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Some of the Mac minis 2012 are more powerful than their 2014 successors, and they have user-serviceable RAM and HDD / SSD, which is a huge plus in my book. If you can't afford this Mac mini and need one now, go for a Mac mini 2012 over a 2014 model. It is not that expensive, and you can rest assured for years to come when it comes to macOS support. My recommendation: Save up for the Mac mini 2018.

The Mac mini 2018 with i3 processor isn't that expensive, and it has user-serviceable RAM, ensuring its viability in the future. I mean, what good is it to spend $400 - $500 on a Mac mini 2012, when its macOS support is about to end. In my opinion, you should factor continued macOS support into your decision. Mac mini 2018, 3.6 GHz Intel Core i3-8100B Quad Core:Īs you can see, even the weakest Mac mini 2018 is still more powerful than all of its predecessors. Therefore, I think it would be a good idea to consider the Mac mini 2018 with i3 processor: they won't receive any new macOS iterations, which also include security updates. That being said, it seems likely that Apple will drop support for the Mac mini 2012 (and also 2014) in the near future, i.e. Logic Pro X, for example, makes use of multiple cores: Thus, a higher Multi-Core Score directly translates into better general performance. The Multi-Core Score is the more relevant score to look at, as modern programs are - for the most part - designed to make use of multiple cores in a CPU. Mac mini 2014, 3.0 GHz Intel Core i7-4578U Dual Core:

Mac mini 2012, 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7-3720QM Quad Core: Have a look at those Geekbench scores measuring CPU performance (higher is better): Thus, the most powerful Mac mini 2012 is faster than the most powerful Mac mini 2014. When Apple introduced a new Mac mini model in 2014, they did away with the ability to upgrade the RAM, and reduced the most powerful processor to a Dual Core instead of a Quad Core. Therefore, you can buy a machine with an ordinary HDD and few RAM and still turn it into a power house. It might even support the next iteration of macOS, depending on Apple's plans for the machine.įurthermore, this is the last Mac mini model where you can exchange both RAM and HDD / SSD. This is the oldest Mac mini model that still supports the most recent iteration of macOS, macOS 10.14 Mojave.

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