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Post by mikec on Mar 27, 2020 11:11:18 GMT -6
I have a 2012 quad core i7 Mac mini and was using a Samsung 34 inch computer monitor. It is nice, but I wanted something larger so I went with a 50 inch Samsung 4k TV. I love it so far. The resolution is great, I don't have any video lag and its easy to see from all over the room. I mounted it with a Kanto PMX 700 mount that extends up to 31 inches and swivels in multiple directions so it makes it easy to get it exactly where I want it. I was impressed that I could finally see the numbers on all of the eq knobs in Mixbus 32c.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 27, 2020 11:59:13 GMT -6
How are the thermals on a pimped out 2020 Mini? Most of the time, with poorly recorded digititus metal, I drive all of my CPUs hard with distortion and color plugs on every channel, amp sims, tons of nice compressors, and hate to render. Is Mac Mini better than building low DPC latency AMD Windows build in 2020? I'll lose access to the addictive Variety of Sound plugins I've used for years, but that's not the end of the world. Most of my rescue mixes have well over a hundred plugins if I don't render. I only like rendering to commit. I'm a Mac guy, but I can't imagine running a Mac Mini would be better than an AMD Windows build in terms of performance or $. There are plenty of reasons people stick with Macs, but high performance and low cost are not two of them. Now, a new Mac Pro is certainly high performance, but definitely not low cost... Yeah I was just curious for a dedicated small daw setup to avoid windows weirdness and just use plug and play Mac thunderbolt interfaces. I don’t even know if the current mini is using real desktop cpus. Catalina and potential thermal issues leave me worried. |
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Post by drumsound on Mar 27, 2020 12:20:35 GMT -6
I bought an HDMI Samsung monitor when I put the rig together. I think is 22". I wish I had gone with a wall mount with a swing arm. Its just behind the meter bridge on a plant stand. Its worked well for many years, but as I start using reading glasses more and more, I wish it were closer to me and the keyboard.
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Post by wiz on Mar 27, 2020 16:05:40 GMT -6
Thank you everyone
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Post by kcatthedog on Mar 27, 2020 16:23:44 GMT -6
If you guys haven’t run a well specced new Mac mini, I wouldn’t be so fast to count it out?
I know Drew got one early and did some stress testing of it and he was running some crazy size sessions and plugs and it didn’t hiccup.
Maybe he will chime in as he has had it about a year now .
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Post by sirthought on Mar 28, 2020 2:18:02 GMT -6
Yeah I was just curious for a dedicated small daw setup to avoid windows weirdness and just use plug and play Mac thunderbolt interfaces. I don’t even know if the current mini is using real desktop cpus. Catalina and potential thermal issues leave me worried. The Minis use desktop chips to my knowledge. I wouldn't even know how to answer someone who asked about their thermals, and I've even built a computer. Who would know? I do know my 2009 MBP used to get super hot and the fans kicked on with an i7. But that was ages ago for chips. I have read about people with i7s in 2017 iMacs having fan/heat issues. But these guys with the Minis in their studios always say the fan isn't a big issue. |
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Post by the other mark williams on Mar 29, 2020 1:42:28 GMT -6
I'm a Mac guy, but I can't imagine running a Mac Mini would be better than an AMD Windows build in terms of performance or $. There are plenty of reasons people stick with Macs, but high performance and low cost are not two of them. Now, a new Mac Pro is certainly high performance, but definitely not low cost... Yeah I was just curious for a dedicated small daw setup to avoid windows weirdness and just use plug and play Mac thunderbolt interfaces. I don’t even know if the current mini is using real desktop cpus. Catalina and potential thermal issues leave me worried. The current Mac Minis are great, by almost any audio need. The processor does get throttled down to avoid heat overload. The good: 2 Thunderbolt busses (with 2 ports each), 10gig Ethernet, small form factor. The bad: 1. you can’t upgrade the graphics card. The eGPU route is annoying because you then have a new box on your desk that’s noisier than the computer. And at this point, eGPUs are not as fast as they are when put internally. 2. Putting a new hard drive in is, I think, fairly complicated. 3. Putting in new RAM can be done, but it’s a real process with a lot of steps to teardown. 4. No i9 option. At least I think that’s true. But if you’re not doing a lot of video with effects and color grading and 3D titles and stuff, it seems to be a really nice computer. Should be really nice for audio, once you get your external drive array figured out. Some big plugs will still likely give it a run for its money, but the vast majority of plugs should be fine. |
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Mar 29, 2020 10:14:13 GMT -6
Before I would jump on a New Mac Mini, and I have owned 3 minis, I would take a serious look at a used Trashcan Mac Pro! The original Mini was a great easily upgradable machine, with crappy graphics. The current mini is a PITA to upgrade with crappy graphics.
This brings up a point I have always Ben courious about, why doesn’t apple mount all the I/O on the IMac on the base where it would clean up the desk top?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 29, 2020 13:32:46 GMT -6
Yeah I was just curious for a dedicated small daw setup to avoid windows weirdness and just use plug and play Mac thunderbolt interfaces. I don’t even know if the current mini is using real desktop cpus. Catalina and potential thermal issues leave me worried. The current Mac Minis are great, by almost any audio need. The processor does get throttled down to avoid heat overload. The good: 2 Thunderbolt busses (with 2 ports each), 10gig Ethernet, small form factor. The bad: 1. you can’t upgrade the graphics card. The eGPU route is annoying because you then have a new box on your desk that’s noisier than the computer. And at this point, eGPUs are not as fast as they are when put internally. 2. Putting a new hard drive in is, I think, fairly complicated. 3. Putting in new RAM can be done, but it’s a real process with a lot of steps to teardown. 4. No i9 option. At least I think that’s true. But if you’re not doing a lot of video with effects and color grading and 3D titles and stuff, it seems to be a really nice computer. Should be really nice for audio, once you get your external drive array figured out. Some big plugs will still likely give it a run for its money, but the vast majority of plugs should be fine. Throttling and thermal issues ugh. That’s what the MacBook Pros do when under load now. |
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Post by mikec on Mar 29, 2020 13:45:10 GMT -6
I’m thinking I might just sell a few pieces of gear that don’t get used that often and bite the bullet and order a new Mac Pro.
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Post by stratboy on Mar 29, 2020 15:07:48 GMT -6
I'm a Mac guy, but I can't imagine running a Mac Mini would be better than an AMD Windows build in terms of performance or $. There are plenty of reasons people stick with Macs, but high performance and low cost are not two of them. Now, a new Mac Pro is certainly high performance, but definitely not low cost... Yeah I was just curious for a dedicated small daw setup to avoid windows weirdness and just use plug and play Mac thunderbolt interfaces. I don’t even know if the current mini is using real desktop cpus. Catalina and potential thermal issues leave me worried. Here's a story: A couple of days ago, my wife told me she had to start working from home and needed a Windows computer to be compatible with work. So I dug out the HP Windows 10 laptop I had tucked away. I used to be all Windows/Android, but as the household SysAdmin, troubleshooting Windows and Android systems/networks/servers sucked up my time and drove me nuts. When I switched to all Macs and iPhones for me and the family, I couldn't believe how much simpler my life became. So, I spent a couple of painful hours getting her updated, apps loaded, all set up. It reminded me of everything I hated about Windows. My point is, yes you can get more power per dollar from a homebuilt AMD, but is it really worth it? Get a new mini or a Trashcan Pro. You'll thank yourself when you are making music and not in some form of Windows hell. Btw, I own a 2012 Mini. I don't do massive sessions, but I've never had the fans kick in. Certain model year Minis are great computers. I'm hearing good things about the 2020 Minis from my friends, FWIW. |
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Post by wiz on Mar 29, 2020 15:57:37 GMT -6
I have a hard time working out (and i have a computer background, mainframes) how much better off I would be with the varying CPU's available within the apple range...say comparing between iMacs....in the past I have sort of compared Geekbench scores of my current mac, vs the macs I am looking at and basically end up buying whatever is middle ground....
Just saying
Cheers
Wiz
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Post by the other mark williams on Mar 29, 2020 18:30:27 GMT -6
I’m thinking I might just sell a few pieces of gear that don’t get used that often and bite the bullet and order a new Mac Pro. This is - without question - what I would do if I had the means. But I'm also doing film work, so being able to upgrade graphics card(s) in the future is attractive to me. While it's pretty dang expensive, it's a serious machine that can be reconfigured a bunch of different ways. And it's quite possible a new Mac Pro could last 10 years. But the most recent iMacs are pretty darn fast, too, if the form factor is attractive. Obviously not in your case, though, with the 50" TV/monitor (wow!! Love it!!) |
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Post by jampa on Mar 29, 2020 22:40:51 GMT -6
I have four computers in front of me as I type
Speccing my Mac was as hard/easy as my PCs. Mac mini 2019 with i5 and user upgraded RAM to 32GB. I keep my Mac offline. Only uses max CPU when bouncing/rendering - I also use a fan curve app to apply higher speeds earlier than stock
Edit: I currently only use Mac for mix master
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Mar 30, 2020 8:53:32 GMT -6
I have four computers in front of me as I type Speccing my Mac was as hard/easy as my PCs. Mac mini 2019 with i5 and user upgraded RAM to 32GB. I keep my Mac offline. Only uses max CPU when bouncing/rendering - I also use a fan curve app to apply higher speeds earlier than stock Edit: I currently only use Mac for mix master The Mini could be an absolutely awesome machine if Apple wanted it to be, but for some reason they don’t! I never understood it, I remember reading once that the G3 cube was Steve Jobs favorite machine. I have always felt the mini was the modern Cube and it just feels like a slap in Steve’s face! |
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Post by christopher on Mar 30, 2020 10:00:29 GMT -6
Yeah I was just curious for a dedicated small daw setup to avoid windows weirdness and just use plug and play Mac thunderbolt interfaces. I don’t even know if the current mini is using real desktop cpus. Catalina and potential thermal issues leave me worried. Here's a story: A couple of days ago, my wife told me she had to start working from home and needed a Windows computer to be compatible with work. So I dug out the HP Windows 10 laptop I had tucked away. I used to be all Windows/Android, but as the household SysAdmin, troubleshooting Windows and Android systems/networks/servers sucked up my time and drove me nuts. When I switched to all Macs and iPhones for me and the family, I couldn't believe how much simpler my life became. So, I spent a couple of painful hours getting her updated, apps loaded, all set up. It reminded me of everything I hated about Windows. My point is, yes you can get more power per dollar from a homebuilt AMD, but is it really worth it? Get a new mini or a Trashcan Pro. You'll thank yourself when you are making music and not in some form of Windows hell. Btw, I own a 2012 Mini. I don't do massive sessions, but I've never had the fans kick in. Certain model year Minis are great computers. I'm hearing good things about the 2020 Minis from my friends, FWIW. I’ve been keeping my Windows10 AMD system quarantined from the Internet and it’s been great! It’s even one of the very cheapest chips which I will upgrade eventually, so far it handles up to 200 track projects fine. But a few weeks ago I had a tracking session coming up, and I decided to install/register some software. And just by hooking to internet for 20 minutes I contracted a windows10 update. It wouldn’t let me power off unless I installed the update. But it did let me sleep it. So I told the computer to sleep overnight and I’d figure out how to bypass it in the morning. The next day I found the update was already installed! What? Yes.. windows10 has default to auto-install at 12:00am. Of course all my drivers and everything went to hell I was down for a about a week. I ended up using my old MacBook for the session. Phew! But during my troubleshooting I followed some tutorials how to get rid of all updates and modify startup. Basically it was a bunch of computer scientist type stuff, something I’ve never had to do on Mac. So now my system is even better than before. When I connect to internet no updates. Ugh.. |
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Post by cowboycoalminer on Mar 30, 2020 11:47:56 GMT -6
you guys that are running minis......what are you using for screens... I really like my iMac 27" screen..... if I go mini, what should i look for ... or avoid as far as a screen goes... Cheers Wiz I'm using a 42" flat screen tv. Those things are so cheap these days it's hard not to. |
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ericn
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Post by ericn on Mar 30, 2020 19:39:53 GMT -6
you guys that are running minis......what are you using for screens... I really like my iMac 27" screen..... if I go mini, what should i look for ... or avoid as far as a screen goes... Cheers Wiz I'm using a 42" flat screen tv. Those things are so cheap these days it's hard not to. Go big or go home😁 |
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Post by popmann on Mar 30, 2020 20:52:54 GMT -6
While unrelated to the OP question...want to sell me a whole new recording set up?
Remove the screen.
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Post by cowboycoalminer on Mar 31, 2020 5:51:02 GMT -6
I'm using a 42" flat screen tv. Those things are so cheap these days it's hard not to. Go big or go home😁 Well, it's more about me being blind these days, Eric. I can't see those little screens anymore! |
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