New Mac Time

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Hi

 

I'm sure I've asked this before but in abundantly different context, so here goes.  I've moved 100% to Apple (no off topic comments please, this is my choice), except for my Desktop PC.  My laptop is OSX and I find myself just getting on better with it.  The only time I use a PC is at work (within a virtual desktop environment).

 

I want a Mac desktop, but don't want either the form factor of an iMac, nor the ludicrous expense of their Mac Pro's.  All I do is a bit of audio and video editing outside the normal web browsing and so on.  I will still be keeping my PC for those times it's needed - perhaps gaming and so on.

 

So that leaves me with a few options:

 

1) Dock my macbook pro - already doing this, but it's a clunky setup.  The MBP is for on the go.

2) Get a Mac Mini...

 

But in 2018, the 2014 Mac Mini is fairly expensive for what it is and offers no upgrade path.  So there's option 3 - hackintosh.  Here's the kicker, as I've got older I've got more used to paying for things to be done for my, by people who have more dedicated time and expertise - I like an easy life.  I could probably build myself a 2018 hackintosh (done it before), but there's always little things that weren't 100%.  I understand the situation has become a LOT better, but I'm always worries an update will screw it, and I'll have to play about - and that's not what I want or need to be doing.

 

The other thing is, a dedicated graphics card, while not a must-have, would be nice.

 

Now, I know people harp on about the cost saving nature of a hackintosh, I'm not 100% sold on that to be true - BUT, I could re-use a lot of my gear to deal with this.  My PC's i7, RAM and so on are compatible - so I could in theory dual boot it, but again, I'd really just rather not.

 

What am I asking here?  Well, does anyone run a 2014 i7 Mac Mini for video editing?  Does anyone have experience of building a hackintosh and want a commission?  Just a bit of steering I guess...

[Mindovermaster Global Moderator]

What is your budget?

 

I never dealt with OSX/hackintosh. I ran it on a VM once, but didn't play with it much.

 

Are you looking for desktop, or an all-in-one?

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Desktop, no desire for an iMac, as I already have two massive monitors.  I'm happy to spend about £1000 give or take a few hundred.

[DevTech]

Personally I think Macs are limited and have no use-case over a PC

 

As you say, it's your choice. So live with both the pros and cons of your choice. You can't expect the low cost and freedom of choice of the PC ecosystem in a closed arrogant "this is the one way to do anything" constrictive environment of the Apple ecosystem.

 

Apple has a computer that is designed for Video Editing. It is the Mac Pro.

 

Apple has a computer for general desktop usage. It is the iMac.

 

Unless your Video Editing is your kid's Fischer Price low res camera, the Mac Mini is not going to be suitable.

 

Although I consider Apple hardware to be over-priced, the one exception is the Mac Pro line which is over-priced high quality fantastic. Perhaps used equipment from local design firms could form the core of a new setup. There has been a general trend away from Mac hardware in the design industry due to cost and lack of important software so some deals might be out there.

 

 

[DevTech]

More input, the better to see if any creative ideas are out there.

 

There is also a Mac forum at Neowin which might be good for something...

 

The original idea of the Mac seemed to make sense at the time. By simplifying everything so there was just One Way to do anything seemed to make it easier for non-computer people. In the end it came down to whatever Steve Jobs deemed to be "intuitive" and if you couldn't channel his brain via Telepathy, it was just yet another computer even harder and more frustrating to use than a computer like a PC that had lots of choices and lots of ways of doing things.

 

To this day, some people are just Paralyzed By Choice and it is a good thing the marketplace provides them an option that has a lack of options!

 

I really like the Mac Pro iMac thingy with an 18 core Xeon option! If I had that kind of free money, I would buy one and wipe it clean and install Linux or Windows 10 as a fun project.

 

[farmeunit]

With Apple going away from Intel, I would be leery of building a Hackintosh is you might not be able to upgrade at that point.  If you are just looking to get by, then maybe.

 

Your budget doesn't leave a whole of room for you in the Apple world, though, either.

 

Not sure how docking is "kludgy".  You might just think about a "better" docking station.

https://hengedocks.com/

https://landingzone.net/

https://appleinsider.com/articles/17/11/05/thunderbolt-3-docks-for-the-macbook-pro-and-2017-imac-by-the-numbers

http://bgr.com/2017/11/19/macbook-pro-docking-station-touch-bar/

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/landing-zone-docking-station-price

 

 

 

[Brandon H Supervisor]

7 minutes ago, farmeunit said:

With Apple going away from Intel, I would be leery of building a Hackintosh is you might not be able to upgrade at that point.  If you are just looking to get by, then maybe.

not likely to be an issue any time soon. The rumors are saying they're shooting for 2020 and even then they'll still continue supporting x86 hardware for several years to come; look how long it took them to properly drop PowerPC support; and then again with 32bit on x86_x64, that support was only dropped 5 years or so ago (which is more than MS can say on that front lol) just for a couple examples.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

12 hours ago, farmeunit said:

With Apple going away from Intel, I would be leery of building a Hackintosh is you might not be able to upgrade at that point.  If you are just looking to get by, then maybe.

 

Your budget doesn't leave a whole of room for you in the Apple world, though, either.

 

Not sure how docking is "kludgy".  You might just think about a "better" docking station.

https://hengedocks.com/

https://landingzone.net/

https://appleinsider.com/articles/17/11/05/thunderbolt-3-docks-for-the-macbook-pro-and-2017-imac-by-the-numbers

http://bgr.com/2017/11/19/macbook-pro-docking-station-touch-bar/

https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/landing-zone-docking-station-price

 

 

 

Ignoring the off topic inanery that I distinctly said would add nothing to the thread, from members who really should know better - thanks for this post.  Your comment about Apple moving away holds a little weight, but not for a few years I think.

 

I have a henge dock, and I still find the workflow a bit meh - and then sometimes my MBP is elsewhere... Just kludgy "for me", I'm sure for some they are exactly what their workflow requires.

[astropheed Veteran]

A 2014 Mac Mini 3GHz i7 with 16 GB of memory and an 850 Pro would be fine to do basic 1080P video editing. Keep in mind (IIRC), the 2014 Mac Mini have soldered RAM and is not replaceable, so buy large.

 

Ignoring the off topic inanery that I distinctly said would add nothing to the thread, from members who really should know better

If you don't like the opinions people have regarding your Apple purchase, and the limitations of which you've self-imposed, then it's better to ignore them rather than ridicule them, as that also adds nothing to the thread. It may fuel future unsolicited responses though.

[Nick H. Supervisor]

I wouldn't bother with a Hackintosh, because like you I don't want the hassle of putting it together and then having to muck around with it when something doesn't work.

 

If, like you, I already had a MBP then I would continue to use a docking station. What do you mean when you say the setup is clunky? I don't think I've docked a MBP before, so I don't know how it plays.

 

I wouldn't bother with a Mac Mini, but I'm normally a laptop guy because it provides portability while at the same time (if I wanted) offering the option to dock the laptop and use an external keyboard, mouse, display. I can't say that I've bothered with a docking station at home though, mostly because I'm generally sat at my coffee table and I don't need a hulking great screen to see what I'm doing.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

2 minutes ago, Nick H. said:

I wouldn't bother with a Hackintosh, because like you I don't want the hassle of putting it together and then having to muck around with it when something doesn't work.

 

If, like you, I already had a MBP then I would continue to use a docking station. What do you mean when you say the setup is clunky? I don't think I've docked a MBP before, so I don't know how it plays.

 

I wouldn't bother with a Mac Mini, but I'm normally a laptop guy because it provides portability while at the same time (if I wanted) offering the option to dock the laptop and use an external keyboard, mouse, display. I can't say that I've bothered with a docking station at home though, mostly because I'm generally sat at my coffee table and I don't need a hulking great screen to see what I'm doing.

See, I would enjoy the initial build and if I followed a parts list that's 100% confirmed to work, then hey.  But yeah, an update could throw the whole thing out.  Then again, this is why we have backups.

 

My office is on the top floor.  3 floors down is where my MacBook Pro invariably seems to end up, waiting in it's case by the front door.  The issue here is obviously me, nothing more - the henge dock is actually damned good.

 

And yeah the Mac Mini is a bit of a "not quite" solution when you factor in their outlandish pricing and lack of dedicated GPU.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

36 minutes ago, astropheed said:

A 2014 Mac Mini 3GHz i7 with 16 GB of memory and an 850 Pro would be fine to do basic 1080P video editing. Keep in mind (IIRC), the 2014 Mac Mini have soldered RAM and is not replaceable, so buy large.

Oh lord yes, anything less than this is not up to the job, and 4K isn't really on my agenda any time soon.  Thing is, this is apple, this is a £1300+ spec, this is what I'd deem an "good enough" model for my needs.

 

Does a GFX card not come into play for video editing?

[DevTech]

5 hours ago, NJL said:

Oh lord yes, anything less than this is not up to the job, and 4K isn't really on my agenda any time soon.  Thing is, this is apple, this is a £1300+ spec, this is what I'd deem an "good enough" model for my needs.

 

Does a GFX card not come into play for video editing?

GPU acceleration has a huge performance boost, provided it is a sufficiently strong GPU.

 

It accelerates 2 functions:

 

1. Encoding to disk of the edited asset. Often a 10x improvement.

 

2. Real time display during editing of 3D assets etc, a relatively new acceleration

 

It needs:

 

1. the latest Adobe Premier (or somewhere in last year)

 

2. Config settings

 

3. NVIDIA GPUS have been supported for a lot longer than AMD so check supported GPUs carefully

 

4. I don't know the support picture for Apple's Final Cut Pro or Avid Media Studio, the two other leading editors.

 

 

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

Yeah that was kinda my understanding so will go with a hackintosh with a graphics card. Found someone who has a lot of experience building them, has a “go to” spec that he swears by and literally everything works bar one small caveat (tb3 is not hot swap).

 

thanks

[DevTech]

4 minutes ago, NJL said:

Yeah that was kinda my understanding so will go with a hackintosh with a graphics card. Found someone who has a lot of experience building them, has a “go to” spec that he swears by and literally everything works bar one small caveat (tb3 is not hot swap).

 

thanks

Given the delicate nature of selecting just the right hardware, and possible device driver changes in Apple updates, some sort of ongoing maintenance or support might be worth investigation if the vendor offers that.

 

[richp21]

https://www.tonymacx86.com/

 

Always worked well for me

[Jim K Global Moderator]

Easy folks. Let's simmer down.

 

With respect to a Hackintosh ... I wouldn't if I was "all in Apple." You have no guarantee that the next update from Apple will not break something, drivers can be a pain, will you be able to get 100% functionality from it, probably just a PITA especially as the years go on. The only reason I would is if I wanted Apple and Windows in the same box...and just used the Apple side occasionally.

 

If you have moved 100% to Apple... then move 100% to Apple.  My opinion.

 

With that said ... you have two questions ... am I right?

1) How is the 2014 i7 Mac Mini for video editing

and...

2) Can someone build you a Hackintosh (or how about Hackintosh friendly hardware configurations)?

 

I do not have an answer for either...just trying to steer this back on course.

 

Maybe @JHBrown has better suggestions?

[sc302 Veteran]

I have cleaned up the thread.  I am not issuing warnings yet, but if it continues warns will be handed out to all parties involved.  NJL does not want to be swayed or mocked about his decision to go apple, let it be.  

 

 

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

So here's what I'm going to try:

 

I am going to give my MacBook Pro another try.  Docking issues aside (or my lack of organisation) I am going to keep it docked on desk - the only time I use it on the go is for work, and hey let's have them buy me a Lenovo or something.  This now represents the best of both worlds - it's pure Apple and it's really highly specified.

 

I dare say I may revisit this thread at some point, should this setup not work, but if it does, then yay - saved myself some money.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

hey all the better if you can get work to pay for it I always say 

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

3 minutes ago, Brandon H said:

hey all the better if you can get work to pay for it I always say 

I travel sometimes up to 3 hours a day, and am using my own personal laptop for this - and then was looking at shelling out a grand on a desktop?

 

Nah, Use my docked laptop on-desk and let work sort out my working computer.

[Brandon H Supervisor]

1 minute ago, NJL said:

I travel sometimes up to 3 hours a day, and am using my own personal laptop for this - and then was looking at shelling out a grand on a desktop?

 

Nah, Use my docked laptop on-desk and let work sort out my working computer.

is your travel for work? if so I'd say you'd have good justification for a work issued laptop. I'm surprised they're even letting you use your personal laptop if it's work related travel.

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

11 hours ago, Brandon H said:

is your travel for work? if so I'd say you'd have good justification for a work issued laptop. I'm surprised they're even letting you use your personal laptop if it's work related travel.

Oh yeah for work.  We have a virtualised desktop environment and a strong Work From Home policy, so I can safely use my own machine, as nothing is stored on it for work purposes.

[adrynalyne]

16 hours ago, astropheed said:

A 2014 Mac Mini 3GHz i7 with 16 GB of memory and an 850 Pro would be fine to do basic 1080P video editing. Keep in mind (IIRC), the 2014 Mac Mini have soldered RAM and is not replaceable, so buy large.

 

If you don't like the opinions people have regarding your Apple purchase, and the limitations of which you've self-imposed, then it's better to ignore them rather than ridicule them, as that also adds nothing to the thread. It may fuel future unsolicited responses though.

It is also dual core. The 2012 i7 outperforms it in every way not involving gpu.  

[+Nik Louch Subscriber²]

9 hours ago, adrynalyne said:

It is also dual core. The 2012 i7 outperforms it in every way not involving gpu.  

Wasn't aware of it only being dual core.  That's kinda shocking.  If only the 2012 had a GPU...