Help !...Which Mac mini for graphic design + 3D rendering

[SamJames170]

I am a graphic designer using a late 2015 imac 3.2ghz inteli5 16gb.
I need to update to a more recent machine to do some work for a new client who wants me to line up with their software versions of sketchup and vray.

I lost clients to covid and I am still catching up with money so cant ideally get a mac studio so looking at the mini with separate screen.

Which mini can I get to cover this keeping money tight there are 2 specs I can reach to...

8-Core CPU
10-Core GPU
8GB Unified Memory
256GB SSD Storage
£649 + £200 ram to 16GB

8-Core CPU
10-Core GPU
8GB Unified Memory
512GB SSD Storage
£849 + £200 ram to 16gb

Is this a reliable upgrade to keep me going for now from the imac I have at the moment?

Thanks for your help and advice

​

 

[throAU]

Any apple silicon machine will likely smoke your iMac. Get 16 GB of RAM, storage = secondary, if you need more and are tight for money right now, go 256GB and add an external SSD (something like a samsung T7 or whatever) for data.

Whilst the studio is nice, the current mini is still a potent machine vs. anything pre M1. It (even an m1 mini) will outperform an 8-12 core 2013 trash can mac pro in most things… so… make of that what you will.

 

[SamJames170]

Any apple silicon machine will likely smoke your iMac. Get 16 GB of RAM, storage = secondary, if you need more and are tight for money right now, go 256GB and add an external SSD (something like a samsung T7 or whatever) for data.

Whilst the studio is nice, the current mini is still a potent machine vs. anything pre M1. It (even an m1 mini) will outperform an 8-12 core 2013 trash can mac pro in most things… so… make of that what you will.

Super thanks throAU

 

[Basic75]

While even a lowly M1 is no slouch, 8GB of RAM is not enough for graphic design and 3D rendering. I'd get at least 32GB, if you want to use Cinema with the Redshift renderer I'd get at least 64GB.

 

[Silencio]

Hopefully this is just a transitionary system for you as you build back your client base. Get at least 16GB of RAM and preferably at least 512GB internal storage.

When you've built up enough funds, you could sell your mini and probably recoup most of it. A Mac Studio is a much more viable system for CPU render tasks with more cores to process tasks with.

 

[SamJames170]

Can I use my imac as a moniter with a new MAC mini?

My imac is 27inch Retina 5K late 2015, 3.2GHX, i5

Thanks for any help !

 

[Alameda]

Can I use my imac as a moniter with a new MAC mini?

My imac is 27inch Retina 5K late 2015, 3.2GHX, i5

Thanks for any help !

Not easily. There are people who disassemble them, remove the electronics and install a monitor controller card, but it’s time consuming and costs a few hundred dollars. But you get a 5K monitor in return, so it’s not a bad deal… just no way to easily plug in the new computer and use your iMac as a monitor without the hardware mods, which is a shame.

 

[ChrisA]

Which mini can I get to cover this keeping money tight there are 2 specs I can reach to...

8-Core CPU
10-Core GPU
8GB Unified Memory
256GB SSD Storage
£649 + £200 ram to 16GB

8-Core CPU
10-Core GPU
8GB Unified Memory
512GB SSD Storage
£849 + £200 ram to 16gb

Go with the 512 GB internal storage. Not only is it twice as large but it is also twice as fast. The "faster" part is important. not only for loading files but the storage is use for swap and faster swap really does matter.


The 512 GB Mini uses two 256 GB chips and they are placed in parallel so that the IO is twice as fast.