I bought a used 2014 Mac mini (2.8GHz Dual Core i5, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD) for about $600 3 years ago as a desktop for a family member. Yes, I know it's not the darling of the benchmark crowd, but it's a capable machine and more than enough for web browsing, document editing and lite number crunching. The SSD is limited to SATA3 speeds (and uses nearly every byte of that speed) but feels fast. And on the rare occasion it needs booting, it's pretty quick. It just feels performant and capable and will probably continue to serve for several more years until it breaks or I find a decent M1/M2 for a similar price. I agree that the base model was a dog, but IMO the 2014 Mac mini fits the bill nicely for many real-world uses.
@@eternaliam Same here, especially on the base model, which was just a weak offering. Also I think Apple going down the road of non-replaceable RAM and storage was a terrible call, although it doesn't seem to have hurt them financially. Not being able to expand the computer as needs change means spending lots more for hardware you don't need up front but may need later.
@@sfperalta Yea, it’s unfortunate but it’s what they’ve been working towards for a long time now. Apple wants people to buy the higher spec models from them rather than selling low spec models and have users upgrade it for a fraction of the price. The only machine they currently sell that allows users to upgrade components costs double of what an equal spec Mac Studio costs. It’s just their way of making it not feasible so you either upgrade to a new machine every few years or just buy a high spec one upfront.
I'm sure for a more basic use machine, a Mac Mini like that would be fine... but the soldered 4GB RAM really kills it. and since upgraded models are pretty rare (relative to base), that just makes the value even worse. I bet my MacBookPro9,2 from 2012 I got for $50 with a 512GB SSD (and added 16GB RAM to) would hammer the 2014 mini in general usability.
the thumbnail is fire
Nice video. pacing is basically perfect. What a waste of silicon that mac is lmao
I bought a used 2014 Mac mini (2.8GHz Dual Core i5, 16GB RAM, 500GB SSD) for about $600 3 years ago as a desktop for a family member. Yes, I know it's not the darling of the benchmark crowd, but it's a capable machine and more than enough for web browsing, document editing and lite number crunching. The SSD is limited to SATA3 speeds (and uses nearly every byte of that speed) but feels fast. And on the rare occasion it needs booting, it's pretty quick. It just feels performant and capable and will probably continue to serve for several more years until it breaks or I find a decent M1/M2 for a similar price. I agree that the base model was a dog, but IMO the 2014 Mac mini fits the bill nicely for many real-world uses.
I don’t disagree with that, I just find it borderline insulting how Apple sold this thing and thought “yea that’s good”
@@eternaliam Same here, especially on the base model, which was just a weak offering. Also I think Apple going down the road of non-replaceable RAM and storage was a terrible call, although it doesn't seem to have hurt them financially. Not being able to expand the computer as needs change means spending lots more for hardware you don't need up front but may need later.
@@sfperalta Yea, it’s unfortunate but it’s what they’ve been working towards for a long time now. Apple wants people to buy the higher spec models from them rather than selling low spec models and have users upgrade it for a fraction of the price. The only machine they currently sell that allows users to upgrade components costs double of what an equal spec Mac Studio costs. It’s just their way of making it not feasible so you either upgrade to a new machine every few years or just buy a high spec one upfront.
I'm sure for a more basic use machine, a Mac Mini like that would be fine... but the soldered 4GB RAM really kills it. and since upgraded models are pretty rare (relative to base), that just makes the value even worse. I bet my MacBookPro9,2 from 2012 I got for $50 with a 512GB SSD (and added 16GB RAM to) would hammer the 2014 mini in general usability.
2014 i7 16gb and 2 SSDs …. It’s not slow and I am running the current OSs…
I don’t believe the higher spec models of this machine were bad, the base model however was atrocious.
The 2014 Mac Mini is so bad, I wouldn't even take it for free. And I love repurposing old garbage computers. It belongs in the recycling bin, sadly.