If you are thinking of buying an older Mac mini and wonder how much of a difference there is between a Mac Mini i5 and i7 then we have run a test on the following machines used as a Pro Tools Computer.
Apple Mac Mini i7 2.3GHz Late 2012
Apple Mac Mini i5 2.5 GHz Late 2012
As you can see the Mac Mini i5 has a faster clock speed but still the Mac Mini i7 outperforms the Mac Mini i5 by some margin.
Apple Mac Mini i5 2.5 GHz Late 2012
64 Audio tracks reached without buffer errors
A mono audio track would record without issue along with 64 audio tracks in playback
Instrument tracks were then added
16 MIDI tracks with an instance of AIR Boom running with MIDI data
The session would not play at H/W buffer sizes of under 1024, once settled it seemed to run at 1024 without any further issues. The session could be set to 2048 samples if this was required and at this setting the session ran without issue.
Apple Mac Mini i7 2.3GHz Late 2012
128 Audio tracks reached without buffer errors
A mono audio track would record without issue along with 64 audio tracks in playback
Instrument tracks were then added
30 MIDI tracks with an instance of AIR Boom running with MIDI data
The session would not play at H/W buffer sizes of under 1024, once settled it seemed to run at 1024 without any further issues. The session could be set to 2048 samples if this was required and at this setting the session ran without issue.
You can read the Mac Mini i5 and the Mac Mini i7 tests in full.
As we've said on numerous occasions if you want a Mac Mini to use as your Pro Tools computer then you may be better off finding a used Mac Mini i7 as the performance is considerably better.
Mac Mini 2018
Since this article was written Apple have released the Mac Mini 2018 range of models. This makes a very cost effective Pro Tools computer. If you want to buy a Mac Mini 2018 then check out our articles below.
Is Julian alone in thinking that buying a new mac is inevitably a disappointing experience, and one he’s happy to a postpone for as long as possible? New Macs are pretty, alluring and briefly rewarding, but expensive and while no-one can avoid upgrading their computer indefinitely, when He does, He does so with mixed feelings.
We have the first post-production test of a 2nd-gen Apple Silicon powered mac computer. We compare it with a 2018 Intel-powered Mac mini running a post session with a ProRes video playing.
In this week’s podcast, Russ is joined by Julian and Mike to discuss Macs. What are we using? Why? Did we make the right choice and what, if anything, would we change?
During 2019, it became steadily more apparent that Mike’s ageing Mac Pro 5,1 bought back in 2012 was becoming less reliable and would need replacing. The question was, what should he replace it with and secondly what other upgrade work would come with that change. This article is the story of his choices, decisions and challenges of that journey.
Ever since I upgraded my MacBook Pro laptop to a later model with a Retina screen I have wondered if it was possible to get the same ‘Retina’ experience on a macOS desktop computer system. Recently one of my 24-inch screens failed on my Pro Tools system and this article is the journey to see if it was possible.
There is no doubt that Apple’s compact, no-frills, desktop computer is proving very popular but compared to some of the other Apple computers like the MacBook Pro the 2018 Mac mini is already being left behind. In this article, we explore what Apple would need to do to the Mac mini to make it even better than the Mac mini 2018 model.
We have been picking up reports that some External Graphics Processor Units (eGPU) have issues with macOS Catalina 10.15. We have the details…
With the impending release of the new Mac Pro 7,1 new-style cheese-grater with a starting price of around $6k, we ask is there an alternative to the new new Apple Mac tower that most users will be more than adequate and provide what a lot of us, looking at a new Apple Mac computer, need at a more affordable price?
We've been asked by many people to take a look at the Mac mini 2018 to see if the claims of it being 'awesome' on the one hand or that the 'USB2 audio is broken' are true. There's some merit in other reviews and also in anecdotal evidence from forums and social media, but to be frank, the only way to get to the facts is to test it ourselves. Not only have we tested this Mac mini 2018 on its own but benchmarked it against a Mac Pro Late 2013 to give you a sense of the power under the hood of the Mac mini 2018.
It is fairly well known that Apple would always rather you buy a computer from them as a completed system. However, this is not always the most cost effective approach for us the computer buying public. Thanks, in part of Apple making the RAM of the new Mac Mini a user serviceable upgrade you can now take advantage of after market RAM and give your machine top spec without the top spec price tag. The team at OWC show you how to upgrade the RAM in your 2018 Mac Mini.