Macbook Pro 2012 vs Mac Mini 2018 vs Mac Pro 2019/20

[pers0n]

I mostly use the Mac for Adobe Creative Suite and Sketch. It's been running fine for now, with a few slowdowns at times and sometimes waiting for the screen to redraw in Sketch at times. I have a Macbook Pro 2012. I've been thinking of going to 16GB ram or even 32GB ram (I've read somewhere, that while it isn't officially supported, it will work, and use that extra ram with better performance).

I've thought about getting the Mac Mini 2018.

I guess holding out for the Mac Pro is a pipe dream, not sure I need a $3K machine for what I do, although it would probably last me 10yrs, but no one even knows what it will be like yet.

I guess I'm wondering if its worth wasting $70 on RAM for the Macbook Pro 2012 or not.

 

[phrehdd]

Just some thoughts -

Take a look at all of these apps and see how much of the GPU is utilized and whether it would be CL or GL (ATI vs Nvidia) that can be exploited. With some apps, CPU is where the real advantage remains.

I don't believe that the 2012 MBP can handle 32 gigs RAM. I would check that one out if I were you but I am pretty sure it cannot officially or unofficially exploit that much RAM.

Before Apple castrated the Mac Mini line up, I was a huge fan. The newer models being released have reasonable power but the pricing is for many, questionable. The only advantage I see of the Mac Pro over the Mini is the amount of RAM that may be added. The Mini could use an external GPU if you wished later to add.

iMac. I am unsure why you dismissed the iMac. If you get a Mac Mini or Mac Pro, you have to kick in for also keyboard, mouse/pad and a decent monitor. If you find the soft profiling on an iMac sufficient for your work, it may prove to be a good bang for the buck.

For me personally, I like the idea of the higher end quad or hex Mac Mini with maxed out RAM and 512 internal. There are about 5 27-30" decent graphic monitors out there as top notch and then several models that are not top of the line but do very very well for the price performance ratio.

 

[pers0n]

I dismissed the iMac, as I already have monitors and need to have a KVM setup so I can use another machine for testing. I guess I'll see check out the old MacBook's CPU/GPU like you mentioned

 

[crescentmoon]

The mac pro if and when it comes will be much higher in price...