Picked up a two month old m2 on eBay for $350, and I’m loving it. First Mac PC I’ve used in forever. It’s sleek oh so quiet, and blazingly fast, just what I needed for photo editing !
Finally, an unbiased opinion about the Mac mini 2 bare model. No, you do not need to upgrade to 16Gb memory unless you are someone that can't bargain its time. Simply connect an external SSD and use the internal storage for applications and memory swap. Besides, you are going to need to purchase a $100 hub to replicate ports in the front and of course for us photographers and video editors, we need an SD card slot. Apple is always very smart in pricing their equipment to make you think you should go one up. The bare bone offer is 600 dollars. If you upgrade the memory, is becomes 800 dollars. So why not pick the 512Gb one, and upgrade it to 16Gb of memory. Now you are at 1000 dollars. Getting in M2 Pro territory. This is the reason you should go with the M2 8Gb and 256Gb. This is the reasonable choice for all of use who can have a slightly slower computer. I am currently using a Mac Book Pro late 2013, 8Gb of memory and a 2.4 Ghz dual-core intel Core i5 to edit my videos and photographies. I easily manage with a 10 years old computer.
I am à Photographer. I have the M1 8GB memory. I also develop websites. Im constantly getting the “using significant memory” message on safari. Lightroom takes forever to export photos. Especially if I have alot of layers. I’m hoping the 16GB will be good enough.
Yes, me too. I have a 2013 Macbook Pro with 16gb and 512 SSD. I use an external 1 GB usb drive which is faster than the internal one. This suits me just fine. I just worry about how long it will last. Also, I don’t use it as a laptop as the battery is dead, and have an external monitor of 1440 27” which is beautiful. So the base model M2 Mac Mini could be the logical replacement when the time comes.
@@rdh1130I was getting the same message the past few days in safari when I had my email or TH-cam opened. I investigated what could be happening because I only had 3 tabs opened and no heavy activity on computer. Turns out it can mea that safari needs an update. So I updated it, and the issue went away.
The advantage of having a pc is you can upgrade components. I work off both and my pc hardly turns on anymore since I got the Mac Studio. It just can’t compete with the apps I use. And my pc has a rtx3090
It's a trap. You buy the $600 computer and it's awesome, sure. But then you're stuck in the ecosystem and when you ever want something better, you pay out the nose
As a Mac user for the past 13+ years, I was considering moving back to a PC. The Mac Mini is great value but the laptops are expensive...and not without issues. Many M1 Mini users had bluetooth connectivity problems. I had a two Mac keyboards and a mouse die, rather than connect with my M1. Sounds like it may be fixed with the M2.
@@LeeZavitz Thank you for this video. I’m thinking of getting the M2 with 16gb ram and 512gb storage or 24gb ram with 512gb storage or M2 pro (no change in specs). I’m planning on using the following - SQL, Excel, R, Python, and Tableau. And maybe edit videos. Which version would you recommend?
I haven’t upgraded my computers from about ten years. This looks like an awesome upgrade for me. Even the entry level one. I have upgrade my iPads twice and phones four times since then. My computers are really showing there age.
Thank you for making this video! I just bought a base Mac Mini M2 8/256 and all of the critics and reviews out there are basically saying how the base model is essentially worthless unless you add another $600+ in upgrades. It’s refreshing to hear a review in favor of the base mini and geared towards the average user. I’m fully aware of the limitations of the base mini and while I’d prefer better specs (like you also mentioned) I’m not the type of person that is going to use this Mac for photo and video editing or gaming. I’m just looking for a reliable and affordable desktop computer to do general things with. I feel like I’d rather get the base model, which will be fine for a few years, rather than spec out a $1900 Mac Mini that’s “future proof.” The base model should be perfect for my needs and in a few years when it’s too slow to do anything, I’ll upgrade to whatever is the latest and greatest at that time (M3 or M4). I paid less than $499 for a 2023 Mac Mini M2… it’s hard to complain about that.
only video editing or similar use needs upgraded ram. You can upgrade if you have the money and want “peace of mind”. But you will not see any performance gain with your use. There are a lot of people who “recommend” upgrading but have no idea why they are saying it. Not everyone has same use therefore not everyone benefit from the upgrade. It depends on the your use and not blindly upgrading because someone said so. Lots of these people will “recommend” upgrading ram of apple watch if they could. 😂
@@evacody1249 My Apple Mac Mini M2 is working just fine… and if it’s useless if a few years I’ll just buy another entry level machine. I’m not doing anything that would require more machine than that, so why should I pay for more than what I need?
Would you say the base M2 Mini is good enough to act as a media hub for the living room (given the reduced SSD speeds on the 256GB model)? Mainly playing video from an external hard drive, streaming audio and video from the web and maybe some Steam/retro game emulation? No one else seems to have mentioned this use case but I think it would make perfect sense.
At home, I have been using my M1 MacMinii for a few years. It *tears* through video and photo editing. For comparison, I still use a 2015, 4K iMac at work. It is sooooo slow compared to the M1 Mac. I think I'll stay with the M1 for now. The upgrade to M2 just isn't enough of a change for me at this time. Great video btw.
1:32 That comment made me subscribe to your channel, shout out to you for keeping it honest and have consideration for everyone’s time, especially those that loves those cut to the chase observations
I have Mac Studio M2, and it’s great for software development, probably engineering, some architecture, CAD, photos & design, light-to-moderate video and effects, audio workstation, and related/similar. So Mac mini M2 is like the little brother!
Lifetime PC person here… have built 6 high end editing/gaming computers over the past 30 years of my life. I just bought the mid grade version of the Mac mini m2, I’m quite sad to say I’m slowly become a “mac” guy. For work at least. I primarily use mine for adobe suite and work stuff (which is all creative related) and this dang computer is UNREAL for the price point. It’s just incredible.
i have the mini m1 and have had no bluetooth or wireless problems at all keep in mind collisions happen more so when you have alot of that stuff active in the area you are so anyone that does not have that going on will not experience any of the problems at all, also big sur was a problem os for the m1s and monterey solved that and i have no big sur experience as mine came with monterey only and the systems cant go backwards from what they are shipped with , iam now running ventura and it made alot of improvements over even monterey
I bought an M1 Mac Mini around a month ago and I’m still in the return window (gotta love Costco). Should I return the M1 and grab the M2? The slower SSD is concerning.
Well done, mate. Great review video. I appreciate the absence of hyperbole, childish yelling and fluff. Very useful content. Regards from sunny South Australia.
I had purchased the new 2023 Mac Mini M2 to replace a late November 2012 Mac Mini. Unfortunately after almost 2 weeks on the phone with different AppleCare people every day....the problem is simple: The M2 2023 Mac Mini has LESS memory than my 2012 Mac mini...You can say I was really pissed off that I had to go through all the BS trying to get the migration done...End result: Tomorrow (Monday) I take a ride to the closest Apple store (which isn't that close) and return this 2023 model. Then figure out my next best option to buy. Thankfully I kept my 'obsolete 2012'...
Just bought the M2 base model on sale for $499. After being on laptops for the last 11 years, it's so nice to be back on a desktop, and a Mac! After seeing this, I'm sure it will be more than fast enough for the video editing, photoshop, and writing I do...Can't remember when Apple came out with a computer that didn't make me gasp looking at the price tag. Under $500 just wow!
I have a 2014 iMac with 24GB of RAM. Why is Apple selling new computers that only include a mere 8? Is 24GB of the old style RAM equal to 8 that the M2 chip uses?
great video. u said the 1tb ssd is faster than the 256 gb model, but the 512 is also faster than the 256 gb for the same reason. just clarifying for anyone curious.
Hi, great review. I would like an advice... what is the better option, new Mac mini m1 with 16gb (I can still find it in stores), or new mac mini M2 with 8gb? Intended use will be non demanding everyday stuff, but also video editing (as a hobby, nothing professional) up to 4k, mostly short videos, for youtube and similar.
I am having quite a hard time now that I am going to purchase this M2 Mac Mini (my first ever Mac purchase!), and don't know whether I should choose the 8GB or the 16GB.. 8GB is the best for my budget now, that I can use the extra $200 to upgrade my monitor and buy desk peripheral etc. (for the storage, I am fixed with the 256 GB, though) But for video editing, everyone seems to be upgrading to 16GB, this is what's hard. Budget is tight but I kind of afraid 8GB will do me no good. So I'm going to be specific with my workflow and asking for your advice if the 8GB is good: 1. Opening 15-20 Chrome tabs, and apps like: Notion, Spotify, Tradingview, Canva 2. Using the free version of DaVinci Resolve to edit 1080p screen recording video (with or without my face in a floating window) with light transition, some motion titles, and occasional BGM insertion I will probably keep my opened app to the minimum during editing, and will probably close any other apps during rendering. So.. Do you think the base 8GB M2 Mac Mini will do me good?
With what you said, you should choose 16GB as 8 won't be enough if you want smoother experience and the problem is that you can't upgrade RAM down the road when you have saved some more money. Probably cheap out on peripherals and get 16GB and upgrade monitor and other items later.
I just use my NAS for data now. I no longer rely on local HD storage for Mac’s. However from a day to day use I’ve been pretty happy with baseline Apple laptops.
i’m so torn between a m2 pro mac mini and a refurbished m1 16” macbook pro. i kinda want the portability but it seems dumb to send 2000 on a m1 when i can get a mini for 1300
Even the base model is a damn fast machine that puts most Windows PCs in the shade. 8 GB is enough, 16 GB is better... but this is currently one of the best desktop computers in terms of price-performance ratio.
You are certainly right, the last gen M1 Mac Mini, either refurb or with rebate, is the better deal because of the dual Nand SSD, much better for swap. I will buy one used for my matte display 4k-TV.
Do you know if they ever fixed the Bluetooth problems with the M1 Mac Mini? I used Bluetooth all the time and would be disappointed to spend that much for something that doesn't work properly.
So I am in the early stages starting a church. Would you say that for a small possible home church, the base model with the upgraded 16 gigs of unified memory would be sufficient? Mostly used for study, something like word documents for sermon writing, and eventually some video and sound usage.
Ordered mine this morning. Trying to convince a colleague with this one for his photo editing but he rather build a PC instead. parts can be upgraded anytime, which is understandable.
Great review! I'm glad you included the tip on the external ssd, I might have to get one of those. I wish 16gb ram was standard, but if that means other's won't be able to get it at the $599 price then I'm sorta ok with that. For me the real problem is with Apple expecting so much money for such little upgraded internal storage at those speeds ($200 from 256gb to 512gb geez!). Like you said, external ssd is a good play to make. I'm replacing my 2015 Macbook pro with a 16gb ram and 256gb storage M2 Mac mini and hoping that I can squeeze a lot of life out of this.
Yup, $200 for an additional 256GB Storage is expensive, but all the top reviewers show that this is due to Apple using 1 x 256GB chip for the 256GB, and 2 x 256GB for the 512GB, effectively a RAID 0 for anything above 256GB. Drive speed therefore jumps quite dramatically. That's the reason why the 512 would be my base level if you think drive speed is important, especially if you intend to get 4-5 years of work out of it. Would have been nice if Apple had used 2 x 128GB but I suppose marketing wants you to stump up $200 more for the speed and storage and thus make disproportionately more profit. Twas ever thus, and if you think back to the speeds and specs of what you would have got for $799 in 2013, 2003 and 1993 it's still pretty amazing.
If anyone needs more input - i have the m1 macbook air. 8gb ram. I can edit 4k footage on it without a hiccup (all footage and files on an external ssd). It does bog a little on export but thats to be expected. All my footage is typically 1080 10bit though and it crushes it no problem. I edit 20mp photos and it doesnt lag at all. Picked it up for 650$ used about a year ago. Though, id rather have the mac mini since most of the time i just use the laptop sitting at a desk anyways.
Not sure what camera you used to film this, but you the color and lighting on this video is amazing. spot on 100% accurate. skins tones, the color of the mac mini etc. great video quality. good work. that said. i bought the M2 Pro mac mini with 12 core cpu just because. I love it. stupid fast.
This thing is awesome, we got the base mode for my mom it was $499 on sale. She watches TH-cam videos, Netflix, internet browsing & iMessages with her account. 2000/MBS for the SSD is insanely fast for her use case. so much easier than dealing with a Windows PC. Apple knocked it out of the park with this one
I "just" got my iMac 27" 5k (2021 - the last intel one) with top Radeon card. I won't be looking to upgrade until M3 - M4. Can't wait to see what that will be like. Hoping Apple releases an affordable mini LED monitor.
I'm wondering what kind of display matches (but not surpasses) the output capabilities of Mac mini. This is a crucial point in decision making because one can easily overspend so much that surpasses the price of an iMac. Maybe this question can be asked in a different way: considering the similarities of iMac and mini, what is the closest display in the market to the built in iMac display? Thank you.
These are fantastic computers (including the older M1 model). For port and storage expansion, I can recommend the "Satechi Stand & Hub for Mac mini with SSD Enclosure".
Will it be a worthy upgrade if compared to the m1 iPad Pro ? My iPad Pro M1 Is lagging a lot while editing on lumafusion. Shall i get the base model M2 Mac mini ?
I will likely upgrade to 16 GB RAM since you can't upgrade yourself. But is the 500 GB SSD worth the upgrade, considering you can get an external 1TB SSD at roughly the same price?
Hello! In your opinion for user capture one and photoshop, is a Mac mini M2 (base chip) with 24GB RAM and 512 SSD or a Mac mini M2 Pro with 16GB RAM and 512 SSD better? Thanks for your comment.
I use a Mini M1 with 8GB system memory and Photoshop works just fine. In the M-architecture the amount of system memory can be much lower than on the conventional Intel systems.
Great video! I'm about to leave Windows and try out Apple, all I do is mainly video editing with some photo editing. I don't do much more then that besides FB, TikTok etc.. so I was wandering if you could help me to decide whether on the Mac Mini M1 or M2, I'm wanting the 16gb w 512 memory version, but not the pro. As I said, I am totally new with Apple products. Thank you for your time, hopefully you can help me out.
I recently sold a M1 Mac Mini and bought an M2 Mac Mini because of the Bluetooth and network LAN cable issues. I can report all those problems have been eliminated. I can't say I noticed any improvement in performance but just eliminating those previous issues makes this a much better computer over the M1.
I can't comment on network LAN issues but my 4 month old M2 Pro Mac Mini has the well-known Bluetooth issues. Basically all is good until I connect to a set of bluetooth headphones or earbuds. My keyboard and trackpad (both Bluetooth) start misbehaving. I'd hoped an update to Sonoma would fix this but alas no. What to do?
@@steveclark223 My heart goes out to you. I sold my M1 at a loss because it was so annoying. That's why I'm so please with the new M2, no issues. I thought the Bluetooth issue was solved.
This is what I recommend: 512GB = 2x the SSD speed. 16RAM I would say is the minimum nowadays. This will make a big difference in performance -is what I expect.
@@user-wm2tw interesting as so many TH-cam experts are saying to upgrade to 16gb. But I use light excel, word, email and some apple photo touchups. I am hoping 8gb is sufficient
@@desmondedwards6309 only video editing or similar use needs upgraded ram. You can upgrade if you have the money and want “peace of mind”. But you will not see any performance gain with your use. There are a lot of people who “recommend” upgrading but have no idea why they are saying it. Not everyone has same use therefore not everyone benefit from the upgrade. It depends on the your use and not blindly upgrading because someone said so. Lots of these people will “recommend” upgrading ram of apple watch if they could. 😂
@@user-wm2tw thanks for your feedback and insight. Much appreciated! I’m going to get the M2 Mac Mini 8gb. I’ll add storage via the cloud or through an external hard drive. That will allow me to splurge on a nice monitor
Easy. Just depends on how big your sessions are and the amount of plugins. Audio isn’t as demanding as video editing. I use to work in protools with old Macs like 10 years ago with nowhere near the power this has and could do a lot
Hey Lee. You're the best. I did watch the whole video despite your “Don’t watch the rest of this video” warning at the start. :) I just bought a new factory sealed 2TB 16GB RAM M1 Mac Mini with AppleCare+ today for $999. Too good of a deal to pass up. Went back and forth about buying this or a new M2 one. In addition to editing videos and photos I have a ton of VST virtual instruments I run in LogicPro many of which need to be installed on the main drive. I've been using a 1TB 16GB version of the same M1 Mac but was beiginning to be challenged by the internal storage. If at some point in the future I get into more intensive and complex video editing I'll probably go to 32GB RAM and a newer chip but for now I'm as happy as I can be using this for the things I do. Love your videos.
I have some questions. My 2010 mac which recently died had four usb ports on back. One for my external HD, One for my Bamboo pen tablet, another for my external camera (internal died) and one for a flash drive. Does the min have the ports for those uses? If I get a monitor will the mini be comparable to my old imac? Also i backed up my stuff with time machine on el Capitan OS. Will I be able to put that onto the new mini? Sorry I sound like a luddite lol
Is it possible to format an external SSD drive to handle swap memory? Or is this all integrated in Apple's unified memory architecture and can't be modified.
Don't spend $$$ on internal SSD upgrade. For $160 you can get a Thunderbolt external enclosure and a quality 1TB SSD to put in it. You can set up the external drive then as a boot drive (and if it is at Thunderbolt speed it will be fast) and use it from which to boot, and that will make that external drive the Swap disk. This way you keep the 256GB internal SSD simply as an emergency bootable drive if anything happens to your external drive.
I’m doing light Photoshop work and vector-based designs in Illustrator, but I run them 10-12 hours per day. Is the M2 base model with 8GB enough for me?
@@LeeZavitz Thank you much, i bought the m4 iPad Pro 1tb (for the ram spec bump) on release day with the hopes they would ease up on iPadOS with iOS18…lol. Everything about the iPad is amazing but the OS is driving me up a wall. I just don’t want to kneecap myself with the 1 nand ssd config…do you thing that would make a diff for long term health? I have a gaming rig with a 7800x3d/4090, so this is very much just to save power, and be able to do 99% of the same things. I’ve never broken 50gb of personal files let alone 250gb so i have no need for more space, but if it’s a more performance ssd with the 512gb or more, than ill do that
Man… Great video! Thanks! I was just making some comparisons with the prices here in Brazil: 1 - 8GB / 256GB - R$ 6,099 2 - 16GB / 256GB - R$ 7,499 3 - 16GB / 512GB - R$ 8,900 All M2 base model. If I buy option 2 above and add a thunderbolt hub, which has an enclosure for an 1TB SSD, to the setup it will cost R$ 8,499 (Mac mini + Hub + SSD) and I would get all of those extra ports form the hub + the 1TB storage instead of the Apple’s 512GB upgrade without the addition of the ports. Seems a great deal to me. What do you think? My only doubt is how would I manage the Apps and system files just with 256GB of internal storage. Currently I use at least 300GB. And most of my work is cloud based. Thanks again!
Thanks for clearing up an issue for me. I plan on buying an M2 Mini and boost up RAM and Internal storage. About the issue I mentioned earlier, you said that your Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse connected on first boot. I really don't want to buy an additional mouse and KB just for setup. Particularly wired models. So I can save a few bucks for buying external Solid State Drives. Thanks for some great information. Keep up the good work.
Great video!! In summary, are you saying that for 4k family video editing with the GoPro and simultaneous web surfing. Would the standard 8ram be sufficient? I’m a beginner looking to start a new hobby.
Just getting into Mac again the first time since 2000 have been a PC user for the last twenty-plus years, is this a good entry-level machine for General use including TH-cam, Quicken, tax software web browsing excetera even without adding the additional 8 gigs of RAM?
Question... When you're editing off an external SSD and you have 16GB memory, does the slower speed of the internal SSD still matter? How will it affect your workflow?
@@LeeZavitz just what I needed to know because I'm not very familiar with how these Apple Silicon Macs work, and I'm torn between going 512GB and just buying an external SSD. So, thank you! 👌
I don’t have one but it’s so simple anyone could do it (if you have a screwdriver). Step1. Buy nvme enclosure and nvme drive. Step2. Open enclosure and insert drive into the slot on the pcb. Step3. Close enclosure. Step4. Plug in drive and format it as APFS using disk utility. Step.5 enjoy fast external storage :)
I needed something "cheap" that could do reasonably high performance computing and just run. I ordered the M1 Mac mini with 16GB of RAM as the only upgrade. Well, a couple weeks later, the M2 Mac mini became available. I did not know about it having slower SSD in it. I did a swap with Apple and got $100 back to boot. So I'm good with that. I keep the BIG files on an external SSD. I only use the internal (256GB) SSD for holding the software. So long as the computing I'm doing does not touch swap, the M2 is actually faster. 10% give or take for a single CPU core task that runs the core to 100%. I have high hopes for the GPU cores running Metal. I would also like to access the 16 core neural engine for general purpose compute tasks. The engine should be similar to GPU as both AI and graphics do lots of matrix stuff. But I'm not clear on whether or not I can access them. There's CoreML of course. But that's not my area.
I have the M1 mac mini, best computer I've had for a long time. I'm a graphic designer/illustrator/old-school concept designer (marker pen car design type stuff)/artworker..... and to be honest for those sorts of workflow it really does the job and then some. The only thing i find needing from time to time is memory, if (probably will ) I got the M2 it would be the pro chip with 32 GB of ram, it (the M1) can chug with larger vector-based print files that have a lot of effects on them. Photos the M1 taps out with medium format images larger than 50mp full frame stuff its fine fuji is fine..... the best thing is it's absolutely silent! and barely gets warm. OH, the blue keyboard thing is now much improved on the M1 and pretty much connects straight away upon start-up never experienced dropouts either. There's my little review from a different type of creative. the M1 i have is the "maxed" out version
I am looking to get the M1 Mac Mini, so thank you for the review. How did they improve the Bluetooth on the M1 - was it a firmware update or did they give you a replacement machine?
I wish I had an answer to that. But from my past experience working with much much slower computers and working in protools I feel like this Mac mini would be awesome for audio stuff. It doesn’t require the same horse power video editing requires
Great production. One question, I have never had an Apple product before, I was wondering if I got the 16gb Ram with 256gb instead of 509gb memory and had the external drive will this be suffice for photography and photoshop work without the need to upgrade the internal memory? Thanks in anticipation
It will suffice indeed. I’ve seen demos of 4K video editing on the base model with only 8GB Ram and it flies thru. External SSD connected thru thunderbolt 4 is fast enough.
It will be better to upgrade to 16GB RAM and 512 GB+2 TB external SSD. The RAM mechanism mac uses is that no matter how large your configuration is, it will use SSD for swap, which will decrease the health of SSD. Hence a 512 GB SSD will last longer and had twice the speed of the 256GB version.
It's for anyone who owns up to 26MP camera and doesn't shoot more than 4K 30 in usual codecs, doing light editing and who doesn't already have something to do so. @LeeZavitz did they at least give you a burger??
I plan on getting the m2 mac mini here this year possibly as an upgrade to my windows pc I use that I built but I would be surprised if it is much better for performance. I do still have a mac mini from 2012 that still works okay even with 16gb ram I put in just outdated with the latest os being 10.15 catalina.
Hey bro, thanks for solid and comprehensive review on base model. Others, just mentioned it in passing. I'm a pc user from South Africa but Ive been thinking to switch over and $799 as I wouldn't need more than that. What do you think of $799? Mind you, we be don't easily get to stuff customer 2 TB external this side of town. Thanks again bro 😎🙏
Precise, crisp and to the point. What every review should be like.
Agree
EXACTLY!
Picked up a two month old m2 on eBay for $350, and I’m loving it. First Mac PC I’ve used in forever. It’s sleek oh so quiet, and blazingly fast, just what I needed for photo editing !
Finally, an unbiased opinion about the Mac mini 2 bare model. No, you do not need to upgrade to 16Gb memory unless you are someone that can't bargain its time. Simply connect an external SSD and use the internal storage for applications and memory swap. Besides, you are going to need to purchase a $100 hub to replicate ports in the front and of course for us photographers and video editors, we need an SD card slot.
Apple is always very smart in pricing their equipment to make you think you should go one up. The bare bone offer is 600 dollars. If you upgrade the memory, is becomes 800 dollars. So why not pick the 512Gb one, and upgrade it to 16Gb of memory. Now you are at 1000 dollars. Getting in M2 Pro territory.
This is the reason you should go with the M2 8Gb and 256Gb. This is the reasonable choice for all of use who can have a slightly slower computer. I am currently using a Mac Book Pro late 2013, 8Gb of memory and a 2.4 Ghz dual-core intel Core i5 to edit my videos and photographies. I easily manage with a 10 years old computer.
I am à Photographer. I have the M1 8GB memory. I also develop websites. Im constantly getting the “using significant memory” message on safari. Lightroom takes forever to export photos. Especially if I have alot of layers. I’m hoping the 16GB will be good enough.
the one upgrade that can be useful is the 10G ethernet
Yes, me too. I have a 2013 Macbook Pro with 16gb and 512 SSD. I use an external 1 GB usb drive which is faster than the internal one. This suits me just fine. I just worry about how long it will last. Also, I don’t use it as a laptop as the battery is dead, and have an external monitor of 1440 27” which is beautiful. So the base model M2 Mac Mini could be the logical replacement when the time comes.
@@rdh1130I was getting the same message the past few days in safari when I had my email or TH-cam opened. I investigated what could be happening because I only had 3 tabs opened and no heavy activity on computer.
Turns out it can mea that safari needs an update. So I updated it, and the issue went away.
try a $400 hub. You cannot get thunderbolt anything for cheap.
As a lifetime pc user, it's getting harder to resist
I hear you loud and clear 😅
The advantage of having a pc is you can upgrade components. I work off both and my pc hardly turns on anymore since I got the Mac Studio. It just can’t compete with the apps I use. And my pc has a rtx3090
@@LeeZavitz Same here. Since I buy MB Pro 14 M1 Pro I just don't turn on my PC or laptop.
It's a trap. You buy the $600 computer and it's awesome, sure. But then you're stuck in the ecosystem and when you ever want something better, you pay out the nose
As a Mac user for the past 13+ years, I was considering moving back to a PC. The Mac Mini is great value but the laptops are expensive...and not without issues.
Many M1 Mini users had bluetooth connectivity problems. I had a two Mac keyboards and a mouse die, rather than connect with my M1. Sounds like it may be fixed with the M2.
I've just bought M2 with 16gb ram. I think I made the best choice.
You did. It will be a better experience vs 8gb especially if you’re doing video editing
@@LeeZavitz Thank you for this video. I’m thinking of getting the M2 with 16gb ram and 512gb storage or 24gb ram with 512gb storage or M2 pro (no change in specs). I’m planning on using the following - SQL, Excel, R, Python, and Tableau. And maybe edit videos. Which version would you recommend?
I haven’t upgraded my computers from about ten years. This looks like an awesome upgrade for me. Even the entry level one. I have upgrade my iPads twice and phones four times since then. My computers are really showing there age.
Same here, I have a 2013 iMac. Might be time to upgrade.
@@mr.aey3 lol same . i have the 2012 imac. im looking at the m2 now. just deciding on what monitor
Thank you for making this video! I just bought a base Mac Mini M2 8/256 and all of the critics and reviews out there are basically saying how the base model is essentially worthless unless you add another $600+ in upgrades. It’s refreshing to hear a review in favor of the base mini and geared towards the average user. I’m fully aware of the limitations of the base mini and while I’d prefer better specs (like you also mentioned) I’m not the type of person that is going to use this Mac for photo and video editing or gaming. I’m just looking for a reliable and affordable desktop computer to do general things with. I feel like I’d rather get the base model, which will be fine for a few years, rather than spec out a $1900 Mac Mini that’s “future proof.” The base model should be perfect for my needs and in a few years when it’s too slow to do anything, I’ll upgrade to whatever is the latest and greatest at that time (M3 or M4). I paid less than $499 for a 2023 Mac Mini M2… it’s hard to complain about that.
only video editing or similar use needs upgraded ram. You can upgrade if you have the money and want “peace of mind”. But you will not see any performance gain with your use. There are a lot of people who “recommend” upgrading but have no idea why they are saying it. Not everyone has same use therefore not everyone benefit from the upgrade. It depends on the your use and not blindly upgrading because someone said so.
Lots of these people will “recommend” upgrading ram of apple watch if they could. 😂
Because it is useless. 8 gigs of ram and 256gigs of storage on a computer in 2023 is trash.
@@evacody1249 do you own a computer?
@@evacody1249 My Apple Mac Mini M2 is working just fine… and if it’s useless if a few years I’ll just buy another entry level machine. I’m not doing anything that would require more machine than that, so why should I pay for more than what I need?
Very nice review. Direct to the point without any fluff. Great job !
Would you say the base M2 Mini is good enough to act as a media hub for the living room (given the reduced SSD speeds on the 256GB model)? Mainly playing video from an external hard drive, streaming audio and video from the web and maybe some Steam/retro game emulation? No one else seems to have mentioned this use case but I think it would make perfect sense.
At home, I have been using my M1 MacMinii for a few years. It *tears* through video and photo editing. For comparison, I still use a 2015, 4K iMac at work. It is sooooo slow compared to the M1 Mac. I think I'll stay with the M1 for now. The upgrade to M2 just isn't enough of a change for me at this time. Great video btw.
I want a whole video, on repeat, on how delightful you pronounced fluidity. That deserves a remix!
1:32 That comment made me subscribe to your channel, shout out to you for keeping it honest and have consideration for everyone’s time, especially those that loves those cut to the chase observations
I have Mac Studio M2, and it’s great for software development, probably engineering, some architecture, CAD, photos & design, light-to-moderate video and effects, audio workstation, and related/similar. So Mac mini M2 is like the little brother!
Lifetime PC person here… have built 6 high end editing/gaming computers over the past 30 years of my life.
I just bought the mid grade version of the Mac mini m2, I’m quite sad to say I’m slowly become a “mac” guy. For work at least.
I primarily use mine for adobe suite and work stuff (which is all creative related) and this dang computer is UNREAL for the price point. It’s just incredible.
i have the mini m1 and have had no bluetooth or wireless problems at all keep in mind collisions happen more so when you have alot of that stuff active in the area you are so anyone that does not have that going on will not experience any of the problems at all, also big sur was a problem os for the m1s and monterey solved that and i have no big sur experience as mine came with monterey only and the systems cant go backwards from what they are shipped with , iam now running ventura and it made alot of improvements over even monterey
The base m2 macmini would be perfect for working in Ableton though right?
For anything recording and working in audio it’s perfect
I bought an M1 Mac Mini around a month ago and I’m still in the return window (gotta love Costco). Should I return the M1 and grab the M2? The slower SSD is concerning.
You might gain a little performance. Could be worth it if you can exchange it
Well done, mate. Great review video. I appreciate the absence of hyperbole, childish yelling and fluff. Very useful content. Regards from sunny South Australia.
I had purchased the new 2023 Mac Mini M2 to replace a late November 2012 Mac Mini. Unfortunately after almost 2 weeks on the phone with different AppleCare people every day....the problem is simple: The M2 2023 Mac Mini has LESS memory than my 2012 Mac mini...You can say I was really pissed off that I had to go through all the BS trying to get the migration done...End result: Tomorrow (Monday) I take a ride to the closest Apple store (which isn't that close) and return this 2023 model. Then figure out my next best option to buy. Thankfully I kept my 'obsolete 2012'...
Just bought the M2 base model on sale for $499. After being on laptops for the last 11 years, it's so nice to be back on a desktop, and a Mac! After seeing this, I'm sure it will be more than fast enough for the video editing, photoshop, and writing I do...Can't remember when Apple came out with a computer that didn't make me gasp looking at the price tag. Under $500 just wow!
I have a 2014 iMac with 24GB of RAM. Why is Apple selling new computers that only include a mere 8? Is 24GB of the old style RAM equal to 8 that the M2 chip uses?
great video. u said the 1tb ssd is faster than the 256 gb model, but the 512 is also faster than the 256 gb for the same reason. just clarifying for anyone curious.
Hi, great review. I would like an advice... what is the better option, new Mac mini m1 with 16gb (I can still find it in stores), or new mac mini M2 with 8gb?
Intended use will be non demanding everyday stuff, but also video editing (as a hobby, nothing professional) up to 4k, mostly short videos, for youtube and similar.
I am having quite a hard time now that I am going to purchase this M2 Mac Mini (my first ever Mac purchase!), and don't know whether I should choose the 8GB or the 16GB.. 8GB is the best for my budget now, that I can use the extra $200 to upgrade my monitor and buy desk peripheral etc. (for the storage, I am fixed with the 256 GB, though)
But for video editing, everyone seems to be upgrading to 16GB, this is what's hard. Budget is tight but I kind of afraid 8GB will do me no good.
So I'm going to be specific with my workflow and asking for your advice if the 8GB is good:
1. Opening 15-20 Chrome tabs, and apps like: Notion, Spotify, Tradingview, Canva
2. Using the free version of DaVinci Resolve to edit 1080p screen recording video (with or without my face in a floating window) with light transition, some motion titles, and occasional BGM insertion
I will probably keep my opened app to the minimum during editing, and will probably close any other apps during rendering.
So.. Do you think the base 8GB M2 Mac Mini will do me good?
I’m having the same questions. Did you get the M2 Mac Mini? If so, 8 or 16GB?
With what you said, you should choose 16GB as 8 won't be enough if you want smoother experience and the problem is that you can't upgrade RAM down the road when you have saved some more money. Probably cheap out on peripherals and get 16GB and upgrade monitor and other items later.
I just use my NAS for data now. I no longer rely on local HD storage for Mac’s. However from a day to day use I’ve been pretty happy with baseline Apple laptops.
i’m so torn between a m2 pro mac mini and a refurbished m1 16” macbook pro. i kinda want the portability but it seems dumb to send 2000 on a m1 when i can get a mini for 1300
Even the base model is a damn fast machine that puts most Windows PCs in the shade. 8 GB is enough, 16 GB is better... but this is currently one of the best desktop computers in terms of price-performance ratio.
You are certainly right, the last gen M1 Mac Mini, either refurb or with rebate, is the better deal because of the dual Nand SSD, much better for swap. I will buy one used for my matte display 4k-TV.
Do you know if they ever fixed the Bluetooth problems with the M1 Mac Mini? I used Bluetooth all the time and would be disappointed to spend that much for something that doesn't work properly.
Still rocking my 2020 M1 mini with 16gb ram + 1TB SSD... I think I'll wait for the M3 (though I did upgrade from the a7riii to a7rv).
*Wait for the M7 model in 2089.*
😂😂😂😂😂😂
Refresh rate support only 60Hz?
I wanna get me one but I’ll definitely bump up the ram to 16gb of rams thanks for sharing this!
So I am in the early stages starting a church. Would you say that for a small possible home church, the base model with the upgraded 16 gigs of unified memory would be sufficient?
Mostly used for study, something like word documents for sermon writing, and eventually some video and sound usage.
Ordered mine this morning. Trying to convince a colleague with this one for his photo editing but he rather build a PC instead. parts can be upgraded anytime, which is understandable.
thanks for showing 10-bit 4K footage. That's the only thing I wanted to know.
Great review! I'm glad you included the tip on the external ssd, I might have to get one of those. I wish 16gb ram was standard, but if that means other's won't be able to get it at the $599 price then I'm sorta ok with that. For me the real problem is with Apple expecting so much money for such little upgraded internal storage at those speeds ($200 from 256gb to 512gb geez!). Like you said, external ssd is a good play to make. I'm replacing my 2015 Macbook pro with a 16gb ram and 256gb storage M2 Mac mini and hoping that I can squeeze a lot of life out of this.
Yup, $200 for an additional 256GB Storage is expensive, but all the top reviewers show that this is due to Apple using 1 x 256GB chip for the 256GB, and 2 x 256GB for the 512GB, effectively a RAID 0 for anything above 256GB. Drive speed therefore jumps quite dramatically. That's the reason why the 512 would be my base level if you think drive speed is important, especially if you intend to get 4-5 years of work out of it. Would have been nice if Apple had used 2 x 128GB but I suppose marketing wants you to stump up $200 more for the speed and storage and thus make disproportionately more profit.
Twas ever thus, and if you think back to the speeds and specs of what you would have got for $799 in 2013, 2003 and 1993 it's still pretty amazing.
I'm also replacing my 2015 Macbook pro with a 16gb ram and 256gb storage M2 Mac mini. I hope this works :)
@@kevinpinball Is it still a good deal at $700 with educational discount?
In Windows, 16 GB ram and 512 GB ssd is standard, while Apple is always making more money out of us for something that should be normal.
You talked about the external drive you built? Any details, do you have a video on it?
The most honest n real review about mac mini all day. Thank you
I have an M1 and it flys. If you need more than a M2?
Great video, Im a hobby photographer, I wonder would it work smooth with 60 mpix files on lrc?
I was wondering the same thing, pls if you find a video that explores that, pls reply me the link hahaha
If anyone needs more input - i have the m1 macbook air. 8gb ram. I can edit 4k footage on it without a hiccup (all footage and files on an external ssd). It does bog a little on export but thats to be expected. All my footage is typically 1080 10bit though and it crushes it no problem. I edit 20mp photos and it doesnt lag at all. Picked it up for 650$ used about a year ago. Though, id rather have the mac mini since most of the time i just use the laptop sitting at a desk anyways.
Not sure what camera you used to film this, but you the color and lighting on this video is amazing. spot on 100% accurate. skins tones, the color of the mac mini etc. great video quality. good work.
that said. i bought the M2 Pro mac mini with 12 core cpu just because. I love it. stupid fast.
Appreciate it :) it was also my first time colour grading on The Studio Display
This thing is awesome, we got the base mode for my mom it was $499 on sale.
She watches TH-cam videos, Netflix, internet browsing & iMessages with her account.
2000/MBS for the SSD is insanely fast for her use case. so much easier than dealing with a Windows PC.
Apple knocked it out of the park with this one
I watched plenty of reviews. You finally sold the M2 to me. I will pick it up tomorrow.
Very simple straightforward video. Planning to buy one of the base with 16GB RAM
Bought a 2nd hand M1 (8gb 256) for 450 us. I’ll wait for the M3
Good call
I "just" got my iMac 27" 5k (2021 - the last intel one) with top Radeon card. I won't be looking to upgrade until M3 - M4. Can't wait to see what that will be like. Hoping Apple releases an affordable mini LED monitor.
I'm wondering what kind of display matches (but not surpasses) the output capabilities of Mac mini. This is a crucial point in decision making because one can easily overspend so much that surpasses the price of an iMac. Maybe this question can be asked in a different way: considering the similarities of iMac and mini, what is the closest display in the market to the built in iMac display? Thank you.
Asus ProArt 27/32 inch
Wh difference between 8g ram and 16g in editing time and performance?
These are fantastic computers (including the older M1 model). For port and storage expansion, I can recommend the "Satechi Stand & Hub for Mac mini with SSD Enclosure".
Will it be a worthy upgrade if compared to the m1 iPad Pro ?
My iPad Pro M1 Is lagging a lot while editing on lumafusion.
Shall i get the base model M2 Mac mini ?
There is never much discussion about the requirement to buy a monitor and what those options might be, or how much they might cost.
That’s probably because you can choose whatever monitor you want. From $100-$2000. It’s not up to me to make that choice for your needs.
I appreciate you adding "The Base" to this title cause it's getting really confusing out here.
I will likely upgrade to 16 GB RAM since you can't upgrade yourself. But is the 500 GB SSD worth the upgrade, considering you can get an external 1TB SSD at roughly the same price?
These internal drives are slower than last year. Probably worth the upgrade. Also scummy by Apple
Very helpful thank you. Which older M1 mac would you recommend for the same (or less) money for photo / video editing? Thank you
Hello! In your opinion for user capture one and photoshop, is a Mac mini M2 (base chip) with 24GB RAM and 512 SSD or a Mac mini M2 Pro with 16GB RAM and 512 SSD better?
Thanks for your comment.
I use a Mini M1 with 8GB system memory and Photoshop works just fine. In the M-architecture the amount of system memory can be much lower than on the conventional Intel systems.
would it be powerful enough to run my stream?
Great video! I'm about to leave Windows and try out Apple, all I do is mainly video editing with some photo editing. I don't do much more then that besides FB, TikTok etc.. so I was wandering if you could help me to decide whether on the Mac Mini M1 or M2, I'm wanting the 16gb w 512 memory version, but not the pro. As I said, I am totally new with Apple products. Thank you for your time, hopefully you can help me out.
Minisform has a 8 32 gig windows 11 system, which I think would be a good point of comparison to this model. They are at the same price point.
What about live streaming with Mac mini, M1 vs. M2?
I bought one for my Zwift setup. Was using a PC and it kept crashing on me so I gave up and decided to give it a try for my indoor cycling workouts.
I recently sold a M1 Mac Mini and bought an M2 Mac Mini because of the Bluetooth and network LAN cable issues. I can report all those problems have been eliminated. I can't say I noticed any improvement in performance but just eliminating those previous issues makes this a much better computer over the M1.
I can't comment on network LAN issues but my 4 month old M2 Pro Mac Mini has the well-known Bluetooth issues. Basically all is good until I connect to a set of bluetooth headphones or earbuds. My keyboard and trackpad (both Bluetooth) start misbehaving. I'd hoped an update to Sonoma would fix this but alas no. What to do?
@@steveclark223 My heart goes out to you. I sold my M1 at a loss because it was so annoying. That's why I'm so please with the new M2, no issues. I thought the Bluetooth issue was solved.
I find even 16GB isn't enough for editing on the M1 mac mini... Or is it the GPU thats making it slow.
What are you editing and what software are you using?
@@steverix8181 resolve. 4k timeline. Base level M1
what would be better 24gb ram 256 gb plus external ssd vs 16gb ram with 512ssd?
This is what I recommend: 512GB = 2x the SSD speed. 16RAM I would say is the minimum nowadays. This will make a big difference in performance -is what I expect.
you lose a lot of value
Unless you do video editing you do not need to upgrade memory. It will be a waste of money if you do do.
@@user-wm2tw interesting as so many TH-cam experts are saying to upgrade to 16gb. But I use light excel, word, email and some apple photo touchups. I am hoping 8gb is sufficient
@@desmondedwards6309 only video editing or similar use needs upgraded ram. You can upgrade if you have the money and want “peace of mind”. But you will not see any performance gain with your use. There are a lot of people who “recommend” upgrading but have no idea why they are saying it. Not everyone has same use therefore not everyone benefit from the upgrade. It depends on the your use and not blindly upgrading because someone said so.
Lots of these people will “recommend” upgrading ram of apple watch if they could. 😂
@@user-wm2tw thanks for your feedback and insight. Much appreciated! I’m going to get the M2 Mac Mini 8gb. I’ll add storage via the cloud or through an external hard drive. That will allow me to splurge on a nice monitor
Being a producer making music & collecting a few mini packs do you think this could handle that??
Easy. Just depends on how big your sessions are and the amount of plugins. Audio isn’t as demanding as video editing. I use to work in protools with old Macs like 10 years ago with nowhere near the power this has and could do a lot
Wondering if toonboom could be installed on Mac mini m2,
what do you think about the m2 plus 16gb and an external tb hard drive
What 24" monitor would you recommend for the base iMac mini? Thank you.
I would recommend 27” over 24” but anything in the LG ultrafine line is very good.
Hey Lee. You're the best. I did watch the whole video despite your “Don’t watch the rest of this video” warning at the start. :) I just bought a new factory sealed 2TB 16GB RAM M1 Mac Mini with AppleCare+ today for $999. Too good of a deal to pass up. Went back and forth about buying this or a new M2 one. In addition to editing videos and photos I have a ton of VST virtual instruments I run in LogicPro many of which need to be installed on the main drive. I've been using a 1TB 16GB version of the same M1 Mac but was beiginning to be challenged by the internal storage. If at some point in the future I get into more intensive and complex video editing I'll probably go to 32GB RAM and a newer chip but for now I'm as happy as I can be using this for the things I do. Love your videos.
I have some questions. My 2010 mac which recently died had four usb ports on back. One for my external HD, One for my Bamboo pen tablet, another for my external camera (internal died) and one for a flash drive. Does the min have the ports for those uses? If I get a monitor will the mini be comparable to my old imac? Also i backed up my stuff with time machine on el Capitan OS. Will I be able to put that onto the new mini? Sorry I sound like a luddite lol
what's the deal with that sweet diy external ssd?
Did they fix the poor audio? I was pretty annoyed that I had to buy an external DAC for my M1 mini to get decent sound.
I only use Bluetooth headphones now. So I have no idea
Is it possible to format an external SSD drive to handle swap memory? Or is this all integrated in Apple's unified memory architecture and can't be modified.
Don't spend $$$ on internal SSD upgrade. For $160 you can get a Thunderbolt external enclosure and a quality 1TB SSD to put in it. You can set up the external drive then as a boot drive (and if it is at Thunderbolt speed it will be fast) and use it from which to boot, and that will make that external drive the Swap disk. This way you keep the 256GB internal SSD simply as an emergency bootable drive if anything happens to your external drive.
I’m doing light Photoshop work and vector-based designs in Illustrator, but I run them 10-12 hours per day. Is the M2 base model with 8GB enough for me?
Should be fine. I would spring for more ram though. Maybe 16gb if you can afford it
Is the new m4 Mac mini with16gb/256 the way to go? I dont plan on editing or storing large files. O365, Spotify, movies etc.
100% I’m getting one with the m4 pro chip but the m4 looks amazing. It’s out performing M1 Pro and M2 Pro
@@LeeZavitz Thank you much, i bought the m4 iPad Pro 1tb (for the ram spec bump) on release day with the hopes they would ease up on iPadOS with iOS18…lol. Everything about the iPad is amazing but the OS is driving me up a wall.
I just don’t want to kneecap myself with the 1 nand ssd config…do you thing that would make a diff for long term health?
I have a gaming rig with a 7800x3d/4090, so this is very much just to save power, and be able to do 99% of the same things.
I’ve never broken 50gb of personal files let alone 250gb so i have no need for more space, but if it’s a more performance ssd with the 512gb or more, than ill do that
m1 8gb shoud have more headroom than m2 8gb ?
Man… Great video! Thanks!
I was just making some comparisons with the prices here in Brazil:
1 - 8GB / 256GB - R$ 6,099
2 - 16GB / 256GB - R$ 7,499
3 - 16GB / 512GB - R$ 8,900
All M2 base model.
If I buy option 2 above and add a thunderbolt hub, which has an enclosure for an 1TB SSD, to the setup it will cost R$ 8,499 (Mac mini + Hub + SSD) and I would get all of those extra ports form the hub + the 1TB storage instead of the Apple’s 512GB upgrade without the addition of the ports.
Seems a great deal to me.
What do you think?
My only doubt is how would I manage the Apps and system files just with 256GB of internal storage.
Currently I use at least 300GB. And most of my work is cloud based.
Thanks again!
Thanks for clearing up an issue for me. I plan on buying an M2 Mini and boost up RAM and Internal storage. About the issue I mentioned earlier, you said that your Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse connected on first boot. I really don't want to buy an additional mouse and KB just for setup. Particularly wired models. So I can save a few bucks for buying external Solid State Drives. Thanks for some great information. Keep up the good work.
they're not using "slower SSDs", but use larger chips, hence the 512G version only uses one chip
Doesn’t that make it slower than the larger drives though?
@@LeeZavitz It does, in which case, you can still splurge 200 extra for the privilege of having a second chip (the 512 GB option)
Great video!! In summary, are you saying that for 4k family video editing with the GoPro and simultaneous web surfing. Would the standard 8ram be sufficient? I’m a beginner looking to start a new hobby.
Oh yeah 100% would be fine with this basemodel
good, clear and concise. thank you.
Just getting into Mac again the first time since 2000 have been a PC user for the last twenty-plus years, is this a good entry-level machine for General use including TH-cam, Quicken, tax software web browsing excetera even without adding the additional 8 gigs of RAM?
It will be perfectly fine for all that stuff
My M1 Mac Mini has 16 GB processor and 256 gig storage. How does the base M2 compare?
Performance wise?
Excellent review. Thanks for doing it.
Does it run 4k at 144Hz on a monitor?
Question... When you're editing off an external SSD and you have 16GB memory, does the slower speed of the internal SSD still matter? How will it affect your workflow?
Doesn’t matter at all. You are hardly using the internal drive at that point. It’s more just for loading the app or plugins
@@LeeZavitz just what I needed to know because I'm not very familiar with how these Apple Silicon Macs work, and I'm torn between going 512GB and just buying an external SSD. So, thank you! 👌
If you are using an thunderbolt ssd, the external speed will be faster than the 256GB model.
Is there a video on the external drive build?
I don’t have one but it’s so simple anyone could do it (if you have a screwdriver). Step1. Buy nvme enclosure and nvme drive. Step2. Open enclosure and insert drive into the slot on the pcb. Step3. Close enclosure. Step4. Plug in drive and format it as APFS using disk utility. Step.5 enjoy fast external storage :)
is that enough for coding?
I needed something "cheap" that could do reasonably high performance computing and just run. I ordered the M1 Mac mini with 16GB of RAM as the only upgrade. Well, a couple weeks later, the M2 Mac mini became available. I did not know about it having slower SSD in it. I did a swap with Apple and got $100 back to boot. So I'm good with that. I keep the BIG files on an external SSD. I only use the internal (256GB) SSD for holding the software. So long as the computing I'm doing does not touch swap, the M2 is actually faster. 10% give or take for a single CPU core task that runs the core to 100%. I have high hopes for the GPU cores running Metal. I would also like to access the 16 core neural engine for general purpose compute tasks. The engine should be similar to GPU as both AI and graphics do lots of matrix stuff. But I'm not clear on whether or not I can access them. There's CoreML of course. But that's not my area.
I haven't used a desktop computer in forever but it looks good
I have the M1 mac mini, best computer I've had for a long time. I'm a graphic designer/illustrator/old-school concept designer (marker pen car design type stuff)/artworker..... and to be honest for those sorts of workflow it really does the job and then some. The only thing i find needing from time to time is memory, if (probably will ) I got the M2 it would be the pro chip with 32 GB of ram, it (the M1) can chug with larger vector-based print files that have a lot of effects on them. Photos the M1 taps out with medium format images larger than 50mp full frame stuff its fine fuji is fine..... the best thing is it's absolutely silent! and barely gets warm. OH, the blue keyboard thing is now much improved on the M1 and pretty much connects straight away upon start-up never experienced dropouts either. There's my little review from a different type of creative. the M1 i have is the "maxed" out version
I am looking to get the M1 Mac Mini, so thank you for the review. How did they improve the Bluetooth on the M1 - was it a firmware update or did they give you a replacement machine?
would you recommend this for someone who primarily makes edm music (Ableton being the daw of choice)
I wish I had an answer to that. But from my past experience working with much much slower computers and working in protools I feel like this Mac mini would be awesome for audio stuff. It doesn’t require the same horse power video editing requires
Great production.
One question, I have never had an Apple product before, I was wondering if I got the 16gb Ram with 256gb instead of 509gb memory and had the external drive will this be suffice for photography and photoshop work without the need to upgrade the internal memory?
Thanks in anticipation
It will suffice indeed. I’ve seen demos of 4K video editing on the base model with only 8GB Ram and it flies thru. External SSD connected thru thunderbolt 4 is fast enough.
It will be better to upgrade to 16GB RAM and 512 GB+2 TB external SSD. The RAM mechanism mac uses is that no matter how large your configuration is, it will use SSD for swap, which will decrease the health of SSD. Hence a 512 GB SSD will last longer and had twice the speed of the 256GB version.
@@peterh.2488 thank you
@@rajatsehgal7004 thank you
@@peterh.2488hoax.
what do you suggest for upgrading from MacBook pro 13in mid 2017 intel i5? I do professional video editng in Final Cut Pro and need to upgrade
It's for anyone who owns up to 26MP camera and doesn't shoot more than 4K 30 in usual codecs, doing light editing and who doesn't already have something to do so.
@LeeZavitz did they at least give you a burger??
I plan on getting the m2 mac mini here this year possibly as an upgrade to my windows pc I use that I built but I would be surprised if it is much better for performance. I do still have a mac mini from 2012 that still works okay even with 16gb ram I put in just outdated with the latest os being 10.15 catalina.
Does the volume or brightness keys on the Mac keyboard work with non apple displays?
Not that I know of. Pretty sure it’s only for apple displays because they have no physical buttons
@@LeeZavitz thank you
Hey bro, thanks for solid and comprehensive review on base model. Others, just mentioned it in passing. I'm a pc user from South Africa but Ive been thinking to switch over and $799 as I wouldn't need more than that. What do you think of $799? Mind you, we be don't easily get to stuff customer 2 TB external this side of town. Thanks again bro 😎🙏
Thank you.
Very useful info.