New Mac Pro vs iMac Pro vs Mac Mini?

Studio & Gear
1

Hello Composers! :smiley:
I was amazed by the new Mac Pro announcement, this is a machine I have been waiting for several years. Finally an upgradable Mac, with a very pro architecture inside. :slight_smile:

However, of course the price is really high. So when I decide to upgrade my old 2013 iMac I want to factor in other aspects. And NO I will never go hackintosh simply because I built PCs my entire life and I never ever again want to do trouble shooting of any kind. I want to be able to focus 100% on creative work. :slight_smile:

One of my main needs is lots of RAM, since I want to be able to host my entire epic orchestral template in there without using a slave machine. I also want at least 8 cores so I donā€™t have to freeze tracks or bounce all the time. And I want Thunderbolt 3 for external ultra fast SSDs.

What would you choose: New Mac Pro, iMac Pro or Mac Miniā€¦and why?

Sincerely,
Mikael ā€œMikeā€ Baggstrƶm
Founder of professionalcomposers.com

2

My new 256-gig iMac pro arrives in a week. Iā€™m switching from Pro Tools only to a Cubase sequencer with VEP instrument host, one-computer setup. Iā€™ll let you guys know if I love it.

1 Like
3

256GB, wow that sounds amazing Everett! =)
I would love to have one single computer to handle it all.

4

I am weirdā€“I donā€™t really like working at home in my studio. I prefer to be out at coffeehouses, in public, composing with headphones. I have a carrying bag for my iMac. The iMac pro has finally made it so that I can have all my libraries loaded at once, AND be portable. Seriously, as long as this works as I hope it will, my life and happiness level are about to change.

5

Carrying a full iMac rig is portable? Haha well Iā€™ll take your word for it. :slight_smile:

Iā€™m a studio rat myself, but Iā€™m sure there are many more like yourself who prefers working in a social environment.

6

I used to mix on an iMac in coffehouses. Setup time is about 90 seconds. Iā€™ll show you!

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7

It certainly looks amazing, but its a serious investment. However it appeals over the iMac Pro simply because you can open it up and change stuff. My love of Macbook Pro wanes with every new release as they make it harder and harder to change anything. My Macbook Pro i7 Mid 2012 is superb in that so much can be done to it - but the newest Macbook Pros are near impossible to do anything to.

So, if budget fits, the Mac Pro - even the base model, I think will be a stunner.

8

I am a studio caveman without the need for a portable setup, so a laptop is not interesting to me personally. I am also afraid of heating issues, so the Mac Mini is questionable too.

It would be a huge investment for me, but since I hear people using the old cheese grater still, I would imagine the value would hold up many many years since you can upgrade it.

9

I think the last Mac Pro cheesegrater (2012 Mac Pro 5,1) will go on for a bit, thanks to the incredible work done by Collin Mistr who has released a patcher tool to enable up to date macOS to install on all flavours of mac going back to, presently 2008 ish.

But yes the new Mac Pro will be a great investment. Reckon youā€™d get at least 10 years out it.

1 Like