Mac Mini Buying Help

[RedSectorA]

Hello,

I am about to place an order for a Mac Mini and was hoping for confirmation that I am building the right machine for my needs. I realize there may be a new mini released soon but I need a computer now. I already have a monitor, keyboard etc.

My needs are personal use and video editing. The video work is fairly simple, basically high school band videos from two or three 1080p cameras stitched together. Most of the completed videos will be 15-minutes or less in length.

I am looking at the quad core 2.3GHz i7. I plan on ordering with 4 GB RAM and then upgrading to 16GB Crucial memory from Amazon. Any issues with this?

I am torn on what drive to order. Apple is recommending the 1TB Fusion drive. I was thinking about this along with an external Samsung EVO or Pro SSD for backup. Any suggestions here?

Thanks for your help and experience.

 

[shaunp]

Hi,

The spec looks good, I have a similar machine - 2.6Ghz i7 with 16GB Crucial RAM and a 256GB SSD. I think the 1TB fusion drive will serve you well though. I only went for the internal SSD rather than a fusion drive is because I bought an external thunderbolt array (Pegasus 2 R4) as my main storage.

As for an external SSD, I wouldn't use SSD for backup, you'd be better off with just a large external HDD or a time capsule. SSD is just overkill for backup.

 

[COrocket]

Unless you also plan on using the backup drive for transferring files you are working on and using it frequently, there is no reason to use an SSD as a backup drive. Most utilities including time machine work in the background so there really isn't any benefit to the higher speeds.

 

[RedSectorA]

Thank you

Thanks for the feedback. I actually ended up ordering a 15" rMBP today. I found a refurb at a decent price and decided the portability was worth the price difference.