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Mac Mini doesn't need a real GPU in my opinion -- what they need is a mid-level desktop that accepts a real GPU. $1000 - $1500 with decent specs. But, we know t
by everdrive 7y ago
Mac Mini doesn't need a real GPU in my opinion -- what they need is a mid-level desktop that accepts a real GPU. $1000 - $1500 with decent specs. But, we know they won't move into that space.
- PascLeRasc 7y agoYou can get a new Mac Mini and a Thunderbolt 3 eGPU for $1500 or less.
- MisterTea 7y agokinda negates the whole mini part.
- stephenr 7y agoI never understand this argument. If you "want" a mid-level "box with slots", that's going to be bigger anyway.
- izietto 7y agoI don't think that's the point: if you can ship 16" MacBook Pros with dedicated GPU you could do the same with MacMini; why don't you give me such option? ("you" stands for "Apple" here btw)
- omnimus 7y agodesktop grade cpus and gpus have very different thermal characteristics. it quite impossible to have silent + desktop cpu + desktop gpu + very small space.
- izietto 7y agoMacBooks are not desktops, they are laptops
- nine_k 7y agoStill they have much more area per unit of volume, so, a better way to dissipate heat. Minis are compact bricks, with much less surface.
- izietto 7y agoSo you're saying that the MacBook shape is more thermally efficient than the MacMini shape? Why don't they do MacMinis with the MacBook shape?
- omnimus 7y agoI am not sure what you don't understand. There is no way you can cram desktop grade cpu and gpu in such a small space. You could put laptop line of cpus + gpus there which are slower and probably shouldn't be run 24/7 (apples usecase is NAS). Or you put just desktop cpu which has ok integrated graphics already.
- izietto 7y agoCan't you use a laptop GPU with a desktop CPU? Logically I'd say "yes", but I'm not an hardware expert, just asking
- omnimus 7y agoYou probably can but maybe it still just doesnt make sense to add it because of heat/money cost. The integrated gpus nowdays are pretty good you can connect 3x4K screens in that mac mini. So if you need real graphic power mobile gpu doesnt help much and just for output for most people integrated is enough. In some ways that egpu approach (if it works) is nice.
- MattRix 7y agoYes, which is why it would be good if they had a mac mini that had laptop grade CPU and GPU instead.
- stephenr 7y agoThey do. It also includes a screen, and a keyboard and trackpad. It's called.. a laptop.
- _ph_ 7y agoPutting the cpu/gpu of the 16" MB Pro would enhance the mini greatly. The thermals would be be much better than in a laptop resulting in better performance. Yet, you wouldn't have to pay for an unused screen/battery. Also, while you can use the MP Pro in clamshell mode, it is making the thermals even worse. So why should one get a laptop, if one wants a compact desktop?
- gowld 7y agoApple's hardware business model is driving margins by bundling unnecessary features in the "trim levels". They don't want you picking and choosing only the parts you need.
- _ph_ 7y agoWell we are talking about the Mini vs. a laptop, so entirely different devices. There is no trim level of the Mini with a reasonable graphics chip.
- rsfinn 7y agoIn fact, you can get the new entry-level Mac mini plus the Sonnet Breakaway Puck RX 560 [0] for US$1100, now that the eGPU has dropped in price to $300. Whether any given person would be satisfied with that configuration is, of course, open to debate. [0] https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HMT22ZM/A/sonnet-egfx-breakaway-puck-radeon-rx-560-external-gpu https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HMT22ZM/A/sonnet-egfx-bre...
- cbm-vic-20 7y agoDoes anyone make a "case" that holds a Mac mini and eGPU in an attractive desktop-sized package?
- mortenjorck 7y agoWhile this is probably too niche to make economic sense as a product, this seems like a perfect use case for a vertically-mounted PCIe slot, creating a tall GPU pedestal for the Mini in a similar vein to the G4 Cube.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- that_jojo 7y agohttp://animaionic.com/ http://animaionic.com/
- all_usernames 7y agoThanks, I had no idea eGPUs were a thing!
- chx 7y agoHead to https://egpu.io/ https://egpu.io/ then
- askafriend 7y agoThat's the whole premise of the Mac Mini. It's the only non-Pro designated Mac that has four Thunderbolt 3 ports. I don't think you'd find this level of I/O in any other machine in this price range. That incredibly powerful I/O makes for tons of expansion possibilities. Storage, GPU, etc. (Edited to say "non-Pro designated")
- mayoff 7y agoCurrently shipping Macs with four Thunderbolt 3 ports: * Mac Pro * Mac Mini * iMac Pro * MacBook Pro 16" * MacBook Pro 13"
- askafriend 7y agoYou're totally right, I should have said non-Pro designated Mac. I must have mixed it up in my head.
- olyjohn 7y agoNot all Thunderbolt 3 ports are the same. Good chance that two ports are sharing a single PCIe 3.0 4x controller. Since PCIe 3.0 is good for ~7.8Gb/sec/lane, you're looking at two 40Gb/sec Thunderbolt ports sharing about 31Gb/sec of bandwidth on the PCIe bus. Okay, probably not that big of a deal really. The point being that a "Pro" system might have 4 individual Thunderbolt controllers, each getting their own 4x PCIe 3.0 lanes. I think that's why the specs say "Up to 40GB/sec" on the page. It sadly doesn't say which controller it has... But I guess my whole point is really moot in practicality. Good luck saturating that much bandwidth.
- chrisfinazzo 7y agoIt probably doesn't, and in some sense, that's the problem. Really hoping that the next major redesign of this looks less like an Intel NUC and more like a slightly smaller Mac Pro. An actual mini tower! What a concept.
- WaltPurvis 7y agoA "Mini Pro" is what I've been wanting from Apple forever (in tech years). Just a small tower with room for a graphics card and two or three SSD/NVMe drives. I'd be fine with paying Apple's customary 100+% hardware premium for something like that.
- ghostbrainalpha 7y agoThat's exactly what I want to. Is there a Mini Pc that would be similar to this now?
- moondev 7y agoYou can do all that now with the mini, it has 4 thunderbolt ports.
- armitron 7y agoThunderbolt isn't nowhere near close in performance to built-in PCI express slots.
- moondev 7y agoI guess it depends on the width you need. Indeed you won't be able to run x16 or x8 but x4 is possible which is enough for full-speed nvme or dual 10GbE
- WaltPurvis 7y agoI thought it was pretty clear I was talking about something much different from hanging multiple external devices off the back of a Mini.
- Retric 7y agoiMac covers that for most people. eGPU’s also lets you extend the Mac Mini at the cost of more wires and boxes. But, the Mac desktop gaming ecosystem is fairly anemic so I doubt most people get much from a better GPU. IMO, a Mac Mini + KVM + 500+$ gaming PC is probably the best all around option.
- rsync 7y ago"Mac Mini doesn't need a real GPU in my opinion ..." I tend to agree, but then I also see 4x thunderbolt 3 ports and 1x HDMI 2.0 ports and think how nice it would be to drive all four of my monitors from that one tiny system ... However the specifications dictate that only 2x 4k monitors can be driven, simultaneously (at 60hz ?) ... ? Which brings up the same old, tired question: Just who is it that works as an engineer, at Apple, and has such boring, inexact, low-power-user use-cases that they, the actual creators of this kit, are happy with it ? How do you do your jobs ? Why don't you need these things ? Remember, there were years where multi-monitors were completely, totally broken - in OSX, for all models - which suggests that nobody inside Apple uses multiple monitors. That's weird ... who are these people ?
- mamon 7y agoThunderbolt 3 ports are multipurpose: disks, external GPU's,etc. Just because you have 3 of them does not mean you should plug in a monitor to each one. And if you really need 4 screens that eGPU will probably handle it.
- timbo1642 7y agoIt has a 2 year old processor!