Mac Mini advice

[Chris T]

I need some Mac Mini advice. NOTE: my actual questions are at the very bottom (if you don’t want to trudge through this longwinded post.). My current rig is:

Mac Pro (2013 Trashcan, 2,.7 GHz, 12-core 64GB RAM - OS10.14.6).
2 x Mac Minis (2011, 16GB RAM each - OS10.13.6).

I’m 100% SSD drives. I run Digital Performer 10 and VE Pro 7 on my main Mac Pro. I host ALL synths / VIs and a million plugins, reverbs etc. on the Mac Pro. I also host video on my Mac Pro and Mix directly in DP, which works great.

Since I like having a MEGA template (from my years of doing big orchestral mockups + synths + big perc etc), I host my orchestra (Strings, Brass, WW) on the 2 slave Mac Minis. However, since they had the annoying 16GB RAM limit (back in 2011!), I had to host my orchestral perc on the main Mac. This rig has worked out very well for several years.

Until the other day when one of my Mac Minis died (Da-da-daaaaa!). I think it was a failing fan (bad noise) that caused overheating and constant shutdowns.

Regardless of whether I can fix the Mini (which I prob won’t bother), it’s definitely time I upgraded them. While in an ideal world I would just splurge $20k+ and get the NEW Mac Pro with a million GB of RAM, and be done with the slaves, I still believe that my best option (both from a financial and practical standpoint) is to get 1 (or 2) new Mac minis and max out the RAM in each. This should give me plenty of headroom for my full orch template, then leave plenty of room/juice on my Mac Pro to host my myriad synths etc.

Maxed-out Mac Mini = $3,000 (64GB RAM)

( For those wondering, I used to use Windows on PCs (in the old Gigastudio days), but I gave up years ago (I guess Vista was my last straw!). I really don’t want to go the PC route, even though I know it’s way more bang for the buck. Generally speaking I find the Mac OS easier and more reliable. )


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My questions are:

1. Does anyone have the NEW Mac Mini, and if so, how are they?

2. I’m just using the Minis to run VEPro 7 which will host my orchestral libraries in Kontakt 6 (mostly Cinematic Strings, Cinesamples wind, brass, some 8Dio, Symphobia etc). I DO NOT run any plugins / reverbs on the minis. All that is on my Mac Pro.
- With this in mind, which Processor would you receommend? (Quad-core / Six-core / speed?)

3. Any downside (as far as heating / headroom etc.) if I max out the RAM and SSD sizes?

4. Would the 10GB Ethernet give me better MIDI / Audio ‘throughput’, or is that redundant for our usages?

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Muchas gracias!

[mikehalloran]

Many threads on this topic. Think of the Mini, T2 MBP, iMac Pro and MP 7.1 as trucks. If you need a truck, get a truck.

You absolutely want 10GB Ethernet. 10GBe T2 equipped Macs can be combined through the T2 chip to form monster computers. Apple demonstrated stacks of 5, 10 & 20 Minis crunching single AV files when the 2018 Mini was released (those stacks not being controlled by an iMac Pro were using eGPU). According to Apple, this is not possible with the Gigabit Ethernet versions of the Mini. Think of it as future expandability for $100.

[mothra]

1. Yep. Replaced my six core 2010 Mac Pro and I love it. Logic Pro performance is slightly better CPU wise over the older Xeon, but Logic doesn't randomly stop and overload on me anymore like it did after the last Logic update on the Pro. To be fair, Im working on tracks right now that were in progress on the Pro already. These particular songs, the CPU meter dropped maybe a hair. I haven't tried pushing the Mini to see if it will last longer than the Pro though, I have no need to in my actual "work" so haven't bothered yet.

2. For this generation, get the i7. Its the only one with hyper-threading if you need it, and you might as well just get it if you can afford it.

3. Mines got 16GB in it with the stock 500GB SSD. It will get pretty warm when you push it, but the case is the heatsink, its part of the thermal design. Doing regular old every day crap, its room temp right now. Logic might start doing it once I start throwing on 50 SSL channel strip plugins and turning all the comps on, but its games that really do it. The internal graphics suck for anything remotely intensive. Battletech, which isn't the most graphically fantastic game, ran like liquid on my Pro with the Radeon RX570 at 4K and full graphics on. On the Mini, the whole game dragged to a halt. Kinda like trying to run Doom 2016 on a P200 with an ATI Rage card. Baldur's Gate, good old 2D iso RPG, works beautifully, but the Mini gets toasty after about an hour or so. Not scalding, burn off your skin hot, but its definitely soaking up some CPU heat. Its normal, its fine. Ive still never heard the fan come on once either. If it has, its quieter than the dual hard drive enclosure sitting right next to my Mini. Ive never noticed it, and the Mini and the drive enclosure are sitting right behind the MPC in front of me on my desk.

4. If you're using some sort of audio/MIDI protocol that goes over ethernet than yeah it will. Otherwise its just going to make your internet faster if you have an ISP connection that's over 1GBit (and your router supports 10GBit). If you dont use ethernet, it doesn't matter. You can always save the $100 and buy a USB-C-> 10GBit adapter later if you do need one.

[mikehalloran]

The reason to go 10GBe on any Mini is that you might replace that MP 6.1 someday.

a) A base level iMac Pro runs circles around it and has much better GPU. These show up in the Refurb Store a lot these days.
https://www.apple.com/shop/refurbished/ ... ro-mac-pro

b) Instead if an iMP, you could add another Mini. Although the Mini's GPU is more than adequate for DP, you could add eGPU if doing any serious AV rendering or needed to run a few monitors as some of us do.

Some CAT 7 and a 10G hub would turn any such combo into something far more powerful than the Master/Slave setup you have now.

[bayswater]

I got the Mini soon after the release. I have the i7 6 core, and put 32G in myself. I got the minimal internal SSD and add externals through inexpensive hubs where needed. Mike has noted a few things I can't do with this setup, but these are of no consequence to me.

This replaced an old iMac, and it's good enough that I simply don't think about it. It just works, as they say on TV. Maybe it gets hot, I don't know, but I know that I never hear fans, which was the big problem with the iMac when the plugin count got up. I can do hundreds of tracks, hundreds of plugins and a few dozen VIs without fuss or bother.

Possible disadvantages I've seen: the graphics is not gaming speed, and very old bluetooth stuff doesn't work. You won't be able to play fortnite with your old joystick while the guitarist does his 182 looped solo takes.

[mikehalloran]

… You won't be able to play fortnite with your old joystick while the guitarist does his 182 looped solo takes.