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Hi,

I'm looking at some upgrades and wondering if anybody has experience with a Mac Mini while using Pro Tools. I'm also looking to use this with an Apollo twin, but I don't have any thunderbolt connections on my current setup which is getting a little long in the tooth. I have a 2.66 GHz duo quad core and I'm wondering if the i7 processor in a Mac Mini would be superior to this? Does a lot of the newest software require duo core or does i7/i9 take care of that?

I'm running PT 10.3 on a 2012 Mac Pro with OS 10.8.5, so 32 bit and I'm feeling the limitations with that. I'm looking to take things into this century so any advice or suggestions on my Mini/PT/Apollo plan would be much appreciated, thanks!

My wife has one for Lightroom / Photoshop

The i7 upgrade they show on Apple.com is the hex core 8th gen processor , judging by the spec it's the i7 8700 ( we are up to 9th gen with 10th on the way soon ) but it should far outperform older 2.66 ghz quad core duo , there are benchmarks out there if you type both processors into Google ( i7 8700 vs Whatever )

Those Mac Mini's can add up once you start speccing them out with a decent of ram and storage and they are not terribly upgradeable as the CPU and SSD are soldered in.

It's a shame the new Mac Pro is $5k+ they are great pieces of kit and the obvious upgrade to what you have. I could never justify the expense personally so but I stick with PC's in the music studio leave the Mac to the photography studio owning wife. Mind you even the new Mac Pro has a non-user replaceable boot drive due to it's T2 chip.

At least you are not a Logic user so you have a choice of platforms .

Mark

Thanks for your input Mark! Yes, a definite shame about the new Mac Pro's, a little too pricey for me. I've had a few bad experiences with PC's so I prefer Mac. I think I might take the leap with a newer mini, should hold me for a few years. I just wanted clarity that the i7 (6 core) will outperform the duo quad core I currently have. All research points to yes, so....

Cale wrote: ↑

Wed Apr 29, 2020 4:13 pm

I just wanted clarity that the i7 (6 core) will outperform the duo quad core I currently have. All research points to yes, so....

Yeah it's just a shame they charge premium prices for last gen CPU's soon to be 2 generations old as the new ones are just launching from Intel

https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker ... ssor-speed

I could understand it when they charged £399-499 for the entry level. I see why people build Hackintosh's