The Apple thread

[MattyP]

Apple folks...

I am getting to the end of my tether with Windows (again) so looking at going back to a Mac.

I don't want a new spangly one - something that will just allow me to do a spot of video editing etc.

So I've seen a Mac Pro with this spec:-

"FW upgraded to 2,1
CPUs upgraded to X5355
32Gb RAM
Standard GPU 7300GT"

Its an older gen Pro but I think it'll do what I need. Dual Xenons should be pokey enough (2 processors with 4 threads each) and plenty of memory.

It doesn't need to run modern games - I'll be doing that on consoles going forward.

Any collective thoughts?

NO NO NO

Don't get an Intel-based Mac the new silicon based ones are just so much better.

No idea what your budget is, but any M-based chip will give you a good experience. But if you can go for a £599 M4 Mac mini (presumably £499 if you know a student or someone working at a Uni). 16GB is a lot when it comes to the new the architecture. The base is lacking in storage, but it's Thunderbolt 4 so easy to add fast external storage cheaply.

It will blow away an old Pro.

Ah brilliant thanks for tha advice!

Had a the very first Mac Mini years ago and I was really impressed with it. However it was lacking a bit on the I/O side of things - disk was a touch slow for video editing at times.

Budget wise I can easily stretch to £500 - just don't want to spend huge amounts of money. I'll probably end up selling all the PC kit I have (yes I'm that fed up with it!).

Seen a later Mac Pro :-

"Processor: 2.7 GHz 12-Core Intel Xeon E5
Memory: 64 GB 1866 MHZ DDRS
2tb SSD hard drive
64gb ram
Graphics: AMD FirePro D500 3 GB
Serial Number: F5KT304UF693"

It's the cylinder looking one - so came after the old pros.

I expect this will be as bad as the older ones with it being Intel? That one seems to have plenty of memory and hard disk space.

[Misfit]

The Mac Mini is now one of the best desktop computers you can buy (unless you're a gamer)

This comparison has roughly the Mac Pro you describe going against an 8GB M1 Mac Mini.



Bear in mind the M4 Mini blows away the M1 and has double the RAM (and 8GB to 16GB is huge in this case) and is much more AI oriented if you are interested in that sort of thing.

The M chips will also be supported with the latest OS and software too, I have no idea if the old Pros are and how long they will be.

They're also practically silent when compared with an Intel chip.

Getting an M1 MacBook Air on release was the biggest step I'd ever seen in day to day working on a PC. I currently have an M2 Air at home and an M1 MB Pro in the office, I hanker for the M4 but really there is no point. I can't stress either of the devices I have and get all day battery life.

[MattyP]

The Mac Mini is now one of the best desktop computers you can buy (unless you're a gamer)

This comparison has roughly the Mac Pro you describe going against an 8GB M1 Mac Mini.



Bear in mind the M4 Mini blows away the M1 and has double the RAM (and 8GB to 16GB is huge in this case) and is much more AI oriented if you are interested in that sort of thing.

The M chips will also be supported with the latest OS and software too, I have no idea if the old Pros are and how long they will be.

They're also practically silent when compared with an Intel chip.

Getting an M1 MacBook Air on release was the biggest step I'd ever seen in day to day working on a PC. I currently have an M2 Air at home and an M1 MB Pro in the office, I hanker for the M4 but really there is no point. I can't stress either of the devices I have and get all day battery life.

Thanks for the advice... Think that kind of concerns me is the upgradability of the minis?

Guessing on a Mac 16GB memory is more than ample? Essentially I'll just mainly be using office apps, photoshop and a video editor (not sure what yet probably Davinci Resolve).

The thing that is attracting me to the Pro above is the 64GB memory and the 2TB of storage. Both seem to have a huge premium when speccing up a mini. However the concern is that Apple's latest OS won't work with it officially (opencore is an option but still).

Think it will need some more pondering and research into my use cases.

My current PC is a Ryzen R9 Zen2 (12 core), 64GB DDR4 and SSDs with Windows 11. Oh and an AMD 6800XT GPU. Its just Windows 11 and it gets loud when under load. First world problems I guess.

[Misfit]

Guessing on a Mac 16GB memory is more than ample? Essentially I'll just mainly be using office apps, photoshop and a video editor (not sure what yet probably Davinci Resolve).

Fair concerns. Until you've used a new Mac it's hard to understand.

For disk space, just use an external SSD, Thunderbolt 4 can be as fast as internal storage.

Memory, 16GB is significant, it's not like 16GB in Windows. I run tons of Chrome tabs, YouTube and Photoshop and it doesn't blink. Swap space if it is needed is also very fast.

The guy is comparing an 8GB device that is 4 years older than the M4 against a Pro and it still wins.

I'd be tempted to go to a 512GB internal drive and if money isn't an issue 24GB of RAM but I'm not sure why on the latter.

You've just blown WAY more on a phone that you'll want to upgrade in a year or two. This will probably last 10.

If you buy it from Apple, returns are easy/no quibble too...

[Misfit]

Presumably, you can find a used M2 Mini with a higher spec for less money, that would also be great too.

But not the funky new tiny design.

[Misfit]

Deckard, time for you to chip in...

He went from a Pro to an M2 mini last year.

I think his is always on as he uses it as a media server...

i am very pleased with the mini ! My Mac Pro was nine pence an hour on electric, and this is less than a penny and I am dictating this on my microphone using Siri which is pretty flawless too

[Deckard]

M2 pro buddy all the way - it’s a beast it really is - I just went with the base model and added a few external 3.2 2tb ssds for not much money - not found anything that even starts the fans up tbh - it runs switch games in 4k with no issue and ableton with about 30 audio vst Plugins is at about 10%….best computer I’ve ever owned along with my old cMP which lasted 15 years but compared to this it’s a ford escort compared to the starship enterprise !

It’s never off as I use it for plex and less than 1p hour cost compared to the old cMP of around 10 !

[MattyP]

All really good points thanks all!

Probably going for a well specced Mini M2 Pro with an external drive.

And yes I’ve just blown a shed load of money on a new phone but also getting a Switch 2 and have some car repair bills coming up!

Love the idea of using emulators etc! Expect MAME runs really well too. The other thing I use my PC for is indeed a Plex server. So low power quiet solution makes a whole lot of sense.

Selling the PC bits too will offset the cost.

https://www.hoxtonmacs.co.uk/products/m ... -excellent

How does the above look? Seems to be a good price.

[VNVObit]

Not sure what refurb used M2 MiniPros go for but picked up M4 Mini (base model) and really pleased with it. Did invest in an external SSD (4TB) for home drive data etc and was able to reuse my existing DAS set up and retired my Trashcan.

[Deckard]

I got mine off of a power seller on eBay almost brand-new just over a year ago for £875….

[MattyP]

Well the PC is up for sale!

Decided to hang fire on the Mac until I've spent a bit of time using the Surface as a daily driver.

Might just work out for me... tried running MAME on it tonight and it plays the stuff I enjoy well enough. Mainly play 80s arcade games on MAME so expect it'll be fine for most things with the Switch/2/PS5 picking up the slack for modern and Nintendo games.

Got the PC up for £650 see how it goes.

[MattyP]

Well PC is now sold! Managed to get £700 for it!

So onto some Mac shopping....

Decided to go for an M2 Pro 16GB/512GB SSD. Think that should do the trick looking at those YT vids you both put up! It will be enough to get me back into the Mac ecosystem again plenty of power at a reasonable price point!

Will be putting the order in after the Bank Holiday weekend.

I did mess about with the Surface Pro a bit but think it would struggle on some things - its getting on a bit now being around 5 and bit years old - i7 at around 2GHz on boost with 128MB of VRAM. Its fine for what I use it for (mainly using OneNote with the stylus etc) small and compact. But as a general purpose machine it won't hit the mark. Also. Windoze.

Looking forward to getting back to Mac and OSX it feels like its been an age....

So next week I'll be a do I get anything by joining in the collective!

[Deckard]

Smug mainly (as always ) - no I think Apple currently have done amazing things with the mini so it’s a good collective to belong to

[MattyP]

Smug mainly (as always ) - no I think Apple currently have done amazing things with the mini so it’s a good collective to belong to

Ah I'm really just looking forward to getting away from Windows again. I use a Windows laptop at work every day and it's painful using it on my personal device too.

Thought briefly about Linux but again just want something that works and has an amazing user experience which Macs have always given. Looking forward to next week.

One thing I was going to ask I rip DVDs at the moment.. gradually digitizing my DVD collection to put onto Plex any recommendations on software?

Main reason I'm going for a Mini Pro M2 is the USB A ports as I have a few devices that need them.

Now I feel like a kid waiting for Xmas day! This and Switch 2 in June.... What a time to be a techie gaming geek!

[Deckard]

I don’t have any recommendations for a DVD ripper as I have got all my video stuff for plex of a few specialist Torrent sites / I know. I got myself a secondhand caldigit TS3 thunderbolt dock for 95 quid as I quickly run out of ports which has proved in valuable. I sent you an invite on the discord as it might be easier to chat there