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Hi,

I use a Mac Mini 16GB Ram and now it is not powerful enough.

Next December, Apple talks about the new iMac Pro with 64 GB Ram.

I wanted to buy the (new) Mac Pro 6 cores, 64GB Ram

What would you choose ?

Thanks !

Need Thunderbolt? If not, consider a 4,1 or 5,1 cMP and upgrade CPU to hex or dual-hex Xeon 3.33 or 3.46. Single-CPU 4,1s, which can be easily flashed to 5,1s, are now running under $400. Add a W3680 or 90 or X5680 or 90 for under $100 and you have quite a powerful Mac for very low cost.

Study this thread and links if interested, and note prices have dropped significantly since it was begun:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=58848

Also note that, when a 4,1 Mac Pro is flashed to 5,1, it becomes Sierra compatible, and should be High Sierra compatible as well.

If you wish to upgrade CPUs in a dual-CPU Mac Pro, I suggest buying a 5,1 to avoid the delidding requirement (dual CPU 4,1's used CPUs without IHS, the metal lid on top of the CPU). A maxed out 5,1 dual is very close in performance to the fastest 6,1.

If considering a 6,1 ('cause you need Thunderbolt), you may want to hold off (if you can) until the 7,1 Mac Pros are introduced in 2018. 6,1s should drop in price significantly at that time.

How do you use it? Your use of VIs will determine what kind of horsepower you need. Do you do any video editing?

Hi HCMarkus and thank you for your reply,

I got 2 (grey) MacPros some years ago and each time I got problems and one day they were dead !
I am sure the solution is good but I am not good at that.
Just want to buy a machine that works immediately and then I focused on music.
Thanks !

mikehalloran wrote:How do you use it? Your use of VIs will determine what kind of horsepower you need. Do you do any video editing?

Hi Mike,

Thank you for replying.

Until now I did music with my VIs in relation with the Mac.
The Mac is not powerful enough now and I want to write music and orchestrate it as I decide and the Mac must follow me.
And maybe 32 GB can be enough, I have no idea....
I never do any video editing no !

What do you think of a second hand Mac Pro (the black one) ?

Thank you !

You didn't answer my question except that a Mini isn't powerful enough. Neither was my 2010 iMac till I maxed out the RAM to 32G and upgraded to an internal SSD.

But I'm not you. What are you wanting to do and how do you want to do it?

Fo some, a 4 core iMac i7 is fine (the i7 runs DP much faster than the i5). Others need a 6 core or larger Mac Pro or the iMac Pro due in December. If using VIs, 32G RAM is probably the minimum to consider nowadays — do you really need 48 or 64?

The 6 core Mac Pro is available now. Good HDMI monitors are readily available and require inexpensive ($5) Mini DVI to HDMI adapters. You do not need TB monitors.

The base 8-core iMac Pro is said to be $5k. Fully loaded $17k according to the internet. And by Christmas, when they're suppose to ship, we may know more about the next gen modular Mac Pros that Apple has promised. Like many users here I suspect, my plan is to stick with my upgraded 5,1 Mac until we see what those nnMPs look like and then start strategizing. I'm also curious how quiet the iMacPros will be. They say the fans will be quiet, but they'll be just a couple feet away at ear level. ...I'm not sure any of this helps you faonfaon. Just a few things to consider.

dix wrote:The base 8-core iMac Pro is said to be $5k. Fully loaded $17k according to the internet.

I can only imagine that includes 2 additional 5K monitors and, what, 18 cores?

Still, adjusted for inflation, that's probably less than my $7K Mac + system cost me in 1986. I had a 20mB SCSI drive, a 25mbB tape backup and an ImageWriter II. I ran my business on that until MacInTax made it obsolete (1991, perhaps?).

I was not happy that a critical software upgrade rendered my hardware obsolete. Obviously, I got over that. My upgrades to my 6220, Beige G3 and G5 were all driven by the same reason (MacIntax/TurboTax).

I didn't wait for TurboTax before ditching the G5. The heat it generated once I was forced to work at a home office made me get rid of it. My in-law told me he was part of the engineering team that went with Intel because Apple couldn't keep the new G5s cool and the savings on my utilities bill paid for my iMac. My upgrades of my iMac and Time Capsules were also driven by heat—the resulting major performance increase was icing on the cake. Heat output will be a contributing factor to what's next.

Come to think of it, this 2010 iMac has had the longest run of any Mac I've owned and it may be next supper before I replace it. OK, I still have a working pair of G4s but those are for obsolete legacy apps and files so they do not count.

mikehalloran wrote:You didn't answer my question except that a Mini isn't powerful enough. Neither was my 2010 iMac till I maxed out the RAM to 32G and upgraded to an internal SSD.

But I'm not you. What are you wanting to do and how do you want to do it?

Fo some, a 4 core iMac i7 is fine (the i7 runs DP much faster than the i5). Others need a 6 core or larger Mac Pro or the iMac Pro due in December. If using VIs, 32G RAM is probably the minimum to consider nowadays — do you really need 48 or 64?

The 6 core Mac Pro is available now. Good HDMI monitors are readily available and require inexpensive ($5) Mini DVI to HDMI adapters. You do not need TB monitors.

Hi Mike,

Sorry if I didn't answer your question.
Your question was : How do you use your Mini, right ?
I use it to orchestrate and do my job. And again, the Mini is a good machine but my projects are more important than what it can offers. The maximum Ram in a Mini is 16 GB and my problem was that I needed to adapt myself to the possibilities of the machine. I mean that I decided to use less tracks to be compatible with the Mini. But working like that is not good !
I want (and it was the question in my post) a machine that keeps me free to work on a project even if it is a big one and not be dependent on a not powerful Mac.
That's why I want to buy a Mac Pro 64 GB Ram.
And I am interested to get advices from people because (I don't know), maybe my choice is not the right one.
Hope to have been clear ?

Thanks !