2018 Mac Mini Review: A video editor's perspective

The 2018 Mac Mini is the is the first update to this product in four years. The new Mini brings a host on improvements, including Intel's 8th Gen CPUs. There's a lot to like in these machines, but if you're looking to use a 2018 Mini for video editing or graphics work, we found a few issue's you'll want to know about.

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[MikeVlcek]

Hey Engadget, I appreciate your effort in putting out this review, but I find it way off the mark. First of all, I should say that I work professionally in the music industry and, for music creation, the new mini is a god send. We don't need/want dGPUs. Not to mention this would also bring the cost of the machine up. So, having that said, let's address some of the points that I've found misleading in your video:

1 - It is not a niche machine. Case 1: music producers will benefit from this option. Every studio already has a monitor, usually a big TV, and an iMac has always been an inconvenience, because we usually deal with large analog consoles between the screen and the keyboard. Try working from a metre distance from the 5K display. Not easy. The iMac pro is even worse, as you pay a far cry for graphics performance, basically, which is useless to us. The 2018 i7 just offers the right amount of power we need. Case 2: programmers/developers. No need to have dGPUs as well, as tasks are usually only CPU intensive. 3 - Farms. No need to explain why iGPUs are a non-issue here. Case 4: the mini makes for a practical desktop machine for offices as well. If you are a company and wants a way into macOS for office work (browsing, mail, word, excel, powerpoint, photoshop etc), nothing beats the mini cost wise. It's as simple as this. The latter is, by the way, the main market of the base i3 model. For all the other cases mentioned here, the i7 is the way to go, at not so much extra cost.

2 - The ONLY exception is, errr, video editors (or gamers, which shouldn't be on macOS anyway). It is simply the other way around from what you've said on your review. Funny, no? However, as video guys are the ones producing the reviews (for obvious reasons), it is natural that we only see people complaining about the iGPUs and so forth. It's been exhaustively discussed in forums already, but Apple simply couldn't place a dGPU inside the mini and NOT have to deal with thermal issues - like happened with the 2018 MBP. The reasoning is to make the mini modular. If one needs more graphics power, one adds an eGPU and all is fine. You guys failed to acknowledge this in your review, when you said that if you need more GPU power, you'll be out of luck. So here's the answer to your question. By the way, external chassis are becoming more and more affordable by the day, so there's that as well.

With all that said, I reckon that the new Mac Mini possibly isn't the first pick for video producers. For this specific "niche market", I recommend an iMac, an iMac Pro or a 15 inch MBP, though even their dGPUs will be soon obsolete as well. In the other hand, someone with a Mini and an external card can upgrade for as long as needed. Pretty smart.

My final point, and this goes to the whole youtube community: PLEASE, pretty please, stop putting yourselves (video editors/creators) as the centre of the universe. Video production is just one scenario in a myriad of possible ones for this machine. Not being suited for heavy video production off the shelves doesn't make the Mac Mini a bad purchase. It is just not for you. However, for EVERY other scenario (including media servers) the iGPU will be all you'll need to get going. The 2018 mac mini patches a hole in Apple's product line, and fits like a glove for most everyone BUT video producers. That's the truth.

Regards,

[iceclimber]

I’ve been using my i5 Mac mini for the last year for developing iOS apps and web apps, It’s been far better than I expected. For me, what stands out is its modularity, you can upgrade SSD (thunderbolt 3 SSD), dedicated graphics card (eGPU vía thunderbolt 3), RAM. I don’t think you could say the same for any other Mac but Mac Pro.

[laolsaouce]

why are you testing the base model with premiere pro... this is not even a realistic use case in the slightest

[lucasparisi]

"for the rest of us the mini feels a little like a product searching for a niche". You mean using Premiere Pro on the base model and thinking that everyone out there is editing videos is more like you need to get out of your bubble...

[zeus]

for music producers with external audio interface and excellent SW support this is a good option

[DOGroove]

I think it’s the perfect box for music production. I know a guy who still runs a professional studio on a 2012 Mac Mini and I could see him upgrading to this year’s i7 Mac Mini and using that for 5-6 years.

[RockyColaFizz]

So confused. First of all many folks edit video on Mac with FCPX. Its simply so much more effective and efficient on a Mac than Premiere Pro. Also - the i7 on this thing is a totally different experience than the i3. Why review this one - and bring up video editing. I get it if you were going to show this base model and simple day to day tasks - but showing it editing 4K with effects on Premiere Pro is such a waste of time frankly.

[Doan]

What video editor would ever considering an entry level computer for 4K editing? If I'm wrong, then I'd like to see "Raspberry Pi review: A video editor's perspective" next time. 😅

[izzyzakable]

Why are you performing your tests in Premier Pro and not FCPX? You buy a Mac for the Mac 'professional' software if you're a pro looking for that setup. It makes far more sense to go grab a larger Windows machine with a cheap GPU for Premier Pro. I enjoy the test for uniqueness as most people are testing FCPX, but they're doing it because it makes the most sense.

[asleepinamerica]

I have to agree with many of the other commenters here. No one would use the base model with multiple monitors and a non-optimized NLE and expect iMac Pro results. Honestly I don’t know what you’re doing pitting a base model i3, running Premier and comparing it to a Pro iMac, while you know the GPU is not designed for the task at hand.

If you put a decently spec’d i7 Mini with the eGPU Pro you’re still at half the cost of a 10-core iMac Pro with upgraded graphics. Plus knowing the Mini’s UHD graphics won’t do heavy, GPU-intensive tasks, then you’re misleading your audience by complaining about results you know you’d get.

I hope you’ve gotten enough blowback in the comments of this video review to cut the crap and look at an i7 Mini with faster SSD and some RAM, 10GB Ethernet and eGPU Pro and see what happens while pulling a project down from a TB3 RAID in FCPX. Oh, wait. That wouldn’t give you grounds for posting a click-bait review of a base model Mini not giving you the performance of a $6K iMac Pro.

[MightyJabbasCollection]

I was hoping this video would answer a lot of my questions about the Mac Mini and video editing, but no such luck. I think it's obvious that the base model mini isn't a great choice for video editing, so I wanted to know how the higher-end CPU configs would work beyond "they will be somewhat better." And I think a lot of people are more interested in how these machines run Final Cut rather than Premiere.

[ryuworks]

I don't think that "the rest of us" edits video for work on a daily basis. This guy belongs in a niche, not "the rest of us"

[ConnorGriffinMusic]

Everyone keeps reviewing the base model mini...if this is geared towards pros more people are probably going to opt for the i5 and i7...I wish we could get a review of the performance of the 6-core models!

[mangoldm]

Did this guy just roll out of bed, eat a box of Krispy Kremes, then paw that once-beautiful aluminum finish into fingerprint hell?

[AK-IT]

Interested to see video editing performance with an eGPU.

[riggity]

This is NOTHING like the i7 6 core 3.2GHz (4.6 GHz turbo) model I got, with Amazon purchased, self installed 64GB RAM... 512GB SSD drive with an external 1TB SSD drive. How you gonna get the bottom of the line Mac Mini, then burn on the product? I don't game...well....because I have a life, married, and work 50+ hours a week (plus I get anxiety when people are shooting at me, haha) . Photography is what I hobby the most (mild video editing), which makes this perfect for me and my 32" 4K monitor... I'm so tired of people comparing this product to gaming (not you, just in general), but you can't say it's not capable of video editing when you're comparing it to the lesser model. Before today's technology, i was able to edit 4K videos with lesser hardware (struggling, but was able to do it). To bring up an i3 and say this unit can't hang is stupid, because there are models up to an i7 6 core at the time.... ahhh, youtube can drive you nuts, I appreciate your time, though. Cheers

[smilebot]

people who make videos always make the mistake of focusing on and judging a machine using their workflow. i use the i7 mini for development and it smokes.

[xmaverickhunterkx]

I will never understand why people choose to use Premiere knowing it's just much slower than FCPX

Anyway, IIRC you failed to mention you can use an eGPU, and you say it underperforms? dude, you know nothing about computers. You're literally just talking about the GPU all the time.

[TimVanDijck]

I think it's a tiny bit ignorant thinking that the Mac Mini is intended for heavy video editing without an eGPU. The Mac Mini is a platform, if you need graphic power: buy an eGPU, if you need tons of storage: get some TB3 storage, ...

[joseabraham]

Im thinking on buying the mini for 4k editing in FinalCut (I can't afford an iMac)