I have a 2018 Mac mini i5, 32GB, 256M SSD. This machine does not use iCloud, it runs ZFS Raidz1 on an external 4 drive HDD array and Jellyfin.
Sequoia was the OS but the machine failed to update the latest security release no matter what I tried and would drop the drives and crash every few days. I got tired of it and decided to go back to Linux mint. That OS was very stable but I could not get ZFS to run no mater what kernel or tricks I could try (I'm not a linux expert and the T2 chip makes using standard kernels not really possible at least for me).
I then went to Monterey (12.7.4) since I had the full installer available. I got that put on but the machine would not update using software update to 12.7.6 (it would crash during the install which I think is T2 related from the updates earlier via sequoia). Even with 12.7.4 and OpenZFS for OSX and Jellyfin, everything so far is running fine. I plan to running it this way to check stability for the next week or two.
I asked 3 different LLMs which version of macOS was generally considered most stable on the 2018 Mac mini. Ventura was most stable followed by Monterey. My question is do you guys find this actually to be true? How would you rank Monterey vs Ventura? Sonoma and Sequoia were considered less stable then Monterey or Ventura so I won't go there again.
I downloaded the latest Ventura full installer but won't install it unless I still have stability problems. I like to use older Mac mini's for this type of work because of the hardware but this is the last T2/intel combo I will ever buy. Not a big fan of that combo.
Sequoia was the OS but the machine failed to update the latest security release no matter what I tried and would drop the drives and crash every few days. I got tired of it and decided to go back to Linux mint. That OS was very stable but I could not get ZFS to run no mater what kernel or tricks I could try (I'm not a linux expert and the T2 chip makes using standard kernels not really possible at least for me).
I then went to Monterey (12.7.4) since I had the full installer available. I got that put on but the machine would not update using software update to 12.7.6 (it would crash during the install which I think is T2 related from the updates earlier via sequoia). Even with 12.7.4 and OpenZFS for OSX and Jellyfin, everything so far is running fine. I plan to running it this way to check stability for the next week or two.
I asked 3 different LLMs which version of macOS was generally considered most stable on the 2018 Mac mini. Ventura was most stable followed by Monterey. My question is do you guys find this actually to be true? How would you rank Monterey vs Ventura? Sonoma and Sequoia were considered less stable then Monterey or Ventura so I won't go there again.
I downloaded the latest Ventura full installer but won't install it unless I still have stability problems. I like to use older Mac mini's for this type of work because of the hardware but this is the last T2/intel combo I will ever buy. Not a big fan of that combo.