Current slide {CURRENT_SLIDE} of {TOTAL_SLIDES}- Best Selling in Apple Desktops & All-In-Ones
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The mid market Mac Mini is an excellent entry into the Mac world. The GUI is pretty intuitive and the application load and run fairly efficiently for a mainstream user. I purchased the entry level Mac Mini initially and returned it within 14 days at it seemed woefully slow. I however liked the base level apps enough to choose to move to the tier 2 Mac Mini rather than stay PC. The added processor speed seems to help, but the real difference is the level 2 onboard video as well as the increased RAM over the entry level model. The dual monitor capability is nice via the 2 thunderbolt ports, but unfortunately if you are looking to use 2 monitors you cannot then utilize the high speed thunderbolt connectivity for an external HD. All in all an excellent value for the market, but by no means a power users best friend.Read full review
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
After all these years, Apple still has a lot of room to improve on their Mac Mini design. They still view it as a gateway product to lure over PC users who already have their keyboard and monitor set-ups and want to taste OS X on the cheap. However, with the ubiquity of large HD screens in the living room, people want it either to save space or to serve as a HTPC (home theater PC) not to pair with their existing computer monitor. The 2014 version is not user upgradable in either RAM or the hard drive (or at all!), so it fails as a gateway product. You have to perform any upgrades at the time of purchase. So, it is no longer a good candidate for a transitionary product, but viewed, perhaps, as an alternative for people whose computer usage does not justify the cost of their iMac or power Mac lines. This particular customized mini under review has the max RAM at 16GB and the 1 TB fusion hard drive. The fusion hard drive is actually two drives that function as one: a small SSD drive and a large 5400rpm platter that are married through the operating system to act as one drive. Behind the scenes, the operating system figures out what is used frequently and moves it to the SSD portion to accelerate booting and loading times. It's pretty ingenious really, in a "best of both worlds" kind of way. Not as durable or as fast as a straight SSD drive, particularly since the SSD drive will be useless once the platter fails, but far more storage than would be available for the equivalent cost of a straight SSD. As a home theater PC it also falls short. The options for HD sound are limited. The graphics processing unit is an on-board unit that shares (steals) RAM from the motherboard. Whenever I awake it before the TV is available to handshake, the sound output defaults to the internal speaker and I have to go into system preferences to reset it to the TV. Aside from the sound issue, OS X also does not cater to this product line in the view. There is no system-wide setting for large font, so your alternatives are to set the display at 720p or utilize the screen zoom when your eyes get tired of reading what appears as small font from the distance I am viewing. Within Safari there is an option to increase the font size but if you overdo it, it messes with how some pages are displayed and it's set on a tab by tab basis, so if you open a new tab, you'll have to re-enlargen the font size. But still I have given it 4 stars, why? I remain a huge fan of OS X and I received so much more computer than I would have for the equivalent price from, say, a MacBook Air. I hope that this computer will serve me for years to come, and that, in that time, Apple will make improvements to the two OS X issues that have nothing to do with the hardware.Read full review
This product is really good. I was looking for a 2012 version at a lower price point but since the seller offered it with Windows installed, I went for 2014 model and paid a little extra. Note that I did have to compromise on the fact that the RAM in this 2014 model is not upgradable. However, for a newer model I made this choice. I would also mention that it was slower than my MacBook Pro Late 2013. However, that was expected because MacBook uses SSD and Mini uses HDD. I replaced the 1TB hard drive in Mac Mini with a 480GB SSD. Put the 1TB drive in an enclosure and am using it as an external drive. Now the Mac Mini is super fast. I love the Windows on this Mac. What a compact and fast beauty it is!!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I appreciate the sleek design, the processing capability in such a compact form. It does the job of a mac and it has many valuable uses. No setup hassle, just plug in and use. simply efficient.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
So far so good! set it up with an older monitor I already had using a thunderbolt adaptor (also purchased on Ebay). Took me a bit to figure out how the wireless keyboard and trackpad work but love it now that I have it fully functioning. I also ordered an external disc reader/writer and just plugged it in. voila' it works great. I am impressed that the Mini picked up the info and connected to our wireless printer without me having to do anything. I have been working at migrating my files from my dead MacBook Pro... that has been a challenge but the Mac community online has been so helpful. All in all, transitioning from PC to Mac has been great and this Mac Mini has met all my expectations so far. LOVE IT!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned