Really Pleased with my MM2018

[mcnallym]

Been using my new MM2018 ( base spec, no upgrades ) since last Monday.

Using as iTunes Server and changed from Elgato TV to TV Mosaic for TV Recorder.

Unpacked out of the box and setup.

Use my Drobo 5C for iTunes Library / TV Recordings etc..

Even with iTunes/TV Mosaic and TomTom MyDrive running then only using 4.5Gb of RAM.

So far no Coil Whine, T2 Bridge OS Crashing etc.

Machine simply sits there with a Fit Headless 4K HDMI display. Simply access from my Mac Pro which has the 24" LED Cinema Display as screen. Have the screen set to scale the 4K res on the 24" Screen and works nicely no lag with the iGPU.

Big improvement over the MM2009 8Gb/60Gb SSD that replaced. Really not finding the 128Gb SSD an issue as came from a 60Gb SATA SSD and all the media etc stored on the Drobo.

Whilst wouldn't have minded it being cheaper it isn't much different to the MM2014 that would have bough which would have been the middle with the dual core i5/8Gb and upgraded with the 256SSD ( no 128 option ) so was around what expecting to pay anyway.

If need to upgrade the RAM at later day to 16Gb then will be after the AppleCare expired so no need to worry about that.

Plan on getting a USB-C to USB-A Hub so that can leave existing USB-A to lightning, micro-usb etc plugged in and changing the USB-A to USB-C cable on the Drobo so that is USB-C to USB-C, and keep the USB-A ports free if need to plug in keyboard/mouse.

In the meanwhile will get on with enjoying the system, and let people know that there are some working faultless MM2018 out there.

 

[Originalbitman]

Ditto! Really can’t add much to your experience.

 

[tpivette89]

Love mine... walked into the Apple store and picked up the i5/8GB/256GB version + Applecare+. Couldn't be happier. Replaced a dual processor cMP that took up 20 times the space, and consumed much more electricity.

This Mini does everything I need it to do and more. Probably gonna add 16GB RAM, an eGPU, and some external storage to make it complete... but other than that, it's great. No T2 panics, no whine, just sits there and delivers.

 

[sean barry]

Hello. What model base spec, i3, i5? Thanks

 

[mcnallym]

Base spec is i3/8gb/128gb ssd/1gb ethernet

 

[sean barry]

Great news! I think I'll go that way as well. The i5 is
not a bad step up thou...

 

[MacWorld78]

Good for you

 

[strawbale]

Been using my new MM2018 ( base spec, no upgrades ) since last Monday.

Using as iTunes Server and changed from Elgato TV to TV Mosaic for TV Recorder.

Unpacked out of the box and setup.

Use my Drobo 5C for iTunes Library / TV Recordings etc..

Even with iTunes/TV Mosaic and TomTom MyDrive running then only using 4.5Gb of RAM.

So far no Coil Whine, T2 Bridge OS Crashing etc.

Machine simply sits there with a Fit Headless 4K HDMI display. Simply access from my Mac Pro which has the 24" LED Cinema Display as screen. Have the screen set to scale the 4K res on the 24" Screen and works nicely no lag with the iGPU.

Big improvement over the MM2009 8Gb/60Gb SSD that replaced. Really not finding the 128Gb SSD an issue as came from a 60Gb SATA SSD and all the media etc stored on the Drobo.

Whilst wouldn't have minded it being cheaper it isn't much different to the MM2014 that would have bough which would have been the middle with the dual core i5/8Gb and upgraded with the 256SSD ( no 128 option ) so was around what expecting to pay anyway.

If need to upgrade the RAM at later day to 16Gb then will be after the AppleCare expired so no need to worry about that.

Plan on getting a USB-C to USB-A Hub so that can leave existing USB-A to lightning, micro-usb etc plugged in and changing the USB-A to USB-C cable on the Drobo so that is USB-C to USB-C, and keep the USB-A ports free if need to plug in keyboard/mouse.

In the meanwhile will get on with enjoying the system, and let people know that there are some working faultless MM2018 out there.

Me too, I prefer to 'reserve' the two USB 3.0 ports for my keyboard (http://www.matias.ca/usb2keyboard/), which gives me an USB2 port (e.g. for SD card reader or USB stick) on the keyboard (as well as two USB1.1 in the back of it, used for the mouse receiver - works fine).
I got USB-C to USB-B/USB-microB cables (Cable Matters) for alternating backup&clone external HDs and two small USB-C to USB3 adapters (Aukey) for other peripherals, one of which I use for a small 4-ports USB3 hub (Anker). Monitor will be cdmi (or USB-C to DP if need be).

 

[Jorbanead]

Awesome! It’s great seeing people post about how much they love their mini.

I’m absolutely loving mine too. I got an i7/512/32gb and it runs so smoothly!

 

[mikejames]

Mine's been working great had it over a week. Went for i5/16GB/256GB upgraded from a 2013 iMac 27".

Only mistake I made was the monitor I ordered a 32" Acer (2560x1440) and things appeared too big on screen & not as clear as my iMac with the same resolution. Problem solved when I bought a Samsung 32" 4K connected via hdmi scaled to 3008x1692 it's way better than my old iMac screen.

 

[inmnbob]

My update. I replaced my previous version that was full of problems with the i7/32GB/2TB Mac Mini. So far the system is working fine. I restored it from a Time Machine backup and only had one freeze-up/lost of BT but the system did reconnect and has been working. This is already a big improvement over the first device and the mouse is working more that six inches away from the Mac Mini. I have two drives connected as well as a USB hub and a few other devices. My ear pods also connected on first attempt. I am not using the Black Magic eGPU now because I returned that as well and believe that may have been some of the problems for the previous device/

 

[Dr. Stealth]

I'm loving mine also. Easily the best Apple computer I've owned yet and I've been buying them for 40 years....

It replaced my 2010 5,1 Mac Pro.

It's a wonderful computer !

i7/1TB/32GB

Yes, it's really nice to see and hear from so many happy people !

 

[Easttime]

I’m envious. I had to buy a 2014 fusion mini in a rush when my 2011 iMac died 2 years ago, so I am out of sync with releases. It has been fine, but starting to feel slow recently. Would be nice to have to have a 2018 SSD mini and get back in sync.

 

[groovyf]

Replaced an aging late 2009 iMac 27" and a 2011 Mac Mini with a new i7/16GB/1TB Mac Mini - it's currently connected to a pair of Dell U2414 monitors but I plan to replace that with a 34" widescreen at some point.

 

[redheeler]

Been using my new MM2018 ( base spec, no upgrades ) since last Monday.

Using as iTunes Server and changed from Elgato TV to TV Mosaic for TV Recorder.

Unpacked out of the box and setup.

Use my Drobo 5C for iTunes Library / TV Recordings etc..

Even with iTunes/TV Mosaic and TomTom MyDrive running then only using 4.5Gb of RAM.

So far no Coil Whine, T2 Bridge OS Crashing etc.

Machine simply sits there with a Fit Headless 4K HDMI display. Simply access from my Mac Pro which has the 24" LED Cinema Display as screen. Have the screen set to scale the 4K res on the 24" Screen and works nicely no lag with the iGPU.

Big improvement over the MM2009 8Gb/60Gb SSD that replaced. Really not finding the 128Gb SSD an issue as came from a 60Gb SATA SSD and all the media etc stored on the Drobo.

Whilst wouldn't have minded it being cheaper it isn't much different to the MM2014 that would have bough which would have been the middle with the dual core i5/8Gb and upgraded with the 256SSD ( no 128 option ) so was around what expecting to pay anyway.

If need to upgrade the RAM at later day to 16Gb then will be after the AppleCare expired so no need to worry about that.

Plan on getting a USB-C to USB-A Hub so that can leave existing USB-A to lightning, micro-usb etc plugged in and changing the USB-A to USB-C cable on the Drobo so that is USB-C to USB-C, and keep the USB-A ports free if need to plug in keyboard/mouse.

In the meanwhile will get on with enjoying the system, and let people know that there are some working faultless MM2018 out there.

It's great you're happy with your 2018. But to be honest, I don't think your use case couldn't be done just as well with an older Mac mini (like a 2012), or an alternative mini PC (like Intel NUC), for half the $799 price of the 2018 Mac mini.

The Core i3 model remains a strange one to me. Even though it's only an i3, for some use cases like yours it's fine, but there are cheaper alternatives that would still do the job, and cheaper by half or more.

It'd be difficult for me to justify $799 for a basic home server, unless I have some other more demanding use in mind. And then I'd have to jump up to the $1,099 model instead.

 

[mcnallym]

It's great you're happy with your 2018. But to be honest, I don't think your use case couldn't be done just as well with an older Mac mini (like a 2012), or an alternative mini PC (like Intel NUC), for half the $799 price of the 2018 Mac mini.

The Core i3 model remains a strange one to me. Even though it's only an i3, for some use cases like yours it's fine, but there are cheaper alternatives that would still do the job, and cheaper by half or more.

It'd be difficult for me to justify $799 for a basic home server, unless I have some other more demanding use in mind. And then I'd have to jump up to the $1,099 model instead.

Sharing folders and connecting to my Mac Pro can be done from a windows pc but require more setup to do and also not as straight forward as from a Mac. Yes you can make it work but simply isn’t worth my time and changing how I do things currently for what would save.

Same as remoting onto the windows pc from Mac Pro. Can make it work but again more effort to do so compared to simply enabling screen sharing. I use win10 at work and really don’t have a problem with win 10 .

I would have been happy to see the mini go with an arm processor as certainly don’t need much power. Main reason that swapped the 2009 mm out was that had a power surge when microwave went that took out the Ethernet on the mini and the WiFi connection wasn’t great either. 802.11n, is so slow these days.

Really not worth buying a 2012 mini now, same as if buying now wouldn’t buy my Mac Pro 2010. The 2018 will get support in terms of os for further then the 2012 mm and then have to swap again earlier if bought a 2012, which is yet more work again. The price difference simply isn’t worth it for me. If had a 2012 mm then would have reused but for me simply isn’t worth spending money on an old machine.

 

[ElectronGuru]

It's great you're happy with your 2018. But to be honest, I don't think your use case couldn't be done just as well with an older Mac mini (like a 2012), or an alternative mini PC (like Intel NUC), for half the $799 price of the 2018 Mac mini.

The Core i3 model remains a strange one to me. Even though it's only an i3, for some use cases like yours it's fine, but there are cheaper alternatives that would still do the job, and cheaper by half or more.

I’ve started the process of replacing my 2010 media mini with a 2014 (still shopping). All of my content is 720/1080 so Iris is plenty. But if 4K were important to me the i3 would be ideal.

The important thing to remember is that i3/5/7 is marketing. If they were calling them i5/7/9 it wouldn’t feel weird. The only actual weird part is apples price. Even $100 less would make it a no brainer.