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Do the Mac minis pop up on the refurb store?

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Mellofello808

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Mar 18, 2010
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My aging 2012 Mac mini may finally be on its last legs. Definitely got my money's worth, but it seems that the MB is finally starting to go.

It would be easy enough to swap out, the motherboard, and take the opportunitydrop in a bigger SSD, but I think it is time to get a new one.

Don't need the latest, since I have a powerful PC for real computer stuff. Was hoping to find a base model from last gen, but there aren't any available.

Not really worth the $799 base price to me right now, since this is really just a photo storage/Plex server/extremely expensive picture frame.


Do they tend to pop up often?
 
Yes indeed, Mac Minis are sometimes available in the Apple Refurb Store. There's no regular stock update schedule so check often. Recently in the US Refurb Store, there was a large batch from low-end i3 with 8GB RAM to high-end i7/64GB RAM/2TB SSD. I check the refurb store daily for the fun of it, and the Minis tend to sell out faster some of the other categories. If you see the Mini you want there, grab it because it's likely to be gone quickly.
 
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Mellofello808 said:
My aging 2012 Mac mini may finally be on its last legs. Definitely got my money's worth, but it seems that the MB is finally starting to go.

It would be easy enough to swap out, the motherboard, and take the opportunitydrop in a bigger SSD, but I think it is time to get a new one.

Don't need the latest, since I have a powerful PC for real computer stuff. Was hoping to find a base model from last gen, but there aren't any available.

Not really worth the $799 base price to me right now, since this is really just a photo storage/Plex server/extremely expensive picture frame.


Do they tend to pop up often?
Click to expand...

They do; you just need to be diligent about checking as they move quick. I’ve also seen the low end for $600 on Amazon.
If you just want it for basic stuff why not grab previous gen on eBay? The value of those bottomed out when the model was released.
 
Dameatball said:
They do; you just need to be diligent about checking as they move quick. I’ve also seen the low end for $600 on Amazon.
If you just want it for basic stuff why not grab previous gen on eBay? The value of those bottomed out when the model was released.
Click to expand...
The 2014s?

I would like enough horsepower to play back 4k videos, and perhaps go up to a higher resolution ultrawide.

I had a 2014 and it wasn't a huge upgrade over my 2012.
 
Mellofello808 said:
My aging 2012 Mac mini may finally be on its last legs. Definitely got my money's worth, but it seems that the MB is finally starting to go.

It would be easy enough to swap out, the motherboard, and take the opportunitydrop in a bigger SSD, but I think it is time to get a new one.

Don't need the latest, since I have a powerful PC for real computer stuff. Was hoping to find a base model from last gen, but there aren't any available.

Not really worth the $799 base price to me right now, since this is really just a photo storage/Plex server/extremely expensive picture frame.


Do they tend to pop up often?
Click to expand...
Try this site, saves continually checking:
refurb-tracker.com

Watch Apple Refurb deals and save up to 40% - Refurb Tracker

With Apple Refurb, save up to 40% on Apple products. Refurb Tracker provides email alerts so you can be notified as soon as new refurbished Apple products are available.
refurb-tracker.com refurb-tracker.com
 
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Mellofello808 said:
The 2014s?

I would like enough horsepower to play back 4k videos, and perhaps go up to a higher resolution ultrawide.

I had a 2014 and it wasn't a huge upgrade over my 2012.
Click to expand...

The 2014 is the previous gen.

The "2020" mac mini is actually still a 2018 mac mini with lower storage prices.
 
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As others have said, you just need to watch the store on a regular basis and be prepared to move quickly. In the UK store yesterday a huge batch of about 12 different specs appeared and they were mostly gone within 2 hours.
 
Two days ago there was a group ranging from $600 or 700 up to high $2000s on the US refurb site. They did move quickly - I think they were all gone in less than a day, and several configurations were gone in less than a couple of hours. (I helped...)
 
2018 Minis "come and go" at the Apple refurbished store.
They tend to move quickly once they're in stock.

So...
If you're shopping for one, in a particular configuration, it's best to "check the stock" at least 3 times EVERY day. Morning, afternoon, evening.

And then...
If you see one you want, you'd better think about buying it RIGHT THEN, because when you check back a few hours later, it's probably going to be... gone.
 
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Mellofello808 said:
The 2014s?

I would like enough horsepower to play back 4k videos, and perhaps go up to a higher resolution ultrawide.

I had a 2014 and it wasn't a huge upgrade over my 2012.
Click to expand...

What model 2012 did you have? The quad core release was significant better in terms of processing power. That said I don’t know how that translates to 4K video but certainly transcoding was better. Curious what are you hoping to do with this machine besides 4K?
 
Dameatball said:
What model 2012 did you have? The quad core release was significant better in terms of processing power. That said I don’t know how that translates to 4K video but certainly transcoding was better. Curious what are you hoping to do with this machine besides 4K?
Click to expand...
Yeah I have the quad core. It still has never been able to smoothly playback/edit any of my go pro 4k footage, or even a YouTube 4k video.


I use it almost exclusively as a office productivity, and content viewing machine. It also is where I store all my photos from over the years.

I could probably get by with just a base machine, but man $800 is steep for my use case.
 
Mellofello808 said:
but it seems that the MB is finally starting to go.
Click to expand...

What exactly do you mean?

I got my 2012 Mac mini just last year for $400 ... they usually go for more where I live so it was a pretty good deal ... I mean if I sold it today, I would be in positive numbers.
I try to take a really good care of it now. I applied new thermal paste, try to keep it cool. But it's now 6 years and 2 months old ... so who knows how has the previous owner behaved to this little aluminium guy for over 5 years.

As some good BIOS mode came out this year for my old ThinkPad T430s (to allow macOS supported Wifi module etc.) I think I'll give Hackintosh second chance and grab that money back from the mini.
 
carlsbergbeer said:
Snagged an i5 16gb 1tb this afternoon 😀. First new Mac since my late 2008 MBP which finally died about a month ago.
Click to expand...

Congrats! That's an excellent choice. Just when I was wondering who is buying all these minis and why aren't they on this forum ...
[automerge]1588189343[/automerge]
2 hours after from my original post, there are 3 minis left, so at least 9 sold in 2 hours.
 
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I was just surprised about the speed of delivery, ordered the MM on Friday, it arrived on Monday. Ordered 32gb Ram from Crucial On Sunday night it arrived early yesterday. So I was all up and running on the new machine by yesterday afternoon
 
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LeeW said:
I was just surprised about the speed of delivery, ordered the MM on Friday, it arrived on Monday. Ordered 32gb Ram from Crucial On Sunday night it arrived early yesterday. So I was all up and running on the new machine by yesterday afternoon
Click to expand...
I've noticed with Macs and iPads the Refurb Store shipping times are much faster than regular retail. It would be so interesting to know more about the shipping operations side of things.
[automerge]1588189976[/automerge]
There are only 2 left after 2 hours and 15 minutes. These minis really move! If anyone doubts whether you need to check often and grab one if you're ready, this is why.

ETA: About 10 minutes later, there's one left after 2.5 hours. It's the high spec one for $2549 USD:
64GB of 2666MHz DDR4 SO-DIMM memory
2TB PCIe-based SSD1
Four Thunderbolt 3 ports (up to 40 Gbps)
Intel UHD Graphics 630
10 Gigabit Ethernet port
 
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An hour or so later, the high end mini is gone, but two more slightly lower specs have been added. You just never know! Hope anyone who wanted one today got one.
 
newellj said:
It's interesting how lumpy the refurb restocking is.
Click to expand...

It is more than likely the recent changes to the line, more SSD for less money that has had people buying to check them out, and then returned. Most if not all of this stock being seen will be returns, not necessarily repaired devices.
 
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is 2014 with a fusion drive really not good enough these days? I have one ordered and might have to cancel it otherwise.
 
carlsbergbeer said:
Snagged an i5 16gb 1tb this afternoon 😀. First new Mac since my late 2008 MBP which finally died about a month ago.
Click to expand...

Hey, ‘almost‘ the same for me. Bought an Apple Refurb i7 16gb 1tb last year, also my first new Mac since my late 2008 MBP, which incredibly is still chugging along.
 
shenfrey said:
is 2014 with a fusion drive really not good enough these days? I have one ordered and might have to cancel it otherwise.
Click to expand...

Nothing wrong with it depends on your use case and how much value you place on the difference in performance which will be significant, no doubt about that.
 
Codeseven said:
Hey, ‘almost‘ the same for me. Bought an Apple Refurb i7 16gb 1tb last year, also my first new Mac since my late 2008 MBP, which incredibly is still chugging along.
Click to expand...

Cool! What a workhorse that ‘08 MBP was. I’m excited to use a modern machine, it is due in tomorrow. Standard free shipping score!
 
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