Is the ram on the late 2014 mac mini still user upgradable?

You're welcome. By all means, buy into Apple's sales strategies, if that's what you need to convince yourself or others to buy the current gen Mac Mini. Enjoy the wonderful user experience.

Doen't change the fact that you have no idea whether the old mini is faster or slower than the new one, you're guessing.

And I really don't need your permission to spend my money on whatever I want to.

But I will do it without guessing.

There's no guessing about it, friend. The processors have been out for a good long while. Haswell is not new and can be found in the current MacBook models. all the best.

but I can't imagine the bus speed of the Mini's motherboard will be vastly different than the 2012 mini. The RAM speed is perhaps a consideration, but they've moved to low-powered RAM and I'm not knowledgeable enough to know the effect of that on RAM performance. Seems to me, if you don't care about Iris graphics, maybe consider the quad core i7 from the previous generation?

"I can't imagine"

"I'm not knowledgeable enough to know the effect of that on RAM performance."

"Seems to me"

Is there anything that you actually know rather than "can't imagine" or "seems to me"

How fast is the 4 core i7 on the 2012 (the one you keep recommending?) what is its processing capability (Tflops is the normal measurement for that but i/o operations will also provide the data)

Tell us that, and then tell us what it is on the new one.

Like I said, I don't know, and I sure don't believe anything, just like I don't believe that you know exactly what you're talking about here. That's why I'll be waiting on reviews and speed comparisons before I decide between the older and the new Mini.

And I wouldn't go for the 2.8 GHz i5 version but the 3.0 GHz Dual Core i7.

RammyMac wrote:

I really don't know... what I know is that it's not only the processor alone that defines the speed of a computer. I have a mid 2010 Mac Mini which I want to replace, going for the 2-year-old 2012 model now doesn't seem like the right choice.

Take the time to go to an Apple Store and check for yourself, all you are getting here are guesses.

Hah, I replied to the wrong comment. I just figured out your reply was directed at Csound1 and not me. Whoops. ^_^

Yup, I'll be waiting for reviews and speed comparisons before I decide. You're right that people can only guess how the new Dual Core Mini stacks up against the old Quad Core, even if lazarusnine seems to know a bit about what he's talking about.

A friend of mine just sent me this link, which investigates the speed differences between the i7s in the new Mini alongside the 2012 models. Thought it might be interesting to you: http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?p=20113239#post20113239

hi everyone,

just just read through this post and I have SOME info that may be of use.

first off, someone asked if the 2012 Mac mini has upgrade able RAM: it does and you can even put slightly higher voltage chips in too, not that that makes a huge difference in performance, especially if you are maxing out at 16gb. as a side note, the new Mac minis use lpddr3, which was designed for the high battery life air models - given that the mini is power supplied, this is slightly baffling to me (especially given that the stated wattage on the store is still at 85w)... Why Apple has done this I can only speculate - maybe because they are phasing out the now underpowered air models and have a lot of lpddr3 still inventoried and though it would be a *good* descison to offload it onto the Mac mini engineers? Who knows?!

what I do know for sure already has to do with processors in the new minis as they are IDENTICAL to the the ones used in the current 13" mbpro retinas. I have a 2012 Mac mini quad core i7 overclocked to 2.6ghz (ivy bridge) and a new 13 rmbpro with the dual core i7 at 3ghz (haswell). If it's the high end mini that you interested in read on - the middle and lowest entry ones kind of make sense (especially the lowest one for a more sophisticated home theatre box than the app store-less Apple TV - plex users I share your pain. Anyhow I have run some benchmark tests on both my mini and my rmbpro to assess the cpus under load and to ***** the integrated graphics performamce at 1920*1080 (this was a little bit of a ***** in the rmbpro for various reasons).

the CPUs under full load were miles apart in terms of the overall PassMark. Under full load for 300seconds the quad core i7 in the 2012 Mac mini peaked at 3.1 ghz and passmarked at around 7200; by comparison, the dual core i7 (haswell) in my mbpro peaked at just under 3.5 ghz (yes it seems like a faster value but wait) and pass marked at around 5200. The main reason for the vast difference is very clear - the quad core hyper threading adds around 25-30% more input calculations per second to both physical core units (2 cores on each) and keeps this up with the 2 virtual cores when turbo boosting. The new mini dual core i7 by comparison on has two single unit physical cores (the quad has 2 two unit physical cores, essentially two brains wired together times 2; dual core i7 is more like two single brains just talking to each other) but it has the same number of virtual cores (1attached to each core). Put simply the quad core i7 processes A LOT more information in a given time fram because of its architecture.

anyhow, the dual i7 haswell does have better optimised integrated graphics, but unless you are planning on using a retina monitor with it this does not matter - full 1080p is so old that Intel hd2000 chipsets still handle it pretty well, let alone the hd4000 on the ivybridge quad core mini. Anyhow that is a worthe hole consideration given that some people really want retina monitors - iris is noticeably better in this department!

oone thing I would like to point out is that the previous minis were, like the current ones, based on a jumble of macbook components (I think the mini is very much a product of already existing inventory for apple) but one crucial difference is noticeable this time around. Whilst the 2012 high end mini was available with the top spec CPU from the poweruser 15" in rmbpros, the top end mini this time round tales its CPU from the more middle ranged 13" rmbpro - this COULD mean that apple are going to remove the quad i7 from the 15" mbp rod soon and replace them with something new and thus the mini has had no option but to adjust to the inventory already in place for the 13"mbpros - only speculation on this point but it does seem that the mini this go around has been seriously nerfed at the high end - a shame really because it's incorporating lower ppwer usage mobile components that are designed for battery usage!

the ototehr her crazy thing is the dual drives! What's up with that!!!! Having two internal drives makes time machine actually viable as a low risk stable backup solution!!! And why in the world of holy f**k is the RAM lpddr3!!!

a final note, aside from the bench test I did I do do some moderatley heavy usage stuff on my mini and mbpro - mostly audio based stuff in logic and the difference in power between the i7 quad ivybridge and i7 dual haswell is very, very noticeable when loading in around 16-20 tracks ata time at anything above 48khz... if you want a bit of power usage possibility get the 2012 mini with quad core at 2.6, upgrade the ram to 16 yourself (couldn't be easier) and put a samsung 840 128gb SSD in for not a lot of money with the ifixit kit! I did and my mini is basically a desktop version of the highest spec 2012 15" mbpro minus the dedicated gpu (which you won't need unless you are one of those poor f*****s that has to play games on their Mac...

even put slightly higher voltage chips in too, not that that makes a huge difference in performance,

It does not make any difference at all.

Chip speed is not affected by voltage. Either the voltage is sufficient for the chip to run or it's not. And if it is too much the chip will break.

Thanks for the link lazarusnine. The new Dual Core appears to be quite a bit slower than the Quad Core, also judging from Lucidity1987's comment, thanks to you as well for your input.

Right now I really don't know what to do. My 2010 Mac Mini has become quite slow under Mavericks and I suppose that would only get worse with Yosemite, it's got no USB 3.0 ports, the old HDD is pretty slow... the best thing about it right now is that it has a DVD drive! 😀 It's connected to my TV in the living room and I'm using it as media center – watching TV (via EyeTV) and movies, streaming audio across my home, browsing the web, basic stuff really. For work I'm using this year's iMac which is quite powerful.

What should I do? Get the new Mac Mini with a FusionDrive and upgrade the RAM myself; or get the 2012 Mac Mini, upgrade the RAM and upgrade it with an SSD. The latter would probably be more powerful, but also more expensive... I'm not sure if the Quad Core with the SSD makes sense for what I need it. On the other hand, better performance is always welcome. What do you guys think?

According to this link, the ram is not upgradable. So which one is it?

THE RAM IS NOT UPGRADABLE.

New 2014 Mac Mini Has Soldered RAM, Not User Replaceable

After going more than two years without an update, Apple's Mac mini was refreshed yesterday, adding Haswell processors, Intel HD 5000/Iris graphics, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and PCI-based flash storage options for the higher-end models.

Unfortunately, the upgrade was disappointing to some Mac mini fans as Apple stopped offering a build-to-order quad-core processor upgrade and dual-drive storage options that exceed 1TB.

Many have speculated that the Mac mini also includes soldered RAM, which has now been confirmed by Macminicolo's Brian Stucki. According to Stucki, the RAM in the Mac mini is "not user accessible," which means those who purchase Mac minis are limited to 16GB of RAM that must be upgraded when purchasing the machine from Apple.

All three Mac mini models can be upgraded to a maximum of 16GB of RAM, with the upgrade priced at $300 for the base model and $200 for the mid and high-end models.

While the RAM is not upgradeable, Stucki says that it is possible to replace or upgrade the hard drive, but doing so may void the warranty.

Apple's new Mac mini starts at $499 and comes in three separate base configurations. On the low end, the Mac mini ships with a 1.4Ghz dual-core Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive, and Intel HD Graphics 5000. At the middle tier, the Mac mini comes with a 2.6Ghz dual-core Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and a 1TB hard drive, and Intel Iris Graphics. At the high end, the Mac mini ships with a 2.8Ghz dual-core Core i5, 8GB of RAM, a 1TB Fusion Drive, and Intel Iris Graphics.

Base configurations of the Mac mini are currently available for purchase from the online Apple Store and will ship in one to three days. Custom configurations ship within three to five days.

Mr_Lyle wrote:

According to this link, the ram is not upgradable. So which one is it?

its NOT UPGRADABLE.

clarified yet?