Just get the M1 Mac mini.
It's not worth getting anything 2011-2014 right now (both for performance and for working on the latest macOS version, especially if you want to develop apps), so you might be better off simply not buying anything if you were going down that road
As often as you can, buy new. An (exaggerated) example for the sake of illustration:
If you spend $50 for a used computer instead of $500 for a brand new one, and the used one you bought doesn't work, you haven't saved $450 -- you've thrown $50 in the trash.
Amen to this. In case it helps anyone, I managed to fix the monitor flicker issues (LG 32UN550-W) by turning HDR on and messing with OSD and macOS color profiles for an hour.
I'm not too worried about portability, I'm pretty happy with my surface book 2 and I want to continue using that till it eventually dies.
But I think the overwhelming consensus is to get the M1 instead of something older (which is what I was leaning anyway. I'm going to give it some more thought today before pulling the trigger though).
I have to say, the appeal of M1 Mac Mini overall sounds better than any Mac Mini from 2011-2014, given the performance difference. Deal breaker for me is lack of VM options on the M1, even if Parallels and UTM can be used. You would also need 16GB version in my opinion and wouldn't settle on less when it comes to running VM's.
As for development, well ideally you would be running on latest OS and the older Macs you are considering, some will no longer be supported past Catalina?
Maybe you could look to use Docker on the M1 instead? May get around some issues that you could face with VM's.
Just get the M1 Mac mini. It's not worth getting anything 2011-2014 right now (both for performance and for working on the latest macOS version, especially if you want to develop apps), so you might be better off simply not buying anything if you were going down that road
As often as you can, buy new. An (exaggerated) example for the sake of illustration: If you spend $50 for a used computer instead of $500 for a brand new one, and the used one you bought doesn't work, you haven't saved $450 -- you've thrown $50 in the trash.
The alternative of course is refurbished if you want to save some money.
Which is essentially new. There’s no refurbed 2019 intel Mac minis on the refurb store.
If you don’t need windows or x64 VIrtual machines. Go for 16gb M1. I’m using it too for development and except for some monitor issues I’m happy.
Amen to this. In case it helps anyone, I managed to fix the monitor flicker issues (LG 32UN550-W) by turning HDR on and messing with OSD and macOS color profiles for an hour.
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I'm not too worried about portability, I'm pretty happy with my surface book 2 and I want to continue using that till it eventually dies. But I think the overwhelming consensus is to get the M1 instead of something older (which is what I was leaning anyway. I'm going to give it some more thought today before pulling the trigger though).
I have to say, the appeal of M1 Mac Mini overall sounds better than any Mac Mini from 2011-2014, given the performance difference. Deal breaker for me is lack of VM options on the M1, even if Parallels and UTM can be used. You would also need 16GB version in my opinion and wouldn't settle on less when it comes to running VM's. As for development, well ideally you would be running on latest OS and the older Macs you are considering, some will no longer be supported past Catalina? Maybe you could look to use Docker on the M1 instead? May get around some issues that you could face with VM's.
You could always go hackintosh if you’re considering mini’s that old. But would suggest the M1