Ventura on Mac mini 2018: how is it going?

[TallManNY]

So my main machine is a 2018 Mac mini and I'm wondering how Ventura will run on it. I've recently opened it up and upgraded the RAM to 32 gb. I could have just put in 16gb and I'd probably never go into swap, but once you are going to go through the process, you might as well put in more RAM was my thinking. I'm sure it will help with resale when the time comes.

I do standard office work with the occasional GIS/Google Earth Pro use, large PDFs, large Excel files, but nothing too tough. So I don't really push my Mac hard and the 2018 Mac mini is plenty of computer for me, if the OS doesn't gimp it. Actually the most challenging thing my Mac mini does might be outputting to the Apple Studio Display. It was a gift. The 2018 mini handles it fine, but I suspect it is a bit of challenge for it.

I'm in no rush to go to Ventura, but I'm curious if others have done so and think it might create additional challenges, especially any challenges that aren't solved by the huge amount of RAM I've got.

 

[gradi]

I have an M1 Mac Mini 16gb/512gb with 12.6 on it. I have looked at the new features in 13 and I see nothing that interests me at all. Unless something comes up later such as important bug fixes that are only in 13 or a big performance boost over 12.6 then I cannot think of a reason to update.

What is there in 13 that makes you want to switch? What are you using now?

 

[Boyd01]

I do standard office work with the occasional GIS/Google Earth Pro use, large PDFs, large Excel files, but nothing too tough. So I don't really push my Mac hard and the 2018 Mac mini is plenty of computer for me, if the OS doesn't gimp it.

I have a 2018 i7 Mini with 64gb and push it hard much of the time, running GIS software (GlobalMapper) in a 32gb/4core Windows 10 VM under Parallels. I finally upgraded from Catalina to Monterey a few weeks ago and everything went well. I'll probably stick with it until the end of support.

While the upgrade was straightforward, it still required the better part of the day to install, backup, update apps, tweak settings, etc. I have always waited at least a year after release before moving to a new operating system.

 

[TallManNY]

I have a 2018 i7 Mini with 64gb and push it hard much of the time, running GIS software (GlobalMapper) in a 32gb/4core Windows 10 VM under Parallels. I finally upgraded from Catalina to Monterey a few weeks ago and everything went well. I'll probably stick with it until the end of support.

While the upgrade was straightforward, it still required the better part of the day to install, backup, update apps, tweak settings, etc. I have always waited at least a year after release before moving to a new operating system.

Wow, you wait a whole year to move to the new operating system?!?! That seems pretty cautious. But I can understand how the OS might break some apps. Well I can tell you that Monterey has worked well on my 2018 i5 mini. Let's see if anyone responds to this thread who is running Ventura on a 2018. I'm definitely not in a rush, but I also would more typically wait for the first 0.1 update and then I'd go for an upgrade.

You've given me some food for thought though. And @gradi points out that there is unlikely to be much in 13 that I need/want from my OS. Stage Manager might be a better user experience. But it also might run clunky on my older machine.

 

[Boyd01]

Wow, you wait a whole year to move to the new operating system?!?! That seems pretty cautious.

Read the forums here, there are always lots of problems with each new release. Many of them might be fixed in a few months, but why rush? There's an old saying, "pioneers end up with arrows in their backs". 🤣

 

[TallManNY]

Read the forums here, there are always lots of problems with each new release. Many of them might be fixed in a few months, but why rush? There's an old saying, "pioneers end up with arrows in their backs". 🤣

I've definitely got no good reason to rush into a new OS. Maybe I will just hang onto Monterey for at least through the end of the year. While I have no good reason to rush, I do get curious about new features in the OS. So I've got a bad reason to transition to the new OS. Eventually it will get the best of me. But you've convinced me to put this off until next year. I got everything working great right now. Why mess with it?

 

[andy2141]

2018 i5 Mini here with 16GB of RAM.

I think I'll upgrade on day 1 as I'll be happy to roll it back if I really need to. I don't expect a huge amount of issues though over Monterey given my pretty basic use of the system right now.

I also have a Studio Display connected to my mini. It works fine for the most part. If I was to nit pick I would say the animations when minimizing a large window (such as Safari) are not always the smoothest but it's not really a huge issue.

Having said that you can definitely see the the difference when my daughter plugs her M2 Air into it. Holding out for a M2 mini at some point in the near future.

 

[TallManNY]

2018 i5 Mini here with 16GB of RAM.

I think I'll upgrade on day 1 as I'll be happy to roll it back if I really need to. I don't expect a huge amount of issues though over Monterey given my pretty basic use of the system right now.

I also have a Studio Display connected to my mini. It works fine for the most part. If I was to nit pick I would say the animations when minimizing a large window (such as Safari) are not always the smoothest but it's not really a huge issue.

Having said that you can definitely see the the difference when my daughter plugs her M2 Air into it. Holding out for a M2 mini at some point in the near future.

Yep, there are moments of stutter with our mini's driving the Studio Display. I was leaning toward getting the M2 mini when it comes out, but then went down the RAM upgrade process and figured I could go another year or two. The slight issue is that I could see the Mini being on a two-year refresh cycle. So if I don't buy the M2 that comes out this Fall, I might be holding out until 2024. Can my mini take OS upgrades and drive the Studio Display for the next two years? I'm not sure.

The great thing about our model is that there is a pretty robust demand on the used market for it. So I plan to sell my 2018 i5 mini when I go the upgrade route and I expect to get at least $250 for that sale. And with this being one of the last Mac Intels, I'm not expecting the used market to ever fully soften for these machines.

 

[blue_ish]

I've updated my 2018 mini which has 32 GB of RAM and a 500 GB internal SSD. Since the update Safari stalls briefly while loading all webpages and the scroll wheel via the mouse suffers lag in Safari (Logi keyboard and mouse). Eventually Safari stalls and force quitting it is the only way forward. At first, I thought it was a Safari issue but it also appears to affect Chrome after some testing. CPU load looks reasonable so I'm not sure what is going on. I updated last weekend. Right now I'd recommend caution given my experience. The machine was running very smoothly before the update. Perhaps it's related to the keyboard and mouse. I plan to do some testing. My wife uses the machine heavily and it is driving her around the bend so I may be downgrading the OS this weekend. As a mac user for over 30 years this is the first ever downgrade I've considered.

 

[andy2141]

No problems here on my 2018 i5 with 16GB ram. Mine is driving a studio display with Logitech mx master mouse and mx keys keyboard.

 

[joedds]

I've updated my 2018 mini which has 32 GB of RAM and a 500 GB internal SSD. Since the update Safari stalls briefly while loading all webpages and the scroll wheel via the mouse suffers lag in Safari (Logi keyboard and mouse). Eventually Safari stalls and force quitting it is the only way forward. At first, I thought it was a Safari issue but it also appears to affect Chrome after some testing. CPU load looks reasonable so I'm not sure what is going on. I updated last weekend. Right now I'd recommend caution given my experience. The machine was running very smoothly before the update. Perhaps it's related to the keyboard and mouse. I plan to do some testing. My wife uses the machine heavily and it is driving her around the bend so I may be downgrading the OS this weekend. As a mac user for over 30 years this is the first ever downgrade I've considered.

Same issue with my 2018 Mac Mini 3.2 GHz i7 and 1 TB SSD - really slow loading attached drives on Thunderbolt dock (OWC) and generally sluggish. Also thinking of downgrading, but will wait for 13.1 to see if that solves the sluggishness.

 

[weaztek]

I grabbed Ventura on day one with my 2018 Mini i5. It's worked really well. One issue with malwarebytes, but they came up with an easy workaround last week. Today, they have a new version of the app which doesn't need the workaround.

 

[Tommy66]

I have a Mini M1 running Big Sur. Can I upgrade to Ventura skipping Monterey? Any issues with Photoshop Elements? I need that.

 

[EugW]

I have a Mini M1 running Big Sur. Can I upgrade to Ventura skipping Monterey?

Yes, although Monterey is mature, whereas Ventura has a fair number of bugs.

Any issues with Photoshop Elements? I need that.

Using Elements 2023 on macOS Ventura (13.0)

Using Elements 2023 on macOS Ventura (13.0)

helpx.adobe.com

 

[Tommy66]

Looks like it's Monterey for me. Thank you!

 

[harriska2]

I wish I stayed on Monterey, Ventura made FCP extremely slow - pretty much unusable.

 

[Tommy66]

I caved and went for Ventura. I'm happy with it.

 

[LionTeeth]

I’ve been running Ventura on my 2018 32gb ram mini since… last December? Runs perfect. Like perfect, not a single glitch. I think I’m on one of the builds that came out in the spring, and zero plans to upgrade it until my apps for work stop working.