Mac Mini - GoPro Help

[Zeraus7]

Hello,

I am looking at buying a Mac mini for the editing of GoPro videos and photos. It's specs are:

Processor
3.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz) with 4MB on-chip shared L3 cache

Memory
8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory

Storage
1TB (5400-rpm) hard drive1

Graphics
Intel Iris Graphics

And I was wondering if this Mac mini would be able to play 720p 240fps videos and also 2.7k 60fps?

Thanks guys!

 

[yjchua95]

Hello,

I am looking at buying a Mac mini for the editing of GoPro videos and photos. It's specs are:

Processor
3.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz) with 4MB on-chip shared L3 cache

Memory
8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory

Storage
1TB (5400-rpm) hard drive1

Graphics
Intel Iris Graphics

And I was wondering if this Mac mini would be able to play 720p 240fps videos and also 2.7k 60fps?

Thanks guys!

First off, don't bother with the i7. All i5s and the i7 in the Mini are both dual core, and the i7 is only 5% more powerful than the 2.6GHz i5 at best.

Second, it's going to be extremely slow, because of the 5400rpm HDD. If you want it to be fast, you must go for at least a Fusion Drive upgrade or a 256GB (I'd go for the latter).

With a 5400rpm HDD, apps will open really slowly (10+ bounces in the dock and really slow boot times), while with a Fusion Drive or 256GB SSD, boot times are within 11 seconds, and apps launch instantly.

Intel's naming convention between mobile and desktop SKUs is somewhat confusing to the uninitiated. But long story short, both i5s and i7s in the Mac Mini have hyperthreading (2 cores and 4 threads), so there is no advantage in buying the i7 other than being able to show off that you can spend money on a worthless upgrade.

Between desktop ones, however, the difference is large, as quad core desktop i5s lack hyperthreading, while desktop quad core i7s have hyperthreading (4 cores and 8 threads).

An i7 upgrade only makes sense if it's a quad core with hyperthreading. Which means that this only happens with iMacs.

 

[Zeraus7]

First off, don't bother with the i7. All i5s and the i7 in the Mini are both dual core, and the i7 is only 5% more powerful than the 2.6GHz i5 at best.

Second, it's going to be extremely slow, because of the 5400rpm HDD. If you want it to be fast, you must go for at least a Fusion Drive upgrade or a 256GB (I'd go for the latter).

With a 5400rpm HDD, apps will open really slowly (10+ bounces in the dock and really slow boot times), while with a Fusion Drive or 256GB SSD, boot times are within 11 seconds, and apps launch instantly.

Intel's naming convention between mobile and desktop SKUs is somewhat confusing to the uninitiated. But long story short, both i5s and i7s in the Mac Mini have hyperthreading (2 cores and 4 threads), so there is no advantage in buying the i7 other than being able to show off that you can spend money on a worthless upgrade.

Between desktop ones, however, the difference is large, as quad core desktop i5s lack hyperthreading, while desktop quad core i7s have hyperthreading (4 cores and 8 threads).

An i7 upgrade only makes sense if it's a quad core with hyperthreading. Which means that this only happens with iMacs.

Ok that's interesting, thanks man.

I found this one and its $100 cheaper, what do you think?

Processor
2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz) with 3MB on-chip shared L3 cache

Memory
8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory

Storage
1TB Fusion Drive1

Graphics
Intel Iris Graphics

Thanks

 

[yjchua95]

Ok that's interesting, thanks man.

I found this one and its $100 cheaper, what do you think?

Processor
2.6GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.1GHz) with 3MB on-chip shared L3 cache

Memory
8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory

Storage
1TB Fusion Drive1

Graphics
Intel Iris Graphics

Thanks

This one is way better and much faster than your previous configuration, because of the presence of the Fusion Drive.

It's a toss between the 256GB SSD and the 1TB Fusion Drive. Personally, I'd go for the 256GB SSD for pure speed and reliability, and just store everything externally.

 

[Zeraus7]

This one is way better and much faster than your previous configuration, because of the presence of the Fusion Drive.

It's a toss between the 256GB SSD and the 1TB Fusion Drive. Personally, I'd go for the 256GB SSD for pure speed and reliability, and just store everything externally.

Ok thanks man lots of help! So just to be sure would it be able to play videos of that quality? Thanks

 

[yjchua95]

Ok thanks man lots of help! So just to be sure would it be able to play videos of that quality? Thanks

Oh yes, it would.

2.7K at 60 fps might require higher I/O than an FD can do, so I'd say you'd need a 256GB SSD.

 

[Zeraus7]

Oh yes, it would.

2.7K at 60 fps might require higher I/O than an FD can do, so I'd say you'd need a 256GB SSD.

Ok, I'm looking at getting a MacBook Air and want to know what videos it would be able to play Eg. 1080p 60fps. It's just the base model 2014 one.. 1.4GHz i5 and 4GB RAM and a 128gb SSD.

Thanks heaps

 

[yjchua95]

Ok, I'm looking at getting a MacBook Air and want to know what videos it would be able to play Eg. 1080p 60fps. It's just the base model 2014 one.. 1.4GHz i5 and 4GB RAM and a 128gb SSD.

Thanks heaps

It would but at that rate, you're still better off with the Mac Mini with a Fusion Drive.

 

[nebo1ss]

Here is some real world experience which does not fit some of the information here.

I process Gopro video on a weekly basis.

I use either a macbook Pro late 2008 Intel core 2 duo with nvidia geforce 9400M a 500 Gig SSD and 8 gig memory.

Or alternatively a Mac Mini 2010 with intel core 2 duo with nvidia geforce 320M with a 500 gig regular hard drive and 4 Gig memory.

The macmini will process the same files at least twice as fast the macbook pro. The SSD or the extra memory in the Macbook Pro is obviously not helping the task.

I don't profess to know the answers but suspect some of the processing may be offloaded to the video card.

 

[yjchua95]

Here is some real world experience which does not fit some of the information here.

I process Gopro video on a weekly basis.

I use either a macbook Pro late 2008 Intel core 2 duo with nvidia geforce 9400M a 500 Gig SSD and 8 gig memory.

Or alternatively a Mac Mini 2010 with intel core 2 duo with nvidia geforce 320M with a 500 gig regular hard drive and 4 Gig memory.

The macmini will process the same files at least twice as fast the macbook pro. The SSD or the extra memory in the Macbook Pro is obviously not helping the task.

I don't profess to know the answers but suspect some of the processing may be offloaded to the video card.

But still, in day to day running, an SSD-equipped Mac will always outperform a HDD Mac in where it matters most - random access times. Instant app launching, fast boot times and lag-free multitasking, for instance.

 

[Zeraus7]

Here is some real world experience which does not fit some of the information here.

I process Gopro video on a weekly basis.

I use either a macbook Pro late 2008 Intel core 2 duo with nvidia geforce 9400M a 500 Gig SSD and 8 gig memory.

Or alternatively a Mac Mini 2010 with intel core 2 duo with nvidia geforce 320M with a 500 gig regular hard drive and 4 Gig memory.

The macmini will process the same files at least twice as fast the macbook pro. The SSD or the extra memory in the Macbook Pro is obviously not helping the task.

I don't profess to know the answers but suspect some of the processing may be offloaded to the video card.

Ok, so the Mac mini and MacBook Pro you have are a little old... The newer computers would have more power, right? So a stock MacBook Air (2014) and a Mac mini (2014) would be more powerful than stock 2008 and 2010 models. So i think the later computers will be faster.. (Even without the SSD)
Your saying that the graphics card might affect the playback?

Thanks

 

[yjchua95]

Ok, so the Mac mini and MacBook Pro you have are a little old... The newer computers would have more power, right? So a stock MacBook Air (2014) and a Mac mini (2014) would be more powerful than stock 2008 and 2010 models. So i think the later computers will be faster.. (Even without the SSD)
Your saying that the graphics card might affect the playback?

Thanks

Actually it won't be faster for the most part (like all the daily stuff).

Do you even know what an SSD is, and how it greatly improves a computer's performance?

Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki6TQByNm24

It's clearly evident that the two older MBPs were way faster than the newer MBP, because both the older ones had SSDs.

 

[Zeraus7]

Actually it won't be faster for the most part (like all the daily stuff).

Do you even know what an SSD is, and how it greatly improves a computer's performance?

Watch this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ki6TQByNm24

It's clearly evident that the two older MBPs were way faster than the newer MBP, because both the older ones had SSDs.

Yes, I do know what it is, it has no moving parts and makes everything snappy in the computer (thanks for the video anyway)

I think I'm just going to get the one with the SSD, thanks everybody for your help

 

[nebo1ss]

But still, in day to day running, an SSD-equipped Mac will always outperform a HDD Mac in where it matters most - random access times. Instant app launching, fast boot times and lag-free multitasking, for instance.

I totally agree, just saying I am not seeing any benefit with video processing using exactly the same processors in different machines.

----------

Ok, so the Mac mini and MacBook Pro you have are a little old... The newer computers would have more power, right? So a stock MacBook Air (2014) and a Mac mini (2014) would be more powerful than stock 2008 and 2010 models. So i think the later computers will be faster.. (Even without the SSD)
Your saying that the graphics card might affect the playback?

Thanks

Agreed these machines are a little old and you should see shorter processing times than I do on the machines you are considering. I am not talking about playback here when you use a GOPRO camera it produces multiple 4Gig files and you have to process them to get one file. I also add GPS information and music to my files while processing.

What I am essentially seeing is that the SSD does not appear to make any difference in processing the files and the only parameter that I can see that is different on the two machines is the video card.

Incidently a bit of advice on processing Gopro files have a look at a free application from Garmin called "Garmin VIRB EDIT" I prefer it to the stock Gopro app and it also allows you to add GPS data and sound to your files.

 

[Cloudsurfer]

Hello,

I am looking at buying a Mac mini for the editing of GoPro videos and photos. It's specs are:

Processor
3.0GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 processor (Turbo Boost up to 3.5GHz) with 4MB on-chip shared L3 cache

Memory
8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 memory

Storage
1TB (5400-rpm) hard drive1

Graphics
Intel Iris Graphics

And I was wondering if this Mac mini would be able to play 720p 240fps videos and also 2.7k 60fps?

Thanks guys!

Ditch the i7 and go SSD only.

Power wise, even the 1.4 low end Mac mini will handle GoPro footage without breaking a sweat. Even 240fps footage. It will even edit 4K, is my experience.

I edit GoPro footage on a mid-tier Mac mini (2.6), as well as some other cameras, and it absolutely screams. I personally use the whole suite, FCPX, Motion and Compressor and they all run like a well oiled machine on this computer.

It starts to crap out while rendering 5-6 effects simultaneously in Motion, but if you're doing that sort of heavy stuff you should be looking at a dedicated graphics solution anyway.

Absolutely love the mini!

 

[silentthunder77]

Ditch the i7 and go SSD only.

Power wise, even the 1.4 low end Mac mini will handle GoPro footage without breaking a sweat. Even 240fps footage. It will even edit 4K, is my experience.

I edit GoPro footage on a mid-tier Mac mini (2.6), as well as some other cameras, and it absolutely screams. I personally use the whole suite, FCPX, Motion and Compressor and they all run like a well oiled machine on this computer.

It starts to crap out while rendering 5-6 effects simultaneously in Motion, but if you're doing that sort of heavy stuff you should be looking at a dedicated graphics solution anyway.

Absolutely love the mini!

So, are you using the 2.6 with SSD and 8gb ram?

 

[yjchua95]

So, are you using the 2.6 with SSD and 8gb ram?

Myself, my workplace has a mid-2014 13" rMBP with 2.6GHz i5, 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD (identical to that of the Mac Mini) and it runs everything well.

The late-2014 Mac Minis (current variant) and the mid-2014 13" rMBPs all share the same hardware (except for the 1.4GHz Mac Mini, which uses an early-2014 MacBook Air logic board).

These Mac Minis will perform identically to the 13" rMBPs if they are specced with a 1TB Fusion Drive or a 256GB SSD.

 

[Cloudsurfer]

So, are you using the 2.6 with SSD and 8gb ram?

Yep, 8gb and a custom SSD

 

[Zeraus7]

Myself, my workplace has a mid-2014 13" rMBP with 2.6GHz i5, 8GB RAM and a 256GB SSD (identical to that of the Mac Mini) and it runs everything well.

The late-2014 Mac Minis (current variant) and the mid-2014 13" rMBPs all share the same hardware (except for the 1.4GHz Mac Mini, which uses an early-2014 MacBook Air logic board).

These Mac Minis will perform identically to the 13" rMBPs if they are specced with a 1TB Fusion Drive or a 256GB SSD.

I can see what you mean by the same hardware.. And just out of curiosity, what would be the performance differences between the 2014 Mac Mini 2.8ghz i5 8gb ram 256SSD and this 2013 MacBook Air?

Processor
1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz) with 4MB shared L3 cache

Memory
8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM

Storage
256GB flash storage1

Graphics
Intel HD Graphics 5000

Thanks

 

[yjchua95]

I can see what you mean by the same hardware.. And just out of curiosity, what would be the performance differences between the 2014 Mac Mini 2.8ghz i5 8gb ram 256SSD and this 2013 MacBook Air?

Processor
1.7GHz dual-core Intel Core i7 (Turbo Boost up to 3.3GHz) with 4MB shared L3 cache

Memory
8GB of 1600MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM

Storage
256GB flash storage1

Graphics
Intel HD Graphics 5000

Thanks

The performance difference would be fairly better on the Mac Mini because it uses an Iris 5100 iGPU, compared to the Air's HD 5000. Besides, the i5 in the Mac Mini is more powerful and can maintain turbo speeds for longer periods of time than the Air.

 

[dollystereo]

For editing goPro media, you need to transform the media to uncompressed type of video (proxy, ProRes or other). This media is heavier in size (more GBs) but it is easier to process for the CPU (less CPU). So editing goPro files can be done in any computer really. The ssd is nice as a boot volume but it is not the bottleneck, so no performance gain from it.
I would recommend a small SSD as system drive, and an external thunderbolt or USB3 drive for storing the media.
The i5 is almost as fast as the i7 (both have 4 threads).

 

[AlexMaximus]

GoPro

I can see what you mean by the same hardware.. And just out of curiosity, what would be the performance differences between the 2014 Mac Mini 2.8ghz i5 8gb ram 256SSD and this 2013 MacBook Air?

Hi there,
I do GoPro movies of my own because my 3+ dangles on the bottom of a phantom 2 drone for areal photography. I used to do those on the machine in my sig. However the created footage on full HD is really big. You can record easily 25 Gig files in 20 minutes, depending on quality and setting. The GoPro Studio Software is great for getting your feet wet, but you need massive massive HD space for storing those raw files.
Since my MBP 10' is so old, I tried to run & render a movie project on the 2014 MBP 13' with the Iris GPU. It worked out "ok", but it was a real pain for the laptop. I had to use an extra laptop cooler during rendering and the dual core was not really faster then my old MBP17.

My advice to you out of this experience:
Forget all the machines you have mentioned. You will not get lucky with either Mac Mini or Macbook Air. The stronger MBP 13 from my experience is already borderline. -> Your best bet by far is to go for a used Mac Pro 5,1 in mint condition.
"Good" would be the last quad core with 2,8 or 3,2 MHz from 2012, better would be the 6 core model 3,33 from 2010. Use three weeks for monitoring ebay and you will be able to score a decent machine between 1000 and 1500 bucks.
Done that way, you will end up with a classic that can be upgraded with a high price stability. You can not match that power with any mentioned machine above.

Don't go Apples new one way road.. -> Grow as you go

 

[Zeraus7]

I can see what you mean by the same hardware.. And just out of curiosity, what would be the performance differences between the 2014 Mac Mini 2.8ghz i5 8gb ram 256SSD and this 2013 MacBook Air?

Hi there,
I do GoPro movies of my own because my 3+ dangles on the bottom of a phantom 2 drone for areal photography. I used to do those on the machine in my sig. However the created footage on full HD is really big. You can record easily 25 Gig files in 20 minutes, depending on quality and setting. The GoPro Studio Software is great for getting your feet wet, but you need massive massive HD space for storing those raw files.
Since my MBP 10' is so old, I tried to run & render a movie project on the 2014 MBP 13' with the Iris GPU. It worked out "ok", but it was a real pain for the laptop. I had to use an extra laptop cooler during rendering and the dual core was not really faster then my old MBP17.

My advice to you out of this experience:
Forget all the machines you have mentioned. You will not get lucky with either Mac Mini or Macbook Air. The stronger MBP 13 from my experience is already borderline. -> Your best bet by far is to go for a used Mac Pro 5,1 in mint condition.
"Good" would be the last quad core with 2,8 or 3,2 MHz from 2012, better would be the 6 core model 3,33 from 2010. Use three weeks for monitoring ebay and you will be able to score a decent machine between 1000 and 1500 bucks.
Done that way, you will end up with a classic that can be upgraded with a high price stability. You can not match that power with any mentioned machine above.

Don't go Apples new one way road.. -> Grow as you go

Thanks man, lots of help. What kind of resolution and frame rate were you filming at and how long was the vid when you used the MacBook Air to render?

You said look at eBay for a Mac Pro.. Were you referring to the really big silver one? Or the smaller cylinder black one??

Thanks in advance

 

[AlexMaximus]

a (flawed) hardware calculation done right...

The filmed resolution on my Hero3+ on the last spot was 1080p with 30 fps.
But I have also experimented with the 1440 setting. I use this because in some frames, the props are visible from the drone. I cut it down in post process to the 1080 and remove the top strip with visible props.
I usually get about 15 - 18 minutes flight time with one charge, so thats about one spot for me. The movie project that was used with the longest GoPro Studio template (very short cuts) is about 5 Minutes long and has up to 146 Gig if you count all pre files that have been needed. The cut computer was the 13' Macbook pro from 2014 with 256gig SSD. So you can bet, a Macbook Air with a lower spec GPU will have even more problems.
Regarding the Mac Pro Tower, I talk about the aluminium Tower Box, hence the old model. Whats really funny about it, - TODAY - Apple raised the price for the round black Mac Pro in Europe. This means (at least for Europe) the prices for the used Tower will go up in the next weeks for sure. To put this in perspective here is how I have saved:

I just got Mac Pro 5,1 in mint condition last week for 1632 Euros.
The specs are:
Mac Pro 5,1 3,33 MHz 6-core with 32 Gbt Ram (1333Mz)
AMD 5770 with low usage. Manufacturing date 2011.
I have bought two upgrades:
#1 Sonnet Tempo SSD PCI card for my 1TB SSD from my MBP 2010 (sig) for 112 Euro off eBay.
#2 Sapphire AMD 7950, 3GB Video Ram, White Mac Edition for 364 Euros off eBay.

Sum: 1632+112+364 = 2108 Euros

Now, if you google the german apple page and configure the new black Mac Pro (that can not be GPU upgraded-!?!?) you will find out, that after todays price rise the new 6-core model with a 1TB SSD will cost 5559 Euros.

I ask you now, is that a good deal or not?
Of course the calculation is not 100% because some component are a bit faster in the new black version. But is that really important for a hobby movie boy? - NOT AT ALL!
The Delta between those two numbers is just too big to ignore when you get mint condition parts. I can also use my existing Apple Display and other peripherals that are already paid for.

5K Upgrade for a future Tower Mac Pro upgrade? - No problem..

http://barefeats.com/mpt5k.html