Mac Mini Models 2012+ (Intel)

	2012	2014	2018
Architecture	Ivy Bridge, 2 or 4 cores	Haswell, 2 cores	Coffee Lake, 4 or 6 cores
GPU	Intel HD Graphics 4000	Intel HD Graphics 5000 Intel Iris 5100	Intel UHD Graphics 630
RAM	Socketed, 16GB max	Soldered, 16GB max	Socketed, 64GB max
Storage	2x SATAIII 2.5" 6 Gb/s	1x SATAIII 2.5" 6 Gb/s 1x Proprietary PCIe	Soldered, 128GB or 256GB
WiFi	802.11a/b/g/n	802.11ac	802.11ac
USB	4x 3.0	Haswell	2x 3.1; 3x USB-C
Bluetooth	4.0	4.0	5.0
Firewire	1x 800	—	—
Thunderbolt	1x 1.0	2x 2.0	4x 3.0
HDMI	1.3	1.4	2.0
Designation	6,1; 6,2	7,1	8,1

 

The 2012, which, patched, runs Big Sur acceptably well, seems to be the best bang for the buck. A 16GB Core i7 machine can be sourced for under $200 as of this writing. The 2014 and 2018 models are officially supported under at least macOS 11 (Big Sur), and a 64GB 2018 is tempting, but they’re still selling for $500 or so (and have very limited internal storage), when a new M1-based mini starts not much higher. A RAM-maxed 2014 might also be a compelling machine, and they’re not selling for that much more than the 2012s.

I picked one up for the office and have another one coming from home, that I’m going to VESA mount to a monitor to make a poor man’s iMac with a matte screen.