WWDC is around the corner, what do you wish for specially pixelmator pro related?

Talk about Pixelmator Pro, share tips & tricks, tutorials, and other resources.
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2019-06-13 18:04:35

I am a bit confused, I thought you made the decision to go with the Mac mini? Or do you wait for the top model of the MacBook Pro? That will not come cheap... I don't see the Mac mini as an downgrade really. It comes with an i7 and the ram can be upgraded to even 64 GB I believe. You could get even an external graphic card if needed.

Do you wait or do you get a Mac mini?
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2019-06-13 19:01:20

I'm still going to get the Mini (I'm just trying to decide how small an SSD I can live with). But I reserve the right to look at the laptops when they come out and drool a bit.
When I talk about reducing specs I'm thinking about Mac Mini vs (iMac or MacBook Pro). The last two are all-in-one units and so I want to spec them highly as I can afford to get the longest life out of them. I'm happier speccing the Mini lower. After all, as it's not a laptop I can always add external storage or even an external GPU (I know I can add both of those to a iMac/MacBook Pro, they just stop being as elegant/portable when I do). And, if the specs don't last my usual 4-6 years, it's a small thing that I don't mind keeping about as a second machine that gets occasional use.
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2019-06-13 19:56:17

I know what you mean, I also stretched it out as far as I can. I bought the Macbook Pro 2017 and I will keep it hopefully 10 years at least my Macbook air 2011 is still in use but I doubt it. My touchbar the light is fading (I guess some moisture came into it) and the butterfly keyboard is notorious of failing. Honestly I personally would not buy an expensive laptop again (as nice as it appears). The Imac with an ssd would be attractive but then if something is failing after 3 years its a bummer.

The mac mini is easy to take (moving soon to a different country) and it's relatively cheap. I have a 4k Dell monitor which I use with my Macbook Pro and a mechanical keyboard with the Mx Master mouse. I think I would get the Mac Mini in 3-4 years from now with an I7 or A17 Apple chip, 40 - 50 GB of Ram (2rd party) and the default graphic card with 256 or 512 GB SSD.

I know the 16 inch Macbook Pro would be nice to have a look at it - and maybe its refined without the touchbar and a better keyboard.
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2019-07-09 06:53:31

by st3f 2019-06-13 19:01:20 I'm still going to get the Mini (I'm just trying to decide how small an SSD I can live with). But I reserve the right to look at the laptops when they come out and drool a bit.
When I talk about reducing specs I'm thinking about Mac Mini vs (iMac or MacBook Pro). The last two are all-in-one units and so I want to spec them highly as I can afford to get the longest life out of them. I'm happier speccing the Mini lower. After all, as it's not a laptop I can always add external storage or even an external GPU (I know I can add both of those to a iMac/MacBook Pro, they just stop being as elegant/portable when I do). And, if the specs don't last my usual 4-6 years, it's a small thing that I don't mind keeping about as a second machine that gets occasional use.
Oh, that video could be also very useful. https://youtu.be/0fVOiSRUY3E
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2019-07-09 11:53:32

After a weird interoperability problem with my MacBook an external monitor (viewtopic.php?f=16&t=16958) I decided that I liked discrete graphics cards more than I had previously thought and got myself a 2019 iMac:
21.5" 4K screen
16GB RAM
500 GB SSD
6 core 5.0 GHz i5
4GB Radeon Pro 560X
(other than the screen and graphics card, the same spec as I was going to get with a Mac Mini)

I am loving it. Unless I'm doing something really intensive, the processor just burbles along and my memory rarely needs to swap unless I've a *lot* open.

Probably the biggest change I've noticed is memory. Having gone from an 8GB machine with an integrated graphics card (which I assume uses system memory as graphics memory) to 16GB with a discrete graphics card (with its own memory) I've got so much more space to work with. Say the OS takes 2-4GB and the embedded graphics card 1.5GB, my 8GB MacBook leaves me with only 2.5-4.5GB of memory for apps before I start swapping out to the SSD. My iMac in the same condition leaves me with 12-14GB!

Thanks for linking the video but I'm not going to watch any more reviews or YouTube advice. I'm at a stage where I don't want to get any buyer's remorse over my decision. I don't think I will, though. Moving from the Mac Mini I was planning to get I sacrificed a little bit of screen size and the ability to use the monitor with other things but gained a discrete graphics card, a keyboard, and a trackpad. And it was a little cheaper. I call that a win.

Thanks for all your help and advice along the way. It was much appreciated.

- Stef.
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2019-07-11 05:38:00

Thats fantastic that you got such a great deal. I think so too that the ram makes the biggest difference in terms of editing photos. Good choice.