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Mini or Pro?

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fox121

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 20, 2012
2
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I'm a graphic design student so I use adobe packages regularly, i normally just work from the macs around the uni, but I've got enough money to invest into my own mac.

Im looking at the 2.5ghz with i5 processer mini against the standard pro with 2.5ghz. Are there any other major differences between them? Will the mini be able to handle running multiple programs for design?

Thanks
 
fox121 said:
I'm a graphic design student so I use adobe packages regularly, i normally just work from the macs around the uni, but I've got enough money to invest into my own mac.

Im looking at the 2.5ghz with i5 processer mini against the standard pro with 2.5ghz. Are there any other major differences between them? Will the mini be able to handle running multiple programs for design?

Thanks
Click to expand...

I think the Mini should be fast enough. Funny how you consider the massively more expensive Mac Pro but not the much faster and not so much more expensive Mac Mini Server ...
 
I thought about the server but it doesnt use dedicated graphics cards, which benefit my work
 
The 6630m isn't going to benefit you over the HD3000 currently in the Mini for Adobe Suite. Might as well go for the base and stick 16GBs of RAM and an SSD in.
 
I'm a photoshop retoucher and can tell you that if you're using this as your main computer for any kind of design/photoshop use, go with the Pro. You can get a decent older model Mac Pro that will outperform the mini for around the same price of a new Mini. I would recommend the 2009 2.66ghz quad-core, which can be found on ebay for less than $1200, or the 2008 2.8ghz 8-core, which can be found for less than $1000. They both outperform the Mini Server in raw power, can be affordably upgraded (Graphics cards, CPU's, HDD's, etc...) Plus, you won't need to buy any external storage, just extra HDD's. Get a mini or a Macbook Pro if you need portability, but if it's your main desktop you can't go wrong with a Pro, even if they're a little outdated.
 
Lance-AR said:
If you go with the Pro, RAM is expensive on the 08.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that is one major downfall of the older Pros. If you want affordable ram upgrades, buy 09 or newer. $100-150 for 16gb for the newer MP's compared to $200-$250 for the older ones.
 
"I thought about the server but it doesnt use dedicated graphics cards, which benefit my work"

The next generation of Mini's will probably end up with much-improved "on-board" graphics (Intel 4000 vs. Intel 3000).

If Apple chooses to continue the "Mac Mini Server" model, it will probably be more useful to you, assuming it has a quad-core CPU along with the Intel 4000 graphics.
 
Don't know how hard your software would tax the computer, but the mini tends to get disturbingly loud when under constant load (e.g. Long renderings or intensive calculations for real time effects on your material). The MP would be much better in that section (even though it's slightly mode audible when idling).

You should also consider that the Pro already brings 4 slots for internal hard drives (and two 5,25" bays), where you would need to buy external ones on the mini, depending on the size of your data of course. But you may want to include this in your consideration.

And talking about data size: Are 16GB enough for you? Think of massive images (e.g. raw format) or Hd/RED video and multiple layers, perhaps a couple of them being opened in parallel. 16GB can be filled with such stuff quite comfortably. Not necessarily as a student, but still something that might apply.

Finally it's way easier and less system taxing to run multiple monitors off a MP (e.g. one monitor for tools and palette and another for the image/video - perhaps even a third one for Internet etc.).

Drawback on the MP: No fast thunderbolt interface - as of now you're limited to FireWire800.

While a server mini may come a little closer in raw CPU power (depending on which MP you compare it to), as a sheer workhorse a MP eats a mini for breakfast!
 
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