Mac mini for stock trading and YouTube. i5 vs i7 Mac mini or iMac?

[Dustin Buchanan]

I currently have a lat 2014 Mac mini but it only has 4 gb of ram and it is extremely laggy especially when trying to trade as well as stream YouTube content. I am wanting to trade the stock market daily as an on going basis and I currently stream YouTube channels that not only talk about stocks live but also have scanners running and my current computer doesn't allow for more than one at a time and lags a lot even with the one channel streaming at a time. There are other laggy times as well for example when someone calls me I will have already answered the call on my phone and about 15 seconds or so later it will start ringing on my computer. I know that ram is one of my issues but I want to make sure that the computer lasts for a while and can't decide if I should go with a i5 or i7 processor. I plan to just go with the 8gb and then upgrade it myself to 32 or maybe 64. I already have the monitors and stuff since I currently use a Mac mini so I don't think that I need the iMac but I have read a lot where people talk about heat being an issue and also about some people needing to use an external gpu but that there are drawbacks of that. I could go up to an iMac but obviously it is much more expensive. Also my MacBook Pro currently has a 2.3 GHz Dual-Core Intel Core i5 with 8 GB 2133 MHz LPDDR3 and it does ok when trying to do things on it but I don't like to because of having to switch between tabs instead of have everything up on the larger monitors. I just can't make a decision on which I should go with. Any insight would be much appreciated.

 

[now i see it]

Based on my last 24 years experience using/buying computers, all Macs, not one ever was too fast or in the end fast enough. After the initial excitement of getting a new computer that's a bit faster than the one you had before wears off, soon you'll wish it was more powerful.
I happens to EVERYONE.
That being the case, either stay mid tier Mac for the rest of your life (since you'll never be fully satisfied by the top tier anyway) or buy the most expensive and powerful computer you can barely afford and enjoy it for a month or two.
Either way, you'll ultimately be unsatisfied with what you've got and once again be looking to buy the next computer.

Personally, (since having gone down this road) I prefer to stay a year or two or more behind the technology curve when buying new stuff because gear is cheaper and ultimately in the end when you look back at your life - it doesn't make one bit of difference to anything except your bank account.

 

[Ybersetzer]

Dustin, for your needs the i5 Mac Mini 2018 is going to be plenty fast. You'd probably even be FINE with just 16 GB of RAM, but sure, if you can swing it, put in 32 GB and be done with it for the lifetime of the computer.

I have the i5, used a bit with 8 GB of RAM (which was also fine, but I did get it to swap a lot when I had MANY tabs in Safari open) and put in 16 GB of RAM. Handles 100, 120 open tabs without a problem. For your needs the i7 is sheer overkill.

About the heat: with heavy browser use and youtube at the same time, your fan will not speed up above the baseline of 1700 RPM, which means it is silent, unless you put your ear right next to the case.

All the best!

 

[macdos]

Dunno what you are using, but I have five massive and complicated Tradingview graphs open at the same time without any particular strain on the system. Javascript does eat CPU cycles, however, and your MM14 might be a bit slow for the task, especially with just 4 GB.

I currently have a lat 2014 Mac mini but it only has 4 gb of ram and it is extremely laggy especially when trying to trade as well as stream YouTube content.

 

[ATechGuyNamedSteve]

I have mine and its amazing I love it

 

[Fishrrman]

i7 2018 Mini with 16gb RAM (get it "from the factory") and 512gb SSD.
That oughta do it ...