Be worth buying the latest one âŚ
New MacMini 2023 being released next week, should push 2020 M1 prices to this price level
But still canât run a Windows VM worth a damn on the M1.
This is ok deal for people that need to run VM on Intel CPU. Just wish it had larger storage for the same price. This will probably be the last chance to get one brand new, unless Woot manages to find more in a warehouse somewhere.
Not sure how much longer Apple will support the Intel based Macs though. Worst case scenario, you can wipe out OSX and install Windows or Linux when that time comes.
Not strictly Apple to apples (heh) but hereâs a comparison between a variant of this versus the M1 Mac mini
https://youtu.be/59gAjXT7qyw
Typical Apple clowns missing the forest for the trees on this model. The RAM was socketed and could be upgraded, but storage was soldered with choices limited to 128 or 256GB, and of course this is the 128GB model. If they would have at least just slapped a 2015 MBP era socket on there that could take a 1 or 2TB PCI-E SSD then it would have any number of uses running macOS or otherwise. Instead, thereâs almost nothing it can do on its own. Maybe toss Linux on there and use it for Plex with a library stored elsewhere, but there are cheaper options for that too.
Windows VMs on Rosetta 2 achieve 70-80% of the performance of native code. If Windows VMs are a core requirement, perhaps an older Intel based Mac (like the Mac Mini here), or even an Intel/AMD PC would be a better choice.
As shared last sale, there are some benefits to this if you want compatibility with some of the older or less flexible software titles that just donât translate well to M1 (and the M2 that was just shown) via Rosetta⌠The 32GB of RAM is amazing, and surprisingly, expandable. The onboard storage is not. No biggie - I just added an external SATA-to-USB adapter with a large capacity 2.5â SSD to the one that I just received a couple of days ago.
Granted, for general users, I would say that the extra couple hundred to get a new M2, or a refurbished M1 version is preferable. But that is NOT universal guidance, as some software and hardware just wonât quite function. But for many things, M1 (or newer 
) will be the future.
Adding a socket would directly impact Appleâs profit margin for the Mac Mini. Thatâs why itâs not there. Apple chose profit and e-waste over customer friendly design.
I am so interested in this windows on Mac is so much better and the 32 GBs of ram is really good and makes things run really smooth
doing a bootcamp windows 10 pro install
butâŚ
basically 60GBs for Mac 60GBs for Windows each is not a lot of space at all for the base OS and appsâŚ
even with an external 1TB / 2TB ssd attached storage for everything else that is a tough decision
As someone who did more Mac upgrades than I care to count, hardly anyone bothered to upgrade storage capacity. Aftermarket Mac upgrades were almost always about replacing rust drives with SSDs (often decreasing capacity, like going from 1TB rust to 512 SSD) and adding more RAM. If I was Apple, I would have looked at this as my already upmarket mini (base was the i5) and given you the choice of 8, 16, or 32GB soldered RAM, and then socketed 256/512/1TB/2TB SSD, all priced accordingly. If you want to buy more storage from OWC and undo 8000 screws to open up the mini, then fill your boots, but thatâs not what Mac power users are doing in my experience.
Party is Over Check out Apples prices and new Mac miniâs now with real amounts of RAM and Radeon VII power 20 core gpus that make the 8 core gpu and 8gb ram M1âs gameboys already. The M2 Pro is impressive until you see Apple charges $300 per TB storage. I mean you canât upgrade it at all so no buying a 512 and waiting for prime day and scoring a crucial nvme 2TB ssd p5 for $139, no sata crucial my 500 4tb for $239 on sale now. Albeit not as fast but $1,200! For 4 TB!!!
The Studio mac with apple care used is $1600 to $2500 with 3X the M1 Mac mini GPU in the video below.
The 64 gb integrated RAM studio macs are for the power reasonable price and is amazing.
I hate these fan boy videos touting benchmarks for the 8&8 M1. I had one and it was built for cinebench, not real world usage, 15 chrome windows open and an extension going with importing iPhone pictures.
Who the hell cares about fan noise??? And wattage??? Iâm jamming music or watching Kevin Samual YouTube videos, not listening to my fanâŚ.No one talks about their LG microwave being quieter than the GE? No one spent 1/3 an apple review talking about fan noice and energy usage like itâs a damn water heater. This is new. Once you see M1 fanboys talking about the near base SoC Mac miniâs Energy usage and whisper quiet presence you can assume, 1) They are lame and rather listen to their computers than music 2) Sucking Apples tush for free demo products. Donât use their machines for anything but the same benchmark testing. They never show 20 ram hogging chrome windows open for work, you importing your iOS pics, editing photos for projects while zooming. Ever try that with a 8 gb 8&8 M1? Youâd wish it sounded like a Diesel engine if it performed. Thatâs why they are $400 with apple care still on them while these were $600 plus on eBay, $800 with an actual hard drive youâd want The extra 8 gb of ram in the 16gb m1 helped tons but still, itâs a extremely capable basic and reasonable priced great option for light users for the price. Just look at resale prices for 2018 Mac mini i7 vs $400 8&8 M1âs. Jury is out. Grandma has and awesome $800 m1 MacBook Air thatâs perfect, we can build a 5,1 by buying a stock dual cpu toss in $80 worth of matching Xeon 5690âs $150 good used Vega 56, 30 owc M2 NVMe pcie card $139 2TB crucial P3 ssd for the master boot at 6gb/s another if you want 2 5 slots including optical for some serious WD black or red HDDs for unlimited media space or sata ssds like a acer 2TB for $110 to run windows 10 and game anything and with your 12 core 3.46Ghz Xeons and 128 gb of ram or for $60 64gb and have pcie lanes for usb 3.3 usb c etc for $800. Open core will run Monterey especially well with ssd boot drive and cream an equal price i7 Mac mini all day and a M1.
When you want to upgrade, get a studio mac or hell you can for $400 put a 18 core Xeon motherboard in a 2017 iMac Pro with a vega 64 for less than a mediocre M2 (not pro) new mac Mini. Donât do this unless you know how to work on iMacs from 2012 to 2020, the screens are as much as the whole.
My vega 56 in my 5,1 drives my 4k 46 inch LG TV like butter. Why F around with a i7 mini and heavy Razor X for twice the price of a killer cheese grater 5,1 and have a powerful windows gaming tower for cheap of make it a 30 TB server and media center with airdrop bt 4.2 and a iMac 2017 Wi-Fi card with a $20 adapter on eBay all for $60 with optical out and hdmi on your vega AND DisplayPort. Might as well connect real speakers up to the mic out or buy a sound card used. All for $2000 plus less than a M1Ultra Studio Mac which is better unless you like what I just wrote?
Might as well build the coolest Mac Tower while itâs Cheap and computers can be worked on while you still can. Once PC figures out ARM, repairing and building computers in 2 years will be as popular as tb and microwave repairmen. Meaning itâs over. Apple just made computers cheaper, more powerful for the average consumer, and now is making their own cpu and gpu core SOC soldered boards that already destroy %80 of the consumer pc desktop market dollar for dollar. Intel UHD gpus suck. The iris plus was great for 2014 but Apples 24 core gpu is as powerful as a Radeon VII and the 32 bests Al but 2 Nvidia gpu bricks that Nvidia wants $1,800 for.
Apple just did to computers again what it did with the IIe, Mac, iMac, iPhone, and iPad. Like it or not ARM is going to be around 4 years behind then like android be everywhere and cheaper with bloat but more options. Apple silicon as Mandalorian saysđThis is the way. Goodbye cheesy hd to ssd old MacBook flippers and recyclers. You can like an AirTag if it comes close to another iOS device, shut your lost or expired SoC Mac down, erase the whole drive and ram and render it useless, permanently to thrives. No joke. No need for âgreen friendlyâ hard drive recycling companies and their crummy eBay stores named i-Tech or MacProsINC, or Tech Dudes. Computers are as important or more than dishwashers in every house. Most families have 2-4 computers. They are now buy big first if you want to have something last, spend at first on ram and storage, use them for 6 plus years, lock them and erase when a part breaks and throw them in the garbage. Days of swapping out outdated parts like hdds withbSSDâs and giving them a second life is over soon I think.
Apple gave the middle finger to right to repair. Suuure got some flux, a head fun and spared integrated RAM and steady hands sir?
Bought one of these here when listing still showed them having 1 yr Apple warranty! I wasted couple hours with Apple support because machine was reporting expired and couldnât update sale date online. Finally they came back and said their records show sale to CDW over a year ago and unless I could produce receipt showing when I bought it from them Iâd be SOL. In response to inquiry Woot told me theyâd cover warranty it mfr doesnât. So at least subsequent buyers know going in what kind of coverage theyâll (not) get!
Apple made a compliance mockery of the right to repair movement and legislation by making more efficient, powerful, and price friendly (for non power users) SOC where sure you can repair the ENTIRE board yourself for $700 in parts from us with our tools or you can buy a better new one now 5 years later Grandma for $600.
Apples 32 core gpu attached to their CPU is better than any gPU they EVER put in a computer and itâs no longer a part to repair!
Apple now is spinning the efficiency and greenness watt usage so the save the planet people that support sending weapons to Europe will give apple all the accolades needed to quiet right to repair people in a genius stroke! Never mind like microwaves, fridges, dishwashers they will never be serviced out of warranty and end up security chip locked and hacker proof/theft proof filling landfills. Funny how they still charge so much for storage, I wanna say $1,200 for 4tb on the M2 Pro Mac mini.
Bye recyclers and ram DIYers and computer repair shops not doing warranty work unless itâs fixing broken screens and cleaning makeup out of speaker holes so Tricia can have people hear her when she talks on her iPhone 20 pro max purple content creator package.
This just doesnât make sense to me given yesterdayâs announcement. If you want a Mac (not a Mac running windows) it doesnât make a whole lot of sense to buy a 5 year old computer when the latest generation is only $100 more.
As someone else mentioned, this is where I would expect to find the M1 minis very shortly.
I havenât tried this, but Windows 11 for ARM may work better than Windows 10 ARM for the virtualization. Windows 10 on Arm provides emulation of 32-bit (x86) apps but canât run non-native 64-bit applications. Windows 11 on Arm introduces 64-bit (x86-x64) emulation, greatly expanding the range of applications that run on the platform.
The two things to note here are 1. Intel, and 2. 32GB of RAM.
-
This Intel model was officially discontinued yesterday, so start the clock on updates - Apple will probably fully support this machine for maybe two more years, but Iâd be surprised if the 2026 OS update will include this machine. Bug and security fixes yes, feature updates no. That said, if you want/need full-fat x86 Windows and Mac OS in one box, this is a fantastic machine - but I imagine thatâs relatively few people.
-
32GB of RAM is fantastic. In fact, even if you go for an M1 or an M2, get at least 16GB of RAM - 8GB is pitiful. So if youâre looking for at least 16GB of RAM, then the cheapest new M2 will go for $799, which makes this noticeably cheaper. However, the M2 will have twice the storage, be much faster, and likely be supported for longer given itâs on the most recent architecture.
Go for this if you need Intel, or really canât pop for an extra $300 for the new M2 (with at least 16GB of RAM). Donât go for this just to save a few bucks - it wonât be worth it in the long run.
I do wish the new ones came in this darker color though.
Are you ok?
FYI: This model wonât be updatable once Mac OS 14 comes out (End of this year)