Apple Mac mini (Late 2014) - Unboxing & Review

The Mac Mini's Circular Pedestal Design

We have a circular pedestal but the difference this time is that you can no longer pop this off to gain access to those RAM sticks, so you need to just kind of twist it off. They give you little thumb ports for twisting off the back panel, which is completely eliminated, and this is not meant to be user removable, all right? So let's go ahead and connect up our Mac Mini so we can take a look at performance now.

Connecting the Mac Mini

With a Mac Mini, you'll need to supply the display, keyboard, and mouse. Now they can be anything you want, and you don't need to use Apple's equipment, which of course costs quite a bit. In my case, I'm using a Thunderbolt display, an Apple keyboard, and an Apple Mouse, which together cost quite a bit more than the Mac Mini but you can use anything. You can use much cheaper equipment.

Display and Performance

The Mac Mini does support HDMI or display port, but if your monitor doesn't, you'll have to buy an adapter. The base CPU is clocked at 1.4 GHz, and the performance is actually very similar to the 2.5 GHz it replaces from last year. That's the benefit of Haswell over Ivybridge. If we take a look at our Geekbench 3 scores, this reveals a single-core score of 2418 and a multi-core score of 5142. The single-core score is actually up just slightly but the multi-core score is down from the previous model.

Comparison to Other Macs

Now if we compare this to the top-end 5K iMac I just reviewed, there is a big difference in processing power from the baseline to our top-tier iMac. The next test is Caven to test out the integrated Intel HD Graphics 5000 processor which reveals improved but still low-end performance. So the open GL scored about 23.78 frames per second and the CPU scored about 228 that's a fraction of the 5K iMac with a 4-gig GPU.

The Standard Hard Disk Drive

Perhaps the biggest weakness of the baseline Mac Mini is the standard 5200 RPM hard disk drive, which is pretty slow. Now if you take a look at the read and write speeds they clock in just above 100 Megs per second. Comparing this to the MacBook Air which has a standard SSD, there is a massive speed difference. This means the load times for the OS and apps are significantly quicker, making the system feel much faster.

Video Editing

Now of course you can get an SSD in the Mac Mini if you build to order one. If you really want to push your baseline Mac Mini, you can edit 4K video in a professional editor like Final Cut Pro, however the Mac Mini does struggle with only 4 gigs of RAM so scrubbing clipping editing your timeline can be a slow process. Although 4K video plays back just fine on the Mac Mini even on a 4k monitor.

Export Times

Now export times of the Mac Mini are surprisingly good. A roughly 3-minute 4K video using Compressor exported in 3 minutes and 18 seconds, that same project on the 5K iMac was only 25 seconds quicker.

Internal Speaker

The Mac Mini has an internal speaker which is really just there to get you by. You're going to want to connect a set of speakers or use headphones or you can buy a display that has internal speakers like the Thunderbolt display I have here.

Display and Design

Once again, the not is identical to the existing non-retina 27in iMac but adds a 5K display and upgraded internal specs. Now ultimately this is a full-featured Mac loaded with iWork and all the software you need from iLife. This works great for almost all daily tasks from email to web browsing to light photo and video editing.

Ultimate Recommendation

Ultimately, this baseline Mac is for very price-sensitive shoppers so I don't think there's a need to upgrade the baseline configuration. Now if you do start spending money on the Mac Mini at all, I would recommend upgrading to the $699 configuration which get you a much more powerful CPU, more storage, a better graphics processor and more importantly 8 gigs of RAM standard.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys Mike here the Detroit Borg with a look at the new late 2014 Mac Mini which is receiving a long overdue update it hasn't seen since late 2012 so that's a pretty long run now the Mac Mini has basically been brought up to the same specs of a MacBook Air so it has the same upgraded Haswell processors has the same Intel HD graphics 5000 processor on the base model we also get Thunderbolt 2.0 and 802.11 AC Wi-Fi but the big news here is the price cut so we go from $5.99 to $4.99 so that makes us a even more compelling entry point for a lot of people who want to get into their first Mac this is also a popular home theater PC for a lot of people with its compact form factor an HDMI port on the back and an IR receiver for control with a universal remote now the new Mac Mini is arriving with some controversy because they've eliminated some of the top tier configurations so you can no longer get a Core i7 quad core processor instead the best you can do is a core i7 dual core clocked at 3 GHz they've also eliminated the server Edition so you can no longer get a 2 tbyte configuration of the Mac Mini the best you can do is one TB either a hard disk drive a fusion drive or an SSD and more importantly although they haven't updated the design of the Mac Mini they've actually removed the user upgradable RAM sticks so that means you're going to have to upgrade the RAM when you order your Mac Mini now I'm going to take a look at the base configuration of the Mac Mini which is similar in Spec to the MacBook Air so it comes with a dual core Intel Core i5 clock at 1.4 GHz we have 4 gigs of RAM and a 500 gig hard dis Drive which spins at 5400 RPM so no SSD standard like you get in the MacBook Air now the design of the Mac Mini is mostly unchanged here which dates back to Mid 2010 so once again we have this aluminum uni body design that's 7.7 in X 7.7 in square and only 1.4 in thick so nice compact computer now inside the box you'll see that we no longer have any display port adapters that used to come with the Mac Mini of course display port is now more ubiquitous than it was before and then we have HDMI on here as well now inside we'll find a liter package which includes a quick start guide some Regulatory and warranty information along with some Apple stickers and then we'll find our power cord once again there is no external power supply with this tiny computer it's all built in now getting back to the Mac Mini once again we have that black plastic Apple logo toward the top which acts as an RF transparent window for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and that sort of thing to work through the metal chassis of the Mac Mini now once again on the front of the Mac Mini we have an RF receiver for using this with a remote control although one isn't included you could use Apple's remote control or any un grocer remote control and right next to that we have a little LED status light Now hidden on the back of the Mac Mini is all of our IO ports which have been slightly redesigned here for the new generation so you can see that we have our power button along with our power port and our gigabit Ethernet port you also find our HDMI output and you'll see two Thunderbolt 2.0 ports we used to have a thunderbolt one port and a FireWire 800 Port so now it's just Thunderbolt 2.0 then we have our four USB 3.0 ports which is carried over and then we have an SDXC card slot and we have an audio input and output Jack which also incorporate optical audio outputs if you use the right adapter so all those home theater Geeks will like that now once again on the bottom of the Mac Mini we have a circular pedestal but the difference this time is that you can no longer pop this off to gain access to those RAM sticks so youed should be able to just kind of twist it off in fact they give you little thumb ports for twisting off the back panel but that's completely eliminated this is not meant to be user removed but if you did pry this panel off like I fix it did you'll find just a metal plate which is secured by Torx security screws so again this is not meant to be user accessible all right so let's go ahead and connect up our Mac Mini so we can take a look at performance now of course with a Mac Mini you'll need to supply the display keyboard and mouse now they can be anything you do not need to use Apple's equipment which of course costs quite a bit so in my case I'm using a thunderbolt display an Apple keyboard and an apple Mouse which together cost quite a bit more than the Mac Mini but you can use anything you can use your existing equipment you can use much cheaper equipment now of course the Mac Mini does support HDMI or display port but if your monitor doesn't you'll have to buy an adapter although the base CPU is clocked at 1.4 GHz the performance is actually very similar to the 2.5 GHz it replaces from last year so that's the benefit of Haswell over ivybridge so if we take a look at our geekbench 3 scores this reveals a single core score of 2418 and a multi-core score of 5142 that single core score is actually up just slightly but the multi-core score is down from the previous model now if we compare this to the top end 5K iMac I just reviewed obviously there is a big difference here in processing power from the base line to our top tier iMac next test is Caven to test out the integrated Intel HT Graphics 5000 processor which reveals improved but still low-end performance so the open GL scored about 23.78 frames per second and the CPU scored about 228 that's a fraction of the 5K iMac with a 4 gig GPU now perhaps the biggest weakness of the Baseline iMac Mini is the standard 5200 RPM hard disk drive which is pretty slow now if you take a look at the read and right speeds they clock in just above 100 Megs per second now if we comp compare this to the MacBook Air which has a standard SSD and there is a massive speed difference this means the load times for the OS and apps are significantly quicker which makes the system feel much faster now of course you can get an SSD in the Mac Mini if you build to order one now if you really want to push your Baseline Mac Mini you can edit 4K video in a professional editor like Final Cut Pro however the Mac Mini does struggle with only 4 gigs of RAM so scrubbing clipping editing your timeline can be a slow process although 4K video plays back just fine on the Mac Mini even on a 4k monitor now export times of the Mac Mini are surprisingly good a roughly 3 minute 4K video using compressor exported in 3 minutes and 18 seconds that same project on the 5K iMac was only 25 seconds quicker now once again the Mac Mini has an internal speaker which is really just there to get you by you're going to want to connect a set of speakers or you're going to want to use headphones or you can buy a display that has internal speakers like the Thunderbolt display I have here so let's go and take a listen at the internal speaker and then switch it over to the display and 27 in IMAX which are carried over unchanged now for the most part the rnot is identical to the existing non-retina 27in iMac but adds a 5k display and upgraded internal specs now ultimately this is a full featured Mac loaded with y70 and all the software you need from iew work to I life this works great for almost all daily tasks from email to web browsing to light photo and video editing this is not intended for power users who edit in 4k work with 3D projects or gamers who should consider the upgraded modelss with Intel Iris Graphics although this Mac is still capable of decent gaming performance with lowered settings now ultimately this Baseline Mac is for very price sensitive Shoppers so I don't think there's a need to upgrade the Baseline configuration now if you do start spending money on the Mac Mini at all I would upgrade to the 699 configuration which get you a much more powerful CPU more storage a better graphics processor and more importantly 8 gigs of RAM standard all right guys so that's going to do for me in this video thanks for watching and I'll see you again in the next onehey guys Mike here the Detroit Borg with a look at the new late 2014 Mac Mini which is receiving a long overdue update it hasn't seen since late 2012 so that's a pretty long run now the Mac Mini has basically been brought up to the same specs of a MacBook Air so it has the same upgraded Haswell processors has the same Intel HD graphics 5000 processor on the base model we also get Thunderbolt 2.0 and 802.11 AC Wi-Fi but the big news here is the price cut so we go from $5.99 to $4.99 so that makes us a even more compelling entry point for a lot of people who want to get into their first Mac this is also a popular home theater PC for a lot of people with its compact form factor an HDMI port on the back and an IR receiver for control with a universal remote now the new Mac Mini is arriving with some controversy because they've eliminated some of the top tier configurations so you can no longer get a Core i7 quad core processor instead the best you can do is a core i7 dual core clocked at 3 GHz they've also eliminated the server Edition so you can no longer get a 2 tbyte configuration of the Mac Mini the best you can do is one TB either a hard disk drive a fusion drive or an SSD and more importantly although they haven't updated the design of the Mac Mini they've actually removed the user upgradable RAM sticks so that means you're going to have to upgrade the RAM when you order your Mac Mini now I'm going to take a look at the base configuration of the Mac Mini which is similar in Spec to the MacBook Air so it comes with a dual core Intel Core i5 clock at 1.4 GHz we have 4 gigs of RAM and a 500 gig hard dis Drive which spins at 5400 RPM so no SSD standard like you get in the MacBook Air now the design of the Mac Mini is mostly unchanged here which dates back to Mid 2010 so once again we have this aluminum uni body design that's 7.7 in X 7.7 in square and only 1.4 in thick so nice compact computer now inside the box you'll see that we no longer have any display port adapters that used to come with the Mac Mini of course display port is now more ubiquitous than it was before and then we have HDMI on here as well now inside we'll find a liter package which includes a quick start guide some Regulatory and warranty information along with some Apple stickers and then we'll find our power cord once again there is no external power supply with this tiny computer it's all built in now getting back to the Mac Mini once again we have that black plastic Apple logo toward the top which acts as an RF transparent window for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth and that sort of thing to work through the metal chassis of the Mac Mini now once again on the front of the Mac Mini we have an RF receiver for using this with a remote control although one isn't included you could use Apple's remote control or any un grocer remote control and right next to that we have a little LED status light Now hidden on the back of the Mac Mini is all of our IO ports which have been slightly redesigned here for the new generation so you can see that we have our power button along with our power port and our gigabit Ethernet port you also find our HDMI output and you'll see two Thunderbolt 2.0 ports we used to have a thunderbolt one port and a FireWire 800 Port so now it's just Thunderbolt 2.0 then we have our four USB 3.0 ports which is carried over and then we have an SDXC card slot and we have an audio input and output Jack which also incorporate optical audio outputs if you use the right adapter so all those home theater Geeks will like that now once again on the bottom of the Mac Mini we have a circular pedestal but the difference this time is that you can no longer pop this off to gain access to those RAM sticks so youed should be able to just kind of twist it off in fact they give you little thumb ports for twisting off the back panel but that's completely eliminated this is not meant to be user removed but if you did pry this panel off like I fix it did you'll find just a metal plate which is secured by Torx security screws so again this is not meant to be user accessible all right so let's go ahead and connect up our Mac Mini so we can take a look at performance now of course with a Mac Mini you'll need to supply the display keyboard and mouse now they can be anything you do not need to use Apple's equipment which of course costs quite a bit so in my case I'm using a thunderbolt display an Apple keyboard and an apple Mouse which together cost quite a bit more than the Mac Mini but you can use anything you can use your existing equipment you can use much cheaper equipment now of course the Mac Mini does support HDMI or display port but if your monitor doesn't you'll have to buy an adapter although the base CPU is clocked at 1.4 GHz the performance is actually very similar to the 2.5 GHz it replaces from last year so that's the benefit of Haswell over ivybridge so if we take a look at our geekbench 3 scores this reveals a single core score of 2418 and a multi-core score of 5142 that single core score is actually up just slightly but the multi-core score is down from the previous model now if we compare this to the top end 5K iMac I just reviewed obviously there is a big difference here in processing power from the base line to our top tier iMac next test is Caven to test out the integrated Intel HT Graphics 5000 processor which reveals improved but still low-end performance so the open GL scored about 23.78 frames per second and the CPU scored about 228 that's a fraction of the 5K iMac with a 4 gig GPU now perhaps the biggest weakness of the Baseline iMac Mini is the standard 5200 RPM hard disk drive which is pretty slow now if you take a look at the read and right speeds they clock in just above 100 Megs per second now if we comp compare this to the MacBook Air which has a standard SSD and there is a massive speed difference this means the load times for the OS and apps are significantly quicker which makes the system feel much faster now of course you can get an SSD in the Mac Mini if you build to order one now if you really want to push your Baseline Mac Mini you can edit 4K video in a professional editor like Final Cut Pro however the Mac Mini does struggle with only 4 gigs of RAM so scrubbing clipping editing your timeline can be a slow process although 4K video plays back just fine on the Mac Mini even on a 4k monitor now export times of the Mac Mini are surprisingly good a roughly 3 minute 4K video using compressor exported in 3 minutes and 18 seconds that same project on the 5K iMac was only 25 seconds quicker now once again the Mac Mini has an internal speaker which is really just there to get you by you're going to want to connect a set of speakers or you're going to want to use headphones or you can buy a display that has internal speakers like the Thunderbolt display I have here so let's go and take a listen at the internal speaker and then switch it over to the display and 27 in IMAX which are carried over unchanged now for the most part the rnot is identical to the existing non-retina 27in iMac but adds a 5k display and upgraded internal specs now ultimately this is a full featured Mac loaded with y70 and all the software you need from iew work to I life this works great for almost all daily tasks from email to web browsing to light photo and video editing this is not intended for power users who edit in 4k work with 3D projects or gamers who should consider the upgraded modelss with Intel Iris Graphics although this Mac is still capable of decent gaming performance with lowered settings now ultimately this Baseline Mac is for very price sensitive Shoppers so I don't think there's a need to upgrade the Baseline configuration now if you do start spending money on the Mac Mini at all I would upgrade to the 699 configuration which get you a much more powerful CPU more storage a better graphics processor and more importantly 8 gigs of RAM standard all right guys so that's going to do for me in this video thanks for watching and I'll see you again in the next one\n"