Mac Mini 2012

[streamtech]

Hi

I'm looking to dip into the Apple eco system without making a significant initial purchase.

Typical use case for myself

1: Running Term2 or similar for access to the Linux OS
2: PHP Development - i.e PHPStorm
3: Running Sketch or similar web design prototyping apps
4: Running Photoshop for basic image manipulation

I would never have cause to use a laptop keyboard or work from a laptop screen.

This would purely be a desktop setup to plug into a 2560 x 1440 monitor on Displayport.

I was looking at at 2012 Mac Mini i7 quad core; and then sticking in 16GB RAM and an SSD. I don't really want to pay someone else
for the privilege of performing the upgrade if I can save money doing it myself. It looks really easy vs PC builds I had done in the past.

Is it me, or are the prices of these 8 year old boxes over inflated on eBay at the moment?
Looking at completed listings, the prices range from around £250 up to £400 ish.

I can purchase brand new for £740 on Amazon a 3.6GHz quad-core 8th-generation Intel Core i3 processor, 8GB RAM, 256GB model.


Whats the better option? Hold out and hope for a bargin on eBay for a 2012 i7, or just splash out on the new box ?

I'm thinking the newer model as O/S obsoletion must surely be knocking on the door for the 2012 kit. However the eBay prices suggest there is a strong market for these still.


Thanks

 

[2ilent8cho]

I would go with the brand new one, Apple have already made it vintage along with the 2012 Macbook Air and Macbook Pro so its days of getting the latest OS's are numbered.

 

[ChpTrk]

I 2nd getting a brand new one. The 2012 was good, but the current model is so much better. Do NOT get a 2014 model. They were a horrible step backwards.

 

[nylonsteel]

Short answer -
go 2012 mm 2.6ghz quad i7
fusion drive (was good to me)
upgrade ram easy
still use it as back up to my new custom build late 2018 mm

 

[mpConroe]

Don't buy a 8 year old computer, which soon will be considered as "obsolete"!

They hold value as crazy, I bought mine 2012 Mac mini years ago for the same amount of money - about £250.

Buying brand new model is a good option - especially when they bumped the SSD configurations.

 

[streamtech]

Its looking more like a new Mac mini. Of course, if I go this route I then need to decide between the processors

i5 (256 GB SSD 8 GB RAM) £740
i6 (512 GB SSD 8 GB RAM) £1019


Apple are very good at teasing money out of us aren't they

 

[spooklog]

I recently purchased the i5 with a 512 GB solid-state drive and 8 GB RAM. It is wonderfully fast; opening even big programs like MS Word is instantaneous, thanks to the SSD. I like to keep many things open at the same time, however, and I noticed that all of the 8 GB Ram is being used (Apple News, Safari, MS Edge, Spotify, Calendar, Evernote, Nisus Writer, Scrivener). Even so, the machine is incredibly nimble.

I encourage you to think about getting a new i5, though bear in mind you may want to add RAM later. If you've worked on building PCs you are ahead of the game, but please remember that upgrading a Mini and building a desktop PC is like night and day. I've built a variety of desktop PCs in my day, but I was taken by surprise when I tried to install an SSD in my old 2012 Mini. I had watched several Youtube tutorials and expected it to be straightforward; in truth, it was like performing heart surgery. The interior of the Mini is finicky and fragile, so it's very important to have patience, to go slowly, to have excellent light and to have the right tools at hand.

 

[streamtech]

Of course there had to be news stories now appearing stating that an announcement is due on ARM CPUS at the WWDC later this month.

I'm not quite sure how that affects everything i.e would it mean a move away from Linux? (show stopper for me) , but perhaps I'd better wait until the conference at least.

 

[4sallypat]

I have the 2012 2.6GHz i7 CTO Mini and love it.

Originally, I had an external Transcend SSD Thunderbolt drive that ran super quick.
Though recently, with the lower cost of SATA SSD drives, I upgraded the dual HDD to dual SSD and runs like a cheetah!

And runs on an Apple Thunderbolt 27" display beautifully & perfectly.

It's nice to have a Mini that I can change parts, upgrades, repair, and have the flexibility to change OS from Mavericks all the way to Catalina!

 

[Boyd01]

I have a 2012 quad core 2.6ghz i7 Mini Server with 16gb RAM and original internal Apple 256gb SSD. I usually boot it from a 1TB Samsung T3 USB SSD however. This has been a great machine for me and still meets most of my needs. That being said, I would not buy one today - for reasons that have already been posted here.

Just looking at CPU, it still holds its own pretty well - GeekBench score is basically the same as the 2018 i3 Mini. And I find it surprising that the top-of-the-line i6 six-core Mini CPU is only about twice as fast for multi-core and just 50% faster for single core. But the onboard HD4000 graphics chip is really showing its age and is arguably the weakest part of the 2012 Mini, which limits your monitor options. It also has interfaces that are much slower than the new Mini, and of course the new Mini can also support much more RAM.

I'm planning to get a new i7 Mini when the right one appears at the Apple refurb store. This might be a long wait, but that's fine since I'm not in a hurry (it has been two weeks now since any Mini's have dropped in the US refurb store). If you are patient, a refurb 2018 Mini is the way to go IMO, they are typically about 15% cheaper than a new computer yet they have the same warranty and support from Apple. There are quite a variety of configurations available, but they don't last long, so you need to check often and be prepared to buy when one appears.

 

[streamtech]

It seems the 2012 quad model hit the sweet spot. I'm a little jealous to be honest, that I didn't jump on the bandwagon earlier.

The UK Apple refurbish store doesn't seem to have had any mini's in recently either. I guess this could be down to the current world situation.

I might get lucky and spot a bargain second hand device somewhere, but if the over priced (in my opinion) 2012's on eBay are anything to go by I will be disappointed.

If not, lets see what gets revealed at the Dev conference.

 

[spatlese44]

That being said, I would not buy one today - for reasons that have already been posted here.

I remember the day I bought mine and I was on the fence about the quad core and then thought I'd go for it. It's been a nice computer and I did upgrade just as you plan, but it's days are numbered. Seriously, if I had any financial sense I would sell it right now and go for a new one. I can't understand why these are going for what they are on the market. I sold an earlier model one and sort of regret it. I plan on keeping it and hooking it up to a TV for occasional use (I have an Apple TV already).

I like to think of my ownership of Apple devices in terms of cost per year. Mac Mini 2012: lets call it $800 over eight years, that's about $100 a year of ownership. Now you buy one for half that price and it's no longer supported in a year from now. Maybe some sort of CPU farm that needs the processing power and nothing else could justify that.

 

[andychelt]

Another vote for a new Mac Mini here ?

I originally had a 2011 which was great, and upgraded with SSD kept it fairly quick, but when the AMD6630 Graphics chip died I was looking at a 2012 but moved to a 2018 base refurb from eBay for at the time a bargain price of £560 with a years warranty. I didn’t quite expect it to be so much quicker. The T2 chip in particular helps massively with things like handbrake. It also handles 4K video playback which my 2011 struggled with.

The only downside for the 2018 is the LED is on constantly even when the Mini is sleeping, whereas the 2011 I used to like the way the LED gently pulsed when asleep mimicking breathing ?

 

[Boyd01]

If you want a refurb, you need to just constantly check throughout the day. Nothing at all in the US for about two weeks, but during the three preceeding weeks, several new ones were added over the first few days of the week with just about every possible configuration, starting at $600 USD on up to $2550 for a maxxed-out i7. They all sold quickly however, and by Friday there were none.