Ren and Mac mini

Hey everyone!

I am about to get a brand new mac mini 1.4ghz, 4gb Ram, 500gb hd running el capitan and just want to see if anyone else is using this setup with their ren. I know some people are having problems with el capitan and some of the new macs. Also how is the performance? Is 4gb of ram enough? I run the mpc software and sometimes logic with a few plugins. Right now I am running a 10 year old MacBook pro and its soooo slow!
If anyone has experience with this setup I would love to hear your experience. Thanks in advance!

There's no way I'd run a Mac on 4GB RAM, period. I definitely wouldn't have anything less than 8GB, but 16GB would be best IMO. The 2014 Mac Mini uses soldered RAM, so you'll need to configure the extra RAM before purchasing via the apple store.

I'm running a 2012 Mac Mini i7 with 16GB RAM, mavericks, ssd drive, and zero issues. IMO look for one of these on ebay, these are the last line of Mac Minis that can be easily tinkered with (adding memory, adding SSD drive or home brew fusion drive etc).

My problem is getting a used one is that they are 4 years old vs getting a brand new machine for about the same price. I love macs but the older they get the slower they get. Would the 1.4ghz be an issue or is that fast enough to handle what im doing? I can get the 8gb ram upgrade for $100 more. Would that be worth it?

Can't comment on the 1.4 as I've never used it, certainly wouldn't have touched the base model (dual core i5) from the 2012 series, my i7 is quad core and doesn't get phased by anything I've ever thrown at it. I've seen processor comparisons of 2014 vs 2012 and the quad core 2012's far out-perform the 2014 Mac Minis for anything multithreaded. IMO the 2012 i7 Mac Minis are still a better computer, but as you say, they are 4 years old now, but I run intense video editing/encoding apps without a hitch on it.

IMO if you must get a new model, get the 2.6 Mac Mini - it comes with double storage, double RAM, much more powerful processor, better graphics card and isn't that much more expensive.

I second what tutor said, I'd buy 2012 mac mini over the newer one, and if you're going to get a newer one get full spec'd out instead of bare minimum...I5 at least 16gb ram(ram is essential), 500ssd...2012 mac mini's and macbook pro's are up there in price because people recognize the value in them being able to self upgrade. I would even consider 2011 mac over the newer one....I can't say that I've noticed any slow downs in any of the mac computers that I had/have...matter of fact I've got 2008 mac pro that's still running strong but the OSX it is no longer supported past 10.7.5

you can compare all mac benchmarks on this site to give you idea of what they're applicable of http://www.everymac.com/systems/by_year/macs-released-in-2012.html

I appreciate your feedback and agree that the limited upgrade in the ram is very limiting but when I look at the tests done it looks like 2014 - 4 core beat the 2012 4 core and the 2014 dual core beat the 2012 dual core. At least according to this test https://browser.primatelabs.com/mac-benchmarks using the part numbers from this link http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/m ... odels.html

I am on a limited budget and am not really trying to spend 500 for a 4 year old computer. Any thoughts?

DannyBmpc wrote:I am on a limited budget and am not really trying to spend 500 for a 4 year old computer. Any thoughts?

Well to be blunt, if you are on a limited budget, then you should either be buying a PC or a second hand Mac. The base model 2014 Mac Mini is very low spec, IMO it's not intended for much more than casual use. That site you link to shows the 1.4 Mac Mini to be lower in benchmark than all but the old 2012 base model (only just at that). And 4GB is going to struggle running OSX before you even think about firing up the MPC Software.

If you want to get a new Mac Mini, then get the 2.6 model for the extra $200. Of course, this is still 2 years old, and for the money you can probably get a much higher spec PC, or a souped up 2012 i7 2.6 Mac Mini, or even an old model iMac.

Remember software isn't static, it gets updated continually with greater system requirements to run smoothly, so make sure you are buying a computer that can handle that software and all the plugins you may run.

It doesn't really matter how old the computer is, it's the spec inside it that counts (or the ability to incrementally update it as required). The newer Mac Minis are not designed to be upgraded once they leave the factory, so if you go down that path, make sure you are futureproofed by getting one of the better spec'd models.

I bet you only looked at the single core chart (32bit-single core) comparison, but if you look at the 64bit multi core or even 32bit multicore things change drastically, suddenly the 2014 mac mini is closer towards the bottom while the 2012 is closer to the top....most audio video applications these days support multicore and 64bit

Ya I found a 8gb 2014 for 550 and I think I am going to go with something like that. Unless I can find a used 2012 that is cheap enough that it makes sense. is the 1.4ghz processor going to limit me at all even with 8g of ram? What about el capitan? Ive heard there is a lot of problems with the software and that OS.

Like others have said before, get the 2012 model. Make sure it's a i7, 2.6 GHz, late 2012 model. Upgraded it with minimum 8GB RAM (the more the better). And an SSD.

Mine has 8GB RAM (because one slot got damaged) and 1TB Sandisc SSD.

DannyBmpc wrote:Ya I found a 8gb 2014 for 550 and I think I am going to go with something like that. Unless I can find a used 2012 that is cheap enough that it makes sense. is the 1.4ghz processor going to limit me at all even with 8g of ram? What about el capitan? Ive heard there is a lot of problems with the software and that OS.

I'll say it once again, you'll quickly regret getting the 1.4ghz processor, those base models are designed for housewives surfing the net and writing cooking recipes (quickly ducks as his wife throws a right hook at him). If your budget is that tight, accept that perhaps a Mac in general isn't right for you as they are expensive for the spec you get. There's a very good reason why that 1.4 Mac Mini is only $400.

I understand the reluctance to get a 4 year old computer, but I don't understand why you would instead prefer to get a 2 year old computer that comes with a much lower specification with no option to upgrade any of the hardware in the future.

IMO if a s/h 2012 is out of the question, get the 2.6Ghz 2014 model - it's only $100 more than the 1.4ghz + extra RAM.

But don't rule out the Fusion drive or dedicated SSD upgrade, it's pretty much essential IMO, you'll definitely never go back to a mechanical drive.

Always buy the most computer you can afford, that's my motto. They always age out on you, so you should start as far advanced as you can. And RAM, get lots of RAM. I like using the SSD external drives for my audio -- though my new crazy approach is to put it on my cloud drives (Dropbox, whatever) so I can always get to it form whatever computer, or iPad, or iPhone. If you can get in one of those Office 365 Terabyte cloud drives, it's all good. As for CPU -- I feel like we're hitting peak need for it, and the real problem is RAM/Disk space. I have a 2.3 core i7 macbook that has never come close to bogging down.

cmackg wrote: I have a 2.3 core i7 macbook that has never come close to bogging down.

that's cuz you got the quad core cpu hitting 3.3ghz with turboboost