'18 Macbook Pro 13" Refurbed or '18 Mac Mini?

[Bojack Horseman]

This will be my first Mac ever, and I'm wanting in on the Apple ecosystem and try MacOS. I currently have the XR. Will be using for typical internet usage, and photo editing in Adobe Lightroom CC and/or Classic, or Iridient, or some other. (I own a Fujifilm XT-1). Also as a way to seriously decrease my gaming.

I'm honestly 100% conflicted as to which one to get. I'm military, and Apple allows you to stack the military discount on top of the refurb discount (surprisingly), so I can get the 2018 Macbook Pro 13" base model refurbed for $1376 or 512GB for $1529 (24%~ off combining both discounts). All previous years only come with a dual core which is an instant turn off.

The other option I'm considering is the new Mac mini i5, 16GB, 256GB for $1169 or 512GB for $1349 (10% off). I know everyone has been saying how the Mini is no longer afford like it once was, but it still beats the price to performance to the Macbook Pro. I do already have a monitor also.

I want the Macbook Pro for the portability, but the 8GB of RAM is a real bummer, and with the keyboard issues, the gimmicky the touch bar, and having to buy a dongle makes the Macbook Pro a hard sell. If 8GB of RAM is for sure enough for photo editing regardless of what photo editing program I use, I'll over look the other issues with the Macbook and probably get that.

The Mac Mini is far better in price to performance, and it'll essentially be plug and play, but its not a laptop and won't have Facetime or Touch ID.

I honestly don't know what to get. I'm not interested in wait for next years Macbook Pro model or even 2020's cause of the prices. Not trying to drop more than the prices seen above. Help me Mac Rumors. you're my only hope.

PS: Can I keep my iTunes Library on a external hard drive? Just to save even more space on the hard drive. I have relatively a big library especially if i settle with a 256GB.


4 Feb 2019 UPDATE: Last night I decided to take a quick look at Apple's Refurb stock, and lo and behold, they have 2018 13" MB Pros in stock speced with 16GB of RAM. I will now be returning the 8GB version that I bought, and be purchasing the 16GB version that I actually wanted. I came very close the buy one speced at 16GB RAM AND 512GB hard drive version, but that was still too expensive even with the the stacked military discount and refurb pricing. I just want to thank everyone for the input and advice for my first Macintosh purchase!

 

[Tobi996]

Hey Bojack,

I have the 2017 MacBook Pro 13´ base model, i5 (Dual Core) / 8GB / 128GB without the Touchbar and I am really happy with it. I never had any problems with the keyboard and also the performance is really nice. I edit pictures from a Canon M50 on Lightroom with ease. For the limited hard drive, I use iCloud. I pay 2€ a month for 200Gb of cloud storage, where I save my raw photos and can download them any time I want.
I would buy the MacBook because of the portability and the very good screen. In my opinion, you get more value from it than from a mac mini.
For Lightroom, the performance is more than sufficient and even After Effects works very good to a certain degree. You can also edit 4K videos with final cut since it is so well optimized.

Edit: For Itunes library, yes it is possible to store it on a hard drive although I recommend using icloud or apple music. There are lots of tutorials on google or youtube. By using iCloud and Apple Music I don't use any dongles at all.

Hope this helps.

Best regards from Germany

Tobi

 

[Bojack Horseman]

Hey Bojack,

I have the 2017 MacBook Pro 13´ base model, i5 (Dual Core) / 8GB / 128GB without the Touchbar and I am really happy with it. I never had any problems with the keyboard and also the performance is really nice. I edit pictures from a Canon M50 on Lightroom with ease. For the limited hard drive, I use iCloud. I pay 2€ a month for 200Gb of cloud storage, where I save my raw photos and can download them any time I want.
I would buy the MacBook because of the portability and the very good screen. In my opinion, you get more value from it than from a mac mini.
For Lightroom, the performance is more than sufficient and even After Effects works very good to a certain degree. You can also edit 4K videos with final cut since it is so well optimized.

Edit: For Itunes library, yes it is possible to store it on a hard drive although I recommend using icloud or apple music. There are lots of tutorials on google or youtube. By using iCloud and Apple Music I don't use any dongles at all.

Hope this helps.

Best regards from Germany

Tobi

Thank you; I went ahead and pulled the trigger on getting the base model 13" MB Pro. I hope I'll love it!

 

[jazz1]

Thank you; I went ahead and pulled the trigger on getting the base model 13" MB Pro. I hope I'll love it!

I think I'd go for the MB Pro for mobile use.

One good thing with the MB you can add an external monitor and keyboard so you can use it like a desktop. You could also add an external HD if need be.

Personally I keep as much as I can "in the cloud". Just remember you will need Wifi, or use your mobile phone for a "hotspot" to access your cloud stored files.

 

[Tobi996]

Thank you; I went ahead and pulled the trigger on getting the base model 13" MB Pro. I hope I'll love it!

Good choice! Do you have the Quad Core? In my opinion, a MacBook becomes much more personal than e.g. a Mac Mini.
I can also confirm you that is is a better choice than the Surface Pro, since I have it from work.

 

[ajay96]

I went with the 13" 2018 MacBook Pro with Touch Bar, Quad core i5, 8GB of RAM and 256GB SSD. This gets me through the day and I use it for work and school. The RAM isn't a huge issue in my opinion for basic and daily tasks. macOS has pretty damn good memory management.

 

[Bojack Horseman]

Good choice! Do you have the Quad Core? In my opinion, a MacBook becomes much more personal than e.g. a Mac Mini.
I can also confirm you that is is a better choice than the Surface Pro, since I have it from work.

Yep! It's the base 2018 13" so it does have the quad core i5.

 

[rosyapple]

I'd also go for MBP due to portability. I normally attach an external (wireless) keyboard and a mouse to my laptops when I'm at home. However, I'd recommend getting the biggest hard disk space you can possibly afford. I'm currently using a Macbook Air 256GB and an iPad 128GB and I've ran out of space on both. The problem is that iCloud takes up your local hard disk space as well and I prefer not to use other cloud services. I move around a lot so large internal hard drive is very important so I don't have to bring external hard drives.

 

[Bojack Horseman]

UPDATE: Last night I decided to take a quick look at Apple's Refurb stock, and lo and behold, they have 2018 13" MB Pros in stock speced with 16GB of RAM. I will now be returning the 8GB version that I bought, and be purchasing the 16GB version that I actually wanted. I came very close the buy one speced at 16GB RAM AND 512GB hard drive version, but that was still too expensive even with the the stacked military discount and refurb pricing. I just want to thank everyone for the input and advice for my first Macintosh purchase!