New Mac Mini

[masterhiggins]

I thought people ceased playing video games when they entered adulthood.

Jk.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I had a serious problem with the fan on my 2011 mini-server. It became unuseable for audio work. This was an i7, quad. The fan would engage with iTunes playing mp3s, ffs.

Another reason I would pass on the new mini is lack of dedicated GPU card. I play Civ VI, and it wouldn't run on these. In fact, Civ VI is the only app that will engage thefan on my iMac. I may stop playing it to preserve the computer.

Which is now about 4 days away from Applecare expiring.

Those integrated GPU's are not that bad nowadays and Civ VI may run on the new Mac mini.
That's not a reason to buy one though, as it may also run on a PC with half price tag.

I'm not sure anyone is buying Mac's to game with. However, they can certainly do so. If you are already set with OSX, Logic etc, being able to play native games, or via Bootcamp, is going to be enough fro all but the most die-hard gamers.

With regard to the internal vs discrete GPU, it's normally a case of them just not working with many games, rather than them not being capable

[Bombadil]

For what I'd want, 32 gigs RAM, 2TB SSD, it would cost almost as much as this iMac did, or more, and that doesn't include the 5k screen (4k that I'd have to buy). Just hope this iMac lasts me at least 2 more years. Nope. The under €1,000 price tag is very misleading.

[stratum]

I thought people ceased playing video games when they entered adulthood.

Jk.

I know a few people who play video games at age 40-45.

[chk071]

I'm one of those...

[Cinebient]

I know a lot people over 40 and 50 which like to play.
Younger people use Tinder and play other games

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I thought people ceased playing video games when they entered adulthood.

Jk.

I know a few people who play video games at age 40-45.

Oh! The horror!

[fmr]

I thought people ceased playing video games when they entered adulthood.

Jk.

I know a few people who play video games at age 40-45.

Oh! The horror!

I play video games. I'm almost 60.

Not all video games are FPS (First Person Shooters).

[DrFolder]

I'm 42 and play games. I find them more entertaining than binge watching Netflix shows.

[tehlord]

Honestly I'm buying a new Mac Mini just so I don't have to piss about with Hackingtosh. Life is too short.

Me too probably, unless I go Macbook Pro

Here's the other thing too. I buy a Mac Mini for £1250 now, use it for 2-3 years and then sell it for £800. What's the real cost?

Try selling a 2-3 year old Hackingtosh...

[ATS]

I thought people ceased playing video games when they entered adulthood.

Jk.

I know a few people who play video games at age 40-45.

I'm 45 and I play them every day pretty much. Not mobile ones either.

[el-bo (formerly ebow)]

I thought people ceased playing video games when they entered adulthood.

Jk.

I know a few people who play video games at age 40-45.

Oh! The horror!

I play video games. I'm almost 60.

Not all video games are FPS (First Person Shooters).

I think you missed my sarcasm. I am a 46-year-old gamer, almost exclusively fps (single-player campaigns).

[Rockatansky]

Honestly I'm buying a new Mac Mini just so I don't have to piss about with Hackingtosh. Life is too short.

That's what I'll be doing. I don't need a gaming PC for music production or everyday computing. I have a lump of fast enough Windows hardware here, one SSD has macOS running well on it. But I've had that damn little red "1" stuck on the App Store icon for a while now (for Windows users: it means "macOS update available"), and I'll be f*cked before I go through the hell of messing about with a black screen after booting, slow nVidia web drivers, Clover kext patches or those buggy Realtek audio hacks again. Or rebooting to get the Thunderbolt interface to connect.

I'll spend most of my time at the machine coding, browsing, reading or doing "light multimedia" like Netflix or KVR, so why would I need a GTX1070 or something like that. Gimme something that's quiet, uses hardly any power, is fast as hell (dat PCIe flash tho), can handle a bunch of plugins and 4K at 60 Hz. The new Mac Mini will be able to do that, so who cares if it can run Battlefield One or the latest Far Cry.

For some perspective:

My current gaming PC was last updated early 2017. I spent around 1500€ on parts, like a 1TB M2 drive, 32GB of fast DDR4 RAM, a GTX1070, an intel 6700K, Gigabyte Thunderbolt motherboard. No new case, no new PSU, no additional drives, no additional screen, no additional peripherals, just the heart of it. It'll take maybe 2 more years before this machine becomes essentially obsolete because it can't keep up with (then) current games anymore. That's about 3 years total before it becomes necessary to invest another 1500€ or more into an upgrade just to play the next Battlefield or CoD. (4K screen, remember. 1080p is so 2010.)

My current Mac Mini is 7 years old, "mobile" i7 quad core chip, around 900€ new. I did pop some new RAMs and SSDs in right when I bought it, which added maybe another 300€ on top, so it came out significantly less than the PC (which was only an incomplete upgrade, not a full machine). I still use the Mac Mini nearly every day, although not for "intense" stuff because it can't handle 4K at 60 Hz. Navigating a 4K TV at 30 Hz is soooo paaaaaainfuuuul, and video editing on it is basically impossible. It will still play Telltale and FMV titles without too much of a problem, and that's about it for gaming. But it serves me well as an everyday machine for programming and build testing, and it still has the guts to handle large audio/MIDI projects with a whole lot of plugins. Sure, its fan goes nuts, but the machine still delivers.

So yeah. The 2000€ +/- I'm looking at for a new Mac Mini might seem like a lot for "one purchase of a non-gaming machine", true dat. But if it serves me similarly well and long as my old Mac Mini does so far, it's a WAY more affordable machine in the long run compared to a Windows gaming rig.

For me, working on a Mac has nothing to with the age of the built-in hardware or being able to swap stuff out. I want to plug it in, turn it on and be productive with it. I don't want an operating system that tries to be funny and colorful and my chatty best friend and all that, I want something grey that hides in the background and lets me switch from XCode to Reaper and back. It's the peace and quiet these machines let me experience that makes them so dear to me. And the convenience. Preview a file? Press space. Seen/heard enough? Press space again. Doesn't require waiting for a separate app to start for every file type, and then doing a monkey grip (Alt+F4) to close that app again. Space, space. Done.

I have to admit, Windows 10 is a solid thing. But all the driver issues and ASIO nonsense, the useless system menu complexity, the unspeakable depths of stuff that not only can but HAS to be configured for every fart... plus all the self-starting "wizards" that never lead to anything... why, just why? Installed Win10 on a VM recently, installation complete, VM rebooted, instant blue screen. In the VM. Deleted that drive image, installed Win10 to a new drive image, went well - but then Win was stuck trying to get an update for 18 hours or so, before I had to force-quit the VM and installed Windows a third time. None of that ever was necessary with macOS.

I've been with Windows since the mid 90s, and I only switched to Mac 8 or so years ago. Including the obvious transitional phase, it took me about a year to become a "proficient" Mac user. Now I feel right at home in macOS, which brings me to the next important thing: consistency. Both macOS and Windows have developed and changed a lot over the last couple of years, for the good as well as the bad. Sit in front of a Mac from 10-15 years ago, and you'll know where stuff is - because it's where it always is on a Mac. But sit in front of a Windows machine from 10-15 years ago (so XP) and you'll have no clue where stuff is, User folders, shared Program Files, system preferences, etc. ... it's all changed so much, every new version of Windows since XP feels like I need to re-learn everything I know about computers. MacOS not so much. You might call it "slow developing", but it's actually not. It just sticks to the UX that's always worked, without reinventing the wheel over and over again all the time. (Can't say that about their iGadgets tho.)

All of these factors play an important role in my preference. None of them mean that Windows is bad, none of it means that macOS is generally better, none of it means that Windows users are broke idiots, consumers rather than creators, none of it means that Apple is holy and Windows is Satan. None of it means that you must share the same experience or preference.

It just means there are more important requirements to me than the flexibility of what damned USB3 chipset to put into my build. That's why I'll just bite down and pay the price of admittance every 7-8 years, if it gives me another 7-8 years of inner peace, that's money well spent. Plus, I won't have to stick to the TonyMac buyer's guide when I pick next year's PC upgrade.

None of this information was crucial to anyone, I just had time to waste and felt like peacefully venting.
Thank you for your attention.

[fmr]

Honestly I'm buying a new Mac Mini just so I don't have to piss about with Hackingtosh. Life is too short.

Me too probably, unless I go Macbook Pro

Here's the other thing too. I buy a Mac Mini for £1250 now, use it for 2-3 years and then sell it for £800. What's the real cost?

Try selling a 2-3 year old Hackingtosh...

A new £1250 Hackintosh would be much more powerful than a Mac mini. Actually, it would be more like TWO Mac minis combined. A three year old Hackintoh would still outperform your NEW Mac mini. If you could sell your three year old Hackintosh (which was what was discussed a few posts back) you would probably sell it for more than what you spent assembling it.

So, BAD comparison, really

[fmr]

I thought people ceased playing video games when they entered adulthood.

Jk.

I know a few people who play video games at age 40-45.

Oh! The horror!

I play video games. I'm almost 60.

Not all video games are FPS (First Person Shooters).

I think you missed my sarcasm. I am a 46-year-old gamer, almost exclusively fps (single-player campaigns).

I didn't. The post wasn't addressed to you. Sorry if it looked otherwise. I have nothing against FPS games, BTW. I just like strategy games more

My reference to FPS games is that IMO they aren't so much appealing to people of your age. But not all people look the same, think the same or feel the same