It's worth updating that the issues I mention in this video (bluetooth connections, display not waking, random restarts) haven't happened since upgrading to macOS Monterey. 👍
Thank you. I am looking to downgrade my iMac to a mac mini and get an ultra-wide monitor as I need more monitor space than computer space. Your videos have allowed to stand firm in my decision. Thank you.
I did the same, base model. I experienced Bluetooth issues. I moved it to the other side of my desk...issues gone! Still get a few graphics issues, faint vertical lines, crushed blacks. But that could be the monitor.. But...I even use fusion on Davinci and its absolutely fine! I do a lot of colour correction and tracking, very very very good.
I am no expert, and did not do any calculations or anything, but: a huge variable is how well the filesystem does wear-levelling. I suspect it's probably really good at it, or else this Mac would end up being a PR disaster for apple down the road. If it moves blocks around even when they aren't written to, it will last longer. Apple's new filesystem probably does data deduplication and on-the-fly compression, which helps, too. I mean, I don't KNOW that it does, but I'd be shocked if it didn't.
As someone who’s been using the M1 Mac Mini for three years now, I have zero intention on upgrading until the software support runs out or it dies of old age.
I have the 16GB Ram with 1TB storage. While editing photos in Adobe Photoshop, with also rendering a 4k video at the same time, and playing a youtube video in the background, and while uploading a 13gb of files for a client, this MAC MINI IS A BEAST! Investing in this machine is worth it! It's not that even expensive with the power that's inside.
@@dajoremarks9137 it’s less than $2000 CAD. If you’re a digital creator, you do it for work and on a budget but still want a powerful machine, this is a must buy. I recently bought two external hard drive with 1GB write and upload speed so all my files are stored in there while I keep the iMac with very minimal files inside and keep all my files organized. I recommend the new Apple M1 chip computers.
I bought my M1 Mac Mini (with 16GB of ram) back in early May. I added a 2TB SSD to my hub. I’ve been very happy with it…best “computer” I’ve ever owned!
MacMini M1, 8GB RAM base user since 2020 running my music studio on Abelton Live and the M1/8GB has been steady and reliable. I bought Apple's pitch that 8GB was enough in the new architecture and it seems to be true. Thanks for your video.
So glad you shared about the fact that 8gb of RAM on an M1 is NOT the same was 8gb of RAM on an Intel chip. I agree with you. The just aren't the same. The ARM architecture is just soooo different. Hardest thing to convince people about. Fair and balanced as always. Don't listen to the haters - we know what's up with our base model M1 Mac Mini's! Thanks again Tom! 🤘🏼
And the video and sound cards on M1 chips r cheap that’s why they rendering fast but sometimes if u go master it u can hear distortion that was created from post production
@@bluecement No. Although macOS and other UNIX-like OS do use RAM more efficiently than Windows, you can see the difference between Intel Macs and M1 Macs. That is actually two advantages compared to an x86 Windows machine, which is what most people use.
I’ll add a fascinating detail. My wife is a Chrome tab collector and her 2015 MacBook with 16 gig screams for mercy with the fan blasting. Ran Activity Monitor and 14 gigs were in use. Kill Chrome and it drops to 5. Went to my father-in-law who has an M1 mini with 16 gigs. He uses Chrome the same way. He had the exact same memory usage, no fan, no slow down.
The biggest issue I have with M1 Mac mini is having too much expectations on M1 Mac. Because of 3rd party softwares, I used to run into crashes but all were resolved by those companies over time. No issues are left now.
It's pretty insane how good this M1 is. I was on a pretty beefy Intel MBP for a while, and I mistakenly dropped it and cracked the screen. Decided to get the Mini instead of repairing the MBP. Went with the base model thinking I'd upgrade after I finished the critical editing project I was in the middle of when I broke the MBP. Been using the Mini ever since with zero need to upgrade. I shoot on a GH5 using the Vlog profile in 10 bit 4k 4:2:2. I used to have to use proxies for my edits. I haven't used any proxies at all since the M1 Mini, and legit everything I throw at this machine is handled without hiccups, stuttering, or any issues at all. Buttery smooth! I'm super impressed with how well Apple has unified this chipset. I mean since when can you edit 10 bit 4k footage on an 8GB machine with no proxies and have it all work seamlessly? It's bananas honestly, and represents a true paradigm shift in consumer computing.
The idea of dropping a MacBook terrifies me 😱 But I'm glad it's working well for you! I've had a few people tell me that they've encountered issues with video editing, but I think I've pinpointed it to certain codecs being less compatible. I haven't had any issues with my Sony and Canon cameras, and it's good to know your Panasonic is working well too!
Going on 7months for me and I am loving it. Im mostly using it for my school and programming and so far it’s holding up so well. 8Gb and 256Gb is enough for me so far
I’m an educator as well. I bought this base model mainly to use this for teaching online. How do I keep the hard drive from getting full. Yes I have an external hard drive. Can I keep all Ecamm Live files on the external hard drive?
I’ve been using the baseline M1 Mac Mini as my main computer for editing, photoshop and some light streaming for about 4-5 months now and I love it. I don’t edit 4K footage yet so 1080p has been absolutely no problem but the only issue I run into is hard drive space. Even so it’s an issue I could easily solve by just getting an external drive from Amazon which I really should do.
You really should I have so many t5 and t7 ssd a rocket nano in an external enclosure you have options just find what's in your budget and working off the drive is a game changer as well.love my m1
Get a Satechi hub - it'll give you an SSD enclosure, plus USB ports, plus an SD card slot ... all without taking up even an extra inch of desk space. It's a genius addition to the Mini.
Thank you for the balanced look, and the longer-term review! This really does seem like a revolutionary value, despite the problems you brought up. I've been dealing with an ancient 11 year old PC that has numerous pretty serious problems with it, and have felt stuck for a while because any PC prebuilt in my $700-max budget is liable to be junk. I've seen how badly big companies like Dell screw family members over with low-quality parts and systems that turn into potatoes after a year or so, and my own experience with smaller prebuilt companies hasn't been great(my current PC was a gaming prebuilt whose wifi card simply never worked and customer support was nonexistent, so I have it plugged into a 30ft ethernet cable). Just grabbing a basic Mac Mini seems like such a perfect, easy, reliable solution given the price-point of a refurbished model is *well* within my budget.
It's really easy to recommend the basic Mini, especially for anyone who already has a monitor/keyboard/mouse setup. Mine is still going super strong, and I haven't had any of the issues I mentioned here since upgrading to the most recent version of MacOS (I'll keep my fingers crossed, but it's been 4+ months of things working smoothly).
I bought one 2 weeks ago. I got the basic 8gb model but with the 512gb SSD and I absolutely love and don't regret for a second. highly recommend. Beats the crap out of any PCs out there
The change of mindset from Intel to ARM is the greatest challenge for most people. Tell them that "It's Different" and they get mad. It's okay, you can go ahead and spend thousands on your Intel machine, I'm doing fine with my 8GB M1 MacMini! Overall, it's a great machine that's performed well since I got mine in Jan 2021. I run livestreams, edit photos, edit videos and more on the machine and it's worked smoothly. Like you, I mounted mine under the desk but I turned the back facing front so I have easy access to all the ports - to be honest, the MM no longer has an infrared transmitter on the front (like my 2011 MM), so there's more practicality to be had this way - and I didn't have to spring for the specialized hub! I get the monitor on wakeup issue from time to time and it's always with the monitor plugged into the Thunderbolt port. The monitor on the HDMI port never has wakeup issues (I'm running two 27" monitors from MSi and Dell). Thanks for the video!
Sounds like you have a similar experience to me. I don’t really understand why many people almost refuse to believe a less expensive computer can be powerful 🤷🏻♂️
On the SSD issue. You cannot compare these to a previous experience of rotational drives. SSD's have no moving parts and run cool, whereas rotational HDDs have constantly moving mechanical parts with heat, wear and they don't like vibration / being jarred. Apple tended to ship low speed (5400 rpm) HDDs back in the day with a 5 year shelf life although I have had them in G4's / G5's lasting 10 years. SSD's (and the 'controller less' chips used in M1 Macs) are not going to 'wear' in this way at all although depending on their quality of build and internal components they can still fail over time. By the time SSDs began to be used as internal drives (capacity large enough / price low enough) they had already been in the wild for two decades so at this point they are well understood and generally reliable. Which is not to say they might not have a programmed obsolescence which is increasingly apparent to anyone who had a Panasonic TV in the 70s (still working 40 years later). TBH I still backup to rotational drives and use SSDs for the boot OS and any fast data situation like video. The main reason for this is that almost always a rotational drive will give indications of forthcoming failure (there are tools to test them deeply and auto notify developing issues) whereas if an SSD fails, there is no recovery possible. I think it is a mistake for anyone to rely on an SSD inside a Mac exclusively (whether or not the system is using it for performance / cache) and it should be default to buy an external drive at the point of the M1 purchase for use with an automated backup software (like TimeMachine).
@8:55 regarding SSD swap, this was a known issue that for some users caused excessive amounts of data being written to the disk. This has been fixed and is not relevant anymore
Got my mac mini last week at Costco with $120 off. I got the one 512 Gbs SSD clock speed 3,500 MB/s, I had iMac 2015, It's a big game-changing. Also added Qwiizlab USB-C Stand Hub with SSD Enclosure, add this on the hub $84 Western Digital 1TB WD Blue SN550 NVMe Internal SSD speed up 670 MB/s, $85 Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD speed up 360 MB/s. Thanks, Tom, keep up the good work.
Thanks Tom, You are a natural in front of the camera. I was a professional video tape (yes tape) on line editor for 12 years and now non-linear systems. Thinking about getting a Mini M1 for audio recording and video editing. Thanks again! Tod in Vegas
Thanks Tod! I appreciate the kind words! I also started at a local TV station with tape-to-tape systems and left right around the time they brought in the very first AVID machines. I definitely don't miss tapes 😁
@@tombuck Tom, I miss it just because 2" and 1" type C was such a part of my life. 3/4" cassette, Betacam then Betacam digital. I never thought it would all wind up on the junk pile of history! Joke was on me. Now? Never go back of course but fondness still flounders. Great channel by the way, looking forward to catching up on your goings on. I'm a new subscriber :) Tod in Vegas
I watched that video where he opened up a bunch of apps and everything was great but I got it with only 8GB's and just my browser ate up 4 to 6 GB's and I got warnings of running low on memory several times now. So... anyone considering getting this I highly recommend you get the 16GB's. I've also had that keyboard lag issue. I'm giving mine to my mom.
I have one, and was really looking forward to the Mini having the new M1 Pro or Max available this fall so I could get a second one, but it looks like we'll have to wait another year,.
On the subject of RAM - I would argue that while 8GB might work well, this is achieved by paging out to the SSD - a lot. As this part is not replaceable, I would want as much RAM as possible to minimise this. I understand the latest OS revisions try to minimise paging to SSD but if you open a lot of stuff it must be taking place.
Pretty much every PRO / AM user who has tried both Mac Minis has concluded get the 16GB. If you are only running it domestically for web surfing, email, Word etc then 8 will be adequate but I agree with you, get the 16 if running multiple heavy apps at once. TBH this has always been a thing - we had to cache Photoshop to the hard drive for years, to the point I would put in an exclusive drive (or at least a partition) in my Macs for Adobe cache use exclusively. More ram is generally better and although the M1 is changing how we view this, the Pro models still have... you guessed it, more ram.
yeah that is why I find the option of a M2 with 24GB RAM way more interesting than my current 8GB M1 Air... it's a wonderful machine but it definetly needs MORE RAM for my needs and it shows big time when you run out of RAM.
I'm currently watching this on an M1 Mac Mini, but I have the 16GB RAM/1TB HDD model. I had the base 8GB/256GB model before that and just wanted more space, and I got it refurb, so I basically thought of it as getting a RAM upgrade for free. I really, really, really love this computer. Last year, I was on a 27" iMac, and honestly, it's been weird going an entire summer working from home and never having a loud space heater on my desk. The only thing I've noticed is that if you use external HDD often is that if you keep your computer on all the time, turn off the "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" option in Energy Saver because if you do allow for that, sometimes your external drives don't wake up properly and your OS might crash. Since it uses less energy than any other computer in its performance class, I figure that I can spare the couple watts from keeping the hard drives from sleeping. Am I going to keep this thing forever? I can't predict the future. What I do know is that I would only replace it as my primary desktop with another Apple Silicon machine, maybe an iMac. Even if I replace it as my primary desktop, it could be useful as a secondary desktop or server.
I bought an M1 Mini earlier this year, rather than wait for another iMac. I really don't regret it. it's blown me away with performance. Just the odd issue, but nothing too serious (Music library kept disapearing and wifi kept dropping off at sleep). Both issues are sorted.
Hello Jake, regarding the Music library issue: (I assume it was Apple-music) could u explain both issue and remedy! I’m thinking of buying this to replace my old MacBook Pro strictly for audio file music. Thx. Mike.
@@mikeeygauthier2959 The library kept disappearing from view on launch. It was like Music could not recognize the music in the library. My solution was as simple as moving everything to a different (slightly newer) external HDD. No issues for about 2 months now. The old HDD is fine for everything else and not that old/full, but Music just didn't seem to like it. Who knows, it could have been a S/W update that fixed it, but probably not. I use Traktor and the M1 is great with it - on Big Sur and I didn't think it would be. Ableton 10 is fine too. I'm so impressed I might shell out for a new 15/16 M1 MBP when it comes out, even though my 2015 model runs OK.
Have a base MacBook Air m1. Never restarted, never disconnect a Bluetooth gadget. Do t know about monitors cause I only use universal control with a external iPad Pro 12”9. Best computer i ever had
@@muslihatkedua7422 Maybe not the current $6k plus intel model (2019?), but it handily beats any model before it. And the new MacBook Pros take it to another level.
I agree! The M1 mini is a solid little machine! The updates to MacOS and FCP have made it even better, though I'm still experiencing the same flickering with the older XF-AVC codec from the C200. Newer cameras and codecs are much better suited to the M1s. The under desk set up! NICE! Great follow up Tom!
I referenced your C200 experience to someone else here in the comments. I've been pretty happy with how it handles the Sony stuff, even 10 bit overall.
Happy the Mini is still working well! I also got the 8gb M1, but with 512gb just because I know most of the software I use (Logic, Ableton Live etc) likes to run on the primary. I came from a 2012 MBP unibody, so performance wise I was obviously pretty impressed! :) Managed to run 200 tracks in Logic with a bunch of plug ins on each before I heard the fan, but that’s extreme. I haven’t got a hub yet, but my monitor is an old Thunderbolt Display with the basic USB 2 ports on the back, so I’m good for random USB stuff through that, the external SSD is on the other thunderbolt port (a little Fledging SSD enclosure with a WD SN750 2tb NVMe M.2 in it for all my libraries and music and video etc. and it’s ridiculously fast), and time machine is through the regular USB port in the back to a regular HDD. Btw haven’t had any sleep issues as I just power mine down :)
I have had SSD's when they first came out. They are still working fine. You just save the content that you create to a backup device whatever you choose and if it does fail no problem. If the computer is still on warranty then get it replaced. More ram memory less swapping with the SSD drive. 16gb minimum ram memory and 1gb storage at least. Then it is pretty much future proof. Intel Mac Mini 2018 I5 6 core with 64gb of DDR4 2666 memory and a 256gb storage is no problem. Running 5 cameras with Ecamm Live software. That is because I bought it from Best Buy with the basic configuration then added the memory later. I used my 2017 IMac more until it was freezing up on games and programs that I started to make this Mac Mini my main computer. Yes I have powerful Pc's but I enjoy the Mini better.
Yep, definitely important to have a good backup solution and then things should be ok. I've had spinning hard drives fail, but so far Ii've had great luck with SSD's.
I was coming off an ailing windows 10 platform and the Mac mini M1 was the logical step. I did spring for 16gb, but I'm learning not only how a Mac works, but Logic Pro and Davinci Resolve. Never would have been able to get there had it not been for the M1 chip.
speaking from video editing & motion graphic perspective: anyone who has to ask if the base model M1 is enough for video editting, then yes it is enough for you. someone that uses it regularly most likely wont ask this as they know it wont be handle it - even with 16gb. this is my personal experience with the M1 16gb
I ordered my m1 mini on November 2020, been using it daily since then. It’s an excellent computer! It can handle live-streaming 1 or 2 video outputs with 2 other applications running in the background with no problem. But if I try to livestream 3 video outputs it starts to drop frames. I wish the mini had more USB ports, but that’s what usb hubs are for! I’ll probably buy a Mac studio and give this system to my kids.
It's been an absolute workhorse for me (I'm typing this on it right now). Even after getting my M1 Max MacBook, the Mini still handles all of my streaming and video calls. It also seems like it's been more reliable since upgrading to Monterey. 👍
Tom! Your videos are great, easy to digest, full of details, and much more accessible to folks that are media/content creators. But they make me spend a ton of money! But they also save me a lot of money by giving me expert advice on what to buy instead of me have to try out all this equipment on my own. Great job!
I agree with you 100% Tom. Same here, was using 1080 & 4K off and on, and upscaling 1080, but when I purchased the Sony FX3, then I started having the same problem with my M1 mini. 4K60 & 120 is still doable on m1 mini, BUT there's some lag, jitters, when it comes to editing, especially with overlaying 4K footage. Just going to repurpose M1 mini as my office computer, since due to this, I just ordered Macbook pro 14" since I was in the need for a new macbook to replace my Macbook Air 2016. It's just refreshing to hear someone finally admit that the M1 mini can pull off amazing feats, for the price, and being so basic.
It’s been a week since I subcribed to your channel and I would say that this channel deserve more subscribers! I can’t wait to see this channel grow. Keep uploading! Thank you! 🙏🏽
You are such a decent person and you put a lot of effort into sharing your knowledge. I can't imagine somebody daring to write to you stating you are an idiot! Just wanted to say, that you inspire me a lot to record videos and be more creative. Thank you for that, Tom! I am about to buy Mac Mini M2 Pro. I am surprised your 8GB Mini worked well with 4K footage. I didn't know that M1 8GB is stronger than Intel with 8GB. Thanks for that.
Another great video, hugely informative. I’m the dunce who bought a mid-range Intel iMac in 2019. Easily the slowest worst Mac I’ve ever owned, costing me £1600. Already considering which M1 Mac to replace it with. This is a great help.
It' really crazy how limiting the Intel chips were. I'm not a hardcore computer guy, so I just thought it's how everything "had to be." The M Series chips really take things to a new level.
It's called virtual memory... from years ago this has been used. And yes the constant swapping wears on the SSD memory. The cells have a life span. More memory and a drive larger than you need makes the SSD last longer.
What most people who are complaining about ram swap don’t realize is that Mac and Windows computers have been using ram swap for ages. My last Mac used ram swap for the entirety of its life. It’s a decade old and still works fine. No drive failures of any kind. It’s just one more detail that’s been around for years but people only learned about on the M1.
Well my M1 with 16GB of RAM swapped so much that I have used up the SSD's 55% of the R/W cycles in just 14 months. Just sold the thing for a Mac Studio with 64GB of RAM now.
If your old mac had a spinning hard drive, it is not a problem because the platters in it do not wear. SSD has a limited amount of writes as William mentions.
My 16gb model had the timeout reboot for the first time 4 days ago after 9 months. It happened just around the time I connected a new audio interface that had trouble firmware updating because I wasn’t using the supplied USB cable. It’s possible the issue is related to external hardware not being able to download firmware updates when they detect them due to USB cable incompatibility issues. That would at least explain why it’s infrequent, and why it’s so hard to reproduce. In my case I used a Thunderbolt 4 cable, which I expected to alleviate any potential speed bottleneck, but returning to the supplied USB 3.2 cable solved the firmware update issue. I haven’t had the reboot since, so I can’t verify if this really was the issue, but I thought I’d mention it for anyone out there experiencing the reboot more frequently.
I have a MacBook air I have never been a fan of Apple products outside of the iPad but I absolutely love it and it helpe me not only do my school work but also made it easier for me to make content but I still can't nail doing voice overs in GarageBand
Great video! My 2011 17in. MacBook Pro just took a nosedive and I immediately thought this was going to be another 2k+ spent on a computer that I just do basics on. I went to the Apple website, and started pondering about this Mac Mini. At first I was skeptical but in comparison to the big machines that cost 3xs as much this looked like the best options for what I need. After seeing all the stress you put on the machine, I’m sure it can handle the small DAW set up for us music guys. I just ordered mine with 16gb of ram and a 512 hard drive. I also purchased a like new 27in. Apple Thunderbolt screen for 225.00 on eBay. Im also going to incorporate my 1tb external hard drive for all my family pics and writing documents just to keep the hard drive stress free as possible. So in essence, I’ve spent just under $1,300 and will have a machine that’ll blow the old MacBook Pro I had out of the water. For me, it sure beats spending almost 2k for a laptop with a 13in tiny screen with only 8gb of ram and a 250 hard drive. More bang for the buck! Totally excited for my new machine. Thanks for the advice and insight Tom your review was a big sigh of relief!!
It's absolutely crazy how good these are. There are definitely workflows that can cause them to stutter, but it's been great for me. My wife even runs Final Fantasy while exporting Final Cut videos and has no issues 😁
I will say from my experience is that I have an M1 Mac Mini 16 Gig Unified Ram and an M1 13 inch MacBook Pro 8 Gig Unified Ram and the MBP has lately given me some struggles with maxing out the ram. I use the Mac Mini as my main editing computer and it runs so smooth. The MBP with plug-ins, graphics and other 3rd party installations might be the problem for me as before I loaded a lot of them onto the machine I didn’t run into maxing out the ram. I will also say that Affinity Photo is noticeably faster on the Mac Mini 16/Unified Ram vs the 13 MBP 8/Unified Ram. The 13 MBP gets the job done for me but I only use it when I’m traveling or have to upload footage away from home. I wish I would have spent the extra few hundred bucks on the upgrade but I thought since it’s a computer only to be used here and there I wouldn’t need the extra power. If they release a new round of computer upgrades such as a new MBP or Mac Mini M1X/M2 I’ll probably sell the 2 that I have and upgrade to 1. Just my experience though and thought I’d share.
This is interesting, I would've expected that they'd have the exact same performance since it's the same processor. I'm sure there are other complicated things happening under the hood 🤔
Glad I saw this video. I am thinking of buying the Mac Mini 256 with 8 RAM and was concerned about the RAM and the 256. I am hoping I can run the Mac Mini from an External SSD with 1 TB. I would suggest you do not put your computer to sleep. I have always found it to cause problems to wake up. Thanks again for doing the video.
I’ve had those same problems on my 16gb model, using different keyboard and different monitor. The restart issue has only happened once, when I first purchased it. Not much of an issue for any of the problems and wouldn’t stop me from buying again.
I heard a lot of the updates since then fixed the Bluetooth connection issues and I think the monitor waking up is an issue with a lot of apple computers cuz I have an intel one and it does the same thing to my dell monitors. I heard LG & Apple monitors don’t do this tho
I have been using apple since G4 . I have became a M1 fan boy. I have a M1 iPad Pro awesome just wish it had pro apps. I have a M1 16 MacBook Pro 16 512. Awesome. But I have to say this my old MacPro 5,1 all spec out still handles all my recording studio needs.
I got the 16gb/1Tb configuration and the read/write speeds on this are amazing and is my daily driver. The drive swap is still there but it is minimal, at roughly 256mb on my last check.
Sold my MacBook Pro 2017 and bought the Mac Mini M1 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB hard drive and the performance difference is huge! I ran Adobe Premiere, Lightroom, Photoshop, Chrome, Spotify and other stuff all at the same time and never once had a problem! I use a 1T nvme external drive as storage this way i let the 256GB hard drive only for applications and system storage! For those who are still having 2nd thoughts, don't! It's a great little machine! Of course you'll need a desk, a monitor etc...
I purchased the base model mini in late November and immediately fell in love after using a 2012 gaming PC for years; after a few days with it I had to purchase my wife one to replace her old gaming PC too! Paired with a Hagibis MC25 Pro DP with 2tb NVME + 2tb Sata SSD, I couldn't be happier!
I did try a Mac mini m1 for a while, but found it actually slower to load in programs than my windows pc, tried MacBook air m1 as well, and also same problem, loading in office, even Mac own pages software, definitely took longer to load than on the previous Ryzen 5 windows pc I had, so eventually went back to a windows mini pc, far more ports, loads in faster and runs a much larger range of software. I really couldn't see what all the hype about the m1 was.
@@robawestwood The hype is mainly its power efficiency. I find it strange you've noticed a large enough difference in load times, it feels just as fast as any ssd machine I've used. Have you tried to turn off animations?
@@cw48494 no, didn't try that, but there again, I didn't do that on windows either, so it was a fair comparison. I don't have the M1 mini now though, sold it and got a m HP mini pc for less than I sold it for second hand.
I know this video is a little old, but thank you for posting it! So I was hoping that there would be a new Mac mini released in the Apple update, but instead they did the studio. I have a small consulting business that deals with construction management, so most of my usage is general office stuff some drawing reviews occasionally marking things up, but nothing like the more intensive video editing and live streaming that you do. On a different video several people recommended that I go ahead and get the M1 Mac mini because it would be more than enough for what I need to do, so I ordered it. Right after I found out that they'll probably be a new Mac mini at the end of the year and I was panicking if I made the right choice or if I should've just sucked it up and waited. This video helped me determine that the choice I made was a good one and the machine that I purchased, with 16 GB of RAM, should last me at least several years. So again even though I'm late to the video thank you for coming back and updating your review, it helped ease my mind that I didn't just blow a bunch of money.
Great video, really like the tone as always... on the mac, I bought last year a 16' MacBook Pro and a friend mine bought a MacMini for probably one fifth of the price. I used it for a couple of weeks and no question, the MacMini is way faster and... without the fan noise. Great to have you output after nearly a year of extensive use though...
I was shocked too after having a really nice 16" MacBook prior to this. I genuinely thought this was going to only be my "Zoom/stream" computer, but it quickly became my main machine.
All computers memory swap, it’s just the M1ssd does it much faster making it seamless. So your Windows or Intel Mac will ‘wear our’ ssd blocks out the same way.
Great video! I've been looking for the most budget friendly iOS computer to use for coding. Was shock at the price of the M1 Mac Mini and needed to see if it works well. Based on your review I think it's worth the purchase!
It definitely is! Rumors abound that a new Mini might be coming out this month or next, but I have no idea if that's true or what the availability timeline looks like. Something I forgot to mention in the video is that with the M1 chips, you can install and run iOS apps directly on the computer- could be an awesome feature for someone who codes.
It is excellent, I was not expecting such performance from it. I’ve been using it for around 7 months, and I just recently discovered that I can play good video games. So I’m also playing hehe. I love it!!
Ya, mine restarts sometimes too. I have an og 16GB 1TB Mini. I'm a professional audio engineer and I was in the middle of a bounce last time it happened hahaha. I was pretty mad hahaha.
Thanks Tom, I bought the 16g model a couple of months ago but haven’t had time to open it yet. I’m thinking about a 21:9 34” monitor to go with it. I’m happy to see you’re still happy with yours.
Tom, thanks for the relaxed discussion ~ with good, balanced info. A professional approach, also, without too much excitement (that can be a little draining at times)! I checked this review, as I’m considering getting the Mini very soon.
I did a custom one from the apple site and when the M1 Mac Mini with 16GB RAM, 256GB storage with a 2TB storage drive for video editing. I also have the 16TB raid away running for the Intel Mac Mini base model with upgraded ethernet
I would rather pay the extra for a Mac Air M1... so I can take my work anywhere. I'm in South Africa. Here we have loadshedding/blackouts all the time so a battery is very important.
I was one of the those that mentioned the shortened life of the SSD (pretty sure I was polite though, yikes!). The SSD is meant to last (generally) up to about 10+ years. Depending on tons of factors like usage, operating environment, etc. The issue with the M1 is that the lifespan will then be shortened exponentially, to roughly 5 years or less (video editing of course puts more stress and reads/ writes exponentially more times then an average user). Louis Rossman does a much better job explaining this with hard evidence backed by years of repair experience. It's silly someone would name call or hurl insults over a computer choice! wow!
I say xcode development puts more stress on it. You export/write a video editing result only after long times of editing and cuting and not 2 times a minutes as a developer debugging a hard problem. We will see. I guess 3 years will be when we see the first large chunk of macMinis appearing on eBay with broken internal SSDs
I’m rather glad I waited. I’m hopefully picking up a base 8GB 256Gb Mini soon - my use case of basic administrative office tasks and light (minecraft lol) gaming + general use is easy for the M1, and software support is better than ever. Thanks for the video, Tom ! :-)
Swap files (or virtual memory) have been a thing since the 1990s. Managing memory in order to reduce strain on SSDs is old hat. Nothing to worry about.
I have the original M1 MacMini, with the 8GB unified memory (the only one that was immediately available when I needed to purchase a computer when my Intel iMac bricked). In hindsight, it has been surprisingly capable. But let me be clear: Whenever I've had to do extensive layering (compositing) of multiple stacks of graphics on a video timeline in Final Cut Pro, the machine chokes. I'm really holding my breath hoping Apple is about to release a new MacMini with the same M1 Pro and M1 Max chips that they announced for the MacBook Pros a few months ago. Those chips and those unified memory configurations in a MacMini would more than handle anything I would need to throw at it. By the way, I've never had the problem you describe with the keyboard, but I refuse to use a bluetooth keyboard, so mine is plugged into a USB port. And I've also never had my MacMini just restart unexpectedly. But if that is, indeed, related to something around the wireless capabilities of the machine, I'm also insistent on connecting my Mac to my router with a Cat-6 cable rather than using WiFi. (WiFi slows down my connection by about 50 percent, and I want all the speed I can get.). With my Google Fiber, I get a full GB up and down as long as I'm connected with a cable.
@@tombuck -- I am well aware of tomorrow's Apple Event (3/8) and am very intrigued by the talk of this so-called "Mac Studio" computer that some are saying is coming. But I'll believe it when I see it.
I have been loving my M1 Mac Mini. It has made my overall workflow so much easier. I have ran into the lagging issues you described, however it was with the mouse and not the keyboard. I have also run into a few issues while running Photoshop. If I sleep the M1 while Photoshop is running I am unable to shut down PS the next time I use the computer. 🤷🏼♂️. All of the issues I have had have easily been resolved with a simple restart. I would also still recommend this computer. At the same time, most modern computers would probably be better than the 2013 MacBook Pro I was using. Haha. Thanks for the video.
I'm using mac mini m1 base model too!, your video really said it all, there's something that interesting when you share the information, keep up the good work!!
Great Review Tom the way you explained your experience honestly helped me make my decision. "ONE Ques". what do you think about M2 or M1x right now should we wait.
Glad it was helpful! The 8Gb is a super solid choice for the price (even cheaper if you check the Apple Refurbished store). I think there are rumors of possible Mac updates this month, but even so, the M1 Mini is still a great computer.
I bought one a month ago after your video, love it so far, I don’t have a 10bit camera so video editing is smooooth… btw what mic are you using in this one?
Since I also need a portable option, I was excited to get the 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro. These two computers together are absolutely awesome. Here's my full review of the MacBook: th-cam.com/video/a-86WlGK5As/w-d-xo.html
@@tombuck I have contant Ram limitations as well with my Mac Mini 512 GB and 8GB of ram, it's not the money worth. Problems stands when I work with PS, Excel, Word and PDF together. when I add Signal or Whatsapp or an Internet connection, than I have better to shut down the MM to start again..
I use my mini for web development and photo editing Never has ram issues. The biggest issue I've had with my M1 Mini is when it comes back from sleep mode and I've left Google Chrome open, the PC will be sluggish until I do a force quit on Chrome. Once Chrome quits, everything is fine I've never experienced a random restart like you mentioned. Overall, this new mini is fantastic
Thanks for the 9-month overview! I had mine since mid-February, and loving it. I’m of the opinion that no computer is gonna be problem-free, especially with a major chip transition. I, too, have ran into the restart issue, and dutifully send my “report” to Apple in hopes that it can resolve this pesky issue. I personally have a 16GB, 1TB model, and as a music maker I do wonder about how it’ll handle instruments and projects with large amounts of audio, such as an orchestral instrument. I do my best to be watchful o the amount of SSD space, since it’s also used as swap in the event the M1 is starving for more memory allocation. But overall, it’s been a very positive experience, and glad it’s that way for you too. Thanks!
Happy to hear it's working well for you! I've been trying to dive into Logic more lately, and you're definitely right about projects quickly taking up a lot of space🤯
I use my Mini for Logic, the exact same specs as yours (16GB/1TB) and it's been amazing, honestly. That said... I run it in Rosetta because I have a lot of commercial plug-ins (Helix Native, Izotope, XLN, etc.) that haven't been re-written for Apple Silicon yet. Amazingly, it runs 100% stable when I run it in Rosetta, even though these plug-ins don't officially support Apple Silicon, and it runs better in Rosetta than my last laptop (16" MBP) did running native Intel code. I have some projects that have frightful amounts of tracks, and they work great, and it runs Garritan CFX, which has a gigantic sample library, though I've uninstalled it because I've realized I don't like sampled piano libraries. I have an M1 MacBook Air now w/ also 16GB/1TB and it's great being able to copy project files over between the two computers and getting predictably similar performance, which is a really underrated perk of going Apple Silicon, since it lets me record and mix on location on a laptop, even a project file that was once on a desktop, without having to freeze extra tracks and things like that. And I get plenty of battery life when running Logic with a bus-powered interface. Last time I was on my MacBook Air, I was using Sidecar to use my iPad as a secondary monitor for plugin and mixer windows, and once again, had no performance issues whatsoever. It wasn't the most performance-intensive project I was working on, given that it was just a three-piece rock band with just audio tracks, but it had plenty of convolution effects applied, and I remember thinking, 2015 version of me would not believe that this would ever be possible.
p.s. With 16GB M1, when I fire up Activity Monitor, most of the time when I look at swap used, it's sitting at 0 bytes, even when I'm working on music, so I think there's far less to worry about when you have a 16GB model. I am currently playing back a project with 60 channels (6 virtual instruments, rest audio tracks and buses), plenty of resource-intensive effects. I also have a few Chrome tabs (including this one) and a few programs open, and I'm sitting at 11.33 GB memory used, 0 swap. If I were doing serious music work, I'd close out my other programs, and if I needed a browser, I'd use Safari, which is lighter on resources, and I wouldn't be worried about swap at all. You can always freeze resource-intensive software instruments, and I also notice that freezing is quite quick on the M1 compared to Intel machines I've had before. I had a 8GB M1 before this one, and that one usually had a little bit of swap always being used. Not this one.
I've been using the super basic M1 Mini for about the same amount of time, and I like it quite a lot. It has been silent the whole time I've owned it, including when I load up all 4/8 cores with file compression or OS compiles or whatever. I'd like to exchange it for a 16 GB model now, because it really does page/swap fairly steadily in my normal usage, but I wouldn't have wanted to wait until the 16 GB models were available. I also still can't connect HDMI directly to a 4K Samsung TV, but it does work to connect to the TV using a USB-C to HDMI cable. A LG TV *can* connect directly using HDMI, and other computers can drive the Samsung TV, so it's just some kind of incompatibility between the Mini and the Samsung. OS Updates helped it at least produce a picture, but the video still glitches several times an hour. Again, it works fine using a USB-C cable instead.
Nice video! I'm torn between the 8GB and 16GB RAM versions. I am photographer and run Lightroom and Photoshop simultaneously on my current 2014 MacBook Pro. It runs a bit slow when editing and the fan runs constantly when connected to an external monitor. What RAM config do you suggest?
A big part of why I made this video was to show that the 8GB option is totally capable of pro level work (as mentioned in the video, 8GB of M1 RAM is _not_ the same as 8GB of RAM on an Intel machine). That being said, from a practical standpoint I don't think you can go wrong by getting as much RAM as you can afford and I doubt you'd regret getting 16. 👍
Agreed with you, I also use the M1 MacMini Base 8GB model is good. I don't have shutdown issues. I have issues with Safari, keeping showing beachball icon, what I don't understand is this error has been reported to Apple, but nobody from Apple cares at all, Apple behaving like arms or missile supplier, fire and forget!! Anyway this is one of the quirks on the Mac OS/M1 MacMini.
Hmm, interesting. I haven't had those safari issues, but I'm glad you're reporting it to Apple. I've reported some Final Cut bugs to them and they really seems to take it seriously, so maybe even if you didn't hear back from them, they took note of it.
In my experience the M1 has very good things, but also very bad things. I know that neither Apple fanboys and Apple haters will like this post, but we have to tell all the facts. The good: - Good value per cost. It is not overpriced at all. Great to see this in an Apple product. - Great thermals, best in class. - Low power consumption. Also best in class. - CPU performance is surprisingly good The Bad: - The GPU performance is bad, much slower than any AMD or NVidia GPUs, even the cheapest ones. - No eGPU supoort, which makes the above point worst. - Poor expansion capabilities. - Maximum RAM is only 16GB, nowadays that is smartphone territory more than a computer. Due to this intensive use produce a lot of "swapping", which reduces the SSD live a lot and also it's performance over the time, and it can not be replaced. The horrible: - Denial of the right to repair or upgrade. Soldered RAM and SSD welded to the PCB is a technical aberration. The day a single component fails or it is not enough it will be mothballed. This is a perfect example of programmed obsolescence, bad for the consumer and bad for the planet. And this is totally unnecesary, in this aspect something like an Intel NUC would be a much better dessign, a pity there is no macOS for it because the new NUCs are even smaller, repairable, upgradeable, support 64GB RAM, any NVMe sizes and support eGPU. Sorry but there are no excuses for this.
The right to repair issue really is huge so I'm glad you brought it up. If we could use our products for longer by simply swapping out batteries or components when needed, that would be so much better than having to trash an entire item just because on part failed.
I totally agree with you, I personally stand on the same side as to being about to upgrade internal components. At the end of the day like always say apple has their reason but it would be extremely nice to have the capability to exchange RAM sticks!
I really appreciate that! I'm glad I could help in your decision. Extra RAM is always great if it's in the budget, but the base model is super capable, and it's on sale at quite a few places right now!
I have this Mac mini but in MY experience, I needed more RAM. If I had too many tabs open and more than one creative program open, things noticeably slowed down. Editing 4k footage also had its limitations. In terms of raw power tho, this thing kills value wise.
I have the Mac Mini that is a model or two older. It has a 3GHz 6-Core Intel Core i5 processor. It has 8GB of DDR4 Ram. If you ask me quite what that means, I can't quite explain it, but I know the computer does the job for me. :) Edit*** I have the late 2018 model that I purchased new in 2020. The early 2020 model had little difference from the 2018 model, so I saw no reason to get the more expensive model. It wasn't until a few months later that M1 was released with a lower price tag. Oops :(
Hey Tom, great video, thanks for all the information. I am considering buying the M1 but wondered if you had experienced any problems with using plug-ins for Final Cut Pro X? I have purchased quite a few over the years and have heard there can be compatibility issues, any help would be much appreciated. Thanks 🙏 😊
It really depends on the plugin and how the developer does or doesn't update it. I would recommend seeing if your must-have plugins have specifically been updated.
Suddenly randomly restarting is very much not ok if you plan to use the machine for live performances etc. Edit: also not ok for the environment if the computer has planned obsolescence that causes it to die after 8 years, although my expectation is that the SSDs will tend to (mostly) last a lot longer than that. Making that non-replaceable should straight-up be deemed criminal IMO (ok, maybe not criminal, but it shouldn’t be allowed), but there are enough other great things about the way these systems are designed that they are pretty attractive. I still actively use a 2013 MacBook Pro and 2011 iMac, FWIW.
My M1 mini seems to stay in the 5-6 GB RAM usage range. I primarily work with audio and midi apps. The only one that I’ve had a problem with is Reason. Logic Pro, Studio One and Adobe Audition all work fine. I have a hub and 3 attached SSD drives. The size of the 250 GB internal drive occasionally causes issues. I have to keep my data files on an external drive.
Ahh, interesting. It definitely comes down to which apps you use most often in determining how much memory to get. I guess I got lucky in that I just happened to use mostly optimized apps that run really well 😬
got the lowest macbook m1 few months later satisfied. (almost) everything is faster than my surface laptop that is higher end. Only thing i'm upset about is no bootcamp.
@Tom Buck, interesting. The 3 issues you've had, 1. Keyboard I haven't because I bought a cheap MAC corded keyboard, however I have had my Magic Mouse and Trackpad disconnect briefly maybe 3 times since I've had my Mac Mini, 2. Display, my 4k LG monitor has always come to life from sleep and 3. Restarting, can't remember mine ever restarting except for OS updating. I bought my M1 Mac Mini 16 GB 1 TB in January 2021. Recently purchased the M1 MacBook Air 16 GB 512 GB as I traded in my 2018 MacBook Pro 13” (only had it about a month). Incidentally, I traded in my 27" 2017 iMac for my M1 Mac Mini. Would I recommend the M1? Absolutely.
Glad you're having a good experience! The issues are definitely strange. My wife has the exact same computer in the room next to me and has never had any of these problems🤷🏻♂️
I'm so torn up right now and this video didn't help to get me "untorn" if that's a word. I have a Macbook Air M1 and as it turns out, I love it. Will run for hours untethered from the wall. Even playing games like Cities Skylines can go for hours and it doesn't scream to be plugged in. I almost forget it is on battery power. I got it after returning a windows PC back to Costco. Now my desktop PC is Windows based and need to replace it because its about 6 years old and doesn't support Windows 11. Ok, back in Costco and picked up a Windows laptop AMD Rizen 7, 12 gig, blah blah blah. Its not too far from a Mac Mini M1 which costs less than this thing. After 2 hours on battery power with Cities Skylines its at 30 percent. Then along comes your video. I kinda know what with happen on the weekend with this laptop. Thanks for this video update.
I got the base model a year ago and it is great, my regret is only getting the 256gb hard drive - I’m already running out of space. I use the computer for light programming, making videos, makinng music in Garage band, plus normal daily work tasks.
Great video. I got an Air…but mostly because my kids/wife will need a machine in the next few months and I’ll look at a new Mini or whatever other “mini” tower has been rumoured. My Air almost never leaves my desk.
Performance-wise the Air should be the same, but the benefit of the Mini is that it has more I/O ports. But it'll definitely be interesting to see what they release next!
@@tombuck It should actually be just a bit more powerful because it has a fan and can run faster longer without getting hot. I have noticed on the Air that once I've been streaming for a bit I have some stuttering with one or two specific applications (electron applications). Not on the stream, but on my end only. Plus I'd like a 2nd monitor. I guess my other option is to use an ATEM Mini ISO for streaming instead of eCamm
Thanks for your video. I am still running my 2011 mac mini which I upgraded with SSD 3 years ago. Finally thinking of upgrading just because I cant upgrade software on it anymore. Otherwise it still works fine.
I own the 8/256 M1 and use it with Lightroom, Photoshop and Premiere. No complains although I have managed to slow it down with multiple uncompressed raw editing. But this happens after continuously editing 40-50 photos. I’m overall impressed and it being silent and occupying minimum desk space is a huge plus.
@@tombuck they do. But it’s something you’ll not notice until you’re editing like the 40th or so. ..and my workflow is editing first in Lightroom, then in Photoshop.
Curious to see how you are enjoying this configuration? I am looking at the base model too but wondering how it will handle running Photoshop and Lightroom CC simultaneously to edit 42MB pictures from my Sony A7R3. Any thoughts? Thanks!
@@vettepwr23 you basically described my workflow. But the photos come from a Sony α7C. Other than that, what I originally wrote. The machine will eventually slow down. But until it does, will work perfectly.
@@FotisNakos thanks. My current machine is a 2014 MacBook Pro maxed out with 16GB ram and 1TB internal SSD. I can’t store all my photos on it but do edit from the internal drive. My current setup slows down when doing a lot of edits in Lightroom or multiple layers in Photoshop. In addition the fan runs all the time especially with an external monitor. Do you edit from the internal or use an external?
It's worth updating that the issues I mention in this video (bluetooth connections, display not waking, random restarts) haven't happened since upgrading to macOS Monterey. 👍
Thank you. I am looking to downgrade my iMac to a mac mini and get an ultra-wide monitor as I need more monitor space than computer space. Your videos have allowed to stand firm in my decision. Thank you.
I did the same, base model. I experienced Bluetooth issues. I moved it to the other side of my desk...issues gone! Still get a few graphics issues, faint vertical lines, crushed blacks. But that could be the monitor..
But...I even use fusion on Davinci and its absolutely fine! I do a lot of colour correction and tracking, very very very good.
I am no expert, and did not do any calculations or anything, but: a huge variable is how well the filesystem does wear-levelling. I suspect it's probably really good at it, or else this Mac would end up being a PR disaster for apple down the road. If it moves blocks around even when they aren't written to, it will last longer. Apple's new filesystem probably does data deduplication and on-the-fly compression, which helps, too. I mean, I don't KNOW that it does, but I'd be shocked if it didn't.
As someone who’s been using the M1 Mac Mini for three years now, I have zero intention on upgrading until the software support runs out or it dies of old age.
I have the 16GB Ram with 1TB storage. While editing photos in Adobe Photoshop, with also rendering a 4k video at the same time, and playing a youtube video in the background, and while uploading a 13gb of files for a client, this MAC MINI IS A BEAST! Investing in this machine is worth it! It's not that even expensive with the power that's inside.
It's absolutely worth it! Sounds like we have a similar work flow, and the Mini handles it like a champ!
how much did you pay & i edit every now and then very little 4k footage and i do upload files often which variant you think i should buy
@@dajoremarks9137 it’s less than $2000 CAD. If you’re a digital creator, you do it for work and on a budget but still want a powerful machine, this is a must buy. I recently bought two external hard drive with 1GB write and upload speed so all my files are stored in there while I keep the iMac with very minimal files inside and keep all my files organized. I recommend the new Apple M1 chip computers.
@@paulproductionstudio okay so you recommend the 2021 model or the 2020 is fine and which external hard drives are you purchasing
@@dajoremarks9137 the 2020 is fine! I have the Samsung T7 Touch External Hard Drive 1TB with 1GB speed.
I bought my M1 Mac Mini (with 16GB of ram) back in early May. I added a 2TB SSD to my hub. I’ve been very happy with it…best “computer” I’ve ever owned!
Such a great tool! And 2tb of added space is awesome.
MacMini M1, 8GB RAM base user since 2020 running my music studio on Abelton Live and the M1/8GB has been steady and reliable. I bought Apple's pitch that 8GB was enough in the new architecture and it seems to be true. Thanks for your video.
So glad you shared about the fact that 8gb of RAM on an M1 is NOT the same was 8gb of RAM on an Intel chip. I agree with you. The just aren't the same. The ARM architecture is just soooo different. Hardest thing to convince people about. Fair and balanced as always. Don't listen to the haters - we know what's up with our base model M1 Mac Mini's! Thanks again Tom! 🤘🏼
Yeah, Tom is great!
It’s different because of MacOS, not ARM.
And the video and sound cards on M1 chips r cheap that’s why they rendering fast but sometimes if u go master it u can hear distortion that was created from post production
I still use my 2014 intel Fusion Drive Mac mini I use the M1 for basic stuff
@@bluecement No. Although macOS and other UNIX-like OS do use RAM more efficiently than Windows, you can see the difference between Intel Macs and M1 Macs. That is actually two advantages compared to an x86 Windows machine, which is what most people use.
I’ll add a fascinating detail. My wife is a Chrome tab collector and her 2015 MacBook with 16 gig screams for mercy with the fan blasting. Ran Activity Monitor and 14 gigs were in use. Kill Chrome and it drops to 5. Went to my father-in-law who has an M1 mini with 16 gigs. He uses Chrome the same way. He had the exact same memory usage, no fan, no slow down.
I love the title of "Chrome Tab Collector" 😁
@@tombuck My wife has still open 100+ tabs in iPad Safari. I can't this...
The biggest issue I have with M1 Mac mini is having too much expectations on M1 Mac. Because of 3rd party softwares, I used to run into crashes but all were resolved by those companies over time. No issues are left now.
I'm glad things are working well for you now!
It's pretty insane how good this M1 is.
I was on a pretty beefy Intel MBP for a while, and I mistakenly dropped it and cracked the screen. Decided to get the Mini instead of repairing the MBP. Went with the base model thinking I'd upgrade after I finished the critical editing project I was in the middle of when I broke the MBP.
Been using the Mini ever since with zero need to upgrade.
I shoot on a GH5 using the Vlog profile in 10 bit 4k 4:2:2. I used to have to use proxies for my edits.
I haven't used any proxies at all since the M1 Mini, and legit everything I throw at this machine is handled without hiccups, stuttering, or any issues at all. Buttery smooth!
I'm super impressed with how well Apple has unified this chipset. I mean since when can you edit 10 bit 4k footage on an 8GB machine with no proxies and have it all work seamlessly?
It's bananas honestly, and represents a true paradigm shift in consumer computing.
The idea of dropping a MacBook terrifies me 😱
But I'm glad it's working well for you! I've had a few people tell me that they've encountered issues with video editing, but I think I've pinpointed it to certain codecs being less compatible. I haven't had any issues with my Sony and Canon cameras, and it's good to know your Panasonic is working well too!
@@tombuck hmmm interesting!
Which codecs do you find are problematic?
Going on 7months for me and I am loving it. Im mostly using it for my school and programming and so far it’s holding up so well. 8Gb and 256Gb is enough for me so far
Glad to know it’s working well for programming! That’s awesome.
I’m an educator as well. I bought this base model mainly to use this for teaching online. How do I keep the hard drive from getting full. Yes I have an external hard drive. Can I keep all Ecamm Live files on the external hard drive?
One thing you forgot to mention, when used extensively, the Mac Mini fans do go crazy and make a lot of noise!!!
it’s me… I’m the fan 😚
Ahhhhhhhhh, I see what you did there!
@@tombuck lol…. you inspireth us Master Buck!! 🙏🏻
I’ve been using the baseline M1 Mac Mini as my main computer for editing, photoshop and some light streaming for about 4-5 months now and I love it. I don’t edit 4K footage yet so 1080p has been absolutely no problem but the only issue I run into is hard drive space. Even so it’s an issue I could easily solve by just getting an external drive from Amazon which I really should do.
Exactly! Such a great computer overall.
You really should I have so many t5 and t7 ssd a rocket nano in an external enclosure you have options just find what's in your budget and working off the drive is a game changer as well.love my m1
Get a Satechi hub - it'll give you an SSD enclosure, plus USB ports, plus an SD card slot ... all without taking up even an extra inch of desk space. It's a genius addition to the Mini.
Thank you for the balanced look, and the longer-term review! This really does seem like a revolutionary value, despite the problems you brought up. I've been dealing with an ancient 11 year old PC that has numerous pretty serious problems with it, and have felt stuck for a while because any PC prebuilt in my $700-max budget is liable to be junk. I've seen how badly big companies like Dell screw family members over with low-quality parts and systems that turn into potatoes after a year or so, and my own experience with smaller prebuilt companies hasn't been great(my current PC was a gaming prebuilt whose wifi card simply never worked and customer support was nonexistent, so I have it plugged into a 30ft ethernet cable).
Just grabbing a basic Mac Mini seems like such a perfect, easy, reliable solution given the price-point of a refurbished model is *well* within my budget.
It's really easy to recommend the basic Mini, especially for anyone who already has a monitor/keyboard/mouse setup. Mine is still going super strong, and I haven't had any of the issues I mentioned here since upgrading to the most recent version of MacOS (I'll keep my fingers crossed, but it's been 4+ months of things working smoothly).
I bought one 2 weeks ago. I got the basic 8gb model but with the 512gb SSD and I absolutely love and don't regret for a second. highly recommend. Beats the crap out of any PCs out there
The change of mindset from Intel to ARM is the greatest challenge for most people. Tell them that "It's Different" and they get mad. It's okay, you can go ahead and spend thousands on your Intel machine, I'm doing fine with my 8GB M1 MacMini!
Overall, it's a great machine that's performed well since I got mine in Jan 2021. I run livestreams, edit photos, edit videos and more on the machine and it's worked smoothly. Like you, I mounted mine under the desk but I turned the back facing front so I have easy access to all the ports - to be honest, the MM no longer has an infrared transmitter on the front (like my 2011 MM), so there's more practicality to be had this way - and I didn't have to spring for the specialized hub! I get the monitor on wakeup issue from time to time and it's always with the monitor plugged into the Thunderbolt port. The monitor on the HDMI port never has wakeup issues (I'm running two 27" monitors from MSi and Dell). Thanks for the video!
Sounds like you have a similar experience to me. I don’t really understand why many people almost refuse to believe a less expensive computer can be powerful 🤷🏻♂️
On the SSD issue. You cannot compare these to a previous experience of rotational drives. SSD's have no moving parts and run cool, whereas rotational HDDs have constantly moving mechanical parts with heat, wear and they don't like vibration / being jarred. Apple tended to ship low speed (5400 rpm) HDDs back in the day with a 5 year shelf life although I have had them in G4's / G5's lasting 10 years. SSD's (and the 'controller less' chips used in M1 Macs) are not going to 'wear' in this way at all although depending on their quality of build and internal components they can still fail over time. By the time SSDs began to be used as internal drives (capacity large enough / price low enough) they had already been in the wild for two decades so at this point they are well understood and generally reliable. Which is not to say they might not have a programmed obsolescence which is increasingly apparent to anyone who had a Panasonic TV in the 70s (still working 40 years later).
TBH I still backup to rotational drives and use SSDs for the boot OS and any fast data situation like video. The main reason for this is that almost always a rotational drive will give indications of forthcoming failure (there are tools to test them deeply and auto notify developing issues) whereas if an SSD fails, there is no recovery possible. I think it is a mistake for anyone to rely on an SSD inside a Mac exclusively (whether or not the system is using it for performance / cache) and it should be default to buy an external drive at the point of the M1 purchase for use with an automated backup software (like TimeMachine).
SSD's get extremely hot ;-) especially the controller chips... the memory chips are fine with being hot, but the controller needs cooling
@8:55 regarding SSD swap, this was a known issue that for some users caused excessive amounts of data being written to the disk. This has been fixed and is not relevant anymore
Got my mac mini last week at Costco with $120 off. I got the one 512 Gbs SSD clock speed 3,500 MB/s, I had iMac 2015, It's a big game-changing. Also added Qwiizlab USB-C Stand Hub with SSD Enclosure, add this on the hub $84 Western Digital 1TB WD Blue SN550 NVMe Internal SSD speed up 670 MB/s, $85 Crucial MX500 1TB 3D NAND SATA 2.5 Inch Internal SSD speed up 360 MB/s. Thanks, Tom, keep up the good work.
Thanks for the kind words- that's an absolutely awesome deal on the computer!
Thanks Tom, You are a natural in front of the camera. I was a professional video tape (yes tape) on line editor for 12 years and now non-linear systems. Thinking about getting a Mini M1 for audio recording and video editing. Thanks again! Tod in Vegas
Thanks Tod! I appreciate the kind words! I also started at a local TV station with tape-to-tape systems and left right around the time they brought in the very first AVID machines.
I definitely don't miss tapes 😁
@@tombuck Tom, I miss it just because 2" and 1" type C was such a part of my life. 3/4" cassette, Betacam then Betacam digital. I never thought it would all wind up on the junk pile of history! Joke was on me. Now? Never go back of course but fondness still flounders. Great channel by the way, looking forward to catching up on your goings on. I'm a new subscriber :) Tod in Vegas
The good news is that a lot of that gear is available on eBay for cheap! I’ve been searching for an ENG camera in good condition.
A mac mini with an m1x and 16gb would be a beast, like owning a macbook pro without the laptop peripherals of course. Hope they announce it next week
I'm so excited to see what comes out of next week's event!
I watched that video where he opened up a bunch of apps and everything was great but I got it with only 8GB's and just my browser ate up 4 to 6 GB's and I got warnings of running low on memory several times now. So... anyone considering getting this I highly recommend you get the 16GB's. I've also had that keyboard lag issue. I'm giving mine to my mom.
Just bought the 8gb version for $500. You definitely convinced me to buy my first Mac. Great video !
That's a GREAT deal!
New one or a used one?
@@SandeepS11482 used of course. He didn’t use it much since he needed more ram. Looks brand new.
@@nitablackwood6301 Thanks. I am looking to buy the base model too
I am also finding to buy m1 mac mini.
I have a limited budget and the performance of m1 mac mini is enough for me, now.
I have a Mac mini M1, the cheapest with 8GB/256GB. It works flawlessly for all of my work. I'm very pleased with this little computer.
It's so good! Glad you're having a good experience with it!
I have one, and was really looking forward to the Mini having the new M1 Pro or Max available this fall so I could get a second one, but it looks like we'll have to wait another year,.
My thought, based on absolutely no evidence, is that they'll probably update the Mini and iMacs in the early Spring.
On the subject of RAM - I would argue that while 8GB might work well, this is achieved by paging out to the SSD - a lot. As this part is not replaceable, I would want as much RAM as possible to minimise this. I understand the latest OS revisions try to minimise paging to SSD but if you open a lot of stuff it must be taking place.
Pretty much every PRO / AM user who has tried both Mac Minis has concluded get the 16GB. If you are only running it domestically for web surfing, email, Word etc then 8 will be adequate but I agree with you, get the 16 if running multiple heavy apps at once. TBH this has always been a thing - we had to cache Photoshop to the hard drive for years, to the point I would put in an exclusive drive (or at least a partition) in my Macs for Adobe cache use exclusively. More ram is generally better and although the M1 is changing how we view this, the Pro models still have... you guessed it, more ram.
yeah that is why I find the option of a M2 with 24GB RAM way more interesting than my current 8GB M1 Air... it's a wonderful machine but it definetly needs MORE RAM for my needs and it shows big time when you run out of RAM.
I'm currently watching this on an M1 Mac Mini, but I have the 16GB RAM/1TB HDD model. I had the base 8GB/256GB model before that and just wanted more space, and I got it refurb, so I basically thought of it as getting a RAM upgrade for free. I really, really, really love this computer. Last year, I was on a 27" iMac, and honestly, it's been weird going an entire summer working from home and never having a loud space heater on my desk. The only thing I've noticed is that if you use external HDD often is that if you keep your computer on all the time, turn off the "Put hard disks to sleep when possible" option in Energy Saver because if you do allow for that, sometimes your external drives don't wake up properly and your OS might crash. Since it uses less energy than any other computer in its performance class, I figure that I can spare the couple watts from keeping the hard drives from sleeping. Am I going to keep this thing forever? I can't predict the future. What I do know is that I would only replace it as my primary desktop with another Apple Silicon machine, maybe an iMac. Even if I replace it as my primary desktop, it could be useful as a secondary desktop or server.
Refurb is an absolutely excellent idea and a great way to bring higher end specs within a more reasonable budget 🙌
I bought an M1 Mini earlier this year, rather than wait for another iMac. I really don't regret it. it's blown me away with performance. Just the odd issue, but nothing too serious (Music library kept disapearing and wifi kept dropping off at sleep). Both issues are sorted.
Hey Jake! I agree completely- I've never had a computer with ZERO issues, so the minor ones here are totally fine with me.
Hello Jake, regarding the Music library issue: (I assume it was Apple-music) could u explain both issue and remedy! I’m thinking of buying this to replace my old MacBook Pro strictly for audio file music. Thx. Mike.
@@mikeeygauthier2959 The library kept disappearing from view on launch. It was like Music could not recognize the music in the library. My solution was as simple as moving everything to a different (slightly newer) external HDD. No issues for about 2 months now. The old HDD is fine for everything else and not that old/full, but Music just didn't seem to like it. Who knows, it could have been a S/W update that fixed it, but probably not.
I use Traktor and the M1 is great with it - on Big Sur and I didn't think it would be. Ableton 10 is fine too. I'm so impressed I might shell out for a new 15/16 M1 MBP when it comes out, even though my 2015 model runs OK.
Have a base MacBook Air m1. Never restarted, never disconnect a Bluetooth gadget. Do t know about monitors cause I only use universal control with a external iPad Pro 12”9. Best computer i ever had
That's awesome. My Mini hasn't had the issues since upgrading to Monterey, so maybe they fixed them? Glad your MacBook is working so well!
@@tombuck also think the update solved those problems. I buyed mine this year
Wise words. I've had a M1 Mini since June. 16 gigs. Best computer I've ever had. I retired my MacPro and use this full time now.
It's crazy how powerful these things are. 🤯
Can you tell me what’s your daily average usage on this computer?
wait does it actually better than macpro?
@@muslihatkedua7422 Maybe not the current $6k plus intel model (2019?), but it handily beats any model before it. And the new MacBook Pros take it to another level.
@@ericdannewitz8748 so even if i try to upgrade the ssd on my imac , the mac mini still will have better performance?
I agree! The M1 mini is a solid little machine! The updates to MacOS and FCP have made it even better, though I'm still experiencing the same flickering with the older XF-AVC codec from the C200. Newer cameras and codecs are much better suited to the M1s. The under desk set up! NICE! Great follow up Tom!
I referenced your C200 experience to someone else here in the comments. I've been pretty happy with how it handles the Sony stuff, even 10 bit overall.
Happy the Mini is still working well! I also got the 8gb M1, but with 512gb just because I know most of the software I use (Logic, Ableton Live etc) likes to run on the primary. I came from a 2012 MBP unibody, so performance wise I was obviously pretty impressed! :) Managed to run 200 tracks in Logic with a bunch of plug ins on each before I heard the fan, but that’s extreme. I haven’t got a hub yet, but my monitor is an old Thunderbolt Display with the basic USB 2 ports on the back, so I’m good for random USB stuff through that, the external SSD is on the other thunderbolt port (a little Fledging SSD enclosure with a WD SN750 2tb NVMe M.2 in it for all my libraries and music and video etc. and it’s ridiculously fast), and time machine is through the regular USB port in the back to a regular HDD. Btw haven’t had any sleep issues as I just power mine down :)
200 tracks in Logic is an AWESOME stress test!
I replaced the Mac Pro 2013 with a Mac Mini 8gb 512 and I just regret not going for a 16gb 1TB. But I can wait for a Mac Mini M1 max
The Max Mac mini will definitely be an awesome machine. I'd love to see them add more I/O ports to it too👍
@@tombuck The M1 Max architecture comes with all the I/O so we're good on this front. My only question is will they have a Pro mini tower of sorts?
same im still gonna buy the mac mini m1 max it will be my first mac
I have had SSD's when they first came out. They are still working fine. You just save the content that you create to a backup device whatever you choose and if it does fail no problem. If the computer is still on warranty then get it replaced. More ram memory less swapping with the SSD drive. 16gb minimum ram memory and 1gb storage at least. Then it is pretty much future proof. Intel Mac Mini 2018 I5 6 core with 64gb of DDR4 2666 memory and a 256gb storage is no problem. Running 5 cameras with Ecamm Live software. That is because I bought it from Best Buy with the basic configuration then added the memory later. I used my 2017 IMac more until it was freezing up on games and programs that I started to make this Mac Mini my main computer. Yes I have powerful Pc's but I enjoy the Mini better.
Yep, definitely important to have a good backup solution and then things should be ok. I've had spinning hard drives fail, but so far Ii've had great luck with SSD's.
I was coming off an ailing windows 10 platform and the Mac mini M1 was the logical step.
I did spring for 16gb, but I'm learning not only how a Mac works, but Logic Pro and Davinci Resolve.
Never would have been able to get there had it not been for the M1 chip.
This is awesome to hear! I'm glad you're enjoying the new ecosystem. 👍
speaking from video editing & motion graphic perspective: anyone who has to ask if the base model M1 is enough for video editting, then yes it is enough for you. someone that uses it regularly most likely wont ask this as they know it wont be handle it - even with 16gb. this is my personal experience with the M1 16gb
so you've used the M1 mac mini 16gb and had problems with your workflow?
@@drewskywalkerpa not neccessarily workflow. but with adobe after effects and video editting programs. it lags.
I ordered my m1 mini on November 2020, been using it daily since then.
It’s an excellent computer!
It can handle live-streaming 1 or 2 video outputs with 2 other applications running in the background with no problem. But if I try to livestream 3 video outputs it starts to drop frames.
I wish the mini had more USB ports, but that’s what usb hubs are for!
I’ll probably buy a Mac studio and give this system to my kids.
It's been an absolute workhorse for me (I'm typing this on it right now). Even after getting my M1 Max MacBook, the Mini still handles all of my streaming and video calls. It also seems like it's been more reliable since upgrading to Monterey. 👍
Tom! Your videos are great, easy to digest, full of details, and much more accessible to folks that are media/content creators. But they make me spend a ton of money! But they also save me a lot of money by giving me expert advice on what to buy instead of me have to try out all this equipment on my own. Great job!
Haha, thank you fellow Thomas! Gear is definitely expensive...but fun!
I agree with you 100% Tom. Same here, was using 1080 & 4K off and on, and upscaling 1080, but when I purchased the Sony FX3, then I started having the same problem with my M1 mini. 4K60 & 120 is still doable on m1 mini, BUT there's some lag, jitters, when it comes to editing, especially with overlaying 4K footage. Just going to repurpose M1 mini as my office computer, since due to this, I just ordered Macbook pro 14" since I was in the need for a new macbook to replace my Macbook Air 2016. It's just refreshing to hear someone finally admit that the M1 mini can pull off amazing feats, for the price, and being so basic.
The 14" MBP is really great with all of my Sony footage. It's such a breeze to edit with! I think you'll love it.
It’s been a week since I subcribed to your channel and I would say that this channel deserve more subscribers!
I can’t wait to see this channel grow. Keep uploading! Thank you! 🙏🏽
Thank you Mark!
You are such a decent person and you put a lot of effort into sharing your knowledge. I can't imagine somebody daring to write to you stating you are an idiot! Just wanted to say, that you inspire me a lot to record videos and be more creative. Thank you for that, Tom! I am about to buy Mac Mini M2 Pro. I am surprised your 8GB Mini worked well with 4K footage. I didn't know that M1 8GB is stronger than Intel with 8GB. Thanks for that.
Thank you so much for the kind words! It really means a lot to hear. My M1 is still kicking quite well, so I'm sure you'll love the M2 Pro!
Another great video, hugely informative. I’m the dunce who bought a mid-range Intel iMac in 2019. Easily the slowest worst Mac I’ve ever owned, costing me £1600. Already considering which M1 Mac to replace it with. This is a great help.
It' really crazy how limiting the Intel chips were. I'm not a hardcore computer guy, so I just thought it's how everything "had to be." The M Series chips really take things to a new level.
It's called virtual memory... from years ago this has been used. And yes the constant swapping wears on the SSD memory. The cells have a life span. More memory and a drive larger than you need makes the SSD last longer.
What most people who are complaining about ram swap don’t realize is that Mac and Windows computers have been using ram swap for ages. My last Mac used ram swap for the entirety of its life. It’s a decade old and still works fine. No drive failures of any kind. It’s just one more detail that’s been around for years but people only learned about on the M1.
I’m very happy to hear this and appreciate the common-sense info 🙏
Well my M1 with 16GB of RAM swapped so much that I have used up the SSD's 55% of the R/W cycles in just 14 months. Just sold the thing for a Mac Studio with 64GB of RAM now.
If your old mac had a spinning hard drive, it is not a problem because the platters in it do not wear. SSD has a limited amount of writes as William mentions.
My 16gb model had the timeout reboot for the first time 4 days ago after 9 months. It happened just around the time I connected a new audio interface that had trouble firmware updating because I wasn’t using the supplied USB cable. It’s possible the issue is related to external hardware not being able to download firmware updates when they detect them due to USB cable incompatibility issues. That would at least explain why it’s infrequent, and why it’s so hard to reproduce. In my case I used a Thunderbolt 4 cable, which I expected to alleviate any potential speed bottleneck, but returning to the supplied USB 3.2 cable solved the firmware update issue. I haven’t had the reboot since, so I can’t verify if this really was the issue, but I thought I’d mention it for anyone out there experiencing the reboot more frequently.
Very interesting- I do have a lot of peripherals connected and switch them out pretty frequently. I wonder if you're on to something here 🤔
Sitting here "enjoying" the fan noise and heat generated from my computer, the timing of this video is perfect!
I feel your pain, and I have to say that having zero fan noise for 9 months has been bliss. 😁
I bought giant PC for it. ;) It's almost silent, but takes space./
I have a MacBook air I have never been a fan of Apple products outside of the iPad but I absolutely love it and it helpe me not only do my school work but also made it easier for me to make content but I still can't nail doing voice overs in GarageBand
I'm really glad to hear you're liking it so much!
Just got mine its on the way. I cannot wait. Thank you for sharing your experience.
You're really going to love it!
Great video! My 2011 17in. MacBook Pro just took a nosedive and I immediately thought this was going to be another 2k+ spent on a computer that I just do basics on. I went to the Apple website, and started pondering about this Mac Mini. At first I was skeptical but in comparison to the big machines that cost 3xs as much this looked like the best options for what I need. After seeing all the stress you put on the machine, I’m sure it can handle the small DAW set up for us music guys. I just ordered mine with 16gb of ram and a 512 hard drive. I also purchased a like new 27in. Apple Thunderbolt screen for 225.00 on eBay. Im also going to incorporate my 1tb external hard drive for all my family pics and writing documents just to keep the hard drive stress free as possible. So in essence, I’ve spent just under $1,300 and will have a machine that’ll blow the old MacBook Pro I had out of the water. For me, it sure beats spending almost 2k for a laptop with a 13in tiny screen with only 8gb of ram and a 250 hard drive. More bang for the buck! Totally excited for my new machine. Thanks for the advice and insight Tom your review was a big sigh of relief!!
It's absolutely crazy how good these are. There are definitely workflows that can cause them to stutter, but it's been great for me. My wife even runs Final Fantasy while exporting Final Cut videos and has no issues 😁
I will say from my experience is that I have an M1 Mac Mini 16 Gig Unified Ram and an M1 13 inch MacBook Pro 8 Gig Unified Ram and the MBP has lately given me some struggles with maxing out the ram. I use the Mac Mini as my main editing computer and it runs so smooth. The MBP with plug-ins, graphics and other 3rd party installations might be the problem for me as before I loaded a lot of them onto the machine I didn’t run into maxing out the ram. I will also say that Affinity Photo is noticeably faster on the Mac Mini 16/Unified Ram vs the 13 MBP 8/Unified Ram. The 13 MBP gets the job done for me but I only use it when I’m traveling or have to upload footage away from home. I wish I would have spent the extra few hundred bucks on the upgrade but I thought since it’s a computer only to be used here and there I wouldn’t need the extra power. If they release a new round of computer upgrades such as a new MBP or Mac Mini M1X/M2 I’ll probably sell the 2 that I have and upgrade to 1. Just my experience though and thought I’d share.
This is interesting, I would've expected that they'd have the exact same performance since it's the same processor. I'm sure there are other complicated things happening under the hood 🤔
Glad I saw this video. I am thinking of buying the Mac Mini 256 with 8 RAM and was concerned about the RAM and the 256. I am hoping I can run the Mac Mini from an External SSD with 1 TB. I would suggest you do not put your computer to sleep. I have always found it to cause problems to wake up. Thanks again for doing the video.
Overall the setup has been working well for me. If you've got the budget for more RAM I don't think you'll regret it, but the base model is great!
I’ve had those same problems on my 16gb model, using different keyboard and different monitor. The restart issue has only happened once, when I first purchased it. Not much of an issue for any of the problems and wouldn’t stop me from buying again.
It hasn't happened since installing Monterey for me, so I'm hoping they've fixed it 🤞
I heard a lot of the updates since then fixed the Bluetooth connection issues and I think the monitor waking up is an issue with a lot of apple computers cuz I have an intel one and it does the same thing to my dell monitors. I heard LG & Apple monitors don’t do this tho
I have been using apple since G4 . I have became a M1 fan boy. I have a M1 iPad Pro awesome just wish it had pro apps. I have a M1 16 MacBook Pro 16 512. Awesome. But I have to say this my old MacPro 5,1 all spec out still handles all my recording studio needs.
Definitely still waiting for the full power of the iPad to be unleashed at some point!
I got the 16gb/1Tb configuration and the read/write speeds on this are amazing and is my daily driver. The drive swap is still there but it is minimal, at roughly 256mb on my last check.
It's so fast! Pretty unbelievable, really.
Sold my MacBook Pro 2017 and bought the Mac Mini M1 with 8GB of RAM and 256GB hard drive and the performance difference is huge! I ran Adobe Premiere, Lightroom, Photoshop, Chrome, Spotify and other stuff all at the same time and never once had a problem! I use a 1T nvme external drive as storage this way i let the 256GB hard drive only for applications and system storage! For those who are still having 2nd thoughts, don't! It's a great little machine! Of course you'll need a desk, a monitor etc...
It's crazy right? I never would've believe it, but I'm happy about it!
I purchased the base model mini in late November and immediately fell in love after using a 2012 gaming PC for years; after a few days with it I had to purchase my wife one to replace her old gaming PC too! Paired with a Hagibis MC25 Pro DP with 2tb NVME + 2tb Sata SSD, I couldn't be happier!
Pretty much the same story here- within a month my wife and I each had one 😁
I did try a Mac mini m1 for a while, but found it actually slower to load in programs than my windows pc, tried MacBook air m1 as well, and also same problem, loading in office, even Mac own pages software, definitely took longer to load than on the previous Ryzen 5 windows pc I had, so eventually went back to a windows mini pc, far more ports, loads in faster and runs a much larger range of software. I really couldn't see what all the hype about the m1 was.
@@robawestwood The hype is mainly its power efficiency. I find it strange you've noticed a large enough difference in load times, it feels just as fast as any ssd machine I've used. Have you tried to turn off animations?
@@cw48494 no, didn't try that, but there again, I didn't do that on windows either, so it was a fair comparison. I don't have the M1 mini now though, sold it and got a m
HP mini pc for less than I sold it for second hand.
I know this video is a little old, but thank you for posting it! So I was hoping that there would be a new Mac mini released in the Apple update, but instead they did the studio. I have a small consulting business that deals with construction management, so most of my usage is general office stuff some drawing reviews occasionally marking things up, but nothing like the more intensive video editing and live streaming that you do. On a different video several people recommended that I go ahead and get the M1 Mac mini because it would be more than enough for what I need to do, so I ordered it. Right after I found out that they'll probably be a new Mac mini at the end of the year and I was panicking if I made the right choice or if I should've just sucked it up and waited. This video helped me determine that the choice I made was a good one and the machine that I purchased, with 16 GB of RAM, should last me at least several years. So again even though I'm late to the video thank you for coming back and updating your review, it helped ease my mind that I didn't just blow a bunch of money.
Great video, really like the tone as always... on the mac, I bought last year a 16' MacBook Pro and a friend mine bought a MacMini for probably one fifth of the price. I used it for a couple of weeks and no question, the MacMini is way faster and... without the fan noise. Great to have you output after nearly a year of extensive use though...
I was shocked too after having a really nice 16" MacBook prior to this. I genuinely thought this was going to only be my "Zoom/stream" computer, but it quickly became my main machine.
All computers memory swap, it’s just the M1ssd does it much faster making it seamless. So your Windows or Intel Mac will ‘wear our’ ssd blocks out the same way.
I’ve heard this and it’s good to know! I personally couldn’t care less about the swapping, but it’s helpful info to have when people bring it up.
Great video! I've been looking for the most budget friendly iOS computer to use for coding. Was shock at the price of the M1 Mac Mini and needed to see if it works well. Based on your review I think it's worth the purchase!
It definitely is! Rumors abound that a new Mini might be coming out this month or next, but I have no idea if that's true or what the availability timeline looks like.
Something I forgot to mention in the video is that with the M1 chips, you can install and run iOS apps directly on the computer- could be an awesome feature for someone who codes.
It is excellent, I was not expecting such performance from it. I’ve been using it for around 7 months, and I just recently discovered that I can play good video games. So I’m also playing hehe. I love it!!
Ya, mine restarts sometimes too. I have an og 16GB 1TB Mini. I'm a professional audio engineer and I was in the middle of a bounce last time it happened hahaha. I was pretty mad hahaha.
Oh that's like the worst time for it to happen 😕
Luckily it hasn't happened again to me since making this video/installing Monterey.
@@tombuck My heart was in my stomach hahaha. Luckily everything was ok.
Dude, you have quality content and very informative, also a humble way to present it. You will reach 1 million subscribers in no time. Subscribed!
Thanks Bruno! I really appreciate that! It's always a little strange to put videos out and hope they come across as intended, so I'm glad they are 👍
Thanks Tom,
I bought the 16g model a couple of months ago but haven’t had time to open it yet. I’m thinking about a 21:9 34” monitor to go with it. I’m happy to see you’re still happy with yours.
You definitely gotta treat yourself to opening it up! I’m sure you’ll love it 👍
@@dinopalavra876 😂😂 I did finally find time to open it and I installed a 34” widescreen monitor on a pretty nice arm. I’m pretty happy so far. 👍👍
Tom, thanks for the relaxed discussion ~ with good, balanced info. A professional approach, also, without too much excitement (that can be a little draining at times)! I checked this review, as I’m considering getting the Mini very soon.
Thanks Miles! I really appreciate the kind words and I'm glad the review was helpful!
I did a custom one from the apple site and when the M1 Mac Mini with 16GB RAM, 256GB storage with a 2TB storage drive for video editing. I also have the 16TB raid away running for the Intel Mac Mini base model with upgraded ethernet
Sounds like an awesome setup that'll last a long time!
@@tombuck it has its improvement over the last system i had
I would rather pay the extra for a Mac Air M1... so I can take my work anywhere. I'm in South Africa. Here we have loadshedding/blackouts all the time so a battery is very important.
That's not a bad idea. Having the portability and battery backup are really awesome.
Bought an upgraded one for photoshop. Super happy. Thinking about a second one .
I haven’t had any of these issues and I got the same computer a few weeks after you.
That’s because you’re perfect 🥰
Thanks for an amazingly useful video. We're just now setting up our M1 Mac Mini 16GB/256GB.
Woo hoo! I hope you really enjoy it!
I was one of the those that mentioned the shortened life of the SSD (pretty sure I was polite though, yikes!). The SSD is meant to last (generally) up to about 10+ years. Depending on tons of factors like usage, operating environment, etc. The issue with the M1 is that the lifespan will then be shortened exponentially, to roughly 5 years or less (video editing of course puts more stress and reads/ writes exponentially more times then an average user). Louis Rossman does a much better job explaining this with hard evidence backed by years of repair experience.
It's silly someone would name call or hurl insults over a computer choice! wow!
You were definitely polite, but let me tell you, lots of others were quite…passionate 😬😁
Always appreciate you Art! 🙏
I say xcode development puts more stress on it. You export/write a video editing result only after long times of editing and cuting and not 2 times a minutes as a developer debugging a hard problem. We will see. I guess 3 years will be when we see the first large chunk of macMinis appearing on eBay with broken internal SSDs
th-cam.com/video/owmXDBHgAJg/w-d-xo.html
I’m rather glad I waited. I’m hopefully picking up a base 8GB 256Gb Mini soon - my use case of basic administrative office tasks and light (minecraft lol) gaming + general use is easy for the M1, and software support is better than ever. Thanks for the video, Tom ! :-)
You'll love it! It should work perfectly for those tasks.
Swap files (or virtual memory) have been a thing since the 1990s. Managing memory in order to reduce strain on SSDs is old hat. Nothing to worry about.
That's my hope.
I have the original M1 MacMini, with the 8GB unified memory (the only one that was immediately available when I needed to purchase a computer when my Intel iMac bricked). In hindsight, it has been surprisingly capable. But let me be clear: Whenever I've had to do extensive layering (compositing) of multiple stacks of graphics on a video timeline in Final Cut Pro, the machine chokes. I'm really holding my breath hoping Apple is about to release a new MacMini with the same M1 Pro and M1 Max chips that they announced for the MacBook Pros a few months ago. Those chips and those unified memory configurations in a MacMini would more than handle anything I would need to throw at it. By the way, I've never had the problem you describe with the keyboard, but I refuse to use a bluetooth keyboard, so mine is plugged into a USB port. And I've also never had my MacMini just restart unexpectedly. But if that is, indeed, related to something around the wireless capabilities of the machine, I'm also insistent on connecting my Mac to my router with a Cat-6 cable rather than using WiFi. (WiFi slows down my connection by about 50 percent, and I want all the speed I can get.). With my Google Fiber, I get a full GB up and down as long as I'm connected with a cable.
We should see some sort of update this week! It'll be very interesting indeed...
@@tombuck -- I am well aware of tomorrow's Apple Event (3/8) and am very intrigued by the talk of this so-called "Mac Studio" computer that some are saying is coming. But I'll believe it when I see it.
I have been loving my M1 Mac Mini. It has made my overall workflow so much easier. I have ran into the lagging issues you described, however it was with the mouse and not the keyboard. I have also run into a few issues while running Photoshop. If I sleep the M1 while Photoshop is running I am unable to shut down PS the next time I use the computer. 🤷🏼♂️. All of the issues I have had have easily been resolved with a simple restart. I would also still recommend this computer. At the same time, most modern computers would probably be better than the 2013 MacBook Pro I was using. Haha. Thanks for the video.
Haha, I still use my 2013 MacBook for email and web-based stuff, but it's definitely showing it's age.
I'm using mac mini m1 base model too!, your video really said it all, there's something that interesting when you share the information, keep up the good work!!
Thank you so much! I really appreciate the kind words and I'm happy to hear that the computer is working out for you too!
Great Review Tom the way you explained your experience honestly helped me make my decision. "ONE Ques". what do you think about M2 or M1x right now should we wait.
Normally I’d say buy when you need it, but it’s very likely Apple will announce some new computers in October, so I’d wait until then just to see.
I have my Mac Mini since Feb and never had issues.
Such a great machine!
16GB ram & 500 memory is the way to go with the M1 Mac Mini. Worth a few hundred extra.
this has ben a great resource for me. i've been mulling over the 8gb version of this machine for a cheap-ish machine to noodle on at night.
Glad it was helpful! The 8Gb is a super solid choice for the price (even cheaper if you check the Apple Refurbished store). I think there are rumors of possible Mac updates this month, but even so, the M1 Mini is still a great computer.
I bought one a month ago after your video, love it so far, I don’t have a 10bit camera so video editing is smooooth… btw what mic are you using in this one?
This was the Videomic NTG. Glad you’re liking your computer!
I am currently a windows laptop user but soon will try mac mini. I am not sure if base model is enough, and it is. Thank you for this.
It's a great way to dip your toes into a new operating system to see how you like it 👍
Since I also need a portable option, I was excited to get the 14" M1 Max MacBook Pro. These two computers together are absolutely awesome. Here's my full review of the MacBook: th-cam.com/video/a-86WlGK5As/w-d-xo.html
There is a guy who attached a screen to an M1 Mac Mini to make it portable and got the best of both worlds. Kind of.
Got my base model M1MM a few months ago for only $300! My main complaint is the lack of ports, I really would love 4 thunderbolt 4 ports.
$300?! Wow! That's an awesome deal.
Even with light use, I'm running into constant RAM limitations, the same I would encounter on x86 computers. Not sure how others don't.
I feel like you might be someone who pushes computers to the _absolute_ limit, just judging by your videos and workflow 😁
@@tombuck I have contant Ram limitations as well with my Mac Mini 512 GB and 8GB of ram, it's not the money worth. Problems stands when I work with PS, Excel, Word and PDF together. when I add Signal or Whatsapp or an Internet connection, than I have better to shut down the MM to start again..
I use my mini for web development and photo editing Never has ram issues. The biggest issue I've had with my M1 Mini is when it comes back from sleep mode and I've left Google Chrome open, the PC will be sluggish until I do a force quit on Chrome.
Once Chrome quits, everything is fine I've never experienced a random restart like you mentioned. Overall, this new mini is fantastic
I'm so glad it's working out for you!
Thanks for the 9-month overview! I had mine since mid-February, and loving it. I’m of the opinion that no computer is gonna be problem-free, especially with a major chip transition. I, too, have ran into the restart issue, and dutifully send my “report” to Apple in hopes that it can resolve this pesky issue. I personally have a 16GB, 1TB model, and as a music maker I do wonder about how it’ll handle instruments and projects with large amounts of audio, such as an orchestral instrument. I do my best to be watchful o the amount of SSD space, since it’s also used as swap in the event the M1 is starving for more memory allocation. But overall, it’s been a very positive experience, and glad it’s that way for you too. Thanks!
Happy to hear it's working well for you! I've been trying to dive into Logic more lately, and you're definitely right about projects quickly taking up a lot of space🤯
I use my Mini for Logic, the exact same specs as yours (16GB/1TB) and it's been amazing, honestly. That said... I run it in Rosetta because I have a lot of commercial plug-ins (Helix Native, Izotope, XLN, etc.) that haven't been re-written for Apple Silicon yet. Amazingly, it runs 100% stable when I run it in Rosetta, even though these plug-ins don't officially support Apple Silicon, and it runs better in Rosetta than my last laptop (16" MBP) did running native Intel code. I have some projects that have frightful amounts of tracks, and they work great, and it runs Garritan CFX, which has a gigantic sample library, though I've uninstalled it because I've realized I don't like sampled piano libraries. I have an M1 MacBook Air now w/ also 16GB/1TB and it's great being able to copy project files over between the two computers and getting predictably similar performance, which is a really underrated perk of going Apple Silicon, since it lets me record and mix on location on a laptop, even a project file that was once on a desktop, without having to freeze extra tracks and things like that. And I get plenty of battery life when running Logic with a bus-powered interface. Last time I was on my MacBook Air, I was using Sidecar to use my iPad as a secondary monitor for plugin and mixer windows, and once again, had no performance issues whatsoever. It wasn't the most performance-intensive project I was working on, given that it was just a three-piece rock band with just audio tracks, but it had plenty of convolution effects applied, and I remember thinking, 2015 version of me would not believe that this would ever be possible.
p.s. With 16GB M1, when I fire up Activity Monitor, most of the time when I look at swap used, it's sitting at 0 bytes, even when I'm working on music, so I think there's far less to worry about when you have a 16GB model. I am currently playing back a project with 60 channels (6 virtual instruments, rest audio tracks and buses), plenty of resource-intensive effects. I also have a few Chrome tabs (including this one) and a few programs open, and I'm sitting at 11.33 GB memory used, 0 swap. If I were doing serious music work, I'd close out my other programs, and if I needed a browser, I'd use Safari, which is lighter on resources, and I wouldn't be worried about swap at all. You can always freeze resource-intensive software instruments, and I also notice that freezing is quite quick on the M1 compared to Intel machines I've had before. I had a 8GB M1 before this one, and that one usually had a little bit of swap always being used. Not this one.
I've been using the super basic M1 Mini for about the same amount of time, and I like it quite a lot. It has been silent the whole time I've owned it, including when I load up all 4/8 cores with file compression or OS compiles or whatever. I'd like to exchange it for a 16 GB model now, because it really does page/swap fairly steadily in my normal usage, but I wouldn't have wanted to wait until the 16 GB models were available. I also still can't connect HDMI directly to a 4K Samsung TV, but it does work to connect to the TV using a USB-C to HDMI cable. A LG TV *can* connect directly using HDMI, and other computers can drive the Samsung TV, so it's just some kind of incompatibility between the Mini and the Samsung. OS Updates helped it at least produce a picture, but the video still glitches several times an hour. Again, it works fine using a USB-C cable instead.
Very interesting experiments with the HDMI output- thanks for sharing!
Nice video! I'm torn between the 8GB and 16GB RAM versions. I am photographer and run Lightroom and Photoshop simultaneously on my current 2014 MacBook Pro. It runs a bit slow when editing and the fan runs constantly when connected to an external monitor. What RAM config do you suggest?
A big part of why I made this video was to show that the 8GB option is totally capable of pro level work (as mentioned in the video, 8GB of M1 RAM is _not_ the same as 8GB of RAM on an Intel machine). That being said, from a practical standpoint I don't think you can go wrong by getting as much RAM as you can afford and I doubt you'd regret getting 16. 👍
Agreed with you, I also use the M1 MacMini Base 8GB model is good. I don't have shutdown issues. I have issues with Safari, keeping showing beachball icon, what I don't understand is this error has been reported to Apple, but nobody from Apple cares at all, Apple behaving like arms or missile supplier, fire and forget!! Anyway this is one of the quirks on the Mac OS/M1 MacMini.
Hmm, interesting. I haven't had those safari issues, but I'm glad you're reporting it to Apple. I've reported some Final Cut bugs to them and they really seems to take it seriously, so maybe even if you didn't hear back from them, they took note of it.
In my experience the M1 has very good things, but also very bad things. I know that neither Apple fanboys and Apple haters will like this post, but we have to tell all the facts.
The good:
- Good value per cost. It is not overpriced at all. Great to see this in an Apple product.
- Great thermals, best in class.
- Low power consumption. Also best in class.
- CPU performance is surprisingly good
The Bad:
- The GPU performance is bad, much slower than any AMD or NVidia GPUs, even the cheapest ones.
- No eGPU supoort, which makes the above point worst.
- Poor expansion capabilities.
- Maximum RAM is only 16GB, nowadays that is smartphone territory more than a computer. Due to this intensive use produce a lot of "swapping", which reduces the SSD live a lot and also it's performance over the time, and it can not be replaced.
The horrible:
- Denial of the right to repair or upgrade. Soldered RAM and SSD welded to the PCB is a technical aberration. The day a single component fails or it is not enough it will be mothballed. This is a perfect example of programmed obsolescence, bad for the consumer and bad for the planet. And this is totally unnecesary, in this aspect something like an Intel NUC would be a much better dessign, a pity there is no macOS for it because the new NUCs are even smaller, repairable, upgradeable, support 64GB RAM, any NVMe sizes and support eGPU. Sorry but there are no excuses for this.
The right to repair issue really is huge so I'm glad you brought it up. If we could use our products for longer by simply swapping out batteries or components when needed, that would be so much better than having to trash an entire item just because on part failed.
I totally agree with you, I personally stand on the same side as to being about to upgrade internal components. At the end of the day like always say apple has their reason but it would be extremely nice to have the capability to exchange RAM sticks!
@@tombuck can you trade in for a newer one or is it not worth doing that?
@@benjiebarker if you have to cause it’s done, apple gives you $0 for it.
Dude you are a NO BS GEM . You helped me take a decision on the M1 mac mini 🙌🏽
I really appreciate that! I'm glad I could help in your decision. Extra RAM is always great if it's in the budget, but the base model is super capable, and it's on sale at quite a few places right now!
I have this Mac mini but in MY experience, I needed more RAM. If I had too many tabs open and more than one creative program open, things noticeably slowed down.
Editing 4k footage also had its limitations. In terms of raw power tho, this thing kills value wise.
I have the Mac Mini that is a model or two older. It has a 3GHz 6-Core Intel Core i5 processor. It has 8GB of DDR4 Ram. If you ask me quite what that means, I can't quite explain it, but I know the computer does the job for me. :)
Edit*** I have the late 2018 model that I purchased new in 2020. The early 2020 model had little difference from the 2018 model, so I saw no reason to get the more expensive model. It wasn't until a few months later that M1 was released with a lower price tag. Oops :(
If it works it works and that’s what matters most 👍
Hey Tom, great video, thanks for all the information. I am considering buying the M1 but wondered if you had experienced any problems with using plug-ins for Final Cut Pro X? I have purchased quite a few over the years and have heard there can be compatibility issues, any help would be much appreciated. Thanks 🙏 😊
It really depends on the plugin and how the developer does or doesn't update it. I would recommend seeing if your must-have plugins have specifically been updated.
Thanks @@tombuck I appreciate you getting back to me 🙏
Suddenly randomly restarting is very much not ok if you plan to use the machine for live performances etc.
Edit: also not ok for the environment if the computer has planned obsolescence that causes it to die after 8 years, although my expectation is that the SSDs will tend to (mostly) last a lot longer than that. Making that non-replaceable should straight-up be deemed criminal IMO (ok, maybe not criminal, but it shouldn’t be allowed), but there are enough other great things about the way these systems are designed that they are pretty attractive.
I still actively use a 2013 MacBook Pro and 2011 iMac, FWIW.
My M1 mini seems to stay in the 5-6 GB RAM usage range. I primarily work with audio and midi apps. The only one that I’ve had a problem with is Reason. Logic Pro, Studio One and Adobe Audition all work fine. I have a hub and 3 attached SSD drives. The size of the 250 GB internal drive occasionally causes issues. I have to keep my data files on an external drive.
Ahh, interesting. It definitely comes down to which apps you use most often in determining how much memory to get. I guess I got lucky in that I just happened to use mostly optimized apps that run really well 😬
got the lowest macbook m1 few months later satisfied. (almost) everything is faster than my surface laptop that is higher end. Only thing i'm upset about is no bootcamp.
@Tom Buck, interesting. The 3 issues you've had, 1. Keyboard I haven't because I bought a cheap MAC corded keyboard, however I have had my Magic Mouse and Trackpad disconnect briefly maybe 3 times since I've had my Mac Mini, 2. Display, my 4k LG monitor has always come to life from sleep and 3. Restarting, can't remember mine ever restarting except for OS updating.
I bought my M1 Mac Mini 16 GB 1 TB in January 2021. Recently purchased the M1 MacBook Air 16 GB 512 GB as I traded in my 2018 MacBook Pro 13” (only had it about a month).
Incidentally, I traded in my 27" 2017 iMac for my M1 Mac Mini.
Would I recommend the M1? Absolutely.
Glad you're having a good experience! The issues are definitely strange. My wife has the exact same computer in the room next to me and has never had any of these problems🤷🏻♂️
I'm so torn up right now and this video didn't help to get me "untorn" if that's a word. I have a Macbook Air M1 and as it turns out, I love it. Will run for hours untethered from the wall. Even playing games like Cities Skylines can go for hours and it doesn't scream to be plugged in. I almost forget it is on battery power. I got it after returning a windows PC back to Costco.
Now my desktop PC is Windows based and need to replace it because its about 6 years old and doesn't support Windows 11. Ok, back in Costco and picked up a Windows laptop AMD Rizen 7, 12 gig, blah blah blah. Its not too far from a Mac Mini M1 which costs less than this thing. After 2 hours on battery power with Cities Skylines its at 30 percent. Then along comes your video. I kinda know what with happen on the weekend with this laptop. Thanks for this video update.
The M Series chips are really tough to compete with in a lot of ways. It’ll be interesting to see where things good from here. 👍
I got the base model a year ago and it is great, my regret is only getting the 256gb hard drive - I’m already running out of space. I use the computer for light programming, making videos, makinng music in Garage band, plus normal daily work tasks.
Adding a 1tb external drive has been great for me, but it'd definitely be nicer to just have that storage built in.
I should also mention that mine has never experienced the “memory leak” issue. Memory swap amounts on mine are quite low.
Great video. I got an Air…but mostly because my kids/wife will need a machine in the next few months and I’ll look at a new Mini or whatever other “mini” tower has been rumoured. My Air almost never leaves my desk.
Performance-wise the Air should be the same, but the benefit of the Mini is that it has more I/O ports. But it'll definitely be interesting to see what they release next!
@@tombuck It should actually be just a bit more powerful because it has a fan and can run faster longer without getting hot. I have noticed on the Air that once I've been streaming for a bit I have some stuttering with one or two specific applications (electron applications). Not on the stream, but on my end only. Plus I'd like a 2nd monitor. I guess my other option is to use an ATEM Mini ISO for streaming instead of eCamm
Thanks for your video. I am still running my 2011 mac mini which I upgraded with SSD 3 years ago. Finally thinking of upgrading just because I cant upgrade software on it anymore. Otherwise it still works fine.
2011! That's awesome it's still going strong.
I own the 8/256 M1 and use it with Lightroom, Photoshop and Premiere.
No complains although I have managed to slow it down with multiple uncompressed raw editing.
But this happens after continuously editing 40-50 photos.
I’m overall impressed and it being silent and occupying minimum desk space is a huge plus.
Interesting, the RAW photos must take a ton of power, but I'm glad you're happy overall 👍
@@tombuck they do. But it’s something you’ll not notice until you’re editing like the 40th or so. ..and my workflow is editing first in Lightroom, then in Photoshop.
Curious to see how you are enjoying this configuration? I am looking at the base model too but wondering how it will handle running Photoshop and Lightroom CC simultaneously to edit 42MB pictures from my Sony A7R3. Any thoughts? Thanks!
@@vettepwr23 you basically described my workflow. But the photos come from a Sony α7C. Other than that, what I originally wrote. The machine will eventually slow down. But until it does, will work perfectly.
@@FotisNakos thanks. My current machine is a 2014 MacBook Pro maxed out with 16GB ram and 1TB internal SSD. I can’t store all my photos on it but do edit from the internal drive. My current setup slows down when doing a lot of edits in Lightroom or multiple layers in Photoshop. In addition the fan runs all the time especially with an external monitor. Do you edit from the internal or use an external?