Mac mini M1 16 gb?

gnoop

I see lots of positive opinions about it.   Octane render make  a free version that people says runs on it .  Blender works too.    Wonder if it's same useless toy as  before or something you can work on  while traveling?

thomasp

The Mini has never been a useless toy IMO. At least not since they ditched the IBM processors. I don't see how it would be much use for work on the go. You need monitor, keyboard, power to put it to use.

I have three Macs still running here but given the shift to custom SSDs, no more RAM upgrade options, lack of useful connectors and rapidly increasing prices I would nowadays no longer choose an Apple for anything. It was a cool decade on Intel though and I still very much prefer their OS. As for the speed advantages - at least in the past those have proven temporary.

So thanks but no thanks - user choice and repair-ability wins in the end.

gnoop

I have 2015 i5 mini  and it has allays been a totally useless toy.   Slow as hell with   always not enough RAM  and non existing  gpu.

As of working on the go I can't imagine  I would suddenly need a computer  in the  middle of nowhere  , living under a tent in a desert .   I understand somebody would need but just not me.     I rather need a solution that would suite a kind of nomad style of living from one airnbnb apartment to another  , while traveling abroad  etc.    There is usually always  a tv  or something to connect.    Besides  people say mini could be connected to ipad  through some third party solution.   ( I never tried it although)   Wile notebook  I  tried  , not super expensive  although,  always have overheating issues  and drops to be super slow quickly  .    Mini has more or less working  air circulation at least.  

With it's new M1 processor and in build gpu + shared ram  I wonder would it be a  difference?

Does Substance Designer work on  apple m1 ?

My whole curiosity is because of this    https://apps.apple.com/us/app/octane-x/id1548355081

 They say it works on  M1

poopipe

I'd wait for app vendors to confirm support for things I need personally.  

The M1 on paper is a much, much  better idea for small form factor/mobile computing than the current Intel/amd mobile chips but you do run the risk of architecture related bugs in all sorts of software going from x64 to arm.

My gut says that intel and AMD will have big/little designs out to market by the time the M1 has verified support for everything we care about which will mean we're looking at similar performance/power draw ratios from them.

For your suggested use case I'd just buy one of the current higher-end gaming laptops - we know they work and they'll shit all over a mini in terms of performance

gnoop

poopipe said:

For your suggested use case I'd just buy one of the current higher-end gaming laptops - we know they work and they'll shit all over a mini in terms of performance

Yeah, probably  but everything I have seen  was a huge , heavy  and expensive  of few grands  17 " laptops you need a special  bag for    and once it's 15" model  reviews say it overheats  and drops performance.     I never understood why  I need to take batteries and  monitor  with me  while I rather prefer  small tablet +pen  and colorimeter  that could make any random monitor  you could  find in rented place acceptable.

thomasp

gnoop said:

I have 2015 i5 mini  and it has allays been a totally useless toy.   Slow as hell with   always not enough RAM  and non existing  gpu.

As of working on the go I can't imagine  I would suddenly need a computer  in the  middle of nowhere  , living under a tent in a desert .   I understand somebody would need but just not me.     I rather need a solution that would suite a kind of nomad style of living from one airnbnb apartment to another  , while traveling abroad  etc.   

Let me get out my pedantic hat and just say that there is no 2015 Mini. 2012, 2014 and 2018 are the generations to pick from.

If 16 GB of RAM capacity were not enough for you in the past I don't think you should expect wonders from the new one. It looks good in benchmarks for now at any rate, apparently really fast at swapping to make up for the RAM. If you still want to do it you could just as well get the Macbook Air or the 13 inch MBP with that same chip and also great results in benchmarks and builtin monitor, etc.

As said I would stay away from nu-Apple and not plonk down all that money into these welded shut now fully custom machines. Any decent PC laptop or small form factor PC should suffice and you won't be chasing experimental builds of software for these and if something breaks its at least a manageable fix. 

gnoop

thanks thomasp   perhaps mine is 2014 then.      I found a few  extra M1 reviews and  looks like  I7  laptops still beat  m1  by a huge margin  specially with mobile  video-cards   so that m1 is no miracle probably  in any way except low power consumption .    Perhaps that's why they are  out of stocks , same as desktop  video-cards  and m1 mini is easily available  right away.    

thomasp

2014 was non-upgradeable and i5 only I believe. All the other generations offer i5 or i7 CPUs and allow you to stick more RAM in there (up to 64 GB in the 2018) and the 2012 and previous allowed up to two internal drives. Now if you buy an M1 you have to outfit it at purchase time with the RAM and storage you envision you'll need over the lifetime of the machine. At Apple prices that's no fun. Not repairable either from the looks of it - all the thirdparty repair shops I know of do not work on the newer style models including some newer Intels.

Anyway, if you are keen on the form factor there's alternatives like this: https://www.storagereview.com/review/hp-z2-mini-g5-workstation-review . Probably others as well.

gnoop

thanks thomasp    that HP thing looks nice