**The Mac Mini: A Tech Underdog**

In this tech review, we take a closer look at the Mac Mini, Apple's tiny powerhouse that has been largely unchanged for three years. With its sleek unibody aluminum design and impressive ports, it may seem like a good option for those looking for a compact Mac. However, as we'll explore, there are some significant drawbacks to consider.

**A Design from 2010**

The Mac Mini's design was first introduced in 2010, making it feel surprisingly nice even today. The all-aluminum unibody construction gives it a premium feel, and the ports on the back are more than you'd expect from current Apple devices. There's an SD card reader, four USB 3.0 ports, and even two Thunderbolt 2 ports.

**Upgrade Limitations**

While earlier Mac Mini models were upgradable, this one is not so easy to upgrade. The memory is soldered in, making it a significant limitation. However, this didn't stop Marques from building the ultimate Mac Mini back in 2012, where he loaded it up with a ton of memory and an SSD.

**Performance: A Major Concern**

The base model Mac Mini's performance might be its most outdated aspect, with specs that are two generations behind Intel's current offerings. The Core i5-4260U processor and 4GB of RAM will only take you so far, especially when compared to the latest benchmarks for the iPhone X.

**Alternatives: Building a Hackintosh**

If you're interested in getting a cheap Mac, there are better alternatives available. You can build your own Hackintosh from scratch, which might be more complicated but offers much better hardware for the same price or even less. Used options like eBay also make sense, with Mac Minis from previous generations available for as little as $200.

**Conclusion**

In conclusion, while the Mac Mini has its strengths, it's not a good idea to buy one in 2017. There are simply better options out there that offer more powerful hardware and flexibility. So, if you're in the market for a compact Mac, consider alternatives like building a Hackintosh or exploring used options.

**A Shout Out**

Before we wrap up, I want to give a shout out to my friends over at Vsauce, who have been working on the Curiosity Box for over a year now. It's a quarterly subscription box that comes with cool science stuff, including a Voyager One t-shirt and a portion of the proceeds going to benefit Alzheimer's research. If you like Vsauce, be sure to check out CuriosityBox.com.

**Thanks for Watching**

And finally, thanks for watching this tech review!

WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Hey guys this is Austin.Apple has been releasing a lotof major new products latelybut something they haven'ttouched is the Mac Miniwhich has not seen anupdate in three years.Why does this still exist in 2017?I will say the Mac Minicomes in a tiny box.So today small form factor PCsreally aren't anythingall that special.But, the Mac Mini waskind of ahead of its time.Oh, all right, I will sayone thing, even though, yes,there are a lot ofproblems with the Mac Minithat I will get into theactual sort of unibodyaluminum design still feels pretty nice.You don't exactly get alot in the box, though.Pretty much all we get isa little bit of paperworkwith Apple stickers and a power cable.It might sound weirdto say considering thatthis design originallycame out in 2010 but I'veactually never held the MacMini and I'm kind of impressed.So, like I said it's anall aluminum unibody designand you actually have afair few ports in the back.Not only is there an SD cardreader but there are alsofour USB 3.0 ports, aswell as even a couple ofThunderbolt 2 ports.Now, this is a far cryfrom current Apple deviceswhich have some would say fewer ports.Earlier models of the Mac Miniwere actually fairly upgradable.So, on the bottom youcould actually screw offthis sort of plastic piece to get at stufflike the hard drive and RAM.However, this it's alittle bit more difficultand to make things worse thememory's actually soldered in.That is a far cry from when Marques builtthe ultimate Mac Miniback in 2012 where heloaded it up with a ton ofmemory as well as an SSD.At first glance thoughthis actually doesn't looklike a bad way of gettingyourself a cheap Mac.So, this is a base MacMini which runs $500and that's exactly halfthe price of the nextcheapest model the Macbook Air.However, take a closerlook and the Mac Minimight not quite be such a great value.Performance might justbe the most outdatedpart of this system as2014 specs will onlytake you so far.This is the base model MacMini with Core i5-4260Ufour gigabytes of RAM and a 500 gigabytemechanical hard drive.To put things in perspectiveIntel is just launchingtheir eighth generation of Core processorswhereas the Mac Mini is using a fourthgeneration Haswell chip.Even when you spendthe extra $500 to go tothe higher end model withthe Core i7 you're stilllimited to a dual coreprocessor, which is bizarre.They actually used toship quad core versionsof the Mac Mini.Take, for example, theleaked benchmarks forthe iPhone X that isshowing a score of around4,000 on single threaded andabout 10,000 on multi-threaded.Way, way faster than this Mac Mini is.You're also stuck with a500 gigabyte hard drive.Now yes, you can spec upthe Mac Mini with not onlya Fusion Drive but aswell as pure SSD options,but that raises the price significantly.- Hey guys, this isAustin and today I'm backwith another tech under videothis time talking a lookat tech under $60.- So, to be fair the MacMini is powerful enoughto handle stuff like HD videoas well as web browsing,but the issue is withonly four gigabytes of RAMand you can't upgrade ityou're going to run intosome serious usability issues on Mac OS.So, take for example the HP Pavilion Wave,this is a much more modern system.You're getting more memoryand almost more importantlyit's gonna cost you about$130 less than the Mac Mini.It just doesn't make sense.One of the reasons I can seesomebody being interestedin the cheap Mac are forthe Mac exclusive appssuch as Final Cut ProX, which is what we useto edit all of our videos.- Hey guys, this is Austin.- Wow, this actually, wow.So, to give you guys somecontext on this this isa triple stream 4Kvideo being played backand edited in real time on the Mac Mini.In fact, it's actually theintro to this video right now.So, yes this is not maybe themost demanding thing ever.We haven't done stufflike color correction,which would definitely slow things down.But, as far as being ableto do a sort of basic cutthis is three streamsof 4K video playing backin real time on the Mac Mini.The only thing that'snot totally stock hereand one of the reasonswhy it's not stutteringis we are editing off a USBbased SSD, but that's whatwe do for all of our edits anyway.Although, I think this says more about howsolid Final Cut isoptimized and less so abouthow powerful the Mac Mini is.There are betteralternatives if you do wanta cheap Mac though starting withbuilding yourself a Hackintosh.Now yes, building aHackintosh from scratchis going to be morecomplicated than pullinga Mac Mini out of the boxbut what you're going to getis much much betterhardware for the same priceif not even less.Even used options can make a lot of sense.So, a few minutes ofsearching on eBay foundmultiple Mac Minis thatare maybe only a generationor so behind but could befound for as little as $200.Look, most of the timethere's at least someonewho I can say that aproduct will make sense forwhen it comes to theMac Mini it just isn'ta good idea to buy one of these in 2017.There are just simplybetter options out there.Now, before we get outta here I wanna givea shout out to a fewreally good friends of mineover at Vsauce.So no, this is not asponsored spot, but they'vebeen working on theCuriosity Box for over a yearnow and I honesty feel like it is gettingreally, really good.This is a quarterlysubscription box that comes withall kinds of cool science stuff includingthis incredibly attractive Vsauce beanie.This box even comes witha Voyager One t-shirtand a portion of the proceeds goto benefit Alzheimer's research.So, if you guys like VSauceand you want some coolscience stuff to show up every few monthscheck out CuriosityBox.com.And, as always, thanks for watching.(mellow funky music)