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Mac Mini Late 2012 vs 2018 Mac Mini Speed and Longevity Differences

M

Matte2

macrumors member
Original poster
May 31, 2014
66
2
I used to own a late 2012 Mac mini 2.5ghz dual-core Intel i5 with 16Gb of RAM. I now own a 2018 Mac mini with a 3.6ghz quad-core Intel i3 processor and 8GB of RAM. Very satisfied so far with the 2018 Mac mini and can notice a difference in speed when browsing the internet with multiple windows open and watching YouTube videos. Couple questions.

1) If someone were to ask me how much faster for everyday average user taks the 2018 Mac mini is vs the late 2012, how would you respond? 1x, 2x, 3x, etc.?

2) What is the expected useful life of the 2018 Mac mini before it breaks down or becomes obsolete OS wise?
 
1) It really depends on what you do with it. You’re going from a dual-core to a quad-core so there’d be an even bigger leap than from the 2012 quad-core. Did you have a SSD in your 2012? The fast SSD in the 2018 probably makes a bigger difference than the CPU for everyday tasks.

2) The 2018 will probably stop getting security updates sometime in 2025 or later. It may stop getting software updates much sooner. It should be able to get Windows & Linux updates for longer than that if you’d rather run those operating systems. Even after Apple stops supporting it it should get 3rd party web browser updates for a time.

I still have 2009 Minis in use.
 
mdgm said:
1) It really depends on what you do with it. You’re going from a dual-core to a quad-core so there’d be an even bigger leap than from the 2012 quad-core. Did you have a SSD in your 2012? The fast SSD in the 2018 probably makes a bigger difference than the CPU for everyday tasks.

2) The 2018 will probably stop getting security updates sometime in 2025 or later. It may stop getting software updates much sooner. It should be able to get Windows & Linux updates for longer than that if you’d rather run those operating systems. Even after Apple stops supporting it it should get 3rd party web browser updates for a time.

I still have 2009 Minis in use.
Click to expand...

My 2012 Mac mini had a 500GB HD.

Bought my 2012 Mac mini in late 2014 and stopped using it in late 2020. I thought after 6 years, it was a good time to buy a new mini without knowing anything about security/software updates or mechanical longevity.
 
The last officially supported Mac OS for the 2012 is Catalina which should get security updates till late 2022.

If you had kept the 2012 and were to put a SSD in the 2012 or boot off a USB3 SSD it would feel much faster than with the HDD.

The 2018 has a much faster CPU, faster memory, but the SSD is the biggest change.

With Apple moving to Apple Silicon CPUs it’s unknown how much longer they will provide major software updates for the Intel models.

Apple is still selling the 2018 Mini.

The new M1 is quieter and faster.
 
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mdgm said:
The last officially supported Mac OS for the 2012 is Catalina which should get security updates till late 2022.

If you had kept the 2012 and were to put a SSD in the 2012 or boot off a USB3 SSD it would feel much faster than with the HDD.

The 2018 has a much faster CPU, faster memory, but the SSD is the biggest change.

With Apple moving to Apple Silicon CPUs it’s unknown how much longer they will provide major software updates for the Intel models.

Apple is still selling the 2018 Mini.

The new M1 is quieter and faster.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the helpful explanation.
 
I just bought a 2018 Mac Mini because I cannot upgrade to the Silicon version anytime soon due to software compatibility.
If the first Rosetta is anything to go off of, we have maybe 5 years of diminishing returns on OSes. Tiger and Leopard were really stretched out and refined compared to the yearly half baked OS releases Apple does nowadays.

You should look into upgrading your ram to at least match the 16GB you had before.
 
Matte2 said:
I used to own a late 2012 Mac mini 2.5ghz dual-core Intel i5 with 16Gb of RAM. I now own a 2018 Mac mini with a 3.6ghz quad-core Intel i3 processor and 8GB of RAM. Very satisfied so far with the 2018 Mac mini and can notice a difference in speed when browsing the internet with multiple windows open and watching YouTube videos. Couple questions.

1) If someone were to ask me how much faster for everyday average user taks the 2018 Mac mini is vs the late 2012, how would you respond? 1x, 2x, 3x, etc.?

2) What is the expected useful life of the 2018 Mac mini before it breaks down or becomes obsolete OS wise?
Click to expand...
1) A solid 3x, maybe 4x when comparing stock configurations. A solid 2x, maybe 3x if the 2012 was significantly upgraded.
2) I think, the seven years support for the 2012 was a bit stretched. I'd assume in the five year ballpark for official OS support. Application support always varies widely.
mdgm said:
The 2018 has a much faster CPU, faster memory, but the SSD is the biggest change.
Click to expand...
Indeed. The CPU will provide faster response, especially for things such as Web browsing -- we're talking average, typical user -- however, the PCI attached SSD is what truly brings the difference.

USB 3.0 (5 Gbps theoretical max) and SATA III (6 Gbps theoretical max) are limited to 400 - 500 MBps actual performance. In comparison, high-end NVMe SSDs achieve up to 3500 MBps sequential, actual rates (~32 Gbps theoretical for PCIe 3.0 x 4).

 
Hate to be a nube but how can I tell if my Mac Mini (late 2012) is a hdd or ssd? I want to beef it up with upgrades. Currently: 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5; 4 GB 1600 MHz DDR3; Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 MB; OS X 10.9.5 (13F1911).
Also not showing any available software updates... what's up with that?
Any help or guidance appreciated.
 
itserga said:
Hate to be a nube but how can I tell if my Mac Mini (late 2012) is a hdd or ssd?
Click to expand...
There are two ways.

System Information (/Applications/Utilities/System Information)
1. On the Hardware list, click on SATA.
2. Within the SATA section, click on a drive (e.g. "APPLE HDD HTS545050A7E362 ")
-- Attached drives are listed under interfaces, identified by controller (e.g., "Intel 7 Series Chipset")
3. In the list of drive information look for Medium Type
-- "Solid State" = SSD and "Rotational" = HDD
System_Info-drive-type.png
EDIT: I forget, it was previously titled System Profiler. Nevertheless, the idea is the same.

Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility)
1. Select a drive
-- The non-indented items are physical drives, this is what you will click on
2. In the information table look for Type
Disk_Utility-drive_type.png
 
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