Mac Mini 2018 i3

[Normhart]

Would the new Mac Mini (i3 3.6 GHz. 8GB) be sufficient for running a basic home studio setup? It’s meant to replace a aged old HP Laptop (Centrino) that’s still running Windows XP. I’m looking to keep initial costs down and just upgrade what I can upgrade in the future (ram, hard drive). This will be a dedicated computer (no video editing, games etc.) and pretty much relegated to running librarian/editors and some basic multitrack recording. I don’t need to run a lot of plugins or virtual instruments. I have an iPad Pro for those.

I realize the i3 is the bottom end of that processor line and would be the only component I won’t be able to upgrade (short of getting a whole new Mac Mini). Memory (ram & storage) however, can be expanded/upgraded. So the question really is, how capable is the i3 processor for running the configuration I described?

Thanks,
Norman

[Saul]

Hi Norm

The only thing I would do is add more ram. I have an iMac 27 i3 with 8Gb ram and it often runs out of memory. Doesn't stop things working but does slow everything down. I would also fit a SSD if it does not already come with one. Should be fine after that

[Normhart]

Hi Norm

The only thing I would do is add more ram. I have an iMac 27 i3 with 8Gb ram and it often runs out of memory. Doesn't stop things working but does slow everything down. I would also fit a SSD if it does not already come with one. Should be fine after that

Thanks Saul, that’s exactly the upgrade path I was planning on. The ram can go up as high as 64GB and the hard drive can either be a external one or internal if that’s possible. As far as I know, its a 128GB SSD. More than enough to store a current project on. For the time being, I’ll just need to swap projects in and out as needed.

I was really attracted to the mini because of the size. There’s not a whole lot of space to play around with in my setup and I have positive experiences with a previous mini I owned a while ago.

[Saul]

I have a 240Gb SSD inside my iMac and a 2TB external drive so I never run out of space and given it's age (2010) it still runs faster than my Windows 10 PC. Having said that, I can't upgrade the OS past High Sierra as it is not supported on this mac. Also the graphics card is now becoming obsolete as it doesn't support 'Metal' and a lot of graphics apps will be migrating to that over the next year or so. I am having to run a legacy version of Pixelmator now because the newest version won't run on my machine.

Mac's are a LOT more efficient in how they store files so even a relatively small drive like 128Gb SSD should be ok as long as you don't want to install Office and a load of other apps. It definitely would not be enough to run video editing software like Final Cut Pro for example.

For your use though it should all be fine

[parametric]

Check your PMs, Norm . . .

parametric