SOUND ON SOUND

[bigfox2]

After watching, I have a couple questions. How much of a difference will I see in Pro Tools/Logic in 4 core vs. 6 core?

Secondly, is this machine better than the current iMacs? A friend tells me they do not make Mac Minis to be powerful desktops and I should buy either an iMac or an iMac Pro. I told him the new Mac Minis look like beasts, but now I'm doubting.

Thanks a lot.

[redlester]

Secondly, is this machine better than the current iMacs?

If you want a desktop but don't need to buy a screen, it's no contest!

[Humble Bee]

Great!
More than I need!
:thumbup:

But them SDDs are very expensive! Jeez!
Bet they are soldered to. I sort of wanted 1TB... Hmm. May be an external SDD... and 512 internal... or is 256 enough?

The RAM is user upgradable yes?

[ConcertinaChap]

Am not sure yet that it is user upgradeable. Have seen nothing to say that it is, unless I missed it.

The tech specs use the phrase "configurable to" - which is Apple speak for "no, it isn't" - for everything including RAM.

The pricing leaves me not uncomfortable with my iMac Pro :), but in a year or two I could easily see me getting one of these to replace my wife's ageing 2011 Mac Mini.

CC

[ConcertinaChap]

A friend tells me they do not make Mac Minis to be powerful desktops and I should buy either an iMac or an iMac Pro. I told him the new Mac Minis look like beasts, but now I'm doubting.

Well, we're your friends too, I hope ... they do look like beasts. The integrated Intel graphics are possibly the weakest link if you're a gamer but for the likes of us there's plenty of power and plenty of resolution there. As a very happy iMac pro owner, well I don't use anything like the power there except when I'm running multiple virtual machines which I only do now because I can.

CC

[Luke W]

The tech specs use the phrase "configurable to" - which is Apple speak for "no, it isn't" - for everything including RAM.

Does look like that may be the case, hardly a shock at this point though I suppose. Bit of a shame still as the cost of the RAM is still insane, maxing it out would roughly double the cost of the machine I just spec'd up!

Still though, when compared to the price of a current Mac Pro, and assuming the new ones when they release will be in a similar range, this new mini could prove to be a decent choice for me when I decide to head back towards a desktop.

[bigfox2]

Thanks for all the detailed answers, friends! I guess my follow-up is if I indeed do have a monitor, would you buy an iMac for music production or the new Mac Mini?

[Humble Bee]

It looks like the RAM is user upgradable according to a lot of comments on the web. Can any expert confirm this...

:?

[ConcertinaChap]

Thanks for all the detailed answers, friends! I guess my follow-up is if I indeed do have a monitor, would you buy an iMac for music production or the new Mac Mini?

If we're talking about similar specs otherwise I'd be inclined towards the Mac Mini. Reason being I got an iMac a good few years back and which lasted me quite a while too. When it eventually failed it was the screen itself which was no longer in stock with Apple, so of course the whole machine was scrapped. That turned me off all-in-ones a bit. (Yet here I am with another one. Rational? Me?)

CC

[redlester]

It looks like the RAM is user upgradable according to a lot of comments on the web. Can any expert confirm this...
?

Think am right in saying the last model, the 2014, wasn’t user upgradable? So if they had reversed that policy I would have expected them to have it right at the top of their marketing headlines, not leaving half the world debating whether it is or not.
I will be very surprised if it is.

[Jumpeyspyder]

Yes, RAM is upgradable, (just looked at the pics on the applestore )

[Jorge]

Quote from ZDNet,
https://www.zdnet.com/article/the-new-2 ... y-package/
"Yes, Mac mini is configurable up to 64GB and uses industry-standard DDR4 SO-DIMMs. While we don't consider the memory directly end-user accessible, service providers can access the internals of the Mac mini to upgrade the memory."

Quote from Appleinsider,
https://appleinsider.com/articles/18/10 ... e-and-more
"The slots are SO-DIMM slots, and are mostly accessible to the user. In conversations with Apple corporate employees, we've been told that users with a "modicum of skill" can get to the pair of RAM slots." They also mention that the SSD is not user changeable, so you have to use external SSDs for drive expansion.

[Humble Bee]

This leads me to want:

i7
512 gb SDD
8gb ram

£ 1'360 (converted from chf 1'737,80)

Add 32 gb ram ($330 OWC macsales.com)

Add external SDD (here I don't have a clue what to get but a 2x1TB SDD enclosure on TB3 ? Any recommendations appreciated)

I like the fact that there is normal USB connections.

And is that 4 independent TB 3 busses?

So now who will have to wait until Christmas? Apple or the taxman? :tongue:

[ConcertinaChap]

Add external SDD (here I don't have a clue what to get but a 2x1TB SDD enclosure on TB3 ? Any recommendations appreciated)

I recently got this Inateck drive enclosure and fitted it with two Samsung 1TB SSDs. You can use them in a RAID configuration but I've just got them as two separate drives. It's USB 3.1 Gen 2 so will use one of your TB3 ports. It's pretty fast and I like it; a true TB3 unit using Nvme rather than SATA would be quite a bit faster but also a lot more expensive - you wouldn't believe how eye-wateringly much.

CC

[Forum Admin]

You can save a few hundred quid by getting your own RAM.

Are we 100% sure the RAM is user-upgradeable? I'd heard it was Apple Store option only? I'd love to be wrong...

And I don't need a big SSD either...

With 4 Thunderbolt 3/USB-C ports, you can hang plenty of [lower-cost than Apple Store?] storage off that. You'd only need a bigger internal SSD if you were using it in mobile situations.

[redlester]

Are we 100% sure the RAM is user-upgradeable? I'd heard it was Apple Store option only? I'd love to be wrong...

We will only be 100% sure once there is mention of it either way on this page.
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT205041

I think it's a bit poor that they haven't been clear on this. They must know it would be a huge question on everyone's mind for probably the majority of the Mac Mini's target customers.

[Dave B]

WRT RAM : So, after working on a mini (badly) myself, I think I understand the whole apple-speak thing. Apple pack things in to those minis and the ram will be accessible only after doing some unscrewing and removing of other stuff (like the fan). In their eyes, this makes it something that it would take a service engineer to do. Having broken a connector on mine, I have some sympathy with this point of view.

If that's the case, even paying a qualified engineer to do the job still works out much cheaper than buying ram at Apple's prices...

[Forum Admin]

WRT RAM : So, after working on a mini (badly) myself, I think I understand the whole apple-speak thing. Apple pack things in to those minis and the ram will be accessible only after doing some unscrewing and removing of other stuff (like the fan). In their eyes, this makes it something that it would take a service engineer to do. Having broken a connector on mine, I have some sympathy with this point of view.

If that's the case, even paying a qualified engineer to do the job still works out much cheaper than buying ram at Apple's prices...

That used to be the way, but if they've moved to soldered-on RAM, then you'll probably void your warranty and realistically it's therefore not a typical user's option.

[redlester]

WRT RAM : So, after working on a mini (badly) myself, I think I understand the whole apple-speak thing. Apple pack things in to those minis and the ram will be accessible only after doing some unscrewing and removing of other stuff (like the fan). In their eyes, this makes it something that it would take a service engineer to do. Having broken a connector on mine, I have some sympathy with this point of view.

If that's the case, even paying a qualified engineer to do the job still works out much cheaper than buying ram at Apple's prices...

Agree, but they need to be 100% clear on what does or doesn't invalidate the warranty.

I suppose even if it's Apple Store only, if it can be done retrospectively that's better than nothing as it gives the option to spend more on the processor then save up for their extortionate memory upgrade at a later date.

[Forum Admin]

I suppose even if it's Apple Store only, if it can be done retrospectively that's better than nothing as it gives the option to spend more on the processor then save up for their extortionate memory upgrade at a later date.

:D Indeed.

Should we start a campaign on the UK.gov website to try to get over 100,000 people to vote for Apple to give a free 64Gb i7 Mac Mini with every iPhone purchase, so that Parliament (those folks in the chambers, not the funkadelic crew) will have to debate it? :bouncy: