Mac Mini Recommendations

Discussions revolve around recommending the Mac Mini (often used or new models) as a cost-effective, high-performance alternative to more expensive Apple products like MacBook Pro, Mac Studio, or Mac Pro, or competing mini-PCs, with debates on price, value, and suitability for various tasks.

➡️ Stable 0.5x Hardware
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Comments
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#7329
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Keywords

RAM WHILE CPU SSD MacbookPro M1 HDD GB GPU AMD mac mini mini mac imac m1 pro mac pro macbook ssd macs

Sample Comments

downrightmike Feb 12, 2023 View on HN

mac mini is probably enough these days

jonplackett Jul 10, 2019 View on HN

Why wouldn’t you just get a Mac mini and save $1000s?

rowanG077 Oct 8, 2021 View on HN

well soon you can get a mac mini. It's doubtful you could get a better bang for your buck elsewhere.

redundantly Jan 16, 2025 View on HN

If performance isn't an issue, why not get a Mac mini?

consp Dec 25, 2020 View on HN

Sounds like a macmini is a terrible choice for that job. Is there a hard osx requirement? It's not like they are really cheap.

dualboot Mar 24, 2013 View on HN

It's cute but once you outfit the thing you might as well buy a Mac Mini.. you'll get a better CPU.

zoezoezoezoe Jan 28, 2025 View on HN

This looks pretty cool, although I think you could definitely get a better deal with a mac mini. Although it's apple and we know how they are.

mettamage Feb 4, 2024 View on HN

Mac Mini if desktop is good enough, it is cheaper. The M1 chip is a really good deal.

slowmotiony Jun 6, 2023 View on HN

I'd say getting a macbook or a macbook air would be worth it, but rather than spending that much on a mac mini I'd probably get one of those new ryzen mini-PCs like from Beelink or Minisforum. You could get something with a 7735HS 8-core chip, terabytes of diskspace and a shitload of LPDDR5 RAM for 500€ and it's as small as the mac mini.

fastaguy88 Apr 3, 2023 View on HN

They should have said: "Just get a used Mac Mini". You can literally get them from macsales.com for less than $100. The intel machines have not gotten much faster, but their prices have dropped dramatically.