Is it possible? Has anyone done this and not regretted it? I know the current Mini's geekbench surpasses the 2010 Quad MP's so that got me thinking. I never really use my MP to its full potential. I would say 95% of the time is spent internet browsing, email, itunes. I went to college for multimedia, but graduated 7 years ago and don't work in the field like I wish I could. My dayjob is something else. I got my refurb 2010 Quad Mac Pro last year to practice using photoshop and final cut, hoping to get a new job eventually, but rarely open those programs due to time and just life getting in the way. When I do try to practice or play around, I feel extremely rusty and lost. Its seems like a waste for me to have this machine, but can't decide on whether I should sell it now while it's still worth a good penny before the new ones come out or just keep it? Do you think I could get away with some photoshop playing and final cut pro work on a maxed out Mac Mini?
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Anyone Replace your Mac Pro with Mac Mini?
- Thread starter SteelBlueTJ
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You should ask the Mac Mini forum. I can't replace my Mac Pro with a Mac mini. But you sound like you could easily. Put an SSD in the mini and you probably won't know the difference.
You sound like a good canidate to buy a mini to replace it with. However by the time you get your mini setup you may not realize that much cash in pocket. Do you want to save space, cut power costs, less noise and so forth would be questions to answer. If you have MPro paid for then it seems like a matter of which unit you want as opposed to need.
wouldn't recommend it
I lead a research lab that houses between 6 and 8 workstations. Traditionally these have been the Apple "pro machines." By pro machines I mean the PowerMacs, Xserve and Mac Pro. Almost 3 years ago I realized that I didn't need all the expandability of the all the workstations. Meaning I didn't all of the be expandable. I then purchased three machines two iMacs (27inch i7) and an Mini.
This was a huge mistake. Huge. Each/all of the machines experienced problems. Motherboards, drives, bluetooth hardware, etc. All of them had problems. I will never again buy a "consumer" machine for the work environment. Never. Again.
I really hope the upcoming MacPro is built/specced to the same standard as the previous professional Macs.
I lead a research lab that houses between 6 and 8 workstations. Traditionally these have been the Apple "pro machines." By pro machines I mean the PowerMacs, Xserve and Mac Pro. Almost 3 years ago I realized that I didn't need all the expandability of the all the workstations. Meaning I didn't all of the be expandable. I then purchased three machines two iMacs (27inch i7) and an Mini.
This was a huge mistake. Huge. Each/all of the machines experienced problems. Motherboards, drives, bluetooth hardware, etc. All of them had problems. I will never again buy a "consumer" machine for the work environment. Never. Again.
I really hope the upcoming MacPro is built/specced to the same standard as the previous professional Macs.
I just did the opposite replacing my main machine mini i7 with a 2009 8 Core 2.66hz Mac Pro. I wanted the internal expandability and need better graphic performance. Other than that the mini is a great machine, very quiet, lower power etc.
It'll work absolutely fine, and be smaller and cooler for you at the same time. I replaced an 8 core 2008 Pro with a Quad 2.3 Mini with 16GB of RAM and a homemade Fusion drive, and it's great.
For every story like this I can tell you about 2000 people that don't have these problems. I love how people feel their anecdotal evidence equates to the absolute truth.
Steel blue, the Mac mini will be perfect for you.
Apples & Oranges
At least, for me, that's the comparison I would make between the MP & the mini. But, in spite of the differences, the mini out-performed my way-too-old MP. That said, as soon as the new MP is available, I'm on it. The mini just doesn't have the horse power I want for rendering, etc. I did get the mini with a SSD installed. Wow, what a difference in speed between the SSD & the old spinner drives. As soon as I can get the new MP, I'll give my wife the mini. It will be a huge upgrade for her. And, she doesn't need the horse power that I do. It will be a win-win for both of us.
At least, for me, that's the comparison I would make between the MP & the mini. But, in spite of the differences, the mini out-performed my way-too-old MP. That said, as soon as the new MP is available, I'm on it. The mini just doesn't have the horse power I want for rendering, etc. I did get the mini with a SSD installed. Wow, what a difference in speed between the SSD & the old spinner drives. As soon as I can get the new MP, I'll give my wife the mini. It will be a huge upgrade for her. And, she doesn't need the horse power that I do. It will be a win-win for both of us.
I replaced my 2006 Mac Pro 1,1 (2x dual-core 2.66Ghz) 16GB, SSD with the Late 2012 Mini 2.6Ghz Core i7 quad-core & 16GB RAM w/Fusion drive.
It took me a while to get back to 3x displays (1x USB3), and it's not as much faster in everyday usage as you might expect.
The Mini is quieter, and doesn't generate as much heat or use as much electricity -- unless you use more than about 25% CPU. Then it starts getting hot and the you can really hear the fan. The Mac Pro never did that.
Thunderbolt & USB3 are kind of nice, as is support for OS X 10.8 & 10.9.
I really wish the Mini could do 32GB of RAM. I'm probably going to wind up buying the upcoming Mac Pro just so I can get more RAM.
It took me a while to get back to 3x displays (1x USB3), and it's not as much faster in everyday usage as you might expect.
The Mini is quieter, and doesn't generate as much heat or use as much electricity -- unless you use more than about 25% CPU. Then it starts getting hot and the you can really hear the fan. The Mac Pro never did that.
Thunderbolt & USB3 are kind of nice, as is support for OS X 10.8 & 10.9.
I really wish the Mini could do 32GB of RAM. I'm probably going to wind up buying the upcoming Mac Pro just so I can get more RAM.
No generalization
I can only speak about myself. All all of the G4s, G5s, Xserves, MacPros I've bought, I've only had 1 hardware failure. Only the opposite can be said about the Mac Mini and iMac.
Would I buy them again? Nope. But I'm glad that you know 2000 people who haven't had problems. That's fantastic for them. It also suggests you're quite popular. Kudos to you.
I can only speak about myself. All all of the G4s, G5s, Xserves, MacPros I've bought, I've only had 1 hardware failure. Only the opposite can be said about the Mac Mini and iMac.
Would I buy them again? Nope. But I'm glad that you know 2000 people who haven't had problems. That's fantastic for them. It also suggests you're quite popular. Kudos to you.