In love with my old (2014) mini, waiting for an Ice Lake mini.

[Populus]

Hello. Some months ago I decided to substitute my old 2010 MacBook Pro, my only machine which I used as desktop and portable device, with a 2014 Mac mini (used but in pristine conditions) AND an 11” iPad Pro as a portable device. But I’m not going to talk about how amazing the iPad Pro is as a portable device, as this thread is focused on the Mac mini.

The first thing I did to this mini was to exchange the internal hard drive for a fast SSD of 1TB. The second, install Catalina on it. And this machine flies.

I bought this devices for two reasons: 1) for experimenting with this new setup (a desktop for desktop things, without worrying about heating and battery health) and 2) because the MacBook Pro I’ve been waiting FOR YEARS still hasn’t been released as of February 2020. Yeah, I would have bought the Ice Lake MacBook Pro back in 2017 or 2018, with a 10nm CPU, a good integrated GPU, a reliable keyboard etc... but you know the story right??

So I bought this used 2014 mini as an experiment. A cheap one honestly because it was a bargain, and since then, I’ve come to love the mini form factor and philosophy. Keep in mind tho, I’ve never liked iMacs because of the issues they usually present, but the mini is easy to repair, to replace the thermal paste, to add more RAM in new models, etc. I’m in love with the mini.

So now I’m looking forward for the next iteration with an Ice Lake processor. More silent, more powerful, with a much better integrated graphics card, Thunderbolt 4, bigger SSDs... and cores, more cores.

To be fair I wouldn’t mind a Ryzen 3 powered Mac mini, as long as it carries a powerful gpu and a good dissipation system (silent but powerful, maybe with a vapor chamber?). Intel Ice Lake or Ryzen 3 I don’t mind, but I need more cores, and here’s why:

I’ve been learning to use Handbrake to compress some videos, and I’m finding my dual core mini ‘a bit limited’ for that task. For now I can live with it as it is otherwise a fast machine, but in 2020 dual cores are starting to be a thing of the past.

I was going to open a “waiting for the 2020 Mac mini” but I thought that maybe people are not as enthusiastic about a newer generation as people on the MacBook Pro sub-forum. And I understand them, I’ve been a MacBook Pro user for almost 10 years.

What do you expect from a 2020 Mac mini? We’ll see an Ice Lake powered mini at some point? A perfect machine with a good integrated GPU? A smaller mini form factor due to the lower power demands of new CPUs? Let me know your desires for the next Max mini iteration!!!

 

[Boyd01]

Not all 2014 Mini's are created equal.... which one are you "in love" with? The base model with the 1.4ghz i5 and 4gbRAM is really a terrible machine - I have one but no longer use it. Then there is a 2.6ghz i5 Mini and a 2.8ghz i5 Mini (I have one of these with 8gb and SSD, and it's pretty nice). The top 2014 Mini had a 3.0ghz dual core i7 CPU. The 2014 Mini's could have up to 16gb of memory, which is not upgradeable. I also have the top model 2012 Mini with a quad 2.6ghz i7, 16gb RAM and SSD. That machine is about 1.5x faster than the top of the line 2014 Mini, and about the same geekbench rating as the entry level 2018 Mini.

 

[Populus]

You’re absolutely right, and obviously I don’t own a base model 2014 mini, but a higher one. That base model has to be pretty terrible its performance nowadays, especially with just 4GB of RAM.

My mini has 8GB of RAM, but thanks to the SSD that seems not to be an issue. Although, to be fair, recently I don’t see a big use of RAM. Before mounting this SSD, the first owner had it on Mojave, where I used Safari and Chrome as browsers, and paired with a mechanical hard drive the RAM was actually a limitation sometimes. BUT (don’t ask me why) since I put the SSD, I performed a fresh installation of Catalina, and using only Safari and Brave as web browsers, I haven’t had a high RAM pressure anymore. Is it because of Catalina? Is it thanks to the SSD? Maybe replacing Chrome for Brave? I honestly don’t know, but right now it performs solidly. But, as you can imagine, any CPU demanding task is gonna suffer.

 

[tpivette89]

Chrome is a known RAM hog. That's probably where your usage dropped.

As far as a 2020 Mini, no one knows whether Apple will release a refresh to the late 2018 Mini so soon. It took them 4 years to update it last time, a 2 year refresh cycle would seem like a dream come true at this point.

That being said, if the DID do it this year, my wish list is an 8-core CPU option, and keep the upgradeable RAM. I doubt we will see dedicated graphics (the Mini hasn't had this since the 2011 model), or removable internal storage (due to the T2 chip).

 

[iAssimilated]

As for a new mini, that would definitely be nice, but I wouldn't count on it happening either. I have a top of the line 2014 as well as a top of the line 2018 and have to say the 2014 isn't even close to how awesome the 2018 model is, the hex core processor in the 2018 mini blows away any other mini ever made! On top of that, my 2018 mini is faster than my work quad core Mac Pro 2012. That really says something when an i7 can beat a Xeon processor. This is also due to the fact the 2018 mini has a desktop class processor vs. the previous laptop class processors in the older minis. I can not overstate how awesome this i7 is and I barely tax the thing with my usage. If a new mini isn't released and you want a smoking fast Mac, then do not hesitate to purchase the 2018 mini.

 

[Populus]

As for a new mini, that would definitely be nice, but I wouldn't count on it happening either. I have a top of the line 2014 as well as a top of the line 2018 and have to say the 2014 isn't even close to how awesome the 2018 model is, the hex core processor in the 2018 mini blows away any other mini ever made! On top of that, my 2018 mini is faster than my work quad core Mac Pro 2012. That really says something when an i7 can beat a Xeon processor. This is also due to the fact the 2018 mini has a desktop class processor vs. the previous laptop class processors in the older minis. I can not overstate how awesome this i7 is and I barely tax the thing with my usage. If a new mini isn't released and you want a smoking fast Mac, then do not hesitate to purchase the 2018 mini.

Yeah yeah, if it was now, probably I’d get a 2018 Mac mini. However, I didn’t want to spend too much when I made this change, last year, because I didn’t know how the [Mac mini + iPad Pro] combo would work replacing my 2010 MacBook Pro, and maybe going back to a new 2020 MacBook Pro (selling the mini and the iPad) was an option. I had to give me a bit of time to get used to the new devices, before making any decision. Now, I’m pretty sure that I’ll stay on an iPad Pro (with a mini at home) unless I’m required to use Windows software like Power BI or SPSS on the university. Until then, I’m more than happy to use the iPad Pro at the uni and my mini at home.

Another aspect that discouraged me from getting a 2018 mini, was the poor integrated graphics card. It’s said that with the new Intel processors the integrated GPU will be much more powerful. So, for now, I’m happy with the 2014 mini, the SSD works wonders, and with the next iteration of Mac mini, hopefully with a 10nm octa-core and a decent Intel GPU, I will make the jump, this time with at least 32GB of RAM. For now I still don‘t need such power, I’m still beginning to learn software like Final Cut Pro and such.

 

[iAssimilated]

Yeah yeah, if it was now, probably I’d get a 2018 Mac mini. However, I didn’t want to spend too much when I made this change, last year, because I didn’t know how the [Mac mini + iPad Pro] combo would work replacing my 2010 MacBook Pro, and maybe going back to a new 2020 MacBook Pro (selling the mini and the iPad) was an option. I had to give me a bit of time to get used to the new devices, before making any decision. Now, I’m pretty sure that I’ll stay on an iPad Pro (with a mini at home) unless I’m required to use Windows software like Power BI or SPSS on the university. Until then, I’m more than happy to use the iPad Pro at the uni and my mini at home.

Another aspect that discouraged me from getting a 2018 mini, was the poor integrated graphics card. It’s said that with the new Intel processors the integrated GPU will be much more powerful. So, for now, I’m happy with the 2014 mini, the SSD works wonders, and with the next iteration of Mac mini, hopefully with a 10nm octa-core and a decent Intel GPU, I will make the jump, this time with at least 32GB of RAM. For now I still don‘t need such power, I’m still beginning to learn software like Final Cut Pro and such.

Understandable. My fear is there will be no good way to add an octa core processor (especially a desktop class processor) plus a dGPU in the mini's casing with proper cooling. Hopefully I am wrong. Although, I am glad the 2014 mini is working for you! I'm a huge mini fan 😁

 

[Populus]

Understandable. My fear is there will be no good way to add an octa core processor (especially a desktop class processor) plus a dGPU in the mini's casing with proper cooling. Hopefully I am wrong. Although, I am glad the 2014 mini is working for you! I'm a huge mini fan 😁

No, no, I’m not talking about a dedicated GPU. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the Iris Graphics on the new Ice Lake and Tiger Lake processors. They have like double the power than current integrated Intel GPUs. Think of it as an AMD APU, more or less.