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Any experiences of the mac mini and tasks?

Hi, I am considering the mac mini 2012, base model i5, and will upgrade the ram to 8GB myself. There is rumors of a 2014 one this month so i'll hold off on that but bassically I am wondering how it runs and if people really do underestimate the mac mini.

What I do:

Photography in aperature

Basic video editing in imovie

Some basic things in Xcode (Making simple applications)

Basic Web things

Maybe will play minecraft here and there but thats mostly for my gaming PC but its downstairs so I would play on the mac mini if I want to play minecraft upstairs.


I of course do many other things probably but those are the main things I do. This is only if you personaly own the mac mini 2012, i5 8GB ram, and if you reccommend it. Thanks!



PS

Please do not say GET A MAC PRO because I am on a tight budget.

Posted on Feb 8, 2014 7:47 PM

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Posted on Feb 8, 2014 9:44 PM

What I do with my Mini:

Photo/Graphic editing with LightRoom, Aperture, Photoshop & Fireworks

Video editing with Premiere Pro, Encore and AfterEffects

Audio editing with Audition

Web Design with Dreamweaver

PDF compilation with Acrobat from Web & Office 2011

Troubleshooting MS and Adobe software in OS10.6.8, 10.7.5, 10.8.5, Windows XP, Vista, 7 & 8 as VMs

(occasionally) playing Sims 3


I have the 2.5gHz Corei5 with 16Gb RAM, dual monitors, and 4Tb external storage

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Question marked as Best reply

Feb 8, 2014 9:44 PM in response to Dbrad475

What I do with my Mini:

Photo/Graphic editing with LightRoom, Aperture, Photoshop & Fireworks

Video editing with Premiere Pro, Encore and AfterEffects

Audio editing with Audition

Web Design with Dreamweaver

PDF compilation with Acrobat from Web & Office 2011

Troubleshooting MS and Adobe software in OS10.6.8, 10.7.5, 10.8.5, Windows XP, Vista, 7 & 8 as VMs

(occasionally) playing Sims 3


I have the 2.5gHz Corei5 with 16Gb RAM, dual monitors, and 4Tb external storage

Feb 9, 2014 4:12 AM in response to Dbrad475

What I do with a 2011 Mini Server:

-Photo edititing with Photoshop CS6. Nothing fancy with a gazillion

layers.

-Microchip PIC32 microprocessor development

-Some XCode programming work

-Xilinx FPGA development using Windows virtual machine in Parallels

-STMicro STM32 famiiy microprocessor work with IAR also in a virtual

machine.

-Cypress PSOC (all families) microprocessor development in a virtual

machine

-Schematic design and PCB layouts.

-Some PC based code develpment using Microsoft Visual Studio Express

........


Oh yes, and the usual Libre Office/MS Office type stuff.


So, my 2011 machine is very capable at doing my work so the newer one

will likely be even better (and I may upgrade once I complete my current

contract job).

Mar 6, 2014 8:25 AM in response to Dbrad475

As others have already said, the mini may be small but there's nothing small about its ability. But Apple builds them with a 5400RPM drive which can make for an I/O bottleneck. Large programs and large files are slow to load and the computer is slow to boot. Its amazing how big a difference there is between a 7200RPM drive and a 5400RPM drive.


I'm used to a MBA with SSD and an iMac with a fusion drive so when I got a 2012 mini on my desk at work, at first I was suprised by how slow it felt. Once it booted and I had applications and files loaded it stopped feeling slow...until I switched to a different task and had to wait for the app and files to load. I had a small SSD at home and a USB3 enclosure on my workbench so I put them together and that's all I needed to turn the mini into a great workstation.


So if I were going to buy a mini I'd get it with an SSD or Fusion drive.

Any experiences of the mac mini and tasks?

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