BimCloud Basic on a Mac Mini 2018

[zofa groningen]

I'm considering buying a Mac Mini 2018 to become our new Bim Cloud Basic server.
Right now we have a Mac Pro 2008 with Mac OS 10.11.6, 8 GB RAM and a SSD drive as Bim Cloud Basic server. Requirements are marked as 'Compatible, but not tested Operating Systems'. I'm afraid next year the machine wil not be compatible anymore.

Does anyone have any experience with the new Mac Mini 2018?
Should the i3 (4-core) and 16 GB RAM be sufficient? (4 users) or the i5 or i7 (both 6-core).

[Anonymous]

I haven’t experience with new Mac mini but I would buy 6 core i7 with maxed out RAM and a fast thunderbolt external RAID array for storage of files.
Any lack of performance will affect all the connected users and productivity loss costs multiplied

Regards,
Scott

[Graham Whipple]

@zofa, @scott
I am curious whether you are now using the 2018 Mac Mini for you BIMcloud Basic server. If so, what has your experience been, and what specs did you choose?

Graham

[Anonymous]

Graham
I’m not using the Mac Mini I was just suggesting not skimping on hardware that will have an impact on all users, saving a thousand dollars on the server could cost you tens or hundreds of thousands in lost productivity over the life of the server

Scott

[Mate Marozsan]

Hi,

I'm Máté Marozsán from the GRAPHISOFT and we don't have too many experiences with the new Mac Mini yet, but based on the reviews and the available hardware options it can be a good solution.
But I would like to encourage you to take into consideration that your team might grow by time and the hardware you pick won't be enough. It is important to know because upgrading the the Mac Mini is quite limited (especially within the warranty period).

Mac Mini 2018 recommendation: If the Manager and the Server is installed on the same computer then choose a 6 core processors (i5 6 core 3.0 Ghz, i7 6 core 3.2 Ghz).
The RAM need always depends on the number of the active users, projects and the size of the projects. In general our recommendation is minimum 16-32 Gb RAM. To have a proper value we have a calculation method that worth checking. Check the size of the active projects on the Manager UI and use the following (example project sizes are 3 GB and 4 GB): 1,5*(3GB+4GB)+2GB=12,5 GB. In this case regarding the need of the running applications and the OS: 16 GB is a minimum.

You can find more details about these calculations and recommendations below:
https://helpcenter.graphisoft.com/knowledgebase/64444/

But if the studio or the size of the projects grow potentially the consider the 32 or 64 GB option to have the performance that won't cause you issues in the future.
In this case considering the price of the Mac Mini with 64 GB of RAM, a powerful PC might be a better (less expensive) option.

I hope it can help you!

Kind regards, Máté