2018 MacBook Pro keyboard

[MikeFromMesa]

Hmmm…??? Why do I get the feeling of reading the story about leading the horse to the water here, but getting it to drink is another matter…???

I suppose so, but this has turned out to be a more difficult decision than I expected it to be.

At first all I wanted was a faster computer. My Mini is fine for many of the things I do but is a true laggard when it comes to digital image processing and a recent test using some new resizing software from Topaz took an hour to upsize one image. One image, about 70 minutes.

I was fully prepared to buy either a used or refurbished Mac Pro, and some of the offerings at eBay that pigoo3 pointed me to were very temping, but then I began to think about the long term instead of the short term. I am not sure that any of the 2010 Towers will run the new OS and I am not sure that such old video cards are suitable for some of the new software. The processors, and their multi-processing capabilities, are probably fine, but the older memory chips were much slower than the new ones and I am not sure about the old video cards. I could replace them, but I would still be stuck with TB2 instead of TB3 and slower memory chips.

The choice seemed to come down to either $1500 for a 2013 Tower or twice that for one of the newer MacBook Pros. Surprising enough my wife seems to think that I should spend the extra money and get the new equipment rather than spend less and get the old stuff, probably because she knows me well enough to know that I will just end up wanting newer hardware in a year or two while a newer faster machine may be enough for 4-5 years.

I am pretty sure that I am convincing myself that it would be better to have a desktop/laptop that consisted of one machine and allow me to take my "desktop" with me when my wife and I travel. In any case I have decided that I will make a decision no later than Monday since we are traveling soon and I want this all done, delivered, set up and working before we leave.

 

[pm-r]

I suppose so, but this has turned out to be a more difficult decision than I expected it to be.

And no doubt that's what happened to the horse at the trough Mike. But you'll get it all sorted out I'm sure.

BTW: Are you really sure that you'll be doing some high end digital photo processing while you're out and about traveling??? What does your wife say about that, leaving you stuck in your resort room processing digital stuff while she's out touring and enjoying the town???






- Patrick
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[pigoo3]

The choice seemed to come down to either $1500 for a 2013 Tower or twice that for one of the newer MacBook Pros. Surprising enough my wife seems to think that I should spend the extra money and get the new equipment rather than spend less and get the old stuff, probably because she knows me well enough to know that I will just end up wanting newer hardware in a year or two while a newer faster machine may be enough for 4-5 years.

I am pretty sure that I am convincing myself that it would be better to have a desktop/laptop that consisted of one machine and allow me to take my "desktop" with me when my wife and I travel. In any case I have decided that I will make a decision no later than Monday since we are traveling soon and I want this all done, delivered, set up and working before we leave.

Just a general comment Mike...nothing specifically targeted at you.

I have a fair amount of experience helping members thru this thought/decision process. And at some point in many of these discussions cost/budget (early on) was considered a factor. But then what happens is...folks start looking at brand new stuff...and as I mentioned earlier...once "Pandora's Box" is opened...somehow there's no turning back...and the cost/budget concerns seem to disappear.

Future OS compatability...and future software compatibility are also very important things to think about. And if these things are REALLY needed...then sure...get something newer (and more expensive).

But...

If all you REALLY need is a computer with a lot more CPU horsepower...even if it isn't compatible with the latest OS...and your software apps are compatible with that older OS (El Capitan, Sierra, High Sierra)...then if you could get away with spending $1000 or less wouldn't that be worth it?

This thread started out that you were looking for a computer faster than your Mac-Mini for your project work...and...you said portability wasn't a concern...which is why we were talking desktop models. Now it sounds like you may be spending close to $3000 for a brand new 2018 15" MacBook Pro.

Most of what I've suggested in this thread was trying to give you the most "bang for the buck". But if you end up settling for a $3000 2018 15" MacBook Pro. This is kind of the easy way out...and this could have been a MUCH shorter discussion.

- Nick

p.s. I also wanted to comment video cards. If you know for sure that the project work you do is purely CPU processing based...then one of the older Mac Pro's will definitely give you the best bang for the buck. But if you know that your projects do rely on the video hardware...then that's a different story...and maybe something newer is the way to go.

 

[pigoo3]

The old Mac Pros are considerably faster than my Mac Mini in multi-core processing, but not in single core processing, and they lack far behind the new 2018 MacBook Pro in both types of processing. I found the comparison interesting since the testing I could do showed that the multi-core processing numbers corresponded roughly to the differing photo editing speeds I see on the machines that I do have.

Somehow I must have missed this post. lol

Comparing single core vs multiple core numbers can be useful if you're doing computing tasks that don't take advantage of all available cores. Everyday stuff like email, internet, etc. But if you're using software that takes advantage of all available cores for your projects...then the multi-core benchmarks numbers are what you need to focus on (not single core). And more/bigger is better.

A 6-core 2010 Mac Pro with a CPU benchmark value double that of your 2014 Mac-Mini is going to be wayyy faster...regardless if the 2014 Mac-Mini has better single core benchmarks! As long as the project software you're using takes advantage of all available cores.

- Nick

 

[badshoehabit]

You get used to any keyboard. I started on something similar to this!

 

[chscag]

LOL, I still have the typewriter that I was given as a gift when I graduated high school and on my way to my first year in college. A long time ago.......

 

[MikeFromMesa]

BTW: Are you really sure that you'll be doing some high end digital photo processing while you're out and about traveling??? What does your wife say about that, leaving you stuck in your resort room processing digital stuff while she's out touring and enjoying the town???

It is not the ability to do the photo processing when we are traveling that I am thinking about, but the ability to keep in touch with others, to keep track of what is going on on the forums (yes, here as well) and the idea of having the photo processing stuff with me so we can take a quick look at what snaps we took during the day.

Previously I had been using a MacBook Air during our traveling, but there was always the issue of keeping the MBA in sync with the Mini, resident photos, current browsing history, emails and the like. I don't generally do much of this when we are out but we camp at RV parks during our travel and there are plenty of down times when browsing the forums feels like exactly the right thing to be doing, the alternative being trying to do some photo shooting when there is nothing worth taking a photo of.

 

[MikeFromMesa]

Just a general comment Mike...nothing specifically targeted at you.

I have a fair amount of experience helping members thru this thought/decision process. And at some point in many of these discussions cost/budget (early on) was considered a factor. But then what happens is...folks start looking at brand new stuff...and as I mentioned earlier...once "Pandora's Box" is opened...somehow there's no turning back...and the cost/budget concerns seem to disappear.

All of this started out fairly simply. All I wanted was some way to speed up my current Mini and I thought about increasing the size of the ssd. It is relatively small and I thought if I could increase the size of the ssd then I could stop using that external usb 3 drive for my photos and many of my apps. It probably would not be much, but it would be something.

I then thought about getting a used machine, perhaps the Mac Pro I almost bought when I bought the Mini, and that would allow me to largely configure the machine as I wanted - 32GB of RAM, 512GB or 1TB ssd and whatever video cards I thought would be best. I checked online and found that what I saw was over $2000 and, when I updated the video cards and the memory, I would be close to $2500-$3000, and I thought that was a lot of money for 5 year old technology.

I then thought about my wife's MacBook Pro. It has a 2.8GHz quad core i7, 16GB of RAM and 512GB ssd, and it was sitting unused, and although it did not have the RAM that I wanted I thought that it would serve me well, especially considering that it was not being used and it was already paid for. I did some testing and, yes, it worked just fine, noticeably faster than my Mini, and I could use it as a desktop and, when we traveled, take it with us. Then, of course, my wife decided she was ready to use the MacBook Pro, so that was that, but the damage was done. I had already looked at the new MacBook Pros with their 6 core i7 and i9 chips, knew that I could get the 32GB I wanted and either get a large internal ssd or get one of those really fast TB3 external ssds.

Part of me is ready to buy one of the 2013 Towers on eBay (most are around $1500) and update the video cards and live with TB2 and I assume I could do that for less than $2000. The rest of me is whispering in my ear that the new MBPs have newer technology and are more likely to keep me happy for another 4 or 5 years, so that is where I am now.

You were right about opening Pandora's Box ...

> And more/bigger is better.

Yes. I never understood the "less is more" crowd. I have always thought that less was less and more was more. But then that is what I would expect from someone whose unofficial motto is "If something is worth doing it is probably worth over-doing"

 

[pigoo3]

Sounds good Mike. Totally understand that this has been quite a path weighing the pro's & con's of the many different options.

I think one BIG "game-changer"...is when you kinda-sorta became more open to the possibility of purchasing a portable computer...that can do everything you need a computer to do in a single unit. Plus it sounds like your potential max budget for an upgraded desktop computer was $2500-$3000...which is pretty close the the cost of a 2018 15" MacBook Pro...so that wasn't a super scary number either.

Sounds like you're very close to getting that 2018 15" MacBook Pro. I'm sure it will be awesome...brand new stuff is always pretty awesome. And you get the Applecare warranty too...maybe even consider extended care.

- Nick