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Should i buy my friends 2012 Mac Mini
- Thread starter MSM1TTY
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That's a fair deal. $350 seems to be on the low end for what people are getting for that on Ebay. You know and trust the seller, so that's better than random Ebay seller too.
Ya he is one of my good friends so he wants to give me a deal. The only thing is im not sure if i should get it because its already getting to be 3 years old.
What do you plan on using it for?
The Dual 2.5Ghz 2012 isn't anything special, the real benefit in the 2012 was the Quad CPU versions.
Having said that a 2.6Ghz 2014 model with Flash SSD and 8G is $899. so is quite a bit cheaper then buying a new one
The Dual 2.5Ghz 2012 isn't anything special, the real benefit in the 2012 was the Quad CPU versions.
Having said that a 2.6Ghz 2014 model with Flash SSD and 8G is $899. so is quite a bit cheaper then buying a new one
I would just use this for basic use because i have never had a mac and i know it cant handle more of the higher power applications as well. Was just thinking of getting this to mess around with cause of the price and then get a new and nicer one later.
Yes, it would be a good machine to introduce you to MacOS. And as always, never pay the asking price. Offer your friend $300 instead 
No, it is not a good deal. I tracked eight sales of this model on eBay over five days. Many sales included extras (keyboards, memory upgrades) whose new cost I subtracted off to obtain a price for the mini alone. Prices ranged from $175 to $380 with averages of $289 (mean) and $306 (median). While the offered price is in this range, it is definitely at the high end. A fair price for both of you would be $300.
I am not sure what you mean by high-end applications when you say this model will not handle them. Most people seem to use the mini for video format conversions and playing games. It should be fine for that, but the minis tend to burn out if put to heavy use for long periods.
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^^
Ignore this guy. It's a good deal. It's valued at $460 on Mac2Sell.
Anyway ... you're getting it from a friend, so that's piece of mind there. And with the i5 ... it is WAY more than capable of handling your computing needs. It can handle some of the more powerful applications as well. Don't let the price throw you off to its capabilities. It's a solid machine.
Oops! Sorry. I was looking at the 2011 model. An average of selling prices on eBay for the 2012 low-range dual-i5 / 4GB / 0.5TB HDD (macmini6,1 or MD387LL/A) is $420, so the $350 from your friend is to your advantage.
Still, if you know that you want a high-end model why not put the $350 as a down payment to that?
For example, just now someone (eBay item number: 161763757333) is offering a buy-it-now of $1,300 for a 2012 i7 quad core with 16GB and a 1TB SSD. That is the best there is, and you can't even buy it new because Apple has discontinued the quad cores in the 2014 mini.
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I cannot image paying $1300 for a Mini, even with those specs. That's well into used Mac Pro territory.
If you have the cash, buy it and use it as it is to check out using OS X and the iLife apps that come with it.
Splashing more cash on RAM and SSD may improve your experience somewhat, but despite the sage sounding advice of some here, it is not essential for basic use.
Thats a core i5 Ivy Bridge, which is very similar in performance to a Core i7 Sandybridge dual core, which is a very capable processor i can tell you. If you add in 8gb of ram and a 256 ssd hard disk you have a pc more capable than most.
Get the mini, and get a trackpad, you won't regret it. Plus, later you can always sell it on if you like - there is always a huge demand for these.
Get the mini, and get a trackpad, you won't regret it. Plus, later you can always sell it on if you like - there is always a huge demand for these.