Product ReviewsApple Mac Mini (500GB HDD, Intel Core i5, ) 2.50 GHz, 4GB RAM) Silver - MD387LL/A

A nice Mac Mini & great value

The ad headline says it all, really. I needed a second Mac Mini for my office and this late 2012 model was just what the doctor ordered. It came with sufficient RAM and large enough SSD so I did not have to do any additional upgrade work, so it was plug-and-play which was nice. This machine has plenty of performance to handle all of my work needs, including running legacy software on both Windows XP Pro and Windows 7 Pro 64-bit via Parallels. I've had the same machine as my primary office rig since I got it new in 2012 and it continues to get the job done day in and day out without problems. I have a lot of peripherals connected using all of the ports (USB 3, Firewire 800, HDMI, and Thunderbolt) and it all just works. Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: randyrazor

2012 Mac Mini is not useful for modern MacOS

The version that was lists was from 2012. It is just too slow for the modern OS.I did not know it was a 2012 model as the title was misleading. After upgrading the hard drive to SSD and adding more RAM, it got somewhat usable but I still regret the purchase. Read full review...

Last of the upgradeable Mac Mini's

I bought this model because it is the last of the Mac Mini's that allow upgrading of Ram and with a lot of disassembly the internal hard drive. This Mac was not loaded with the latest Mac OS, Sierra, so it required several hours to download and install the OS. Set up of a Mac is always easy, basically turn it on and answer a few questions and you are up and running. It is plenty fast for what it used for with the I5 Intel processor, and my Wife was very pleased with it, graduating from a 2006 model of Mac Mini. I did add Ram to it, maxing it out at 16 Gb and it did add to its performance as expected. Eventually when I feel up to more adventure, I plan to swap out the spinning hard disc for a solid state version. For the next few years this Mac will certainly fill the computer need until and if Apple brings out an new Mac Mini. Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: isellimac

Still one of the best desktops built by Apple

I bought this unit to replace an older Mac Mini whose SSD fried. I had six happy years with the previous Mac Mini, that I just had to get this slightly updated unit from 2012, the last model where you could upgrade the RAM memory yourself and quite easily too. For what I do on a daily basis, this model still rocks. I tossed the 4 GB that came with the unit and installed a new 16 GB pair and then updated the OS X to the latest High Sierra, and this hot rod runs smooth as butter. I connected it to a Samsung 4K monitor, and even though the Intel graphics card is not 4K-compatible and certainly slower than any graphics card sold this year, it still does a great job with the basics and colors. Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: exor64

Powerful but you may need to upgrade the hardware

This is a fantastic value for the money. The overall specs are good, with solid hardware, RAM, and a decent processor. The only downside is the possible need to change out hard drives depending on your level of patience. If you are used to the speed of a solid state drive, you will be less than thrilled with the initial speed of this machine. But, leaving aside that minor and easily fixable quibble, this is an excellent machine and if I needed to buy or replace, I would purchase the same model again.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: lldeals

Mac mini

I have its HDMI output displayed on my 55” UHD TV and for $450 I have a very powerful computer. This one is upgraded to 16GB RAM and it has a 256GB SSD so it is extremely fast. I am using it to learn Xcode and so far so good. This came with the Apple wireless keyboard which is excellent and I bought a wireless Logitech M310 mouse for $13 and I already knew it was a great mouse. It’s not the same functionality as the wireless Apple mouse, but I am a PC user mostly, so I don’t know what I am missing!Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: dawnfounditforsale

Still very good in this 2022!

This is still a great computer. I'm a little tech enthusiast and bought this for my teenage daughter. After receiving the Mac Mini, I opened the device and installed a NVMe SSD adapter inside. Above the power connector, there's an empty slot that can fit said adapter (easy to find on eBay); a 500GB SSD from Kingston, new thermal paste, a good cleaning with compressed air and it's good to go. A total investment of ~$90 USD got me a more than decent desktop from Apple.

The machine can be updated to MacOS Monterey and it feels very snappy for doing homework, office tasks, light photo editing, internet browsing, media consumption... It's not a powerhouse by any means but for the price, It's a far better option than any 2-in-1 Pentium BS computers sold out there. She loves the Mac Mini and I'm pleased with the deal.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: 2-blind-mice-te...

Mac Mini i5 2.5 GHz great value

Works great. This 2012 Mac Mini is the last model in which the RAM and hard drive can easily be modified i.e. user serviceable. I use this computer to study, watch the news, do email, etc. With the upgrade to 16 GB RAM this machine is plenty fast enough but once I upgrade the hard drive to a solid-state drive it will be a speed demon. Awesome little computer and highly recommend!Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: lldeals

Not another review of the last upgrader

Contrary to the reviewer who cut and pasted his review from another site, lambasting the platform as a laptop without a monitor.. I've read that review in at least 10 other places, word for word btw.

This mini has great value for virtualizing workflows and projects.
I have one that runs a hyper v server with a freepbx image, and an sql server instance.
my 2nd mini runs as a migration target for this pair of guests,
my 3rd mini runs 4 purpose built linux guests including a mail server, freenas connected to 11tb of external space, webapplication server, a kong gateway and a windows 10 development environment.
my fourth and fifth minis run as failover sophos home firewalls.
All built from 2012 minis and with ram upgraded to 16gb in each and HD space upgraded as needed.
They all run flawlessly on this architecture even with bootcamp installed to support my windows servers and hyper v. The Freepbx install alone, originally implemented on my first device in 2012 has run perfectly since- It handles 10 extensions and roughly 75-100 voip calls per day over a public routed VPN network. No jitter, no dropped calls and no need to reboot. EVER. About the only time I reboot any of them is to install software. They just run and run and run. Had every assortment of fanless sdd non-mac hardware and you cant keep a virtualized environment running on them until you get into the 1000+ dollar range. You can pick these macs up for 300 dollars pretty much every day- add another 75 to upgrade the ram to 16gb and you have a micro server farm that will run until the cows come home.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: jimfrommaine

Under rated work horse media machine

We’ve been using another Mac Mini exactly like this one for years and it just keep on ticking. We bought this one as a back up since the 2012 model is that last truly user upgradable ram and HD so it was a concern that they are getting harder to find. We run Plex and Kodi with no issues and even used it to do 2017 taxes. The only upgrade we have done so far is changing ram to 8gig from the standard 4 for $50 but installing an SSD is coming next to increase speed.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: rregello

A great old Mac Mini computer.

This Mac Mini is not better than expected. It is a great product and what I expected. That a 2012 computer is still worth buying says a lot.
I purchased an Apple refurb 2012 Mac Mini (for the same purpose as this one) about 2½ years ago. I did then as I did now, after confirming that everything worked, opened it up and increased the RAM to 16 GB and the internal drive to a 500 GB SSD (250 GB for this one).
The difference between an Apple and an eBay refurb was obvious. The Apple refurb gleamed like new; this one appeared to have been worked on by people who were equipped with more than their fair share of thumbs.
Nevertheless, it works perfectly and I am, as I expected, very happy with it.Read full review...

Verified purchase:  Yes | Condition: pre-owned | Sold by: computeroverhauls