Mac Mini buying advice
Community Forums/General Help/Mac Mini buying advice
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| Retirement is quickly approaching and I want to get into Mac development. I have zero interest in an iMac and I will never buy a Mac laptop again. I would like to get a Mac Mini. My question is should I go ahead and buy a Mac Mini now, or should I wait a few months and see if there is a new version released? |
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| There'll probably be a new Mac Mini by the end of the year (because then the current one would be more than a year old). But then it'd be more expensive as well as the price of these things only ever increases. Mac Minis are no longer the "bargain Mac" they used to be. |
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| I suggest ebay, "buy it now" seems to be more reputable than auctions. |
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| Anybody can use buy it now on ebay. it means nothing. |
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| The new iMacs are supposed to hit the first week of May, so I guess I will wait until then and see if the Mini gets a revamp. If the Mini won't see a revision until near the end of the year, I am not sure if I am willing to wait that long. As we saw with the last Mini, newer isn't always better. The price increase and memory decrease was a major turn-off to me. So on top of the $668 for the Mac, I also need to spend another $80 to get 8GB of RAM. If I wait, I am afraid what the next revision may bring. So many of the i3/i5 systems are shipping with Intel GFX, I am not sure I would want to take a risk of the new Mini losing a semi-decent graphics card. Adam: I didn't ask where to buy one ;) I would certainly never buy a new computer via ebay. I would always purchase a new system from a legitimate store and not an individual. |
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| Intel graphics adapters are nowhere near as bad as they used to be. If you want to get into Mac development - or any development for that matter, then it does not pay to have a top-end system (unless you have a shoddy backup one for testing on as well). |
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| That is a small part of why I am going for the Mini, it is the lowest end Mac. |
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| http://buyersguide.macrumors.com/ Keep an eye on the release cycle, apple is pretty regular. Heavy development benefits GREATLY from a powerful machine, however you still need access to your minimum target for testing... If you can only have one you're better off suffering with a beater and having lots of extra money on hand than having a screaming machine, being broke, and having to beg people to test on their beaters for you. I personally used a Mini for iPhone/Bmax/Windows/Linux development for a year. It was wonderful, compiles were a bit slow, but that $500 system (previous gen before the price bump with HDMI built in) was almost as nice day to day as my $3.5k setup now... you get diminishing returns on your investment the more you spend (but you still get returns so it's nice to go big when you can afford it :0) P.S. the mini doesn't usually price jump between generations, it did once a while ago but it's not likely to go higher than it is currently IMO (just an educated guess). And macs do go down in cost with upgrades (see the recent Air refresh, big spec bump and a big price drop, but the whole line was re-designed for that...). If you can wait you always get more for less. There's also always closeout sales when they transition so even if the price of the new one goes up if you buy the old one right when the new one comes out you'll save some cash. Also look into discounts, there's about a million ways to get a 10% discount from apple. If you know anyone who works at an Apple store you can also bum a 15% discount off them (they have a limited number to share), or if they're REALLY nice, and willing to fudge the paperwork you might get their yearly 25% discount... but that affects support so don't bet on it. With a mini I would highly recommend maxing the RAM, they don't hold a ton and trust me, you'll want every little bit you can get down the road. Also the vram is shared memory and tied to the RAM bank, so when you add ram you add vram too... this also means some of your ram is always gone to vram. Of note however apple doesn't use great RAM, 3rd party is much MUCH cheaper and the same or better quality generally, however the mini is not user serviceable so you'll void your warranty by installing it yourself. You can get them to install 3rd party you bring them at an apple store or authorized service center. Or just say forget apple care, get a paint scraper (to open the case) and do it yourself. Apple care is nice though so think twice :0) |
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| Side note: technically the lowest end mac is the min spec macbook air with a standard HD "upgrade" from the SSD. Just thought I'd throw that out there... but the mini is probably the best base line to work with, and you already said you didn't want a laptop, so go for it. For those that might stumble across this thread and be looking at macs more generally, the iMac is a MUCH better value than the mini, but if you don't like it for whatever reason, or can't swing the difference (some hundreds are some hundreds, no question) the mini is a wonderful machine. and when you're done with it you have the PERFECT HTPC... it's really shockingly good as an HTPC. |
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| If you are looking to save a little bit of money: Apple also sells refurbed units (with warranty) at a discount on their website. |
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| Craigslist is a good source as well. I my previous Mac Mini to someone locally there. The things I would be concerned with: 1. Additional Hard Drive or replacing it if it's an older one. 2. Additional RAM( You'd be surprised how easy it is from what I've seen to upgrade). 3. What OS is on it, and can it use the latest one? Good luck and let us know what you finally settle on. |
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| maybe alternate special edition is something for you ?! Last edited 2011 |
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| Buy an iMac! mac minis are too slow. You may regret it. |
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