On that subject, did your puppy perk up when she heard her name mentioned on the TV?
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The show is so good I’m practically running out the door from work on Friday
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You guys aren’t making this any easier.
I have a 2012 MacBook Pro that I manage to keep limping along but when I have apps like Devonthink, Photos, mail, pathfinder and a browser open even with 16 GB of memory it starts to drag/crash.
I do believe the part of the problem is my OWC 2 terabyte drive. It works pretty well most of the time but whenever my machine does crash there’s a pointer to storage.
The lesson I took away from this is that, unfortunately, you have to max out your Mac purchase because there’s no upgradeability.
For me the case for the Mac mini is that it does have more ports and it’s about $700-1000 less.
That’s configured both systems with 16 GB of memory and a 2 TB drive.
One interesting note is that Applecare plus is $90 on the Mac mini and $250 on MBP. That makes for a big difference. I am basing this on education pricing.
On the Mac Mini I would be running one Thunderbolt three port to the 16 TB ThunderBay 4 Raid Drive it is nice that it has 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports in the back. The other Thunberbolt with an adapter to my Thunderbolt 2 hub until I can afford upgrade that.
I have plenty of storage and so I do just wonder about saving some money and only getting a 1 TB internal drive, but there’s that issue about never being able to upgrade and I do wonder just what the performance difference would be in editing photos videos videos off the Raid drive versus the internal Drive.
Does anybody have any ideas about the difference in I/O performance of an internal Mac SSD versus a Thunderbolt three connection to a 4 disk Raid 5 drive. Would I be able to notice the difference?
Things you learn by doing, I do just want to mention that the ThunderBay 4 Drive does throw off some heat. So much so that I had to get some fans for my office. 
I am using a 55 inch Vizio TV as a monitor at 5K and I’m hoping the mini HDMI port can handle that I’ll have to check.
The items that make me want to buy the MacBook Pro seem pretty trivial but I think I would enjoy them every day.
I’ve heard that the microphones are pretty good and as I do a lot of voice dictation, and AirPods just don’t stay in my ears, the thought of just be able to talk to your notebook, if it works, is so appealing.
David, do you have any input?
I have a fingerprint reader on my PC and I long to have the ability to login by just pressing my finger on my Mac.
Does anyone know if there’s a way to set up the Mac mini to have that capability? I briefly looked at the Yubico but it seemed to me if you lost your key you were screwed.
I also don’t know if it works with the latest mac security enclave.
Of course the last item is portability, it would be nice to be in the living room comfy chair while organizing your photos or dictating on your fastest system.
Of course as I’m keeping my 2012 MacBook Pro I suppose could remote desktop into the Mac mini and do it there but it probably would be slower.
Of course I could wait five months and get the new iPad and just do it there. 
While not an insignificant amount of money, a thousand dollars won’t really change my lifestyle, especially seeing how I’m no longer going out to dinner during this pandemic. Of course during these times who needs portability.
I am looking at doing recorded web interviews and I just wonder if I could get by with the internal microphones so that I could avoid the Altec microphone in the picture look. Good audio quality is about most importance so I probably should use the best microphones available.
If they are the same as a 16 inch MBP speakers could someone who has a 16 in Mac weigh in about the quality of the mics.
All that said I’m just as conflicted as I was at the start of this note. One could make a case to get the more inexpensive Mac mini and wait for the killer MacBook Pro to come out next year.
The Mac mini with then serve to run some jobs and turn my Thunderbolt Drive into a NAS.
On the other hand I would miss out on the enjoyment I sitting sitting in the comfy chair was just my Mac and no need for a bunch of extra cables and setting up Bluetooth dictating my book that I’ve been dying to publish.
Maybe next year when my daughter is back to school in high school 10th grade that MacBook Pro might become hers, but as an artist she might prefer the iPad.
I need someone to push me one way or the other.
Mac Mini or MacBook Pro.
Hurry, I have a need to spend some money. To quote a famous “Journey?” song from my youth, “I’ve been waiting such a long time”
New toys always help keep your mind off of fact that you are quarantined.
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I just want Sidecar to work again. It was practically the only reason I upgraded to Catalina & now it’s gone
I just tested it (2019 MacBook Air, 2018 11" iPad Pro, both running the latest OSs) and it’s working for me. That doesn’t help you much but at least it might help to know that it’s not something systemically broken in Big Sur
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I wait till v.2 of most things, but my new MBAir is arriving tomorrow, to replace a 2012 Air. Got a new iMac last fall, so I can afford to wrestle with what I hope may be minor probs on my second machine.
Personally, been considering trading in my 16" that I only have because it was the first available machine without a butterfly keyboard, for this this Air that is the first fast Apple laptop in a long time without the abominable TouchBar.
How much do you want for it. Might be able to match trade in value
