Editing with MacMini 2.3GHz i7?

roxics

roxics

Veteran
Does anybody here use the newest Mac mini 2.3 GHz i7 for video editing? I notice it can take up to 16 GB of RAM. I use the creative cloud. How well does it perform for you?

How well does it work with dual monitors at 1080p each?

Can you easily edit off of an external USB 3 hard drive? I shoot with a Canon 60D. Sometimes I use ProRes or DNxHD.

Is the internal hard drive and RAM easily upgradable?

Anything at this point would be an upgrade over my 2008 MacBook.
 
I edit on a 2.4 Core 2 Duo MacMini with 8gb ram. It handles dual screen 1080p ProRes HQ footage like a dream. I've cut 2 hour features on it in Final Cut 7 with zero problems. The i7 Mac Mini being quad core should be even better. I edit off Firewire800. I've edited off USB 2 just fine in the past, although I wouldn't capture footage to it. The days of capturing footage off a deck are just about over anyway. The mini has a removable panel on the bottom so it's very easy to swap memory and the internal drive.

EDIT: The only thing I'm unsure of is the integrated graphics on the newer units. My version still had a dedicated graphics card. I would guess the advantage of quad core would at least even out that drawback.
 
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2.4 Core 2 Duo with 8GB ram is what I have in my 2008 macbook and it's a horrible editing experience. Fine for everyday use but running CS5 on it takes forever to do anything, even scrubbing in Premiere Pro is choppy and can freeze up from time to time. But that's just been my personal experience. That's why I'm looking to upgrade.
 
roxics said:
2.4 Core 2 Duo with 8GB ram is what I have in my 2008 macbook and it's a horrible editing experience. Fine for everyday use but running CS5 on it takes forever to do anything, even scrubbing in Premiere Pro is choppy and can freeze up from time to time. But that's just been my personal experience.
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According to Apple, the 2008 Macbook has an integrated graphics card with 144mb of shared memory. That's probably your problem. My mini has a separate nvidia graphics card. I've only used Final Cut 7 and it works great.
 
My mini also has a faster system bus than the 2008 macbook. Regardless, the last version of the Mini is supposed to be 2 times faster than the version I have, so you'll be fine if it's all you can afford. I can only speak from my experience. I edit trailers for a living and depend on my machine. I bought it a couple years ago when my laptop crapped out, intending to upgrade as soon as I could afford to, but I've had no compelling reason to do so. My machine doesn't hinder my ability to get my work done in a timely manner in any way. Can't speak for editing software other than Final Cut 7 though.
 
Batutta said:
The mini has a removable panel on the bottom so it's very easy to swap memory and the internal drive.
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Interesting. I wonder if the newer versions of the mini have this panel?

I'm probably gonna need to upgrade in another year, maybe a year and a half from now. I'm worried the new "tube" MacPro will be out of my budget, so I'll likely be left with the options of an iMac, mini, or a PC workstation. I've always liked the mini, in theory at least as I haven't used one myself.
 
How much does the integrated graphics slow doing the overall performance of the machine for video editing compared to a 15" macbook pro? We're nearly at the end of the year and so Apple may very well refresh the mini within the next three months. Intel's new graphics chipsset is a better performer. I would assume the mini would get the Iris Pro chipset.

I guess that's all sepculation so it doesn' t matter.
 
roxics said:
How much does the integrated graphics slow doing the overall performance of the machine for video editing compared to a 15" macbook pro? We're nearly at the end of the year and so Apple may very well refresh the mini within the next three months. Intel's new graphics chipsset is a better performer. I would assume the mini would get the Iris Pro chipset.

I guess that's all sepculation so it doesn' t matter.
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I don't know, but apparently integrated graphics chips have gotten alot better with the latest iterations. According to Macworld, the i7 with HD4000 scored almost twice as high in graphics tests and other speed tests as my Core 2 Duo.

http://www.macworld.com/article/2013250/lab-tested-2012-mac-mini-gets-a-nice-speed-boost.html
 
Nektonic said:
Interesting. I wonder if the newer versions of the mini have this panel?
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Yes they do. Mine is a 5,2 which means mid-2011
2.7 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
AMD Radeon HD 6630M 256 MB

Editing in itself works well, and it plays nice with the various components of CS6, like shuffling files between PP and Audition. The real test is when exporting, like in exporting media. Depending on the size and the codec used it can take several hours. So based on my own setup and experience: great for short pieces, and a good exercise in patience for long ones... That's where having two machines can be useful...

L.
 
Batutta said:
Yep.

http://www.apple.com/mac-mini/design.html
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Awesome.

Thanks for the info.

novoluc said:
Yes they do. Mine is a 5,2 which means mid-2011
2.7 GHz Intel Core i7
16 GB 1333 MHz DDR3
AMD Radeon HD 6630M 256 MB

Editing in itself works well, and it plays nice with the various components of CS6, like shuffling files between PP and Audition. The real test is when exporting, like in exporting media. Depending on the size and the codec used it can take several hours. So based on my own setup and experience: great for short pieces, and a good exercise in patience for long ones... That's where having two machines can be useful...

L.
Click to expand...

If I have something that I anticipate will be a long export out of FCP, I usually plan to export it overnight. It hasn't been a problem for me. If I add a mini to my arsenal sometime in the future, then I would have a second machine so then I suppose I could have stuff rendering or exporting on one and bounce over to the other machine to work on something else.

I just like that the mini is small and seems like it would actually be portable. Not like a laptop in terms of portability, but much more easy to take somewhere than an iMac or a Mac Pro tower.
 
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Lack of an Nvidia Cuda video card will slow performance in Adobe apps. But Adobe is adding open CL graphics compliance a bit a time. When that is fully implemented Mac Mini's should work just fine for most editing unless you are using multiple video tracks and heavy FX. Probably fast enough now except for having to render FX sequences in the CPU instead of real time in the GPU.
 
So just an update. I did end up buying the 2012 quad core i7 mac mini about 3.5 weeks ago. It's been a decent machine, but with only 4GB of ram it has done a lot of beachballing on me as well. So sometimes it feels slower than my old 2008 macbook from a usability standpoint. But I can tell it's faster in that is plays video back smoothly, either online, in quicktime/VLC or in a timeline like Premiere pro. I also installed the trial of FCPX and damn does it fly in that application.

I just ordered a 16GB ram upgrade kit which I get next week. So that should definitely speed it up in terms of usability. In a couple of months (or less) I hope to do an SSD upgrade and move the interal terabyte drive to the second internal bay.

I considered waiting for the 2013 mac mini, figuring it would have a better GPU. But that might not be out till November. Meanwhile I've been capturing my old DV tapes over the last few weeks and using the machine for everyday tasks. It's definitely an upgrade for me. I now have things I didn't have before in my 2008 macbook. Four USB3 jacks, thunderbolt, firewire, faster CPU and GPU, more internal storage and even the built in SD card reader has been a handy timesaver. Soon I'll have more ram then I've ever had in a machine. So I have no regrets about not waiting for a 2013 model.
 
Adding RAM made a huge difference to my system. I'm not sure you get much benefit above 8 gb but it can't hurt.
 
Just wondering if you can add a dual monitor setup in addition to a broadcast/client monitor to the mac mini?
 
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