• The redesigned Mac Mini 2024 features impressive specs, with a more powerful M4 chip, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, and Thunderbolt 5, starting at just $599.

• The older Mac Mini M1 and M2 models still hold up, making them perfect and cost-effective entry points into Apple’s ecosystem with years of macOS upgrades to come and support for Apple Intelligence .

• These older Mac Mini models make economical “hobby” machines for projects such as file and media servers, media centers, game emulation, testing the Apple ecosystem, or installing Linux.

The M4 Mac Mini is smaller and faster, with a new cooling system, more ports, and the same $600 price as the outgoing model. It’s great. So why would you buy the older model instead?

Do you really need the latest news?

You should always buy the right tool for the job, as long as it fits your budget. So if you are buying a MacBook, we recommend get enough storage for the life of the MacBook. This is a less pressing issue when it comes to a desktop Mac because you can easily expand storage with static solutions like external drives.

The Mac Mini 2024’s big advantage is its raw power: a more powerful chip, with more cores, higher clock speeds, hardware-accelerated ray tracing, a better GPU, and AV1 encoding. It’s a masterpiece at $599.

But if all you want is a Mac on which to browse the web, answer emails, and do a little office work, the M4 is overkill. There’s nothing wrong with having plenty of cash lying around just in case you need it, but you should ask yourself if you’d rather have cash in your pocket instead.

The Mac Mini is an enthusiast’s dream

Many people rely on the Mac Mini as their primary computer. It fits just about anywhere and does everything an iMac or MacBook can do. It runs on macOS, pairs exceptionally well with an iPhone or iPad, and lets you bring your own devices and displays.

It’s arguably the most customizable Mac experience, because it forces you to think about what you actually need to get started. For this reason, it is also the ideal hobby Mac.

The Mac Mini is a headless marvel. It’s much smaller than an iMac or even a MacBook, because it doesn’t have a built-in screen. It doesn’t take up as much space as the Mac Pro or its more capable cousin, the equally bulky Mac Studio. This is great for setting and forgetting projects or placing a Mac in an unusual location.

Best of all, you don’t need an M4 with 16GB of RAM and Thunderbolt 5 to get creative with a Mac Mini. An older model with an M1 or M2 processor will do just fine (you may even find that an Intel model does the job, although we say now is the time to go for silicon Apple).

So, what exactly is a hobbyist Mac? It’s a file server that you can set up once, then install in your office or place next to your router to access all your files across the entire network. It is an ideal computer to be used as a Plex or Jellyfin server to stream media across the entire network, for virtually any device with UPnP.

With an HDMI connector, you can plug your Mac Mini into your living room TV and install XBMC or Stremio to use as a media center. Unlike the slow software on your smart TVthese apps will absolutely fly on a Mac with a desktop processor. An old Mac Mini also makes a powerful Home Assistant Server.

There is enough overhead for you to install it emulators like RetroArch or OpenEmu so that you can emulate systems of From 8-bit classics to modern 3D platformers like Xbox and PlayStation 3. You can even play real games if you want to get creative with Translating DirectX to Vulkan as part of Asahi Linux.

Speaking of Asahi Linux, this bold open source continues to advance so you can install a native ARM-based version of Linux on your Mac directly. You won’t find a better machine to try out Linux support than an older Mac Mini M1 or M2.

Since the M1 and M2 chips in these older machines are still very capable, there’s no reason why you can’t do several of these tasks on the same machine. Run a Home Assistant server, share files, stream media and play Marvel vs. Capcom 2 of the same machine.

Your Perfect First Mac

The Mac Mini has always been considered a great entry point, especially for PC users. You already have a screen and a set of peripherals, and a Mini opens the door for about the price of an iPad.

So what’s better than an inexpensive small form factor desktop computer? Even cheaper, of course! Hitting the second-hand market to satisfy your Mac curiosity is an even less risky investment.

The M1 and M2 models may be bigger and slower, but the existence of a newer model doesn’t suddenly make them obsolete. These are perfect entry points into Apple’s desktop ecosystem, especially since they will likely receive macOS updates in the coming years.

Moreover, all you need for Apple Intelligence is an M1 processor. So if you want to delve into Apple’s vision of the future, an old Mac Mini is the cheapest way to do it.

Watch these prices drop

By launching the new M4 Mac Mini at the same $599 price as the last generation, Apple has set expectations for what to expect from the used market. The company could have easily raised the price like it did with the 2021 and 2022 MacBook Pro and MacBook Air redesigns, but instead made the excellent decision to stay put.

Although Apple computers are rarely described as cheap, the Mac Mini has always represented the best value for money. Now that you can get a Mac Mini with a 10-core M4 CPU chip and 16GB of RAM on the base model; Resellers will have to price their products accordingly.

The only caveat here is that it might take a while to hit the used market. There’s no harm in approaching resellers, making them an offer, and gently pointing out to them that their list price is way too high given what Apple is currently offering.

Things are only worth what people are willing to pay for them, and with Apple putting downward pressure on prices with such a reasonable upgrade, expect prices to drop pretty quickly.

Enjoy the upgrade

Before the company’s October 2024 announcement, the smaller, faster M4 Mac Mini looked like one of Apple’s worst-kept secrets (which is becoming a bit of a theme). In reality, the machine had been awaited for months, even years.

The old Mac Mini has remained largely unchanged since the first unibody models in 2010. The 2024 M4 Mac Mini is the first major redesign to take place in the Apple silicon era, and there’s plenty to get loyal owners excited about of Mac Mini.

The bottom line here is that the M4 Mac Mini seems like a worthwhile upgrade (unlike Apple’s USB-C Magic accessory refresh). Mac Mini owners who have been waiting for this update shouldn’t miss out, which is great news for used shoppers hoping for an influx of discounted machines to choose from.

Apple has stopped selling the M2 Mac Mini in its US storefront, but you can still find them at Refurbished Apple for a sum of over $400 for a basic model. Expect Best Buy and other retailers to discount older models as new inventory begins to flow.

But the best place to look is local dealer websites like Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or even eBay.