Apple - Mac mini - Intel Core i5 (2.6GHz) - 8GB Memory - 1TB Hard Drive - White

Don't be fooled by the Mac Mini's internal hardware. It may not have been updated in a few years but it's still capable of outputting to a 4K monitor and even editing 4K video with ease. I purchased a 12.9" iPad Pro last year and found myself using it more and more instead of my notebook. I would turn to my MacBook Pro only when I wanted to do very specific things, like encode a video in Handbrake. So I sold it off and decided a Mac Mini would fit that need just fine. At the time, it pretty much had the same internal hardware as the $1200 iMac but I didn't need the monitor (not when I have two 1080p monitors sitting at my desk). Overall, I've been pleased with this little machine. The dual-core Core i5 is still a solid CPU and only marginally behind the current generation in terms of performance (it's about 15% the new Kaby Lake chips when it comes to benchmarks, big deal), 8GB of RAM is more than enough to accomplish basic and even more advanced tasks in macOS, and I forgot what it was like having access to so much built-in storage after migrating from a 128GB MacBook Pro. Apple also included Bluetooth 4.0, 802.11ac, there are four USB 3.0 ports, two Thunderbolt 2 ports, analog audio in, analog/digital audio out, an SDXC card reader, and HDMI output. There's also a front-facing IR port but I think it only works with the older, silver remote and not the new touchpad remote. The one thing that still shocked me was how small this desktop is. It's about the same size as older set-top-box streaming units but packs a lot more power in an elegant anodized aluminum enclosure. Overall, I have found three negatives with the current Mac Mini. The positives were more than enough to outweigh anything I have against the Mac Mini but I will list them anyways. First, it is a pain to upgrade the internal hardware of the Mac Mini and the only thing you can change out is the internal storage. The RAM is now soldered directly onto the logic board and is no longer user-replaceable. It takes quite a bit of time and effort to get the black rubber cover off. After you've spent 15 minutes doing this, you'll be greeted with an aluminum sheet held on by hex screws. It's only after removing those when you'll start to see the internal hardware but even then, it takes a couple of minutes to finally get to the hard drive. This really shouldn't shock anyone in this day and age as Apple has long been making non-upgradable PCs. The Mac Mini used to be the last holdout after the iMac but that's changed now. Make sure you get whatever features you want upfront as you won't be able to add anything else except external components later down the line. Second, I really wish this would of come with a Fusion Drive as standard even if it was a 1TB Fusion Drive with only 64GB of SSD (instead of the 128GB standard). Going from a MacBook Pro with SSD to a Mac Mini with a hard drive has taken some getting used to. Programs take a good 4-5 seconds longer to open, it takes longer to load things, and rebooting the system takes a while. Once programs and things are loaded, the Mac Mini handles them well just like any other Mac with SSD. It' the initial opening and loading that adds time. Lastly, I definitely wouldn't pay $699 for this. For that price, the internal hardware is too old and you should be getting an SSD (or at least a Fusion Drive) standard. I purchased my Mac Mini when it was on sale for $599 and I had another coupon that dropped it down to $499. For that price, it's a pretty solid desktop for those that prefer macOS to Windows. At $699, it's an expensive system that's not worth it. You would be better off saving up and getting a new iMac instead for $300 more. That being said, I'm fine with the internal hardware at the price that I paid. It encodes 1080p, h.264 movies (with stereo AAC and 5.1 Dolby Digital sound) in less time than it took my 2015 MacBook Pro (and even Surface Pro 4), takes up very little desk space, is still a sharp looking machine, and it pretty quiet (I've never really heard the hard drive or fans kick on). It has served it's purpose and is exactly what I wanted out of a desktop. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to dip their toes into macOS or someone who needs a newer desktop but already has a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. Just make sure you wait until the Mini is on sale, otherwise it's not worth the $700 price.

I bought this after selling my 2011 Mac mini. Paid a few hundred for this, as they hold there value. On with the pros: this models cpu is dual core that is HYPERTHREADED, meaning it can act synthetically like a quad. I noticed in system monitor under cpu "4" processor monitors. Unlike a quad core which would show "8" processor monitors. The ram is adequate is does load a lot of apps programming into memory since its a spinning drive. So 8gb is bare minimum I'd recommended. I ran several, benchmarks comparing 2012 and 2013 MacBook pro' retinas short and simple this is faster overall according to a sun spider score of 138 in safari on the mac mini 2014 2.6ghz. Cons Yosemite has glitches and bugs as of November 1st 2014. Best Buy doesn't sell the ssd version which would basically increase app/startup times because the faster solid-state drive. However, be prepared to pay over 1k for that luxury. Also, carefully decided on your requirements out of this device, as your initial purchase the mini now soldiers its RAM onto the motherboard, and your hard drive its surgical to replace from what I've read. Bummer with the very limited aftermarket/upgrade options without tearing the whole system apart (harddriveonly) remember as Ram is soldered onboard. i'm overall impressed with the performance of a regular hard drive that's all that Best Buy offers coming from 99% of my machines using solid-state disk the wait time isn't that bad. If they offered the $1000 version I would've definitely got it which includes a hybrid 128gb ssd drive with a normal drive. I read all the reviews on this site and have to say negative reviews were from no one who actually had units in their hands performing tests before making assumptions. I give it a solid thumbs up, I just wish Best Buy would offer the higher end model. If you're on the fence try it before you buy it, I feel its worth it. If you're on the fence about hard drive speed being an issue i find it is sufficient, although ssd would def be better. Also note that this model does output 4k to the TV/monitor if you have a 4K TV/monitor. Try it before saying it's terrible trust me.

Find a 2012 quad core i7 while you still can! Apple released this 2014 Mac Mini and here are the things you can no longer do: - Upgrade the RAM yourself. People will say that Mac Mini's are not for people who like to tweak their machines but the 2011 and 2012 Mac Mini's actually had a removeable door and instructions on apple.com showing you how to replace and upgrade RAM chips yourself. It was as easy as changing the batteries in your remote control. - You can no longer add a second drive. Many people were able to build their own fusion drives or have one magnetic drive and one SSD. This was for advanced tweakers, but still relatively easy for someone who can following 10 steps from a website. Yes, you can pay Apple $1399 for a built to order 16GB of RAM + 1TB fusion drive Mac Mini with i7 dual core. But here is an important specification you can not pay for. The 2012 Mac Mini had a i7 Quad Core processor option. You can no longer order a Quad Core processor in the 2014 model at any price. What does this mean? If you do any CPU intensive tasks like run Virtual Machines, CAD, Photoshop, etc The 2014 model is 50% slower than the 2012 model when running multi core applications. Now for the good. The Iris and Intel 5000 GPU are a slight step up from the 2012 model Intel 4000 GPU. Apple also dropped the Firewire port for a second Thunderbolt port. (Some may still need firewrre, so beware) WiFi speeds have been improved with 802.11ac support if you have a 802.11ac airport/wifi router. I can not recommend this machine except for the most basic tasks. One can only hope Apple will make some adjustments from the outcries in the follow up model.

I have both PC based computers along with my Mac mini and enjoy them both for different reasons. Once learned the Mac mini is simpler to use for basic computing with a lot of useless apps from the Apple Store where there are far more useful apps for the PC although you have to understand far more about how a computer works to use some of them. To be fair I have spent many years working with PC based computers and just a couple of years with Apple computers. As I said at the beginning I like both PCs and Apple computers for different reasons and would recommend the Mac mini 8bg i-5 processor to anyone interested in learning how to use a computer and do productive work but also suggesting that the PCs have a far larger selection of quality applications and not just those that Apple wishes to allow and/or provide... Also, most of today's monitors support multiple types of input such as HDMI, DVI or the 15pin cable so for me I am using one monitor for two computers with one being a PC and the other being my Mac mini... Although I have more then two computers I really only use one at a time so it does not bother me to tell the display which one to select and I stay there for hours or days until I want to use the other one. e.g. I have a large monitor for two of my computers and flip between them... Lastly, for me a mouse is a mouse and I have a low cost wired USB mouse on my Mac mini but I do suggest you get an Apple small wired or wireless keyboard. If you don't want to pay around $99.00 for a new wireless one you can always get a refurbished used one but to make it work you will have to set it up in Bluetooth on the Mac mini. I used a USB PC keyboard until my used Apple keyboard arrived and used the PC keyboard to setup Bluetooth and once working I unplugged my USB keyboard and have been happy ever since...

I bought this to keep all of our family photos and videos on. Long story short is that I have a high end MacBook Pro with a solid state drive (500GB). That isn't enough space for me to keep all of our media on and had a couple of external drives that I would plug in for media I wanted. Well one of the hard drives got corrupted (it is a small portable USB3.0 one) and I about lost all of our family photos over the last 12 years (about 21,000 photos). THANKFULLY I USED TIME MACHINE TO BACKUP MY COMPUTER AS WELL AS MY EXTERNAL HARD DRIVES (very important and please learn this lesson and save yourself from losing items that you can't get back). Time machine literally saved me! Fast forward to this computer. I wanted something small and robust that worked well; enter the MacMini. With the MacMini I have dedicated full size (non portable = more robust) hard drives plugged in now in line with a APC battery backup and this is the best way I have found to go. Pros: -great form factor and price with a decent enough spec to get most anything done that you are after -can output 4k graphics -it's a Mac and it just works as it was intended -it's plenty fast for full blown photo editing -it's acceptable for video editing (not pro level fast, but it works quite fine for what I do) -It has two Thunderbolt 2 ports (yes 20Gb/sec transfer speeds) Cons: -I wish RAM was upgradable like in the the previous model (it is NOT!) -It would be nice if Apple packaged a keyboard, mouse, etc with it (it is a computer only and you need to add your own bluetooth peripherals) Other thoughts: -Get the mid level spec one with 8GB or RAM (this one). There entry model is fine and works but with 4GB of RAM in it, I don't see it being enough for my needs in the long term. I didn't think the high level spec one offered that much performance improvement for the money. -I am currently running the MacMini on a 60" Samsung LED HD TV and the graphics are great. Will be buying a 4k soon as this computer is capable. -I am running the Server App on this as will use it as the hub for our other two MacBook Pros (2009 model and 2014 model), especially when it comes to media and file storage.

If you have dedicated Mac software needs or are already a serious Apple enthusiast, I assume that you are already running a higher end iMac. This is not that machine and this review is not for those people. This computer is a very nice entry level computer if you want to get into the MAC OS universe, as we did. BONUS- IT RUNS WINDOWS VERY EASILY, more on that later. The base model is worthless. The high end model is expensive, the middle model (this review) is the sweet spot for memory and graphic capability, IMO. Even more custom configurations are available through Apple. If you run an iPhone or iPad or both, the Mac OS ecosystem is almost intoxicating with its seemingly seamless integration of communications, photos, and other services. For the casual user, the hardware and software integrated Apple universe is a compelling alternative to the Microsoft and whoever happens to make your hardware and software universe. HOWEVER, Apple and Mac do not have the seemingly ends library of software that is available to Windows users. Games in particular. Never fear, with a little know how and the Boot Camp program (provided and supported by Apple) you or the Geek Squad can easily install Windows on your Mac Mini so that you can easily choose which you wish to run with the click of an icon. My kids spend all their time in Windows playing games and doing things that they are accustom to. In that sense, this hardware is a solid computer that can connect to your existing keyboard, mouse, and display. As a bonus that may offset the extra cost over a pure Windows computer, you can log into Mac OS as well and let you dabble in that world as well. I log into Mac OS to work with my iOS (iPhone and iPad) data and persona. And for that reason, so long as you have the monitor, keyboard, and mouse, this is a very nice and versatile computer that can do a lot more than your average small form factor computer. Definitely recommended. and if you are getting ingrained into the iOS ecosystem, having a pure Mac OS computer is almost a necessity to really leverage that user experience. If that computer can also spend a lot of its time working as a Windows computer, so much the better.

I had the misfortune of two MBPs, each of them about 10 yrs old, failing within a period of a week. The repair tech who had given me the bad news about the MBPs had suggested I look at the Mac Mini. I compared the Mini to a variety of iMacs and MacBooks. The Mini was at the right price point, and because I don't do video editing, gaming, or other CPU-intensive activities, the Mini more than met my performance needs. Because there is little, if any, scope for subsequent upgrade of components, I chose this version that has a larger hard drive and more RAM than the basic model. The price, including a Bluetooth keyboard, an HDMI cable (I already had a HDMI monitor), and AppleCare, was well within my price range. Setup was easy - I had run Time Machine on the old MBP the day the MBP died, and I used that Time Machine backup to setup the Mini. I've had no problems with the Mini. Though I didn't recognize the significance when I was making my buying decision, the Mini has 4 USB ports. If you're used to having only 2 USB ports on any version of a MB, MBP, or MacBook Air, the presence of 4 ports will seem like a luxury. And of course, the Mini takes up little desk space, another plus in my eyes since my desk is otherwise covered by papers and, occasionally, dog treats.

Moved from an old MacBook Pro to the Mac mini. I own an IPad and iPhone which meet my mobility needs. Attached an existing hdtv via hdmi cable monitor and it works well and picture is beautiful, small difference in resolution settings means that I had to tweak window size, but no big deal compared to the cost of an apple display. Already had apple compatible wireless keyboard for iPad, and a very old USB generic mouse. The keyboard works perfectly, the mouse works ok. Borrowed a wireless apple mouse and it is a huge improvement, so will likely upgrade that in the future, but for now, the old mouse is adequate. As far as transferring files... I have an external drive. I used that to back up the MacBook. Switched the cable from the MacBook to the new Mac mini, put in the password. It was a simple process to copy files from the external drive to Mac mini and I was up and running. My biggest issue - I had multiple iTunes accounts and content on the old Mac book just worked. Had quite a time getting that content authorized on the new Mac mini, but that was my fault for not having details of all iTunes accounts and not a reflection of the Mac mini or Apple. The old MacBook was a performance dog, just couldnt handle the OS upgrades. The new Mac mini performs beautifully, no delays and even streaming movies has improved. The buffering delays that were a regular occurrence have disappeared with no other changes to the network configuration. Well worth the money. Wish I'd done this immediately, instead of thinking about it for years.