What should i do with it? Mac Mini (Late 2012)

daniielrp · November 24, 2016

Couple of easy uses - media server has been mentioned and it would do a good job - power efficient, makes no noise and macOS runs stable over time so you only need to reboot once or twice a year. Or you can pay a few bucks to upgrade to macOS server and have it as an actual server capable of email/ftp/hosting etc.

As a general home computer it could work as well - similar to above just leave it always in standby and it's good to go whenever if you don't wanna boot up gaming PC etc.

HTPC - set it up as plex server/client. I believe that model still has IR receiver for Apple remote and possibly some third party ones.

Emulator - there are a few good mac game emulators - openEMU is pretty good, though you could always just boot into Windows and play anything.

KWelz · November 24, 2016

22 minutes ago, daniielrp said:

Couple of easy uses - media server has been mentioned and it would do a good job - power efficient, makes no noise and macOS runs stable over time so you only need to reboot once or twice a year. Or you can pay a few bucks to upgrade to macOS server and have it as an actual server capable of email/ftp/hosting etc.

As a general home computer it could work as well - similar to above just leave it always in standby and it's good to go whenever if you don't wanna boot up gaming PC etc.

HTPC - set it up as plex server/client. I believe that model still has IR receiver for Apple remote and possibly some third party ones.

Emulator - there are a few good mac game emulators - openEMU is pretty good, though you could always just boot into Windows and play anything.

Lots of good points. As he said you can also install and run windows on it as well if you don't want to mess with MacOS.

Satisfoxy · November 24, 2016

Clean out the dust then use it for folding.

Zodiark1593 · November 24, 2016

Swap in an SSD. Load in your favorite media player software. HTPC that is easy enough for guests not to screw up. With fast enough Internet, might even be good enough for Steam in home Streaming, though the igp should be able to handle light gaming on its own too.