Sold my 2012 Mini, I hope there’s a new model coming!

[KrisLord]

I’ve had my 2012 mini since launch, but noted that resale prices on EBay were rather high for a 5 year old machine.

So I listed it on the off chance and it’s sold for £635 plus postage.

I can cope for now with my MacBook, especially since i bought a dongle so now it can connect to my monitor.

Has anyone else thought about cashing in?

 

[sublunar]

Was it a quad core model?

 

[Juicy Box]

I’ve had my 2012 mini since launch, but noted that resale prices on EBay were rather high for a 5 year old machine.

I wouldn't be surprised if the 2012 models are priced higher than the newer 2014 models. The 2014 MM was considered a downgrade to the 2012 MM by many people.

 

[Boyd01]

Has anyone else thought about cashing in?

You don't say what kind of Mini you have. It may very well be your last one, seems like a big gamble if it's something you actually need. Who knows when a new one comes or what it will be. Some people are excited about an AppleTV sized mini with only one or two ports and everything sealed inside. That wouldn't interest me in the least.

I have a 2012 2.6 quad and there is no way I would sell it without knowing what is next, what it will cost and how long it will be before I could actually get my hands on it. I seriously doubt that the next Mini (if any) will be to my liking.

 

[KrisLord]

Was it a quad core model?

Yes it was the quad core model.

16GB ram and 1TB fusion drive (DIY version, rather than Apple)

 

[KrisLord]

You don't say what kind of Mini you have. It may very well be your last one, seems like a big gamble if it's something you actually need. Who knows when a new one comes or what it will be. Some people are excited about an AppleTV sized mini with only one or two ports and everything sealed inside. That wouldn't interest me in the least.

I have a 2012 2.6 quad and there is no way I would sell it without knowing what is next, what it will cost and how long it will be before I could actually get my hands on it. I seriously doubt that the next Mini (if any) will be to my liking.

It was the quad core.

For me the CPU power isn’t the only factor.

I’d like AC Wi-fi, Apple Watch unlock, usb-c etc.

I’m expecting any new mini to move to PCI-E or onboard storage vs SATA which will be significantly faster.

My MacBook is sufficient for most tasks.

I think I paid just under £600 for it with keyboard and mouse, then added RAM and 128GB SSD. (Apple education discount meant it was cheaper initially)

 

[Ace2617]

I have a 2012 Mac Mini, but it's the dual-core, not quad. I still use it and it's working great thanks to the SSD. Seeing as it's not the most valuable Mini from 2012, I doubt at this point that I could get much more for it than I paid (I bought it used). I'm really hoping for a new Mac Mini in the future, but I'm not expecting it anymore. And I agree with Boyd01, I wouldn't want to get rid of my Mac Mini right now unless there was a confirmed impending release of a new one.

 

[Boyd01]

For me the CPU power isn’t the only factor. I’d like AC Wi-fi, Apple Watch unlock, usb-c etc.

Well we all have our own specific needs. AC wifi is great on my MacBook Air but worthless on my Mini. It's a desktop machine, permanently wired on gigabit ethernet. Apple Watch? Not interested. USB-C? Would need dongles for all my existing USB peripherals.

CPU is very important to me, my Mini in dedicated to video editing and the quad core makes a big difference in render time. Really, just about the only thing I dislike about my 2012 quad is the HD4000 graphics.

But again, seems risky to sell it now unless you're prepared to wait a year for something unknown.... or maybe nothing. But you could be right about the resale price of the 2012 quad being near a peak right now.

 

[sublunar]

A heavily updated Mini indeed and well worth selling. Great money for such an old machine given that the obsolete date wouldn't be too far away.

 

[Acronyc]

I have two minis and like them both a lot and wouldn't sell them until I find what, if any, new model Apple will bring out. If it's something I like I will buy new, if not, I will hold on to my minis until they die.

I hope Apple keeps a similar form factor and just gives us more modern internals along with thunderbolt 3.

My first mini is a 2012 dual core with a 128GB SSD, 500GB HDD, and 16GB of RAM. It serves as a file and media server. It has been on almost 24/7 since I got it as a refurb from Apple in 2014 and has never missed a beat.

The second is a 2014 mini, the top config that was available in store (2.8 i5, 8GB RAM, 1TB Fusion), also bought in 2014. This serves as the main home computer for my wife and I. iCloud desktop and Dropbox works awesome, so when I log in to the mini at home everything is the same as it is on my MBP. Same for my wife with her MacBook.

The 2014 mini is hooked up to a Thunderbolt Display and an eGPU (AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB) and a 32" TV for gaming. Even though it is thunderbolt 2, the eGPU works very well.

The 2014 mini has also been on almost 24/7 for 3.5 years now and again, not a single problem.

 

[Chancha]

I have one 2.6 and one 2.3GHz quad 2012 myself, and would never consider selling them. Both have DIY 2nd bay occupied by 256GB SSD, fusion'd with the original 1TB HDD, which actually performs really well. Aside from not having TB2 (let alone TB3), and a pretty weak video output for today's standard, they are really great machines. Particularly the number of I/Os available with such a small package, they can serve so many different purposes for so many scenarios.

 

[MultiFinder17]

I have two 2012 minis. One is a 2.3 i7 Quad (16GB RAM, 2x 2TB internal HDDs, 1x external 3TB HDD), and it serves as my home server. It's a marvelous little machine, and I have no plans to replace it any time soon, as it does everything I ask of it beautifully. The other is a 2.5 i5 (16GB, 512GB SSD) that I got super cheap ($150) about a year ago from the computer shop I used to work at, and I keep it around to experiment with software on.

 

[alien3dx]

I’ve had my 2012 mini since launch, but noted that resale prices on EBay were rather high for a 5 year old machine.

So I listed it on the off chance and it’s sold for £635 plus postage.

I can cope for now with my MacBook, especially since i bought a dongle so now it can connect to my monitor.

Has anyone else thought about cashing in?

allready sold my mac mini 2014 for 300 dollar and buy imac 2017. 4GB isn't survive and mistaken APPLE good memory consumption. Pretty BAD

 

[Ubele]

I posted a very similar thread yesterday ("Late 2012 Mac mini: keep or sell?"). I have a 2.3 GHz i7 model that I upgraded to 16 GB of RAM and a DIY 2.12 TB Fusion drive. The only thing I dislike about it is that the old graphics adapter doesn't support 4K monitors at 60 Hz, but it still does everything else I need to do just fine. However, I also have a 2015 13" MBP, so having the mini isn't essential, and I'm tempted by the current high resale prices for quad-core minis. I, too, think that they might be peaking. If Apple confirms that a new mini will be released, then prices for the late 2012 quad-core models likely will plummet, unless the new version turns out to be as big a disappointment to most people as the 2014 version. At some point, though, it will be hard for anyone to justify paying so much money for a computer that came out in 2012.

I think it's extremely unlikely that Apple will release a new Mac mini of the kind that most of us want to see: current technical specs, quad core, multiple ports, upgradable RAM and HDD/SSD (even it's not easily upgradable), all at a reasonable price. That isn't consistent with Apple's current design philosophy. I'm not holding out hope that Apple will release any new mini, but, if they do, it likely will be a non-upgradeable, Apple-TV-sized unit with a couple of USB-C ports. I wonder, though, from Apple's point of view, what the market for a new Mac mini would be. The original model was meant to be a "gateway" product for Windows users who were curious about Macs but didn't want to spend a lot of money to check one out. Apple no longer has a brand-recognition problem. For users with basic needs, Apple now pushes the iPad.

My dream Mac wouldn't be a new mini, though: it would be a mid-range tower, the modern-day equivalent of my 2000 G4 Power Mac, which cost $1,600, and for which I upgraded every upgradable component over the next eight years, after which I gave it to my dad, who got another two years out of it before it died. That was my favorite computer of all the computers I've ever owned. We'll probably never see its like from Apple again.

If the Mac mini line is indeed dead, I wonder if the late 2012 quad-core models, like the Cube, eventually will become collector's items. The mini is an example of great design. It might be worth hanging onto for that reason, unless one really needs the cash and has no use for their mini.

 

[Juicy Box]

My dream Mac wouldn't be a new mini, though: it would be a mid-range tower, the modern-day equivalent of my 2000 G4 Power Mac, which cost $1,600, and for which I upgraded every upgradable component over the next eight years, after which I gave it to my dad, who got another two years out of it before it died.

This was similar to my Mac Pro 1,1. I got it refurbished by Apple 11 years ago, and kept upgrading it over the years. First RAM, then HDDs, then a few video card upgrades, then more RAM, then HDDs and a SSD boot drive, and the last thing was a newer, faster, and larger SSD boot drive. I also used 3 different monitors with it.

It was replaced by a Late 2012 iMac, and I gave it to my daughters. They use it everyday, and it still runs great. They are able to do HW, play games such as WoW, and video chat with their friends.

It was a great purchased. As for my Late 2012 27" iMac, I got the BTO options maxed out, except the RAM and I got the 1TB Fusion Drive. I upgraded the RAM, and that is pretty much all I can do to it. It still runs great, but I question if it will have the life of my Mac Pro.