Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Found an old Mac mini late 2014 , wondering what’s the best os for it ?

George Dawes

George Dawes

Suspended
Original poster
Jul 17, 2014
2,980
4,337
=VH=
It’s currently running Sierra , hasn’t been turned on since 2018 !

Tried using it on the web , you tube doesn’t seem to function oddly enough

Just wondering what os people recommend and how do I go about upgrading to it ?
 
George Dawes said:
It’s currently running Sierra , hasn’t been turned on since 2018 !

Tried using it on the web , you tube doesn’t seem to function oddly enough

Just wondering what os people recommend and how do I go about upgrading to it ?
Click to expand...
See this for the latest OS your Mac can run. Probably Monterey or at least Big Sur;
www.macworld.com

Are you running the best version of macOS for your Mac?

Find out what version of macOS your Mac can run with our macOS compatibility checker & which version of macOS is best for your Mac
www.macworld.com www.macworld.com
All the latest Apple OSs available:
mrmacintosh.com

macOS 12 Monterey Full Installer Database. Download Directly from Apple!

Download macOS Monterey full installer with one click straight from Apple! Every version of Monterey Beta & Final available all in one place!!
mrmacintosh.com mrmacintosh.com
 
Last edited:
  • Love
  • Like
Reactions: fp99 and George Dawes
Before you spend any money on it, a question:
How much RAM is inside?

If it's 8gb or more, that's ok.
But... if it's only 4gb, I wouldn't put ANY $$$ into it at all, because the RAM is NON-upgradeable.
And 4gb isn't enough to do much of anything with the more recent OS releases...
 
  • Like
Reactions: opeter
Fishrrman said:
But... if it's only 4gb, I wouldn't put ANY $$$ into it at all, because the RAM is NON-upgradeable.
And 4gb isn't enough to do much of anything with the more recent OS releases...
Click to expand...

I've also said this in the past and have one of these base model 2014 Mini's. It was nearly unusable for everyday things, I used it as a media server for awhile but later replaced it with a 2014 Mini that had a 2.8ghz dual-core i5, 8gb and an internal SSD. That machine was much faster and more responsive.

Recently the newer mini had a problem, so I swapped the old 1.4ghz/4gb Mini in its place and put the operating system on an old Samsung T3 USB SSD. To my surprise, it works just as well (as a media server) as the other, higher spec Mini.

Anyway, I wouldn't spend much money, but with either an inexpensive internal or USB SSD, these lowly base 2014 Mini's can actually still be useful. I would not do anything very intensive with it, but it's more than capable enough as a media or file server on your LAN. And if you use an external USB SSD, there's not much to lose since you can move it to another machine.
But MacSales (OWC) sells these base 2014 Minis for less than $100 (with a warranty) which will give you an idea of what the market feels they're worth. :)

As far as operating system, I'm running Mojave because I want iTunes/home sharing instead of the newer apps. Running Catalina on a 2012 Mini file server with no problems (although it has 16gb RAM). Not too worried about the lack of security updates since these are just local servers. You'd need to use Monterey if you want an operating system that still gets security updates.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: George Dawes
I run Ubuntu on my old 2014 mini. It sips electricity and is fast enough to run as a file server/pi hole/home bridge/ backup server. I have a small blade ssd for the OS and a large 2.5” HDD for data. Make sure you get a dummy HDMI plug if you’re going to run it headless, otherwise the desktop video acceleration doesn’t work when remoting in. I hope to get another 5-10 years out of my machine.
 
So many ideas above - and while I'm not a fan of Google or the OS, if specs are the concern, there's this. If nothing else, I would expect it to run most recent Chrome / Android apps.

www.macrumors.com

How to Turn Your Old Mac into a Chromebook

If you have an aging Mac lying around that struggles to run the latest macOS and has stopped receiving security updates from Apple, it's possible...
www.macrumors.com www.macrumors.com
 
As others have asked, what are the specs? It makes a difference when deciding if and how to upgrade it. And I'm not just asking about the memory. I'm also asking about the storage.

If it's an HD model, these are dead easy to upgrade. You just need a $10 adapter and an NVMe SSD which are cheap as borscht these days. This is literally just a 10 minute procedure, even for those who have never done it before. You just need the right screwdrivers, but fortunately some of the adapters come with them. What makes it so easy is you don't even have to remove the HD. Just upgrade the OS to the latest (Monterey) first to make sure all firmware updates have been applied, and then install the SSD.

61Kw9paXOAL._AC_SL1500_.jpg


If it's a 4 GB model, then upgrade with a low end US$20 250 GB SSD and be done with it. If it's an 8 GB or 16 GB model, then it would be reasonable to consider upgrading with a more decent 500 GB or larger SSD. Especially for 8 GB or more machines, don't waste your time with Linux or ChromeOS unless you really know what you're doing and have specific Linux/Chrome usage in mind, or you just want to tinker.

For the record, I ran an 8 GB 2014 2.6 GHz Core i5 Mac mini with 500 GB NVMe SSD + original 1 TB HD for a year (until late 2022) as my primary work machine. I use Office applications, multiple browser tabs, a VPN client for remote Windows access, Mail, Messages, Calendar, and light Photos, and it all worked quite well in Monterey. Performance was fine, and its 8 GB memory was sufficient for my multitasking needs about 95% of the time. (A few days a month I would do some really heavy multitasking and in that scenario it might bog down somewhat.)

The other option is to replace the SATA HD with SATA SSD, but this is much more complicated, and the SSD will be slower than an NVME SSD. To remove the SATA HD you basically have to disassemble the entire machine, whereas to install an NVMe SSD all you have to do is remove the base cover (paying attention to the WiFi antenna which is attached to the cover as seen on the right in the picture). If the SATA HD is working, it's easier to just leave it in place.

82CD2A8C-2B70-48DF-B991-320308B04320.jpeg


AC2911CF-87F5-4E77-85CA-7355B4BD7363.jpeg
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Mishkale, MultiFinder17, uller6 and 2 others
It’s got a Fusion Drive , I’ve had 2 of them fail on me in the past

Tbh I think I’ll just leave the thing alone and invest in a studio max base model or mini pro asap , bound to be a massive improvement

The spec of the thing is so pathetic I really don’t want to waste any time or money on it
 
  • Like
Reactions: uller6
George Dawes said:
It’s got a Fusion Drive , I’ve had 2 of them fail on me in the past

Tbh I think I’ll just leave the thing alone and invest in a studio max base model or mini pro asap , bound to be a massive improvement

The spec of the thing is so pathetic I really don’t want to waste any time or money on it
Click to expand...
So, what are the specs?
 
George Dawes said:
2.8 ghz i5 , Fusion Drive and 8 gb ram

Tbh I doubt it will run anything useful
Click to expand...
This will work perfectly in Monterey for office type applications. Performance with SSD is fine. How big is the SSD in the Fusion Drive? If 128 GB then consider splitting it to separate SSD and HD, and install a recent version of macOS on the SSD.
 
  • Like
Reactions: George Dawes
EugW said:
This will work perfectly in Monterey for office type applications. Performance with SSD is fine. How big is the SSD in the Fusion Drive? If 128 GB then consider splitting it to separate SSD and HD, and install a recent version of macOS on the SSD.
Click to expand...
Didn’t all 2014 Mac minis with Fusion have a 128GB SSD?
 
  • Like
Reactions: EugW
BeatCrazy said:
Didn’t all 2014 Mac minis with Fusion have a 128GB SSD?
Click to expand...
Correct. The 2014 Mac minis did indeed had/have a 128 GB Apple custom made PCI-Express type SSD.

The later iteration of some iMacs etc. with the Fusion Drives had lowered capacity SSDs (32, or in reality 28 GB).
 
  • Like
Reactions: EugW
George Dawes said:
2.8 ghz i5 , Fusion Drive and 8 gb ram
Click to expand...

That is the same spec as my better 2014 Mini. Got it for $500 new when B&H Photo was blowing them out following the introduction of the 2018 Mini. Incredibly, Apple was still selling these in their refurb store for about $1000 at that time!

I split the 1tb hard disk from the 128gb SSD (using a terminal command) and put the system on the SSD. It boots quickly and worked very well as an iTunes server with all my media on an external 4tb USB SSD. I think it would be fine for other basic tasks.

Unfortunately, on mine, the bearings seem to be going bad on the 1tb hard disk even though I don't use that drive. Makes a terrible noise when it's running although it seems to work fine. Honestly, I probably won't even bother to fix it because I just don't have a need and it's a big job to remove the hard drive. As I said, I replaced it with a bottom spec 2014 Mini and that also works fine as a media server, even though it only has 4gb RAM.

BeatCrazy said:
Didn’t all 2014 Mac minis with Fusion have a 128GB SSD?
Click to expand...

I think so. Mine certainly did. This is my original 128gb internal SSD, I don't think it's possible to get better than 800MB/sec on the 2014 Mini.

mini2014-128ssd.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: opeter and EugW
Boyd01 said:
I think so. Mine certainly did. This is my original 128gb internal SSD, I don't think it's possible to get better than 800MB/sec on the 2014 Mini.

View attachment 2234993
Click to expand...
For office type applications, that 800 MB/s is still more than sufficient. Faster than SATA SSDs anyway. Too bad your HD is making noise though, since as you said, it's a big pain to remove it.

However, if someone wanted to replace the SSD with a bigger one, that's easy too. Again, the procedure is to first upgrade to Monterey to update the firmware. Then remove the Apple SSD and replace with adapter and third party NVMe drive. The adapter is different in this case since the Mac mini already has a 128 GB SSD in it so it already has the SSD slot.

IMG_1476.jpg
 
I’m trying to update from sierra to Monterey , the installers been showing less than a minute for the last ten minutes …

Be amazed if it actually works tbh

Didn’t bother backing up as nothing very important on it



… well it worked! That’s a very pleasant surprise! Just updating to the latest version of Monterey ..
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back