Should I get mac mini 2012 or 2014

[PR0WN3D]

Hello, I was wondering if I should buy a 2012 mac mini or 2014.
For context im either looking to buy and i7 16gb 2012 or i7 16gb 2014 and ive seen listings for pretty good prices on these.
And before you say I should buy a 2018, I dont want to spend 300$+ just to get a mac mini.
I want to get this to do some light work on it and use it as a second computer that I can connect to my monitor and switch between using my windows 10 machine and a macos device quickly.
Im probably going to use it for editing my own photos or videos.
Plus I want to have a cheap mac device that is going to be on a relatively new version of macos so I can be able to some of my phone stuff like messaging and being able to save stuff through icloud.
I was wondering which one you guys would recommend I buy based on how I would use it.
(and for people saying to get an imac or macbook, I dont want a seperatle display for the device)

 

[rm5]

Get a 2012. I had a 2012 Mini for quite awhile (I upgraded to a M1 just because the mini was way too slow for my needs). I had the i5 model and I upgraded it myself to 16 GB of RAM and an SSD.

My reasoning? The 2012 Mini has these configurations:

• 2.5 GHz Dual-core i5 (2 cores, 4 threads)
• 2.3 GHz Quad-core i7 (4 cores, 4 threads)
• and a rare 2.6 GHz i7 (4 cores, 8 threads)

And the 2014 has these configurations:

• 1.4 GHz Dual-core i5 (2 cores, 4 threads)
• 2.6 GHz Dual-core i5 (2 cores, 4 threads)
• 2.8 Ghz Dual-core i5 (2 cores, 4 threads)
• and a 3 GHz Dual-core i7 (2 cores, 4 threads)

The 2014 mini is actually SLOWER than the 2012!

Now, some upsides to the 2014 include:

• Native support for Big Sur and Monterey
• M.2 NVMe slot (need to provide your own SSD obviously)

Please keep in mind though—BOTH machines are going to be slow in video editing, but it sounds like you're ok with that, so I'm going to just let you do what you want to do... but it'll be slow.

The 2012 mini served me well for the time, and I actually kind of miss the computer, although it was too slow for my needs so I did have to upgrade...

 

[frou]

Just how cheap are they? A lot less than $300?

2018 Mini's i3 is better than any previous generation Mini's i7

 

[Miat]

Be aware that officially 2012 model Macs can only run up to Catalina OS, and support for it will stop when Ventura is released soon. Meaning no more security updates for 2012 models.

Unofficially you can use a 3rd party installer to run Monterey (the current OS) on Macs going back to 2009 models (I think).

I have not used the installer so can't comment on how good it is.

What is OpenCore? | OpenCore Legacy Patcher

 

[Boyd01]

I have a 2012 i7 quad Mini and it is indeed about 50% faster than the 2014 dual i7 core Mini. However, I'd go for the 2014 since you said it's for "light work". It will have the advantage of running Monterey, which is still a supported version of MacOS.

But you also said you want to do video editing, which I wouldn't really consider "light work". I realize you didn't want to be told to buy a 2018 Mini, but I'm going to say it anyway. Even the base model i3 2018 Mini will be a far, far better machine that is much faster in every way, has better ports, much more RAM capacity and support for MacOS Ventura.

 

[reallynotnick]

Be aware that officially 2012 model Macs can only run up to Catalina OS, and support for it will stop when Ventura is released soon. Meaning no more security updates for 2012 models.

They already dropped support for Catalina when no security update was released this September.

 

[Fishrrman]

If you're talking "mini", you want at least the 2018.

You're going to become dissatisfied with either a 2012 or a 2014 very quickly.

Whatever you do, DO NOT buy a 2014 Mini unless it has at least 8gb of RAM. The RAM is soldered in and IS NOT replaceable!

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Hello, I was wondering if I should buy a 2012 mac mini or 2014.
For context im either looking to buy and i7 16gb 2012 or i7 16gb 2014 and ive seen listings for pretty good prices on these.
And before you say I should buy a 2018, I dont want to spend 300$+ just to get a mac mini.
I want to get this to do some light work on it and use it as a second computer that I can connect to my monitor and switch between using my windows 10 machine and a macos device quickly.
Im probably going to use it for editing my own photos or videos.
Plus I want to have a cheap mac device that is going to be on a relatively new version of macos so I can be able to some of my phone stuff like messaging and being able to save stuff through icloud.
I was wondering which one you guys would recommend I buy based on how I would use it.
(and for people saying to get an imac or macbook, I dont want a seperatle display for the device)

Talking about the price, do you insist on buying new Mac Mini, or will you be comfortable with 2nd items?
I would get a Mac Mini M1 if I can find one at 350$.

 

[Boyd01]

FWIW, the OP already stated

I dont want to spend 300$+ just to get a mac mini.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

FWIW, the OP already stated

He is also thinking about "video editing".....
If his videos are 4k, or HEVC, then it seems to be a Mission Impossible, without the intel UHD 630 of the mini 2018, or Apple ARM on the M1

 

[Boyd01]

Oh, I agree and think it would be money well-spent. But apparently it's above their budget.

I did quite a bit of video editing in Final Cut Pro on my 2012 2.6ghz quad/16gb Mini, including a couple pretty complex projects with plugins for tracking, etc. Would have liked it to be faster, but it worked fine. I was only working with 1080p30 however. Wouldn't have wanted to try that with 4k on the 2012.

 

[PR0WN3D]

Hello everyone, thank you very much for your help so far. I think I'm going to go with the 2012 mac mini as from what you guys have said is faster than the 2014 mac mini and online it can also be found cheaper 2014 mini.

For the people saying I should get a 2018, or m1 mac. I understand, the computer im getting probably isint going to be the best, but my budget doesn't really allow me to spend over 300$ for a 2018 mac mini.

To the person asking about how much the 2012/2014 mac minis are, they range from 100-200$ depending on the year and model. compared to the 2018 mac mini where at cheapest ones can be found at 300$

To the person who was saying they could find an m1 mac mini for 350$, the only ones I've found for that price are either broken or activation locked. the cheapest m1 mini in working condition ive seen being sold/already sold are around 500$.

If I sounded mean in any of my replies, I'm sorry and don't mean to be, as I just want to let you guys know some of my reasoning for why im going with an older mac mini.

And about the part I said I was going to video edit, im probably not going to be doing that the most often, but when writing the post originally I thought I should bring it up. If anyone else would want to give any more recommendations, it would be gladly appreciated!

 

[EugW]

Be aware that officially 2012 model Macs can only run up to Catalina OS, and support for it will stop when Ventura is released soon. Meaning no more security updates for 2012 models.

Unofficially you can use a 3rd party installer to run Monterey (the current OS) on Macs going back to 2009 models (I think).

I have not used the installer so can't comment on how good it is.

What is OpenCore? | OpenCore Legacy Patcher

Yeah, that's why I bought the 2014 Mac mini last year. I didn't want to deal with Hackintosh-like feel that usually comes with these patched OSes. I have used a patched macOS with several other machines, and it takes time and effort, sometimes on an ongoing basis, and sometimes there are glitches. All that gets tedious.

Having official Monterey support is nice. Mind you, it won't get Ventura.

Just how cheap are they? A lot less than $300?

Yeah, I'm curious too. I paid US$145 in 2021 for a 2014 with 8 GB RAM, Core i5, and 1 TB HD. Spent a bit more to add an NVMe SSD with adapter. Works fine for light business usage, but I wouldn't want to use it for video editing.

 

[Miat]

I have done this patch with several other machines, and it takes time and effort, sometimes on an ongoing basis, and sometimes there are glitches. All that gets tedious.

Yeah, I won't be going down that path. Coming up to my 7th decade I am getting too old to be mucking around with fiddly hacks just to save a few pennies and squeeze the last bit of value out of it. That is a young person's game. My time and effort are much better spent elsewhere in my life these days.

Also, given the age of my Mini it is time for a major hardware upgrade anyway, especially making the move from Intel to AS, which I am very much looking forward to, though not so much to everything being soldered down.

Bit of a shame as it is still working very well (touch wood), and has easily been the best value computer I have ever owned, and one of the best Apple ever made, IMHO. But all good things come to an end. Better to get out while it is still working, and not have to rush the move coz it broke first.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

Hello everyone, thank you very much for your help so far. I think I'm going to go with the 2012 mac mini as from what you guys have said is faster than the 2014 mac mini and online it can also be found cheaper 2014 mini.

For the people saying I should get a 2018, or m1 mac. I understand, the computer im getting probably isint going to be the best, but my budget doesn't really allow me to spend over 300$ for a 2018 mac mini.

To the person asking about how much the 2012/2014 mac minis are, they range from 100-200$ depending on the year and model. compared to the 2018 mac mini where at cheapest ones can be found at 300$

To the person who was saying they could find an m1 mac mini for 350$, the only ones I've found for that price are either broken or activation locked. the cheapest m1 mini in working condition ive seen being sold/already sold are around 500$.

If I sounded mean in any of my replies, I'm sorry and don't mean to be, as I just want to let you guys know some of my reasoning for why im going with an older mac mini.

And about the part I said I was going to video edit, im probably not going to be doing that the most often, but when writing the post originally I thought I should bring it up. If anyone else would want to give any more recommendations, it would be gladly appreciated!

Great to hear that you have made up your mind.
I check ebay and see that there are quite a few reasonable Mini 2014 offers. But the shipping cost is more than half the selling price.
In the mean time, I've found an offer of a screenless Mac Book Pro 2017 (core i7, 16GB, 512GB SSD) for ~350$. Do you think this is a good deal?

 

[EugW]

Hmmm... I just checked some pricing and it seems around here the 2018 Mac mini costs roughly twice as much as the 2014 Mac mini. BTW, 2014 Mac mini prices have dropped noticeably even compared to last year. I can't comment on 2012 Mac mini prices since I hadn't been following them, as I wasn't interested in any machine that couldn't run Monterey natively.

What people are asking for the 2018 Mac mini makes it pointless for me. At those prices, I'd rather just go with Apple Silicon, especially since I can get a tax write-off on new Mac hardware. In contrast, the 2014 Mac minis are cheap enough that it's still a significant savings over an Apple Silicon model even after the tax write-off (and so I bought a 2014 Mac mini last year, for use in the short-term).

 

[Dr_Charles_Forbin]

Just be wary if you use parallels - you can't port a VM.

 

[apostolosdt]

Whatever model you choose, DON'T go for less than 16 GB RAM. You'll regret it bitterly. I run the 2014 2.8 GHz i5 Mini and all is ok except its 8 GB RAM.

 

[Dr_Charles_Forbin]

That’s obvious 😂😂 … I have the same thing now except at 16GB..I’m even thinking of going up to 32GB on my next buy to give me some longevity. What I’m trying to figure out is since I have to replace both my mini and my MBP over the next couple of years whether I’m going to go MBP again or MBA and toss that extra money into a maxed out studio. They need a larger MBA.

 

[crowe-t]

Hello, I was wondering if I should buy a 2012 mac mini or 2014.
For context im either looking to buy and i7 16gb 2012 or i7 16gb 2014 and ive seen listings for pretty good prices on these.
And before you say I should buy a 2018, I dont want to spend 300$+ just to get a mac mini.
I want to get this to do some light work on it and use it as a second computer that I can connect to my monitor and switch between using my windows 10 machine and a macos device quickly.
Im probably going to use it for editing my own photos or videos.
Plus I want to have a cheap mac device that is going to be on a relatively new version of macos so I can be able to some of my phone stuff like messaging and being able to save stuff through icloud.
I was wondering which one you guys would recommend I buy based on how I would use it.
(and for people saying to get an imac or macbook, I dont want a seperatle display for the device)

Did you get the 2012 Mini?

 

[crowe-t]

The prices of the 2012 and 2014 are very low but an occasional 2018 Mini on E-Bay will go a bit under $300(USD). You just have to keep looking.

I recently bought a 2014 Mini with a 2.6 GHz i5, 8GB Ram and a 1TB hard drive for $66(USD) on E-Bay. I'm going to use it until the M2 Mini comes out. I was using a 2009 Mini up to this point. I also bought a 2018 Mini with an i3, 8GB Ram and a 256GB SDD new from B&H Photo for $450. I'll use it to run some older programs and have it along with the M2 Mini when they are released. I'm planning on upgrading the Ram in the 2018 Mini to 32 or 64GB.

 

[carylee2002]

When I was shopping around a year ago ...I decided I needed the back connections as my deciding factor for my 2014 Macmini and then proceeded to get the most advanced setup with 16gb ram. I know I don't use need as much SSD space because for what i do i can add more with external drives if needed. The key is to partition your system drive as small as you can and create a BSOD secondary partition for your more demanding programs. So if something happens I can just CC clone over my backup into my system drive with little downtime.

 

[bradbomb]

My reasoning? The 2012 Mini has these configurations:

• 2.5 GHz Dual-core i5 (2 cores, 4 threads)
• 2.3 GHz Quad-core i7 (4 cores, 4 threads)
• and a rare 2.6 GHz i7 (4 cores, 8 threads)

One correction to this, the 2012 2.3 GHz i7 also has 8 threads. I know as I currently still have one running

 

[AppliedMicro]

2012 Mac mini based on hardware, performance and upgradeability (standard notebook RAM, 2.5" drive slots).

Downside is the earlier cutoff for macOS support.