PSA: Mac Mini 2018 has literally just been made “Vintage” by Apple yesterday. So good timing, lol!
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As the final step (just to round out the thread), I sent the computer back using the Apple-provided packaging. There were some glitches with FedEx and Apple’s web site reporting the status, but it otherwise worked well.
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I dropped off the package at a local Walgreens store, which accepts FedEx packages on a Thursday afternoon. But for some inexplicable reason, FedEx never picked it up from them. The tracking number said it was still at Walgreens on Monday afternoon.
I drove over there on Tuesday and found the package still sitting in the FedEx out-box pile. The store manager had no clue, since there were several pick-ups over the weekend. I was able to convince the manager to release it back to me. I brought it over to a FedEx Office store (a mile away) and dropped it off there. It was picked up soon afterward and started its journey to Apple’s trade-in partner (a CTDI warehouse in Jeffersonville, Indiana).
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It arrived at CTDI on Thursday and soon afterward, the trade-in status on Apple’s web page changed to “received by trade-in partner”. But on Friday, the status changed back to “please send in your device”.
Needless to say, that got me worried. Did they lose it or something? I called Apple’s support phone number and spoke with a chat-bot. It said that the trade-in status was “received”. The web site still said otherwise, but I decided to just wait. If the database used by the chat-bot says it was received, then it’s probably just a web site problem.
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A few business days later (Tuesday), I got an e-mail from Apple saying that the trade-in was approved. The web-site status now reflected that. A few hours later, I saw a pending credit on my card.
Surprisingly, the credit was higher than expected. The appraised value (from the initial web-survey) was $165. The amount credited to my card was $174.90. I’m not complaining, but I was surprised.
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And today (a Friday), I see that the credit has posted for the $174.90 amount.
What will Apple do with it, if they are no longer selling refurbished 2018 minis? I don’t know, but I suspect they will refurbish individual parts and use them for repair service, since the model is “vintage” and will therefore be serviced until parts run out.
I just hope they thoroughly test any part that doesn’t get recycled, since something (I suspect either the flash memory or the T2) is flaky. But it’s their problem now.
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We just went through a complicated replacement and upgrade. My wife had been using a 2009 MacBook and when she started running into problems with web sites that didn’t work with an older browser, I set her up as a user on a 2017 MacBookAir, importing her files, but she kept using the old MacBook until it died. We ended up using Migration Assistant to move her files from the old Air to a new 2024 13-inch Air and making her the Administrator. That was a bit tricky but we were able to get her on with her Apple ID (from her iPhone) and did not have to change her password significantly. She doesn’t have much third-party software, so that hasn’t been a problem, although she has had a couple of problems with Web accounts on Firefox. The 2024 Air is quite an improvement over the 2017 Air, which we now use as a house computer.
Your experience was interesting because I work on a 2018 Mini in my attic office, but I plan to hold on to it a while longer. I couldn’t find any 2018 Mini’s in Apple’s Refurb shop Refurbished Mac - Mac mini - Apple but OWC, Ebay, Amazon and others are offering them, although I have not checked who did the refurbs.
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Mmm. So obviously this should never have been necessary, and your tale of woe does make me a bit nervous for my own 2018 Mini, but it sounds like you’re making the best of it, and that’s great to hear.
I recently got my 2018 Mini repaired after the Ethernet port died (yes, really, I’m obviously mad) so I could use it for server or router duties, which necessitated the replacement of the entire board including the 2 TB storage (but not the RAM, which the Apple service centre managed to unseat while installing the new board), but then largely ended up not using the machine. My primary computer is still my 2020 iMac, and my notebook is my lovely M3 Pro MBP. The designs for the Mini were going to include possibly being a new exclusively Linux box to replace my 2012 Mini, but that turned out to be too much work owing to not being able to reliably get it to power on and boot after power failure. And my Apple Silicon M2 Mini, that I use in my living room for media and file sharing, had no problem accommodating a Linux VM for the services I needed. Even running it as a router, either Apple’s own pf or using a persistent VM, should be possible with enough elbow grease, and shouldn’t be too much for it, although given the stress and strain such activities generally produce in me owing to the distinctly round holes being pounded into with square pegs when trying to adapt macOS to server work, it would really make more sense for me to think about just buying a MikroTik router for that purpose.
So the 2018 Mini mostly has a future as a potential Windows box. And that, only if I hack the Win11 installer to install it. The T2 chip really does mean that the Intel processor in the Mac fundamentally changes it from being just another PC into something different and less easily accommodating to running non-macOS operating systems. Maybe I really should just run macOS on it as a spare Mac while it’s still actively being supported, and run VMs in it? It has the 32 GB of RAM required. And, while your story does sound plausible and terrible, perhaps the replaced logic board means that I’ll avoid whatever the cause was for some time. I certainly have no intentions of future repair work on this machine. My 2020 iMac is still important to me because I do appreciate the option of running Windows, but realistically, the writing for Intel has been on the wall for a good long while now, Microsoft too are absolutely determined to increase the world’s supply of e-waste with their own hardware floors that will include all Intel Macs, and I already have what I need with ARM64 VMs. So the future looks like, at best, a powerful Mac notebook running VMs, or a separate computer for Windows. And Linux on an SBC or SFF box of some sort, hopefully ARM or RISC V in the near future, but if not, then a proprietary ARM platform like MikroTik’s.
At this point, I’m convinced that this is a failed part. Since I haven’t heard any other stories like mine (I bought it in 2020, just before the model was discontinued, so most others will be older), I don’t think it is a design defect.
If this was a PC, my next step would have been to replace the SSD. But I didn’t have that option here. Apple could have replaced the logic board, but for something this far out of warranty, the cost would’ve been close to that of a new computer.
Fortunately, I was able to pay for a new computer on short notice. Had that not been the case, then I’d have started saving towards a replacement, and take steps to keep the old unit running as long as possible (frequent backups and no more system software upgrades) until I could afford the replacement.
Yes, but old apps don’t suddenly quit working as a result. My 2011 MacBook Air (running Sierra) continues to run the last compatible version of Office via my 365 subscription. I have to periodically dismiss the “please upgrade” warning, but it otherwise works fine.
And as long as I don’t load documents I didn’t create (not going to happen on that computer), I really don’t have a concern about security issues.
I have a Raspberry Pi (3B+) running a few LAN services for my home (DNS server, DHCP server, and a few other related services).
I’ve also got a truly ancient Dell workstation (Precision T3400, Core 2 Duo, 6GB RAM, 3TB HDD) running Debian Linux (using the lightweight Xfce desktop). It has proven to be surprisingly useful, even at its current age, running a light-duty web server and for cross-compiling various embedded software projects I use for work. It boots to a text console (GUI does not auto-start). I usually log-in via SSH and will use either VNC or X2Go if I need a graphical session.
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Once you’ve installed Rosetta 2 you won’t be prompted again. Depends on the order you do things, above you say that you install Rosetta for Photoshop and then run an Intel app, in that case it will just run.
Get Info on an app will report whether it is Universal or Intel or Apple Silicon. There are apps for bulk checks.
I see you replied while I was editing the message :-). SilverFast is definitely Universal. I checked it from the get-info page.
Yes, but I don’t own that app. I currently own Elements 2021 which is definitely not Universal. I might look into buying a license for 2024 if it is Universal, but I won’t bother if it isn’t.
I suspect it is Universal. I haven’t been able to find an explicit statement, but looking at Adobe’s System Requirements for older versions page, I see:
- 2021 requires "Intel 6th Generation or newer processor "
- 2022 requires “Intel 6th Generation or newer processor or Apple M1 processor (Using Rosetta 2 technology)”
- 2023 requires “Intel 6th Generation or newer processor; Apple silicon M1 or newer”
Since they explicitly mentioned Rosetta for 2022 and not for 2023, that implies that they have native Apple Silicon support starting with version 2023. Not the kind of statement I’d like, but at the moment, it looks like that’s about as good as it’s going to get.
Of course, Adobe no longer sells licenses for 2024, and I’m not seeing them on Amazon, so the entire question may be moot.
My overall concerns are similar, but I had a 2010 Mini that I kept on the shelf fail when I tested it early this year, about 18 months after my last test. It seems to be a hardware failure that nothing could recover. That tells me that I can’t count on a long storage life for that vintage Mini, and maybe for more recent ones. I don’t want to further add to the mountains of electronic junk. My 2018 Mini has been well behaved, and I have two layers of backup (TimeMachine and CCC). I’m still running MS Office 2019 and want to avoid MS 365. So I’m pondering buying a spare vintage Mini as a backup.
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I have Photoshop Elements 2023 on an Intel laptop and on an M1 laptop that was configured via Apple Migration Utility from the Intel laptop.
It is shows as an “Intel” app on the Intel machine and as a native “Apple silicon” app on the M1 laptop.
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Very interesting. So maybe the app isn’t universal, but their installer selectively downloads an architecture-dependent build.
Not necessarily a bad thing, but surprising. And it does mean that if you migrate an installation to a different architecture, you will probably want to reinstall it, in order to get your system’s native architecture.
I’m wondering if they package them up and sell them to VARs. OWC often has older devices for sale, and although they probably get many of them by buying them from individuals, it’s possible that they also buy returned items in bulk from Apple, I suppose. When you buy an older device from OWC, it usually comes with an OWC warranty rather than an Apple warranty (although newer devices are still able to be enrolled in AppleCare).
For that matter, I’m kind of curious what happens now that Apple has transitioned most (all?) of the AppleCare to monthly until canceled - if you kept AppleCare on a device until it is vintage, will it still be covered? What about when it becomes obsolete? I’m assuming that at some point they’ll tell you that they’ll no longer cover the device.
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