Anyone buy a New Mini with the i3

[Wicked1]

I am looking at a new Mini for home use, I have had many in the passed, but are the i3's worth it, or should I just load one up with either I5 or I7, and 8GB with 512SSD, I will edit some videos but the newer CPU's seem to have a some pep to them, I have a 2017 I7 MBP 13" with 3.5 and 16GB with 1TB, but thinking the new Mini with 8GB/512GB is fine as I can upgrade Ram in the future and use mostly external storage anyway, but will the i5 handle most tasks including rendering a video?

If you have purchased an i3 or i5 how do you like it?

 

[vbctv]

I have the i3 with 8GB Ram & 128GB SSD. I use it for both personal & business. Upgraded to 16GB Ram myself. I use a 500GB Samsung T5 I leave connected to store majority of my files that aren't in the cloud and keep my Photos & Music libraries on. I do photos & video editing, have no issues in every day use. Remember it is a desktop i3, i5 & i7 not the same you see in all other Mac products.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

I would say my experience has been average. I own a 2012 Mini, it's much easier to upgrade the RAM and internal SSD. My 2018 i5 has had its share of quirkiness including BT issues. If I had to do it over again I would have returned it but after adding 32GB of RAM I debated and decided to keep it only because I bought it from Amazon for $929 when they were price matching BH Photo.

 

[EightyTwenty]

Out of curiosity, why not connect your laptop to an external monitor? What can the Mini do that your i7 MacBook Pro with twice as much RAM can’t?

 

[Wicked1]

Out of curiosity, why not connect your laptop to an external monitor? What can the Mini do that your i7 MacBook Pro with twice as much RAM can’t?

There is nothing, however I use the MBP I wanted a Mini for a Media server, and wife would work off of Mini, but if it all worked out I would give the wife the MBP to do school work and use the mini as a Media server and my everyday Mac. I am in IT so rarely use a computer when I get home from work, but I think the new Mini would be perfect for me, I have had Mini's from 2010, 2011, 2012, but was curious on the new 18-19 if the i3, i5 are good enough, but I think I would do the i5 with 8GB and 512GB using all external storage for everything else.

I am more curious of the performance of the i3 and i5 if they can rendering videos.

 

[FilmIndustryGuy]

I have the i3 and added 32gb ram into it. runs like speedy Gonzales and I edit 4k on it. the ram upgrade makes a big difference. 8gb sucks