I bought one back when it was the latest Mac mini model and have been using it every day since. It's not as fast as the M-series minis, and the graphics are nothing to write home about, but it's a competent and fast machine with 4 Thunderbolt ports (the base-model M1 only has 2),. All in all it's still a good model for most folks, especially if you can find a used one for a low price (I recommend at least 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD configuration). This is the last mini model that allows users to add RAM, so if you like to do that it's at least possible. Also, it's the last mini with an Intel chip, so if you run virtual machines or like to boot Windows or Linus, that's also possible with this box.
I am running Proxmox on some old i7 2012 minis, because of low tdp they make ideal machines for running few VMs. But a 2018 i7 with 64 gb of ram is perfect machine for my new proxmox running windows and few Linux distros. You can never have too much ram.
Generally this is true. But if you like to run virtual machines on the i7 mini (like I do) it would be nice to have a bit more memory so you can give a good chunk to the VM without starving the macOS side. 32GB LPDDR4 RAM is pretty cheap these days.
for audio such as organ vst that can require lots of ram, or some other libraries as well that don't require very fast cpu, this is still viable. otherwise a hackintosh with a 5800u fanless mini pc for a little less money.
Honestly I think these are a great deal in 2024, they are still supported in Seqioua, can have pretty fast 6 core CPUs, have upgradable ram up to 64GB and can use external graphics to increase performance. They can even run 32-bit software running Mojave. For a while it was more worth buying an M1 Mac mini because they weren't that much cheaper, but now you can find these for less than $300.
Honestly seeing your comment saying that these are supported in sequoia made it an easy decision for me. I bought a widescreen display for my MacBook when I’m home but I saw one of these online for 175 and I’ll barely use it considering I have iPad Pro and MacBook Pro. This’ll just stay attached to the display and I can still do some video editing. Gonna look for a nice dock for it now
@@dreamlandstudios2570 We went with this for our son instead of the M chips. With 64g RAM there is no latency on symphonies with over 50 plug-ins. Just letting people know.
We just bought this for our son instead of the M chips for home audio mixing. We got a 1 tb drive 64g RAM and the fast 3.6 GH proc. Works great for him. No latency on 50 + plug-ins when he composes symphonies. This is hard to find. We didn't like the things we were hearing about the M2 & 3 for audio and also the move away from the ability to fix and add things yourself. We had a newer Gigabyte laptop that bricked and they wanted $1400 to fix it-we had to mail it in. We could not buy a new motherboard and install it ourselves so no way are we going thru that again with Apple. Also the 64GB does not run hot like the Gigabyte did. Amazing.
How much did it cost you? I’m thinking about getting an old Mac mini with 32-64gb ram as well. I’m hoping it’d be better if not as good as the new m2 or m1 Mac mini’s. I’m coming from always having MacBook pros that somehow always break
Just bought one full specs, i7 8700B, 2TB SSD and 64 GB RAM. I should receive it in a couple of weeks. It’ll replace my Hackintosh with an i7 8700, so same power but reduced footprint!
Do you feel it's worth it? I'm currently considering it since I can get the maxed out version at the same price as the base m1 is being sold around here.
@@2020Dreamlife A comparable MacMini M4… would had been ~4000 Canadian dollars. I mean with 64 Gb of RAM and 2 TB SSD… Mine was under 1500 once I got all the peripherals (mainly eGPU, Thunderbolt enclosure, etc…).
@@oscaranave5471 Depends on you CPU power needs. The M1 is probably way faster and quiet than the Intel… The M1 won’t have the big SSD and maxed RAM though!
I got one of these for my mother at $170. She needed a dedicated workstation and not a laptop (she killed its battery by having it on the charger for 6 years straight). All she uses is Google Chrome and the Mac has helped her with iMessage being included as well. Overall great value for the money
I have an i7 mini with 32 gigs of ram that I bought new in 2020 when they had the mid cycle upgrade for the storage. Recently I picked up an M2 mini pro and the difference is like day & night, particularly on anything that is graphically intensive. Having said that the Intel mini has been perfectly reliable for over four years, which I couldn't even say about the previous Mac Pro. Yes, it may get hot and the fans may race, but Apple did a stellar job ensuring it never physically overheats. If you need to handle graphically intensive tasks this machine will struggle, however my bigger concern would be how well software will run a couple years from now, because I can already see how some apps have fewer bugs and crashes on silicon. For some, it might still be worth buying, as long as the price is right. If all you need is a computer for email, web browsing and the rest this might still be usable for another 3-4 years. Personally I will tread carefully before trying Sequoia on an Intel machine.
It will struggle in graphically intense tasks, however the 2018 Mac mini has a trump card. You can use an external thunderbolt GPU on the 2018, so you can install a 5700 xt to get very good graphics performance(even better than the M3}
@@EvilTurkeySlices That's an option and I considered it, but concluded it didn't make economic sense when I factored in the various pros and cons. The main one being that Apple updates will likely cause problems soon and that developers are shifting their focus on to silicon. One piece of advice I would offer to anybody reading this is to avoid a 4K display on this computer, unless you have an eGPU. It just doesn't have enough power to run the display and work on images or edit video etc.
I still have one of these and use it mostly for studio / audio production. Can someone tell me which IOS this can be updated to before it struggles with the updates for Logic Pro X? Appreciate the help! 🙏🏽
Good video😊. Realistically only 32 gb of ram in those minis makes sense. 2x16 ram is really cheap. Its a great model for people who are stuck on intel software. Or are stuck on 32 bit compatible software and the last os that supports it - mojave 10.14. It works great in that case. Another case is x86 windows compatibility, bootcamp or VMs. Arm windows is in its infancy still.
It’s more worth it to add more RAM when purchasing if it’s a choice between adding more RAM vs more storage. You can always add external storage but can’t add more RAM.
You can save money and add your own ram. That is the best thing about the Mac mini. Also, I found my Mac mini 2018 with maxed out specs for 250 on fb marketplace. Do not pay more than. 400 depending on specs
if you buy a pc instead of mac mini in the same year. you can run windows 11 and I dont think windows will stop updating your system unlike Macs after 7-8 years.
If you use Linux distroes like Ubunto then you’re probably supported forever. It’s not about support, Windows 11(and 10, 8.1, 8) is a half-arsed system with fragmented UI, a lot of bugs and horrible optimisation. Remember what happened after Windows 10 20H1? Lots of low spec PCs got way slower because Windows became unnecessarily heavy. Macs do get slower on their last supported OS versions but not as unusable as PCs.
@@rorywalters1614 What im typing right now is an 2017 windows pc using windows 11. I dont have any problem slowing down. If this was a Mac you have no longer update support and some of your apps will become buggy.
@@riccia888completely untrue. All of my Mac’s are older and all of them are on latest os with no issues. Even my extra little 2014 Mac mini is running Sonoma. You just need legacy core and it’s very easy
I got one. Worst computer I had. Soooo slow. That spinning wheel. If you saved anything on the desktop it got even slower. We played roblox and ot crashed.
I bought one back when it was the latest Mac mini model and have been using it every day since. It's not as fast as the M-series minis, and the graphics are nothing to write home about, but it's a competent and fast machine with 4 Thunderbolt ports (the base-model M1 only has 2),. All in all it's still a good model for most folks, especially if you can find a used one for a low price (I recommend at least 16 GB RAM and 512 GB SSD configuration). This is the last mini model that allows users to add RAM, so if you like to do that it's at least possible. Also, it's the last mini with an Intel chip, so if you run virtual machines or like to boot Windows or Linus, that's also possible with this box.
64GB is an overkill for this Mac mini, unless you run it as a server or hook up an eGPU for video editing. For daily usage, 16GB is sufficient.
Thanks for that info, I noticed 32s wernt too much more than 16s while there was larger jump for 64s. I’ll probably get a 32 or 16.
I am running Proxmox on some old i7 2012 minis, because of low tdp they make ideal machines for running few VMs. But a 2018 i7 with 64 gb of ram is perfect machine for my new proxmox running windows and few Linux distros. You can never have too much ram.
Generally this is true. But if you like to run virtual machines on the i7 mini (like I do) it would be nice to have a bit more memory so you can give a good chunk to the VM without starving the macOS side. 32GB LPDDR4 RAM is pretty cheap these days.
for audio such as organ vst that can require lots of ram, or some other libraries as well that don't require very fast cpu, this is still viable. otherwise a hackintosh with a 5800u fanless mini pc for a little less money.
Honestly I think these are a great deal in 2024, they are still supported in Seqioua, can have pretty fast 6 core CPUs, have upgradable ram up to 64GB and can use external graphics to increase performance. They can even run 32-bit software running Mojave. For a while it was more worth buying an M1 Mac mini because they weren't that much cheaper, but now you can find these for less than $300.
I just bought an i7 model for testing the MacOS Sequoia beta.
Honestly seeing your comment saying that these are supported in sequoia made it an easy decision for me. I bought a widescreen display for my MacBook when I’m home but I saw one of these online for 175 and I’ll barely use it considering I have iPad Pro and MacBook Pro. This’ll just stay attached to the display and I can still do some video editing. Gonna look for a nice dock for it now
@@WatchSicarioWinsame here. I’ll leave it attached to a wide display. Did you find a good one?
@@2020Dreamlife yes works flawlessly
@@EvilTurkeySlicesoque achou ?
JUST GOT ONE FOR 250 MAXED OUT. GONNA HOOK UP EGPU/ RX 580 THROUGH THUNDERBOLT AND UPDATE USING LEGACY CORE IF I NEED TO!
I’m finna buy this for music as well
@@dreamlandstudios2570 bro it runs daw’s so well. And plugins smoothly
Get a 6600XT
Navi 21 is supported
@@arnavchadha6323 going with 6900xt soon! But currently I have a Vega 56 in it and it does great
@@dreamlandstudios2570 We went with this for our son instead of the M chips. With 64g RAM there is no latency on symphonies with over 50 plug-ins. Just letting people know.
We just bought this for our son instead of the M chips for home audio mixing. We got a 1 tb drive 64g RAM and the fast 3.6 GH proc. Works great for him. No latency on 50 + plug-ins when he composes symphonies. This is hard to find. We didn't like the things we were hearing about the M2 & 3 for audio and also the move away from the ability to fix and add things yourself. We had a newer Gigabyte laptop that bricked and they wanted $1400 to fix it-we had to mail it in. We could not buy a new motherboard and install it ourselves so no way are we going thru that again with Apple. Also the 64GB does not run hot like the Gigabyte did. Amazing.
How much did it cost you? I’m thinking about getting an old Mac mini with 32-64gb ram as well. I’m hoping it’d be better if not as good as the new m2 or m1 Mac mini’s. I’m coming from always having MacBook pros that somehow always break
Just bought one full specs, i7 8700B, 2TB SSD and 64 GB RAM. I should receive it in a couple of weeks.
It’ll replace my Hackintosh with an i7 8700, so same power but reduced footprint!
Why not m1. What price did you pay
@@2020Dreamlife 64gb ram with m1 chip would cost 3-4 times as much.
Do you feel it's worth it? I'm currently considering it since I can get the maxed out version at the same price as the base m1 is being sold around here.
@@2020Dreamlife A comparable MacMini M4… would had been ~4000 Canadian dollars. I mean with 64 Gb of RAM and 2 TB SSD… Mine was under 1500 once I got all the peripherals (mainly eGPU, Thunderbolt enclosure, etc…).
@@oscaranave5471 Depends on you CPU power needs. The M1 is probably way faster and quiet than the Intel… The M1 won’t have the big SSD and maxed RAM though!
I got one of these for my mother at $170. She needed a dedicated workstation and not a laptop (she killed its battery by having it on the charger for 6 years straight). All she uses is Google Chrome and the Mac has helped her with iMessage being included as well. Overall great value for the money
Link to buy
@@ayman1204 it was fb marketplace
So the moral is if you have one no need to update, but it’s advisable not to purchase one today right? For update reasons.
I have an i7 mini with 32 gigs of ram that I bought new in 2020 when they had the mid cycle upgrade for the storage. Recently I picked up an M2 mini pro and the difference is like day & night, particularly on anything that is graphically intensive.
Having said that the Intel mini has been perfectly reliable for over four years, which I couldn't even say about the previous Mac Pro. Yes, it may get hot and the fans may race, but Apple did a stellar job ensuring it never physically overheats.
If you need to handle graphically intensive tasks this machine will struggle, however my bigger concern would be how well software will run a couple years from now, because I can already see how some apps have fewer bugs and crashes on silicon.
For some, it might still be worth buying, as long as the price is right. If all you need is a computer for email, web browsing and the rest this might still be usable for another 3-4 years. Personally I will tread carefully before trying Sequoia on an Intel machine.
It will struggle in graphically intense tasks, however the 2018 Mac mini has a trump card. You can use an external thunderbolt GPU on the 2018, so you can install a 5700 xt to get very good graphics performance(even better than the M3}
@@EvilTurkeySlices That's an option and I considered it, but concluded it didn't make economic sense when I factored in the various pros and cons. The main one being that Apple updates will likely cause problems soon and that developers are shifting their focus on to silicon.
One piece of advice I would offer to anybody reading this is to avoid a 4K display on this computer, unless you have an eGPU. It just doesn't have enough power to run the display and work on images or edit video etc.
I checked and Mac Mini 2018 is supported for macOS Sequoia
I still have one of these and use it mostly for studio / audio production. Can someone tell me which IOS this can be updated to before it struggles with the updates for Logic Pro X? Appreciate the help! 🙏🏽
I’m also in the market for the same thing. It’s lookin like it can update to the newest OS Sequoia
Good video😊. Realistically only 32 gb of ram in those minis makes sense. 2x16 ram is really cheap. Its a great model for people who are stuck on intel software. Or are stuck on 32 bit compatible software and the last os that supports it - mojave 10.14. It works great in that case. Another case is x86 windows compatibility, bootcamp or VMs. Arm windows is in its infancy still.
I wish they’d bring back the colours for Mac mini
Anyone get a solution for the permanent overheating ? 😩
thx for the vid but is it worth buying bc it only has got 8gb ram and they charge you 100 dollars for 8 gb of ram
It’s more worth it to add more RAM when purchasing if it’s a choice between adding more RAM vs more storage. You can always add external storage but can’t add more RAM.
@@ViciousFirearms yeah, it really sucks :(
You can save money and add your own ram. That is the best thing about the Mac mini. Also, I found my Mac mini 2018 with maxed out specs for 250 on fb marketplace. Do not pay more than. 400 depending on specs
I paid $200 for mine secondhand
Totally no.
iPhone mirroring is slugish, games are lagging.
Bootcamp for window OS? maybe, then?
if you buy a pc instead of mac mini in the same year. you can run windows 11 and I dont think windows will stop updating your system unlike Macs after 7-8 years.
If you use Linux distroes like Ubunto then you’re probably supported forever. It’s not about support, Windows 11(and 10, 8.1, 8) is a half-arsed system with fragmented UI, a lot of bugs and horrible optimisation. Remember what happened after Windows 10 20H1? Lots of low spec PCs got way slower because Windows became unnecessarily heavy. Macs do get slower on their last supported OS versions but not as unusable as PCs.
@@rorywalters1614 What im typing right now is an 2017 windows pc using windows 11. I dont have any problem slowing down. If this was a Mac you have no longer update support and some of your apps will become buggy.
@rorywalters1614 on arch you could prob get even better support because the min req for arch is 256mb of ram
@@riccia888completely untrue. All of my Mac’s are older and all of them are on latest os with no issues. Even my extra little 2014 Mac mini is running Sonoma. You just need legacy core and it’s very easy
@@a1ankaymusic Isn't the latest version of amc os the latest for 18 year old devices?
support is ending
I got one. Worst computer I had. Soooo slow. That spinning wheel. If you saved anything on the desktop it got even slower. We played roblox and ot crashed.
stop whispering
and talks and talks withouy saying anything of use like a typical mac brainwash victim