Apple Mac Mini 2.3GHz / 2.5GHz

Solid Performer for the outlay with minimal compromises – Bought the top spec 2018 model with 512GB SSD. and 6 core 2.5GHz processor. The Good Guys had a 10% off Apple, which is about all the discount one can ever get. The disadvantage not buying it from Apple is that you can’t option up the memory or hard disk capacity, but I find for my home needs the puny 8GB ram is good enough. I bought an Asus… Read more

gaming monitor and that works well with the Mac Mini and the system is fast and reliable. This is the first time I have upgraded to a Mini instead of an iMac and I am enjoying the change in styling and layout. I’ve never had any trouble with Mac computers and I’ve owned 5 since I bought a Mac plus in 1985 so I’m confident this Mini will be the same.

A few cons of the Mini are: 1) They are slower to wake up from sleep than an iMac because first the computer wakes and then the monitor and sometimes the comms between the 2 become scrambled and slow. I bought a Bluetooth mouse instead of the wired one from my old Mac and this made the wake up faster. 2) On this model Apple have done away with the user replaceable memory and a professional must instal the memory that requires a couple of hours labour to pull the Mini apart - so make sure the option you buy has enough memory or it will cost $ to install afterwards.

Apple took my money for Apple Care, and never fixed the computer in 3 years – TLDR Advice for others - Always buy in Australia if you want companies to help you. This mac Mini cannot use its mini display port for a second display. The next system I bought was a $12,000 HP Z8 because of my experience with Apple on this case. I've been loyal to apple for 10 years+. I have spent over $40,000 in my life with Apple (maxed… Read more

out macbook pro every year for the last 7 years + ipads, iphones). Yet on this case, they treated me like dirt because the system was purchased in north america where there is no consumer law, even though I paid for Apple Care. Apple Care meant nothing.

The system has been useless for its whole life and crashes like this-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKSkDU7pqG0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XqEQE5B9qc&t=1s

This is my longest support case with any company. I bought the system over 3 years ago (6 months old on ebay) while I was in North America, and then I purchased Apple Care. I had multiple high level support assistants actually disappear from multiple case numbers! I can only explain such behaviour by these people internally thinking they could hide it under the carpet and not have to deal with the issue. Apple can verify the disappearing support by the serial number and all cases I've created since purchase. It was impossible for me to continue conversation after these people disappeared! I had to start again. Obviously too difficult to deal with intermittent errors like this one.

Finally I got a tech support fellow [name removed] who was able to give me means of contacting him and assured me he'd see it through to the end, but the case is still ongoing! It's verified to be a design problem at this point, since we have replaced the logic board, but even knowing this - Apple refuse to replace the system with one that functions with a mini display port. I'm extremely disappointed in Apple's behaviour. I will be spending a lot less with the company in the future.

Superb little computer – I was very excited to hear that quad-core processing was coming to the Mac Mini in late 2012, so I bought one as soon as they were available in Australia. Mac Minis are not only the cheapest way into a 'real' Apple computer; they're also arguably the most reliable computers the company makes, especially now that the sometimes troublesome discreet… Read more

GPU solutions employed in some other Apple computer models, have been done away with in the Mac Mini thanks to Intel's on-chip graphics processing units. Yes, it's not as capable a gaming machine for that reason but I don't play computer games – I have more than enough distractions in my life already! – so I don't care about gaming performance.

As I mentioned in the review I posted here on my 1.83 gHz Core Duo Mac Mini, the reason I'm prepared to wait, save and pay more for a Mac rather than settle for a PC is because they simply WORK … elegantly and efficiently. I can get my work done with a minimum of fuss and bother, and then get on with my real life. I'm not a computer tinkerer, hacker or modder, and while I understand some people think there's nothing better than fiddling with a PC all weekend, I'd rather be golfing, fishing, spending time with my kids … or just about anything else! I just want a machine that works: every time, without any hassles, and lets me get my work done quickly and easily ... and the Mac Mini delivers in spades.

Besides 'lacking' a discreet GPU, another noticeable 'omission' with the new Mac Mini design is the lack of an optical disk drive, but in my experience with that early Core Duo Mini, the optical disk drive was the only component that failed in the fourteen years we ran that machine. I am therefore happy to connect an outboard USB drive on the increasingly rare occasion I actually need to run or burn a disc. In fact, I bought a Blu-ray M-DISC capable external drive for long-term archival storage of my files (you can't run Blu-ray movies in Mac OS, though it's easy to set-up a Windows 10 partition and run them from that). The addition of an SD card slot is most welcome, as is USB 3.0, which is noticeably faster with a USB 3 thumb drive than USB 2 data transfers. I had to buy a Firewire 400 to 800 converter cable to accommodate my ageing Firewire 400 Presonus Firebox audio interface, [2021 update/] which I've since replaced with a Focusrite 4i4 USB device [/update]. I use the HDMI port with the supplied HDMI-to-DVI adapter to drive my 24" Dell monitor, though I did run a 27" Dell monitor off it using the Thunderbolt / DisplayPort and I also experimented with a dual-19" monitor set-up.

Since I bought this machine to run Adobe CS6 on the cheap, I had in mind to buy and build the most powerful Mac Mini I could: I wanted a real 'pocket rocket' knowing that CS6 would take all the processing power and RAM I could throw at it. The Mac Mini's CPU for example, is non-upgradable so I went for the top-of-the-line 2.6 gHz i7 special-build option straight-up. I purchased it online through the good people at Buymac.com.au, who were the first third-party mob I could find in Australia that could supply the build-to-order Mini, and at a discounted price. I had already bought 16 gigs of aftermarket (OWC brand) RAM (the most this computer can take), which I easily installed as soon as the computer arrived from Melbourne.

[2021 update/] I finally upgraded the 1Tb Hard Disk Drive to a 1TB Samsung EVO Solid-State Drive this year. I successfully did the job myself, following guides on YouTube and iFixIt. The process wasn't too painful but it is rather nerve-racking as the internals of the Mini are quite intricate and nothing like working on an ATX PC. The old spinner drive was still fast enough in use for my needs but beyond seven years, I start to wonder about the reliability of mechanical drives and the odd glitch began creeping into operations, which prompted me to make the upgrade. Compared to my 2017 iMac with a Fusion Drive, the Mini began to feel slow when booting-up, but the SSD sure fixed that! It's an astonishing upgrade that makes all the difference and is highly recommended. Whilst the mechanical hard drive could faintly be heard at times, the machine now runs completely silent. I expect that if I let my kids play Roblox on it, the fan would spring into action though! I bought this computer nine years ago and I've been extremely impressed with it's trouble-free performance and elegant operability, just as was the case with the Core Duo Mac Mini before it, and the 27" 5K iMac I've purchased since [/update].

In every way faster and more capable than my 2006 C2D Mac Mini, the late-2012 Mini also looks more sleek and attractive than the now ageing and rather boxy-looking original design, now internally housing the power-supply rather than use the external power brick of the early models, and therefore being a little wider, though more squat in shape. In summary, I couldn't be happier with this purchase and I cannot recommend these little wonders highly enough to anyone, barring computer gamers.

[2021 update/] The value equation for Intel Mac Minis has changed dramatically in the successive releases since this "late 2012" model release. After five years of neglect, with non-upgradable RAM and too-slow, non-upgradable dual-core Intel processors, 2018 and 2020 Minis finally offered serious performance again, but the new M1 Mac Mini is a completely different beast altogether: this machine uses Apple's own custom ARM SoC chips – adapted from their iPhone and iPad devices – to usher in a new breed of more affordable, more efficient and more powerful computers that can not only outperform their Windows rivals for productivity, but make Apple computers a desirable gaming platform as well. The M1 Mini can natively run the same apps as iPhones and iPads do, with similar power and thermal efficiencies as those closed devices, whilst benchmarking impressively against their Intel/AMD rivals. You still have to bring your own monitor, keyboard and mouse but perhaps the Mac Mini's biggest asset – now that it can rival Apple's other computer offerings for processing power again – is the supreme adaptability and functionality these demure wonders offer [/update].

This is "THE" Mac Mini to buy – At this time, the 2012 Mac Mini is (in my opinion) the only Mac Mini to buy. The first reason is that in the 2014 update, Apple have made it so that the RAM is soldered onto the motherboard, making it very difficult to upgrade the RAM after purchase. But move back a year to the 2011 model and you don't get USB3 ports, which work so well with fast… Read more

(SSD) external storage.

The 2012 model is the optimum. In addition, the model under review here, MD388X/A, has the quad core processor, and is not the "server" model that cost more (and which most people don't need, the hardware is essentially the same).

In my opinion. get a used 2012 quad core Mac Mini while you can - and no, I'm not planning to sell mine anytime soon :) And fingers crossed that Apple stop playing games with their loyal customers in future versions...

Superb HTPC – I was lucky enough to find a new 2012 quad core model which I promptly ordered. I use this solely as a HTPC with Plex. The Mini is absolutely amazing. Since buying, I have installed an SSD and upgraded the ram to 16GB, something which you can't do with the new Minis unless you order from Apple and upgrade at the time of purchase. The Mini is quiet… Read more

and screams along with no delay to any task. Plex works great with the Apple remote and this really is the ultimate HTPC.