Intel minis seem to be dirt cheap...

[jdc]

2012 quad 2.3 i7, 16 GB/1 TB SSD... $400. and still available 10 days later

2014 dual 3.0 i7, 16/500 GB SSD... $250

2012 quad 2.6 i7, 16/25 GB SDD... $150

I don't need one... but maybe?

[anonymouse1]

Hard to imagine anything that a mini could be used for that an Intel MBP could be used for and provide a built-in battery backup.

[Speedy]

New Intel machines of all kinds are also falling in value.

[jdc]

Speedy wrote:
New Intel machines of all kinds are also falling in value.

2020 27" iMacs are still holding some value.... Especially ones with the CTO 16 GB 5700XT...

They still crush benchmarks.... 3.8 ghz, 8 core i7, 64 GB ram, 8 GB 5500XT, 512 Gb SSD is about $2200 new.

Guessing a new large M1Whatever iMac with the same specs is gonna set you back closer to $4000

[Robert M]

JDC,

The intel machines mentioned in your OP are all noticeably old models. No surprise that the price on them has plummeted. That said, there will still be a market for Intel machines because of Mojave. Many apps that people use regularly are still not 64 bit. You can't run them under Catalina, Big Sur and, upon its release, Monterey. People are going to keep their Mojave friendly machines operating until such a time as those apps are updated, they find viable replacements and/or run them in Mojave under emulation.

Robert

[Bernie]

M1 or nothing.

[space-time]

Bernie wrote:
M1 or nothing.

M2… M3… etc

[sekker]

Bernie wrote:
M1 or nothing.

Yes, Geekbench is 'just' a score - but if you haven't visited recently, go there now.

https://browser.geekbench.com/mac-benchmarks?noloop=1

I'm typing this on a 2012 Intel Mac laptop. The Geekbench score for the last decade for Intel Macs have not even gone up 50% for single CPU scores. Which is what using Macs 'feels' like. No real change in user speed.

But trying an M1? I think the Geekbench score differences - which are substantial - underestimate the advance Apple has made.

If you can use an Intel Mac right now, and you see no clear need for 'future-proofing', these are a viable deal.

But my work - and home - inventory are ALL moving to Apple Silicon for any new purchases. I have plenty of older Intel Macs to handle any legacy 32bit programs, however.

[Will Collier]

Lot of applications for those boxes. Media servers and/or playback boxes, specialty applications, etc. I'm tempted to grab one and replace the ancient Hackintoshed Core2Duo motherboard in my homebrew arcade cabinet.

[Marc Anthony]

My daily driver is a 2014 Mini with Mojave. It performs well and is fine as a streaming media server. As long as you equip an SSD and aren't doing very large image or video editing, benchmarks are mostly irrelevant for any Intel Core i5 or later.