#Mac mini server vs mac mini install
#Mac mini server vs mac mini software

The cost of all that hardware? It was $383 for the NUC itself, $133 for the RAM, $146 for the SSD, and $9 for an HDMI adapter.

ItвЂ™s got four USB-A ports, one USB-C/Thunderbolt 3 port 1, Gigabit Ethernet, and HDMI video out. My server has a 2.21GHz seventh-generation Intel Core i5 processor with 16 GB of RAM and a 250GB SSD. ItвЂ™s vastly faster than my old Mac mini, and it takes up a fraction of the space. That all saidвЂ¦ I have to say that as a server, itвЂ™s been a dream.

#Mac mini server vs mac mini install

Some hardware isnвЂ™t supported properly I had to install a copy of Windows 10 on the PC so I could write down a string of numbers that would allow my macOS installation to use the Samsung SSD I bought, the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi donвЂ™t work, and you canвЂ™t put it to sleep.

#Mac mini server vs mac mini software

Software updates are opportunities for disaster, so you have to apply them sporadically and carefully. There are plenty of disadvantages even when youвЂ™re up and running. And please donвЂ™t email me asking for support if you decide to try.) Suffice it to say that this is not something that a non-technical user will ever want to do, and this is probably enough of a barrier to keep all but the most dedicated people from attempting it. (If you miss even a small step, you will regret it. There are plenty of instruction guides out there I used this one and it worked well enough, though it took many hours and I had to repeat a few steps because I hadnвЂ™t followed the instructions to the letter. IвЂ™m not going to go into great detail on how I installed macOS on a PC. But in the meantime, I have been running macOS on non-Apple hardware, and itвЂ™s been an instructive experience. And, in fact, I hope to replace the NUC with a real Mac mini just as soon as Apple finally releases that all-new Mac mini thatвЂ™s hopefully percolating inside Cupertino. This was intended to be a temporary experiment. My Mac mini was becoming unreliable and I was hoping to experiment with IntelвЂ™s hardware in advance of a real Mac mini being released. (And that was a lackluster upgrade.) Taking a cue from my dreams about what a modern Mac mini might be like, I bought a tiny Intel NUC PC and installed macOS on it. The Mac mini was last updated 1245 days ago, in October of 2014. Instead, IвЂ™ve been running a different device as my server. But I need to admit something: for nine months, no Mac mini has been running in my house. The specific uses for that server have grown and changed over the years, and IвЂ™ve bought new models and upgraded them when necessary.

There has been a Mac mini running as a server in my house basically since it was first introduced in 2005. Over the past year IвЂ™ve written frequently about my love of the Mac mini.

Intel NUC server sitting atop my old Mac mini. ItвЂ™s not quite a Mac mini, but itвЂ™s my server