Mac Mini M2 Pro After 5 Months: What You NEED To Know!
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- čas přidán 14. 05. 2024
- My long-term review after using the 2023 Mac Mini with the M2 Pro as my daily machine after 5-6 months.
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The M2 Pro Mac Mini has been my go to machine ever since I bought it around 5 months ago. In this video I share the surprises, disappointments, and overall experience with this powerful Mac, with direct comparisons with my M2 MacBook Air. Subscribe for more tech-related content and enjoy the video!
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_______________________________
00:00 | Intro
00:47 | Why the M2 Pro Mac Mini?
01:33 | Design
02:42 | Ports
04:25 | Performance
07:56 | Wireless Connectivity
09:35 | Wrapping Up
#macmini #apple #m2pro - Věda a technologie
Small correction, as pointed out by one of you guys - the USB-A speed is actually 5 Gbps (not Gen 2), must have had a brain fart on that one 😅
Today marks a special day: disconnected my Windows Tower PC and brought it to the attic. Since about a year i own a M1 MacMini with 16GB and have never been so happy with a computer. No noise, works always flawless, is super fast, and it’s so small. I’m not a pro user and do a bit of everything and the machine fulfills all my needs without fail. Now looking at the gaping empty spot beside my desk and the little silver box below my monitor i will never go back again!
dont overpay yall, the base model m2 pro mini is enough for a lotttt of people. you’d be surprised how far 16gb of ram can take you with the efficiency of m2 and macOS
I recommend 32gb only to future proof your mac mini
@Paul The Pigeon Don't upgrade the M2 Pro Mini RAM to 32GB, just get the Mac Studio which has 32GB as the base. Especially if you are also going to upgrade the storage to 1TB. I can't believe Kyle did that. That's literally $1899 vs $1999. If you went with the 19 core GPU M2 Pro, it would be $2199 vs $1999, at which point Apple is telling you to your face you are a moron.
@@westernpigeongo for m3.
I will say that if you have a 120 hz monitor it is 100000 percent worth getting the pro. The base only supports hdmi 2.0 and not 2.1
I got the base base model with 256gb and 8gb RAM. It’s only for drawing and design with a Wacom Cintiq. It’s absolutely fine. I have a Mac Studio for everything else but it means I can draw with fewer distractions.
I use a base M2 512/16 config. My workflow is kinda the more standard mix of zoom, slack, some websites being open, mendeley citation software (web based), and multiple pdfs open, adding in some podcasts, Apple Music, with some light gaming. Even if I have all that open, I don't get to any memory pressure and everything seems snappy and works wonderfully. It integrates with my iPad (which I use as a laptop replacement), and I use sidecar for the additional screen (although it falls asleep and I have to reconnect) . It's my first Mac and I absolutely love it.
Great video. Lots of good information. Great suggestion about the silicone dots to keep it from slipping around.
Long time PC user...like, 40 years long time. The M2 Pro is the fastest computer I have ever had the pleasure of working on. It's insane. I just bought it a couple of weeks ago. I thought of waiting for the M3 to come out but figured this was plenty fast enough and it is. I'm getting back into music production and this is all I will need for years to come. I will probably start using it for video as well and ditch the i7. Apple doesn't get enough props for the M series chips but they are seriously unbelievable. I 'started' out in my tech career with a Kaypro pc and cp/m operating system, TRS80, on to the IBM PS2, and every pc since. You guys don't know how good you have it today. Anyone that says this isn't enough computer....well, you're spoiled...hate to break it to ya. I'm moving super slow on the Mac OS but I hope to be a pro at it after about a year. Imagine yourself racing along with a Prius at 100 mph for all these years to now be in a Mclaren P1 driving 40mph. That's what it feels like now...soon, I'll be adjusted to it and get to see what this baby can really do. How do I know it's fast? I've loaded tons of unnecessary plugins in Logic Pro X and mixed it down while flipping around loading everything else I can think of and not even a burp. My pc would have slowed to a crawl. Long time doubter who now sees the light although the intel macs and motorola ones never did impress the way the M chips do. I figure a person could rule the world with the M3 Pro. In theory anyway.
Very insightful, thank you!
Hey, Did you get the M2 Pro base version (or) upgraded to 1TB SSD/32 GIG RAM?
SuperB video…. Very informative with excellent streamlined info. THANK YOU
I have m1 Mac mini with 16Gb and 1Tb and I love it. I was waiting for Pro chip version of mini in M1 but gave up and got this one used on eBay after new MacBooks came out and everyone was jumping off of mini to get those. I thought this mini Pro would be the sweet spot for bang for buck and it is in base model but if you upgrade much you are better off getting base Studio with more glue power and memory bandwidth. I feel Apple needs to reduce the base price $100 or so now that m2 Studio is here.
As an aside I have my mini vertically mounted in a stand (ports up/logo right side up) in front of my monitor arm which give monitor floating appearance , makes ports more easily accessible on the top and prevents scratches on the bottom or slippage on desk. Hot air rises out of the top, less dust pulled in intake and makes a nice aesthetic and takes up even less desk space.
Kyle. I am new to your channel and I really like your „Keep it real” attitude and your desk setup. Trying to build something similar now :)
I'm a first time viewer and have subscribed, you rock dude. By the way, I recently ordered the Mac Mini base model, I need to ease back into the Mac environment, as I am mainly a Linux guy nowadays. Thanks for the review and God bless. 👍🏾🤓
I work in marketing for a specialty retailer. I also do some side consulting. I bought the base Mac Mini M1 - 8GB, 256GB SSD - a couple of years ago, and it is hands down the best computer I've ever owned. Nearly all my work is done in browsers, but I do need to run Photoshop, Illustrator, Bridge and some Office apps from time to time. I can have all these apps open at once, plus a couple dozen browser tabs- and this thing doesn't break a sweat. I even occasionally run Premier Pro or Rush for some lightweight video editing- and it handles that with ease as well. I've never seen a Windows system, with comparable system memory/storage, do anything like this.
I've got a 2018 Mini, with 32GB Ram and 512 GB SSD. I use it with a couple of Windows environments using Parallels for my work and the fan kicks in quite a bit. The performance is OK but I'm ready to upgrade and am seriously looking at the M2 Pro, the only issue is that Parallels will require new VM environments to be built - which is going to take quite a long time! Thanks for the review, interesting to see some of the areas where it's not met your expectations.
Great video! Thanks so much for it. Today I got my first Mac mini ever. Looking forward to the journey 👍
Thanks for watching! Enjoy your machine!
Had been toiling over getting the Mac Mini or the new 15” MBA but decided on the Mini since I don’t travel much with a laptop. I was thinking I made the mistake by ordering the 32GB and 2TB 10CPU/16GUP version but it popped up on their refurb so I jumped on it. I’m sure I could have gone with the 16GB and 1TB 10CPU/16GUP version but they seem to be harder to get. Well, great channel, keep up the good work and thanks for the help with deciding, I’m sure I’ll be happy with it.
Now I need a monitor for photography print work and for some video and I’m thinking about getting the Dell U2723QE that you recommended.
Great video, new watcher here. Just wondering how you rate those speakers on your desk? They look great but that doesn’t always mean they sound great! Thanks for the video!
What monitor do you have that hooked up to? This video helped me alot
Just to add a comment about SSD memory failure and the guy mentioning he offloaded some of the data to his remote drive. The main limitation with SSD is the number of write cycles that you have. This used to be about 100,000 per location.
This does not mean you can write to your drive 100,000 times and then you get a failure. It doesn’t work like that.
All SSDs have a controller which manages this operation and it’s not really true that you have 100,000 writes. It’s that you have 100,000 erasers. So what tends to happen is when you update a file for parts of a file then the changes get rewritten to a different location and the remaining part of the file that is similar remains. This then saves having to write 100,000 times. Also note until your memory is absolutely full probably doesn’t bother erasing any of it until it needs to as a cleanup operation. Then it erases blocks of unused or scratched files to then reuse that space. So for the most part, this will work forever, and if one block does become permanently un erasable. Then this blocky simply marked as corrupt and not used. Most SSD drives during manufacture, have some of the blocks that are not functioning and they are not used by the controller, and this usually means a percentage of the SSD memory is actually used for this wastage. If this did not happen, then, no SSD chips would probably pass. The amount of corrupt bits is relatively negligible and completely controllable by the disc control management system.
This would be my first mac purchase ever and I'm considering a Mac Mini M2 Pro, 16gb ram / 512gb ssd. My primary tool for the job is Figma, with at least 3 browsers with multiple tabs open at the same time, a VS code for doing my frontend, and do some graphic editing in Photoshop and some illustration works on Illustrator from time to time. Would this be enough for my job requirements and daily tasks? Thanks for all your suggestions in advance!
I picked the Pro because Apple tax on Ram on storage is incredibly high! :) The extra GPU cores are welcomed too even if I don't care about new games. I use Wineskin to play GOG games and it helps. Overpowered for GarageBand and light gaming but it just replaced a 2008 iMac so we'll see in 10 years!
I have the same config with a 2TB SSD, and its a beast. I have to agree with you on all points. I dont use the WiFi as I have a 10GB network. I mainly code and use the Creative Cloud. Not much video editing.
Looking to replacing my old Mac mini with a new one, when it breaks, so appreciated this review.
By the looks of it the base model would be ok for me!
Really great review mate!
My ‘12 mini *did* just break, leaving all my spinny disks high & dry…probably knew I was think about a replacement M2 Pro…poor timing, tho - was gonna get the new Pro Max phone, but my 6s will have to hold the fort awhile longer
Anyone know of a time payment plan that isn’t Apple Card? After the $1300 model, currently on fixed income
solid video thank you
Just purchased the same machine except with 512 GB HD. Getting delivered in a little over a week, and super excited. My last Mac was a 2020 IMac, and even though it was great to have that big 5k screen, I'm way more excited to have this Mini with an M2 Pro. I want to get into motion graphics, and this is the first machine I will ever own that I'm absolutely positive will allow me to go as hard with that as I want.
I might be back in a few weeks to let you know what I think.
Thanks for this review so I know my decision wasn't horrible, although I'm starting to wish I had gone a few hundred cheaper for the M2 with more cores, and/or more RAM. I think you could get more RAM with the regular M2's, right? Not sure how that all works with these integrated cores.
Anyway, I think I got a great deal. Looking forward to tearing this box open!
great review...got an old '18 Mini...works just fine for watching youtube videos...and an occasional email once a month...oh, it stores a lot of my pics that I never edit...maybe I'll get one just to keep up with technology...thanks thumbs up...
I have one for about 3-4 months now and I'm loving it...I'm using it for music production with Logic pro x and so far so good, no problems whatsoever....😊🎉❤
What's the spec of your mac mini?
@@gary-gt-tsang M2 Pro 16gb memory 500gb storage
Excellent review!
Thanks for watching!
Mini Pro M2 has one advantage over Studio - it is more portable and I need it sometimes when going to an office.
This is all great information but I’m even more blown away by your video quality. What lights, camera, codec are you using? Do you have a mist filter on your lens??
I’m ordering an M2pro Mac Mini , 16gb Ram 512 SSD. I ONLY need a Mac mini for one thing ! Im a Drummer who will be making multicam drum videos using the
Black Magic ATEM Mini Pro ISO. I will have a small SSD drive attached to transfer the multi cam videos to the M2Pro Mac mini using RESOLVE to edit the multicam footage. I will be pre mixing the multitrack audio of the drums through a Behringer X32 Digital console. I wanted this M2Pro so everything runs SMOOTH , NO HICCUPS ! Thanks for your video putting the M2 line straight .. I’ll post finished when some videos are finished. Thanks !!
HEllo great video, one question please. You said The mac mini m2 pro witch 32gb Ram is enough for your workflow. How much ram you consumed with all those windows open?
I have a 2021 14” MacBook Pro with the M1 Max and 64GB of RAM. Recently realized I wanted a desktop for certain tasks, so I bought the Mac Mini with M2 Pro and 32GB of RAM. Both machines also have 2TB SSDs. I mostly do light video editing and music production, so one of the first things I did was take 4K footage shot on my iPhone and use Handbrake to make it smaller for distribution. Ran the same 4K to 4K compression on both machines and the Mini was only 46 seconds behind the MBP. Ran it again as 4K to 1080p and the Mini beat the MBP by 7 minutes. 😳 Was also the first time I ever heard the fans kick on in the MBP, but the Mini stayed silent. Love this new machine and can’t wait to do more with it.
That’s the same configuration I got on the m2 pro mini and have no regrets for spending the extra money in order for it to be future proof for awhile. The small footprint of the mini is why I opted for it over the studio. Space is limited on my desk.
Thanks for this very useful piece about the MacMini Pro2. I went with the 16GB, 2TB SSD and an Asus ProArtPA328QV monitor. I probably should have gone for 32GB or more RAM as I get warnings when running LR classic, PS 24 and PhotoMechanic. Also HATE the sound but that will be sorted in a week with new BOSE speakers. Best of all though is the addition of a Satechi USB C hub with a 1GB SSD. The M2 sits on it so no worries about scratching the bottom or sliding around. If only I could better manage the memory usage.
Hi!, I´m a 3D designer and I use Blender a lot and I noticed on the video that you also use it. How this machine handle proper 3D model and rendering it? :)
I think that mini M2 Pro sits perfectly between the base mini and the Studio. I picked up the base Studio Max when it released and it has been a flawless device, but I have to admit if the mini Pro had been available I would have been sorely tempted to get it instead. It would have been a tough call since there's a $600 difference in price, but that gap closes quickly once you spec the mini up like you did. Thanks for another informative and entertaining video.
Thanks for watching!
great informative video. Thanks for the great tips. What desk shelf do you have?
I made it
8:03 Sorry, quick question: the "NEW" Wifi 5E has an output of only 2.4Gbps? It means we cannot use 5G Internet on it?
I Liked the set up Kyle.
Thanks for watching!
I'm planning on getting the m2 pro mac mini, just unsure about the specs I should choose from, there's 2 options for processor, and the ssd half tb or full tb. Ram should be fine at 16 gb for video editing with premiere pro. Any recommendations? I edit mostly 1080p 120fps files from gopro, somtimes some 4k 30fps files. Mostly on premiere pro, occasionally resolve and final cut.
Any feedback is appreciated. Also is it worth getting external ssd to "preserve" the internal ssd even if you get the 1tb one? is the 1tb one much faster when it comes to workflow and skipping through clisp?
Thanks
I ended up getting the MacMini M2 Pro (16gb/512GB) my first...really impressed so far. I've built a few gaming rigs, but now I don't game as much, so having something with this much deceptive power makes taking this with me on long weekends far easier than lugging around my gaming rig.
I am going to buy a new Mac mini M2 Pro with 16 GB RAM. 16 GB ram how much can handle?
What are the voltage and current tolerances for the logic board of the Mac Mini M2 Pro?
Kyle, looking to upgrade for the future… I don’t do any type of editing, just normal, every day use, plus some light day trading and excel based modeling for daily fantasy sports. What type of setup to you suggest? 16gb/512gb or the 32/1tb? Thanks!!!
I might have to get the M2 pro!
I would like to get the M2 Pro but the only monitor I would have available to use is a 55” TCL R655 tv
I just ordered one but with 16GB of RAM mainly because I don't need the extra RAM as I'm a web developer and I have maybe 2 VScode windows open at the same time for ui and api server. I don't do any graphical work so I'm pretty sure it will be more than enough considering I have mbp 13 with I5 and 8GB of RAM which work just fine, I just wanted that little extra of juice....
Running the base M2 Mini Pro now for a few weeks. Refurb for $1099. No matter what I've thrown at it, exporting 4K from FCP while exporting photos from LR (something I would never do in real life, just curious to see), along with all my usual apps running, I've yet to see the memory pressure in Activity Monitor push into the red, but yellow for sure. Most times memory pressure is green running my apps. Silent as a lamb so far. I've added three Acasis enclosures with 2TB drives. One for FCP projects, one for my photo and video archive and a third to act as my "home" directory. All I run off the internal SSD is the OS and apps. Still have 394GB remaining.
I had the base M1 MacMini for two years and have been very happy with it for general use. It's main use is as a music library for my stereo. It only has a 256Gb SSD so I use an external 512GB for the documents folder (that includes the Music folder). That external drive is in a matching hub that gives expanded port selection and that really makes the machine more user friendly apple was a bit niggardly when it came to posts on this model.
ordered m2 pro 12 core 32/1TB for hobbyist logic pro use
I also got that exact config, just with 512GB SSD instead. I'm baffled at people who prioritise to upgrade the hard drive or SoC over RAM. For a lot of pro workflows you typically have a lot apps open and like you allude to, you want to avoid swap both for performance reasons and to not use the SSD too much.
I use it for programming (web development: VSCode/Nova/React/HTML/CSS/JS/TS/Vue/etc, creative coding: Xcode/openFrameworks/C++, IntelliJ/Kotlin/OPENRNDR, ++), design (Sketch, Pixelmator Pro), photo editing (CaptureOne) and general productivity. It's worked like a champ!
I've seen some mention why get this over the Mac Studio. Aside from still being a bit cheaper, I think the Mac Mini form factor is just more practical. I have a Studio Display that I share with my work laptop and I often have to pull the display plug out the Mini and into the laptop and it's small size makes that really easy. It's a great computer.
I'm baffled at people who pay inflated Apple prices to get sufficient memory and storage. Apple's computers (except the MacBook Pro 13) are good, but not good enough to justify the prices Apple charges for a reasonably spec'd computer. I don't see the value, especially as I refuse to be too tied into any manufacturer's ecosystem.
@@johnpereira6934 While I think their SSD and RAM upgrade prices are… completely out of line, aside from that I don't think they're that expensive compared to others.
Try finding something like the MacBook Air M2, but with similar performance, similar build quality, similar screen. I'd say it's quite likely you'll actually end up with something more expensive or similar.
As for software: there's always a tradeoff between investing into proprietary systems and getting their unique benefits and getting too tied into that system. If you never want to get to tied up into anything you'll probably never get any of the unique benefits too.
I totally get not wanting to be stuck though, but I think the key there is *data portability*. Know how to move your data to a different system. A couple of examples: I use Apple Photos, but I know exactly how to export it to move it somewhere else. Likewise, I use Bear (iOS/Mac exclusive app) for my notes, in part because it's markdown based, so I can always bring those notes with me elsewhere (I recently did a test run bringing them into Obsidian, worked great!).
And the software was really always the big draw to Apple for me. I want software with excellent, consistent user interfaces, and Apple's platforms is the only platform that truly provides that. Though, lately it's been more in the form of Mac-exclusive third-party apps than Apple themselves, but the point stands. Sketch, Things, Reeder, Pixelmator Pro, Ulysses, Bear, Due, the list goes on. Like, I used Apple computers back when they where slower than everything else. Why? Because they had such excellent apps.
But each tho their own I suppose. I totally get how Apple computers don't work or justify for everybody.
Most of the creative programs are native to Apple as well as Windows. I am not using any Apple-made professional SW actually. The silicon ARM version of the apps are actually now better than the x86 versions. Also, the unified memory is not the same as the RAM sticks you get cheap for the PC. Those are significantly slower and can't be used by the GPU, unlike with apple silicon machines.@@johnpereira6934
What I don't like about apple stuff is the macOS filesystem and all the additional indexing files it creates all the time. I just hate to see that and manually taking care of that every time. I also hate the Photo app, how it practically duplicates your photos and you can't even organize them how you wanted. So a lot of Apple-made apps are deleted on my devices.
How much RAM are you using, 32GB?
@@numinoos Yeah
What speakers are you using? They look good.
Your info is great, the cadence and pitch on your voice is wild, bring it down a bit sheesh
Absolutely spot on Kyle. I’m sporting an M2 Pro Mac Mini (standard model). I’ve only encountered Bluetooth issues. The base should have been rubberized or with rubber accents for better grip on surface. That’s the reason I’ve put a tacky rubber mat underneath. Despite being a design that is grown over me, it’s still something out of this world when placed side by side with a Mini PC. Pretty sure I’m gonna pass it on to my son in Grade 5 who is fond of content creation.
Thank you for informative vdo! I am not a creator or doing 3Dwork I am thinking about M2 and M2pro base model for home vdo maybe the M2base model is enough for me? thank you.
I just got a macmini m2 pro with 16gb ram 1tb ssd and it’s just enough for me (I am a musician/music producer). I made some tests before because I was thinking about 32gb ram, but I don’t need it. it’s working fantastically so far (I use Cubase 12 pro, Native Instruments, iZotope, Arturia mainly). no issues at all. I am amazed as wasn’t before for so long.
same here, i’m a coder, 3d modeler, video editor
i keep 30-40 chrome tabs open with discord app in the background
ps : i use an external SSD of 1tb, samsung
i’ve the 16/512 model
just due to the swap usage and lifespan of the SSD i think 32 could have been better
but as you have 1tb you don’t need to care about it…
still a ram upgrade instead of a storage could have been a deal breaker for you, storage from apple is a waste of money, RAM was a better option
@@KeithFonsi Actually I wouldn´t mind if it was a 512GB SSD because the OWC ENVOY EXPRESS is faster than the internal SSD! I'm using the 4tb SSD Gen. 4 from Samsung. it's really fast!
Do you think you will be limited by the 16gb down the line? Usint cubase, I mean
@@sivur No its more than enough, and it never throttles thermally.
Picked up the M2 pro with 16gb and 512ssd. Just a note, the USB-A ports are not gen2 and only work to 5gb/s not 10 as your video says.
I think about buying it. Still thinking. :)
I have a base M1 Mini, but with 16Gb RAM, I just received an M1 Max Studio machine and I'm sending it back! On Lightroom, FCPX etc I could barely see a difference for the £1849 it would cost me. Maybe a slight increase in speed on Fusion 360 - but really NOT worth the price hike. I think I will probably go for the M2 Pro though, for the bigger drive and more ports and better 3D...we'll see!
Wow. Great insight. Thanks for sharing.
Gotta say, if looking at upgrading to 32GB RAM, then best to go for Mac Studio. M2 Pro mini only makes sense if the base spec will suit your needs.
Or if you want something more portable.
@@sharingmattersagreed. Desk space is minimal for me so got the m2pro with 2tb drive and 32gb ssd and I’m set for a long time
Hi Kyle
I am a java full stack java developer. As a developer most of time I am using STS,eclipse ,vscode,mysql,oracle,postgresql,Angular,React,Docker,kubernetics,jenkin. which Mac mini needs to purchase for my daily work. Please advise me on mac mini m2 pro least configuration (16gb,512/16,1tb).
Why not get the studio when the price gap between base studio and upgraded mini is very small?
I keep looking at the M2 Pro and putting it in to my bag, but I just can’t seem to check out. I currently have the M1 Mac Mini with 16GB Ram and a 1 Terabyte drive. I have it attached to a Hagabis docking station with an additional 2 terabytes of storage. I run 5 virtual desktops on a 55 inch OLED TV running several programs and web tabs open at the same time. I am a photographer so I often have Adobe Bridge, Lightroom Classic and Photoshop all open. Along with either CZcams playing or Apple TV. Sometimes, I will also have Final Cut open editing a video. I have never had any of the bluetooth issues that others have had. Though I am a gadget junkie and always anxious to upgrade, I keep reminding myself that my M1 is doing everything I can throw at it and hasn’t missed a beat. If I was still on an Intel model I would definitely upgrade to the M2 Pro though.
M1 was good till you get M2 Pro. I change the the same configuration M1 for most advanced M2 Pro and difference is huge, I also use it mostly for Adobe apps and for example LR is so much faster now.
@@armandsozolins6580 Stop tempting me!!! 😂
@@GordonCato I feel your pain 😀 I can't decide for what to change my old macbook air, new air or mbp 14 m2 pro.
I do exactly the same with the externals, I hardly use my internal drive for exactly the same reason, though I would hope it is easier to replace in a mac studio. I have the same drive enclosure and weirdly the same drive (pretty good value and there was no point in having a drive that can hit 7000 when the drive tops out at 2700). I have two in a raid zero though which gives me 4tb at almost 5000, which is good speed and a crap load cheaper than the internal drives, but then we know that. As for the blue tooth, on my macstudio I can go to the outside, which is down three floors and a little along the pavement before it drops out, I have xm4s, maybe it's the buds?
Thanks for watching! I use multiple sets of earbuds with the same results, so likely not the case.
@@KyleErickson ok, well, that's a shame/bit rubbish.
one question : if you had to choose btw : M2 with 24 GB of Ram vs M2 Pro with 16Gb ? what would be your choice ?
yes i am also looking for this answer...
M2 with 24 GB of Ram vs M2 Pro with 16Gb ?
Hey Kyle,
I've been considering buying Mac Mini M2 or M2 Pro, I'm a motion graphic designer but pretty tight on the budget at the moment. How different is the AE experience on both machines?
I'd say you'll definitely notice the differnece the more complex your projects get, but you can still use the regular M2 if you're strapped for cash.
When you choose the 32GB RAM, you beter buy the Mac Studio. The price difference is minimal.
I do medical coding and online college, would this be a good pick for me?
I have the base configuration M2 Pro and it simply blows its predecessor, a 2018 Intel mini, out of the water (Lightroom's Denoise AI takes 25-35 seconds, rather than 7 minutes). Even QGIS, running via Rosetta2, flies along.
The biggest issue was being unable to get a stable 5GHz connection (I don't have a 6 router) - we are talking constant disconnects with up to 60% packet loss just between the mini and the router. It took ages to track down and turned out to be an worn/ ill-fitting (or poorly shielded) HDMI lead. Well, I was going to get a usb-c monitor anyway...but I think this is a design defect relating to antennae positioning or shielding.
Hardwired Ethernet for the win
Any information on streaming with this?
I just ordered a Mac Mini M2 Pro w/ 32GB RAM and 4TB SSD. I mainly produce music with Ableton. Definitely overpaid, but from what I've read online, it seems like this computer will be blazing fast.
Curious to see how it will pair up with my 34" Curved AOC monitor. Native resolution is 3440x1440. Do you think there will be any issues?
Amazing content and editing, by the way!
How does it fare in ableton? Any notes so far?
I have the M1 Mac Mini with 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD and 10GB Ethernet. I'm considering upgrading to the M2 Pro Mac Mini but $400 for doubling the RAM seems insane! I'm hoping if I get it stock that the 512GB SSD being a faster SSD than the 256GB AND the fact that the RAM is 2x as fast as on the non-Pros, that hopefully I won't see slow-downs like I currently do attributed to not having enough memory. My local HD swap files should be faster and larger but I'm crossing my fingers. If I don't find it to be better I'll return it, but I hate returning things unless they truly don't work. (I use my computer for 4K and lower video editing occasionally and also for Lightroom with photo editing. I also keep a mean bunch of browser tabs open ;)
I am going to buy a new Mac mini M2 Pro with 16 GB RAM. 16 GB ram how much can handle it?
I have M2 Mac Mini Pro with 16 Gb Ram, 1 TB SSD and iMac M1 8Gb Ram, 500 TB SSD. However, I felt iMac is faster then M2 Mac Mini when I use the Liquify tool of Adobe Lightroom. Do you know why?
Finally someone talks about wifi and Bluetooth on M2! The lack on information about the wifi performance on M2 and the big Bluetooth issues on M1 kept me from buying! However, I'm still undecided between M2 and M2 Pro. I know that feature different wifi chips. Do you have any knowledge wether the performance you experienced with M2 Pro applies also to the M2?
Did you get one yet?
@@ghost-user559 Not yet, but I saw one post from *Mark Ellis two days ago who with the same setup in the same room reported no issues. He also said that Apple had changed the setup of bluetooth in M2. I am tending to buy a M2 Pro. In the worst case that would leave me the option of a bluetooth usb stick. Unfortunately in Germany Apple "kindly agreed to raise the price of the M2 model from about 1300 € to 1500 € ... But there is still the refurbished and the Amazon option.
* czcams.com/video/uQgnouJeiUc/video.html
I love my Mac Mini M2 Pro. I got it for a steal at $800.00 when I traded in my 2020 MacBook Air. I use my Mini M2 Pro for school, as I am a senior studying Cybersecurity. It is great for running multiple virtual machines, writing commands in Linux and Ubuntu. Best Mac I have owned yet!
Does any here, using the Mac Mini m2 pro with some TV 8k /60 Hz??
I'd really like to buy this but I've read, there are some issues with the hidpi scaling, HDR.....
Any advices are welcome, thank you
Can I Use the Mac mini with a 32 inch Samsung the frame as monitor?
At 1899 price point, I’m curious what the reasoning would be to not simply upgrade to the Mac Studio. The intro price on that is 1799 and it comes with the M2 Max chip instead. Other than that, this was a great video. Informative as I search for the next set up I’ll be having. Thanks!
I have been using the M2 Mac Mini, and it is pretty good. However, I think I could use the extra thunderbolt ports on the M2 Mac mini Pro.
For what?
Just configuring my Mac Mini M2 as we speak!
Hey Kyle,what monitor are you using? And what monitor would you recommend? I am going to purchase a Mac mini and I am so confused regarding monitors. I don't want to waste money on a studio display but I don't mind spending the same amount on some new technology, mini led etc. Can you help me with some pointers? thank you, have a great day!
I'm using the monitor I did my latest display review on, have a look at my LG 27UQ850-W review I did a couple months back: czcams.com/video/zCWWU_wFOSk/video.html
Just picked up m2 pro mini 🥵🥵🥵 no idea what I’m gonna use it for. Civ 6 probably KEK
I got 16gb and 512 ssd is this enough for doing my Etsy store and real estate.
I'm a game developer (Unity recently), I plan to buy a Mac to use but I'm wondering Mac mini m2 pro (16GB 512GB) and Mac mini m2 (24GB 512GB), which one should I choose? Thanks a lot
Since the "Action Button" came out on the Apple Watch last year, and has now made an appearance on the iPhone 15, it will probably also become available for the next generation of iPads, and I'm going to go out on a limb and say it will also be available on the next Mac Mini refresh. Maybe also on MacBooks and iMacs. Why not all Macs? Apple likes consistency.
Just found one of these on the refurb site and snatched it up. This machine definitely reviews well. Brownlee was also impressed with it.
Im really stuck on what to get im leaning towards the base m2pro mac mini but all i need a mac for is school work and then where it gets serious is im a filmmaker i make short films and working on a feature so colour grading and stuff is used and 3d graphics and stuff aswell at times i think the base m2 pro will be enough but i was wondering would specking up a m2 mac mini be enough maybe? instead of the m2 pro and use that money for a better monitor and stuff because this is gonna be my first computer any thoughts?
Did you get it yet?
Using a 12 core 32g 1tb m2 mini pro for 2 months , used only for development, depending on work flow it can be a issue because of heat, im running Android studio multiple emulators, and debugging hardware, mostly vast arrays of particles, the mini sits at over 200F for hours when profiling. Should have bought a base studio , maybe a little slower but at least its not a toaster., guess it all comes down to what you use it for, for just writing code compiling etc it runs cool, no issues, works great. but if you stress it, it heats up fast and even the fan ramping up to 5k rpm does not seem to help that much . I use TG pro monitoring temps all the time
It looks really hot when I render some scenes from Maya using my M2 Mac Mini Pro 16G memory with 1Tb SSD.
Yeah, get the base mac studio as it's way cooler and faster for most things, with better ports and it's about the same price.
@77dris only reason i bought this toaster was all the apple all knowing gurus , Gurman etc , said there would be no more mac studios about 2 months before the mini pro was announced, so i jumped on the minipro. Bad prediction by all the prediction gurus or something else.
It's fun to see how others set up their systems. The CalDigit has a headphone jack, why don't you use that? I am surprised you don't use an audio interface, those little headphone jacks have always caused me no end of problems and don't you need a mic for your recording? I need to upgrade my computer and have been looking at the reviews. I built a hackintosh which has gotten me through some pretty rough times but now we're at the end of that era and I think the Mac Studio is the way to go for me. I'm trying to narrow down my choices but right now I'm somewhere between the entry level Studio and the $4k model. I'm not worried about the price as I've saved so much using the hack for so long.
I comment on a lot of this stuff not for my own use, but for those interesting in buying one
@@KyleErickson Well done, I enjoy the info too.
I guess I'm a little late. Just got a new Mac mini 2 pro and will test it out. May the force be with me 🙏
How's is it is it good for video editing like High level
@@harisali__ I haven't tried it out for video editing. I will edit the comment when I do.
If i only want to consume content and drive 2 monitors (1 27inch 4k monitor and another 32inch ultrawide 2k monitor) majority would be playing 4k content from youtube and other streaming services as well as have a dozen worth of tabs in chrome open. Will the M2 mac mini base model still work? I still have my 2015 mbp 15 and the fan noise is driving me nuts lately, i’ve had it for 8 years on clamshell mode hence i don’t really see me buying another laptop anytime soon. Thanks and Great Video as always! :)
M2 Pro should be fine.
Hej, thanks for a nice video. I really want a mic mini with m2 pro. Never had a mini before. I want to buy two 4k screens display with a minumum 90Hz refresh rate. My question is: How should i connect the two display ? what is the best recomandation. What should i go for. 1 over HDMi and one over usb c? or both over usb -C. If i had to invest in two new display at least i want to know esactly whats ports the displays should have to suit the mac mini best. I want the displays to be of same brand esactly same models both and same refresh rate ( minimum 90 hz) . Screen size minim 27, max 32. peace ✌🏻and thanks for sharing.
either is fine, there's no difference
@@KyleErickson Thanks 🤓✌🏻
So I make music and beats and I also do editing videos I got the max mini 16 gb ram today and it was either that or a m1 iMac , Bestbuy told me to go with the max mini more power fingers crossed
I have the M2 Pro with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB of internal storage, plus 2TB of external storage on a Samsung 980 Pro housed within a Thunderbolt 4 ACASIS enclosure. Oh also have a further 2TB external in my Samsung T7 SSD (velcro'd to the back of my studio display). The 980 Pro is almost as fast as the internal drive - I don't notice any performance drop when working directly on the 980. One really annoying thing is that if I shift applications to the external HDDs they vanish from Launchpad! Anyone know a fix to get round this to save searching through finder (1st world problem I know, but annoying!)?
So all good. The faster RAM is good, but I wish I'd gone for 32 GB rather than 16 GB - the 16 GB seems to cope, but I do notice in activity monitor that it's usually pretty maxed out. As I said, it's great for most things I do, but feel it struggles when running video editing at the same time as normal workflow stuff (O365 mainly). If I were to buy again, I'd go for 32GB RAM.
If a 16 gb m2 pro struggles when youre doing regular video editing, youre doing it wrong.
just running normal every day things it runs smoothly, just the video editing is the only lag when going with the base M2 pro?
@@samsik86 No lag. What he’s saying is he can’t multitask at the same time as doing a heavy task like video editing. Basically the 16GB is perfect for doing multitasking until you want to do something heavy like editing. You want to focus on one thing at a time and it runs totally smoothly.
To avoid searching through finder you need to add each application as an alias on your Macs application folder. You create the app alias on your external drive with “make alias” then you drag that into applications. Launchpad recognizes anything put into the application folder and it should show the alias you made for each application alias you added. Then you just open the alias and it comes up as a normal application would.
@@ghost-user559 100% correct!
I'm thinking of grabbing the base m2 pro 16gb 512gb. My only reservation would be waiting for m3 but I'm starting to doubt they will put the new m3 in the mac mini for several years, thoughts?
You're probably right. I waited for the m2 mac mini for what seemed like an eternity 😂
If you’re gonna wait until they release the M3 chip, you might as well hold off until they drop the M4 chip…
@@mghezzi why not M6? Agree, thanks for your thoughts.
@@JohnSchairer why not wait for the m10??
I basically on use my computer for music production and I’m not really sure the best way to offload that work. Should the apps like logic and ableton on an external hard drive or just the sessions themselves?
I run all my samples and VI content off to external ssd, and my sessions always on another external ssd
@@ericlee5935 thanks. so you have ableton running off the Mac hard drive though? And you have plugins etc on an external as well?
@@brendanxtrom yes, my DAW and plug-ins runs directly on my Mac internal drive, but all my samples, VI, and session itself runs off.
My Mac mini is the stock m2 pro 512Gb 16Gb ram and works like a charm using pro tools and the Dolby atmos renderer, logic, live and so many apps
I have an issue hoping others can chime in…
Upon start up ( Turing the power button on ) I get about a 10 second lag between me touching the external peripherals such as keyboard, mouse or trackpad to respond to inputs to log in. Plus my Studio display flickers a few times to adjust. It takes quite a bit of time before Im able to log in due to the lag of the Bluetooth devices to turn on. It’s nothing major but coming from my old 2014 iMac 🖥 it was seamless and zero lag or wait for it to respond to inputs and touch. I thought I would experience the same seamlessness with my new Studio display and Mac Mini M2 Pro but nope it take much longer making it feel slow to me.
My Mac mini is a a Mac Mini M2 Pro fully loaded with maxed out specs.
Anyone else experience these issues?
Yes, I had the issues multiple times in the beginning. It took a while for me to find a “corrupt file system” in disk utility. I wiped the machine and reinstalled Ventura, and the Bluetooth lag went away. I’m using an older Thunderbolt Display so that still takes a second to start up from a cold boot, so I can’t say it will fix your display flicker, but I can say for me a clean install of the os fixed my Bluetooth and wired keyboard lag when logging in.
Once updated to a working computer you'll realise that a base model mac studio comes in cheaper.
I mistakenly ordered 512 ssd and 32 gb RAM, will it cause any distress? Or any kind of slowness.. I m worried actually
nah you'll be fine.
@@KyleErickson thank u kyle
What kind is monitor is that please?
Hey! I made a video on this monitor a few weeks ago - LG 27UQ850-W.
I really don't mind if they keep using this same design for the rest of the decade
why did you not buy the base version of MAC Studio? It is only $200 more expensive than the config you bought. Will have an M2 max and 512 GB of internal storage.
I did buy that machine as well, but this was recorded long before that was released.
I bought the mac mini m2 pro 12 core cpu 32GB memory 2TB ssd I think i just over pay for this computer I dont need that much for what i do should of gone with the basic one
sounds like a beast!!
I have the same and can't be happier. For photo editing and other apps at the same time it works fine without lags, it is much better than M1, so in any case it will be furure proof for you few next years.