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Andy_1234 35K Views
Apr 21, 2021 5:29 AM

256GB Apple Mac Mini M1 Device (Certified Refurbished)

$589

$699

15% off
+ Free S/Hat Apple Store
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Deal Details
Apple Store has 256GB Apple Mac Mini M1 Device (Certified Refurbished) on sale for $589. Shipping is free.

Thanks to community member Andy_1234 for finding this deal

Note, curbside pickup is unavailable at any Apple Store locations

Specs
  • 8-Core CPU/GPU w/ Apple M1 Chip (16-Core Neural Engine)
  • 256GB Solid State Drive SSD
  • 8GB Unified Memory
  • 802.11ax WiFi 6 w/ Bluetooth 5.0
    • Inputs
      • 2x Thunderbolt/USB 4 Ports
      • 2x USB-A Ports
      • USB 3.1 Gen 2
      • Thunderbolt 3
      • Thunderbolt 2
      • HDMI/2.0
      • DisplayPort
      • DVI
      • VGA
      • Gigabit Ethernet Port
Warranty

Editor's Notes

Written by Discombobulated | Staff
  • Price Research: Purchase this device and save $110 Off (15.74% Savings) from the original listed price of $699
  • These products are sold through the official Apple Store; see product details for complete specs/what's included w/ purchase
  • Apple Certified Refurbished Products are pre-owned Apple products that undergo Apple's stringent refurbishment process prior to being offered for sale. While only some units are returned due to technical issues, every unit is evaluated to ensure it meets Apple's quality standards.
  • These products were originally released November 2020
  • Next day delivery is offered with additional cost ranging from ~$8
  • Supplies may be limited; offer valid while promotion last
Additional Note
  • Please refer to the forum thread for additional details - Discombobulated

Original Post

Written by Andy_1234
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Apple Store has 256GB Apple Mac Mini M1 Device (Certified Refurbished) on sale for $589. Shipping is free.

Thanks to community member Andy_1234 for finding this deal

Note, curbside pickup is unavailable at any Apple Store locations

Specs
  • 8-Core CPU/GPU w/ Apple M1 Chip (16-Core Neural Engine)
  • 256GB Solid State Drive SSD
  • 8GB Unified Memory
  • 802.11ax WiFi 6 w/ Bluetooth 5.0
    • Inputs
      • 2x Thunderbolt/USB 4 Ports
      • 2x USB-A Ports
      • USB 3.1 Gen 2
      • Thunderbolt 3
      • Thunderbolt 2
      • HDMI/2.0
      • DisplayPort
      • DVI
      • VGA
      • Gigabit Ethernet Port
Warranty

Editor's Notes

Written by Discombobulated | Staff
  • Price Research: Purchase this device and save $110 Off (15.74% Savings) from the original listed price of $699
  • These products are sold through the official Apple Store; see product details for complete specs/what's included w/ purchase
  • Apple Certified Refurbished Products are pre-owned Apple products that undergo Apple's stringent refurbishment process prior to being offered for sale. While only some units are returned due to technical issues, every unit is evaluated to ensure it meets Apple's quality standards.
  • These products were originally released November 2020
  • Next day delivery is offered with additional cost ranging from ~$8
  • Supplies may be limited; offer valid while promotion last
Additional Note
  • Please refer to the forum thread for additional details - Discombobulated

Original Post

Written by Andy_1234

Community Voting

Deal Score
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Top Comments

munkle
2KComments
339Reputation
No it's not. Macos doesn't magically reduce memory usage by 4 times. You can run windows just fine on 4gb of ram. I've done it and it's workable but not ideal depending on your applications. It's the applications you want to use that consume most of the memory. Try to do any sort of application development and debugging on 8gb memory and youre going to find yourself barely getting by, you can confirm this on apples own developer forums that 8gb is barely enough for xcode for a passable experience.
Go to Comment
Dareyoutolaugh
55Comments
56Reputation
This comment is getting a lot of unfair grief from people who may know about computers but may not know a lot about Apple's M1 unified architecture.

No, Mac OSX doesn't have any magic to make memory work better, but the M1 platform sort of does. In short, the proprietary storage solution (not NVME) Is so much faster than previous storage solutions that paging files from RAM is actually *really* snappy. In certain circumstances a user may still feel RAM limitations, but many users in many situations will not.

( Edit: to hedge against the people who think I'm blowing smoke https://www.macworld.com/article/...to-be.html )
Go to Comment
BlackLotus777
1.6KComments
240Reputation
why are you all going on about using Chrome, the worst browser at everything? Firefox and Edge even use less RAM.

Let's not EVEN get into how much less RAM Safari is using on the latest OS and Apple's own chips.

Chrome has overstayed its welcome. Google needs to rethink it. It's kinda like using a sledgehammer to get a nail in when all you need is a 1lb hammer. It works, but it's cumbersome, scary, inefficient, and leaves everything a mess.
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97 Comments

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Apr 21, 2021 1:09 PM
551 Comments
Joined Aug 2010
shubonkerApr 21, 2021 1:09 PM
551 Comments
Quote from Mamiww6 View quoted comment :
Apple have a tendency to repackage a new system and sell under refursbished category to keep the value high. Apple's profit margins are so high that they are still making money with "refurbished" models. It's not something official they would admit they are doing it, but I have heard this before many times.
Source?

To everyone saying 8gb is not enough... Let's see what i've got running on my 8gb m1 air... About 10 chrome windows... microsoft teams, telegram, imessage, zoom, spotify, word, excel, and microsoft remote desktop. Everything is snappy and quick, so not sure what everyone's complaining about. I personally prefer windows, but none of the windows laptops have hardware as good as the air in one package at the same price.
Last edited by shubonker April 21, 2021 at 06:14 AM.
4
Apr 21, 2021 1:09 PM
3.8K Comments
Joined Sep 2003
starcaptorApr 21, 2021 1:09 PM
3.8K Comments
8gb is plenty for what's basically going to be a giant Facebook machine for many, many people.
4
Apr 21, 2021 1:13 PM
55 Comments
Joined Apr 2018
DareyoutolaughApr 21, 2021 1:13 PM
55 Comments
Quote from HaiderE View quoted comment :
8gb on MacOS is like 32gb on windows. I have this model and it works better than my 12gb windows with 10th Gen i7
This comment is getting a lot of unfair grief from people who may know about computers but may not know a lot about Apple's M1 unified architecture.

No, Mac OSX doesn't have any magic to make memory work better, but the M1 platform sort of does. In short, the proprietary storage solution (not NVME) Is so much faster than previous storage solutions that paging files from RAM is actually *really* snappy. In certain circumstances a user may still feel RAM limitations, but many users in many situations will not.

( Edit: to hedge against the people who think I'm blowing smoke https://www.macworld.com/article/...to-be.html )
Last edited by Dareyoutolaugh April 21, 2021 at 06:17 AM.
5
Apr 21, 2021 1:15 PM
29 Comments
Joined Oct 2012
aporzioApr 21, 2021 1:15 PM
29 Comments
Quote from bigdbag View quoted comment :
This is just dumb and wrong.
IDK about 32GB on windows but there are videos comparing a 16GB Intel Mac Mini to an 8GB M1 and the M1 is just as capable due to the M1 being more efficient.
Expert
This user is an Expert in Home & Home Improvement
Apr 21, 2021 1:17 PM
5.5K Comments
Joined Oct 2013
wherestheanykey
Expert
This user is an Expert in Home & Home Improvement
Apr 21, 2021 1:17 PM
5.5K Comments
Quote from BlackLotus777 View quoted comment :
why are you all going on about using Chrome, the worst browser at everything? Firefox and Edge even use less RAM.

Let's not EVEN get into how much less RAM Safari is using on the latest OS and Apple's own chips.

Chrome has overstayed its welcome. Google needs to rethink it. It's kinda like using a sledgehammer to get a nail in when all you need is a 1lb hammer. It works, but it's cumbersome, scary, inefficient, and leaves everything a mess.
I have less opinion on the new M1 Macs than I do Chrome, but I will say that the M1 Macs feel like Apple is going back to their PowerPC days. Not better or worse, but it's definitely on brand for Apple.

In regard to Chrome: The main reason Chrome is still preferred in most circles is the handling of legacy JavaScript.

You mentioned Edge, yet fail to realize that it's also based on Chromium engines.
Apr 21, 2021 1:17 PM
1K Comments
Joined Jan 2014
euuser3088112Apr 21, 2021 1:17 PM
1K Comments
Quote from HaiderE View quoted comment :
8gb on MacOS is like 32gb on windows. I have this model and it works better than my 12gb windows with 10th Gen i7
You don't know what you're talking about. 32gb on windows is insanely big. Memory management on windows has improved a lot

maybe at best 8gb on mac is 12gb on windows
3
Expert
This user is an Expert in Home & Home Improvement
Apr 21, 2021 1:24 PM
5.5K Comments
Joined Oct 2013
wherestheanykey
Expert
This user is an Expert in Home & Home Improvement
Apr 21, 2021 1:24 PM
5.5K Comments
Quote from SyL9382 View quoted comment :
You don't know what you're talking about. 32gb on windows is insanely big. Memory management on windows has improved a lot

maybe at best 8gb on mac is 12gb on windows
In all fairness, they probably don't have a modern PC with 32GB of ram to compare with if they spent money on a Mac...

As another comment mentioned, flash memory is so fast these days that Apple is using that in place of having a ton of RAM.

Kinda like how zRAM works on Linux or a Pagefile would work in Windows if it were more aggressive.
1

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Apr 21, 2021 1:36 PM
797 Comments
Joined Feb 2019
joebellsApr 21, 2021 1:36 PM
797 Comments
Quote from munkle View quoted comment :
No it's not. Macos doesn't magically reduce memory usage by 4 times. You can run windows just fine on 4gb of ram. I've done it and it's workable but not ideal depending on your applications. It's the applications you want to use that consume most of the memory. Try to do any sort of application development and debugging on 8gb memory and youre going to find yourself barely getting by, you can confirm this on apples own developer forums that 8gb is barely enough for xcode for a passable experience.
Well the Mac is helped by extremely fast memory/storage access. So even if it has to write to "disk" it can access that very quickly. These m1 machines are amazing. That being said I don't think I'd want 8 gigabytes either.
1
Apr 21, 2021 1:39 PM
150 Comments
Joined Jul 2016
ppsps2016Apr 21, 2021 1:39 PM
150 Comments
I've heard similar comments about Mac performance.. To be fair , compare a refurb optiplex with 32 gb and nvme(around $400)with this Mac
Apr 21, 2021 1:39 PM
260 Comments
Joined Jul 2019
MichaelP7Apr 21, 2021 1:39 PM
260 Comments
530 with military discount. Got one.
Apr 21, 2021 1:40 PM
3K Comments
Joined Feb 2008
shnitzApr 21, 2021 1:40 PM
3K Comments
Quote from munkle View quoted comment :
No it's not. Macos doesn't magically reduce memory usage by 4 times. You can run windows just fine on 4gb of ram. I've done it and it's workable but not ideal depending on your applications. It's the applications you want to use that consume most of the memory. Try to do any sort of application development and debugging on 8gb memory and youre going to find yourself barely getting by, you can confirm this on apples own developer forums that 8gb is barely enough for xcode for a passable experience.
Application development and debugging? Way to represent the target market of someone buying a $600 computer LMAO

Edit: And yeah, all of those kubernetes developers that are flocking, FLOCKING I tell you, to the M1 chips.
Last edited by shnitz April 21, 2021 at 06:43 AM.
3
Apr 21, 2021 1:52 PM
2.6K Comments
Joined Mar 2013
giantbruinApr 21, 2021 1:52 PM
2.6K Comments
I don't get why everyone who is talking about 8 GB of RAM not being enough is buying a refurbished, entry-level machine.

This Mac is fine for 95% of people. I've had mine since last November when they first came out. On any given day, I have Citrix Receiver, Safari with 5-7 tabs, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Mail, Messages and WhatApp Web open, all while driving a 1440p and a 1080p monitor. I have no slowdown whatsoever.

I've even used this Mac Mini to create and export a video in iMovie. It took about 10 minutes to export and during that time, I got a work email. So I switched from iMovie into the full, dual-screen Citrix Viewer to respond to the work email. There was no lag whatsoever. Doing this on a Windows machine, or even my 2019 MacBook Pro, would have killed the computer. But the M1 really is that much of a beast.
Apr 21, 2021 2:00 PM
996 Comments
Joined Feb 2013
LucyRubyLakelandApr 21, 2021 2:00 PM
996 Comments
Can you use video editing software on this? I want to edit 4K drone video on something affordable.
Apr 21, 2021 2:01 PM
4.8K Comments
Joined Feb 2007
zodiac711Apr 21, 2021 2:01 PM
4.8K Comments
Quote from Mamiww6 View quoted comment :
Apple have a tendency to repackage a new system and sell under refursbished category to keep the value high. Apple's profit margins are so high that they are still making money with "refurbished" models. It's not something official they would admit they are doing it, but I have heard this before many times.
Wish they would do so with the 16gb ram version then...

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Apr 21, 2021 2:03 PM
1.4K Comments
Joined Dec 2008
JLee50Apr 21, 2021 2:03 PM
1.4K Comments
Quote from wherestheanykey View quoted comment :
In all fairness, they probably don't have a modern PC with 32GB of ram to compare with if they spent money on a Mac...

As another comment mentioned, flash memory is so fast these days that Apple is using that in place of having a ton of RAM.

Kinda like how zRAM works on Linux or a Pagefile would work in Windows if it were more aggressive.
Just to add to this, I have an 8gb Air and a desktop with a 5950X and 128GB RAM. The Air is just a delight to use - I mostly use it for web browsing and connecting to other machines, and I have no issue with it's configuration. It replaced an i7 7700HQ with 64GB RAM and I have no regrets.

For anyone who's not actually used an M1 machine and is spewing your opinion regardless, go use one first.

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