randy hill

randy hill said:
I was on verge of buying an iMac Pro, but the new Mini has stopped me in my tracks. Super-fast SSDs combined with far faster processors and suddenly the new Mini is looking like a rocket-ship. A 12,500 multi-core score for the cheapest entry level Mini are amazing, just shy of trashcan Mac Pro performance. 

This makes me anxious to see what the top of the line Min can do with the new i7 8700k 3.2Ghz 6 Core. Geekbench has some (prototype?) iMacs running 3.2Ghz 8700s scoring up to 6,400 on single core performance and over 28,000 on multi-core. That's almost 20% better iMac Pros on single core, and less than 10% shy of the 8 core iMac Pro on multi-core. I can build the top end 6 core Mini with a 5K monitor for around $3,400, that's almost half the cost of the 10 core iMac Pro I was configuring. Not only will it drive a 5K monitor but also a second external 4K monitor, all on internal GPU. That's all I need.

Apple's lineup is now red-hot. Their fastest/best MacBooks ever, fastest/best iMacs ever, and now fastest/best Minis ever, and everything refreshed within the last year. They are going to sell a ton of Macs over the next year.  This is exactly why the Macintosh division is the most profitable and successful PC maker in the world, focusing on professionals willing to spend a bit extra for the best tools to get their jobs done. A $6,000 iMac Pro is well worth it, it would only cost me 50 cents per work hour, but if the Mini is nearly as fast, why not save a couple grand?  

For sure... though just keep in mind some of the limitations. For example, I'm guessing the TB3 ports are on separate controller channels on the iMac Pro... so if you're connecting an eGPU, and external storage, and external other peripherals, the mini would be more limited. Also, you're giving up stuff like error correcting RAM, or probably some performance edge of the CPUs for certain things. And, unless you add an eGPU, the iMac Pro has a lot more GPU power.

But, I think I'm getting one too. With an eGPU, it fits my needs quite well. I'm just trying to figure out all the differences between the i5 and i7 model, or if I should put the saved money towards the eGPU or other stuff.

Oh, and another thing I'm curious about re: 'trash can' Mac Pro companion, is how much AEVC of the T2 chip will play into working with video (which I'll be doing more of). If I'm understanding correctly, it might be way, way faster at exporting certain kinds of video.

I"m just doing software development so the GPU is nearly meaningless. As long as the built-in GPU can drive two big screen Retina monitors I'm in fuego. Fast SSD and being able to add memory is much more important.

entropys said:

Pro users don’t buy NUCs like this mini.

I need a new machine real soon now, but will wait to see what the iMac is like, my current iMac is dying from overuse.  
If I had to buy a machine right now, it would be the i7 mini with minimum ram and ssd. I will update the ram myself. I will wait until someone comes up with a matching external TB3 case that stacks with the mini in space grey, and add an external M.2 SSD. I currently boot my old iMac off a TB2 external SSD anyway, but I would like better than SATA.  No way am I paying Apple’s evil prices for ram and ssd. And if I wanted a dedicated GPU, I am sure there will end up a eGPU case that matches too.

Cook is making it real hard not to switch to the dark side. The prices are getting stupidly expensive.

I was on verge of buying an iMac Pro, but the new Mini has stopped me in my tracks. Super-fast SSDs combined with far faster processors and suddenly the new Mini is looking like a rocket-ship. A 12,500 multi-core score for the cheapest entry level Mini are amazing, just shy of trashcan Mac Pro performance. 

This makes me anxious to see what the top of the line Min can do with the new i7 8700k 3.2Ghz 6 Core. Geekbench has some (prototype?) iMacs running 3.2Ghz 8700s scoring up to 6,400 on single core performance and over 28,000 on multi-core. That's almost 20% better iMac Pros on single core, and less than 10% shy of the 8 core iMac Pro on multi-core. I can build the top end 6 core Mini with a 5K monitor for around $3,400, that's almost half the cost of the 10 core iMac Pro I was configuring. Not only will it drive a 5K monitor but also a second external 4K monitor, all on internal GPU. That's all I need.

Apple's lineup is now red-hot. Their fastest/best MacBooks ever, fastest/best iMacs ever, and now fastest/best Minis ever, and everything refreshed within the last year. They are going to sell a ton of Macs over the next year.  This is exactly why the Macintosh division is the most profitable and successful PC maker in the world, focusing on professionals willing to spend a bit extra for the best tools to get their jobs done. A $6,000 iMac Pro is well worth it, it would only cost me 50 cents per work hour, but if the Mini is nearly as fast, why not save a couple grand?  

One other point is that last year the X was entirely new, new screen type, new body, new size, new custom depth sensors and camera hardware. They likely had a lot to learn about manufacturing it and that slowed how fast they could build  The Xs is just an evolution of the X, so it seems reasonable that inventory could ramp much faster.

And even if there was an analyst who could perfectly predict Apples quarterly results, investors should almost always ignore them. The value in Apple has only a small correlation to its intrinsic value. The intrinsic value in Apple is determined by how many phones, devices, computers, and services it will ultimately sell over the next decade (and longer). knowing whether next quarter will be up 5% or down 5% doesn’t help predict that. 

Warren Buffett doesn’t care about this quarter, he cares about whether Apple has an enduring  competitive advantage. Apple could punt a whole year by selling the wrong phones at the wrong price points., but that changes little in the long run value if they can easily fix the problem. Having iOS with substantial advantages in how tightly their hardware/software can couple and how quickly and widely they can distribute updates to their customers is just two of their enduring advantages that make their job much easier. others include their product development process, service integrations, etc.

Buffett has said you want a business that has such strong competitive advantages an idiot could run it, because someday an idiot likely will. The people who built Apple 2.0 built those advantages and they are far from idiots.