As I type this, it’s April 16, 2023. And Amazon is still selling refurbished M1 Mac Minis with 8 GB of RAM for $449. You can’t buy a USED Mac for that money that will come close to competing with it.
I like Geekbench scores. They’re not perfect, but they’re pretty darn good. And GeekBench will give a computer two speed scores: a single core score, and a multi-core score. For the 2020 M1 Mac Mini, here are the scores:
2020 M1 Mac Mini
Single Core: 2344
Multi-Core: 8356
OK. Now let’s hop on over to my favorite used Mac website, Mac of All Trades. They aren’t the cheapest, but they come with a one year warranty, and you can buy another year for not much money. What type of computer can I get for $449?
If I want a used Mac Mini (that ISN’T an M1), here’s one for $400:
2018 Mac Mini 3.6GHz Quad-Core i3
Single Core: 1197
Multi-Core: 3560
OUCH! That’s not even close. It’s like twice as slow.
Also for $399 you can get a 2013 6 core Intel Xeon with similar performance to the above Mac Mini. Not a good deal. What about a MacBook Pro? Well, for a little over $450, you can get a 2016 Quad Core i7. It’s worse than the Mac Mini, with a single core score of 997 and a multi-core score of 3316.
For $449 right now, the Amazon 2020 Refurb Mac Mini is the best Mac you can get.