2018 Mac Mini

[keyman_sam]

I had some fun at apple yesterday comparing the new Mac Mini 6core config to my 2018 15" maxed-out MBP. The results ... with the "new logic benchmark test" as found on gearslutz the Mac mini underperformed across the board not by much but it did, which is expected as its more than half the price. In this specific test I was able to enable and play 54 tracks at 44.1k 128 medium buffer with the Mac mini before cpu errors. With my MBP I was able to play 72 tracks with the same settings. Now keep in mind this is a specific logic benchmark stress test, it isn't outlining max track count etc. its just a baseline you can compare Macs across the board that push the CPU cores. I think each track consists of sculptor with logics heaviest plugins, as inserts: multipresser, sample delay, reverb, etc.

If anyone is interested in running it you can download it here :
https://www.gearslutz.com/board/app...rk-replace-dated-evans-test.html#post13485908

Now next to the baseline iMac Pro (8core) the MBP was destroyed. We hit something like 180+ track playback before it seized up with the same settings. Goes to show you the power of that processor and machine, if only you weren't stuck with that display and form factor, I would have purchased that!

Anywho thought id share-

This is for the i3 or the i7? It sounds more like the i3.

 

[OleJoergensen]

i have a Mac Pro with only 256GB internal SSD space. in the beginning i wasn't sure if such a small system drive would turn out to be a good idea. Now, 3 years later all I can say is that I will never waste money again on a big system drive from Apple. your point about room for workspace is valid but then, I found that I naturally put things where the space is. usually i still have around 100GB free on the internal drive. the rest of my data is on a single 10GB SSD RAID.

I have 128 GB system drive on my Mac pro which is more than enough. And after it is possible to move Logic’s library to external drive it is like.....huge .

 

[Nmargiotta]

This is for the i3 or the i7? It sounds more like the i3.

The i5 actually. The i7 wasn’t available in store.

 

[tav.one]

The i5 actually. The i7 wasn’t available in store.

It needs to be customised through Apple website.

 

[Nick Batzdorf]

Microsoft offers full support and updates for any installation as long as you own Windows legitimately.

Apple on the other hand does not.

Well, I mean, yeah. But isn't that the whole point?

Steve Jobs' first move when he returned to Apple over 20 years ago was to get rid of the Mac clones and make Apple's products unique, rather than generic commodity computers. And it's safe to say that his marketing strategy was somewhat successful, starting with the iMac, then iPod, iPhone, iPad, MacBook Air...

As to being able to upgrade machines yourself: I had time to kill at Best Buy earlier this week (having an iPhone battery replaced before the price goes up at the end of the year), so I looked around the store.

They had a whole bunch of "all-in-one" computers, which of course are iMac copies. Those aren't going to let you put in generic components to customize them, and neither are MacBook Air laptop copies. I don't remember seeing any Mac Mini copies, but anything that has everything packed tightly is going to be similarly hard to service.

I kvetch about Apple's Mac line-up all the time, and I agree with the previous posts complaining about the black Mac Pro. But I don't complain that I can't swap components in my 11" MacBook Air.

 

[Nick Batzdorf]

I will never waste money again on a big system drive from Apple

From Apple, no way, but I've used up about 500 of the 525GB on my system drive - and it's mostly stuff I need on there.

 

[simsung]

i did the jump from nmp 6 core high sierra cubase9.5 to mac mini 6 core cubase x on mojave.
i expected many problems with the new OSX and the new Cubase, but ....pheww - what an upgrade.
i upgraded the ram myself, so the total costs for the whole macmini package are pretty low - for a mac. i didnt do a performance test since i had projects i had to work on. but those worked flawless.
another "upgrade" i did was to not uninstall unused plugins and samplelibraries. especially V9 waves plugins caused crashes in cubase - now it runs perfect and significant faster!
cheers

 

[Soundhound]

Anybody have experience yet in comparing 2018 mac mini performance vs 2013 nMP 8 10 or 12 core?

 

[simsung]

Anybody have experience yet in comparing 2018 mac mini performance vs 2013 nMP 8 10 or 12 core?

what kind of performance do you mean? in a specific daw or something else?
ie. my geekbench results are:
nmp 6core 64gbram: 3869 single, 18776 multi
nmp 8core 64gbram: 3790 single, 24156 multi
macmini 6core 32gbram: 5551single, 23980 multi

 

[Soundhound]

Yes what i meant was in a daw. I’m mostly in Logic, but experience in any of the major ones would be great to hear about. Thanks for boosting your geek bench results, those look very close to what has been posted on the geek bench site?

what kind of performance do you mean? in a specific daw or something else?
ie. my geekbench results are:
nmp 6core 64gbram: 3869 single, 18776 multi
nmp 8core 64gbram: 3790 single, 24156 multi
macmini 6core 32gbram: 5551single, 23980 multi

 

[Nmargiotta]

Yes what i meant was in a daw. I’m mostly in Logic, but experience in any of the major ones would be great to hear about. Thanks for boosting your geek bench results, those look very close to what has been posted on the geek bench site?

thanks for posting! Have you tried the logic benchmark? Id be curious of your results! Its fantastic to see a machine at that price point and form factor perform so well. Just think. this time next year the 2019 Mac Pro will be out, cant wait to finally see what they have in store...besides an assumed hefty price tag

 

[JPQ]

How many memory modules is these new mac minis?

 

[Chris Hurst]

How many memory modules is these new mac minis?

Two slots I believe

 

[Soundhound]

i don’t have a 2018 mac mini, hoping for more info here. i’m also very interested to see what the next mac pro is, but i’m assuming i’ll have to sell my first born child to get one. i’ve made worse deals

thanks for posting! Have you tried the logic benchmark? Id be curious of your results! Its fantastic to see a machine at that price point and form factor perform so well. Just think. this time next year the 2019 Mac Pro will be out, cant wait to finally see what they have in store...besides an assumed hefty price tag

 

[JaikumarS]

Mac mini 2018 Update - Audio Production


"For those curious about how the new Mac mini performs, so far it is taking everything I can throw at it. I have the fully upgraded 6-core i7 with 64GB ram. I set up some moderately demanding Cubase sessions and was able to run the buffer at 64. I wish I had tested the iMac Pro so I could be more precise, but it feels very close in performance.
You may have heard there was some CPU throttling, and there is definitely some when exporting video. But when running a real time process like audio, the primary core seems to be able to run at an almost constant turbo boost of 4.2 gHz. But beware - because of that, the fan is often spinning at high volume. It's quieter than the 2017 5k iMac, but louder than the iMac Pro. You'd definitely want it isolated from you if tracking in the same room.
On board SSD speeds are at about 2.5 GB/S (about the same as the iMac Pro).
It's crazy what can be done, now, with such small packages. No more VSL, no more slave machines, just one 2 inch by 8 inch slab of aluminum.


DAW - Cubase Pro
Kontakt Instances 50 (So basically one can have about 50x16 = 800 tracks - Kontakt MultiOut)
Thunderbolt screens - 3"

I found this on facebook so I thought I'll share it here...

 

[Neifion]

Mac mini 2018 Update - Audio Production


"For those curious about how the new Mac mini performs, so far it is taking everything I can throw at it. I have the fully upgraded 6-core i7 with 64GB ram. I set up some moderately demanding Cubase sessions and was able to run the buffer at 64. I wish I had tested the iMac Pro so I could be more precise, but it feels very close in performance.
You may have heard there was some CPU throttling, and there is definitely some when exporting video. But when running a real time process like audio, the primary core seems to be able to run at an almost constant turbo boost of 4.2 gHz. But beware - because of that, the fan is often spinning at high volume. It's quieter than the 2017 5k iMac, but louder than the iMac Pro. You'd definitely want it isolated from you if tracking in the same room.
On board SSD speeds are at about 2.5 GB/S (about the same as the iMac Pro).
It's crazy what can be done, now, with such small packages. No more VSL, no more slave machines, just one 2 inch by 8 inch slab of aluminum.


DAW - Cubase Pro
Kontakt Instances 50 (So basically one can have about 50x16 = 800 tracks - Kontakt MultiOut)
Thunderbolt screens - 3"

I found this on facebook so I thought I'll share it here...

Do you happen to be using an eGPU? Curious to know if it improves performance outside of video/graphics.

 

[Andrew Aversa]

I kvetch about Apple's Mac line-up all the time, and I agree with the previous posts complaining about the black Mac Pro. But I don't complain that I can't swap components in my 11" MacBook Air.

This is truly a baffling point of view. Why on earth would you possibly want your device to be LESS serviceable and MORE expensive to upgrade? There is absolutely 0 benefit to this. It's worse for the environment, it's worse for the consumer, literally the only entity that it helps is the planet's richest corporation - who, I might add, has done a wonderful job evading taxes all over the globe. Not to mention the aforementioned anti-consumer litigation to try and prevent people from repairing their own devices (see: "right to repair" controversy).

Apple themselves had far more upgradeable machines just a few years ago. There is no technological or engineering reason why their new devices were changed, other than to further squeeze consumers into purchasing expensive AppleCare plans and 1st party service. This has nothing to do with build quality, either; independent repair shops like Louis Rossmann's (who actually benefit from Apple devices being harder to repair, as it drives business) have clearly demonstrated that 'anti-service' changes have been wholly unnecessary, while build quality has not improved (see: the many thermal issues affecting recent Mac products.)

Yes, some PC manufacturers make difficult-to-service hardware. The difference is, again, that you can get a Windows machine without buying from one of those manufacturers. Also, even laptops of a similar form factor to Macbooks are in fact much more serviceable. There are no comparably un-repairable machines to Apple products.

 

[Nick Batzdorf]

Now compare that $4200 machine to a similar Mac Pro (the one they're selling now) with 64MB of third-party RAM.

Depending on the processor, it's about the same price.

 

[galactic orange]

Now compare that $4200 machine to a similar Mac Pro (the one they're selling now) with 64MB of third-party RAM.

Depending on the processor, it's about the same price.

Yes, and double the RAM for half the price.

 

[Nick Batzdorf]

This is truly a baffling point of view. Why on earth would you possibly want your device to be LESS serviceable and MORE expensive to upgrade? There is absolutely 0 benefit to this.

It's not that I *want* it to be less serviceable and more expensive (actually all but impossible) to upgrade.

The point is that I'm willing to put up with everything being packed closely and permanently in a very small computer that I only use for normal computer things when I travel. Same with my iPhone and iPad; if that's the tradeoff, okay.

But I'm NOT willing to put up with that in a studio machine. In other words, I was kvetching about the Mac Mini.