Buying my first Mac

[A Former User]

Hello :) I'm about to grab a Mac Mini but I have basically 0 experience on MacOS so I have some questions.

• Do I have to get an Intel processor? Or do the M1 ones work now?
• Are there any specific OS versions to avoid? I keep seeing the words Rosetta and Big Sur pop up (why do they use names instead of just Version X...)
• Do I need to know anything else before committing to the buy? Any versions or something else to avoid clashing with HISE?

Thanks in advance :)

[DanH]

@iamlamprey Are you buying a new one? New ones will come with the latest OS installed and I doubt its been well tested with HISE or pugins in general yet.

[A Former User]

@danh I was planning on getting a new one because I generally don't like buying second hand electronics. Is there no way to rollback an OS on Mac?

[d.healey]

If your main purpose is building HISE projects I suggest getting a 2018 Intel Mac Mini and dual booting with Windows (or triple booting with GNU/Linux). An Intel system can use IPP and build for M1. You won't be able to test M1 builds though.

You can buy new older Mac Minis on Ebay. This is the one that I bought, but I recommend you get one with a larger SSD because I didn't know at the time that they can't be upgraded.

[DanH]

@iamlamprey Rolling back is not impossible but tricky... At least with Intel. I suspect M1 can't be rolled back beyond Big Sur

[A Former User]

So something like this is probably the one to grab?

[ustk]

Interesting experience about IPP + M1:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/68098717/errors-building-ipp-2021-app-with-9-0-legacy-on-mac-mini-2020-m1

[d.healey]

@iamlamprey said in Buying my first Mac:

So something like this is probably the one to grab?

That one's used and is an i5. More cores is better so if you can find an i7 that would be good, but if you're not going to be using it much then go for the cheapest option.

[A Former User]

Yeh I'll just be using it to compile, all development is done on my main PC anyway cause Mac is gross

Thanks everyone :)

[d.healey]

@iamlamprey said in Buying my first Mac:

cause Mac is gross

You might also want to get a KVM device so you don't need two sets of peripherals and can quickly switch between computers.

[orange]

@ustk said in Buying my first Mac:

Interesting experience about IPP + M1:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/68098717/errors-building-ipp-2021-app-with-9-0-legacy-on-mac-mini-2020-m1

So is using IPP possible on M1 mac?

[orange]

@iamlamprey said in Buying my first Mac:

So something like this is probably the one to grab?

256 GB SSD is pretty low, at least 1 TB would be better. You can upgrade only RAM on these 2018 models, upgrading SSD is not possible. So choose your need at the begining.

I assume you'll need to install forthcoming mac operating systems also, not for compiling but to test your plugins.

[d.healey]

@orange An external drive is cheaper

[orange]

@d-healey said in Buying my first Mac:

@orange An external drive is cheaper

For storage it can be.

But let's say this drive will have Catalina, Big Sur, Monterey and other future macOS releases in different partitions of the same disk, each one will require minimum 100 GB. Besides, booting an operating system from an external drive will be very slow.

[d.healey]

@orange said in Buying my first Mac:

each one will require minimum 100 GB.

I only have a 128GB drive with Big Sur and xcode and I still have about 40GB free.

Besides, booting an operating system from an external drive will be very slow.

USB3 SSDs are fast enough. I'm booting Windows 10 and Linux Mint from one.

[Dan Korneff]

Going to try a type 1 hypervisor for Mac virtualization soon.
https://youtu.be/lztH7BUxIoM?t=1012

This would allow me to run Catalina, Big Sur and Monterey on the same box... simultaneously. with near native performance.

If it works with HISE, I'll post some details.

[DanH]

@d-healey

You might also want to get a KVM device so you don't need two sets of peripherals and can quickly switch between computers.

What do you use?

[d.healey]

@danh https://www.patreon.com/posts/triple-booting-27300608

For the USB I have a USB switch thing - https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-Sharing-Keyboard-Scanner-Printer-Black/dp/B01N6GD9JO/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=usb+switch&qid=1636136010&sr=8-3

And for the screen I plug both systems into one monitor and use the monitor controls to switch between them.

[A Former User]

@dustbro Yes please keep us updated :)