replace my mac mini

[RudyS]

l'm running Logic pro on my mac mini in my humble studio room. It is a late 2012 i5, which i updated tlo 16gb and ssd hard disk. It served me well, but nowaday's I am pushing the limits of the mini too often and really have to increase buffer size or freeze tracks. I think am not a really demanding user, no giga library's, or 100 tracks simultaneously. Just some plugings and recorded tracks.

 

What would be a wise option to update? Going for a new mac mini is quite expensive. Could I maybe go for an older Mac pro? how much will I gain when going for a late 2012 qua i7? I'm searching for the optimum between budget and performance.

[EscapeRocks]

before my new Mac Mini, I bought a used certified 2012 13"Macbook pro.

 

I installed 16gb, and added a total of 1TB SSD space (2 Samsung Evo 850 500gb)

 

ran great.

 

Now I run the new Mac mini with 32GB and 1 TB space in my live rig. Keyscape, etc. all run wonderfully.

[Biggles]

Not a lot of gain going for an old Mac.

 

I have friends with 10 year old Macs that are stuck with the OS pre Mojave and old software which in their case is FCPx.

 

I am in the UK and a new Mini is £2000 with 32Gb and 1Tb HD, the processor is 6 core so it would be very fast but in any Computer it is not just CPU it is RAM that matters.

 

You may get so cashback from Apple for a new Mini, over here they have been running the cashback option fir a few years now.

[Dr Mike Metlay]

I did a lot of research on this just recently. I elected to trick out a Mini from 2014 with a new SSD rather than trick out a Pro from 2012 with new EVERYTHING, just because eventually I want to be doing a lot with Thunderbolt and that's effectively an impossibility on a Pro (a TB card can't go faster than the PCIe bus speed, which is way slower than TB).

 

If you're not interested in TB, a sufficiently modern GPU card will allow you to run Mojave quite well; I know a couple of guys with screamin' Pros in their studios that went this route.

 

[dongna]

l'm running Logic pro on my mac mini in my humble studio room. It is a late 2012 i5, which i updated tlo 16gb and ssd hard disk. It served me well, but nowaday's I am pushing the limits of the mini too often and really have to increase buffer size or freeze tracks. I think am not a really demanding user, no giga library's, or 100 tracks simultaneously. Just some plugings and recorded tracks.

As a generally happy user of a 2012 i7 Mini with 16GB and still platter HD, I have to say I'm surprised you're having performance issues. Your machine is in no way a slacker.

 

[zephonic]

Could I maybe go for an older Mac pro?

 

As a happy "cheesegrater" owner, I would not recommend one this late in the game. They are officially "vintage" (read: obsolete), nothing newer than Sierra is supported (although you could make it work with a 3rd-party GPU), and newer VI's and plugins will soon bring it to its knees. A trashcan may be an option, but they are still pricey for what you get.

 

Establish your budget, and buy the baddest Mac you can afford, desktop or laptop. I'd look at the 16"MBP as a possible replacement, not quite iMacPro or MacPro power, but it seems to be the best bang for buck right now.

[SteveUK]

Not a lot of gain going for an old Mac.

 

I have friends with 10 year old Macs that are stuck with the OS pre Mojave and old software which in their case is FCPx.

 

I am in the UK and a new Mini is £2000 with 32Gb and 1Tb HD, the processor is 6 core so it would be very fast but in any Computer it is not just CPU it is RAM that matters.

 

You may get so cashback from Apple for a new Mini, over here they have been running the cashback option fir a few years now.

 

The RAM is user upgradeable on these so you would be bonkers to buy from apple. Get the 8gb version and buy the RAM from Crucial. About £120 vs the £540 apple want!

[RudyS]

Thanks everybody!

 

@dongna. I think the difference is just because my i5 is dual core and your i7 has an faster quad core.

 

@Mike, I'm not really using the TB, but I think maybe Menno has a point of the older pro's being vintage. Why are you voting for a 2014 mac mini? according to some benchmark site i saw, the 2014 i7 only is dual core and not as fast as the 2012 quad core. Or am I missing something? (i am a computer n00b...).

 

 

 

 

[Dr Mike Metlay]

Thanks everybody! @Mike, I'm not really using the TB, but I think maybe Menno has a point of the older pro's being vintage. Why are you voting for a 2014 mac mini? according to some benchmark site i saw, the 2014 i7 only is dual core and not as fast as the 2012 quad core. Or am I missing something? (i am a computer n00b...).

In my case, it's the kind of peripherals it supports. One Thunderbolt 1 port on the 2012 (I have this much on my MacBook Pro of that vintage), two Thunderbolt 2 ports on the 2014, which allows me to hook up a multiport dock with no performance hiccups. Its HDMI port will also support a 4K monitor, albeit at only 30 fps; this is vital to me, as my studio ergonomics force me to use one doublewide monitor rather than two smaller ones side by side. The on-chip graphics are also a bit better, and I need that because I do so much performing in Second Life.

 

On the flip side, the 2012 does have a bit more processor grunt (and heat that goes with it), and you can change both the RAM and the storage. On the 2014, RAM is soldered in, so you'd best be happy with what you bought (mine has 16 GB which is fine for me), but you can swap storage (I got mine super cheap because it only has a 256 GB SSD, which I will swap for a 1 TB Samsung EVO).

 

[Bobadohshe]

Could I maybe go for an older Mac pro?

 

As a happy "cheesegrater" owner, I would not recommend one this late in the game. They are officially "vintage" (read: obsolete), nothing newer than Sierra is supported (although you could make it work with a 3rd-party GPU), and newer VI's and plugins will soon bring it to its knees. A trashcan may be an option, but they are still pricey for what you get.

 

Establish your budget, and buy the baddest Mac you can afford, desktop or laptop. I'd look at the 16"MBP as a possible replacement, not quite iMacPro or MacPro power, but it seems to be the best bang for buck right now.

 

Well said. Plenty of videos on youtube about buying a $500 old cheesegrater and upgrading it with new CPUs, IO and GPUs, but it's like giving a 110 year old person a heart transplant. I say this as someone who owns a 2010 MacPro 5,5 cheesgrater myself and just 2 weeks ago finally decided to ditch it for something new after hours of research.

[RudyS]

Thanks everybody. As I see it now, I think I have two choices:

 

1) cheap option. Go for Mac mini 2012 i7. This will effectively cost me few hundred euro. Real question is if I gain something/enough?

 

2) bite the bullet. Go for a 2018 Mac mini i7 and upgrade the ram as much as I can. This will obviously cost more, but will keep me busy for a few years.

 

I might already know, but still would like to know what"s your opinion on this.

[dongna]

My understanding is 2018 Mac mini ram is not upgradeable (it's soldered in). That's the primary reason I purchased a 2012 mini as indicated in my earlier post.

 

I know you believe your performance is be hindered by the fact your current mini has an i5 processor-- and it may very well be-- but I've read that there's really not all that much difference between an i5 and an i7. I'm happy to be shown wrong on that, though.

[RudyS]

The 2018 mini is upgradable with new ram to my understanding.

 

Dongna, could you elaborate a bit on how demanding you use your machine?

[dongna]

Yes, sorry, I stand corrected on the RAM upgrade... apparently it was just the 2016 mini's where Apple soldered the memory in. I made the assumption that once they moved to soldered RAM they would never go back. But they must have seen the error of their ways and in fact gone back to replaceable RAM. From what I read, though, upgrading the 2018's is no easy task!

 

As for how I use my machine, it sounds like I use it much the same way you do-- that's what first prompted me to jump in on this thread. I run Logic, typically a dozen or so tracks, with a handful of VST's (although usually not all used at once). I'm not doing movie scores with 100 tracks for full orchestra or anything like that. I use it strictly for hobby purposes, not professionally. So while it sounded initially like our demands were similar, it's certainly possible my demands are not as high as yours?

[Biggles]

Sticking with new kit only, have you thought about simply buying an all in one Mac?

 

We have a 27' Mac with 1Tb fusion drive 16Gb RAM, the 4k image is stunning and it flies through the prime use I put it through which is video editing a process which is far more demanding than music creation.

 

Would probably work out cheaper than a new Mini plus upgrading its RAM.

[zephonic]

Could I maybe go for an older Mac pro?

 

As a happy "cheesegrater" owner, I would not recommend one this late in the game. They are officially "vintage" (read: obsolete), nothing newer than Sierra is supported (although you could make it work with a 3rd-party GPU), and newer VI's and plugins will soon bring it to its knees. A trashcan may be an option, but they are still pricey for what you get.

 

Establish your budget, and buy the baddest Mac you can afford, desktop or laptop. I'd look at the 16"MBP as a possible replacement, not quite iMacPro or MacPro power, but it seems to be the best bang for buck right now.

 

Well said. Plenty of videos on youtube about buying a $500 old cheesegrater and upgrading it with new CPUs, IO and GPUs, but it's like giving a 110 year old person a heart transplant. I say this as someone who owns a 2010 MacPro 5,5 cheesgrater myself and just 2 weeks ago finally decided to ditch it for something new after hours of research.

 

What did you end up getting? I remember you said iMac Pro in another thread, what spec?