Knuckledragger

Oof. Had a death in the family today. My 2011 MacBook Pro went kaput last night (right in the middle of me watching an episode of Magnum PI. The 2011's video card failed a good many years ago (that series has notoriously bad graphics boards that all fail) and I got it repaired under AppleCare. The machine is now obviously no longer covered by AppleCare. Sometime in 2016 the keyboard failed on it, and I took that opportunity to buy a 2015 new old stock Macintop. Since then, the 2011 has been my "TV station," serving as a video and streaming media playback device. There is no good time to be in the market for a new Mac, but after some thought I think I'm going to shop for a 2014 Mini. It's got decent specs (depending on the specific model) and (much more importantly) it has REAL PORTS. HMDI, USB, optical out (? not sure if the 1/8" audio has optical as well) etc. There are a lot of places to buy used/refurb'd Minis. OWC sells ones they refurbish at what I perceive to be considerable markup. There's also Amazon's marketplace and eBay. I don't need a screaming fast one nor do I need a massive amount of storage (all my video files are on a network drive.) What I suspect I'll want is as much RAM as possible. MacOS is never not hungry for memory. There are some 2014s that have as little as 4GB memory. Ew. Any HCers have suggestions about what I should look for/avoid? I know the Mini is mighty popular around here, for good reason. It makes a great "home theater PC."

Sunrise Over Lower Manhattan. Click for slightly larger.

More like couch porn. (No, not like that.)

Test Tone @ Home live right now: http://mixlr.com/illuminator/chat

Falling sand in Upper Antelope Canyon, Arizona. NSFL.

Subwoofer, indeed.

Lighting storm over Bangkok, Thailand.

DIY.

I disagree completely. I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. The Milky Way over Crater Lake, Oregon.

Boat and Bridge in Tidelands Park in Coronado.

RIP Rutger Hauer. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-49098435

Vermillion Lake in Banff NP, Canada. Click for sightly larger. "Ocean's Forest" The imperial Beach Pier.

Miaugnum PI Lake Trillium, Oregon.

~$7 lbs, ~$19,000

MilkyWay in the French Calanques of Marseille. Click for slightly larger. Hell's Gate, Death Valley.

I have FLACs of a couple Redshift albums. As I've noted on Test Tone, rare ambient CDs are painfully expensive on the used market. The Wedge - Newport Beach, CA.