Need to keep the cost below £1k when using education discount.
Options are either the i5/256 or the base model upgraded to an i7.
Main use is predominantly iOS development as have PC for gaming. Was getting by with a 2012.
Have NAS and external SSD storage, but wonder whether the impaired write speeds of the 128gb internal SSD bottleneck the i7 and mean the i5 would compile quicker.
If not, would go for the i7.
Would appreciate thoughts. Thanks.
I was debating the same question.
Hex core I5, 8GB, 256GB - $1,099
pros
- in stock
- more likely to get discount (maybe $70 – $100 off MSRP from 3rd party advertisers on Mac-oriented sites)
- larger, super-fast standard storage
- faster processor than I3, higher Turbo Boost speed, 4.1GHz vs. 3.6GHz(no Turbo Boost)
- not susceptible to hyper-threading exploits (as unlikely as they are)
cons
- larger, super-fast standard storage
- faster processor than I3, higher Turbo Boost speed, 4.1GHz vs. 3.6GHz(no Turbo Boost)
- not susceptible to hyper-threading exploits (as unlikely as they are)
- paying for more machine than I actually need
hex core I7, 8GB, 128GB - $1,099
pros
- one of the fastest Macs you can currently buy (and faster machines are significantly more expensive, Mac Pro, MacBook Pro and iMac Pro)
- highest Turbo-Boost clock available for a Mini
cons
- paying for more machine than I realistically need
- unlikely to get significant discount compared to two stock models
- standard storage is tight but adequate (but the $200 difference for $256GB will almost pay for Samsung T5 1TB external SSD - $228, which is a fast as my current SSD)
- some reported fan noise under heavy load
- hottest running chip
- hyper-threading exploits (although this is extremely unlikely)
Notes on other options:
8GB memory - enough for current needs and when I need more, I will add it myself at a substantial discount. (I added a second drive to my 2011 Mac Mini so I’m not afraid of taking my machine apart to do an upgrade.)
Ethernet - Gigabit ethernet is adequate for my current needs and none of my other equipment supports 10 GigaBit ethernet and I don’t anticipate any workloads in the next 5-7 years that would benefit from it. If that changes, I’ll get a new machines.
processor - see discussions above. The single-core Geekbench scores for the I5 vs the I7 can be attributed to the 12% higher Turbo Boost speed of the I7, 4.1GHz vs 4.6GHz. The multi-cored scores seems to mostly reflect the higher Turbo Boost clock with only a small benefit from Hyper Threading. (insert usual disclaimer about the artificially of synthetic bench marks)
storage - see discussions above for 128GB vs 256GB, larger sizes beyond 256GB, to me, are not worth it, I will go with external storage if I need more. The Mini will sit on the corner of my desk and hanging an external drive off it is not nearly the issue as having to add external storage to a laptop that you are constantly moving around, there you definitely want to go all internal storage if you can afford it.
Weighing all the options, if I can grab the standard I5 model discounted to $999 on Black Friday then I will be all over that.
