Mac mini for Mom

[gigatoaster]

Hello there

I'd like to buy a Mac mini for Mom. Currently, she uses my old mini 2014 and it is super slow. It works well but she is moving house later in 2020 and would like to take the opportunity to upgrade it. The 2014 will be used for Roon, most probably.

I am hesitating between the basic i3 or the higher i5 6 cores. It is overkill but I am thinking of 5 years of future-proof usage.

The things she does:

- Word, Excel, iMessages
- Browsing internet (email, shopping)
- PLEX media server (limited to 1080p) & uTorrent (will be changed to qTorrent)

I would need a monitor, too. I looked at LG but the quality is not great according to some Amazon reviews.

1) Which mini would you recommend?
2) Which screen would you recommend?
3) Would an external SSD plugged in and boot from it work?

 

[macintoshmac]

That kind of usage would be well within spec of the basic i3, I fancy.

 

[Duncan68]

I would get the i5 to make it last as long as possible.

 

[macintoshmac]

I would get the i5 to make it last as long as possible.

For those uses and more, my MacBook Air 2017 with a 1.8 GHz dual core processor suffices. I have even played a decent game on this machine, albeit with low-medium graphics. That i3 is quad core and much better, if I am not wrong.

 

[gigatoaster]

Thanks for your messages but is it i3 or i5, then? What about a monitor? I see a lot of bad reviews from LG, bad quality. Any better brand by any chance?

 

[macintoshmac]

Thanks for your messages but is it i3 or i5, then? What about a monitor? I see a lot of bad reviews from LG, bad quality. Any better brand by any chance?

Stick with the i3. It is more than enough for those requirements.

 

[Fishrrman]

I, too, would steer clear of LG. Only experience with them I had was a bad one...

 

[velocityg4]

Plex Media Server gives me pause. While it is 1080p. That is mostly meaningless. It's more about bit rate and video codec of the files. If she uses it a lot. Especially with client devices like smart TVs which are limited in supported video formats and bit rate they can handle. She could be doing a lot of transcoding in the background. Which can really impact CPU usage. A six core may be useful. So that it can handle a transcode to a TV and surf the web at the same time.

You may also want to upgrade the RAM. Since it can't be upgraded later. Some of those tasks can really eat up RAM.

 

[tibas92013]

I am relaying this message from my Refurbished MM 2014, 2.8GHz,8GB Ram,256SSD which I bought from the Apple On-line store in the year 2015 and which is still a super machine! If your mom's MM 2014 has a internal HD I recommend attaching a external SSD which should speed-it-up. The Samsung T-5 is a very good external SSD in which I bought a 500GB one from Best Buy last June for around ninety(90) dollars .

 

[macintoshmac]

Plex Media Server gives me pause. While it is 1080p. That is mostly meaningless. It's more about bit rate and video codec of the files. If she uses it a lot. Especially with client devices like smart TVs which are limited in supported video formats and bit rate they can handle. She could be doing a lot of transcoding in the background. Which can really impact CPU usage. A six core may be useful. So that it can handle a transcode to a TV and surf the web at the same time.

You may also want to upgrade the RAM. Since it can't be upgraded later. Some of those tasks can really eat up RAM.

Since we are talking about Plex, we may be in need of storage, so wouldn't a Synology NAS that takes care of Plex transcoding be a better fit and probably less than the price of the 6-core Mini while also providing backup and storage solutions? Just wondering, since I do not know the prices in OP's place of residence.

 

[gigatoaster]

Thanks for your message.
I’ll go with i3, then. I can then allocate the savings for a better screen. Although I wonder if it will be sufficient for PLEX, in terms of compute power. I’ll assume yes because if the 2014 mini can do it, no issue for a 2018, right?

Regarding disk space, no issue here: we just need 100 GB. we delete a movie once it’s watched and we don’t have the disease of collecting them.

And NAS no thanks. I don’t understand the value of NAS. NAS is the Nespresso of 2010: every time I go to my friend place I get an “hello do you want a coffee?” It's the same with forum: NAS seems to be the answer of everything. No thanks.

 

[Erehy Dobon]

.

 

[velocityg4]

Since we are talking about Plex, we may be in need of storage, so wouldn't a Synology NAS that takes care of Plex transcoding be a better fit and probably less than the price of the 6-core Mini while also providing backup and storage solutions? Just wondering, since I do not know the prices in OP's place of residence.

It's only $300 to go from an i3 to an i7 on the mini. $300 will only get you a NAS with a low end Celeron and 2GB RAM. It may handle the transcoding tasks. But the Mini would handle heavier/multiple transcodes. Ready made consumer NAS are just easy ways to setup a NAS with additional server roles they've tacked on. That $300 could also buy some retired enterprise server which you could setup with multiple VM's including FreeNAS. Creating a far more powerful Plex server for the same price.

Thanks for your message.
I’ll go with i3, then. I can then allocate the savings for a better screen. Although I wonder if it will be sufficient for PLEX, in terms of compute power. I’ll assume yes because if the 2014 mini can do it, no issue for a 2018, right?

Regarding disk space, no issue here: we just need 100 GB. we delete a movie once it’s watched and we don’t have the disease of collecting them.

And NAS no thanks. I don’t understand the value of NAS. NAS is the Nespresso of 2010: every time I go to my friend place I get an “hello do you want a coffee?” It's the same with forum: NAS seems to be the answer of everything. No thanks.

The i3 is likely fine. Since it doesn't sound like she is transcoding to two or more TV's at a time. If it is just movies being played on the mini. You may want to look at something other than Plex. Heck, as the movies are just being thrown out. I'd just use VLC as the default media player. Then all she has to do is double click on the video she wants to watch. No, transcoding needed.

Plex is more for managing large media libraries.

 

[mr.steevo]

Thanks for your messages but is it i3 or i5, then? What about a monitor? I see a lot of bad reviews from LG, bad quality. Any better brand by any chance?

I know I'm late to the party but I just wanted to say what I always do regarding the idea to "future proof" the mini. Regardless of i3, i5, i7... when Apple discontinues support for the 2018 Mini it will be gone for all of them. A faster processor will not keep support going from Apple's perspective.

So, get mom the i3 with 512 of storage and base RAM.

Then stick an SSD in that 2014 Mini