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I make a practice of keeping my OS and Apps on the SSD and data on NAS. Solves the problem of over use on the SSD and provides data files available where ever I may be or what ever device I have access to.

This is a good idea. An NAS can run automatic backups to another drive, and if it's attached to the internet via something like a VPN or "personal cloud" you can access the documents from many locations, like you say.
 
Of course, as usual, the extra charge for increasing the storage is the same as buying the better hard drive and throwing the default one away. The same goes with RAM. And we can no longer open it to make our own modifications despite it being a desktop tower with almost the same exact shell as one (the 2012 model) that used to be user-serviceable. Ridiculous.
 
I love my macs, but I think it's absolutely ridiculous that desktop computers (specifically the mini and 21") are unable to have their RAM upgraded at a later date. I can sort of understand MacBooks, I guess (maybe...not really)... but desktop computers should always be upgradeable. I mean I know "technically" you can but you all know what I mean.
 
Would someone mind explaining to me the difference between a flash storage option and a ssd storage option? I understand the fusion drive is a hybrid between a traditional disk drive and flash but what are the differences between flash and ssd?

Thank you in advance.
 
I bought the last 2012 - i7 quad available the day Apple robbed the Mini of any shred of compute power (aka manhood). What computer mfr makes a new model that's slower than the last! As to HDDs, I installed two 1 Tb Samsung 850 SSDs, with 950+ Mb/s throughput in raid 0. I'm very disappointed in Apples direction! Snow Leopard was the last good OS. The mini was the last computer for enthusiasts. The 2012 mini could be my last mac. If things don't change, Hackintosh here I come.
 
I think that I can say this for many potential Mac Mini buyers:

QUAD CORE! QUAD CORE! QUAD CORE!

If only they'd silently add that option...

I am sure the 2.8 GHz quad-core / 1 TB SSD Mac Mini arrives first half of this year when the supply issues are handled.
 
Oh YAY, wow, like this really helps, apple knows they screwed up with the Mac mini last year and people are upset. #
 
Would someone mind explaining to me the difference between a flash storage option and a ssd storage option? I understand the fusion drive is a hybrid between a traditional disk drive and flash but what are the differences between flash and ssd?

Thank you in advance.

Flash and SSD are interchangeable. SSD stands for Solid-State Drive. Meaning the internals of the drive are "solid-state" flash memory chips. Similar to what you'd find in a USB flash drive you put on a key ring (but typically with much faster performance thanks to more advanced disk controllers onboard).
 
Count yourself lucky that you don't yet know the true joys of maintaining a hackintosh. Want to upgrade from Mavericks to Yosemite? Perhaps you wanted to months ago, but you still haven't because a simple upgrade becomes a major project. Say you have 3 Macs or MacBooks and one hackintosh. Guess which one you'll be spending the most time tinkering with and maintaining (more time than all the others combined)? There will nearly always be something that doesn't work right. And if it's only one thing you should probably be happy.

A hackintosh has value as a hobbyist's project, and in this role I think it actually benefits Apple more than it hurts them - eventually growing their customer base. This is probably why they haven't cracked down on them in a significant way.

I suppose it's conceivable that an IT staff could come out ahead if they had many identical hackintosh machines they maintained. But most companies wouldn't want to do this. In the end almost everybody's better off just spending the money for a Mac Pro (or whichever model is appropriate for the task) - especially if that machine makes money for them! If time costs anything, the hackintosh is usually more expensive.


BTW, I'm hoping that Apple handicapped the Mac Mini because Intel delayed the release of the processors they were going to use in them. If Apple is wise, I believe they should make the next Mac Pro start at 6-cores, and bring 4-cores back to the Mac Mini as an option. This should be technically feasible with Intel's recent/upcoming processor releases.

I said "shouldn't be much different" not because I haven't ever maintained a hackintosh, but I haven't done it in a while. It was kinda a pain back when I did it years ago on a 2005 Dell Inspiron, so I just bought a MacBook Pro once I had the money in 2008 after I started doing freelance while in school. But I still did it. My custom built PCs were mostly for gaming, and the parts I had in them (since I didn't build them for a hackintosh) didn't have compatible kexts for several of the more critical components.

However, from what I've been reading over the last year or two, it's fairly affordable and easy to put together a small box with parts from NewEgg or wherever people buy their parts nowadays (I've been out of the game for a while—NewEgg was a savior after dealing with TigerDirect mail catalogs for years). At least it seems a lot easier than it was back in the early days of hackintosh. 9to5Mac and Lifehacker have put together and pointed to some good guides. It's definitely true that if you dive into the world of hackintosh, you can pretty much plan on staying put for a while on each version. That's not really a huge con for me though as new releases of OS X lately have been pretty buggy on the well spec'd Apple machines that I use, which is pretty ridiculous since Apple makes the software for a limited number of machines that they design themselves.

I said "somewhat knowledgeable" because my grandpa, who is only somewhat knowledgeable about computers, was able to build his own PC and was always having to deal with broken drivers and stuff like that, but he just considered that part of the ownership and maintenance of a PC. Then after years of PC use he switched to Macs and learned them. So people who are just somewhat computer saavy can do it if they take the time to do some tutorials. In 6th grade I was so bad with computers that I wasn't even sure how to do basic stuff like save files in Word, but by 7th grade I was using Photoshop and Illustrator, by 8th grade I was making websites, by 9th grade I was programming my own word processor, and by 10th grade I was building my own computers. Just taught myself as I went. People can learn, they just don't trust themselves enough to do it. I was growing up as the web was exploding and that was a huge resource that helped get me started. I'm not saying it would be easy, but I'm saying that most anyone who is halfway decent with a computer can teach themselves. With all the resources available today it would seem that it's easier than ever.
 
I said "shouldn't be much different" not because I haven't ever maintained a hackintosh, but I haven't done it in a while. It was kinda a pain back when I did it years ago on a 2005 Dell Inspiron, so I just bought a MacBook Pro once I had the money in 2008 after I started doing freelance while in school. But I still did it. My custom built PCs were mostly for gaming, and the parts I had in them (since I didn't build them for a hackintosh) didn't have compatible kexts for several of the more critical components.

However, from what I've been reading over the last year or two, it's fairly affordable and easy to put together a small box with parts from NewEgg or wherever people buy their parts nowadays (I've been out of the game for a while—NewEgg was a savior after dealing with TigerDirect mail catalogs for years). At least it seems a lot easier than it was back in the early days of hackintosh. 9to5Mac and Lifehacker have put together and pointed to some good guides. It's definitely true that if you dive into the world of hackintosh, you can pretty much plan on staying put for a while on each version. That's not really a huge con for me though as new releases of OS X lately have been pretty buggy on the well spec'd Apple machines that I use, which is pretty ridiculous since Apple makes the software for a limited number of machines that they design themselves.

I said "somewhat knowledgeable" because my grandpa, who is only somewhat knowledgeable about computers, was able to build his own PC and was always having to deal with broken drivers and stuff like that, but he just considered that part of the ownership and maintenance of a PC. Then after years of PC use he switched to Macs and learned them. So people who are just somewhat computer saavy can do it if they take the time to do some tutorials. In 6th grade I was so bad with computers that I wasn't even sure how to do basic stuff like save files in Word, but by 7th grade I was using Photoshop and Illustrator, by 8th grade I was making websites, by 9th grade I was programming my own word processor, and by 10th grade I was building my own computers. Just taught myself as I went. People can learn, they just don't trust themselves enough to do it. I was growing up as the web was exploding and that was a huge resource that helped get me started. I'm not saying it would be easy, but I'm saying that most anyone who is halfway decent with a computer can teach themselves. With all the resources available today it would seem that it's easier than ever.

Haha, I could be your grandpa ... I used to build all my own PCs because it didn't like the crap that dell an hp put out, they were cheap and not easy to upgrade. I loaded a Hackintosh on my last pc. The mini was a quality build , and with a little skill, upgradable. The latest mini breaks my heart. :( I don't want to build my own, but I also don't want a machine that's welded shut or has a penny pinched design like the above mentioned vendors.

I'm just glad to say I have the best mini ever made (2012), with a kickass 2 Tb SSD raid 0!
 
Poor sales of the 2014 Mini are because of Apple's boneheaded decision to solder the RAM and remove the quad-core option (and use non-standard screws to keep owners out). They have only themselves to blame.

I'll bet the refurb 2012 Mini sales are out-selling the 2014's by a good bit.
 
N
And most of those who were marketing SSDs were happy for people to get the impression they'd last a quarter of a century or more, and were more reliable than HDDs. Perhaps they are more reliable now - but I still hope you have a backup!

In theory, HDD has a higher chance of failing than SSD due to the mechanical movement. But SSDs are still limited by the amount of writes it can handle. SSD life really depends on how it's used than the actual hardware itself. There are technology to try to make the limit higher though. Maybe a couple more years.
 
I said "shouldn't be much different" not because I haven't ever maintained a hackintosh, but I haven't done it in a while. It was kinda a pain back when I did it years ago on a 2005 Dell Inspiron, so I just bought a MacBook Pro once I had the money in 2008 after I started doing freelance while in school. But I still did it. My custom built PCs were mostly for gaming, and the parts I had in them (since I didn't build them for a hackintosh) didn't have compatible kexts for several of the more critical components.

I said "somewhat knowledgeable" because my grandpa, who is only somewhat knowledgeable about computers, was able to build his own PC and was always having to deal with broken drivers and stuff like that, but he just considered that part of the ownership and maintenance of a PC. Then after years of PC use he switched to Macs and learned them.

... but I'm saying that most anyone who is halfway decent with a computer can teach themselves. With all the resources available today it would seem that it's easier than ever.

I think I understand now, that makes sense.

I didn't even consider the physical assembly of the hardware to be an issue, though I suppose it is for some. Building your own Windows (or Linux) machine is much easier than building a successful hackintosh - because of the software's requirements. The main problem with the hackintosh is you can't just settle in to a normal routine once you've got it working, because software updates are inevitable (and frequent).

And I do think it is easier now, with better guides and support. Plus you're right about Apple's OS software seemingly getting buggier. But this doesn't negate the more difficult, additional problems you incur when you "kludge" the software to run on your own machine.
 
Poor sales of the 2014 Mini are because of Apple's boneheaded decision to solder the RAM and remove the quad-core option (and use non-standard screws to keep owners out). They have only themselves to blame.

I'll bet the refurb 2012 Mini sales are out-selling the 2014's by a good bit.

Hopefully poor sales won't be perceived as a lack of interest leading Apple to get rid of the mini.
 
Are the sales poor? Sure Apple have upset the bloggers by not turning the mini into a single GPU pro, but aside from that it's still plenty of computer for most people. And it's as cheap as it's ever been.

I'd have said that would lead to quite good sales.
 
YIt's fairly clear that Apple was trying to kill of the Mini when they gutted its features last autumn. If they're going this far then why not make it the size of an Apple TV? At least do something better than same old box but slower. Ridiculous.

Oh, come on! My brand new mini is quite fast. I'm using it now! I'd say more, but the company Christmas party is in a couple of hours and I need to send this. Merry Christmas!
 
Oh, come on! My brand new mini is quite fast. I'm using it now! I'd say more, but the company Christmas party is in a couple of hours and I need to send this. Merry Christmas!

I was really confused and then OOHHHHH.

Merry Christmas.
 
Nope.

That requires a completely different motherboard.

And if you look up the Intel announcements at CES for the new version of the i7, there was no quad core mentioned.

Well, yes, there have never been quad core ULV chips. The question becomes why they went with ULV in the first place. Normal mobile will be out by the time they refresh the Mini anyway.
 
Flash and SSD are interchangeable. SSD stands for Solid-State Drive. Meaning the internals of the drive are "solid-state" flash memory chips. Similar to what you'd find in a USB flash drive you put on a key ring (but typically with much faster performance thanks to more advanced disk controllers onboard).

Thank you Blackstick.
 
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