I am looking into buy. Mine I want with 16gb RAM and 256SSD. It is going to cost almost less than $200 with a similar set up on the 2012 Quad-core. I can find it cheaper than $750 and adding the above makes it very expensive.
I know the quad has advantages but for Photoshop machine, I think it will be fast enough for my needs and when not doing that kind of work I will make it into a media center and time machine backup center for all my Macs.

 

[Ics1974]

Pulled the trigger - middle mac mini 2014 config and 1TB fusion...

What do you think of it? Is it fast enough?

 

[majkom]

What do you think of it? Is it fast enough?

not delivered yet

 

[Runqen]

How do you feel parallels are working on your 2014 minis?

Im considering a i7 ssd mini while i wait for a mac pro / iMac update that suits me. Im mostly worried about the fact that its just a dualcore, only 1 core per OS sounds kinda weak.

In windows mode i wouldnt do anything that requires power, i only need it for some finance software.

However in osx i regularly want to play world of warcraft, convert some movies and such. Would i completely destroy the mini if i were to lunch WoW while parallels are running?

Some game benchmarks from the new mini (with iris graphics) would be killer aswell, do you know any tests that are up to date?

 

[majkom]

OK guys, new mac mini is almost to be delivered So, final question, should i connect it to TV via HDMI or via DP to HDMI cabel? (TV is gonna be used likee ordinary monitor) Somehow I feel that HDMI may be better (less problems probably? TV expects HDMI, am I right?)

 

[Neodym]

So what's left is my biggest fear - that I've spent $700 on a machine that will probably last me 2/3 OSX's - but is ALREADY two years older than what is currently available...

Over in the MacPro section they are running 10.10 on MacPro 1.1 machines from 2006. Official support ended with 10.7.

While the 2012 mini surely is more (update-)restrained in comparison, it should be good for a couple more years to come.

And for the time beyond the official OSX support, there is plenty of tweaking knowledge available among the Mac Pro people (namely on Netkas' website and in the MacPro section here at Macrumors). The Thunderbolt port offering external PCIe may come in handy then.

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should i connect it to TV via HDMI or via DP to HDMI cabel?

(FullHD) TV's usually "speak" HDMI natively, so no need for an adapter.

If your TV is 4k, you should connect it directly via DP. If it is 4k and does not offer a DP connector, you may need to get an active adapter (m)DP -> HDMI 2.0, though.

 

[majkom]

Neodym, thanks. I do have DP to HDMI cabel, I used it to connect mb air to tv, but it looked weird, sometimes TV had problém recognising mac. So, I am trying to find out, whether I should use quality HDMI and there will be no problém with mac mini going to sleep.. or should use this not branded DP to hdmi

And one more question, I will use USB 3 disk for time machine, will it work with 500GB HDD eventhough mac mini will have 1 TB fusion drive? It will not be fully loaded, for now maybe like 200-300 GB, to 500 GB usb drive should be neough, for now? Or, it will not work?
thx.

 

[Neodym]

use quality HDMI [...] or should use this not branded DP to hdmi

Go with a quality(!) HDMI cable.

And one more question, I will use USB 3 disk for time machine, will it work with 500GB HDD eventhough mac mini will have 1 TB fusion drive? It will not be fully loaded, for now maybe like 200-300 GB, to 500 GB usb drive should be neough, for now? Or, it will not work?
thx.

No problem. TimeMachine requires only as much space as actual data is on the source drive (plus a little, normally negligible, overhead). It even deletes older (redundant!) backups of the same drive to be able to keep offering space for new content.

 

[majkom]

Go with a quality(!) HDMI cable.


No problem. TimeMachine requires only as much space as actual data is on the source drive (plus a little, normally negligible, overhead). It even deletes older (redundant!) backups of the same drive to be able to keep offering space for new content.

thx mate!