mac mini or 8 core?

W

weezamiah

New member
Im trying to make a decision which one to purchase. They are both about the same price. Currently im using a macpro 266 dual core, but need to upgrade to keep in line with pt11. Not able to load lion on my current mac. Need to make decision by tomorrow. Thanks

2.3GHz Mac mini
2.3GHz quad-core Intel Core i7
4GB memory
1TB hard drive1
Intel HD Graphics 4000
OS X Mountain Lion

OR

Intel Xeon Nehalem 8 CORE (2.26GHz)
6GB memory
650GB HD
 
Going by geekbench listings, the mac mini scores around 11000 whereas the mac pro scores around 12000.

For normal audio use, either of those will kill it!
I use an i5 (2415m) macbook pro which scores around 5800.
The only time I saw the limits of that machine was under a very very heavy session, and even then I got by with the audio buffers turned up.


The only reason I'd get the mac pro over the mini is if PCI-E expansion is important to you.
The thunderbolt PCI-E solutions are very costly and less than ideal for some uses, so if PCI-E is important, forget the mini.

If not, buy the mini. ;)

What kind of load are you putting on this machine? The session I mentioned there had about 60 audio tracks and a LOT of plugs.
I'm thinking you could save a lot of money of a 2011/2012 mini around the same spec as my own machine if your max load falls under that.
 
man i ended up getting a HP lappy with the same specs as the mini, but with 8gb of ram and 750gb space for $1050 AUD. the only catch is that its windows 8. You could be a Mac guy and windows is some horrible nightmare to you.

But the laptop makes it so much easier if you jam or record somewhere different.
 
I think im going to go with the 8 core.Only because I have 3 other hard drives in my macpro now. 1t ea. one for all my samples and libraries and the other 2 for sessions. I average about 55 tracks per session with loads of plugins. I was shocked with getting about 80 dverbs and another 80 or so compressors and eq on 50 tracks without a hiccup on my macbook pro dual core. so hopefully this machine will b flying once uad get on board with pt11 and most of my processing will be mainly from apollo quad. Thanks for the responses!!!
 
Steenamaroo said:
The only reason I'd get the mac pro over the mini is if PCI-E expansion is important to you.
Click to expand...

weezamiah said:
I think im going to go with the 8 core.Only because I have 3 other hard drives in my macpro now.
Click to expand...

Oh yeah, and hard drives. :facepalm:
I knew there was something else....

It's a shame PT11 requires mountain lion. Your current system actually out specs my MBP.
Could you consider just sticking with PT9 or something?

Perhaps you want to upgrade anyway?
 
You could use a usb cd drive, aceess another computer's drive via network, or access another mac via target disk mode.

You'll probably find you can download them though.
 
Thanks for all the replies. I went with a mac from craig's list.
im going with the mac mini. I found this deal today and going to take the plunge. Thanks for all the replies

- Apple Mac mini
- 2.6ghz i7 quad core processor (factory upgrade)
- 8g ram (factory upgrade)
- 1 TB hard drive
 
Sweet man. Hope it works out well for you.

Btw, a lot of those modern minis will take 16gb just fine, should you ever need it.
 
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