How much life left in my Mac Mini 2012 (after recent RAM upgrade / HDD uprade)

[gumbaloom]

Hi all,

I have a 2.5Ghz Core2Duo Late 2012 model.

It currently it on file serving duties for my apple tv library and super duper back up of last resort Mac for work should I ever need it.

I've recently upgraded the HDD on it to a 4TB Toshiba SATA and I've just today stuck in 2 new 8GB ram sticks.

During the process it also got a good clean out of dust so it's not dust ridden any more.

My question is how much life do you think I have left in it based on the fact the "consumable" parts of RAM and memory have been refreshed recently ?.

At what point do people start to see component failures on the logic board / power supply usually?

-gumbaloom

 

[glenthompson]

Running the same model for similar purposes. I still have to original drive but added a usb SSD for the boot drive. All my storage is external. Expected life really depends on environmental factors. Bad power can affect the power supply. A household with smokers is very hard on circuitry. It’s now pushing ten years old which is the minimum I would expect from a desktop. If well cared for another 5 years might be easily achieved. Lack of software updates will be the main issue ongoing.

 

[gumbaloom]

Running the same model for similar purposes. I still have to original drive but added a usb SSD for the boot drive. All my storage is external. Expected life really depends on environmental factors. Bad power can affect the power supply. A household with smokers is very hard on circuitry. It’s now pushing ten years old which is the minimum I would expect from a desktop. If well cared for another 5 years might be easily achieved. Lack of software updates will be the main issue ongoing.

It was for quite some time on a surge protector circuit but is now on a 2 minute UPS.

Environment is home office in Japan - durin the summer air con is on full blast to keep humidity down - I HATE humidity

Non smoker household - I had cancer 10 years ago and would never touch the things.

It used to be used for dev quite heavily but when I was taking 2 minutes to compile my work app it got replaced by a 2018 Mini with 32GB ram. Now file server that's on it's 2nd memory / HDD upgrade. Was originally 2GB I think? and 500GB hdd.

 

[Fishrrman]

Minis are quite reliable, insofar as Macs go.
As long as it continues to run, keep using it.
Could be 2 more years, 4 more years, 6 years, ....???

 

[chevyboy60013]

I have an early 2014 MacBook Air 13 inch, use it pretty much every day quite extensively especially now being basically forced to work from home 3 days a week, even though I have a 2016 iMac I could use for work, if I am forced to work from home, I rather do it laying in bed so the air gets the use. just replaced the battery in it yesterday after using the original battery until then, recently did the OCLP patch discussed here to run the latest macOS Monterey and it works awesome. Considering getting a M1 Air just because, but my mom has a 2013 Mac mini with no upgrades to any of its hardware and running Catalina I think, should go there and update it to at least Big Sur but she uses it for 8-10 hours a day with no problems except had to replace the monitor and printer twice. It was her first Mac and she loves it, and will probably out last her.... lol.

 

[InuNacho]

Hi all,

I have a 2.5Ghz Core2Duo Late 2012 model.

It currently it on file serving duties for my apple tv library and super duper back up of last resort Mac for work should I ever need it.

I've recently upgraded the HDD on it to a 4TB Toshiba SATA and I've just today stuck in 2 new 8GB ram sticks.

During the process it also got a good clean out of dust so it's not dust ridden any more.

My question is how much life do you think I have left in it based on the fact the "consumable" parts of RAM and memory have been refreshed recently ?.

At what point do people start to see component failures on the logic board / power supply usually?

-gumbaloom

Hey there, I believe you mean an i5 and not C2D!

I rescued a 2011 from a scrapheap recently and am retooling it to be a file server in my parents home. I feel there is still plenty of life left in these machines, particularly with access to Thunderbolt and USB3.

Here is my 2012 cMBP 15" I recently retired from YEARS of abuse. I had used a script to make it compatible with an AMD WX4100 eGPU to do heavy lifting in terms of photo and video work. Despite being restricted to Thunderbolt 1, it was actually quite an enjoyable experience!
I'm not sure how common used parts are in your part of the world but I built this from an OWC Helios 1 and AMD WX4100. Realistically any graphics card can work in a Thunderbolt PCIe enclosure IF it meets the power requirements.

I do recommend that for all these older computers that you replace the thermal paste/pads on it.

 

[MBAir2010]

i just purchased a 2012 i7 mac mini recently last month that just needed a fan
and i hope to use this more than my MacBook air from 2010 which i can build a reputable website on from scratch.
the macmini can do anything photo editing and graphic design and stream a movie or two.

the sad note was today i used Snow leopard and Mountain lion for maybe 6 minutes each until i got bored.
Hopefully Mojave will not have that useless experience in 2027.