LOL - The problem with using the kitchen knife is the potential for self-inflicted injuries due to frustration of having an implement ill suited to the task at hand. Like a golf club.
OWC is where I got the tools from.
Received my 2014 mini (i7, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD) from OWC. The air tube packaging could have been a little more inflated to protect the mini, but things looked ok. They pre-installed 10.15 Catalina.
FWIW, Iām also using the late-2014 Mini with dual-core i7 as my primary machine. I got it from Pacificmacs on eBay (my third Mac from them over a few years). It came with a 1TB HDD and I added a SSD from OWC which is for the OS and apps. Maxed at 16GB of RAM. Works great!
I agree with Diane about software makers forcing OS upgrades. I had to upgrade to 10.15.7 for Turbotax, which caused a bunch of breaks due to 64-bit only. I donāt mind paying for software and Iām running MS Office 16 under a 365 license (I forget how I found v16).
I found that I can still use Accountedge (v26) by using their very peculiar workaround specifically for Mac users moving to 10.15. It runs a Windows version of Accountedge inside a .NET framework. Not a virtual machine exactly. Takes a long time to start but works perfectly. This is also a paid subscription.
Filemaker was tough, they really want a lot of money for the current version. Their support suggested I look for an old version 18 or earlier, and I found a v16 on a website called Microman. It looks a bit sketchy but the license works.
Hereās to the slow-adopters!
Intuit has truly gone insane the past few years, requiring an OS upgrade every year since 2020 I think, for TurboTax? If I ever have time I want to look at other tax programs just for that reason.
Diane
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I looked this year for that exact reason. I downloaded the HR Block program but it was totally squirrely (which is an insult to the nice squirrels outside my window). After wasting a bunch of time I bit the bullet, upgraded the OS and went back to Turbotax! Then made the other fixes mentioned above. So, okay, now Iām all 64-bit, but trying to use TT next year means a major jump to OS11. I donāt think there are too many options for Mac tax programs (and that also import the TT data).
Ugh! I wonāt use one thatās in the cloud and Iām self employed so mine is more complicated, which is going to limit me. I know a PC user who swore he got bigger refunds with H&R Block though - maybe theyāll be better in the next couple of years!
Diane
I have been using H&R Block since 2015 after using TurboTax for a long time. System requirement this year was High Sierra. I have been very happy with the switch from TT to HRB.
Thanks, I am going to check them out for next year. That is two versions behind TT. I just looked and it says theyāve increased one OS yearly since 2018 - not sure if the 64 bit change and now M1 has made a difference in the increase? Iāve been dealing with Intuit since the 90s and they are more about their bottom line than a good product IMO.
I remember being upset when a color Mac was required, because I was still chugging along just fine on my SE. I am pretty sure that was after Intuit bought Chipsoft.
Diane
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Iām also self-employed and agree about not using a cloud-based tax program. As I recall the HRB program did not even launch after being installed, or there was some problem with the installation itself. But Iām willing to give another try this year.
No question that some of the companies which started in the quaint Mac-only days, like Intuit, have changed, but I guess thatās to be expected. Iām still happy with Quicken, though I donāt use all of the features or import into TT.
Sadly, I gave up on Quicken. I was still using 2007 on Sierra on my iMac. Iād tried the ānewā Quicken a couple of times in the past 5 years and itās just too different, plus subscription.
A few month ago I tried SEE. Figured if I was starting all over again, Iād just try one completely new. It too is quirky compared to the old Quicken but at least I have most downloads available again. Support questions are answered very quickly and I donāt have a yearly bill with them.
Diane
Unfortunately, that does limit you. You will need to be running a version of macOS compatible with the release for your tax year.
I use the web version of TurboTax. So the only thing on my end that has to be compatible is my web browser, which you can usually keep current even if youāre running an older macOS release. But that means itās all in āthe cloudā (more specifically, Intuitās servers), which you said you donāt want.
Iād love to see the evidence of that. Unless he actually ran both programs in the same tax-year with the same data, thereās no way to prove or disprove such a statement.
If the programs are working properly, and you provide the same input data for the same tax year, you should get the same results. If you donāt, then something is seriously broken.
If heās comparing his refunds from two different years, thatās irrelevant, because the tax laws are different and his situation (income, withholding, deductions, etc.) are almost certainly different. And if he provided different data to the two programs, then that will absolutely change the results - just like providing different data to different human tax preparers.
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He bought both programs and went with the one that gave him the better return. I never saw it, nor did I think it was worth trying myself 
Diane
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The last time I used H&R Block was 2015, and FWIW I found it unfriendly to the self-employed. I find TurboTax Home & Business worth the extra money for the aggravation it saves in preparing a rather complex return. The one thing that I found troublesome this year was straightening out a mess on my daughterās return caused by her trying to start a Roth IRA and afterwards getting a raise that put her over the limit for eligibility.
I didnāt catch this thread before you plunked down on a newer Mac, but next time maybe consider keeping your old/existing Mac and install Open Core Legacy Patcher:
https://dortania.github.io/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher/
Thanks to OCLP, Monterey is now working great on my Macmini5,3 (mid-2011).
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Thanks! I had never heard of that. Did you upgrade your entire machine or is that like a virtual machine?
Does it allow you to keep older software? Thatās my issue with upgrading.
To everyone else, between OWCās mistake on their website about shipping, and UPS, I just got up and running with the Mini. It came with Catalina instead of Monterey (specs did say Monterey). After reading the recent thread on sharing issues with Monterey I am a bit hesitant!! Being able to screen share will be important, so please let me know any issues good or bad for Monterey to/from Sierra.
It plugged right into my dock, but I am going to have to get that back for the laptop at the moment.
Thanks
Diane
I upgraded the Macmini5,3 to Monterey and macOS updates work too - it patched to 12.3.1 this morning.
And yes, I used VirtualBox to install Mojave for old 32-bit apps I want to keep. I actually installed and use the virtualized environment on a 2015 MacBook Pro as the older mini functions more as a web/vpn server; however, the virtualized environment could be installed and run from the mini if needed.
I also replaced the hard drives in my Macmini5,3 with SSDs, I recommend this for older machines to bump up performance.
Thanks for the info! Mine didnāt come with a SSD but maybe I can get one in the future. Itās running fine at the moment, deciding what I need to move over there immediately!
Diane
Thatās not quite true that the 2012 mini is limited to Catalina. It is true that Apple āofficiallyā limits the 2012 to Catalina, but Iāve now upgraded two 2012 minis with the OpenCore Legacy Patcher to Monterey and both appear to be running fine.
I ran into a glitch with my wifeās mini where Chrome had some graphic abnormalities, but I ran the post-install graphics patch for Ivy Bridge processors and that cleared it up.
[edit: ninjaād by schwie]
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As a contributor to the thread I think youāre referencing, I would say I have no issues that would keep me from recommending Monterey in general. I use Screen Sharing daily; itās just that sometimes it takes 20-30 seconds to connect. And now that I say that, my recollection is that I havenāt had that problem in a few weeks. Perhaps one of the recent Monterey updates has addressed it.