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Poll: How long have you had and used your oldest Mac Mini?

How long have you owned the oldest Mac Mini that you currently have in use?

  • Up to six months

    Votes: 5 4.5%

  • 6 to 12 months

    Votes: 6 5.4%

  • 1 to 2 years

    Votes: 12 10.8%

  • 2 to 4 years

    Votes: 26 23.4%

  • 4 to 8 years

    Votes: 41 36.9%

  • More than 8 years

    Votes: 21 18.9%
  • Total voters
    111
Micky Do

Micky Do

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Aug 31, 2012
2,218
3,165
a South Pacific island
People sometimes go on about future-proofing their computer….. So, just how long do people keep a using a computer?

We cannot predict for sure, but as an indication, I wonder how old is the oldest Mac Mini you currently have in use.

I replaced my first Mac Mini, the 2005 original base model, after just over 4 years. With the move to Intel, it was close to obsolete, and replacement was more cost effective than repair.

The early 2009 base model I bought then is still going strong. It can run the latest iteration of OS X, and most apps, though I have only upgraded as far as Mountain Lion. I have no plans to replace the 2009 Mini any time soon. I reckon on using it for at least another couple or three years.
 
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I have a 2011 mac mini i5 with discrete gpu a diy 2.25tb fusion drive with 16 gb ram.

It should last 3 to 4 more years so I am hoping to get 7 years from it.

Apple and the entire pc world made really good pc's with the sandy bridge cpus. they are still viable

I have a nice windows 10 pc using a 250 gb ssd 8 gb ram and an intel i5-2500t cpu it should work for at least 3 to 5 more years. Any pc with an intel quad core i5 should have a lot of life in it.
 
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Souped up 2006 Mini. Swapped out 1.83 GHz Core Duo with a 2.33 GHz Core 2 Duo, 3GB RAM (flashed firmware), and 120GB SSD. Use it for file serving and DDNS updating....been running pretty much 24/7 since I got it in 2007.
 
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I still use a 2005 PowerPC Mini, I use it almost every day but it isn't my main machine though. I keep it around because I have some older software that only runs on PowerPC and I can't be bothered to move to a newer version. Plus as long as I use the older software (and not try to install newer stuff) it runs great. I don't get on the internet with it much though. Until about 2 years ago, I was using it as my main computer (which is amazing considering its age)!
 
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I have a 2010 base, the last version with the superdrive, that i got with amex reward points. I've essentially used for writing several nonfiction books, journalism pieces, research, email, so strictly for my career. I'm thinking of ringing it up to date with an ssd. Ive never had asingle issue with it.
 
Coming up to a couple of days into a 15 day poll, with over 700 views, but just 20 votes at this stage.

Interesting to see 35% in the "More than 8 years" group. That would make those elderly Minis either G4 or early Intel models still in use.

Also on 35% is the "2 to 4 years" group.

Youngsters, at less than 2 years old, make up 10% of the total at this stage.

The middle aged "4 to 8 years" group account for 20%
 
1 month so far. Got a 2010 server edition with the 2.66 and 4gb of ram for free as part of a computer job where they upgraded to a late 2014 because of a dying hard drive. ;)
 
My oldest running Mini is a 2007 1.83 GHz running 10.6.8, that I'm using as an HTPC and as my home file server. I just upgraded it to 2 GB of RAM this year. It's been doing a fine job for me, I've never found a reason to replace it...
 
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Got my one and only mini Jan 2014. I had originally thought of replacing it once AppleCare was up on it but now I don't think I will. There's nothing in the new minis at this time that makes me feel really compelled to "upgrade". If anything, the lower repairability of the newer minis makes me want to hang onto mine for as long as I can.
 
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2011 mini with dGPU. Best purchase I've made in the Mac world.

Bought a second mini too, base 2012. Slightly annoyed that I didn't get the quad as I see now I'm going to hold onto it longer than I originally planned...
 
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I bought from the Apple Store a Refurbished i5 MM(Late 2012), 2.5GHz,4GB Ram(now upgraded to 16GB Ram), 500GB HDD in August, 2013 and last June I bought a Refurbished i5 MM(Late 2014), 2.8 GHz, 8GB Ram, 256 SSD and both are great little machines.
 
2005, 2007, 2011, late 2014.
The 2005 runs music, WP and a drafting program in the basement, also System 9 in emulation when needed. Runs Leopard 10.5 because that's as high as PowerPC's go.
2007 is also a stand alone music server. Runs Mountain Lion.
2011 and 2014 are on wifi and internet connected. Running 10.10.5
I like having a couple Macs isolated from the network. Keeps me from having to worry about security problems on them. 32gB thumb drives carry a lot of data easily if needed.

All systems are running iTunes 10.4.1, because that version plays music, and doesn't bug me when I don't have a connection through which it can attempt to sell me music or music related services.
 
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My 2011 2.5GHz model with discrete GPU is running fine (had it since mid 2013, bought it new off eBay); upgraded to a 120GB SSD and 16GB of RAM. I'm actually using it as my primary design station at work (it was either that or deal with a Windows PC all day) and I'm rather impressed with its speed, even when rendering out 1080p compositions; only real downside is the GPU is too old to do a lot of acceleration so previews and scaling are not that great. On the other hand hitting 201º temps and max fan speeds during those renders is probably not going to do wonders for its longevity.

When I leave my current job I'll probably end up using it as a Minecraft server.
 
Late 2012 Quad 2.3GHz i7 with 1TB Fusion Drive and 16GB RAM.

I've got no reason to upgrade it just yet as it still works great and I wouldn't get much benefit from swapping it for the latest mini.
 
My 2006 G5 was getting long in the tooth, but still use it as there is still some programs I need to use. Main machine is now late 2012 Quad 2.3GHz i7 with 16GB RAM. Don't like the all in ones....
I hope that with Skylake, they can go back to Quad and upgradable machines again. Oh, excuse me, whatever was I thinking......
 
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Interesting to see the number of respondents with older Mac Minis soldering on. Some of the comments suggest that some bought a Mini, not expecting to keep it long, but they have found even old ones that cannot run the latest OS are still useful machines.

After nearly six days and 45 votes:

22.2% @ more than 8 years. They will be either G4 or early Intel.

31.1% @ 4-8 years. Most will be Core 2 Duo.

35.5% @ 1 - 4 years. Most will be Core i5 & i7.

11.1% @ up to 1 year. Most will be 2014 Core i5 & i7.
 
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Bought my mini in early 2010 for general use and as a base station for iPhone after giving away my 2006 MacBook. With software updates, some new RAM and HDD in 2013 its still going strong. Had the recent update been better spec'ed I may have bought one but the machine still works well and having bought an iPad Air2 (to replace an iPad1) and a iPhone6 my budget was spent.

The Mini is used as a media centre mainly connected to the TV and from time to time with a screen for doc creation and a bit of home working. Most day to day personal use and on the road office work is done on the iPad
 
10 days gone, and 5 to go………

Future proof or not, quite a few folk are still getting good use out of older minis, and look likely to for the foreseeable future..
 
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