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Mac mini 2014 questions.

bigpoppamac31 said:
Computers slow down over time. The OS and Apps and whatnot become bigger and more extensive which required more ram. Look at video games. At one point there was no games which even came close to being multiple gigs in file size and requiring 1gb or more of video ram (or system ram). Now look at the gaming landscape.
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They also require higher cpu speeds, gpu speeds and more storage space.
 
redheeler said:
Who, and link please.
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https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1833665/
post #13

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redheeler said:
All of which the OP gets by upgrading from the base model.
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True. The mid-range mini is a powerful machine.
However from my 25 years of computing experience I can tell you, that by the time the specs won't work anymore for the OP, the mini will be obsolete either way.
The key is to buy exactly what you need right now and buy something new, when technology has advanced.

He will not get longer usage out of a base mini than out of a mid range mini.
He will sooner or later complain that they are sluggish either way and RAM will not be the culprit.
 
bigpoppamac31 said:
Computers slow down over time. The OS and Apps and whatnot become bigger and more extensive which required more ram. Look at video games. At one point there was no games which even came close to being multiple gigs in file size and requiring 1gb or more of video ram (or system ram). Now look at the gaming landscape.
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Yes, you're right. But you shouldn't be buying a computer today based on what you're going to be doing with it five years from now. That leads to literally investing money in a computer based on long-term future returns that none of us can predict with much certainty. What you end up with is way more computer than you need in year 1 and too little performance (or just lack of modern hardware features) in year 5, no matter how much you think you're "future-proofing". Spend less now and think shorter-term, reduce the performance roller-coaster and allows you to stay current with technology.

BTW, sorry, in my previous post I didn't mean to imply you were trying to "sucker" anyone... I meant they had "sucked" themselves into a meaningless argument. And a "goose" doesn't know it's leading a chase... it's just going where it wants to go. 😉
 
Meister said:
He will not get longer usage out of a base mini than out of a mid range mini.
He will sooner or later complain that they are sluggish either way and RAM will not be the culprit.
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Eventually RAM will be the culprit, but first it will be the lack of an SSD in the base model, which you yourself said makes a huge difference.
 
bigpoppamac31 said:
I do that but it's not always enough.

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Cause activity monitor lists safari as using the most resources. I only have my iPhone right now so I can't try an example.
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Not to sound condescending, but I get this literally all the time. When you quit apps, you don't just click the red upper left icon, do you? cmd+q, or click the app name in the menu bar, then quit.

Regarding Fusion Drive, trust our fellow posters. I literally notice no difference between my Fusion iMac and my all SSD rMBP 2014. And I'm using way more than the SSD portion. You see, OS X doesn't just move files around. It moves blocks (small pieces of files.).
I was going to argue that the processor/GPU setup may be a little too slow, but if you won't do anything intensive with it, well, it's way more than enough.
 
casperes1996 said:
Not to sound condescending, but I get this literally all the time. When you quit apps, you don't just click the red upper left icon, do you? cmd+q, or click the app name in the menu bar, then quit.

Regarding Fusion Drive, trust our fellow posters. I literally notice no difference between my Fusion iMac and my all SSD rMBP 2014. And I'm using way more than the SSD portion. You see, OS X doesn't just move files around. It moves blocks (small pieces of files.).
I was going to argue that the processor/GPU setup may be a little too slow, but if you won't do anything intensive with it, well, it's way more than enough.
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No I hear you. I do actually quit the app. I don't do anything graphically intensive. Some light photo editing. A big thing for me is reading hence why I had been leaning towards a rMBP. I have perfect vision. But the retina display makes text so much nicer.
 
I know the feeling. I just found a good deal on a base model 15.4 MacBook pro. Only 1024. Not a bad deal considering a refurb is 1525 after tax. Took a while to find a decent deal though. Most people were asking for 1200 for 2012 models with only hd4000.

You could maybe check ebay for used 2014 minis with the upgrades you want. Could save you a little.
 
casperes1996 said:
...Regarding Fusion Drive, trust our fellow posters. I literally notice no difference between my Fusion iMac and my all SSD rMBP 2014. And I'm using way more than the SSD portion...
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My experience with FD mirrors this one. We have a pair of second generation i7 Windows laptops at the job. The 2012 mini with a FD delivers similar or better performance to the older SSD boosted hardware. The 2014 PCIe minis should be screamers whether they are equipped with SSD or FD.

By the way, the 5400rpm HDD component does not hamper anything that I have noticed. Apparently, the Core Storage management routines and SSD speed mask the inherent sluggish nature of the HDD. I remember when the FD was first released, folks were concerned about the use of a slower hard disk in a high-performance storage solution.
 
So I ordered the mid level 2014 Mac mini with fusion drive and left it with 8gb ram. On the side I ordered an iPad mini 2 retina 32gb for my portable needs. For now I'll use my Mac mini with my 1080p Hdtv until I find a decent computer monitor. Thanks for all the feedback. Once it arrives I'll post on how things go. Also I got 15% off my order cause my brother works at the Apple Store so he gets a certain number of family and friend discounts per year. 😀
 
Celerondon said:
My experience with FD mirrors this one. We have a pair of second generation i7 Windows laptops at the job. The 2012 mini with a FD delivers similar or better performance to the older SSD boosted hardware. The 2014 PCIe minis should be screamers whether they are equipped with SSD or FD.

By the way, the 5400rpm HDD component does not hamper anything that I have noticed. Apparently, the Core Storage management routines and SSD speed mask the inherent sluggish nature of the HDD. I remember when the FD was first released, folks were concerned about the use of a slower hard disk in a high-performance storage solution.
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Yep. The slower spinner just means less heat.

I have a homegrown FD. Runs flawlessly.
 
…And He Scores!

redheeler said:
...I'll suggest a config: 2.6 GHz/8 GB RAM with 256 GB SSD. If you need more storage you could go with a Fusion drive instead. Either way this should be a very speedy machine for you.
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BeatCrazy said:
Correct, correct, correct.

I got the Late 2014 mini with 8GB, of RAM 2.6GHz, and 1TB FD. It is just as fast with everyday tasks as my Late 2013 Mac Pro with 256GB SSD, 16GB of RAM and 3.7GHz.
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Meister said:
For what the OP is doing there is plenty of wiggle room even with the base models.
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bigpoppamac31 said:
So I ordered the mid level 2014 Mac mini with fusion drive and left it with 8gb ram. ...
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Hopefully this thread helped with your decision process bigpoppamac31. You certainly received a full range of advice. Everything from the 2014 base model (with FD) to a 16 GB i7 or even the next nMP (😉) was on the table at some point.

I think that this choice is a good one for your use case. Even the folks that counseled you toward either extreme should agree that you did not go too far in the wrong direction.

I predict that you will be impressed with the speed of your new Mac from the moment it arrives and that it will maintain that level of performance for years. Seriously! That FD mini is going to boot so fast it will put a smile on your face. 😀

Enjoy!
 
Celerondon said:
Hopefully this thread helped with your decision process bigpoppamac31. You certainly received a full range of advice. Everything from the 2014 base model (with FD) to a 16 GB i7 or even the next nMP (😉) was on the table at some point.

I think that this choice is a good one for your use case. Even the folks that counseled you toward either extreme should agree that you did not go too far in the wrong direction.

I predict that you will be impressed with the speed of your new Mac from the moment it arrives and that it will maintain that level of performance for years. Seriously! That FD mini is going to boot so fast it will put a smile on your face. 😀

Enjoy!
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Thanks. My Mac mini is supposed to arrive Friday via UPS. I've already received the iPad mini this past Friday. However more and more I'm thinking that I wont use the mini very much once I have the Mac mini. Playing with the iPad in store versus using it at home is quite a different experience. It truly makes me miss the Mac OS. Maybe it's just the way I'm using it but the iPad just feels like a big iPhone without the phone function. Plus Ive encountered many pop up ads/pages in Safari for iOS that just are not there in the Mac with Adblock enabled. It's quite annoying.

I think I will enjoy the Mac mini but having owned a Mac laptop since 2006 makes it a big switch for me. Even if I rarely took the laptop outside the house I miss its portability option. It was nice to take it anywhere in the house to use. The 13" rMBP would have been perfect for that caus it's so nice and light. In any event we'll see how this goes.
 
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