Mac Mini 2011 - Any good for editing

doublemint76

doublemint76

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I recently bought myself a Dell 27 IPS panel. Now i'm sick of my massive pc tower sat next to it sounding like a small jet engine.

So, i came across a mac mini for sale which i could plug straight in to my new monitor. Its mid 2011 model with an I5 2.3 and the ram has been upgraded to 8gig and a 128 SSD fitted. Although its a older model i was wondering how it would handle lightroom etc. My pc is no slouch but still lags in lightroom, images take a few seconds to become clear. The Mac is appealing because of its size and how silent it is, and also they meant to be quick but i'm not sure how this model would fare?

Was just wondering if anyone on here had any experience with Mac minis, in particular this model or can offer any advice/thoughts?

Thanks for reading.
 
It would fare about as well as a desktop of the same spec, which is "should be fine". You might struggle for disk space though if the SSD is the only storage (and in my older mac mini there is no space for a second drive so would have to be USB or NAS), depending on how many images you have and how much software you want to install.

Modern tower PCs aren't generally very noisy, btw, at least not with a decent case, CPU cooler and fans. If you scrimp on those components, the level of fan drone / whine rises noticably. And sit it on the floor, not next to the monitor taking up desk space and having the desk amplify and vibrations.
 
when you get decent case with decent case fans, you can't hear a thing :) also depends if you using aftermarket CPU cooler too.
 
onomatopoeia said:
It would fare about as well as a desktop of the same spec, which is "should be fine". You might struggle for disk space though if the SSD is the only storage (and in my older mac mini there is no space for a second drive so would have to be USB or NAS), depending on how many images you have and how much software you want to install.

Modern tower PCs aren't generally very noisy, btw, at least not with a decent case, CPU cooler and fans. If you scrimp on those components, the level of fan drone / whine rises noticably. And sit it on the floor, not next to the monitor taking up desk space and having the desk amplify and vibrations.
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I have 2 drives in mine and don't think the 2011 body is any different to the 2012 body physically.
 
Mine's older and has a core2duo, so things may well have changed then.
 
Thanks everyone.

I have an old I7 with16gb of ram but its not that fast really and very noisy. I can't put it on the floor as the tower is so big it won't fit under the desk. Now i have a big monitor my desk just looks cluttered and im sick of the noise.... which is why the small and silent mac is appealing. I know the storage is small but i would probably just getting some caddies for my existing drives and connect via usb.

I just wish i could try the thing out before i buy it..........
 
old i7 being....? the 2nd gen 2600k is still extremely capable for example. it would also blow the 2011 mini i5 chip out the water. 16gb is also more than enough.

sounds like some other issue, that system should be pretty nippy. where exactly are you seeing the performance issue? what does task manager say is struggling?

certainly would not recommend going to the mini from there.
 
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in fact the mid 2011 mini seems to use the I5-2520M laptop chip (in the 2.5Ghz flavour) which the i7-2600k (again example as I don't know which i7 the OP has) absolutely slays.
 
Don't forget the i5 2.3 is a low powered lap top chip and would get totally out peep framed by a desktop i3 even.
 
neil_g said:
old i7 being....? the 2nd gen 2600k is still extremely capable for example. it would also blow the 2011 mini i5 chip out the water. 16gb is also more than enough.

sounds like some other issue, that system should be pretty nippy. where exactly are you seeing the performance issue? what does task manager say is struggling?

certainly would not recommend going to the mini from there.
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Thats what i thought, and im booting off an SSD. I just don't find lightroom fast enough, there is too much lag scrolling between pictures and for instance when i go full screen i have to wait a good 5-10 seconds for the picture to focus for want of a better word. I have lightroom installed on my SSD but because its only 128 i store raws on another sata drive, it might be worth putting them on an SSD to speed things up? failing that a clean install me thinks, but i only did that 6 months ago.

I also wanted the mac for its size and silence, my pc really is noisy......
 
doublemint76 said:
Thanks everyone.

I have an old I7 with16gb of ram but its not that fast really and very noisy. I can't put it on the floor as the tower is so big it won't fit under the desk. Now i have a big monitor my desk just looks cluttered and im sick of the noise.... which is why the small and silent mac is appealing. I know the storage is small but i would probably just getting some caddies for my existing drives and connect via usb.

I just wish i could try the thing out before i buy it..........
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Get yourself a monitor riser from Amazon and you can put it under there to keep your desk even tidier.

You can buy a double drive caddy thingymewhatsit so you can have two drives inside it. I have a 256gb SSD and a 500gb HDD. Works well and offers me enough space to import all my working files for speed and then a bigger HDD to save them to once edited.

There is a late 2014 model in the classifieds atm.
 
The only real drawback to the mid 2011 mini is that it only has USB 2.0 ports (plus FireWire and Thunderbolt).
 
doublemint76 said:
Thats what i thought, and im booting off an SSD. I just don't find lightroom fast enough, there is too much lag scrolling between pictures and for instance when i go full screen i have to wait a good 5-10 seconds for the picture to focus for want of a better word. I have lightroom installed on my SSD but because its only 128 i store raws on another sata drive, it might be worth putting them on an SSD to speed things up? failing that a clean install me thinks, but i only did that 6 months ago.

I also wanted the mac for its size and silence, my pc really is noisy......
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what does task manager show when operating lightroom? cpu/memory/disk maxing out at all?

sounds a bit suspicious taking 5-10 for the image to render, even off a mechanical disk.
 
neil_g said:
what does task manager show when operating lightroom? cpu/memory/disk maxing out at all?

sounds a bit suspicious taking 5-10 for the image to render, even off a mechanical disk.
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I don't think so, but i'll have a look tonight when i get home.

Thanks for the replies everyone.
 
Certainly don't notice any slow down with my 2012 model when editing 24mp FF raws in Lr or PS. More than can be said for my old PC and by the sounds of it the one that @doublemint76 is using atm.

Space saving, quick machine that just works. I have found the move to macOS a dream so far. And i got a good deal too which makes it all the better.
 
going from Windows on i7 quad to Mac on i5 dual will be noticeable. like for like hardware the OS will not make that much if any difference (coming from working on and maintaining both platforms daily).

sounds like the OP machine has an issue that needs to be looked at as it should be more than capable.
 
I've just rebooted my pc and realised i forgot to mention that whilst booting it always comes up with a 'recovering lost Dram error' and re-boots. It will do this about 3-4 times before finally going on to boot Windows.
 
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doublemint76 said:
I've just rebooted my pc and realised i forgot to mention that whilst booting it always comes up with a 'recovering lost Dram error' and re-boots. It will do this about 3-4 times before finally going on to boot Windows.
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That sounds like some hardware issue. Can you try swapping/removing RAM modules to see if you can isolate this to a specific one? It won't do any harm to remove all the modules and re-insert them, that might fix a dodgy connection.
 
If it is enabled, switch OFF graphics acceleration in LR - I've yet to have a computer which is better with it on.
 
Andy Taylor said:
That sounds like some hardware issue. Can you try swapping/removing RAM modules to see if you can isolate this to a specific one? It won't do any harm to remove all the modules and re-insert them, that might fix a dodgy connection.
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Thanks Andy, i will give that a try.
 
minnnt said:
Hello mate. I have the late 2012 model and find it far better than my PC ever was. It runs Lr and PS really well.
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After a bit of research the 2012 models are quite sought after as they offer a good spec and are upgradeable unlike the newer ones where they solder the ram etc. They also get the highest geekbench scores, even over the 2014 models.

So you definitely got a good deal :)
 
Yes, that's why i went for the 2012 model. AFAIK the 2011 model is just as upgradeable. I think they're rated to 8gb (2x4gb) by Apple but can actually take 16 (2x8gb). I think the 2014 models HDD can still be user upgraded but it's a little trickier. As you say, the ram is soldered in place.

The model to get if money was no option would be the late 2012 i7 2.7ghz quad core.
 
minnnt said:
Out of interest, how much are you looking to pay?
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3-4 hundred is my budget and thats pushing it. I also have to factor in a keyboard and mouse...... the 2011 model is going for just over £200 but i would then need a mouse and keyboard...
 
I paid £350 for mine with an Apple keyboard and trackpad. It came with the ssd and hdd already but I've upped the ram from 8 to 16.

eBay seems a little over priced imo, Gumtree came up trumps for me. Have a gander...
 
doublemint76 said:
I've just rebooted my pc and realised i forgot to mention that whilst booting it always comes up with a 'recovering lost Dram error' and re-boots. It will do this about 3-4 times before finally going on to boot Windows.
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we have a winner. as above you probably have a dodgy ram module or motherboard slot. also a suggestion that it could be the CPU needing reseating.

you mention the fans going nuts, presumably none of the fans are clogged with dust? if the system cannot cool itself sufficiently then it could cause a whole host of issues, including thermal throttling.

i would still wholeheartedly not recommend dropping to the i5 dual core. LR loves fast disk and CPU, you will see a performance drop over your current system (without hardware issues). no matter what OS, one is not going to make a lesser spec machine magically feel faster.
 
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