Mac Mini advice

Hi,


I'm looking to get a mac mini to use with FCPX,
also to hook up to my projector so i can preview projects on a large screen - as well as use it as a media centre for films and gaming/emulation,
there's a huge choice of mini models available now on eBay,
are the older quads as powerful as the new duals? Are there any specific year releases that have better processors? Is it better to get a newer model?
I can budget approx £500 so any advice appreciated

GPU is important, newer models will have better GPUs in them.

Echoing what Ben said, I would strongly recommend the latest model with Intel Iris Graphics. It's £569.00, but you could get a certified refurbished one cheaper.

The only advantage the 2012 quad cores will have is faster MPEG2 encoding for DVDs and a few other CPU intensive tasks, and they will have a significant disadvantage with GPU effects, as well as with 4K.

Don't bother with 2011 or earlier, as unless you're only editing SD, they wont be as smooth/snappy as the newer models.

Make sure to get at least 8GB of RAM

MacMini in use here, late 2012, 2.5GHz, i5, 16GB Ram, ElCap, ... = me happy.

newer models don't allow to upgrade Ram!
And, at the very low end of hardware, there's a noticeable diff. btw. 8 or 16GB Ram.....

speed? ... never an issue, I'm no newsroom
yes, tasks with high computation, e.g. coremelts LUTx, need 'hours' for final sharing (so what?); but no effect while editing. Using several ext. HDD and SSD (usb3) = no need for proxy/optimize, even when multicam with diff. formats (1080/50p, 720/60p, AVCHD, mp4) in use.

no prob using FCPX and ScreenFlow simultanousely ...

What makes my brave Mini stumble:
really complex compos, compounds within compounds, excessive use of plugins with motion-blur and GPU-tinkering toys, like Duet (iPad as second monitor) ... FCPX on two monitors at all is a bit .... chewy.

As a player, media server? no prob at all.

Gaming? No clue, computer is for work, Playstation is for play
Emulation? Never done.

Good info thanks,
all my FCPX projects are fairly basic so should be ok,
emulators I use are all old school (Sega Megadrive/Saturn, SNES, NeoGeo etc) so shouldn't be too demanding,
I'll check ebay for latest and 2012 Quad models with 8GB RAM