Space is my factor..for me. I live in LA and live in a studio and running a dual pc streaming setup and 2018 can run over 90% of the most current games I need. The MacPro is at my work in another location for media work.
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Mac minis are a bargain now
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Got a used M1 16/256 for $463, hopefully that was a decent deal. New base M2 are new $479, but I thought I’d want that extra 8gb over the new processor. Who knows
Any recommendations for external SSDs? Not trying to break the bank here, but 256 isn’t cutting it.
Any recommendations for external SSDs? Not trying to break the bank here, but 256 isn’t cutting it.
I've heard recommendations about Crucial for years. Their best recent sale was on Black Friday, but they keep a range of earlier models in their lineup with better prices the further back you go without extraordinary differences that I can see. Whatever you do, I'd suggest checking the length of the warranty – it's often three years versus five years, and companies will usually want a proof of purchase from a retailer (as opposed to eBay, et cetera). Even if you don't use the warranty, it's an indication of the expected life of the drive.
Just helped my dad get a (renewed) Lenovo ThinkCentre off amazon for $150. i5 16GB of RAM and 512GB SDD. Same footprint as my mini. I kind of wish I was in the market for something like that.
Unless it's a killer deal, I wouldn't buy a Mini solely to run Windows. But if you want a Mac and also need Windows (via either parallels or bootcamp), then a used Intel Mini can certainly make sense.
OWC macsales provides a great option for Mac users since 1999.
the older spinning drives served me well for 12 years
I can imaging this ssd drives will last much longer
they are more pricey, but worth the extra cost.
Then Western digital is a great option and cost effective.
my crucial is okay, but does not work as good as the other with my Mac m1s
case in point one is in a enclosure that has an intermittent light that ONLY illuminates when that wants to
the enclose works well with WD and OWC, just not crucial for some reason.
I scored a nice Mac mini 2020 M1 pristine condition in October
and use 4 external drives to run movies, TV shows and read files.
there is a Mac mini 2014 im watching for under $100
so I can run Monterey, but that intel chip is stopping me.
have fun!
Yep. I picked up an M2 8/256 as a music streamer/server in the lounge room and I’d even say 4/128GB would have sufficed for that use case.
All I do is play YouTube music or Spotify, with Dirac live room correction software, sent direct via usb/SPDIF to my active speakers.
It’s a great set up and a about 1/3rd the price of any Dirac enabled hifi streamer.
For an external USB-C SSD, maybe the Samsung T7 Shield (which isn't the same thing as the Samsung T7) or Crucial X9 Pro or Crucial X10 Pro.
The advantage of these models according to reviews is that they don't significantly slow down with extended writes. Other models will drop to say 200 MB/s after the buffer is filled.
If you pick up an 8 GB 2014 Mac mini, get one with the hard drive in it and no SSD. Then open her up and install an NVMe SSD. You just need a $15 adapter, and it's really easy to do. You don't even have to remove the hard drive (which is good, since removing the hard drive can be a pain to do).
Don't buy SSDs from OWC. They just sell rebranded third party drives, which may or may not be good. Buy from an original manufacturer for the same cost or sometimes less.
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I alway forgot the top port/slot is blade as a MNVe compatible with an adaptor.
cool~
for an extra $10 I can get a 500 ssd upgrade.
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Yup, and it's literally a 10 minute job (excluding the OS reinstall).
If you get a 2014 Mac mini with an SSD or Fusion Drive built-in, it uses that top slot, but with a different adapter. You can still install a larger SSD, but you'd have to get another adapter, and remove the Apple SSD.
The cheapest 2014 Mac minis out there have no SSD at all, just a hard drive, and these are also the easiest to upgrade.
BTW, before installing any NVMe SSD internally, it's best to update the OS to the latest version on the original hard drive first. That updates the Mac mini firmware to work best with NVMe drives. Then after that, install the NVMe drive.