Help with a Mac Mini purchase, 2012 or 2014?

Surely the choice between a 2012 and a 2014 comes down to price, specs and condition. If you can get one that is Apple refurbished and comes with a warranty, that's also something to consider.

There is more that can be upgraded with the 2012, but the usefulness of that depends on whether you are prepared to do the work yourself or are prepared to hire someone to do it.

There are a lot of people on this forum who like to rubbish the 2014 because it isn't as upgradable. They are talking through their hats. It's all about price, condition and specs. Here is a current thread about my personal, highly positive experience with a 2014 mini: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2018-mini-2014-mini-luna-ipad-display-music.2171149/

I own both a 2018 mini and a 2014, and the 2014 has become my day to day computer. Indeed, it's what I'm writing on now.

 

DO NOT buy a 2014 Mini UNLESS it has at least 8gb of RAM, because the RAM -is not- upgradeable, and you need at least 8gb these days.

If the 2014 Mini has a platter-based drive inside, you can buy a cheap USB3 SSD, plug it in, and set that up to be the boot drive. Doing this will GREATLY improve the performance. It's VERY easy to do.

But again, get at least 8gb of RAM!

 

I would just stay away from the base 1.4ghz/4gb 2014 Mini. I use one as an iTunes server and it's fine for that one task, but it's painfully slow for other things. For example, it takes about 40 seconds just to open System Preferences. Yes, you could improve that by adding a SSD, etc, but it's just not worth the effort. For $300 you should be able to get one of the better 2014 Mini's, or a 2012.

 

I have a 2013 MacBook Air and had a 2011 before that. You are not going to be happy going from a SSD-based machine to a Mini with a spinning hard drive. Just sayin'...

 

I just bought another new mini from B&H. This time it was a late 2014 8GB RAM 1TB Fusion for $649. You can also get AC+ for it. It will be here tomorrow. I am going to use it for specific tasks that the 2018 can't do, due to OS restrictions.

Op, the sale price for this particular mini is still good at B&H. Inventory is limited.

 

I was in the right place at the right time and was given one of these a couple of weeks ago. It’s great for everyday computing, and given how I’m using it I love the 1TB of Fusion storage. More info on mine, and what I’m using it for, here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/2018-mini-2014-mini-luna-display-music.2171149/

It has replaced my 2018 mini for day-to-day use.

I think that $650 new is an attractive price for it.

 

I use my macmini 2012 with the 4gb ram, even works running mojave!

 

I can confirm this is a dreadful machine. Just abysmal.

It is the computer equivalent of walking in 4 feet of snow. Even web surfing on that thing is an absolute chore. Avoid at all costs.

 

I would only get a 2014 if it had 16GB RAM and an SSD - and if it was significantly cheaper than the entry-level 2018 model.
Else I'd look for a bargain on a 2012 i7 model.
The 2014 has a slightly better GPU - but neither the 2012 nor the 2014 can drive a 4K display.

With 16GB RAM and a decent SSD, the 2012 i7 is still a good computer for almost all everyday tasks.
There's a good chance it will receive an OS upgrade after Mojave this fall and there should be a larger selection of used 2018 models on the market in 2021.

 

Not sure what your uses are but one thing to consider:

Currently the 2012 is the earliest model that is supported by Mojave which means if you buy a 2012, in a couple years Mac will stop providing you with OS updates (maybe as early as this year).

Also the 2012 doesn’t support some of the handoff features that I use all the time. I love being able to copy from my phone and paste on my computer and vice verse and unlock my computer with my Apple Watch. Stuff like that isn’t supported by the 2012.

 

Hmm, I'd better keep at it on my job hunt, and come summer I guess I'd better start saving up so I can prepare to replace my 2012 quad-core Mac Mini with a 2018 6-core i5 Mac Mini configured with 1 TB of SSD storage. With education pricing (as I am a college student) that would run me to near $1600!

 

I cycle my family's Mac computers when the "expiration date" starts to hit. They hold their resell value surprisingly well but that changes once they don't support the latest OS. I just sold my son's 2012 Macbook Air, and "upgraded" everyone in the family (with me getting the new 2018 mini lol). If you can resell your 2012, it takes at least a little bite out of the cost of a new one.

 

Once I get a 2018 Mac Mini, I may still hold on to my 2012 Mini but in storage; if it won't support Mac OS 10.15, I can still use it to run certain 32-bit apps from time to time.
Now that I think of it, my late 2009 MacBook may need to be replaced first, since it was no longer supported for new OS versions last year. I may get a newer MacBook Pro or maybe even a MacBook Air to replace that later this year, then I would get a new Mini the next year.