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I've got an 2011-era Mac Mini that I've loved for developing - updated to 8GB of RAM + an SSD, it's been a great Xamarin machine for years. However now I'm look

by mb_72 8y ago

I've got an 2011-era Mac Mini that I've loved for developing - updated to 8GB of RAM + an SSD, it's been a great Xamarin machine for years. However now I'm looking for a replacement as Mojave won't support the hardware. With the dated Mac Mini and reports of many keyboard issues on Macbook Pros I'm looking at a Mac Air for a new development machine - and even these are getting a bit long in the tooth. Not really sure what Apple is up to these days.

gm-conspiracy 8y ago
It is really sad there is no equivalent for a 7 year old device. Is a Hackintosh an option for Mojave?
- ShabbosGoy 8y ago
  It seems like Apple has given up on desktops entirely. OSX lags unbearably when performing normal workloads. Forget about running Xcode or a CPU intensive workload, your machine will freeze due to excessive memory leaks and swapping. It is an issue at the framework level, and I say that because all software written for OSX has to use a set of common frameworks to interface with the OS itself.
- nyreed 8y ago
  People usually have success in getting newer OS versions running on formally unsupported macs.
  - saagarjha 8y ago
    I doubt this will work for Mojave, since I believe everything was written using Metal.
ovao 8y ago
I still really like the iMac. While it doesn’t quite get the attention it deserves, it’s still a legitimately great machine. Overall, it may be the best machine Apple makes right now. I’m not all that fond of the Magic Keyboard (mine failed after a completely minor spill), but that’s an easy enough fix.
e28eta 8y ago
I'm pretty disappointed that the same event where Apple touted that they were keeping support for the iPhone 5S was the one they dropped support for pre-2012 Macs. Especially because my maxed out 2011 Mini apparently has similar geekbench results as the current entry-level Mini, which certainly isn't true on iOS. So maybe what I'm most upset about is that the Mini + Pro haven't had updates in so long, but the software side is behaving like they don't have an ancient product line.
- saagarjha 8y ago
  I believe the reason was they needed Metal support, which older computers could not provide.
  - willfiveash 8y ago
    That may be the reason but I would point out that many companies that sell high end systems and OSes (IBM, Sun/Oracle, etc...) at some point require the customer pay for supporting older systems (even then there is an age cutoff). For Apple, supporting older Minis without the customer paying for this support doesn't seem to be in Apple's interest from a business standpoint.
molszanski 8y ago
Wait for the new hardware in September. Maybe it would be ok. If not, you can get yourself a late 2015 with all the normal ports, keyboard and performance.
- mb_72 8y ago
  I'd love to, but I need a Mojave-compatible machine prior to it's release so we can get our Xamarin application updated before-hand. Might be best to go with the 2015 option anyway, thanks!

by mb_72 8y ago

gm-conspiracy 8y ago

It is really sad there is no equivalent for a 7 year old device. Is a Hackintosh an option for Mojave?

ShabbosGoy 8y ago
It seems like Apple has given up on desktops entirely. OSX lags unbearably when performing normal workloads. Forget about running Xcode or a CPU intensive workload, your machine will freeze due to excessive memory leaks and swapping. It is an issue at the framework level, and I say that because all software written for OSX has to use a set of common frameworks to interface with the OS itself.
nyreed 8y ago
People usually have success in getting newer OS versions running on formally unsupported macs.
- saagarjha 8y ago
  I doubt this will work for Mojave, since I believe everything was written using Metal.

ovao 8y ago

I still really like the iMac. While it doesn’t quite get the attention it deserves, it’s still a legitimately great machine. Overall, it may be the best machine Apple makes right now. I’m not all that fond of the Magic Keyboard (mine failed after a completely minor spill), but that’s an easy enough fix.

e28eta 8y ago

I'm pretty disappointed that the same event where Apple touted that they were keeping support for the iPhone 5S was the one they dropped support for pre-2012 Macs. Especially because my maxed out 2011 Mini apparently has similar geekbench results as the current entry-level Mini, which certainly isn't true on iOS. So maybe what I'm most upset about is that the Mini + Pro haven't had updates in so long, but the software side is behaving like they don't have an ancient product line.

saagarjha 8y ago
I believe the reason was they needed Metal support, which older computers could not provide.
- willfiveash 8y ago
  That may be the reason but I would point out that many companies that sell high end systems and OSes (IBM, Sun/Oracle, etc...) at some point require the customer pay for supporting older systems (even then there is an age cutoff). For Apple, supporting older Minis without the customer paying for this support doesn't seem to be in Apple's interest from a business standpoint.

molszanski 8y ago

Wait for the new hardware in September. Maybe it would be ok. If not, you can get yourself a late 2015 with all the normal ports, keyboard and performance.

mb_72 8y ago
I'd love to, but I need a Mojave-compatible machine prior to it's release so we can get our Xamarin application updated before-hand. Might be best to go with the 2015 option anyway, thanks!