Old Mac Mini

Dolby

Dolby

Honorary Master
Joined
Jan 31, 2005
Messages
39,123
Reaction score
6,138
I don't do much on my PC and it's actually a stock 8GB / i5 3570K / SSD drive - but it was quick enough for me to check mail, spread sheets, watch YouTube or view photos - but it died.

I still have my office laptop, but I like to separate work <> business .

Are these old 2014 Mac Minis decent ?
Would the limited OS of an old model, limit me at all in what I do?
Is there a place specializing is used ?

It seems even I wanted brand new, there's no stock of M1 or M2 - though the iStore price of R9,999 is tempting!
 
No the old Mac minis with old and slow Intel chips are way overpriced secondhand. You can get much better mini pc's for half the price secondhand. Last week there was Intel Nuc's I5 10th gen R2999 and I3 11th gen for R2899 on Carb, with warrantees till 2025.
You can get M1 mac minis secondhand for 8k. hell one sold on Carb a week or two ago for 7k
 
This seemed a good price brand new, but as you say it makes those old ones seemed overpriced . But - you can't this

That's good prices on the NUC - but if I can a decent one of these at a good price, this may be better

1679483458777.png
 
I was also contemplating buying a M1. There was a constant nr of them appearing on FB marketplace. Anything over 8k they did not sell, but as soon as they dropped price to around 8k they sold. But the last two weeks there are none for sale, probably because of the new stock shortages.
 
Dolby said:
This seemed a good price brand new, but as you say it makes those old ones seemed overpriced . But - you can't this

That's good prices on the NUC - but if I can a decent one of these at a good price, this may be better

View attachment 1496487
Click to expand...

That’s a good deal.I would avoid the old intel Mac Minis and I’m talking from first hand experience.I ended up swapping an old intel Mac Mini for an M1 and haven’t looked back.My wife uses it as a home PC and it also serves as a Plex Media server.
 
ajules said:
That’s a good deal.I would avoid the old intel Mac Minis and I’m talking from first hand experience.I ended up swapping an old intel Mac Mini for an M1 and haven’t looked back.My wife uses it as a home PC and it also serves as a Plex Media server.
Click to expand...
Just very little stock.

At iStore, there's nothing !

This also seems pretty good ?

Search results for: 'apple mac mini m2 8 core cpu and 10 core gpu 8gb ram 256gb ssd silver'

www.incredible.co.za www.incredible.co.za

EDIT : No stock of any Mac Mini at IC Fourways or Northgate
 
Last edited:
Dolby said:
Just very little stock.

At iStore, there's nothing !

This also seems pretty good ?

Search results for: 'apple mac mini m2 8 core cpu and 10 core gpu 8gb ram 256gb ssd silver'

www.incredible.co.za www.incredible.co.za
Click to expand...
www.avo.africa

Avo Africa | Africa's First Super App | Shopping, Takeaways, Auto, Groceries, Banking and more

Groceries, takeaways, prepaids, home services, appliances, tech and so much more, Avo brings the world to the palm of your hand. Avo is for everyone, no matter who you bank with.
www.avo.africa www.avo.africa
 
Dolby said:
I don't do much on my PC and it's actually a stock 8GB / i5 3570K / SSD drive - but it was quick enough for me to check mail, spread sheets, watch YouTube or view photos - but it died.

I still have my office laptop, but I like to separate work <> business .

Are these old 2014 Mac Minis decent ?
Would the limited OS of an old model, limit me at all in what I do?
Is there a place specializing is used ?

It seems even I wanted brand new, there's no stock of M1 or M2 - though the iStore price of R9,999 is tempting!
Click to expand...
If you have one lying around, it’s a good alternative. If you need to buy, get an M1.
 
An update :

Someone has donated an older unit (2014, I think) - a huge thank you!

I haven't got the unit in my hands yet - but I'll be able to make use of it for the odd website or Excel file I'm sure.

It sounds like it could be slower than it should actually should be - but just curious, do these take standard HDD at all ? Could I get an SSD ? Or would the first thing to do is reset do default settings ? Defrag HDD ? Standard keyboard / mouse would work for now ? How to breathe some life back ?

Mac Mini MGEM2LL/A
1.4Ghz Intel Core i5
4GB RAM
500GB HDD.
 
Last edited:
Dolby said:
An update :

Someone has donated an older unit (2014, I think) - a huge thank you!

I haven't got the unit in my hands yet - but I'll be able to make use of it for the odd website or Excel file I'm sure.

It sounds like it could be slower than it should actually should be - but just curious, do these take standard HDD at all ? Could I get an SSD ? Or would the first thing to do is reset do default settings ? Defrag HDD ? Standard keyboard / mouse would work for now ? How to breathe some life back ?

Mac Mini MGEM2LL/A
1.4Ghz Intel Core i5
4GB RAM
500GB HDD.
Click to expand...
That’s what I’m running at the moment, for MS Office at work. When it becomes to slow I’ll relegate it to PLEX duties and get an M1

Upgraded the ram to 32GB
Swapped out my 500GB HDD for a 1TB SSD, which sped it up quite considerably. The HDD is a 2.5” unit so should be easy to swap.

Clean Installs are your friend!
 
Nicholas Lisse said:
That’s what I’m running at the moment, for MS Office at work. When it becomes to slow I’ll relegate it to PLEX duties and get an M1

Upgraded the ram to 32GB
Swapped out my 500GB HDD for a 1TB SSD, which sped it up quite considerably. The HDD is a 2.5” unit so should be easy to swap.

Clean Installs are your friend!
Click to expand...
I thought the RAM couldn't upgraded on these ?
 
Nicholas Lisse said:
That’s what I’m running at the moment, for MS Office at work. When it becomes to slow I’ll relegate it to PLEX duties and get an M1
Click to expand...

Yea or maybe Home Assistant or something . Think it’s always going to useful
 
So I got the unit - very neat and clean!

It does seem fairly slow and maybe the HDD has something to with it?
Perhaps dying on just slow spinning|?
My dead/dying Windows PC has an SSD that I'm happy to transfer - but changing looks like it needs tools etc. I'd rather have someone else do it .

Anyone know these guys ?

simplymac.co.za

Apple Mac Repair HDL Automation Yamaha Audio & Visual Thule OWC

Apple Technical Support Repairs Liquid damaged MacBook Pros Memory SSD upgrades iMac MacBook Air HDL Home Automation, Audio Specialists iPhone iPad Repairs Screen Replacement M1 SoC processor crucial retina mac pro yamaha thule mission subwoofer soundbar elac OWC thunderbolt 3 epson storage Mini...
simplymac.co.za
 
Also trying to reset - but for the life of me can't get into MacOS Recovery

That Command R (or Windows R on my keyboard) is not working .

Is there any other way of factory resetting ?

I have this :

17. macOS 11 (Big Sur)​

November 19, 2020: There’s no macOS 10.16, because Big Sur deserves a more epic version name — 11.0. Bringing a huge design change and transition to Apple’s M1 Macs, macOS Big Sur is the one to remember. This is the first operating system that allows running iOS apps natively on Mac — the so-called Universal apps.
 
I told you they were really slow.
I think ssd will do the trick tho.

Make sure you hit power button, then option, then R... you don't have to try push them at the same time.
Video at 30mins here:

This is also a good step by step video for ssd install:

If you want to send it in i've used MacShack (www.repair.macshack.co.za) and The Big Orchard (www.thebigorchard.co.za) before.
There is also a place next to Fourways Mall called Macworks (www.macworks.co.za) and one in Ferndale called Macworx (www.macworx.co.za) but i've never used either.
 
The CPU is the bottleneck in the older Mac minis. Rather look at a +-2018 (>8th Gen) or M1/M2.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X