Yes, and it's probably worth it.

The Late 2012 Mac Mini is one of the last user-serviceable models. 2x8GB SODIMMs will work fine with macOS Monterey via OCLP — no special tricks needed.

For general use (browsing, email, light office work), going from 8GB to 16GB is noticeable. You’ll keep more tabs open without swapping, and apps like Slack or Teams won’t choke your machine. The $30-40 you’ll spend on used RAM is cheap insurance.

The caveat: this machine is twelve years old. OCLP patches are not magic. Even with 16GB, heavy tasks like video editing or modern web apps will feel sluggish. But for everyday stuff, the RAM upgrade extends its useful life a couple more years.

Your bigger limitation is the soldered-storage situation. If you’re still on a spinning hard drive, upgrade to an SSD first — that’s a bigger speed boost than RAM. If you’ve already done that, the RAM is the next best move.

Future You will thank you for not buying a new Mac just yet.