#BEST GAMES ON MAC PRO 2018 UPGRADE#

Also, worst case, since the machine has four Thunderbolt 3 ports, the worst case scenario is to throw an Ethernet adapter on the Thunderbolt and use it that way. I decided to go for it anyway, because it'll help future-proof the machine. My only concern is that since Apple only has such a port on the iMac Pro and now the Mac Mini, will it work properly? Apple just doesn't have that much experience with this new port. I spent the extra hundred bucks and configured the Mac Mini with 10Gb. I am not running 10Gb Ethernet here, mostly because none of my computers support it. The new Mac Mini comes with either a 1Gb Ethernet port or, for an extra hundred bucks, a 10Gb Ethernet port. This time, though, it was not about price, but about reliability. So, while I certainly would have preferred to avoid paying the Apple storage tax for overpriced storage upgrades, I did pony up an additional $600 to bring my Mac Mini's flash storage to 1TB.įinally, there was another big decision. That machine was equipped with 1TB and I found that quite workable. I checked my various machines and, as might be expected, the main workhorse iMac used the most. I also have a very large NAS with most of my other resources.Īlso: Storage on Apple's new devices for 2018 is more expensive than you might think CNET I use an external direct-attached RAID array for my video production and assets, so I don't need a huge amount of on-system storage. Here, I needed to balance performance against price. Apple's internal storage is also seriously fast, since it relies on flash memory. Apple charges way too much on storage, but it's not internally upgradeable. Stay tuned, because once the machine arrives, I'll do a piece on what it takes to add the RAM. I'm honestly not entirely sure what I'll encounter when the Mac arrives, but I'm sure it'll be interesting. While Apple has not been entirely clear on what it means by 'service providers,' Tim Cook did go out of his way to state that the Mac Mini supports SO-DIMM modules. I then went over to Amazon and picked up some Corsair Vengeance Performance 32GB (2x16GB) 260-Pin DDR4 SO-DIMM (PC4 21300) RAM.

#BEST GAMES ON MAC PRO 2018 UPGRADE#

Since the 32GB upgrade is a whopping $600 more than the base 8GB unit, I opted for the 8GB unit. While we don't consider the memory directly end-user accessible, service providers can access the internals of the Mac Mini to upgrade the memory.' The Apple spokesperson I spoke to last week told me, 'Yes, Mac Mini is configurable up to 64GB and uses industry-standard DDR4 SO-DIMMs. My preference is usually to buy gear when my workload needs it.įortunately, the new Mac Mini allows for RAM upgrades. So, given a choice, I'd rather not spend on 64GB. I haven't pushed past about 24GB in any of my recent workloads. In single core performance, only one machine bests it. The new Mac Mini also lags behind the 8-core Xeon iMac Pro, but that's five grand, just to start.īeyond the two hugely expensive pro machines, the new Mac Mini with the processor I chose appears to be faster in multicore performance than all the other Macs. Apple still sells that model for $3999, but everything else about the machine is totally out-of-date. In multicore performance, it still lags a bit behind the old 2013 Mac Pro 8-core Xeon processor, but not by much. In single-core performance, that's about 25 percent faster than my old iMac.Īlso: Here's why Apple doesn't really care about the Mac or iPad In terms of single-core performance, that puts the Mac Mini at just below the 4.2Ghz 2017 iMac and above everything else. To be honest, I would have liked an even higher performing processor, but this will still be a huge boost.Įarly Geekbench scores put the 2018 Mac Mini at 5512 for single core and 23516 for multi-core. That added $200 to the price, bringing me to $1399. I began in the $1099 column and picked the fastest processor possible, the 3.2Ghz 6-core i7.

Best games on mac pro 2018