MP 6,1 Trashcan vs M1

[Jer Soup]

I own the 8-core 2013 Mac Pro. For some reason I have a single 32 Gb ram stick in it. The question is at this point is it worth the (let’s say) 150$ to upgrade the ram, with a drive update in the near future (probably another 250$). Or should I buy a new Mac mini M1? Everyday use of Affinity designer and Final Cut Pro. Logic, Motion and Blender use also important.
What should I do?

 

[James_C]

Run Cinebench R23 M1 will get the following scores roughly

Single Core 1518
Multi Core 7361

Multi Core performance will be the main one for your Apps.

I have not seen a comparison for the 2013 Mac Pro, but the M1 Chips for video rendering and playback of 8k files can beat the iMac Pro.

Given your Mac Pro is 8 years old, I suspect that the M1 Mini will be a lot quicker.

 

[James_C]

Just seen this comparison on barefeats

M1 MacBook Pro versus 2013 Mac Pro

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

You will be better off with a M1 Mini rather than investing more in your Mac Pro.

 

[Jer Soup]

Just seen this comparison on barefeats

M1 MacBook Pro versus 2013 Mac Pro

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

You will be better off with a M1 Mini rather than investing more in your Mac Pro.

Ok, that is kind of impressive for a 700$ computer. I am a little worried about Blender due to the GPU or lack there of.

 

[OkiRun]

I own the 8-core 2013 Mac Pro. For some reason I have a single 32 Gb ram stick in it. The question is at this point is it worth the (let’s say) 150$ to upgrade the ram, with a drive update in the near future (probably another 250$). Or should I buy a new Mac mini M1? Everyday use of Affinity designer and Final Cut Pro. Logic, Motion and Blender use also important.
What should I do?

What operating system are you using at this time? Catalina?

 

[Jer Soup]

What operating system are you using at this time? Catalina?

Big Sur.

 

[MarkC426]

If it does the job, I would keep using it (with extra ram) and wait for the next ‘M’ release/news.
It‘s not just about the benchmark results, you nMP has ecc ram, xeon cpu’s etc, so is very stable.

If where talking benchmarks, my iPad pro blows my mac pro out of the water..... ?
There may be news of the macpro mini early next year.

 

[OkiRun]

The benchmarks posted by James_C differ in mere seconds. It that really impactful enough for you to abandon your Mac Pro Setup for a closed Mac Mini Setup?

 

[IowaLynn]

Even the Intel 2020 Mini is a nice system. But m1's are like any 1.0 version.
Quiet. Small. Low electric bill. And a year from now or 2022 a worthy system.
Multiple monitors can be problematic. Lack of ports. No upgrade path.
The internal storage r/w ~2500MB/sec

 

[Jer Soup]

The benchmarks posted by James_C differ in mere seconds. It that really impactful enough for you to abandon your Mac Pro Setup for a closed Mac Mini Setup?

The numbers are impressive for the price point. At least they are to me. I was waiting for the Mac Pro (the 7.1) but then I realized that, at that price, it is not for me. So although I don’t really want to, I will probably end up in a pretty closed setup, either I like it or not, due to my budget restrictions.

 

[Jer Soup]

Even the Intel 2020 Mini is a nice system. But m1's are like any 1.0 version.
Quiet. Small. Low electric bill. And a year from now or 2022 a worthy system.
Multiple monitors can be problematic. Lack of ports. No upgrade path.
The internal storage r/w ~2500MB/sec

I saw the thing with the ultrawides. Multi monitor setups have also problems?

 

[fiatlux]

I saw the thing with the ultrawides. Multi monitor setups have also problems?

The M1 mini only supports two monitors at most, and only one on the TB3 connectors. This may of may not be an issue for you, but to be honest a trashcan is a bit limited in terms of displays as well, but more in resolution than number (the HDMI and TB2 ports only support 4K at 30 and 60 Hz respectively).

I think part of the question is how much memory you need/want. You have 32 GB and considered going for more. The M1 mini is currently limited to 16 GB.

 

[Jer Soup]

The M1 mini only supports two monitors at most, and only one on the TB3 connectors. This may of may not be an issue for you, but to be honest a trashcan is a bit limited in terms of displays as well, but more in resolution than number (the HDMI and TB2 ports only support 4K at 30 and 60 Hz respectively).

I think part of the question is how much memory you need/want. You have 32 GB and considered going for more. The M1 mini is currently limited to 16 GB.

The monitor issue alone could be a dealbreaker for me at least until/if it gets resolved. I am on an ultrawide right now at 4K, and sometimes I use a TV as a second/reference monitor (Preview of final export etc, when color accuracy is not the point).
The Ram thing is not really an issue of how much but more of just how. I want or actually probably need to upgrade because I only have one stick of it and I have come to a conclusion that it is probably bad to work that way. (Maybe I am wrong, if someone knows please correct me)

 

[MarkC426]

If you read this:

Mac Pro (Late 2013): installing or replacing memory – Apple Support (UK)

Find out how to correctly remove and install memory in your Mac Pro (Late 2013).

support.apple.com

Usually memory is installed in pairs or threes in Mac Pro.

 

[theluggage]

The question is at this point is it worth the (let’s say) 150$ to upgrade the ram,

If you actually need 32GB or more of RAM in your trashcan then the 16GB max available in the M1 Mini probably won't be enough for you, long term. Remember to look at "memory pressure" in Activity Monitor - "memory used" doesn't mean much.

There's a lot of nonsense circulating about some magic property of "Unified memory" that dramatically reduces RAM usage - there's not even any theoretical explanation for that, let alone evidence. A lot of the comparisons being done simply aren't hitting the RAM limit on either machine, and are down to the M1 just being all-round faster. M1 machines may not slow down quite as much when they start making heavy use of swap - but swap is still far slower than RAM so they're not using their full potential.

 

[OkiRun]

I would love reading the white paper on unified memory .... in Japanese.

If you actually need 32GB or more of RAM in your trashcan then the 16GB max available in the M1 Mini probably won't be enough for you, long term. Remember to look at "memory pressure" in Activity Monitor - "memory used" doesn't mean much.

There's a lot of nonsense circulating about some magic property of "Unified memory" that dramatically reduces RAM usage - there's not even any theoretical explanation for that, let alone evidence. A lot of the comparisons being done simply aren't hitting the RAM limit on either machine, and are down to the M1 just being all-round faster. M1 machines may not slow down quite as much when they start making heavy use of swap - but swap is still far slower than RAM so they're not using their full potential.

 

[theluggage]

I would love reading the white paper on unified memory .... in Japanese.

Not Japanese, I'm afraid, but:

BBC Micro - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

...although please take that as a bit of fun - I wouldn't want to carry the analogy too far!

NB: I'm not attacking "Unified Memory" - not having to copy graphics data from main RAM to video RAM via PCIe is likely part of what makes the M1 all-round faster - just the myth going around that UM is some sort of "secret sauce" that removes the need for having more than 8 or 16GB of system RAM.

 

[fiatlux]

The Ram thing is not really an issue of how much but more of just how. I want or actually probably need to upgrade because I only have one stick of it and I have come to a conclusion that it is probably bad to work that way. (Maybe I am wrong, if someone knows please correct me)

The Mac Pro supports quad channel memory access, four modules is ideal. I have tested all sorts of memory configurations and there is indeed a significant difference in benchmark results (up to 15% difference). Whether that translates into real world differences is another thing.

 

[DFP1989]

The benchmarks posted by James_C differ in mere seconds. It that really impactful enough for you to abandon your Mac Pro Setup for a closed Mac Mini Setup?

What’s so open about a 6,1 at this point though?

Can’t upgrade the GPUs and CPUs aren’t going anywhere, plus you can hook up a fast Thunderbolt 3 SSD to a new Mac mini.

 

[pldelisle]

All in with mac Mini !

 

[edanuff]

Wait until they come out with beefier Apple Silicon Minis or a Pro. Something with a few more DisplayPort lines and more memory.

 

[OkiRun]

Wait until they come out with beefier Apple Silicon Minis or a Pro. Something with a few more DisplayPort lines and more memory.

He should keep his powder dry...
Exchanging a tricked out TrashCan for a MacMini giving mere seconds faster speed on benchmarks doesn't make much sense financially to me.

 

[loby]

Just seen this comparison on barefeats

M1 MacBook Pro versus 2013 Mac Pro

real world speed test results for performance minded Macintosh users

barefeats.com

You will be better off with a M1 Mini rather than investing more in your Mac Pro.

Yes and No. It depends on what you do.

Have a 12-Core Mac Pro 2013 with 64 GB of RAM with a fast 1 TB SSD. For some things I do it works faster and better even now for other things it does not. On my MacBook Pro i9 2018 32GB 1TB SSD it works better on some projects better than my Mac Pro, but not all.

Saying all of that each does something better than the other depending on the project. There is no “so I just get this and all is good..”. No.

Apple designs there product line so not one thing does it all. It makes you consider buying their other offerings.

This is why I do not believe apple will come out with an in-between mini and Mac Pro the “Mini Pro”. It would cut into their sales to much for either. That segment of the “in-between” will have to settle with a mini or the Mac Pro.