Am I right about the Mac mini?

[El_Capitan]

I have a MacBook Pro 13" from 2011. I got it upgraded to a total of 16GB RAM plus I have installed a 256GB SSD inside. It's a fairly capable machine for tasks I use it for. Runs latest version of Photoshop CC perfectly fine. I can also edit 1080p video in iMovie but... this is a real struggle. This is also the primary reason I am looking at upgrading this machine.

I need a Mac that can do editing of 4K video in both iMovie and DaVinci Resolve. Projects would be between 20 minutes and 1 hour of length.

I'm looking at a i5 - 6 cores configuration that comes with 512GB SSD and 8GB RAM (which I intend to upgrade down the line). At some point I would also add an eGPU but can't do it right off the bat as I' mon a very constrained budget right now.

Would this be the best MacOS value configuration for my needs? Am I better off going with a base model MacBook Pro 13"? Which one would be a better choice?

 

[ruslan120]

Looks fine (and budget conscious) to me.

Why pay for the portability of a Macbook Pro if you don’t need it? + MBP’s will have lesser cooling capabilities and non-desktop processors.

You might save some money by taking advantage of the additional Thunderbolt 3 ports and going with a 256GB SSD + an external SSD in a larger capacity (since video editing takes so much storage space).

 

[jayducharme]

I regularly do exactly what you want to do with the mini. It's not as cost-effective as you might hope. For 1080 video, you might be able to get away with a stock mini. But for 4k you'll definitely need more heft. You'll want a Thunderbolt 3 external graphics card. (I have the Radeon RX 5700 in a Razer Core X.). You'll also want the 6-core i7 processor and at least 32 gb of RAM. And you'll need a pretty big Thunderbolt 3 external drive. (Mine is 12 tb, and it's already over half filled.). 4k devours disk space. With a 512 gb system drive, you wouldn't be able to do a 20 minute 4k project on it. For a 1 hour video, you'd fill a 1 tb drive easily.

When you add it all up, you're probably going to spend about $2500 for everything. You won't get the speed of a Mac Pro obviously, but then you won't be spending over $6000. I can export a 50 minute 4k video in about 15 minutes with FCPX. But the initial rendering of the footage is basically done in real-time. I have to crank stuff out every week, so the time adds up. My 2013 Mac Pro was a bit speedier for video rendering. But I needed an upgrade and wasn't willing to shell out $12,000 for the configuration I wanted. So the mini is working out okay for the price.

 

[Alexis Noel]

I have the base 2018 Mac mini i5 256 GB w/ 8GB RAM and I upgraded it to 32GB as my cost-effective approach.
The 2020 edition comes with 512GB now so that's already better than mine, although unless you wanna upgrade the RAM yourself after, I'd invest in more RAM right off the bat. 16GB would be an okay start since what you're describing isn't too strenuous.

Of course you'd still need to shell out more Dough for an eGPU and external RAM, as jayducharme mentioned above. Furthermore, as they stated, moving up to 4k video, you would probably be better off with the i7 32GB RAM, which, albeit more expensive, is cheaper than a Mac Pro or iMac Pro.

I guess it'll really depend on whether you will continue to stick to 1080p or move up to 4k and future proofing your computer.

 

[Fishrrman]

"I need a Mac that can do editing of 4K video in both iMovie and DaVinci Resolve. Projects would be between 20 minutes and 1 hour of length."

You need a 27" iMac with the i9 CPU...

 

[ruslan120]

"I need a Mac that can do editing of 4K video in both iMovie and DaVinci Resolve. Projects would be between 20 minutes and 1 hour of length."

You need a 27" iMac with the i9 CPU...

The built in display is limiting if you want to explore monitor alternatives. A mac mini + eGPU can get most of the performance of an iMac without the additional costs + offers flexibility in terms of configured peripherals.

Mac Mini has the T2 chip which accelerates exports. iMac does not.

I purchased an iMac for video editing and the lack of display flexibility and lack of additional thunderbolt ports have been cons. My next purchase will likely not be an iMac, really wish Apple had made an eight core Mac Mini at that point.

 

[Boyd01]

Was just looking at the 2018 3.2ghz i7 Mini Geekbench ratings on everymac.com. Multi-core is 24072, single core 5653. My 2012 quad Mini is 11386 multi, 3491 single. Was surprised that a 2018 6-processor i7 is only about twice as fast as a 2012 4-core i7 (not even twice as fast for single core). I'm sure the T2 chip would help with video and in spite of its limitations, the UHD-630 is a big improvement over the HD-4000 in my 2012 quad.