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Other Apple Announces Mac Mini Refresh
- Thread starter VegetableStu
- Start date
Final Cut Pro X is wayyyy faster / optimized than Premiere is. Divinci Resolve is going to surpass Premiere here very soon.
Premiere is actually good with you have more than 1 editor on one project.
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I use davinci resolve.
The integration of BlackMagic Fusion and Fairlight increase productivity 1000%!
I'm being a bit pedantic here, but I actually think it's VERY reasonably priced in its base configuration (the options, however, are another matter...). Having a board that supports 64GB of RAM and 4x Thunderbolt 3 ports doesn't come cheaply. Nor does unibody aluminum. Nor does supporting three 4K displays concurrently.
That said, the things you're paying for may not be the things you care about. If you don't need even one TB3 port, let alone more, then having four of them is a massive added cost that anyone would—quite rightly—not consider worthwhile. I'd suggest, however—and here's where I'm being pedantic—that it not being worthwhile to some of us doesn't mean that the high cost is unreasonable; it just means we may not be the target audience.
Putting four TB3 ports on a machine is making a statement that they want this thing to be taken seriously in a professional environment, and by all accounts, it will be. Quite a few people would love to pair these with eGPUs, professional RAID enclosures, and 4K monitors; stack them in colo data centers or mini server clusters; or otherwise make use of them in ways that they are somewhat uniquely designed to work, at least among consumer-grade PCs. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up buying dozens of them for various uses around our offices.
And for those sorts of uses, it's both reasonable and compelling at that price.
I've actually done comparisons occasionally, and though the Apple Tax was certainly true in the past, it's rare that I've found a (EDIT: non-built-to-order) Mac in the last 10-15 years that is more expensive at launch than the cheapest comparable PC from one of its competitors (I tried to spec a comparable Deskmini out for less than the Mac mini, but I blew the budget simply adding support for 64GB of RAM, let alone TB3 ports). That said, whereas other manufacturers will let you strip away features you don't care about to reduce the cost, Apple generally doesn't. It's their way or the highway.
Macs are generally a good value for the hardware you're getting. The only question is whether you're getting the hardware you want.
That said, the things you're paying for may not be the things you care about. If you don't need even one TB3 port, let alone more, then having four of them is a massive added cost that anyone would—quite rightly—not consider worthwhile. I'd suggest, however—and here's where I'm being pedantic—that it not being worthwhile to some of us doesn't mean that the high cost is unreasonable; it just means we may not be the target audience.
Putting four TB3 ports on a machine is making a statement that they want this thing to be taken seriously in a professional environment, and by all accounts, it will be. Quite a few people would love to pair these with eGPUs, professional RAID enclosures, and 4K monitors; stack them in colo data centers or mini server clusters; or otherwise make use of them in ways that they are somewhat uniquely designed to work, at least among consumer-grade PCs. I wouldn't be surprised if we end up buying dozens of them for various uses around our offices.
And for those sorts of uses, it's both reasonable and compelling at that price.
I've actually done comparisons occasionally, and though the Apple Tax was certainly true in the past, it's rare that I've found a (EDIT: non-built-to-order) Mac in the last 10-15 years that is more expensive at launch than the cheapest comparable PC from one of its competitors (I tried to spec a comparable Deskmini out for less than the Mac mini, but I blew the budget simply adding support for 64GB of RAM, let alone TB3 ports). That said, whereas other manufacturers will let you strip away features you don't care about to reduce the cost, Apple generally doesn't. It's their way or the highway.
Macs are generally a good value for the hardware you're getting. The only question is whether you're getting the hardware you want.
I'm suddenly very glad that I held off on upgrading my phone for another year. Hopefully they'll work on making their product lineup more consistent in the next year.
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You know your post got me thinking... could this be the first consumer device that is utilizing "royalty free" TB3 since Intel released it last year? I mean, what else even has more than two TB3?
I have one of these: http://www.sapphiretech.com/productdetial.asp?pid=CFE02E73-4BAD-4B5C-9812-5B7DFA41DA13
Not as powerful, but support for 4 4K displays.
I do have to disagree (not trying to spark argument here) about the cost-performance/features ratio of a mac. Plus, 64GB of ram with such a low power i7 is pointless, unless you are paying the money for a Quadro/Firepro eGPU. At that point, if you need that, just buy an iMac 5K. I see this product as overpriced, and slightly pointless, with STX.
This Enclosure
https://mymantiz.com/products/mz-02-venus
This Workstation Card
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAH597RY5071
OR
remember you can use this egpu for any setup that has TB3, that enclosure has many extras like
Youll have a full blast pro workstation for Final Cut Pro X, you could even put / pull a AMD gaming GPU from the enclosure if you wanted to use it in a PC if need be.
https://mymantiz.com/products/mz-02-venus
This Workstation Card
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIAH597RY5071
OR
- AMD Radeon RX 560
- AMD Radeon RX 570
- AMD Radeon RX 580
- AMD Radeon Pro WX 7100
- AMD Radeon RX Vega 56
- AMD Radeon RX Vega 64
- AMD Radeon Pro WX 9100
- AMD Radeon Frontier Edition
remember you can use this egpu for any setup that has TB3, that enclosure has many extras like
- 5 external USB 3.1Gen1 ( 5V x 0.9 A ) Ports for more extension devices
- 1 external SATA for saving internal HDD/SSD spaces
- 1 external Gigabit Lan for more stable internet connection
Youll have a full blast pro workstation for Final Cut Pro X, you could even put / pull a AMD gaming GPU from the enclosure if you wanted to use it in a PC if need be.
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Apple needs to make a module with the same footprint of the mini, that can be stacked over or under the mini, MXM GPUs - RX590s & Vega 56s...?
If one specs the new SG mini (Space Grey) to match the iMac Pro (in RAM & storage), adds in an Apple keyboard & mouse, adds in the 27" 5K IPS 'Apple-approved" LG monitor, AND adds in the 'Apple-approved' BlackMagic Design Vega 56 eGPU...
Well, the iMac will always come in cheaper,and a better deal considering you are getting 2 more cores on the CPU & a more robust cooling system...
But when something goes wonky with the panel in the iMac Pro, after your 3 years of AppleCare run out, you are SOL...
Not understanding what you are getting at here...
The new Space Grey Mac mini (herein known as the SG mini) is severely lacking in graphics, as it does not have a discrete GPU, hence my adding in the BlackMagic Design solution(s)...
Now, these units are really expensive, the RX580 @ 700 bucks & the Vega 56 @ a whopping 1200 bucks...!!!
But "an upgraded GPU is a few hundred dollars" is incorrect, on either platform...
eGPU on a SG mini needs an actual eGPU housing to hold that upgraded GPU, and those enclosures are usually about 300 or 400 bucks, and you definitely want to get one that is designed to work with macOS, not any off-the-shelf enclosure will work...
Same for 'pre-loaded' eGPU enclosures, not all off-the-shelf units will work properly with macOS...
Now, if you were referring to upgrading the iMac Pro GPU, that is more than "a few hundred dollars", more like 600 bucks, but that basically gets you a Vega Frontier Edition (Vega 64 & 16GB HBMs)...
get the mantiz mz02
no other enclosure has all these extras that run off TB3
no other enclosure has all these extras that run off TB3
- 5 external USB 3.1Gen1 ( 5V x 0.9 A ) Ports for more extension devices
- 1 external SATA for saving internal HDD/SSD spaces
- 1 external Gigabit Lan for more stable internet connection
Okay, by the way, I'm not trying to start a flame war here of any kind. Online, things can escalate quickly, and I don't want this to go south.
almost all enclosures work with mac OS go to https://egpu.io/forums/ to do your research