New mac mini

[Panelhead]

 Two items.

   I accidentally removed the connector for the fan while swapping out SSD drives in one of my Mini’s. 

  Sent it to a place in NYC and they repaired the motherboard for around 90.00. They advertise on eBay. They fixed the power up issue in a 2009 model I had with motherboard surgery and it lasted another five years.

  I think TB1/TB2 buss is huge. But have a couple TB buss interfaces  to utilize it. If you have a FiveWire interface the TB port with an Apple TB to FW converter sounds better than the FW buss. 

  Also now using a Corning optical Thunderbolt cable to connect Mini to dac. It does have galvanic isolation. And costs less than many USB2 cables and also the multitude of USB gadgets. 

  The newer Mac Mini’s may be better than the old ones. But I like being able to install 16 GB of 1600 MHz ram in one for 80.00. Plus install larger and better SSD. The Samsung 860 Pro in 500 GB are now under a 100.00.

  I purchased two spares instead of a new one. 

[Panelhead]

  I thought the Ram is welded in now. Supposedly more reliable, but never heard anyone needing to reseat the SO-DIM modules. 

[Panelhead]

 I am running a late 2012 i5 with 16 Gb of 1600Mhz ram. Plus big SSD. Use a Corning optical to connect to TB Dax.

  Purchased a NUC to hack. 16 Gb of 2400 MHz ram. Running 500 gb M2 Evo 970 and 500 gb of Evo 860 SSD. 

  But not sure even with TB3 to TB2 adapter optical cable will work. Also the WiFi will not work with MAC OS. 

  Should I install MAC and hacks? The M2 SSD is 6 times faster than any 2.5” SSD. 

  Read all the directions to make a Hackintosh, looks simple. But updates to OS can stall them.

[Panelhead]

  I am lost on this.

 I think Apple with add the M2 memory soon. The EVO 970 sticks have read speed rating of 3500 MB/sec. The write is around 2500. Smokes the 2.5” SSD. 

  Built a NUC with these, but been concerned how fragile the Hackintosh is. People with them are constantly changing the settings to address OS updates. Just have Windows 10 on it for now.

  I think I would replace my late 2012 Mini with a new model Mini if it was able to use the latest chips and drives.