Hello,
I know this is a much asked subject, but my old 2009 8GB Mac mini is beginning to show its age. So with limited budget in mind I am contemplating purchasing the 2014 i5 2.8ghz, with 1TB Fusion HD and 8GB of RAM. So for Apple has dropped no hints of an impending refresh of the Mac mini line. Therefore I feel safe making this purchase at this point in time. But I want to get some input as to the wisdom of selecting this mini model as a viable app development platform now.
OK, well you probably already know by now of the Apple event announced for October 27, chances are you will have an even tougher choice to make after that! But at least that 2014 model might be cheaper.
But sure - the 2014 model you describe is more than adequate for iOS development. i5 is plenty, you won’t see a difference between it and an i7 unless you are encoding a lot of video or other heavy computational tasks. 16GB memory would be nicer. My average usage is around 8GB going by what MenuMeters tells me. But if you don’t have 16GB you will just go slightly slower, it won’t refuse to run apps, more will swap out when not in use.
I would also choose a pure flash drive of 256/512GB over the bigger Fusion drive. Spinning disks are dinosaurs and by far the most likely point of failure in any computer, not to mention far higher power consumption. For bulk media storage an external drive with a spinning disk is good.
Have you put a SSD in that 2009 mini? That might be the cheapest way to get a usable Mac, it makes a surprising difference.
Thanks very much for the insightful input aeberbach.
Yes I just read the breaking news from the Apple Insider app describing some of the new Mac refreshes forthcoming on 10/27/16. Yes that will make it harder not to stick to my budget constraints and get a 2016 Mac. But based on your subtle hint I may look into getting an SSD for my old 2009 mini and try and squeeze some more mileage out of it. Who knows maybe I can create a profitable app on the 2009 mini to fund the purchase of a more powerful Mac in 2017.
Well based on the disappointing MacBooks release for 2016,( cost of the new 13", 2.9Ghz a bit too high for me this year) , I’m glad I still have my old 2009 Mac mini. Too I’m glad to have followed aeberbach’s recommendation to install a SSD. Mini now runs much faster. Lastly I still have my early 2015 MBA with its paltry 4GB RAM but upgraded the stock SSD to 500GB. So I’m not in too bad of shape to develop apps on into 2017.
I’m just going to say it once and try extremely hard not to say it again on this forum - I am massively disappointed in what Apple announced.
Looking forward to seeing what you do @tom77w!