Question about Mac Mini replacement

[priscillasilcock]

Hey guys, this is such a nice gesture from Apple. Being a student without a computer for long is unimaginable. I wanted to pick some brains here. My hubby is a music producer and recently his Mac Mini late 2012 had problems when installing High Sierra so now we have to look at either upgrading with 1TB Samsung or OWC harddrive or just buying refurbished 2014 Mac Mini. Do you think DIY installation of 1TB SSD is going to be problematic, would it be better to just get a refurbished 2014?

 

[teksurv]

Have a look at the repair guide for the late 2012 mini over at iFixit.com. If you think either of you are up for it, that's the route I'd go (and have done myself).

Hey guys, this is such a nice gesture from Apple. Being a student without a computer for long is unimaginable. I wanted to pick some brains here. My hubby is a music producer and recently his Mac Mini late 2012 had problems when installing High Sierra so now we have to look at either upgrading with 1TB Samsung or OWC harddrive or just buying refurbished 2014 Mac Mini. Do you think DIY installation of 1TB SSD is going to be problematic, would it be better to just get a refurbished 2014?

 

[Fishrrman]

Ask your husband this:
Does he really, really, really need High Sierra?

Fastest, easiest, safest way to upgrade the Mini's hard drive:
Buy a USB3 external SSD, plug it in, and set it up to become your "external booter".
It will run great, without muss or fuss.

 

[Boyd01]

You said your mini "had problems"... exactly what does that mean? And why do you think that installing a SSD will fix those problems? Seems like you need to fully understand what is wrong before spending money on an internal SSD.

You could try @Fishrrman 's suggestion and get an external SSD, I'm using a 1tb Samsung T3 on my 2012 quad mini and it works like a champ with demanding apps like Final Cut Pro. If it turns out there is something else wrong with your Mini, you could still use the external drive with a new mini.