# To new Mac mini or not?



## ptram (Oct 19, 2019)

Hi,

My main computer is a Mac mini 2012 quad-i7. I maxed the memory to 16GB, replaced the internal drives with a 1TB SSD. Not bad for what I do, but here is never something like enough power. And there is never enough RAM.

I would also like to be able to drive my 4K monitor to 60Hz, but I’ve no issues at half the frequency. But no compromise would be better.

The new mini is twice as powerful, according to the benchmarks. And today is the last day I can have it with an interesting discount. This is also the last mini that can run 32-bit applications, that I may continue to need for a few years.

Is it worth it? Or, are we waiting for a true revolution in computing, and who waits for a couple years will have an incredibly more powerful computer than what's available today?

Paolo


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## ridgero (Oct 19, 2019)

Display:





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Mac mini (2018) - Technical Specifications






support.apple.com






Forum discussion:





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2018 Mac Mini


So it's been announced! Up to 6 core i7 Up to 64GB RAM 2TB SSD 4 x Thunderbolt3 Starts at $799 for quad core i3 and 8GB Ram. Question will really be how much the upgrades cost and if the RAM is user upgradeable! https://www.macrumors.com/2018/10/30/apple-announces-new-mac-mini/




vi-control.net


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## gsilbers (Oct 19, 2019)

If say wait until the end of October to see if there is any new Mac mini maybe with i9 chips. Although I doubt it since apple took so long to upgrade Minis and Mac Pros are coming out soon. But new laptops are sure coming.

the new Mac mini’s are not only better than the old Minis butbetter than my 5,1 Mac Pro and many other macs.
so if you get the i7 version with ram (owc upgrade) you’llsure be able to use for a long time. And don’t worry about 32 bit apps, as long as you don’t upgrade to Catalina , or if your computer is in Catalina, all u have to do is downgrade to Mojave.

also keep an eye out for the refurbished Mac mini which is an additional discount.

but no new amazing development for Apple. Mac mini might get i9 Intel in The future since the laptops have it and everything more powerful will come from the Mac Pro withXeon cpu.
But the i7 the Mac mini has is crazy good if you check the benchmarks and comments from users.


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## kgdrum (Oct 19, 2019)

gsilbers said:


> And don’t worry about 32 bit apps, as long as you don’t upgrade to Catalina , or if your computer is in Catalina, all u have to do is downgrade to Mojave.




From my understanding if you buy a Mac that has any particular OS version installed you can not downgrade to an earlier OS.

I hope I’m wrong but to clarify I don’t think if you buy a new Mac Mini that’s released with Catalina,I don’t think you can roll back to Mohave or any other earlier OS.
Please correct me if I’m wrong on this.


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## SyMTiK (Oct 19, 2019)

kgdrum said:


> From my understanding if you buy a Mac that has any particular OS version installed you can not downgrade to an earlier OS.
> 
> I hope I’m wrong but to clarify I don’t think if you buy a new Mac Mini that’s released with Catalina,I don’t think you can roll back to Mohave or any other earlier OS.
> Please correct me if I’m wrong on this.


As long as the hardware was at some point released with that particular OS it "should" be doable. The current gen Mac Mini's have been around with Mojave, so even if they are shipping with Catalina currently, the hardware should still be Mojave compatible and you should be able to roll back to Mojave. However, I believe it is correct that Apple computers can only run the earliest OS that was available at the time that the particular model was released.


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## gsilbers (Oct 19, 2019)

kgdrum said:


> From my understanding if you buy a Mac that has any particular OS version installed you can not downgrade to an earlier OS.
> 
> I hope I’m wrong but to clarify I don’t think if you buy a new Mac Mini that’s released with Catalina,I don’t think you can roll back to Mohave or any other earlier OS.
> Please correct me if I’m wrong on this.



yes it’s possible if you have Mojave installer, another mac and wiping out the whole hard drive on the Mac mini.









How to downgrade from macOS Catalina to Mojave


If you’ve installed the latest macOS Catalina and decided it’s not for you, the good news is you can downgrade to Mojave. Read this article to find out how to do it.




www.google.com


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## gsilbers (Oct 19, 2019)

SyMTiK said:


> As long as the hardware was at some point released with that particular OS it "should" be doable. The current gen Mac Mini's have been around with Mojave, so even if they are shipping with Catalina currently, the hardware should still be Mojave compatible and you should be able to roll back to Mojave. However, I believe it is correct that Apple computers can only run the earliest OS that was available at the time that the particular model was released.



Mac computers can run any OS X that’s compatible. 2011 iMacs can’t run Mojave due to metal gpu but a new 2018 iMac can run Sierra even if high Sierra was the os it came with and the newest at the time. I just depends on the compatibility of OS X.


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