Shane has a 2014 Trashcan Mac Pro and he's having trouble uploading his raw photo files. Would the new Mac Mini handle them, or should he bite the bullet and get the new cheesegrater this fall? Leo says that the new Mac Mini is a great computer and he can max it out for a great price. Leo also says that he will likely slow down the computer when he uses extra cores during rendering. So it's difficult to gauge the specs.
Jeff has reached the end of the line on his iMac since it won't work with updates anymore. So he's looking at buying a new Mac. Should he get an iMac or a Mac Mini? Leo says that he's a real fan of the new Mac Mini because it has a ton of connectors, including Thunderbolt 3, so he can run an external GPU if he wants. He can also upgrade the RAM. He can save some money and get his own screen, keyboard, and mouse. He can also get a better webcam or connect a video camera to do streaming.
Richard is in the market for a low priced laptop for $300-500. Leo says that SSDs are much faster and more reliable, but they are more expensive. Laptops with spinning drives are going to be cheaper and have more space than an SSD drive laptop. But sometimes they don't use an SSD, they use EMMC memory - the same memory on phones, so avoid that. It really comes down to how much data you want to store on it and what your needs are. Leo likes Thinkpads by Lenovo though as they're more though. For budget laptops, HP and Asus are good options as well to look into.
Jerry is looking to get a new computer and wants to know if the new Mac Mini is good for occasional video editing and sound recording. Rich says that the Mac Mini was thought dead, but the new version has had a bump in specs. Pretty much any computer will work for editing basic video for the internet. But 4K video is going to require more power. For $800, the basic Mac Mini really isn't up to the task. Rich recommends maxing out the RAM and hard drive if the budget allows. But remember, that the Mac Mini also requires one to buy a monitor. keyboard, and mouse.
Andy is thinking about getting into day trading. What does Leo think? Leo says to read FLASHBOYS. Trading is now an automated, high volume business, and trades are happening in milliseconds, often before anyone at the NYSE knows what's happening. That is the competition. And it's really easy to lose a shirt in day trading, as you get leveraged buying stock on margin.
He'll need a very powerful computer, but any laptop can do basic day trading. It's quite an investment. He'll also need software and a subscription to wall street's feed.
Dennis is looking to get a new computer and wants to know if he can get one without a hard drive. He's got two 8TB SATA drives ready to go, plus an SSD. Leo says that any tower case will have room for multiple drives. He'll need one fast enough to do video editing.
Leo recommends going to Dell. Dennis should return his SSD and get it with the SSD built-in to save himself the time installing it. He could go cheaper, but since Dennis does this for a living, it's worth paying a little extra for a top of the line model.
Cheryl wants to get her grandfather a Chromebook. Could she connect it to a monitor? Leo says she can get a Chromebox, which is just a desktop version of the Chromebook. Then she can connect a screen, keyboard, and mouse. They are far more secure, and easier to use. Asus makes them starting at around $200. The Chromebox 3 will also support using two monitors. And they are small enough that they can be mounted on the back of the monitor, so it's almost like an iMac.
Ken is starting his own accountant firm and wants to know what computer would be best for accounting. Leo says that the current trend is to use online bookkeeping, and what operating system he uses really doesn't matter. Having said that, he can save a lot of money with a Windows machine. Dell makes a great, professional platform. The Lenovo ThinkPad is also a good option. There is a ThinkPad with a number pad, too, which is ideal for data entry.
Mel wants to buy his grandson a new computer. He wants to spend around $400 or less. Leo would recommend a Chromebook for that price. There are Windows machines in that price range, but they're not very good. A Chromebook will give him more bang for his buck and it's really secure. But he won't be doing any gaming on it. Most school work is done on them, so it makes for a good school computer. Leo likes the Chromebook Pro, but the Chromebook Plus is also good.
Tara is looking to pick up a laptop for Black Friday with a budget of $300 to $450. Leo says that price point is so low, that she's likely going to end up with an i3 processor. But for most things she'll do, it's probably good enough. One thing that she can consider is a Chromebook. It has an i5, but it runs through a browser. She won't have access to apps like Microsoft Office, but Google Docs will work just fine. It's very secure, too.
