Noob needing advice

[Kanadian]

Hello,

I'm new to the site, I could use your expertise. I want to spend about $500 to make a mac mini equivallent. After some research I found the following. What do you guys think, is there a better option for about $500? I'll be mainly using it to stream movies and shows, but my wife is a graphic designer and I'm sure she will want to do some photoshop/graphic design things on it as well. Will I be able to install Yosemite on this?

-Gigabyte Core i5-5200U Ultra Compact Mini PC Barebone
-Samsung 850 EVO 250GB 2.5-Inch SATA III Internal SSD
-Crucial 16GB Kit (8GBx2) DDR3-1600 MT/s (PC3-12800) 204-Pin SODIMM Notebook Memory CT2KIT102464BF160B / CT2CP102464BF160B.

Thank you in advance for all your help!

 

[ammulder]

I have a detailed guide on the Intel NUC here, which is very similar to the Brix you're proposing. Most everything should work.

However, the wireless won't work with OS X. You can buy a compatible wireless+bluetooth card and replace the one it ships with for $20-60 (links in the NUC thread), or just use an external USB wireless adapter.

With the NUC5i5RYH, you can get basically the same thing as the Brix with an i5-5250U for about the same price, which comes with better HD 6000 graphics (vs HD 5500 on the Brix). However, unless you pay $100 more for the NUC5i5MYHE model, the incompatible wireless card is soldered in place on the NUC and can't be replaced, so I would only go that way if wireless isn't that important or you plan to use USB wireless.

Finally, bear in mind that you can buy the 850 Evo SSD in the mSATA form factor (for the Brix) or M.2 form factor (for the NUC) and then buy the slimmer model of either case without the 2.5" drive bay, or save the 2.5" drive bay for later expansion (e.g. a 2 TB HDD, or a future cheaper large SSD

Edit: I should also add, there will be some graphical issues in Yosemite, which you'll need to reboot periodically to avoid. El Capitan doesn't have the same problem, which is why I used that for the NUC guide.

 

[Kanadian]

Thanks for the quick reply!

So, if I buy NUC5i5RYH and install yosmite using El Capitan I shouldn't have any graphic problem?
Do you know if there is a video tutorial from start to finish for the NUC5RYH on installing yosmite anywhere?

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[ammulder]

To be a clear, I am suggesting that to avoid graphics issues, you would want to install the El Capitan (OS X 10.11) Golden Master instead of Yosemite (OS X 10.10.5).

It would be a little premature to say you'll have NO problems, since technically, the OS will not be released until the end of the month. So you'd be an early adopter for sure. But I've found *fewer* problems on El Capitan than Yosemite. So far I've been able to solve everything I've run into to my satisfaction (audio, video, 4K, etc.). But other people have had things go wrong. It's not going to be as easy as buying a Mac Mini at the Apple Store.

(FWIW, I don't think there's going to be any substantial difference between the Brix and the NUC in terms of installation process or problems or etc. The hardware is *very* similar. I just happen to have a link to a detailed NUC guide. You can decide how you feel about the graphics & wireless differences and can look for a Brix guide if that's your preference.)

I'm not aware of a video install guide, but the text one I linked to in my first post is pretty detailed.

 

[Kanadian]

I just bought the NUC5I5RYH, the Crucial 16gb kit and Samsung 850 evo 250 gm m2 SSD.

Thank you for your advice!

If I install El Capitan (I'm guessing some kind of beta version) later when they do release the office version at the end of Sept, will I be able to update it normally through the apple store at that point?

 

[ammulder]

I'm not sure what the process will be once the final version is released, but I'm sure it will be covered in the El Capitan Desktop forum. It may be "do nothing" since the "Golden Master" actually just lists itself as version 10.11, or there may be some process to mark yourself as not part of the beta any more if you don't want to be offered beta builds for future point releases. Hopefully a reinstall would not be required. But we'll have to see.

 

[Kanadian]

Does any wireless keyboard and mouse work or do I need to get a mac keyboard and mouse?

 

[LiteGaming]

Any Wireless Keyboard will work but only if it comes with a dongle but if you have a bluetooth one you will need to buy a bluetooth dongle that works with OS X

 

[ammulder]

So I've heard that the Intel wireless that comes with the NUC includes Bluetooth features that are supported in OS X (it's only the AirPort part that's not supported). I haven't tried it myself, but if true, you should be able to use a Bluetooth keyboard/mouse with the soldered-on Intel Bluetooth.

Still, it would be easiest to use the kind of wireless keyboard/mouse that comes with its own dongle.

 

[Kanadian]

Thanks guys,

Just bought a wireless keyboard and mouse with a dongle on it.

I'm actually installing OS X El Capitan right now! Very excited!