Mac Mini Upgrade Suggestions

I have a 2014 Mac Mini. It has:

I5-4278u processor
16GB 1600 DDR3
Iris Pro 5100
256GB SSD

I want to be able to work the files from my DJI Mavic Air 2 which can shoot 4K 60FPS video and 48MP stills in iMovie.

What can I do to upgrade the Mini to handle the work flow and what can I expect to pay to have it done? Is it even feasible or would it be better to just lay out the $800.00 for the latest Mac Mini?

The Mac Mini has soldered RAM so that can't be upgraded and in addition, since you state you have 16GB, you are maxed out so you can't make any gains through RAM.

The drive in the mini can be swapped, see the video at https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=TUtG3SSZ4Bw. Can you provide the make/model of your existing drive and how much of the 256GB is currently being used. Swapping the drive may not offer much in the way of gains, depending...

Any chnace you have what is called the "late" 2014 mini? See https://www.ifixit.com …d+Drive+Replace​ment/32815 and https://eshop.macsales​.com/shop/ssd/owc/mac-mini/2014 to explore some options.

John from PA wrote in post #19078207
The Mac Mini has soldered RAM so that can't be upgraded and in addition, since you state you have 16GB, you are maxed out so you can't make any gains through RAM.

The drive in the mini can be swapped, see the video at https://www.youtube.co​m/watch?v=TUtG3SSZ4Bw. Can you provide the make/model of your existing drive and how much of the 256GB is currently being used. Swapping the drive may not offer much in the way of gains, depending...

Any chnace you have what is called the "late" 2014 mini? See https://www.ifixit.com …d+Drive+Replace​ment/32815 and https://eshop.macsales​.com/shop/ssd/owc/mac-mini/2014 to explore some options.

John thank you for your help and yes I took your advice and it seems that my MM is a late 2014 model and it is better equipped than I thought.

It has a 2.6 GHz INtel Core i5 processor
8 GB 1600 MHz DDR 3 Memory
1 TB SATA drive

So, will I be able to get by with that?

To put how old and out dated the hardware in your Mac Mini is into perspective, the GPU doesn't even support 4k monitors. i.e. you can't even watch 4k content on it, so editing it is simply beyond it's capabilities.
It was slow and and at low end of the performance spectrum when it was new, while the processor is 6 years out of date, it's built off of technology that is 9 years out of date.

It will struggle with modern HD content on youtube, so forget about working on 4k footage in any kind of constructive manner.

Upgrading the RAM and storage won't help. It will make it more usable for browsing facebook and checking emails, but beyond that any mid range cell phone is a better platform for editing video.


If you really want to edit 4k footage, even the low bitrate files you get from the Mavic, you have little choice but to buy a new computer.
If your tied to OS-X when a mid range Mac Mini isn't a bad place to start.
Look at the 6 core i5 or i7 model with 16, or ideally 32GB of ram.
The base quad core model doesn't do hyper threading, so while its significantly faster than your old one, it's not really enough of a performance leap for smooth and easy 4K video editing, and is designed primarily for light tasks like web browsing and word processing.