The "I just ordered / bought / got my new/refurb Mac Mini" threads, merged

[harriska2]

not usually for as cheap seems like Black Friday the have them often

Which is why I bought 2 yesterday. You’re a bad influence

 

[tpivette89]

I’d love to hear what external box you go with and how it works for you.

On another note my mini was originally slated to arrive Nov 28th-30th. Tracker indicates the 26th. Either they are getting faster at building and getting them out the door or demand is low enough to not get bogged down. Mine isn’t stock as it is i5/1tb ssd.

Went with the AKiTiO two bay USB 3.1 box for my dual WD Black 1TB drives.

https://www.akitio.com/desktop-storage/nt2-u31c

Should be here sometime next week. Will report back on how it's working out for me once I get it up and running.

 

[Scarpad]

Which is why I bought 2 yesterday. You’re a bad influence

Let me know if you chuck them
[doublepost=1542851257][/doublepost]

Let me know if you chuck them

Schuck ..lol

 

[Stephen.R]

Well, after much futzing about with resellers (detailed in https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/very-weird-excuse-from-a-reseller.2156182) I've ordered a BTO (i7/64GB/512GB) direct from Apple. Should be here in a week at the outside.

 

[stillcrazyman]

Got mine yesterday. Setting up was easy. Upgrade the ram to 32GB myself. Installing my photo editing apps fresh. Not going to restore from a backup on a new machine.

 

[harriska2]

Let me know if you chuck them
[doublepost=1542851257][/doublepost]
Schuck ..lol

A little worried about shucking as it voids warranty and I’m not sure what to put them in that is well built/reliable plus fully compatible with the hardware and time machine. I can’t use syncbackpro (only windows).

 

[Stephen.R]

Got mine yesterday. Setting up was easy. Upgrade the ram to 32GB myself. Installing my photo editing apps fresh. Not going to restore from a backup on a new machine.

What display is that?

 

[stillcrazyman]

What display is that?

ViewSonic VP3268-4K PRO 32" 4K

 

[ElectronGuru]

How did you get 10 tb drives for $180? The cheapest I see on bestbuy.com is $430 each for WD gold.

Follow here, for any mention of 'easy store', they track them with a passion
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder

A little worried about shucking as it voids warranty and I’m not sure what to put them in that is well built/reliable plus fully compatible with the hardware and time machine.

Those guys keep the case and put them back in if there is a problem. But even in the box, you can format for Mac and use them as is. Including TM.

 

[harriska2]

Follow here, for any mention of 'easy store', they track them with a passion
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder


Those guys keep the case and put them back in if there is a problem. But even in the box, you can format for Mac and use them as is. Including TM.

Yeah I bought 2 for that price. I wasn’t sure I’d find it that cheap again. I bought them afr=ter reading that exact sub-reddit.

 

[harriska2]

I really like dark mode. Samsung is surprisingly clear in default 4k? Some mac learning to do and apps to load and see what works.

<—- don’t know how to show image, used image link to google drive with public image

 

[gigatoaster]

I have my mini since a week now, I think it’s a nice addition to my setup:

It’s a bit more powerful than my MacBook Pro:

I had some issues with it:

- my external HDD where I store all my music library was disconnecting. I realized it was not working in USB3.0 anymore but only USB2.0 so I spent last Sunday backing-up with my old MBA from 2011. I bought 2 HDD because I didn’t have backup. I don’t if the mini is the culprit or the HDD is old (4 years)

- I didn’t manage to play 4K UHD HDR, so I bought an Apple TV 4K & Infuse.

Overall, I’m very satisfied with this machine, it’s fast compared to my mini from 2014.

I use mainly this mini to play music & upsampling to DSD128 with Roon & to download Torrent.

 

[DRDR]

I ordered the i7 with everything else bare minimum. RAM will be upgraded later. Storage will be by Thunderbolt PCI with NVME and eSATA.

 

[emboahora]

Ordered the i3, 8GB, 512SSD, 10GbE.

 

[smbu2000]

My mini finally arrived! i7/8GB/512GB/10 gigabit ethernet model. Took out the 8GB right away and put in my 32GB kit (16 x 2) and everything went fine.

When I was first on setup I tried using the apple wireless keyboard and trackpad 1 that I have. Couldn't seem to get them to pair though. Ended up just plugging in my apple aluminum usb keyboard and usb razer mouse. No problems syncing the wireless ones once I got into macOS.

Did a migration from my MBA to the mini via TB2 -> TB3 and it went pretty fast. I'm still not sure if I'm going to keep it though and delete what I don't need or just start fresh and transfer what I need over. Just testing right now before I make the mini my main system.

Pretty happy with the system so far.

 

[Originalbitman]

Bluetooth seems to be a problem with Mojave. Same pairing problem here. Not unique to the Mini.

 

[tpivette89]

Bluetooth seems to be a problem with Mojave. Same pairing problem here. Not unique to the Mini.

I plugged my Apple bluetooth keyboard in to a USB port like I was charging it and had no issues setting up. Didn't try the completely wireless thing... although I imagine turning on and off the power switch on the Apple keyboard and mouse would help it becoming "discoverable".

 

[Nsmn]

one i7, 8 gb ram with 128 gb ssd here
hopd it would work beautilfully

 

[joshwithachance]

I have my mini since a week now, I think it’s a nice addition to my setup:

View attachment 806197

It’s a bit more powerful than my MacBook Pro:

View attachment 806198

I had some issues with it:

- my external HDD where I store all my music library was disconnecting. I realized it was not working in USB3.0 anymore but only USB2.0 so I spent last Sunday backing-up with my old MBA from 2011. I bought 2 HDD because I didn’t have backup. I don’t if the mini is the culprit or the HDD is old (4 years)

- I didn’t manage to play 4K UHD HDR, so I bought an Apple TV 4K & Infuse.

Overall, I’m very satisfied with this machine, it’s fast compared to my mini from 2014.

I use mainly this mini to play music & upsampling to DSD128 with Roon & to download Torrent.

I LOVE your setup. Will be doing something very similar, but with an LG OLED C7P.

 

[kamuix]

Ordered the regular model with the i5, 256 gig, and 8 gig of ram. I upgraded that to 16 shortly. It's my first Mac mini and 2 years since I've gone back to the Mac ecosystem since I was on PC prior.

 

[Sarpanch]

Ordered the regular model with the i5, 256 gig, and 8 gig of ram. I upgraded that to 16 shortly. It's my first Mac mini and 2 years since I've gone back to the Mac ecosystem since I was on PC prior.

Nice setup! Could be wrong but I see some Schiit Audio gear
Are you using their DAC? If yes, may I ask if you are using their USB interface or Optical?

Cheers!

 

[kamuix]

Nice setup! Could be wrong but I see some Schiit Audio gear
Are you using their DAC? If yes, may I ask if you are using their USB interface or Optical?

Cheers!

Nice eye! Yes I am currently using the bifrost multibit (upgraded version) plugged through USB interface. It has the new USB gen 5 pcb which is why I'm rocking with USB. I have it plugged straight into the Mac mini.
On top is the Valhalla amp.

 

[inmnbob]

Got my replacement a coup,e minutes ago and restoring from backup. Let’s hope this one is better.

 

[Sarpanch]

Nice eye! Yes I am currently using the bifrost multibit (upgraded version) plugged through USB interface. It has the new USB gen 5 pcb which is why I'm rocking with USB. I have it plugged straight into the Mac mini.
On top is the Valhalla amp.

Awesome setup you got there! I am still with the original Bifrost DAC from 2011 with no USB, paired with an Asgard Amp. I was shocked to find that new Macs (including the 2018 Mini) don’t have Optical out anymore. Back then, Schiit Audio’s Optical implementation was better than USB, so i didn’t bother with the USB version at all. For my 2018 Mini, I bought an Airport Express (which has Optical out) and I can now stream music via AirPlay to the DAC/Amp setup.

Maybe I’ll get the USB Gen 5 module added to my DAC soon but this setup works great for now

 

[kamuix]

Awesome setup you got there! I am still with the original Bifrost DAC from 2011 with no USB, paired with an Asgard Amp. I was shocked to find that new Macs (including the 2018 Mini) don’t have Optical out anymore. Back then, Schiit Audio’s Optical implementation was better than USB, so i didn’t bother with the USB version at all. For my 2018 Mini, I bought an Airport Express (which has Optical out) and I can now stream music via AirPlay to the DAC/Amp setup.

Maybe I’ll get the USB Gen 5 module added to my DAC soon but this setup works great for now

Cool beans! Yeah, I kinda wanted to experiment with optical but when I purchased the bifrost, schiit already implemented the new USB pcb in all of their later products. The upgrade itself seems a bit complex as you would have to mail in the unit and let them install it. I'm not sure if they have to sort out any additional firmware. The only real benefit with the usb interface is mostly to just avoid noise, which what the WYRD they sell basically is; cleans the usb signal.

I like that airplay setup. Do you have multiple sources feeding into airplay? That's actually a brilliant idea. Since most of my stuff are just on my mac, I just have the bifrost plugged in. I also use it as a preamp for the speakers and sub that I have as well.