One nice thing about the 2014 is the ability to install an NVME stick in conjunction with a spindle hard drive inside, so that's essentially the 2nd hard drive option in the 2014 line.
Great video! Mine has 512GB SSD, 16 Gigs of RAM. It still performs wonderfully. For me, I wanted 4 USB ports without needing a dongle, and the built-in card reader. Plus I like the design of Catalina more than Big Sur... but you can patch Big Sur onto this if you really need to.
Yup, exactly. The USB 3.0s are great. Along with an i7 and 16GB of RAM. You can definitely use this for your daily driver. I am happy Apple did end support for the Mac mini on Catalina has it sorted out previous flaws and I’m not a fan of the redesign for Big Sur.
I'm using Mac mini 2012 with Dual core I5, SSD & 8GB RAM. I bought it without the SSD. Replaced HDD for the SSD. I did not think I could daily drive this, but works perfectly. Even use it for work, work in IT.
I actually used this mac mini 2012 i7 until late 2020 when I upgraded to an m1 macbook pro. To this day, I still use the 2012 mac mini as a windows machine and it still works great as long as I'm not doing anything too graphics intensive. Isn't it funny apple will still let it run the latest version of windows 10, but it can't run the latest version of mac os big sur?
It’s a great little machine considering you can get it in the $300 range. Anything graphics intensive is not meant for it. The integrated Intel GPU is quite poor. Yes Apple definitely did it dirty by discontinuing it from new Mac OS. It would have probably run it just fine.
I’ve read about that and have debated whether to do it or not. Only thing I am worried about is losing the functionality of certain applications. I’ll need to investigate it a little more. Have you done it?
I’ve got one of these with 2 SSDs running Big Sur on the main and Windows 10 on the secondary, only issue is that Windows won’t output audio through HDMI unless connected from the mini DisplayPort to HDMI via an adapter.
8:29 Oh, yes you bet I am!! But with a Breakout box 550 and a 1050ti card! 😁 Sucks the thunderbolt 1 is such big bottleneck here, but I’m getting quite good performance under Win 10! I can run Fallout 4, Ghost of Tsushima, Shadow of the Tomb raider etc Super happy I got it! 🙂🤘
Got mine for 200$ i7 and 256 SSD Just installed windows 10 and big sur without any problems The only minor thing about it it’s the integrated graphics but who cares ;)
I just bought a Mac mini 2012 i5 500GB 4gb ram for 150 euros. I will use the ssd from my celeronNUC with a Sata to usb because I’m scared to do it inside and I bought 8 gb ram for a total of 10GB.
Nice! I hope it works out for you. If your ever in an adventure mood I’d recommend checking out iFixit’s Mac mini SSD install guide. They’re quite detailed and you’ll probably get it installed in an hour or so.
too bad the 2012 mac mini i7 overheats and throttles down when it gets hot, I bought a MacPro 2012, and no more overheating and is upgradable and faster. It didn't cost that much more
Yeah it’s little fan does tend to become overwhelmed by sustained heavy workloads but if you’re just doing light to medium work you should be good. I’d also recommend upgrading the thermal paste as generally in 9 years it would have dried up.
@@doitrighttech8419 I got my Dual CPU 2012 mac pro for 500, it runs way cooler under load and doesn't throttle like the mini does when it gets hot. the pro can use higher-speed video cards and can hold 4 SATA drives. It has been upgraded to a nvme boot drive and 64 GB of memory. The reason I got a good price was the case was badly bent. I just bought an empty mac pro case and transferred all the hardware to it
One nice thing about the 2014 is the ability to install an NVME stick in conjunction with a spindle hard drive inside, so that's essentially the 2nd hard drive option in the 2014 line.
Great video! Mine has 512GB SSD, 16 Gigs of RAM. It still performs wonderfully. For me, I wanted 4 USB ports without needing a dongle, and the built-in card reader. Plus I like the design of Catalina more than Big Sur... but you can patch Big Sur onto this if you really need to.
Yup, exactly. The USB 3.0s are great. Along with an i7 and 16GB of RAM. You can definitely use this for your daily driver. I am happy Apple did end support for the Mac mini on Catalina has it sorted out previous flaws and I’m not a fan of the redesign for Big Sur.
I'm using Mac mini 2012 with Dual core I5, SSD & 8GB RAM. I bought it without the SSD. Replaced HDD for the SSD. I did not think I could daily drive this, but works perfectly. Even use it for work, work in IT.
I actually used this mac mini 2012 i7 until late 2020 when I upgraded to an m1 macbook pro. To this day, I still use the 2012 mac mini as a windows machine and it still works great as long as I'm not doing anything too graphics intensive. Isn't it funny apple will still let it run the latest version of windows 10, but it can't run the latest version of mac os big sur?
It’s a great little machine considering you can get it in the $300 range. Anything graphics intensive is not meant for it. The integrated Intel GPU is quite poor. Yes Apple definitely did it dirty by discontinuing it from new Mac OS. It would have probably run it just fine.
it runs big sur with open core.
I’ve read about that and have debated whether to do it or not. Only thing I am worried about is losing the functionality of certain applications. I’ll need to investigate it a little more. Have you done it?
I have one of these, but I installed Linux Mint on it instead of macOS and it's 2 times faster now.
2012 version is way more expensive on ebay than 2014, looks like people do understand something about computers
I’ve got one of these with 2 SSDs running Big Sur on the main and Windows 10 on the secondary, only issue is that Windows won’t output audio through HDMI unless connected from the mini DisplayPort to HDMI via an adapter.
Just received today a 2012 Mac MIni with i7 2.3Ghz quad core CPU, with 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD and OS Catalina, bought on eBay for $130.
Need to run Logic Pro 10.7 which requires Big Sur hence getting a 2014 i7, 16gb, 512 SSD $375
8:29 Oh, yes you bet I am!! But with a Breakout box 550 and a 1050ti card! 😁 Sucks the thunderbolt 1 is such big bottleneck here, but I’m getting quite good performance under Win 10! I can run Fallout 4, Ghost of Tsushima, Shadow of the Tomb raider etc Super happy I got it! 🙂🤘
can I use my pc dell keyboard and mouse with the Mac mini
Yes! As long as it has USB or Bluetooth you’ll be all set.
Got mine for 200$ i7 and 256 SSD
Just installed windows 10 and big sur without any problems
The only minor thing about it it’s the integrated graphics but who cares ;)
Nice! Hopefully it’ll serve you well. Integrated graphics I agree are a little poor but it’s a micro sized desktop.
Hmm I accidentally bought the 2012 for essentially the same price as the 2014 because I had both in my eBay cart.
I just bought a Mac mini 2012 i5 500GB 4gb ram for 150 euros. I will use the ssd from my celeronNUC with a Sata to usb because I’m scared to do it inside and I bought 8 gb ram for a total of 10GB.
Nice! I hope it works out for you. If your ever in an adventure mood I’d recommend checking out iFixit’s Mac mini SSD install guide. They’re quite detailed and you’ll probably get it installed in an hour or so.
10gb of ram?
Mine 2014 mini with 5400 rpm, i5 dual core, 8 gb ram, very slow, l3 cache 3mb,
Please suggest what to do !!??😭
I’d recommend first buying an SSD. That would work well for you. Your RAM should be good as 8 GB is still decent for today’s standards.
@@doitrighttech8419 easy and affordable to upgrade to 16 GB RAM
Thanks for your advice!!✊👊✊🕺🏄♂️
Planned obsolescence 😁
Yes! That’s the word. I remember reading that, just couldn’t quite bring it out.
I just bought a 2014 4Gb Ram 500gb memory Mac mini for $97 with shipping lol 😂 hey you can't beat the price at least
Did the early 2014 Mac Mins come with i7 Quad core 2.3khz 16gb ram and duel ssd hard drives as well as the 2012 ones ??
The 2014 Mac mini top model comes with a dual core i7 and you are not able to use dual HDDs because the mounting bracket is not setup for that.
too bad the 2012 mac mini i7 overheats and throttles down when it gets hot, I bought a MacPro 2012, and no more overheating and is upgradable and faster. It didn't cost that much more
Yeah it’s little fan does tend to become overwhelmed by sustained heavy workloads but if you’re just doing light to medium work you should be good. I’d also recommend upgrading the thermal paste as generally in 9 years it would have dried up.
@@doitrighttech8419 I did upgrade the thermal paste, it didn't help at all
That’s a bummer. I’m surprised you were able to buy a Mac Pro for cheap. They seem to hold their value quite well.
@@doitrighttech8419 I got my Dual CPU 2012 mac pro for 500, it runs way cooler under load and doesn't throttle like the mini does when it gets hot. the pro can use higher-speed video cards and can hold 4 SATA drives. It has been upgraded to a nvme boot drive and 64 GB of memory. The reason I got a good price was the case was badly bent. I just bought an empty mac pro case and transferred all the hardware to it
is it worth spending 350 today? getting i7 2.3, 500GB SSD, 16GB Model for 350
Yes, that would be a good deal. If it’s free shipping, I would highly recommend it.
I hour my dad anno ( around had a year ago) a i5 2012 for 200$cad , i just bought a lát-e 2014 for 220$cad
I’m getting mine for 150 $