How To Repurpose Old Mac Mini: 10 Beneficial Ways

You have three choices when buying a new Mac: sell it, trade it in, or keep it. While Macs generally hold their value well, some models are in higher demand than others. While MacBooks are selling well, there appears to be an abundance of utilized Mac Minis available. It’s likely worthless the trouble to sell a cheap Mac like the Mac mini, and Apple won’t offer you much for a trade-in.

Creative Uses

Why not hold onto an outdated Mac mini? Even if it’s past its prime, there are still a lot of reasonable applications for it. Here are several creative uses for an old Mac mini that you may have replaced with a more modern model.

In an emergency

Even though Apple products are incredibly dependable, accidents sometimes happen. For example, a Mac may fall off a desk, and everyone has heard of someone spilling liquids on a computer. Therefore, an outdated Mac mini can be a lifesaver and be of assistance while your primary Mac is in the shop healing from that accident.

As Outdated Software

There are situations in which a user is dependent upon software that is out-of-date or that the developer is no longer supporting. Likely, no updates will ever be made to the app that you customise.
In certain situations, you may utilize an old Mac mini. To access such old files and archives, keep outdated software and abandoned programs on it.

As a Test Machine

In an environment where several devices are linked together, such as printers, cameras, audio interfaces, scanners, etc., a macOS upgrade may occasionally (but not always) result in issues. Particularly if the device is more than a few years old and the vendor has stopped updating the drivers.

By using the old Mac mini as a PC to verify software update compatibility, you may save a lot of work.

As an Electronic Video Recorder

The Mac mini is an excellent tool for scheduling the recording of TV shows. Your Mac mini must, however, be running macOS 10.14 Mojave, which is the most latest edition of macOS that the EyeTV3 app is compatible with. You may locate more software that enables you to utilize your old Mac mini as a television.

As a Standalone Mac

Perhaps you’d want to keep your old Mac mini around as a backup computer, but you don’t want to have to set up a separate monitor, keyboard, and mouse for it. That requires a large amount of desk area. Nevertheless, you may operate the Mac mini remotely using the configuration on your main Mac.

As a Mac Used Only for Work

It could be a good idea to have a Mac for business and another for personal usage, depending on your use case. Hopefully, your employer gives you access to a work computer if you are employed there. However, a separate Mac for work makes further sense if they don’t and your company wants to install platform management tools or software that you must use. Having an independent work Mac might help keep your personal and professional data separate if you operate your firm.

Like a Blu-ray/DVD Player

Do you no longer have a working DVD player, but you still have an old collection of DVDs? Another useful tool is an outdated Mac mini. Mac mini models manufactured before 2010 come with an internal drive, but if yours is missing, you may purchase an inexpensive external USB drive. Audio and sound from the Mac will then be seen on your TV if you connect it via HDMI. It requires a mouse to operate.
The Mac no longer comes with a DVD player app, so don’t worry about that. Upon inserting a DVD, the application launches automatically.

Utilize the Old Mac Mini as a Media Hub

While utilizing the Mac mini as a media hub may seem outdated in the era of Netflix and Apple TV+, there are still several benefits to this setup. The Mac mini, which is linked to the TV using HDMI, is only intended to play music, video, and picture files. You may use a mouse, an iPhone app, or a specialized remote control to operate this Mac in place of a mouse and keyboard.

Serving as a Server for Caching

For a Mac Mini server, content caching is an intriguing feature. Even if it’s always the same operating system or software update, each of your devices has to obtain the necessary files from the network to perform iCloud synchronization and software upgrades. A cache server, a single network computer, can handle all of these downloads. Such a device would reduce bandwidth usage. Of course, this feature is especially helpful for businesses and educational institutions with unreliable internet connections, but it may also be helpful for families with many Macs and iOS devices.

As a Backup/Time Machine Server

You may also turn the old Mac mini into a Time Machine Server if it has enough storage capacity. Then, recoveries of several Macs are done across the network to this machine instead of a USB-connected storage device.

As a Windows Virtual Computer

You can utilize an old Mac mini (Intel-powered) as a Windows machine. Apple provides a highly user-friendly installation solution with Boot Camp, which lets you boot into either macOS or Windows at startup, for Mac minis manufactured before 2018. Only Windows 10 can be installed; the latest version of Windows 11 cannot. Windows 10 will be free to use until October 2025, at which point updates will be paid for. However, to run Windows on the M-Series Mac mini, virtual machine software is required.

As a Linux System

Using virtualization software, running Linux on an old Mac mini is the easiest method. Installing Linux straight on the ancient Mac mini can completely replace macOS with a little additional work.

As a File Server

An ancient Mac mini can function as a file server for shared files in a small business or on your home network. You can save files on the server for convenient access if you have content that you would like to share with people in your house or place of business.

In conclusion, even after its peak, an old Mac mini may still be put to a lot of good use. It’s a useful tool that you should always have on hand, whether you use it as a test device, media hub, or backup computer.