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How realistic is it to carry the Mini from Home to Work on a daily basis?

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benyben123

macrumors regular
Original poster
Sep 22, 2013
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So.... I am on a tight budget right now.

Was wondering how viable/realistic it is to carry the Mini with me on daily basis from home to the office. Use it as my main computer on both locations.

I will need to buy an extra power cord. I will obviously leave mouse and keyboard on each location (these are cheap).

Anyone thinks this is a good/bad idea?

The Mini is not that heavy.

I do wonder about the longevity of the connecters though (plugging it in and out every day - power, Etherenet).

Thanks for the advice guys!
 
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benyben123 said:
So.... I am on a tight budget right now.

Was wondering how viable/realistic it is to carry the Mini with me on daily basis from home to the office. Use it as my main computer on both locations.

I will need to buy an extra power cord. I will obviously leave mouse and keyboard on each location (these are cheap).

Anyone thinks this is a good/bad idea?

The Mini is not that heavy.

I do wonder about the longevity of the connecters though (plugging it in and out every day - power, Etherenet).

Thanks for the advice guys!
Click to expand...
I do exactly this ... although with COVID-19 that means it stays in the same place ...

Seriously though, As long as you take care with the connections and while transporting you should be fine doing this.

And we are to presume that in addition to a keyboard and mouse you have a monitor at each location? If not, and if you haven’t already acquired the Mini, then a laptop may be a better fit.

Good luck!
 
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benyben123 said:
appreciate the inputs!!!

yes, i do have 2 monitors at each location. i find it impossible to work on a laptop's screen. I guess too many years as a student on my 13" laptop made me sick of it.
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I've carried my mini to a friends house back and forth a few times but not every day. Perhaps you might consider getting a dock so it's just plugging in the one connection and power vs HDMI and all the other connections. Maybe after a while the connections might wear but I don't see how it would be any more or less than with a laptop. The mini would actually be a little more rugged because it doesn't have a screen.
 
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Thank you so much for the info. What dock do you mean?

I come from the Windows world so I am not too familiar with docs and peripherals.

Thx again
 
Boyd01 said:
If you're considering the new M1 Mini, spend a little time reading all the posts about monitor issues in this forum. Some people have become very frustrated. Even the 2018 Mini has some issues when using old monitors with HDMI adapters.
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Good point. There is also the problem with Bluetooth disconnects with the 2018 as well as the M1.
 
I was not aware of this. Thank you for pointing this out. Will start googling about this. Indeed, my monitors are all pretty crappy with HDMI (actually, one has only DVI in).

Thx again
 
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Do you work for yourself? It's the only instance in which I can tell that an employer would allow you to access their networks using a personal computer. Most outright block such access... for good reason.

Have you been bringing your own computer to work in the past and are now replacing it? Or is this the first time you actually have contemplated doing it?

Your setup at work needs to be identical to your setup at home, otherwise there is the potential of it not working when you get there. M1s have their quirks... most notedly with external displays.

If you are on a tight budget... why now? Too much hoopla around the M1 Macs right now... euphoria will wane as the next Macs are announced... akin to the meteoric rise of the 2020 iMac when announced to the absolute crickets about them now. Same will happen to these.

Is this really the machine you need? Or is it the machine you want? The latter is influenced by the influencers... the former is influenced by reality and reality has no qualms about budget because you either need to have it now or you don't. Sort of like a bill that has come due... you don't get to choose whether to pay a bill or not... it has to be paid.

Not a fan of connecting and disconnecting devices to ports more than absolutely necessary. The connectors are where it is going to break down first. And these things have zero repairability by design... unlike prior models.
 
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pmiles said:
Do you work for yourself? It's the only instance in which I can tell that an employer would allow you to access their networks using a personal computer. Most outright block such access... for good reason.

Have you been bringing your own computer to work in the past and are now replacing it? Or is this the first time you actually have contemplated doing it?

Your setup at work needs to be identical to your setup at home, otherwise there is the potential of it not working when you get there. M1s have their quirks... most notedly with external displays.

If you are on a tight budget... why now? Too much hoopla around the M1 Macs right now... euphoria will wane as the next Macs are announced... akin to the meteoric rise of the 2020 iMac when announced to the absolute crickets about them now. Same will happen to these.

Is this really the machine you need? Or is it the machine you want? The latter is influenced by the influencers... the former is influenced by reality and reality has no qualms about budget because you either need to have it now or you don't. Sort of like a bill that has come due... you don't get to choose whether to pay a bill or not... it has to be paid.

Not a fan of connecting and disconnecting devices to ports more than absolutely necessary. The connectors are where it is going to break down first. And these things have zero repairability by design... unlike prior models.
Click to expand...

this is a very (!!!) good post!!! thoughtful and insightful. I appreciate that! read it twice.
 
Back in 2005, as an ex-pat university teacher, I was after a computer that was easily occasionally transportable, but I didn't want a portable to tote everywhere every day. The Mac Mini arrived, and it was a fit for my needs. The original, then the 2009 (which I am still using) mostly sat on my desk, but a few times a term I took it to use in class with an LCD projector. It only took a minute or two to disconnect and hook up each end, and it was easy to transport in a backpack.

Time moved on and I was starting to need a computer in class every day, and the original HDD on the Mini was getting full. Beside that, having reached a certain age, a more itinerant phase of my life in my home country was in the offing. I bit the bullet and in 2018 I bought a MacBook Air, which I just used for work. Being able to open it in class, in my office, at home and anywhere made it far more suitable for my changed work requirements.

None the less, I do prefer work with a decently sized monitor, a full sized keyboard, a mouse, and a reasonable pair of speakers. In short I do prefer to use a desktop, but found having the laptop was more convenient for work at the time......

And coincidently now, having returned home to to find myself over aged and over experienced, but under qualified for the workforce in my home country, the itinerant phase has turned out to be longer than anticipated. But that is another story
 
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I'd say go for it. The only reason I use a laptop is that, despite the fact that I have monitors in every office, there are times I work on places where there is none at hand, but there should be no reason a mini can not work like you want it to, specially now that they have almost no moving parts.
 
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If you're on a budget, I'd say just look into refurbished or second-hand laptops because you're carrying it anyways, and the battery will be useful in cases like the power going out or if you just happen to need to use it on the go. Depending on what you actually need the computer for, you could even spend less than on the Mini you're looking at

Although looking into refurbished Minis wouldn't be a bad idea either and portability would still be feasible
 
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I have a Dell dock at both the office and home from a previous work supplied laptop. They work great with the Mac Mini. So, I only have to unplug and plug one USB-C cable at each end. I think it is a very doable solution until cash and Apple products stabilize. I haven’t looked, but would think that 3rd party docks would be fairly inexpensive and may save you wear and tear on the ports if that’s a concern.

For me, the Mini was the cheapest way back into the Mac ecosystem because I was able to recycle keyboards, mouse, trackpad and even an old Apple acrylic Cinema Display I had laying around the house.
 
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this has turned out to be a great thread! very informative.

@Micky Do thanks for the informative post. Yes, I do contemplate the two options indeed. The tight budget makes tend towards the Mini. But something else pushes me towards it: the Mini should be more reliable, robust. Less parts. Less options for needing a repair of a broken display, keyboard, and so forth.
 
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OP wrote:
"the Mini should be more reliable, robust. Less parts. Less options for needing a repair of a broken display, keyboard, and so forth."

I believe that of all Macs, the Minis have proven to be "most reliable" over their lifespans. A lot to do with the reasons you gave above.
 
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benyben123 said:
So.... I am on a tight budget right now.

Was wondering how viable/realistic it is to carry the Mini with me on daily basis from home to the office. Use it as my main computer on both locations.

I will need to buy an extra power cord. I will obviously leave mouse and keyboard on each location (these are cheap).

Anyone thinks this is a good/bad idea?

The Mini is not that heavy.

I do wonder about the longevity of the connecters though (plugging it in and out every day - power, Etherenet).

Thanks for the advice guys!
Click to expand...
qhy not buy an older MacBook online like eBay or FB marketplace? My wife and I started with old MacBooks and upgraded as needed later on, I did a lot of my undergrad in a 5-7 year old MacBook.
 
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I love my M1 base Mini so much that I am thinking of getting a second unit since it costs so low.

Compared to my 16" MBP which turned out to be flop (runs hot, noisy fans, low battery life, thermal throttling for simple tasks) and it's too heavy to carry back and forth....

The Mini is THE PERFECT machine IMO..
 
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