Which mac mini to choose in 2014?

Question

Mac Mini

Good day, friends!
Recently, the question arose of buying a computer for writing ios applications and working with graphic editors (Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro). I am a student and my budget is limited , so I only look at the mac mini line. Based on the latest geekbench tests (see screenshots), the choice fell on mac mini 2012 with a quad-core Intel Core i7 2.3GHz 1TB HDD Intel HD Graphics 4000 + upgrade to 128 SSD 16gb memory.
Screen 1

Screen 2

It would seem that the choice here is obvious, but there are three points:
1) mini 2014 does mini 2012 in a single-threaded test (see screenshot 2);
2) I need this computer for work, which means that it should not be abandoned by the Cupertinoites for at least another 3 years (updating the system, applications, various new goodies); 3) video performance
is important to me . As far as I understand, according to these three parameters, the mac mini 2014 model with a dual-core Core i5 2.8GHz 1 TB Fusion Drive 8 gb memory but Intel Iris Graphics outperforms Intel Core i7 2.3GHz 1TB HDD but Intel HD Graphics 4000 + upgrade to 128 SSD 16gb memory. Please help me choose. Thank you for your attention!

Answer 1

Working with graphics and video most of all falls in the form of multi-threaded processing on the processor.
The most important property of the mini is that you can buy it with 4 GB of memory, and then, on a budget, for 3 thousand, finish it up to 16 GB. And SDD will help boost performance even more.
Therefore, do not chase the year, overpay. Take 2012 in the minimum configuration, buy additional memory, insert ssd and in the next 2-3 years you will not feel any discomfort in work.
Cheap and angry. I myself made a working server out of this, on which 3-4 virtual machines are running at the same time, and the machine itself acts as a build station. We are satisfied :)

Answer 2

In all mini - Intel's trash instead of a video card. If this doesn't matter to you, then take any mini that falls into the budget, immediately laying down a memory upgrade to 16 GB, and an SSD, at least for the system, that is, from 128 GB. Considering that Intel still doesn't know how to use CUDA, you won't see any difference between Iris and 4000 on your tasks.

Answer 3

Buy yourself a 2013-2014 MacBook Air with a 250 GB ssd and, if possible, 8 GB of RAM For
my work (Web Developer) and Dota2 is enough for my eyes =)
And it's much more convenient than a mini, you can carry it with you. I don’t even connect additional monitors, maybe a slide between 2+ desktops with 4 fingers rules!