With the impending release of the new Mac Pro 7,1, taking a step back it’s pretty incredible that Apple even decided to produce the new style cheese-grater as it doesn’t seem worth it to Apple. After all, Apple hasn’t hidden the fact that that the vast majority of their customers buy iOS devices, not Macs, and that the vast majority of their single-digit percentage Mac customers buy laptops, not desktops.

The vast majority of their desktop customers buy iMacs, but let’s say that a single-digit percentage of those single-digit percentage Mac customers want something for our desk that doesn’t start at 5 or 6K, like the Mac Pro 7,1. What choices are there? There’s the iMac, but that is an all-in-one that doesn’t suit us. That leaves us the Mac mini that Apple resurrected last year.

It may not be a tower but you can stack it. It doesn’t have any internal PCIe slots, but it does have four Thunderbolt 3 ports. So, just how far you could take it or, rather, if you couldn’t or wouldn’t afford the Mac Pro, could you take it far enough to make it into a Mac mini Pro?

In this video, Rene Ritchie on the Vector YouTube channel sat down with Anthony Casella from imore.com and they break down each element of the Mac Pro 7,1 and look at what can be done with a Mac mini and ask whether the Mac mini 2018 is a much more fit-for-purpose cost-effective solution for most Apple Mac users looking for an expandable Apple Desktop computer. They even touch the thorny issue of the option of going for a self build Hackintosh.

More Detail And Costed Options

If this concept appeals to you then check out our article Which Apple Mac Should You Choose As A Pro Tools Computer? Specs And Prices in which we look at each Apple Mac computer, its strengths and weaknesses as a potential Pro Tools computer together two costed options, a basic option and a superior option and we start with the Mac Mini.

More On The Mac Mini As A Pro Tools And Pro Audio Computer

What Are You Going To Do?

Do share in the comments what your plans are or what recent choice you made, when deciding on your next pro audio Apple Mac computer. What factors determined the choice you made. It may well help others in the community make a more informed choice.