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2014 i7 16GB vs 2022 8GB

Giuanniello

Giuanniello

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Oct 21, 2012
793
216
Capri - Italy
I think it's about time to refresh my MacMini, it's a 2014, if I am not wrong, reported as a 1TB fusion drive, 16GB RAM, it still does well for daily tasks, I mostly use Adobe LightRoom and PhotoShop for photo editing and especially with the latter it starts to show limitations in computational power, even LR takes quite a while just to export a photograph so I think it's about time for an upgrade even tho I am not a pro photographer and as such I can bot thatch time for the upgrade nor I need a MacStudio or a MacPro.

Wondering how the base 8GB Mini compares to my old one and if the upgrade to 16GB shows appreciably as the upgrades with Apple are like adding jewels rather than a memory chip...

Any first hand experience with 8GB and photo editing (I work with both 45 and 24MP cameras and a 2560x1440 27" screen if it can help?

Grazie
 
Well, it will smoke it front and back and then some - but try to get a 16GB version with any apple silicon - Lightroom aka all adobe apps need lots of ram there, too.

If your budget is tight, grap a m1 mac mini with 16gb and 512gb of storage in the apple refurbished section. That is enough power for your described workload for years to come.
 
It looks like you're used to squeeze a very long life out of your machines.
Don't push yourself into a corner of planned obsolescence with 8GB.
One used/clearance M1 Max Mac Studio is what I would get if I were you.
Or at least any M-series with 16GB RAM.
 
NO...!

Do not buy ANY m-series Mac with only 8gb of RAM !!!
It may not be enough.

See this article, posted today on MacRumors' front page:
222 comments (click link on left)

With Apple Silicon,
16gb is "the new 8".

Again... DON'T BUY an m-series mac with only 8gb of RAM!

My opinion only.
Others will disagree.
Some will disagree vehemently...
 
The 8GB machine will do the job, but it will work hard to do it. I've watched my wife edit on her 8/256 M1 Air (not intended for her photography work, but gets used anyway). It does the job just fine, but it uses a lot of swap memory to get the job done. The way she batch edits, it will bring nearly any system to its knees.

That said, the 16GB of ram is well worth the upgrade. It will handle significantly more work before it starts swapping heavily. You can always use external storage, but you can't add more ram.

I suspect you may not be in the US market, but the M2 mini came with a small price drop compared to the M1 mini and a bigger education discount. If you have access to the Apple's US edu pricing, it makes the ram upgrade nearly free on a new system. If the budget is tight, I would look for a good price on an M1 with 16GB of ram.

The moral of the story is, yes the 8GB ram will work, but you will definitely be better served by 16GB. Make sure you have enough storage for the OS, your applications, whatever active projects you are working on, and some free space. The other stuff can be relegated to an external drive.
 
Artisright runs an amazing channel on youtube, that's a very solid reference for photographers making their mac purchase choices: no BS, no hyperbole, no clickbait, just real world results organised consistently and repeatedly.

Example:
 
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Found this on ArtisRight:


That should give you the comparison you need 8GB vs 16GB :)

EXSUM: get 16GB ... it's a huge factor for photo workflow improvement.
 
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You all confirmed what I already knew, I'll go for a 16GB machine hopefully early next year or when some price drop happens, maybe will stay on the 500GB storage (vs my actual 1TB mostly filled with stuff I can delegate another Mini towards) to remain within a reasonable budget. If no budget restrictions I'd go for a Studio but both the budget and the value for the machine keep me away of it.

Thank you all
 
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