What's new

Upgrade now or save to buy an 2018 Mac Mini?

So I would suggest:

2) Save up for the Mac Pro (as long as it looks like its a good machine)
But there are SO many options available in between a 2012 Mac mini and a yet-to-be released Mac Pro, are there not?

Advocating for expandability is certainly a viable argument, insofar as it is actually needed and will get used. But you know, I’m now using a new 2019 iMac, and even with its “closed” architecture, I would still advocate this beast for a range of users' budgets and needs.

I see nothing in the OP’s decision making process that makes the case for why he should not work within his budget sooner, including his projected use, at a lesser expense than saving up for a Pro machine, even as the new Mac minis aren’t exactly cheap.

EDIT: In other words, I think your #1 piece of advice is good : )
 
Before anything, thanks to you all for all the great advices and points of view.

Today was a day of great news and projects and with it an opportunity to get the new Mini sooner (couple months) came.

In that case, i think i´ll just save money to get it asap and solve all my problems right now (not only ssd, but also processor, ram...).

Meanwhile, i´ll have the chance to check out the new mac pro, even knowing that this is just to delude myself. lol
 
So, from my understanding, regardless how many SSDs to buy, you would take the upgrade-now route instead of buying-new-computer-later. Am i right?

I can't answer that, but I will say that SSDs are a far bigger upgrade than a new computer, and you can use drives you buy now with your next machine.
 
I would wait for the Mac Pro Release, maybe the old one will have a big price drop.

Typically that hasn't happened with Macs.

But then "typically" they were out of date before you unpacked the carton, and now they're good for more than ten years.

Who knows. I think the old wisdom still applies: there's always a better one around the corner, so you update when your current toy doesn't do what you need it to and don't drive yourself crazy with buyer's remorse.
 
@musiccorner - have you tried loading the type and size of orchestral projects you are aiming for with the libraries and courses ? Maybe a good first step is loading up a big orchestral project, and seeing whether and where the machine starts wheezing - i.e. have you run into the 16GB RAM limit or the processor limit or both ? By the time you have done your testing, the new Mac Pro will be out. If nothing breaks sweat, then great - but if it does, you will have more info and people will be able to help you better. What do you think Nick ?
 
have you tried loading the type and size of orchestral projects you are aiming for with the libraries and courses ?

That's a good question and the answer is yes.

Basically, i can work on a section-by-section bases before i have to bounce everything in place. Almost every time i´ve tried was impossible to have multiple sections as midi and with lots of plugins. As i said originally, the "bounce in place" thing is not the end of the world to me, but i know its helpful to have the original tracks with its settings and midi files and be able to load an full template is a nice bonus. Again, take into consideration that i don't have any SSDs besides my 128GB fusion drive internally.

The same goes for large mixing projects (i work with bands too). Some plugins i just can't use like i´m supposed to (e.g. waves NLS on every single channel) and i have to be careful with my processing. I´m more of a mixer than anything, so i do a lot (automation, side chain, processing, fx and so on - most of my clients are modern pop / rock, wich asks fot that kinds of processing). 99% of my mixing projects only runs well with bounced in place files. I can only mix without this if its something light, like a singer / songwriter project.

Sometimes i have to bounce in place before my vocal recording sessions because the system is slow and crashes with clients watching.

Well, i think that sums it all!
 
SSDs helps with both performance and memory (because you can use smaller buffers)!

Wow!! That is new to me. And good to know!

Now I'm thinking...

Ok! The worst thing that can happen, as you already said, is the SSDs not solving the problem and i putting back the old ones to use the same SSDs with a new machine.

What i have to loose?

You've convinced me! I´ll take the SSD route first!!

Thank you Nick!
 
As I read this, the thing is even the new mac mini may not guarantee that you won't need to bounce tracks. In which case you would spend tons of money and still have basically the same issues. With kontakt the SSD changes things dramatically. I use something that can be equivalent to old mac mini but in PC world (HP elitedesk) and the one that has all SSD is super quick to use with kontakt. The one with harddrive takes forever to load kontakt libraries.
 
I am personally saving for a iMac i9 with 1 TB SSD, 8 GB RAM.

Upgrading to 64 GB Ram (2x 32 GB) - to give myself the option for an easy upgrade to 128 GB in the future. I think this machine will last for the next 5-8 years then.

And I am sure it will still be worth some good money.
 
What would you guys do:

1- MacMini 2018, everything maxed-up except RAM, which I will upgrade to 64GB by myself buying them at OWC

2- Do the same but with the iMac 27?
 
ridgero,
My plan was similar to yours until I was told about how noisy the fans are in the new iMac....The cooling system is not the same as the one in the iMac Pro.....Jim

I’ll probably do a mini, or build another PC....Apple has not done us musicians any favors in the last few years unless we pay top dollar .....PC’s continue to be a bargain $4$......Jim
 
@brunocoliveira @synthnut1

I just put SSD´s on my Mini (Late 2012). I wanted to start from scratch (to clean lots of things) so I´m reinstalling pretty much everything now. As soon as I got everything working fine, I´ll tell you how its working for me.
 
ridgero,
My plan was similar to yours until I was told about how noisy the fans are in the new iMac....The cooling system is not the same as the one in the iMac Pro.....Jim

I’ll probably do a mini, or build another PC....Apple has not done us musicians any favors in the last few years unless we pay top dollar .....PC’s continue to be a bargain $4$......Jim
Where are you getting your information? If you mean fans revving from thermal throttling, this seems to have been largely resolved for the 2019 iMac. Not just citing my experience, but there are a number of online demonstrations showing the improved efficiency, including one running a huge Logic template with tons of reverbs on each instance before the machine breaks a sweat.

While the cooling is different, I believe the new chip architecture is what is being touted as reducing the heat as well.

Anyway, the normal operating fan speed is slightly louder on my 2019 compared to my previous late 2014, but I barely hear it. Unless I’m only running one flute, maybe.

But if others are now reporting loud fans or throttling now with the 2019, I would be interested in hearing about this. As with anything new, some things may surface... I personally have been very happy with this beast.
 
Last edited:
I took my older iMac to Apple for repair....They don’t even have or allowed to use any disc repair or disc first aid in the Apple near me....They tell you how old your machine is and that it’s time for a new one....The iMac runs warm as it is.....The iMac pro has 2 internal cooling fans that run low speed and quiet...The standard iMac has only 1 so it will come on under load....Mac Rumors has some good threads about it.....
 
Something to consider with headless Macs: the newest ones can't work with OSs older than Mojave. This means that you will probably need a new monitor, since Mojave can't show clear fonts on non-Retina displays.

Paolo
 
I'm about to pull the trigger on a six core i7 Mini, currently have a maxed out 2012 2.3 Ghz quad mini.
With two hard drives(Data Doubler) 16 GB RAM.

Maybe because I have an Apollo I've never run out of CPU.
I also have a 2011 MBP Looks like I'd have to hack it to install Mojave, I just don't want to hack my main machine.

I will have to invest in a TB storage solution.
Could get away with an enclosure, I have a collection of FW800 drives that will work for the time being.
 
Top Bottom