Mac Mini Upgrade options VS Used Mac Pro? Help Please!

Question

Mac Mini Upgrade options VS Used Mac Pro? Help Please!

Hello Everyone, I have some questions I hope you can all help with!

For those who read this and help me, Thank You!

For the past few days I have been considering my options, and almost traded my Mac Mini and $400 for a used 2008 Mac Pro with 6 Cores. But I cant make up my mind. I currently have a Mac Mini (Late 2012) with a 2.5 GHz Intel Core I% (2 Cores right?) with a 16gb Ram Upgrade, 500 Macintosh HD, and a Intel HD Graphics 4000 1024 mb card.

I primarily use my mac for Editing videos. And over the past year I have gotten pretty good at editing and now Used Final Cut Pro X and Animation programs etc.. And I feel like im pusing it to its limits. Its constantly rendering to the point that I always get stuck waiting and pausing waiting for it to catch up. for a while I though this was normal. And was just planning to get a new Mac Book Pro later and just use that. (Since the new mac pro beats my current setup) so then I went to the apple store to buy a 3TB Thunder bolt drive, and when there I played with the new Macs (Of course) and OMG! The Mac Pro Is F***Ing Fast as ****! I couldn't believe it! I was messing with a 4K Video, doing all types of stuff that normally would lock up on my mac mini, and it never even stopped to Render! It was Instant!

Now, I don't have $3,000 to spend on a mac pro right now. and wont for a long time most likely. So I started looking at used options, I considered finding a used Mac pro and trading my mac mini plus some cash, But are they really any better? Will Final cut pro utilize the extra processing power?

I'm down to Two Options. Should I just upgrade my HDD to a SSD? Will that even make a significant difference? or is my slow Mac Mini simply slow due to lack of processing power? Will a lot more processers really make a difference? What should I do?

Basically, I want a Mac that can handle Editing problem free! Fast, efficient, beat mode all the time!

Thanks for the help guys.

P.S. Wifi and Bluetooth is important to me in older used macs as well 😉

Posted on Oct 8, 2015 5:20 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 8, 2015 7:09 PM in response to Michael_Price1990

I am currently working on a deal with a computer shop that will let me trade them my Mac mini and $250 for a Mac Pro with the specs below. Is that a good trade? Is that system going to far out preform what I have now?

Mac Pro Eight Core 3,1 $800

Dual 2.8GHz Intel Xeon processors totaling (8) Cores

16GB RAM

1TB Boot Drive

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT

OSX 10.11 El Capitan

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Answer 2

jndupuis1

Level 2

462 points

Oct 8, 2015 7:28 PM in response to Michael_Price1990

Be careful! There are people who will sell you the shirt off your back! This Mac Pro "as is" for that price is good, not great. Considering the Mac Pro 2008 goes for anywhere in the range of $400.00 to $800.00. Is it worth throwing in "your" Mac Mini still worth $400.00 - known working faithful stand-by and you own it?

You decide.

Cheers!!

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Answer 3

Oct 8, 2015 7:38 PM in response to jndupuis1

Thats exactly why I'm here for some info. The Mac I'm looking at I believe has some upgrades which is why I think he is selling it for the price that he is. Would the Mac Pro be a significant performance difference against my Mac mini? I am looking at going from a 2012 to a 2008. But it's got more processors, more ram capability, and upgrade options. But is it really worth it? Is that old 2008 Mac Pro really going to be way better then my 2012 mac mini? That's what I'm hung up on and not sure about.

As far as how it runs, I'm not worried. If I get the Mac Pro I'll be swapping out and adding more ram and SSD HDD's later.

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Answer 4

jndupuis1

Level 2

462 points

Oct 8, 2015 7:52 PM in response to Michael_Price1990

Since Video Editing is your thing, yes, absolutely! The Mac Pro you are looking at will do the job, hands down. Expandability goes beyond the Mini. Tricked out - it is worth it. As long as you know it runs and works well. Get a few extra spare things to put up in the cabinet as you buy add-ons. Make sure you have a solid Recovery USB or DVD.

Cheers!!

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Answer 5

Lanny

Level 6

13,183 points

Oct 8, 2015 7:55 PM in response to Michael_Price1990

The Mac I'm looking at I believe has some upgrades which is why I think he is selling it for the price that he is.

What would those upgrades be? It sounds pretty stock to me.

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Answer 6

jndupuis1

Level 2

462 points

Oct 8, 2015 8:12 PM in response to Michael_Price1990

Check out the $429.00 deal here:

http://www.macofalltrades.com/Refurbished-Used-Apple-Mac-Pros-s/388.htm

The one you are looking at is mostly this stock 2008 Mac Pro for $429.00. I would buy a 2008 in addition to my Mac Mini as I have the same Mac Mini as you. I would not toss in or trade my Mini for a 2008 stock Mac Pro.

Cheers

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Answer 7

Oct 8, 2015 8:29 PM in response to jndupuis1

Perhaps I am wrong, I see it has a 1tb boot drive, 16gb of ram, NVIDIA GeForce 8800gt graphics cars and Running El Capitan. Is that all available stock?

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Answer 8

jndupuis1

Level 2

462 points

Oct 8, 2015 9:28 PM in response to Michael_Price1990

The processing speed, hands down, runs circles around the Mini (late 2012) 2.5 core i5. Age, compatibility and expandability is what you are faced with here. Mac Pro 2008 at $400.00. Nvidia Graphics card your choice $90.00 - $200.00 and you can buy a 1 TB SATA for under $60.00. El Capitan OS X is free. As you can see $600.00 - $700.00 could get you the same 2008 Mac Pro. Shop around. As I am talking this out loud to myself, I am convincing ME not to do it. In the link I provided, you can clearly see a 2009 Mac Pro for $899.00 sold buy a reputable authorized Apple Refurbisher.

Cheers!!

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Answer 9

den.thed

Level 9

77,008 points

Oct 8, 2015 10:05 PM in response to Michael_Price1990

You should try an SSD in 2012 Mac Mini before trading it off or doing any thing else.

https://www.ifixit.com/Device/Mac_Mini_Unibody

I originally upgraded my 2012 Mac Mini with a 7200rpm Hitachi Travelstar, which helped a lot with startup time's, launching App's and over all performance.

Then earlier this year I put an SSD into the lower bay and moved the Travelstar to the upper bay using an OWC Data Doubler kit. http://eshop.macsales.com/item/OWC/DIDIMM11D2/

Now it starts up in 6 to 7 seconds and App's literally launch right off the screen. I run a lean OS X on the SSD, and never get the spinning beach ball thingy opening App's or accessing large libraries that stored on the HDD.

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Answer 10

jndupuis1

Level 2

462 points

Oct 8, 2015 10:11 PM in response to den.thed

Nice! Thank you! I'll do that for myself to get this little thing snappier.

Cheers!!

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Answer 11

Oct 8, 2015 10:14 PM in response to jndupuis1

Wow 6 to 7 seconds boot up? That's insane! Would it run Final Cut Pro faster for me that way? If I didn't have to wait for render times and loading screens I would be happy. I use photoshop, Final Cut Pro, iTunes, and safari generally all at once... Would that upgrade help in my situation? I didn't know an SSD made that much of a difference. In addition to that I didn't know I could fit two in there! How much would that upgrade cost?

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Answer 12

den.thed

Level 9

77,008 points

Oct 8, 2015 11:13 PM in response to Michael_Price1990

Michael_Price1990 wrote:

Wow 6 to 7 seconds boot up? That's insane!

That is correct, Mavericks, Yosemite, EL Capitan no difference.

Would it run Final Cut Pro faster for me that way? If I didn't have to wait for render times and loading screens I would be happy. I use photoshop, Final Cut Pro, iTunes, and safari generally all at once...

Only a little for rendering, but should help get you by until you get the MacBook Pro that you have your eye on.

Would that upgrade help in my situation? I didn't know an SSD made that much of a difference. In addition to that I didn't know I could fit two in there!

You would have to test it for yourself.

Yes SSDs really do make a lot of difference.

How much would that upgrade cost?

I've always had good luck with PNY Flash Drives and Camera cards, so I took a chance on a couple of (made in the USA) PNY 240GB SSD's for $85 each. Put one in my 2012 Mac Mini and one in my 2010 Mac Mini.

If I was on a budget, already had a ThunderBolt external drive and was saving up for a MacBook Pro, I would probably just do one 240GB SSD for around $85 to $95.

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Answer 13

lllaass

Level 10

210,411 points

Oct 9, 2015 2:30 AM in response to Michael_Price1990

If you do get a Mac Pro only get a 2009-2012 one. They have better memory management and have less problems than a 2008.

In February I picked up from Craig's list a 009 with 16 GB RAM for $425. I added a PCle blade SSD and added a PC graphics card that I already had.

Like you ae doing. do not get a 2006/2007 Mac Pro

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Answer 14

Oct 9, 2015 5:40 AM in response to Michael_Price1990

Something you may or may not want to consider as a MacPro alternative.

You may want to try poking around the internet and look for a fully tricked out

2012 Mac mini with the 2.6 GHz quad core i7 and stick an SSD inside.

For video processing which loves more cores, it will likely be 2-2.5 times

better performance (based on Geekbench 64 bit multicore tests).

Looking at older MacPros have a possible issue of not getting supported

for newer versions of OS X and should look at getting the newest possible.

There is no telling when Apple will say we are cutting of OS support for

computers older than some model.

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Answer 15

Oct 9, 2015 6:25 AM in response to woodmeister50

Well in that situation, perhaps instead of spending money on my old Mac mini. Maybe i should just get a used Mac book pro with the quad core i7 system. Then at least I could have it to travel when needed, and when at home just hook it up to my monitor and bluetooth keyboard and mouse and use it as a desktop at home. It would be nice to be able to have a laptop for when I am out to edit with.

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