Need advise of M1 Mac mini upgrade from MP5.1

[cpnotebook80]

Hi everyone, I usually frequent mbpro and mac pro forums so this is forum is new for me . So today my mac pro 5.1 with 5 tb of data across 3 hdd and few ssd, externals and nvme, almost died on me. Q anxiety and panic. I found out it was the amd 7950 graphics card that died. So i had my original one that came with the machine and used that for now. I used to run two monitors the benq sw271 and the apple cinema display 24". I use the machine for more storage now and some light work and windows vm for work purposes. I have my m1 mbp 13 which works fine for my regular work but boy lifting that mac pro 5.1, broke my back!

I do not want to put anymore money into the system and will part it out, and was looking at the mac mini as a replacement for the MP 5.1 and maybe use an 8tb external drive for my data. Just wondering what users who have the m1 think of the mac mini or should I wait for a new one next year with the m1 pro chip if there is anticipation that new version will be released then. I do have the opportunity to get a 16gb 512gb model which will be fine I guess. I just need to make sure monitors connect in a dual display fashion as I did see some threads on issues with older monitors and usb-c issues.

Thanks again.

 

[Stuart in Oz]

I bought the M1 mini to replace an older MBP i7 and I've found it to be an excellent machine with one proviso - I bought the 8GB RAM option (it was all I could get at launch without waiting weeks for BTO) and when running a few large work jobs in BOINC it sometimes runs out of memory, forcing individual jobs to wait. With the 16GB version I can't see you having any issues unless you're into real hard-core pro video work or similar.

It runs my two Dell monitors (27" 2560 and 23" 1920) pretty fine in dual monitor mode. Very occasionally I have trouble getting them to come on after the computer has had the screen locked while running BOINC (pushing the processors to max) for long periods of time - like two days or more. Even in those rare cases usually they come on after a second or third attempt, or after pushing the power button once, briefly. Once or twice in an entire year I've had to hard reboot because of this, but it's rare.

In all other respects it's great. Quiet, cool, silent. In general I'd say it's great for everyone up to a hobbyist power user, only truly professional users might find it limited.

The processor power dwarfs anything I do except for BOINC crunching, and that's a secondary use, not the primary purpose for the machine. For daily real-world use it's flawlessly powerful. Even Handbrake work is a revelation compared to previous gen machines.

I paired mine with an OWC Thunderbay 4 that holds four 3.5" or 2.5" drives and storage is suddenly not an issue. Great way to reuse old drives. One for media, one for Time Machine, one for Carbon Copy Cloner alternative backup, and still a spare slot. I bought the earlier version with TB2 second hand for cheap from Gumtree (plus the cost an of an apple TB2 to TB3 adaptor), TB2 being just fine for external SATA drives.

Also, the new price on the mini is so reasonable, I think I'll probably update it every two years of so. The exchange cost after selling the old one each time is likely to be quite modest. Certainly a cheaper way of keeping up with the latest silicon compared to turning over MBPs or Mac Pros that often.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Boil]

...should I wait for a new one next year with the m1 pro chip if there is anticipation that new version will be released then.

I am waiting on a new Apple silicon-powered Mac mini (Pro)...

Mac mini (Pro)

• M1 Max SoC
• 10-core CPU (8P/2E)
• 32-core GPU
• 16-core Neural Engine
• 64GB LPDDR5 RAM
• 400GB/s memory bandwidth
• 1TB NVMe SSD
• 10Gb Ethernet port
• (4) Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports
• (2) USB 3.2 (USB-A) ports
• HDMI 2.1 port
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Space Gray

$2999

All packed into a 1.36 liter chassis...!

 

[Santabean2000]

I bought a refurb base model M1 mini as a tide-me-over till next year. It's solid as - for basic stuff...

Also waiting for next year's revision. *crosses fingers for updated model*

Mac mini (Pro)

• M1 Max SoC
• 10-core CPU (8P/2E)
• 24-core GPU
• 16-core Neural Engine
• 32GB LPDDR5 RAM
• 400GB/s memory bandwidth
• 2TB NVMe SSD
• 10Gb Ethernet port
• (2) Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) ports
• (2) USB 3.2 (USB-A) ports
• HDMI 2.0 port
• 3.5mm headphone jack
• Space Gray

 

[Fishrrman]

Keep the old Mac Pro going for now.
Keep waiting for the upcoming m1pro Mini. It won't be that much longer, I sense.

Ignore the price posted in reply 3 above.
It's not going to cost anywhere near that.

 

[cpnotebook80]

I got my graphics card back up..turns out it was DUST clogging the fans so the machine is back up. ..but the panic set in on trying to tinker with the whole system if it fails but atleast i can hold out a big longer and will upgrade next year on something smaller. thanks for the input everyone.

 

[ashleykaryl]

You were lucky it didn't go pop. I've seen the flash of light when a card dies because it was clogged with dust. Just like you found it can make you think the whole computer is gone and it won't even restart properly unless you remove the card. Depending on your environment and workload you probably want to clean out the dust once every few months at the very least.

Going back to your other point I don't have an M1, but the i7 mini is generally twice as fast my 5.1, so I would expect an M1 with 16 gigs to be even better. I think a lot of Mac Pro owners have either jumped to a mini already or waiting for the new M1 max, assuming one appears before long.