SpiceWare's Blog

So I'll most likely get the 6TB drive and keep the Red Pro in mind as I plan to get a second Drobo to connect to whatever I end up replacing my 2008 MacBook Pro with. I'd love it to be the new Mac Pro, but it'll most likely be a 2014 Mac mini.

 

Don't need the portability of the MBP anymore? I just went the opposite way from a 2012 mini to a 2014 rMBP and so far, I am very pleased with it. Even with the small bump decrease in specs from the mini (2.5GHz i7 vs 2.6GHz i7), it's still a bit faster for some of the stuff I do.

 

Plus, unlike the mini, it can reasonably drive a 27" Thunderbolt display without being pushed to the edge. Of course, we'll have to see what Apple finally does with the Mini this year (next year?) to see how it does. I have a suspicion that until Broadwell chips start hitting the market, Apple might not update the mini.

I don't recall the last time my MBP was used as a portable. My iPad works well enough for the few times I travel.

 

If I still used my old desk I'd probably seriously consider a rMBP as I was using the built in screen as the second display. Now that I have the treadmill desk, the MBP stays in clamshell mode (lid closed), so the retina display would just be wasted.

 

I have two 1080p monitors on my treadmill desk, the mini should handle them just fine. I'd love to get 4K monitors, but don't foresee that happening for another year or two.

 

You can see the MBP in clamshell mode as well as both monitors in the first photo of this blog entry. I'm using a USB->DVI adaptor so the MBP can drive a second external monitor. Being USB2 It's rather sluggish, but works just fine for things like email, for things that need faster updates (like games) I just make sure they're on the first external monitor.

 

Apple had a minor slipup and referenced a mid-2014 Mac mini on one of their support pages.

http://www.macrumors.com/2014/07/29/support-page-references-unreleased-mac-mini/