Building the ULTIMATE 2012 quad core Mac mini - But is it worth it?
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- čas přidán 28. 05. 2024
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The mid 2012 quad core Mac mini is revered as one of the best Macs of all time, it had the perfect blend of price and performance. But how does it hold up nearly 8 years later? Today we're going to upgrade this 2012 Mac mini with 16gb of RAM and a dual hard drive kit from iFixit. Is it a good value in 2020?
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What do you think? Is the 2012 quad core Mac mini a good value? Also, get Total AV for 80% off, just $19.99/year when you sign up today at totalav.com/lukemiani
I ended up getting mine for about 220 dollars after selling my 2010 for about 100. I put a 500 GB SSD in and 8gb of ram and it works flawlessly for my logic pro work. It was absolutely a steal in my opinion. I also got a housing for the old spinning hard drive that I use as extra storage! Perfect little machine
i think its worth it the mac miani
Yes and no, the biggest thing is the lack of thunderbolt which limits the upgrade path in a couple ways.
Got SOOOOOOOO confused for a while, until I realized that you were using GeekBench 4, not GeekBench 5
Luke Miani only downside is no 4K but you can get half way there sorta..
Few months back at my old job they were getting rid of old Macs (2010 - 2014 models) I got a Mac mini 2012 for my mom for $100. I already had a spare SSD and RAM . That worked out good.
I recently brought 2 2011 and one 2014 Mac Mini from a guy that grab a few from his job when they renewed the Macs they were using as surveillance monitors. I think i'm gonna keep a 2011 one, with 16gb of ram and a 500GB SSD it works great! And sell the other two and basically get to keep the 2011 for free or even make a little profit, only down size of the 2011 is that it doesn't have USB 3.0 and it only has 512mb of video. Other than that it's more than capable for everyday usage in 2020!
you bought it from your mom so...you can't really brag about the price.
@@Ainttrippin he said FOR his mom LOL
Lucky u
@@Ainttrippin illiterate
Two years later: Mac Mini 2012 2.6 Core $225 with 16GB RAM. Add a 2TB Samsung EVO SSD $119. Install SuSE Linux or apply OpenCore for Ventura... $344 Total Cost. Used M1's start at $529 and 2018's at $499... Neither of those allow a user to upgrade the hard drive after purchase... unless you have mad skills like DosDude.
I recently bought a mid-2012 Mac Mini for $110 on eBay with the i7, 16 GB RAM and a 1 TB fusion drive. That's cheaper than the Raspberry Pi 5 with 8 GB of RAM I recently bought. I'm stacking these Mac minis for running containers.
I have built my Mac mini 2012 with 16G and SSD since 2012. Never felt slow during these 8 years. Now I have added egpu 5700xt to it, and drive my 4k monitor with 120 Hz. Great performance!! Best machine ever!
Can it edit 1080p
I had a 2012 Mac mini, i7, upgraded to 16gb ram and 2x 500gb Ssds. I was able to perform a RAID 0 and cloning OS Mojave onto the combined drive running stable with about 1GB read and write speeds. Great option and fairly priced, after all the upgrades it came out to around $550.
Hi Richard, I did the same with Catalina!
For the love of God man, clean the fan and put some new thermal paste, i beg you.
LOL, he's probably just going to keep as part of His collection. (:
I was expecting this too
Exactly. Why go through the effort to take the machine completely apart, and not replace the paste and clean it out? It’s a half assed effort.
I just picked up this same exact model with processor for $300. I added the SSD and 16gb ram. I cannot agree with you more on new thermal paste. Will give you peace of mind after doing all the upgrades.
Joseph Frusci - you got very, very lucky. The owner didn’t do the research to see the value. I did the same a few years ago and got a good deal. DEFINITELY search eBay. Like really search. And set a notifier on eBay to tell you when a model is newly listed.
YEAHHHH BOY. I did the same exact thing to mine. Found it on Craigslist for $100 a few years back and ooh. Love it. Also love you.
Do you use it for any professional purpose like editing or music production
Art Of Storytelling professional use technically. Fashion designer so mostly photoshop, illustrator, CAD, etc
das gay
zanza kuro thats na wha ur mama was saying
🙄
You dont need the tool to remove the board. Just hook up an ethernet cable, and pull a bit. pulls it right out. (pc repair guy tip)
Legend tip helped me out !
I use 2 slim screwdrivers from an iphone repair kit. Even if you only have one, take turns in each hole to move it out.
More like the 2012 mac miani
He should change his channel name to Mac Miani lol
GET OUT.
LOL, too funny!
Have Late 2012 Mini with 16gm RAM and SSD disc 500gb - Final Cut Pro and Pro Tools works really good
I still have mine....i7-maxed the memory and put TWO 1TB SSD’s-YES CATALINA AND YES 4K VIDEO-NO STUTTERING!!!! It’s still a BEAST!!
I just can’t afford a new iMac anything-just too much, so did the next best thing!! I was actually expecting stuttering in iMovie-NONE even with 2 layers...that convinced me STAY WITH WHAT I GOT until the wheels fall of...you don’t need 1 TB-just get 2-500gb SSD there really cheap now-and yes it does push 2560 on the monitor!!
@@IPULCOLUMBIA does graphics lag like how Luke showed in his video?
How the 4K?
How'd you manage to get 4k ? can you provide a list of the things you put in your mac mini .
@@liferipsfam If you're trying to play 3D games at high resolution/detail, yes. If you're using it as a general-purpose computer, no.
Best MacBook Pro mid 2012
Best Mac mini mid 2012
Best I Mac mid 2012
So let’s just accept it 2012 is the best
Alas, the end of the Steve jobs era.
Best mbp 2015 rmbp
@@damonkay4177 2012 is better it is more upgradeable
USSF - United States Space Force hardly. Only thing better is dual bays for storage
uyghur12345 what’s better though. What are you really going to upgrade to make it better than a specd and upgraded 2013-2015 rmbp
I did this same mod after I bought my 2012 back in 2013. It was a great machine, but finally had to upgrade to the latest for the increased NVME drive speeds, since I do mobile development. I love these machines - can hide them under my desk, they are quiet, and easy to travel with.
I’m using my Mac mini server late 2012, 2,3GHz i7, 16GB RAM, 2TB SSD. and it still works fine.
Additionally it’s working fine with my famous Thunderbolt Display too.
It’s worth, definitely!
27"? I'm looking at a 2.6 Quad, 16gb, 512 SSD for just under $150 to go with my 27" Thunderbolt and the graphics have me concerned after watching this. Also, does the sound work on yours?
@@artistnyc123 in the meantime I have upgraded to a used Mac mini, Modell 2018, 6-core i7 3,2GHz, 1TB SSD and 64GB Memory. The Mac mini Server as mentioned above has moved to my stereo system, is connected by HDMI to my Panasonic OLED tv, sound is played by optical digigtal toslink from the tv to a DAC (Benchmark DAC2D) and this device is connected by analog XLR connector’s with my Yamaha A-S2100 amplifier. This Amp supports two Heissmann DXT-MON speakers. Sound is amazing!
The „new“ Mac mini instead is connected to my 27“ Thunderbolt Display by an external usb-c adapter. Picture is fine, internal sound of the display audio is „so la la“. It works, but not compareable to the other system mentioned above.
@@exif6839 One thing to keep in mind is the superior sound quality from the 2012 model board. I upgraded to a 2018 i3 to replace as my media server, and kept the 2012 due to the sound quality. The 2018 is strictly used for video as a Plex server so I kept both!
I did this on a 2011 except I installed two SSD's in RAID-0 in addition to the 16GB RAM. It lives nicely in my recording studio keeping my outboard firewire gear alive. It's old but it still does the job after all these years!
I hope you have really good (and I mean bare-metal, like Carbon Copy Cloner) backups, because you'll be in a world of hurt if *either* of those RAID0 SSDs dies...
Can you boot it from the RAID-0 disks? The Mac Pro have problems with it.
@@pedrofelck Apple remove raid boot support a while ago (since nvme is fast enough is my guess). I wrote a reddit post on how to boot from a Raid 0 volume on mojave and catalina. It takes some work and you have to take extra steps for updates. I did this on my 2012 mac mini with dual EVO SSDs. Got consistent 900MBs read and writes with that setup.
Link to post: www.reddit.com/r/osx/comments/a2slwc/success_raid_0_boot_with_mojave/
Eric R Hill Same!!
Me too, literally just did mine last night. Im disappointed this video did not do that.
My MacMini cost me $150 in 2012 when it came out; with 16GB RAM. I used birthday money so I only paid the difference. It’s a solid machine! I did a lot of video editing on it until the factory HD began to slow down. Going to upgrade it to an SSD and should be a a great office/entertainment center computer.
Great video.
I did exactly that 4 years ago - thrown 16GB of RAM and 2 SSD's inside. It was my "heavy duty" office machine for video editing, writing and all other business related jobs. Last year it was replaced by a 5K iMac to keep up with 4K footage demands. A great mini-warrior. The only thing I did more than you was a replacement of thermal paste to Kryonaut.
I just finished my AP chem exam! Love that I get to wind down with a new Luke Miani video!
I performed the same upgrade years ago with the same specs and it really was worth it!
i wouldn’t discount the eGPUs for the 2012. I have mine setup as my daily driver with an Nvidia GTX 1050Ti via an Akitio thunder 2. works fine for single screen 2560x1440. i use it for 360video editing. vastly improved performance for cuda core enabled software.
did you have to do anything special to run the 1050 in this enclosure? I see that they don't recommend using it for video cards but you have it working it looks like. Is there a forum of folks using this enclosure for eGPU's? I have a NIB EVGA 1050TI that I was going to use in a Hackintosh build but decided to just buy the 2012 mini. Thanks.
Yeah, it's not going to be good for monitor pass though back to the mac. But, for leveraging it to render it's fine.
@@6806goats1 egpu.io/forums/builds/mac-mini-late-2012-with-akitio-node-and-nvidia-gtx-1050ti-test-attempt-2-mac-and-bootcamp-works/
but its tb3 box
I can’t even afford 2 or 3 monitors so eh
I bought this same Mac Mini in 2012 brand new with the i7, 4 GB of RAM and a 1 GB HDD, and it served me well. Later I upgraded the RAM to 16 GB, and switched out the HDD for the same size SSD. Still runs great but I use the M1 Mac Mini that I bought at the end of 2020 a lot more, of course. Great video Luke.
Great video Luke! Your videos motivated me to get into buying older Mac products. I recently got a late 2012 2.3GHz i7 Mac mini with 8GB Ram and 256GB of storage for $180. not too bad for the money.
Hello Luke thanks for your videos and advice. I bought a Mac Mini Late 2012 with 2.6Ghz then put 16Gb ram and 1 TB SSD. I used it to transfer about 30 mini DV tapes (thanks to Firewire 800 port) and convert with iMovie in mp4 (720p).
It does the job easily for this 10 years old machine !
Been thinking about getting one of these! Great video!
I did this EXACT build 3 months ago and it has worked very well for me so far. Am only using it to surf the web and some basic stuff. It is absolutely not a powerhouse by any means but it does great for what it does. Great video.
I picked up the same unit a few weeks ago and threw in 16gb of ram and a 500gb ssd, keeping a 1 tb spinner. What a fantastic computer.
I bought one of these a couple years ago from ebay for ~ $385, though it was a 2.5GHz I5, it had a 120 gb ssd and 16 GB of RAM. I upgraded to a 512GB 860 EVO SSD and that thing is still running great!
is it still running great?
@@profilmwork Yes, I am running Ubuntu 22.04 on it. Works like a charm
Love my 2012 Mac mini. It's perfect for audio production.
What DAW do you use? And do you use virtual instruments (like omnisphere) and plugins with no problem?
I’ve got one as well in my home studio, Maxed out the ram, and will keep it a while longer. In my second studio at my vacation home, I just replaced a 2011 imac with a 2020 Mac mini. Based on my experience, this is the most cost effective way to go: buy the i7 model, 8 gigs, 512 SSD. Then Upgrade the ram to 32. Costs about $160, and you get get someone to put it in for about $40. Then get an external 1 or 2 TB SSD. You’re all set for about $1600. Oh, and two 22 inch montors? 89 bucks a pop on Amazon.
that's what I use mine for- new logic pro x and software instruments slows the cpu a lot though
I use reaper which is very light on the system. Still runs like a champ. I use kontakt and GGD drum samples along with various other synths and stuff. Never much of an issue. Just gotta work smart. Render things down as you go sometimes. I'll prob get a newer Mac mini or an iMac next. I want something good for video to next upgrade. Might even build a hackintosh
I did all of this on my late 2012 i7 mac mini and it flies-- unbelievable how it breathes life into what was a pretty slow machine. But I'm still thinking of getting a 2020 mac mini just so I can run big sur and future os updates for the next many years.
I ran my i5 mid 2012 Mini for years with the 4gb ram. Did a little video editing, but mostly browsing. After upgrading to 16gb ram and adding the dual drive kit (setup as a fusion drive) it is still a good machine today.
Luke you always kill it. Bringing the stuff people want to see. 2012 quad is one of the best Mac Mini's ever made. Just like the 2012 15" MBP
I agree.
I watched this video on my Mac Mini 2012! :)
@Ezmyrelda Andrade Yeah, and for my needs it is still usable!
bro me too!
same lol
These are an incredible value at that price point as you get a great, rock-solid machine, with very good CPU performance. I have used one as my work machine for the last 3 years and it's still my favorite machine.
I’m a designer and still using my Mac Mini late 2012, which I bought when I was in a university. I upgraded this just like same as yours (16gb ram w/ 1tb ssd) and connected to 34inch ultra wide monitor lol I use a company stuff for major works but my elder Mac still works perfect and it’s decent for small 2D graphics projects, short video editing, and high-res photo editing.
8:08 Well let me tell you, i use a egpu on my dualcore 2012, and i even use VR (BARELY) but works, the only drawback it's the cpu being dualcore...
Hey Luke, I love your channel. I have been watching a long time. I have NASA level computers but I love these budget minded walkthroughs of Apple. Thanks 🙏🏽
I bought one of these when it was new. It's been my daily driver, handling light recreational use and learning web development. I did, shortly after purchase, put in 16 GB ram and a 480GB SSD. I've been happy with the performance. I didn't do the two hard drives, so that I didn't have to take the whole thing apart. It's been very reliable for several years now. It just seems to struggle with connecting to other things; external hard drives and television. They work for a bit, then are lost and I have to start resetting things to get them back. Overall okay.
Late 2012 Mac Mini owner here. I bought mine new in 2013 and only bought the base model (dual core four thread i5) when it was on sale at Best Buy. Everything Luke brings up is correct and as the OSes have progressed the 2012 Mini struggles more. One thing Luke didn't bring up that has been a problem with mine is monitor support. No matter how many different display port/thunderbolt adapters I use the 2012 Mini is only able to push out 60Hz on 1080p - a real bummer for my 144Hz panel. (I'm not about to buy an eGPU for this thing, I have a RTX 2060 Windows machine at the same desk)
Otherwise, it's been a great machine and has given me 7 years of really reliable (and silent) service. The new version of iMovie is no longer really functional with this machine running Catalina, but as Luke mentions the prices of these are insane. I'm cleaning mine up to sell it (mine is maxed out too, just a Core i5 model) sell now while the prices are high, my guess is the next Mac OS will drop support for the Late 2012. Things certainly have changed with the Mac Mini... I bought mine new for $429.99 in 2013. Crazy that in 7 years it's only depreciated about 1/2 what I paid for it new.
I love the Mac mini I use it to as a media computer and attach it to my big screen TV!!!
alex wileden what tv do you use
Pilates Bumps Beyond Online it’s an LG tv
alex wileden 4K?
Is there a special way you set up the machine to use as a media computer? What makes it better then say, an Apple TV 5th gen?
Me too. Music and video and a bit of internet browsing. Also connected it to my hifi system. No 4K though i don't think it's possible.
Ive had one of these just spare for YEARS. Just used it as my streaming device in my LR. I have the the 2-core i5 but always wonder if there was a way to swap out the CPU for something beefier. Is it doable to swap out for a quad?
Wow great timing with the cinebench benchmark finishing!
Great video and right on time. I purchased a second SSD and I maybe ready to get both of them working now. Been a little scared to break it done, but the process seems clear now.
Still using a quad-core i7 one since 2012, with 16GB RAM, 2TB SSD and 2TB HDD.
Snake Li which brand hdds
i7 2012 mini is the ultimate streaming box. What a champ.
No. A $30 Android TV box is the ultimate streaming box.
I bought one in 2014 for 600€, did upgrade to 16gb ram, 512 ssd and kept the 1tb spin drive for storage, connected to 2 Asus ProArt 24" 1920x1200. It was my main machine for pro photo editing from 2014 to 2017. I removed the bottom lid and diy a stand with a 20cm fan underneath to keep air flowing. Really loved it and i keep loving it. It now stands at home connected to a Dell 24" 2k and hitting hard at Photoshop, Lightroom, On1, Affinity, no complaints.
Congratulation from Czech Republic! You make best videos on CZcams!
Is an amazing value with a simple 128gb ssd and the 1tb hard drive!
3:52 The pain when he punctured connector and hurt 1 tiny cable...
I have a Mac mini mid2011 upgrade to 8gb and 1tb fusion drive. I use it as a media center connected to my amp in my bedroom. It's been running for over seven years 24/7. It's never let me down. It's a great machine!!!
Been given one which I use as a media center on the TV. Kids ended up using it for browsing, pics, etc… even today it works just well
My old daily driver was a 2011 Mac Mini base configuration upgraded to 16gb of RAM and a 512gb SSD years ago. Worked reasonably well up until last year when I just got sick of its sluggishness especially with web browsing so it's been relegated to the scrap heap and replaced with a 2019 13" MBP. Still it lasted a lot of years without any issues.
My favorite version of this was the 2010 version (mine) because it was the last of the dvd drive. I dont care what anybody says, dvds as a media form should still exist. I have a collection of at least 300 dvds.
Blame the death of physical media on Sony, they required a fee for every Blu-Ray drives sold, no one wanted to give them money and DVDs definitely became too small for anything in the late-00s.
Yeah, I still like DVDs. Heck, I got an LG slim external Blu-Ray burner to use with my 2012 quad-core Mac Mini, for the same price as Apple's external USB DVD burner! And it's more robust and reliable than the Apple one too.
Back when apple was selling their 2014 model mac mini's, I made sure to pick up a used 2010 version (passed right over their 2012 models too) just like you, because of the built-in DVD super-drive. Afterward, I wanted to add an apple 27 inch display and since my model did not have a thunderbolt port was able to get a used 27 inch apple cinema display. Today, I am still enjoying both of them.
Yeah that’s what I have as well. I upgraded the HD to 750gigs and installed an internal Blu-ray player now it’s my go to movie player and server via mini display to HDMI and optical toslink to sound bar. I love this thing just watched ford vs ferrari.
Did the same for mine. Bought it in 2017 on eBay, put Samsung EVO 860 512 GB, WD 2TB and Crucial 16GB of RAM. Use it for photo editing and watching video. It does cope with both tasks well. And after checking the serial found out it was made in 2014, few weeks before 2014 Mac Mini was released. So, old model year, but when bought - only 3 years old. Thinking about upgrading, but maybe, few years later, as it still works great.
I bought about a year ago and put a 512gb ssd and 8gb of ram I already had. Got it for $400 and for that its a pretty good value. Does everything internet well. Great for getting started with XCode though 8gb ram isn't ideal. It does get by though and if you have some hardware lying around I would totally recommend this setup!
On macs of this age when disassembling to this level is it a good idea to reapply thermal paste?
100% yes
You cannot go wrong doing that. Honestly If you don't screw up and apply too much paste that is conductive, you can only see improved performance
Yeah, definitely worth it.
The prices here are insane.
Same here.
@Henbush Bad in Belgium. 300-400€+ for 8 year old computers.
@Henry Bushell bad. Very bad. Its barely below its initial price.
@@elfensky yeah here too. Its insane!
I bought it new in early 2013 maxed my 2012 mini ram out like 2 years after I got it and upgraded to SSD and dual HDs in like 2018.
I do video, music and graphics work on it all the time. It's a great computer that will probably still be useful in another 5 years!
I bought one years ago and did the same upgrade. It served me well. I recall the pain of dismantling this
“Unicorn Mac Mini” was my novel experience for the day.
I have a 2019 Mac mini and I am to scared to upgrade it
I wouldn’t advise upgrading it except for the ram which I believe is still easily accessible
Taj Callender the RAM in the 2018 Mac Mini isn’t in the same place as in the 2012 Mac Mini. The problem is that you need a upgrade kit, which I wouldn’t buy
@@RodrigoFerreira-bs6hd You do not need an upgrade kit , just the new ram although Apple have made it more difficault to swop them its not a big deal . Apple have put a coven over them , god alone knows why because the original ones work fine without it . To upgrade the ram on the new ones you have to go as far as the stage where he removes the motherboard , remove the new cover that Apple decided to put over the ram , just 4 screws , swop the ram , put the cover on and reasemble . Granted its harder than the older ones but not rocket science
@@isaaclinzay8684 Yes , you are right , the ram is not bad to get to , only a partial strip down , no need to remove the charger. The ram is the only upgrade possible thanks to Apple and soldered down ssd
david thomas but I’m afraid of losing the screws. It’s not just four screws. It’s at least 10 and they use different kinds of screws. So I need new screwdrivers
I've had that machine since 2013 and I did all these upgrades and it has been great. 1TB SSD, 1TB HDD secondary drive, 16GB RAM, but I'm thinking of upgrading to the 2018 i7 model now. I'm looking forward to selling mine fully upgraded for a decent price to put toward my new one.
I built pretty much this exact product (2012 quad core, maxed out memory, added SSD in second space) back in 2012. Still using it, albeit with an upgrade from 512GB SSD to 2TB SSD. Although I only changed out the old 1tb HDD for the new SSD so I didn’t have to fully disassemble it, that time I upgraded.
It was a truly *excellent* buy when buying it new in 2012, given how long I’ve been using it.
Thank-You! (I have a 2012 mac mini)
Same
Like Miani refurbishes a 2012 Mac mini then calls it a pile of crap. Lol
I upgraded an old one (same as yours here) laying around to the max 16GB and 2x 250GB SSDs...and put them in RAID 0 mode. Wonderful. Great speed almost 1000. Great as media center and for usual tasks at home... OF course nothing compared to the new Macs... and hopefully the next generation of Mac Minis, which I hope will more like a modular Mac Pro Mini...
I have a 2012 Mac mini i5 and I wanted to upgrade the ram and storage but at $300 originally spent on the machine it wasn’t worth that $150-300 upgrade. Good video Luke!
Dude, how? I just wanted to buy a Mac Mini. Thanks!!
Buy yourself an older one , not the new one . With the old ones you can do the same as in the video. Easy to do if you just take your time , dont even need the removal tool for the motherboard, couple of thin screwdrivers works fine
I got one 4 years ago for 200 pounds - it came with 2 x 2GB RAM sticks and 1 TB HDD and quad core i7. I have since upgraded it on the cheap - 12 GB memory from old laptops and and old 360 GB SSD and now it is running like a champ. Excellent media centre / app building machine. You can even use RAM sticks from different vendors, as long as they match (LP or not).
I have the 2012. I updated it with 16 gigs of ram and an SSD. It is blazing fast almost 10 years later and we use it every day. Totally worth it.
Same here. Pretty fast.
great video as always, I just dont like your sponsor, did you know its a very rip off / fake program, my software flags it as a bug, with so may followers now can I suggest you choose your sponsors with care
I know you need sponsors.. but can you just make it neat and just do at either start or at end .. in between content it feels tasteless
So you can skip it easier? He does it well, with his own voice.
I just bought this exact machine (but with 8GB) to replace my 2009 Mac mini with Core 2 Duo. I wanted the most recent mini that still had a FireWIre port, as I still need to capture DV via FCP7. Despite only being three years younger, it feels *so* much more powerful than my 2009 machine. I love it.
Well done!
I just upgraded from an HDD to an SSD on my Late 2012 2.5 GHz core I5 Mac mini with 16GB of RAM (RAM was already upgraded when I received it) and the difference in performance is night and day. Much better speed and performance, before it used to move so slow, I'd get the click wheel and crashes. Now it's so smooth, I have no problems doing anything on it. It even runs Asphalt 9 pretty well on its own GPU and music software is on point (Logic, FL Stu.)
I got one of the i7 2012 Mac Mini when they were new. Great setup. I shelved it for a few years, but just recently maxxed the RAM and put a SSD in it. It's remarkably fast and modern feeling again. Graphics Metal benchmark is laughably low, but for general purpose tasks it is silent and quick.
With modern OS and browsers, it is more than enough for the average user / developer. I think even under Mojave you can build Apple Silicon apps.
I’ve actually had mine brand-new since 2012. It’s already proving itself to be one of my better Apple purchases, right along with my 2009 Mac Pro.
I bought mine in 2015 when I started my channel and upgraded it with 16 GB and one 250 GB SSD. It was also my first project on the channel itself showing how it needs do be done. Good old memories. In 2020 I would also say, that it is not the best value for the price you need to pay. Luckily I still have mine as a backup machine.
Thanks
Just took my 2012 Mac mini 2.6Ghz i7 apart last week, swapped fusion drive for 2ssds, new PRAM battery and new thermal paste, upgraded to Catalina and might upgrade to Ventura in the ucoming weeks.
This machine still rocks and is absolutely worth it!
I purchased this Mac Mini in 2012 and still use it occasionally. I boot from an external thunderbolt drive which sped up the boot time and all software works well
I bought a i7 2012 in 2016, maxed it out and am using it today. I considered upgrading to the 2018 but heard rumors about ARM and will wait. I'm satisfied for now.
Thanks Luke
Watching this video on my late 2012 macmini with i5, 500gb X 4gb ram. For general home use still works fantastic.
Bought it in 2012, upgraded ram right away. Put an SSD in a few years ago. I've gotten a lot of use out of this little beast.
Thanks for this
In 3:30 I clearly heard “Forty eight screws” instead of “Four T8 screws”. First time that US accent actually helped me to understand better.
Really great channel, specially for getting into Apple’s second hand market and to buy/repair/build focusing on value. Greetings from México.
I found your video after more than a year since it posted. I just picked up a 2012 Mac Mini for $125 that I plan on using as a mail server of sorts (collect my email and put the low-priority emails into folders so I don't have to on my phone) as well as be a Plex server for my music. I wanted to use this rather than my Mac Pro 3,1 that uses 300+ watts just sitting idle. The Mac Mini uses 85 watts at its max. I feel better about letting that run all day rather than the Mac Pro. The Mac Pro will continue to be used with legacy software for audio and video transfers.
I did this 3 years ago still using it for music production it's fantastic little beast
Me too. Have Protools and a slate raven. Excellent piece of kit
I bought one of these from Apple back in early 2013 as a refurb, but I got the server version with dual 1tb drives. It was a great deal. Since then, I replaced one of the drives with an SSD and installed 16gb ram. It has been flawless for over 7 years now. I also added the 24” Cinema Display and a full-size Apple keyboard. None of my other Macs has ever lasted this long. I just wish I could turn off the system bugging me to install Catalina, as that will break creative suite 6 and that’s a deal-breaker for me.
I bought one of these in 2013, (dual core i5 version) for £450 with a student discount. When I installed High Sierra it became very slow but still just about usable but I was now using windows 10 for most tasks. I had to do some video editing in lockdown and thought imovie would be the best thing to use. I bought 8gb ram and 500Gb SSD and it has transformed this machine to better than new. In total I have paid about £550 for a mac that has effectively lasted 7 years and is still going pretty strong. It's no powerhouse but for everyday use and imovie, garageband and multitasking it works smoothly and running Catalina. For me it is the best mac apple ever made.
I sold my old 2012 quad core about a year ago on eBay for $260. It had a fried RAM slot. Loved that machine.
Just picked one of these up for 150 euro to replace my Fire TV stick to use as a Home Theatre Media Centre. It was already upgraded with 16gb RAM, 256gb SSD, Quad Core i7. Installed patched version of Monterey which runs flawlessly. Granted, its now 2023 but i still see this as a win!
Its July 2022 and I bought a 2012 Mac Mini i7 2.6Ghz, 16G RAM, 256 SSD for $150 on eBay. Thanks to geniuses who make OS patches, was able to install the latest one. Paired with a 2011 Thunderbolt 27” Apple Cinema Display (2560x1440), Apple Magic Keyboard and Mouse, I’m extremely happy. This is just my home setup as I have a wicked work gear (2022 MacBook Pro, triple 27 Monitors, etc.) at the office. I don’t do any graphics heavy work on the mini, it’s pretty light. It’s the coolest 10 year old Apple setup ever.
Yup. It still feels current. I have a i5 2.5Ghz 8GB RAM 500GB HDD model and recently got the i7 2.6GHz 8GB RAM 2TB Fusion Drive model for making music.
They might be 10 years old, but I have current high-end Intel and AMD gaming PCs and I don't feel held back. Just gotta wait a few more seconds when processing stuff.
MacOS looks so nice on the LG C1 OLED TV even at 1080p. 😁
Just picked one of these up with 16GB ram and an SSD for £175. Can't complain at that price.
Luke, your videos are always informative and on point, keep up the great work. I have a question, what’s the name and model of your monitor?
Watching this on my late 2012 Mac Mini (2.3 GHz quad-core Intel Core i7, Intel HD Graphics 4000 1536 MB). Bought it in 2013 and it is still my main computer at home. I had upgraded the RAM to 16 GB as soon as I bought it, but only recently found out I could upgrade the old HDD to an SSD. Not sure why that info had eluded me for so long! I went the duel drive route, keeping the original 1 TB HDD as my secondary drive, and adding a new 1 TB SSD as my main drive. I know it is no doubt considered slow by modern standards, but I couldn't believe the difference when I first booted up! It's like a new computer for me. It used to take literally minutes to boot up, and launching a programme for the first time after booting would also take anywhere from one to three minutes. After upgrading to the SSD, it takes less than 30 seconds to boot up and programmes launch pretty much instantly. I couldn't be happier! I was considering getting an M1 Mini, but simply upgrading to SSD means this old Mac has years left in her yet. Fantastic value for money!
I bought mine last year already upgraded for $200! The seller didn't know what they had! ;) With my ultrawide lg monitor its great for work/productivity
Nice video! My 2012 mini 3720qm is connected to 34” Dell @3440x1440 @60Hz over tb1/minidisplay port and to Bose speakers over built in 3.5mm to TOSlink. Primarily used for media consumption machine, still running great. New mini does not provide built in TOSlink connections anymore.
Great video. Nothing left uncovered. I just picked one up for $145.00. It is the i7 2.3 with 16GB of ram and 1TB hdd. I purchased the unit for audio recording using Pro Tools. I found some tests showing that multi track recording using Pro Tools with one of these works well. Of course, Analog processing would definitely help take the load off of the processor. I will spend the extra on an additional SSD. Thanks!
Got my 2011 Mac Mini with 2GB of ram and a 500GB HDD for very little money. Put 12GB of ram that i had laying around and a 240GB SSD plus 1TB WD HDD and i'm very happy with it, all in all it cost me $200. Great machine for that price. I have a 2012 15'' Retina MBP and a 2017 13'' 500GB MBA but my favourite is always the little 2011 Mac Mini!
Picked up one for $275 with monitor, keyboard and mouse. It had been upgraded with SSD and 16 too! Perfect little business mac.
Buddy I have been using this Mac mini with esxi, best purchase, it’s a great value for people looking for virtualization labs