2019 iMac 27 vs 2018 i7 Mini w eGPU

[InuNacho]

I'm not entirely satisfied with my Mac Mini + eGPU combination. I'll list my qualms first and see if replacing it with an iMac makes sense price-wise and in performance-wise.

There are several bugs related to the eGPU that I didn't expiernece in my Mac Pro with the same RX580, mainly associated with high VRAM use and not letting go of VRAM. I do run the TopazLabs suite fairly often so having the RX580 helps. I hope the dGPU in the iMacs is up to snuff a bit.

My main display is a Dell Ultrasharp U3011. While good it is a bit old and I'm curious if the iMac screen would be better for photography and video when compared to it. It was high-end a decade ago but I know things are constantly changing.
The iMac has a much higher resolution. I still use parts of the CS6 Suite and LR6, do they scale well high a 5k screen?

The Mini cannot sleep with the eGPU, is there any sleep issues with the iMac?

I need to run Mojave for 32-bit applications, plugins, and some external hardware. There is no way around this. I've come to the conclusion that the 2019 is the best iMac I can get.

Let me know any advice or if this "side upgrade" makes sense.

 

[California]

I just got a 27" for the same reasons.

 

[Nguyen Duc Hieu]

My main display is a Dell Ultrasharp U3011. While good it is a bit old and I'm curious if the iMac screen would be better for photography and video when compared to it. It was high-end a decade ago but I know things are constantly changing.

Its 5k 27" LCD is still a high-end thing by today.
Equivalent option is the LG 5k Ultrafine which cost ~US$1000, more than half of an iMac 2020 base model.

 

[InuNacho]

I just got a 27" for the same reasons.

I had a boot crash twice in a row this morning and it's becoming quite annoying to have to turn off and turn on my Mini instead of sleeping it. Its sad to say that the Mini is the worst Mac I've owned in terms of stability, even worse than my LCII that fried itself with a 68040 upgrade. At least then I knew it was my fault doing an aftermarket upgrade. I am doing exactly what Apple wants with eGPU and external disks but for whatever reason its just not working out. I don't know the exact risk but I know it can't be good having to hard shutdown the Mini while mechanical drives are spinning away on it.

If I can find a good 27, I'm jumping on it.

 

[California]

I had a boot crash twice in a row this morning and it's becoming quite annoying to have to turn off and turn on my Mini instead of sleeping it. Its sad to say that the Mini is the worst Mac I've owned in terms of stability, even worse than my LCII that fried itself with a 68040 upgrade. At least then I knew it was my fault doing an aftermarket upgrade. I am doing exactly what Apple wants with eGPU and external disks but for whatever reason its just not working out. I don't know the exact risk but I know it can't be good having to hard shutdown the Mini while mechanical drives are spinning away on it.

If I can find a good 27, I'm jumping on it.

Check Apple Refurb store; interesting that your 2018 i7 Mini is having so many issues. Did you upgrade ram in it yourself, and if so, what brand ram did you use?

 

[AlexMaximus]

I'm not entirely satisfied with my Mac Mini + eGPU combination. I'll list my qualms first and see if replacing it with an iMac makes sense price-wise and in performance-wise.

There are several bugs related to the eGPU that I didn't expiernece in my Mac Pro with the same RX580, mainly associated with high VRAM use and not letting go of VRAM. I do run the TopazLabs suite fairly often so having the RX580 helps. I hope the dGPU in the iMacs is up to snuff a bit.

My main display is a Dell Ultrasharp U3011. While good it is a bit old and I'm curious if the iMac screen would be better for photography and video when compared to it. It was high-end a decade ago but I know things are constantly changing.
The iMac has a much higher resolution. I still use parts of the CS6 Suite and LR6, do they scale well high a 5k screen?

The Mini cannot sleep with the eGPU, is there any sleep issues with the iMac?

I need to run Mojave for 32-bit applications, plugins, and some external hardware. There is no way around this. I've come to the conclusion that the 2019 is the best iMac I can get.

Let me know any advice or if this "side upgrade" makes sense.

I just pulled the trigger 30 minutes ago and purchased a slightly used iMac Pro with the Vega 64. That’s what I did, and what I would do. But that’s just me. As nuts as it sounds, it’s all about the cooling that matters on the long run. Those baby’s are coming down in price. if I’d were in your shoes, I’d check out the price difference and consider a standard iMac Pro rather then a hot & loud running 2019.

 

[InuNacho]

I just pulled the trigger 30 minutes ago and purchased a slightly used iMac Pro with the Vega 64. That’s what I did, and what I would do. But that’s just me. As nuts as it sounds, it’s all about the cooling that matters on the long run. Those baby’s are coming down in price. if I’d were in your shoes, I’d check out the price difference and consider a standard iMac Pro rather then a hot & loud running 2019.

Sorry for the late response, kind of lost count of this thread!
Interesting you bring up the iMac Pro. I've seen quite a few of them listed locally. I can skirt by with 32GB of RAM so that isn't an issue. The 64GB is just a bump when I REALLY need it which has only been a handful of times.

I'm not entirely sure how the Vega is in the Pro model. Is it the same as the desktop card or is it a mobile version, I see plenty of 56 models and if it is a desktop version, that would be a nice step up over my RX580 which already sees a performance hit with the TB3 connection.

I am still eyeing the market for the iMac!

 

[pshufd]

Sorry for the late response, kind of lost count of this thread!
Interesting you bring up the iMac Pro. I've seen quite a few of them listed locally. I can skirt by with 32GB of RAM so that isn't an issue. The 64GB is just a bump when I REALLY need it which has only been a handful of times.

I'm not entirely sure how the Vega is in the Pro model. Is it the same as the desktop card or is it a mobile version, I see plenty of 56 models and if it is a desktop version, that would be a nice step up over my RX580 which already sees a performance hit with the TB3 connection.

I am still eyeing the market for the iMac!

I let one slip through my fingers a few weeks ago. 18 Core, 64 GB RAM, 2 TB SSD for $1,900. It was an auction house and they thought it was just a regular iMac. He thought that the 18 was i8.

The iMac Pro can support four external monitors I think.

On running Mojave: if you put enough RAM into it, then you can run a Mojave Virtual Machine if you really want to run Monterey as the main operating system. I have a 2015 MacBook Pro 15 around that runs Mojave if I need to run 32-bit programs. I could also run Mojave in a VM on my Windows desktop (it has 128 GB RAM). I bought a 2014 iMac 27 two weeks ago and love the thing. It isn't as fast as my M1 mini but the screen and speakers are really nice as is the ability to run two external monitors.