NUC vs Mac Mini - Cost Analysis

Good Lord… there goes my lifetime license, if Apple buys them out that’s a few hundred completely wasted.

Not sure Apple acquiring Roon is an idea I’d let sway a hardware purchase. Nor the generic musings of a chat bot for that matter…

I’ve been a Windows user since 1995. But a few years ago, apart from gaming, I’ve switched to Apple.

I love how my 2 MacBooks, my iPhone and my brand new iPad work together. And how stable Roon runs on them. My Core itself runs on a Lenovo laptop (8th gen quad core i7 with 16 gb of RAM and 1 tb SSD). It’s running on Linux.

But Apple buying Roon is not something I’d like to see happening. Apple Music integration into Roon? Sure, but that’s it.

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was the chat bot wrong?

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Not wrong, but look at the question you asked:

It did exactly what you asked but you seeded the question with the answer you wanted. Don’t get too carried away with the idea that there’s genuine intelligence there. This is an old but gold take on question setting:

Edit In many ways you simply spoke into the ultimate echo chamber :wink:

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Mac v. Windows v. Linux has always been political. I’m an IT pro (ex. CTO) and campaigned vigorously against Macs in corporate environments for 10+ years…so no fanboy.

However, as I do some home recording, it’s a no brainer. Logic Pro is fantastic and great value for money. So I go for a pretty stock M1 mini. It has been flawless…it yawns when Roon is running and I can record multiple 24/192k tracks without having to shut anything else (inc. Roon) down.

For personal use, the Mac ecosystem…call it a walled garden if you like, I agree…is peerless. I continue to manage Windows for work but frankly you need heftier hardware to get comparable performance. If you want actual control of your environment only Linux provides it (and I use and like Linux a lot).

My $0.02. Get yourself a Mac mini…M1 or M2…doesn’t matter. The Apple silicon is great.

Steve

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But it still wasn’t wrong those are all facts, Roon on a mac is a better option, I’ve tried them all and the place where it just works without all the technical bs is the Mac. And Roon on a MacMini with M2 even better. The fact of the matter is the Mac Mini beats the NUC in almost every category. MacOS makes the experience pleasant. You can ask Chat GPT the questions in any order and it’s still going to be correct and tell you the mac is a better option. And that is just a fact, maybe it might not be better for you, but on paper and from the experience the majority of people have with Macs is, they just work well without getting to much in the way. Give me your fastest NUC and your fastest Nucleus the M2 is running circles a hundred times around those.

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I do not know if it is only about speed.

In using roon server there is performance but I would not say experience.
I think the experience is in the remote.

I never had a NUC or Windows. Just the m1 mini. It works speed is ok. No maintenance just a restart at 5 or 7 days. But when Apple updates the os I need 40 minutes, maybe I am overdoing it. I need to backup database, stop roon (quit), time machine the mini, after that update. But I have seen os updates problems on roon so I want to be able to roll back.

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I’m not sure where to start. Those aren’t “the facts”, just an argument to back up your statement. Do a thought experiment, what if you asked ChatGPT to tell you “Why Barcelona is the best football team on the planet”, then ask the same about Real Madrid? You’ll find it quite comfortable with extreme “doublethink” when in truth it’s “nothink”.

I doubt that’s true, there are many ways of skinning the Roon Core cat, and what’s technical ■■ for one may be trivial/desirable for somebody else.

I can assure you that’s not a universally accepted truth :joy:

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You cant compare teams with variables based off human performance that is a terrible analogy.
I understand that some of those options might be trivial and desirable. I made my conclusion from a consumer stand point. What would be the easiest and best Roon experience and it turns out the Mac was it. I have a heavy linux and Windows background so I have built my Roon experience off all the platforms available, I wanted to try them all and see what is best. And the MacOS experience is by far the best. And I know many feel the same and will once they try it. You can have a nucleus but what I can do with Linux and MacOS is way ahead of anything else. I need complete control of my OS and I seem to get that with Linux and MacOS. And MacOS has such great built in support for everything I need that I don’t bother to think about it. I just know that no matter time or place I launch Roon or Arc and it just always works and works well.

It’s not a terrible analogy when you’re resorting to authority via ChatBot. My point, if you’d bothered to try to understand it, is that the “oracle” you’re referring to has no opinions and isn’t in possession of any ultimate truths. You phrased a leading question and then seem to accept the results as a universal truth that’s not open to question. What you have is a reflection of your own bias backed up by a sampling of the collective “wisdom” of the internet. The post following yours asked a far better question and received a far less strident answer, surprised?

I can understand why it appeals to you.

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No the Chat bot stuff is not what I’m basing it off at all. like I said above pure experience, I just so happen to agree with ChatGPT.

Hi Chris
I had the very same considerations a while ago. I bought a Mac mini M2 Pro. I use I for other purposes as well along with a MacBook.
I can say that it works perfectly as “music Server” in my home and with the new Roon Arc, which is a very nice addition to the whole setup.
That being said, I find it strange why such a small and insignificant product as a NUC compared to a Mac mini, is so expensive. The whole idea, as far as I can see, should be that it is a smart and cheap solution to the problem.

Best
Claus

I guess a MacMini is better (visually) if you’re planning to attach it directly to your amp or DAC via USB and hence have it on permanently display.

You don’t need an i7 nuc i5 will do

And yet you’ve still posted more chat bot speak than your own thoughts? I’m all for hearing about your experience of different platforms and what you see as their strengths and weaknesses. What’s your thoughts on running Roon in virtualised/containerised environments? Why did you decide ROCK wasn’t for you? No asking the computer now :wink:

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I use a Mac mini with external SSD for my music store. I also have blu os connected and it needs permissions etc. I may be a bit thick now but my Mac mini won’t shut down daily as blu os is using it so I have to manually shut it down for updates. As it’s downstairs and I’m usually upstairs when I discover ROON won’t play as it needs an update it can be a pain in the ar5e. So no, it’s not perfect for me.

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Can’t you use another comp just to restart the downstairs mini?
Roon doesn’t play if needs updates? Now it might be blu os related. In 1 year I touched the mini about 3 times. (update from Mojave to Ventura I think was one). But updates are one annoying thing on having core on apple.

I don’t have another comp. I could turn off automatic updates I guess as my iPad and phone update so they are out of sync with my computer. If I turned off the auto updates I would probably still be on the first build though….

I don’t know on mobile devices but when a new roon is available I get notification on the remote (iMac) screen. But 100% that takes time and it is better on automatic

I get it, all have to be on the same version.

I never used an iPad (or tablet) but I know there is something like sidecar - to use the iPad as screen for another apple computer. So you can control your mini from iPad