Apple Mac Mini Desktop Intel Core i5 2.5GHz (MD387LL/A), 16GB Memory, 512GB Solid State Drive AMD Radeon HD 6630M graphics with 256 MB of dedicated GDDR5 memory

[larryc80985405]

I m on a budget and was wondering would this Mini mac be ok to edit 4k video using Premiere Pro CC?  It has AMD Radeon HD 6630M graphics with 256 MB of dedicated GDDR5 memory.   I also own a Mac Pro with 8Gb ram the 2017 model , but only 128gb SSD hd drive.  Thanks for any help , Larry

[RjL190365]

Not a good choice at all since that machine is now almost seven years old, and that i5 CPU itself has only two physical cores. Plus, the GPU is now no longer supported at all in newer versions of Premiere Pro CC, so that you'd be permanently stuck in the glacially slow software-only rendering mode. And the Mac Mini has never been updated at all since that Ivy Bridge generation of 2012, IIRC.

[larryc80985405]

thank you , thats what I needed to know.....Do you know of any machines that would be around $700 , laptop or desktop that would be better to edit 4k , I dont mind buying refurbished either. 

[RjL190365]

For 4k work you will need to double or triple that budget - roughly $1500 to $2000 - just to edit comfortably at all at that resolution. A $700 machine, no matter what age, can only comfortably handle 720p at best.

And this is because of the lack of a truly competitive CPU offering from AMD for many years, and Intel was not motivated to improve performance significantly while keeping prices to a minimum. As a result, the bang for the buck in CPUs has not gotten better, and in some cases actually worse, than it was a few years ago.

And because of this stagnance on the part of CPU manufacturers, expect to pay as much as or more money for even a six-year-old PC compared to the cost of a brand new system of comparable overall performance.