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Bad idea to get an intel mac mini now?
- Thread starter voodoochild16
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opeter
macrumors 68030
This is most important aspect, not the hardware. If your music software is not supported under Big Sur and M1 (you know, it can happen, that Rosetta wont be available in your region), than Intel is you only way. Especially if you have some older software, that has 32-bit code.
James_C
macrumors 68030
vbctv
macrumors 65816
I got my Intel 2020 Mac mini refresh last year when they came out in March (knowing the rumors about Mac announcing going to ARM). I will wait for M2 before I think about upgrading again. 16GB RAM is not enough for future proof when Intel Mac mini's allowed 64GB RAM. At the end of the day, it comes down to your needs, there is a reason Apple still sells the Intel version and I believe they will until Apple Silicon can do Boot Camp, multiple 4K monitors and more... eGPU is plus on Intel models also and not sure if they will ever be needed on Apple Silicon versions but other features need to come to AS before I see them getting rid of 'Pro' Intel models like 2018/2020 Mac mini, & higher-end Intel 13 inch MacBook Pro...
vbctv
macrumors 65816
Yes that is true, and I believe the hold up is that Windows has not made their ARM version ISO's available yet, but hopefully soon and then Apple can put Boot Camp back into macOS for Apple Silicon.
For me the only barrier has been Parallels VM support. I use an XP bookkeeping program from the late 90's that I own - no monthly licensing fees. VM's are one way to preserve your reliance on old out dated software that is fit for purpose. I understand this issue is resolved so the future is more encouraging on that issue. I bought the intel 2018 mini in December 2019, thinking it was time to prepare for the end of my mid-2010 iMac I7 and see if the reported improvements in Photos were of value. I thought back to my first Apple experience which was a 2007 mini running Snow Leopard. I figured if I could work in those restrictive parameters, why not go minimal on the mini. I chose the i3 8GBRAM, 128GBSSD, with the 10GB ethernet. I am not a power user by any means, so this little box has been outstanding. The only deficiency I have had is the system SSD is a bit small to accommodate major swapping. This happened only once when I was converting a large number of tiff photos to jpg. It has forced me to keep a lot of data on an external SSD, which is where it should be any way. In my good old, "cringe" OS/2 life, it was a simple configuration to locate the swap file away from the system drive. Since the Big Sur 11.3.1 update, I have been afflicted with the intermittent HDMI video issues. Fortunately I had purchased a CLDAY Thunderbolt 3 to HDMI cable and was able to switch over. Tomorrow, the mini goes to the Genius Bar for assessment. This is a known problem, so if you jump make sure you have a monitor cable that will connect to Thunderbolt/USB4.
Is it really resolved though? My understanding is that Parallels M1 needs ARM Windows, which is not guaranteed to run everything.
brdeveloper
macrumors 68030
M1, if you want a fast browsing machine. Intel, if you need the legacy features. I need an Intel Mac for handling my Apogee Element 46. Also, I need 32GB for running a Windows 10 virtual machine.
You may well be correct. I have not followed this topic much as I have other things on the go. I got this from Parallels in April “We are pleased to announce that we have officially released an update to Parallels Desktop 16 and it is now fully compatible with the Apple M1 chip Mac. The Technical Preview has ended as of April 14th, 2021^. If you have a Technical Preview build running, simply check for updates.”
I don’t have the hardware required to confirm “fully compatible“.
I don’t have the hardware required to confirm “fully compatible“.
If that happens then I would lean towards getting an Apple Silicon Mac. At the moment I'm considering getting some Intel Macs so that I can use Bootcamp.
There is initial support for booting Linux on the M1 in the 5.13 kernel which is currently a Release Candidate. There are some limitations (e.g. no hardware acceleration for video), but it's a start and hopefully they'll be addressed in future kernel updates. This has been done without Apple's help from what I've read in news articles.
vbctv
macrumors 65816
Likely November this year or March next year. But it will likely be a refresh of the Mac mini 'Pro' model replacing the space grey Intel version.
I absolutely love my M1 Mac mini. I using Logic & it's truly incredible how fast & responsive EVERYTHING is on this computer. Absolute best performance of any machine I've ever owned in over 25 years of using computers by a LOT!😉
To put this in perspective. Max Tech replaced their $15,000 Mac Pro 2019 version with the M1 Mac mini. Its that good. And it replaced my 2019 i9 iMac.
I say they announce it at WWDC, and ship in the fall. This is the perfect time for the M2/M1X announcement with products coming in the fall.
M1 is undoubtedly the better performer, I can only really see 3 reasons for buying an intel one.
1. if You can get one really cheap. I’d be looking for half price or better.
2. You need 64gb ram for some reason (especially in a windows virtual machine) or 4 thunderbolt ports.
3. You dont use Final Cut Pro or Logic or software isn’t otherwise optimised for your use case.
the main issue with the intel macs which the M1 handily wins is the graphics compute easily wins against the intel machine. This shows up in the compute tasks from point 3 but could easily apply for games or other software.
its not even worth discussing egpu because that is an edge case that I don’t believe makes financial sense (see point 1) when ARM graphics will be constantly improving over time.
the forthcoming replacement for the upper SKU intel mini ought to just be a slide in replacement model but I’d be interested to see if Apple simply discontinued the existing form factor altogether and went with the slim rumoured form factor for an M1X model to cover the entire range either at WWDC or by October when the finals release window is.
1. if You can get one really cheap. I’d be looking for half price or better.
2. You need 64gb ram for some reason (especially in a windows virtual machine) or 4 thunderbolt ports.
3. You dont use Final Cut Pro or Logic or software isn’t otherwise optimised for your use case.
the main issue with the intel macs which the M1 handily wins is the graphics compute easily wins against the intel machine. This shows up in the compute tasks from point 3 but could easily apply for games or other software.
its not even worth discussing egpu because that is an edge case that I don’t believe makes financial sense (see point 1) when ARM graphics will be constantly improving over time.
the forthcoming replacement for the upper SKU intel mini ought to just be a slide in replacement model but I’d be interested to see if Apple simply discontinued the existing form factor altogether and went with the slim rumoured form factor for an M1X model to cover the entire range either at WWDC or by October when the finals release window is.
October would be a logical time to refresh the mini, I think 2022 would be the time to finish off the transition with the big metal CPUs