First Mac Mini Purchase Advice?

Question

Level 1

15 points

First Mac Mini Purchase Advice?

I am about to purchase my first mac and need advice.

In the certified refurbished store,I can buy an I3/8gb/128 GB Mac Mini for $849,but according to the "refurbished" link,that means,since it's October 2018,probably has Mojave(unless tech upgraded it) and I would have to download Catalina from the app store.Is that a flawless process?

Or I can go new,which will be $150+ and get Catalina.

I only need it for general use,so was thinking i3 should be ok?

Advice?

Experience?

Posted on Jan 6, 2020 9:10 AM

Reply

Answer 1

macjack

Level 10

111,242 points

Jan 6, 2020 10:46 AM in response to Itproman

Itproman wrote:

How much space is required by the OS.

The OS won't take up too much space but keep in mind the OS also needs free space to operate efficiently. Rule of thumb would be around 15% free space.

Icloud? External drive?

iCloud can be used for some file types but it's not meant as backup. It's only a syncing feature to keep files up to date across all your devices. You should always use an external drive for backup. If you just save files off external there you have no backup for when something goes wrong.