New Mac Mini recommendations

Posted on
Mon Mar 25, 2019 3:12 pm
siclark offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

lanbrown wrote:
durosity wrote:
I’m kinda wishing I had got the 10g card for my mini now that I’ve got a switch that supports it..


It'll cost a lot more than $100 to get it now.


Actually doesn't seem to be that much more...

https://www.broadbandbuyer.com/products ... a-t310g1s/





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Posted on
Mon Mar 25, 2019 4:48 pm
siclark offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

So the point of 10gbe was for cameras, and sounds like they don't need it
My switch doesn't do 10gbe, and getting one with that and Poe to power the cameras seems like a lot of money.
Plus the fact you can add 10gbe later, i think I'll skip it for now.



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Posted on
Tue Mar 26, 2019 7:44 am
norcoscia offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

All the attic, in wall and crawlspace cables I ran where cat6a so latter when the 10gig HW prices comes down from outer space I can support it - right now 10 gig is just too expensive and lacks a use case(for me). I have no regrets about not adding the 10 gig ethernet interface to my Mac Mini. By the time I really need 10 gig an interface adapter will be 9.99 on amazon.

h.265 needs to be supported on both ends so if you make a buying decision (on that capability) make sure your end to end setup will support it.

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Norm

Posted on
Tue Mar 26, 2019 11:22 am
citysnaps offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

I recently purchased a 2018 Mini and paid the +$100 for the fast ethernet card. What's nice is it's NBASE-T, meaning it will auto-negotiate 1, 2.5, 5, and 10 Gbit/sec rates. So, if you have a mix of Cat 5, 6, 6a and 7, at various lengths, you'll likely get more than 1 Gbit/sec rates on older cable, depending on the length of the run,

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Brad
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Posted on
Tue Mar 26, 2019 11:35 am
siclark offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

norcoscia wrote:
I have no regrets about not adding the 10 gig ethernet interface to my Mac Mini. By the time I really need 10 gig an interface adapter will be 9.99 on amazon.
t.


Or it will be time to upgrade the Mac mini.


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Posted on
Tue Mar 26, 2019 5:17 pm
norcoscia offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

Has anyone found an affordable switch or router that supports anything past 1 gig.?

I can’t seem to find much of anything that is not super pricy — have I been looking in the wrong places?

_______
Norm

Posted on
Wed Mar 27, 2019 7:04 pm
peszko offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

My mac mini 2014 just died on me so I went out and got the base 2018 model, and wow things are so much faster!!! I suspect, there was something wrong with my old mini for a long time to make it that much slower. In my case, I just run Indigo and Air Video server (which is rarely used). My cameras run on Hikvision NVR so no video transcoding on the mini.

Posted on
Thu Mar 28, 2019 1:43 am
Dual offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

peszko wrote:
My mac mini 2014 just died on me so I went out and got the base 2018 model, and wow things are so much faster!!!.
Fast is good. Very good. I am running the base 2018 mini with Indigo and SecuritySpy and it isn’t even breaking a sweat.


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Posted on
Thu Mar 28, 2019 5:15 am
siclark offline
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New Mac Mini recommendations

Same here. Switching from a underpowered 2014 mini to a 2017 iMac was eye opening. I hadn't realised how much speed in indigo I was missing out on.
Good to know base i3 works well. Tempted on the i5 just to prolong it's life as much as possible and so I can deal with running extra stuff on it.
Although given the number of plugins that I run, I think the i5 and lots of ram may be required anyway.


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Posted on
Thu Mar 28, 2019 11:39 am
masterblaster offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

norcoscia wrote:
Has anyone found an affordable switch or router that supports anything past 1 gig.?

I can’t seem to find much of anything that is not super pricy — have I been looking in the wrong places?

Check out the Netgear GS110MX for $200 on amazon. It has only 2 10G copper ports, with the remaining 8 ports being gigabit, but that's perhaps enough for many people. On top of that, it's fanless --completely silent*. If you're like me and have a zillion devices (like webcams) that don't really even need gigabit, they can be linked to another switch that's then linked to one port on the GS110MX. Only servers, workstations, Internet router and wifi APs need direct connection.

*I no longer tolerate slightly noisy equipment even in my server room.

Posted on
Thu Mar 28, 2019 11:46 am
masterblaster offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

For the best price on a "new" Mac Mini, check out the refurbished models Apple sells. The discount comes to roughly 18% below retail and is significantly less than the academic discount. A link to the refurbished section of the store is provided at the bottom of store.apple.com. If a particular configuration is listed for sale in the refurbished section, it's shipped immediately (unlikely build-to-order, new units that often take days to ship).

Refurbished units come with the full Apple 1 year warranty and qualify for 3 years AppleCare+. If the configuration you want isn't available, try again later. Within 2 weeks of purchase, if you're unhappy for any reason with a refurbished unit, it can be returned-shipped at no cost or dropped off at a local Apple store for a full refund.
Last edited by masterblaster on Thu Mar 28, 2019 11:53 am, edited 2 times in total.

Posted on
Thu Mar 28, 2019 11:52 am
Dual offline
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Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

Agreed re refurbished. That’s how I bought my 2018 Mac mini.


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Posted on
Thu Mar 28, 2019 11:59 am
siclark offline
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Location: UK

Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

That's what I'm looking at. The stock and configurations change regulary and they even have some with 10gbe, for whenever they will be of use.


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Posted on
Sat Mar 30, 2019 11:11 am
akimball offline
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Location: Sandy, Utah

Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

When apple card comes out, that might add another 3% to the 18% discounted price of refurb models purchased through the apple store.

-Al

Posted on
Wed Apr 10, 2019 1:47 pm
petematheson offline
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Location: Southampton, UK

Re: New Mac Mini recommendations

Hi Guys,

Looking to upgrade my MacMini to a 2018 model and wanted to get a gauge on specs.

I currently have a 2014 i5, 1TB Hybrid SSD with 8GB Memory.

Security Spy with 3 Cameras taking around 40% CPU
Memory is definitely maxxed out
Indigo very minimal memory usage
Plex is also on there holding a large direct attached storage array and wanting to stream a max of 2 streams at once - hardly any 4K content there, mostly 1080p.

But the system is sluggish.

I'm debating between going for an i3 and upgrading it to 16GB (still sluggish?)
OR going for the i5 with 16GB (Adequate and future proof)
OR going for the i7 with 16GB and actually wiring that directly into the TV to use as a full machine for web / email browsing. (Overkill but no issues with speed and way future proof)

Reading through the thread there are lots of people saying the new model is working well for them but not many saying which model they went for and what kind of CPU / Memory usage they're seeing with all of the above going?

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