M2 Mac Mini - An overture in SMART overspending
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- čas přidán 2. 06. 2024
- M2 Mac Mini, which upgrades should you purchase? Is the base model enough or should you add RAM/Storage?
It can be a mess trying to figure out which upgrades are worth it. Here i break down what's worth buying, and how to save money.
Dock shown: tinyurl.com/ywbjwn7s
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Timeline:
0:00 quick opening
0:25 Base model specs and opinion
1:17 RAM upgrade
2:25 Should you Upgrade STORAGE?!
3:16 BETTER Storage Upgrades (don't get RIPPED OFF)
6:13 dock options
6:38 SATA options
7:08 Conclusions on what smart spending
#macmini #m2 #apple
Credit to Rain from BAPC for feedback - Zábava
I was wondering why no one seems to care how absurd the "upgrade" pricing is, thanks for caring - althoug now Apple will not invite you to any events... ;)
Apples upgrade costs are an insult to our intelligence. Adding memory and storage to the base configuration is pennies to Apple given they buy in bulk every year. If the authorities wanted to investigate Apple for something, probe their upgrade pricing as it's insane.
We do care, but what can we do?? It is a SoC, system on a chip and unified memory can’t be upgraded later. To discover later that the unified memory of 8GB is not enough is so frustrating and so a lot of Apple customers decide to not take a risk and buy 16GB instead of the base config 8GB.
Bridges be burning….
@@stephenvalente3296 Insane and completely legal. What are ya gonna do, run Linux? C'mon.
STOP buying overpriced products people and they will fix the cost !
Great advice especially about the storage costs. Nice that you highlight the alternatives too.
The 256gb version is slow because Apple uses one 256gb chip. It’s confirmed that upgrading uses multiple storage chips and doubles the speed or more.
@-_ch40s_-91 well if it's raid 0 you'll only lose half your data if a drive fails so it's win win. In other words "he shat in my stew! I had to throw half of it out"
@@andrewferguson6901 that’s not how raid 0 works. Every file is split between chips to speed up the transfer by only having to write half the data to each chip. Lose one chip and all data is gone.
I ended up getting the 24GB /256 model. As I could not justify more $$$$ for the 512 or 1TB internal drive. I had a thunderbolt 3 enclosure with a 1TB WD SN570 SSD and plugged it in. This combo works great for me. Now I only do video editing, dictation for large 20 page work reports, and a windows 11 VM. The 24 GB of RAM keeps all of that rolling without using swap, so zero slow downs! The external SSD does all the heavy lifting. Thunderbolt3/4 enclosures run at about 2800-3000 MB/sec, just as fast as a 512 or 1TB internal.
Happy I found this video, I’m interested in the Mac Mini but the additional storage costs were a put off for me. Now that I know I can add my own storage has me interested again. Thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
My base 8GB 256 is like lightning for my uses. It was also only $499 with education discount. It replaced my 2014 1Mac 27th inch which never faltered. For most people that use their machines as word processing and entertainment devices, this will be perfect for years...Most of us aren't professional video/music creators...
Agree!
But 500 gb of storage should be the benchmark start at that price. 16GB of RAM maybe.
For the most part I am happy with base model M1 I got since launch, but since then I bought a new camera. I am not a professional but editing 4k/422 on final cut or editing lots of files on lightroom really was sluggish. CZcamsrs def oversold the fact you could do all that on 8gb ram. 90% of the time its great, but once I start up final cut or lightroom it starts to show its age. I ended up buying the Mac Studio base model on edu pricing. It made more sense than the m2 pro mac mini.
@@skyemac8 Can add a USB-C external drive with 1TB storage for approx $80-99. Much cheaper than having Apple solder it inside the machine for $200 (500GB) or 1TB ($400!).
@Majik box Did you consider using the 27" monitor for your Mac Mini M2? Is that doable?
Excellent analysis and useful recommendations. Just subscribed, thanks.
I did get the M1 Mac Mini and only upgraded to 16gb and I use external storage. This is the best set up in my opinion. Great Video
nice, agreed
Thank you so much! This is what I was looking for. I wasn’t sure if upgrading to 512 gb, but now I know for sure that I don’t need to pay the extra money for it!
He never mentioned the increase in speed upgrading to the 512GB. You will get 50% faster read/write. If storage/value are more important over speed then go external.
@Jonathan L thought that was big omissions
I have been using the basemodel mac mini m2 for a week now and it is not overpriced at all. In fact it kicks the but of my old pc workstaytion big time, a pc I have been using Davinci Resolve working with video for a couple of years now. That pc with a gtx 1080 11 gig memory I payed over double the money for, I am in sweden so I payed 8500 Swedish for the mini and the PC I payed round 20 000 Swedish for.
Please show us how you install the bigger harddrive in your new mac mini m2.
I worked a full year on a base M1 Mini and loved it. The small SSD was never a limiting factor as it was very fast and I had all my video source files on external SSDs. The new M2 however must be upgraded to 512 SSD for the speed and to fully future-proof it I would add the 16 RAM upgrade.
I purchased the M2 Mac mini, pro 16 gigs RAM, one terabyte and the read write speeds are blazing fast the SSD speeds on those higher tier SSDs just like my MacBook M1 Pro Max. 6177mb/s write 4987 read
Thanks for using Canadian 🇨🇦 prices! It helps a lot. New viewer and subscriber.
Thanks for the video. What I don't understand is what video editor is going to buy the base model anyway? The base m2 is perfect for me. For me the value is in getting the base model. I am still in grad school so I was able to get the $499 base model. I don't see how anyone can beat that. This is Apples genius. Thanks again!
totally agree. 16gb ram allow a great deal of memory swapping, a 256gb of internal storage (even with one chip) is enough for most common usage.
I agree with both parts of what you said. I believe you intend to say 16Gb will _avoid_ a great deal of memory swapping. Less memory swapping is better. Thanks.
You want less memory swapping, not more. So yeah 16gb will allow for less/most likely non existent memory swapping.
@@dannyize yes u're right =)
Apple’s price structure is that way because they know you will upgrade and they don’t have much of a margin on the low end; those low end models are to entice you like the base model of a car that doesn’t exist at the dealer. 😉 That being said, you will want 24-32 GB of ram and at least a 1 TB SSD (those are much faster than the 255/512GB drives), and with those options the Mac mini is $1239 and the MacBook Air is $1939. I already have external monitors, keyboard and trackpad, so the $700 in savings is enticing. Also, the Mac mini supports multiple monitors, the MacBook Air only 1, which is kind of deal breaker for me. I would have to upgrade to a 14 MacBook Pro for multiple monitor support, which with upgraded ram and ssd, but the base chip, costs $2389 or $1150 more. These days, I find that I mostly use my old MacBook Air as a Desktop anyways. Overall, it depends on your use case but I can definitely see the benefits of a Mac mini.
Agreed, pimping out a base mini kinda defeats the budget value purpose of it. I did buy extra storage on my Mac Studio, but I edit a lot of vid and that storage is crazy fast, even so it was a bit of luxury/business choice to aid my workflow, and not entirely essential. Apple always get you bad on the storage, and the ram too now no Macs have any user-replaceable ram option on any model. I’d say the storage upgrade also make a little more sense on the MacBook if you are on the go, you don’t want ext drives dangling off it. Plus for the new air, the single nand thing on the base is pretty irritating.
Actually good advice on a CZcams review. Thank you!
You did a great job. I subscribed to your channel and liked the video. Keep it buddy!
thanks appreciate the encouragement
Thanks for the video. I am waiting for delivery of my 256GB+16GB mini. Your video help ease my mind a bit. To me, the big unknown here is the lifespan of the SSD. I might buy some thunderbolt storage as you suggest but I think I'll look into a homemade NAS running time machine first. I know it's way slower, but it might be more flexible.
A nitpick and a comment: You said 32GB RAM several times when you meant 24GB which the regular M2 maxes out to. And as a comment: for many people who are knowledgeable about the SSD issue, they'll bite the bullet and spend the $200 to upgrade to 512GB. To them it's worth it to avoid storage dongles. I tend to agree but I can't part with the $200.
Yeah I caught that after posting. I’m to commonly a windows user lol. But yeah it’s 8,16, or 24
I would have upgraded the SSD to 512. Even though its a ripoff you get 45-50% faster SSD speeds. The 256GB is a single NAND avg. 1500mb/s. The 512GB will be two 256GB NAND giving you avg. 3000mb/s. I don’t think you will achieve this speed with an external.
@@jbld50 Apple doesn't share this type of information, but I'd be interested to see a breakdown of how many of each M2 Mini variation were sold. My hunch is that 256/8 would be first by a large percentage, maybe 512/16 would be second place.
Unless you run a benchmark or do some serious video work, you'll be hard-pressed to know which SSD you have without looking at system settings.
Awesome video ! Explained it way better than the top tech channels
I’m glad it was helpful
Thanks you advices great content 😊
Of course, Apple's prices for RAM and storage upgrades are extortionate, but the main reason to upgrade the storage isn't for the additional storage (because you can add external drives) but for the slightly increased throughput for the swapfile, especially if you only opted for 8GB of RAM, Because the 256GB is a single chip so everything goes through that whereas the 512GB is split over 2 chips so the transfers are split between them. At least, that's my understanding. Whether you'd see a difference for mundane tasks, probably not.
thunderbolt 4 enclosure from Acasis and good fast NVME drive and you are still at 1 TB for 200 Euros. What is a difference than? None, as you will get about same performance as from internal (2800 MB/s read/write). Far less than 460 Euros they are asking here in Europe for jump from 256 to 1 TB (that means for 768 GB more). And for 2 TB it's 920 Euros which is insane!!! You can get 980 Pro 2 TB for 200 euros!
So you will save 700 euros (ok, minus 100 for enclosure) at that config.
The upgraded 512gb storage will be about 3000mB/s, because it uses a second storage chip (essentially like a raid).
This is exactly what I was thinking. This is my first time buying a Mac, but the upgrade prices made no sense. I only upgraded the RAM because it's soldered to the board. Thunderbolt makes it easy to add additional storage.
ill eventually get a more involved TB dock for my partner when i gift it.
I am so glad I stumbled up on your video as this will save me so much money. I was prepared to buy the Mac Mini M2 Pro 16gb/512. I currently have the Mini M1 8gb/256 I just bought last March. The trade in value is an insult. I need to sell it but have no idea where. I was torn between the base model or pro. From my understanding the Mini M2 base with 16gb ram/storage is the way to go. Ive already added all your suggestions in my cart.
If anyone's getting either the M2 or M2 Pro, they *must* go to at least the next storage size up to ensure they're getting a faster base speed. It's because of how Apple has divvy'd up the chips on the SoC to ensure that for _either_ model: if you only get the base SSD you get the slower speed. Other than that, yeah external storage makes sense because of how fast Thunderbolt 4 is, etc
This is true for the Macbook Airs but not Mac Minis. In the Macbook Airs, the 256gb uses 1 NAND chip and the 512gb uses two. In the M2 mac Minis, both the 256gb and 512gb use only one NAND chip. NOt until the 2TB upgrade does it use two NAND chips.
Thanks I was surprised by all the CZcamsrs saying 8 GB us enough because apple does memory different.
Not .
If your machine needs 8 GB and it's not there it then uses the SSD like everything else and slows down especially on smaller slower drives .
16 gb should be the standard.
But apple always is last to give up that profit stream.
Very nice, but the thing is.... most applications cannot be installed on an external drive. Only files. It's not a system drive, so it's use is limited. I'm with you on the prices Apple charges, it's ridiculous. But in a situation where you need your system drive to be as big as possible (like I do) then you have no choice. I'm would like to use it for music production, so I need a lot of internal storage for plugins and apps... so I'd have to upgrade to minimal 1 TB.
that's not true...you can install MAC OS externally and boot through mac mini...I have installed at least 4 different MAC OS systems on external SSDS and connect them to my MB PRO 2015 - on each SSD I can install what I want
With respect to storage, if you have purchased at least 1TB, you are using NAND chips that will make the storage a lot faster. While I do understand that Apple wants a premium for storage and RAM, it may pay to upgrade storage for speed alone and upgrade RAM as you have suggested or go to the full 32GB.
In terms of swap files, you do not want your swapfile on an external drive-especially if you are going to swap it out for another drive. I empathize with your concern about the upgrade costs. having all of the NAND chip slots occupied, you will find the internal SSD to be blazingly fast.
why not having swap or right off, boot from external drive? We are talking about Thunderbolt 4 enclosure which has 32 Gbits/s for data, so you will get at speeds of internal SSD (upgraded) for fraction of the cost. There is no reason not to use external Thunderbolt 4 enclosure and NVME drive instead of overpaying.
@@ZhuJo99 Because not having an internal drive to boot from is begging for a problem. And, I am not sure that Apple's latest operating systems _will_ boot off an external drive (there was a problem with one or two versions as found out by Mike Bombich who makes Carbon Copy Cloner).
Very very very helpful thanks
I'm looking at my first Mac for my wife and I and honestly I'm thinking the 256gb with 16 gigs of ram will do us fine. We just do basic stuff with maybe some light photo and video editing. My wife mainly listens to her music and browses the web. She has a large music library so a 1TB external drive would work great for us. The 16gb of ram may be overkill for our needs but I'd rather have too much than not enough. I'm planning on keeping it for many years.
This is exactly what I did. You can never ever go wrong with more memory. I have an Intel NUC from 8 years ago that still runs great mainly because even back then I went with 16 gigs of memory. You can always additional space externally and delete stuff you really don't need off the main drive.
Great video!
The problem that I have with external storage is that I use many audio, plug-ins, and virtual instrument libraries with logic pro. They must be installed on the boot drive.
No they don’t, I installed mine on external ssd a decade ago. Yes, the folder should be on the boot drive, but that folder can be a link to a folder on an external drive.
just install another mac OS on the external drive and boot from there for anything related to your music
Thank You, Great Advice
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very helpful. I’ve been looking to replace my iMac which has become painfully slow but it has one tb memory and the mini has such a small drive I hesitate to make the switch.
Thanks. Great help
Agree about overpriced Apple upgrades, disagree about paying $200 for another 8GB RAM unless someone specifically needs high-rez photo editing. The baseline 8GB does all the social networking and movie viewing in 25+ open tabs anyone could want…and the “future-proofing” argument is weak since (a) everything else about the machine will become antiquated (faster SSD, faster chipset, better GPU, etc) and more RAM won’t save it, and (b) the $200 RAM upgrade (30% the cost of the entire MacMini) can be put toward buying the future machine.
Until you realize the lack of ram will increase writes to the ssd in swap memory thus making the entire machine a ticking time bonb
@@larrythehedgehog Until you realize that RAM over-writes deficiencies will never happen within its useful life.
I agree with this advice, go 16GB ram and use a thunderbolt nvme dock. I keep my OS on the main drive and data on a secondary drive anyway. That’s why I like PC’s because I have so much modularity but Macs are still awesome.
you're making good sense bro! will consider to just upgrade the RAM to 16GB and get the base 256GB SSD instead. i have a few Samsung T7 Shield 1TB & 4TB external SSDs lying around. They will do the heavy lifting instead.
but for future macOS upgrades, will 256GB be enough?
the old macOS installation data will be replaced and not taking space anymore right?
I think 16GB RAM and 512 GB HD is the best choice, because the 256GB HD is very slow.
Based on this set up you can extent the HD size to 1 or 2 TB together with a good case. Many people like this kind of USB hubs with the same design/dim. as the Mac mini. But all of these units are very slow. Compare the videos in CZcams.
16RAM with 256 is just fine, the slower SSD is not a big deal in the practice if you have 16GB of RAM, unless you're moving large 40gb files all the time. For me 16 RAM + 256 SSD has the best value for most people and should be the base model. If you upgrade both it's going to cost you around $1000 and it won't be much better in real world usage. You can just get external 1TB+ SSDs and they're going to be pretty fast connected to thunderbolt 4.
Agreed, but price-wise if you up the base M2 with 16GB and 1TB it starts getting close to the M2 Pro so why not just get the M2 Pro model.
@@GregoryDumont2 I agree, I ordered the Pro with 16/512GB and the monitor LG 32UL950.
@@gerdt.7106 I think that is an excellent choice!
Loved the video. Apple being apple again. I use my Steam Deck as a mini PC. I installed a 512gb nvme 2030 in the base model. Also, I got almost all the parts for a desktop except the gpu. I am still using my old gtx 970 and my sata ssds. I am looking for a decent 1 Tb nvme drive for gaming at a good price may be during Prime day or black friday.
I love how upgradeable the deck is. Valve did a great job.
Serious question, what about the use of the internal drive for swap memory? That seems to be where all the indecision is coming from, as that extra 256 hard drive increases swap memory speeds dramatically.
This, the slow single chip 256GB for swap is terrible, it can quarter the performance at more intensive tasks, all things equal. Apple has you over a barrel, you have to upgrade one or the other, or both if you have more intensive use cases.
I agree with you on the ssd upgrade. However Mac mini is not a flagship. It’s the opposite, an entry level mac. And it’s 600 usd which is cheaper than iPhone non pro one. I would add another 200 usd for 16gb of ram and it’s 800 usd, same price as an iPhone non pro. You get a very capable desktop computer in a very small foot print. I don’t think it’s bad value at all. Plus the reselling value is quite good.
I meant the m2 chip, i could have been more clear
Can macOS swap be used from that external m.2? Or it's always going to use the internal SSD for swap?
I’m so glad a CZcamsr finally said it. The slower drive is definitely unacceptable but not more so than what Apple charges for the memory upgrades. I have a base M1 Mac Mini with an external drive more than sufficient for me.
Im new to the Mac mini. Great video, but I was wondering, can I swap the 8GB memory on the entry or mid level Ms mini with a 16GB chip? Is merry on these upgradable? I'm not worried about storage, I can get externals like the one you show in the video. Which brings me to this important question: am I correct in assuming that despite having external SSDs for storage, apps MUST be installed on the internal SSD of the iMac itself? If that is true, an entry or mid level with 256 GB of storage severely limits how many apps I can have plus empty disc space for cache for said apps. I know I can allocate additional cache on other drives in Adobe apps, but what if other apps don't give you the ability?
The memory is soldered to the motherboard so cannot be remove or upgraded.
You do have slightly slower internal speeds at 256, but it’s not enough to justify buying their absurdly overpriced upgrades in my opinion
As an apple shareholder I’m very happy if everyone gets 16 gb and 512 GB (or mote). As a user I’m getting the 256 GB and 8 GB. I think there are a lot of improvements coming in the coming years years, at which point I’ll buy a new Mac again, even the pro doesn’t bring enough to the table. In 3 years 16 GB, 512 GB and 10 GB Ethernet could be the base model (with hopefully more interesting ports and Wi-Fi and a new form factor). I’m using the machine for word documents, mail, reminders and internet browsing mainly. To be honest my 10 year old MacBook Air still does this adequately. I just want something permanently connected to my monitors and won’t be giving apple any $200 dollar upgrade options, but there marketing people almost convinced me to get the pro after I started to consider upgrading to 16/528. They are brilliant, they initially attracted me with the $599 price.
You are the problem.
I can’t imagine living with a 256 gig SSD.
Good input. However, I predict mine will be in use much longer, even if it's just to work as a media center in the future (currently have 4 ATV4K at home). And I don't like closing stuff :-D I'm terrible with Crome tabs.
@@richardbriscoe8563 An external drive will solve the problem.
@@fernandoz2023 I presently have one of the last of the Intel Mac Minis which only has 256 internal. (It wasn’t what I ordered and there’s a painful story behind it.) I literally could not fit my install on it. Anyway, my boot drive is an M.2 2TB SSD. It works well, but there have been some quirks about Mac OS and external boot drives.
I have a M2 Pro Mini on order that is due in 2 weeks w/ a 1 TB internal drive.
The 256 module Apple uses for the base model mini is simply a slow drive. I can only speculate why (maybe it didn’t pass speed testing. Who knows?) The 512 SSD is reportedly two 256GB units in a RAID 0 configuration.
In any event, everyone should choose what suits them.
P.S. If you are buying external SSD enclosures, do yourself a favor and don’t buy anything from Orico. They’re crap and have no warranty service at all. None.
Excellent points. IF speed is critical in all the things one does, just get the Mac Studio. For everything else, any 16GB computer with the ability to add extra external storage is sufficient. That 8GB Mac Mini memory, is just a teaser to get consumers 'in the door.'
Those who are patient, and want the 8GB model? Wait until they start showing up on Apple's refurbished shop. They will be much cheaper, and have the one year warranty.
Only the Mac Studio Ultra is faster, the M2 on the Mac Mini is a little faster than the Studio Max M1
Mine is the 8GB/512GB option and RAM is not really an issue for home use at least. With 12 Chrome tabs open,and Spotify running in the background it consumes 6.35GB of RAM and no slowdown is noticeable. 512GB is kind of necessary since the 256GB base model is actually slower than the base M1 model.
Thank you for this. Is the slow 256Gb HD okay when using external SSD drives or should you still need the 516GB? 16 Gb ram is a must for me.
Upgrading to 512gb SSD adds a NAND chip, so it's actually kind of worth the money for the read/write speed bump alone
For long term use, yeah this is the recommended path 16GB 256GB storage with external nvme memory/sata. For basic use, sure the base model works. It really depends on your workflow.
The video all new mac mini average users need to see, thank you, subbed
really true, been confused lately what to buy, a larger RAM, or a larger Storage. But the video is what we needed.
@@rionvalet yes same I’ve watched maybe 25 since launch even pushing toward the m2 pro base but in reality no I just need the base with memory we can expand the memory storage much better then any Mac build ourselves
@@DeBanked yea, bass model, 16GB RAM, & 256 Storage is enough for our needs without stressing out
I’m glad to be of any help
I’m glad it was useful
Many thanks for your video. I had already decided on 16BG of RAM, and am still researching whether to go with 256GB or 512GB of storage. I have seen many videos that recommend 512GB only because it consists of 2 chips vs just one. External Storage is definitely the way to go, much better value and options.
Just get the 256 if you don’t want to overspend. The internal storage on both is still quite “fast”. So why not use that $200-300 to buy a really big, really fast external ssd and an enclosure and laugh all the way to the (data)bank
I just got off the phone with Apple and asked if the 512Gb SSD had the two NAND chips, it does not.
For the average user, a few word document and a few tabs open, how long should i expect the base m2 model to last?
For basic tasks like email, office apps and web browsing the base model is fine. But for production work a 512Gb SSD and 16Gb RAM is the starting point. It's pointless pulling apart the base model as the point of this machine is to provide access to the Apple ecosystem for non-power users most of which will never saturate the 8Gb RAM. Also the internal storage size is not that relevant for power users as most if not all would be using external drives for their project files. Its also well documented the 256Gb SSD is too slow for intensive work therefore it would have been much more useful to have reviewed the base M2 with 512Gb SSD and 16Gb RAM. Reviews like this really need to focus on specific tasks as the base model will work for some users and will be amazing value. The real tricky bit comes when you are trying to spec an affordable machine as a power user.
Great content wrt the ssd and external drive example. What brand / model is that dock you showed?
Hagibis u100. You can get it on Amazon or Ali express. The is a u100 pro model with dual hdmi and Ethernet too
The M2 Pro Mac Mini is in such an awkward spot.
- Successful businesses use the Mac Studio.
- Casuals use the base Mac Mini with 16GB.
Well explained! I own a 2013 Mac Book Pro with 8 Gb of RAM and 256 Gb SSD, 2.4 Gh Intel i5 class. Can you believe 10 years after, Apple is still offering a brand new computer with the same initial specs?
I can give you my hands on experience that video editing is extremely complicated with only 8 Gb of RAM. Not impossible, but forget about 4k. I do 1080p videos, no longer than 5', most of them slideshow of still photography with a few seconds of video clips. The rendering can take up to 30'.
The 256 Gb SSD is only used to store applications. My main storage is done on external disk drives, via USB-A ports.... only 2 of them, connected to Anker hubs... at least I have an SD card port on the Mac Book Pro. This is not even offered on the Mac Mini because they don't want to eat into the Mac Studio....
I still manage to post process my photos using affinity Photo, but only one at a time! I cannot have two many photos in memory at the same time.
Guy is correct in suggesting to upgrade to 16 Gbytes of Memory, at the very minimum for any post processing. I have purchased the new Samsung 2TB 980 PRO 7000MB/s and installed in an enclosure. That is going to be my main storage.
Apple's low price access is only a lure to get you anxious. The 8x256 @600 USD is a reasonable choice if you do not need to do video editing. I managed to survive 10 years with the bottom of the line Mac Book Pro sold in 2013.
The other trick used is the Memory access speed which is 100 Gb/s on the standard M2s, 200 Gb/s on the M2 Pro. Everything is done to make you want to purchase the top of the line, including the four Tbolt ports, and HDMI 1, at a whopping 1300 USD + Taxes!
If I was not doing video clips, I would go with the 600 USD stock model. But I need to improve rendering speed when editing videos, thus I am going to indulge in the 800 USD 16Gb memory add-on.
Actually I bought the same machine you have new, and it originally sold with 4GB Ram and a spinning HDD, so technically they have doubled the base Ram. And it originally was 1300$, which is twice the price of the M2 mini. I put 16GB Ram and a 1TB SSD into my 2012, but I used it with 4GB until Yosemite came out. And I didn’t get an SSD until High Sierra through Catalina recently. The upgrade costs are terrible, and 8GB 256 is not great, but it is double the Ram and Storage of the base model ten years ago.
@@ghost-user559 I did try to upgrade the SSD in my Mac Book Pro. I did not even know that it originally sold with 4 Gb of RAM and a HDD.
Four years ago, I purchased the 512 Gbytes SSD kit from "iFixit". Accessing the SSD in the Mac was pretty easy, but I could never install Mac OS on the new SSD.
Even with the technical assistance of iFixit, I got an error which they had never encountered when they made the tutorial.
I did purchase the Mac Mini M2 with 16 Gbytes memory this morning. Delivery on February 22. I have reached the end of acceptance with my current Mac Book Pro, which is going to become my Nomad computer now.
All that being said, this computer lasted 10 years without any kind of break down. Which is still something.
@@p6x2 Very good choice on the M2! You will have a very good new machine.
Yeah I bought mine new for 1300$ in 2013 and it was a 2012 MacBook Pro 13 and it was 4GB for that price and a very slow spinning hard drive.
Yeah the Crucial SSD I bought was not too difficult or expensive, but you do have to copy the OS and clone the drive before you put it into the machine so the Mac boots and recognizes it.
I also would recommend buying a new battery replacement if you plan on using the MacBook as a Nomad computer. I can easily get 5-6 hours on very basic tasks, and a new battery is only 30$.
@@ghost-user559 I purchased a late 2013 MacBook Pro brand new back then with 4GB ram with a 128GB SSD. They had SSDs already.
@@Goaltimer Oh I know they had ssd, that’s why I said they are double the size, but the base model had an HDD still, I believe the ssd was an upgrade.
What type of hub was that you showed off? I just ordered my first Mac and that looked like a great fit. Went with the 16gb upgrade and will be adding external storage
It’s a Hagibis u100 (there is a pro versions) fyi it’s not a true TB dock, but still more than enough for a ssd and other peripherals
I guess those 1T SSDs cannot be installed by the user by removing the 256gb SSD. I run a Macbook Pro with 16gb RAM and A 1T SSD. I filled it as few times and purchased a 16T external HDD to put a whole bunch of stuff I do not readily access. I am thinking about getting the M2 Mac Mini, but the HD are just so small.
Great Video! What is the brand on your TB USB hub with the SSD enclosure?
Maybe: Hagibis Dual USB C Dockingstation u100 or Hagibis Dual USB C Dockingstation u100 ultra
@@nivt5262 Thanks!
But what about the Fact that some guys say that the ideal spot for buying Mac Mini is the 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD because with that the SSD can also act as an indirect RAM with the Paging/SWAP Ram ability ? what about that ?
Thx, but isn’t the 512 drive twice as fast as the 256? , so what about performance of any software on the boot drive, say Logic. Or when you open logic its running in the ram and then save your sessions to the fastest external drive ?
The cost of the 512 drive, even if twice as fast is still a ripoff. Those numbers I show on screen for other drives are still much faster than the 512 drive, and they cost me a fraction of the price….. AND I got 4x the storage.
Simply put, apple is ripping you off massively for storage .
Which docking station is that? I've been searching but cannot find it so far... Thank you!
It’s. Hagibis U100. There is also a pro model, that one contains duals hdmi and Ethernet.
They are available on Amazon Canada and Amazon USA
Great video....can you advise the brand and model of the dock @ 6:13?...thank you and cheers!
Hagibis u100 (there are others now) it’s not a certified TB dock though, but it gets the job done for my needs. I have a link in my vid description for the Canadian option
@@TechGuyBeau Great!....thanks!
Does TB4 bottleneck external NVME speeds? Would have been good also to show drive speeds of your external solution vs Apple’s onboard storage.
It depends on the dock. A hood dock will run much faster than the internal storage (assuming a capable driver).
And yes socks can bottleneck every high end drives. At some point i mention getting a mid tier drive is better for this than a high end gen4
TB 4 has a maximum of 32 Gbit/s for data on the bus (less if you connect a dock with 4k monitor as that will eat 14 GBit/s while 8 Gbit are reserved on TB4 for display only - so it will eat 6 Gbit from that 32 Gbit/s). We are talking about maximum speed of about 2800 MB/s for Thunderbolt 4 enclosure and good NVME drive - there is no need to buy something that is able to get 6000 MB/s as TB4 doesn't have such bandwidth.
So it depends - there is no bottleneck UNTIL you are running multiple devices on one TB 4 bus at the same time. Ie you can run 4k display and SSD on same bus and you will get same read speeds from SSD, but lower write speeds as display signal is running in opposite direction (out of computer) than reading from SSD (to computer) but same direction for data for writing (to SSD from computer).
Mac mini M1/M2 has 2 thunderbolt buses, M2 Pro has 4. Intel macs (regardless of model) while having 4 TB busses were sharing only 1 bus for all of them, just like the Thunderbolt dock.
And while M2 (base model) is still with Thunderbolt 3, it's because basic M1/M2 have only 3 display controllers (2 for 5K/6K display, one for 4k) so they allow to run only 1 display via thunderbolt. TB 4 certification requires to be able to run 2 displays from 1 bus. But otherwise, speed and behaviour (TB3 allows only 16 Gbit for data) it's thunderbolt 4, just can't get that certification because of the 2 displays can't be connected from 1 bus on basic Mac minis (or Air for that matter)
@@ZhuJo99 yep. Just get yourself a cheap 2500 ish MBPS nvme drive and away you go. The prices are absolutely plummeting nowadays. You can get 2tb of a good nvme drive for 1/4 the cost of just 256mb of max storage
Big oof for apple here
So a year later how is the performance and reliability of the external drive, I've read unflattering things about Silicon Power (specifically that they use no name NAND chips)
Really smart!
For sure 8RAM is not enough. 16 is a good minimum. I have the M2 16 512. 512 should be 2x the speed of 256 (have no conformation of that yet).
I do not think so cause I have been using my basemodel mini with Davinci Resolve with mixed mp4 1080, mp4 4k and the old cinema dng Raw on the same timeline without a problem so the basemodel works ok and is fast enough no doubt about it. It does not even break a sweat while running the program. Video editing is among the most demanding you can do with a computer so it is a good measurement.
Yes, 256 being slower than 512 is said by several reviews.
@@paulhorn24 Ok, that is important to know. Happy I went for 512 then (boy, Apple is expensive with memory though).
@@BurninSven1 Are you saying that you can do all that while using less than 8GB RAM, and not using swap? (Swap = using the SSD when there is too little RAM, slower and hard on your SSD).
thanks.. do you recommend to buy base model to learn After Effect? I am beginner.. thanks.. I will appreciate your help
Solid tip here. Apple is getting away with highway robbery.
Is it safe working off of an external SSD, or will I have to copy to the local drive?
Working off the external is entirely fine. With TB4 you can get great speeds too!
No-one forces you to buy it.
Can you install a Programm on the ssd? When you edit photo: Can they stay on the ssd? On the ipad, iPad os needs to import all files to the iPad Storage.
absolutely you can
No, not all programs can be installed on an external drive, it really depends on the software.
A bit forced to buy the 521 GB storage though. You want the OS to work faster on that model. That model is way faster than the base model. For extra storage, an external SSD is prefectly fine.
Thank you
What about booting from the external drive. Any benefit taking that path?
From what I understand it is doable. But my take is Im fine a moderately small boot OS drive, then I keep most things off it on an external drive.
make sure ot bench any storage on the unit if you can, because, its possible they dont offer faster storage because, the unit cant use the higher speeds... wouldnt shock me...like how a buddy of mine was mad his pci-e 4.0 nvme drive got pci-e 2.0 speeds in a 2.0 slot.. LOL..
Great video but I just don't believe that screenshot where 10/16GB of RAM is said to be used by the listed apps.. there is no way that 4tabs, youtube (so 5th tab?) and an empty spreadsheet uses 10GB. That would mean at least 1GB/tab if not more which is highly unlikely.
that is not used memory, but wired. That is how modern RAM management works on every OS. It doesn't mean it's used for apps and tabs, but system reserved in case any process needs that RAM right now - it will give it to it immediately, without waiting (and thus, causing a delay).
Otherwise there would be no point to look at plenty of empty, unused memory. It's like your money on the bank account. You can have millions (duh) there but it doesn't mean you are spending them right now or now and then. You just have a reserve to use it when needed. Completely unused, empty RAM would be like watching at possible mortgage - you MIGHT get those money but not immediately and not without a price itself.
Is it clear?
Question: if going with a high capacity, hi speed external NMVe SSD with say a thunderbolt connection, would you have it as the boot drive also, or just put files on it and keep the internal SSD as the boot drive? I rarely hear of people that use the external drive as a boot drive, is there a reason not to do that?
You can do it. But boot times aren’t as relevant. I would use the faster for mass storage output of things like video rendering files
@@TechGuyBeau Thanks for the reply. I was thinking that system writing to storage would be faster, but admittedly, these are likely small files. However, what about when the system uses the boot drive for memory cache. They could be larger files and may benefit from faster external boot drives? Or would that also not make much of a difference?
For booting it won’t make much of a difference tbh. Probably a differences of a few seconds.
If you are rendering video files or doing other big data, the slow Mac drives would be a burden. But day to day it won’t matter in all honesty (hence why paying for 512 is a ripoff).
An external TB based nvme could double the base drives speeds, and you get much more storage for way cheaper. So that’s the better route for larger files that benefit from speed
They were selling systems with 8GB/256GB base storage in 2018 and it was barely minimum specs then. Nothing should have less than 16GB/512GB in 2023. That costs £400 more on the low end. Putting you about £240 less than the discounted cost of the M2 Pro Mac Mini with 16GB/512GB and that gives you 2 additional P cores, 5 additional GPU cores, 4 instead of 2 Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI 2.1 and support for higher refresh rates and multicore performance on a level with the previous M1 Max Studio.
Can you use the external storage as your primary drive with the os.
You can yes
You pointet out your thunderbolt hub with the built in ssd (i think its the hagibis usbc dockingstation)… what kind of speed are you getting with it?
It’s a usb dock not TB certified. However it still gets “good” nvme speeds. 1100 MBPS
Id you want better speeds Orico offers a 20gbit and 40 gbit nvme dock model from what I can see on Amazon. Those will give you much faster speeds of up to 3500 Mbps. Pretty killer for the price compared to apple storage pricing
This is my first Mac and I thought the prices were crazy. Like many of you, I only updated the RAM because it is soldered to the board, otherwise I wouldn't have updated anything. Thankfully, I have an education account so you upgrade wasn't as much. If I need extra space, external drives are getting cheaper and cheaper by the day.
Absolutely. My video actually underestimates the cheapness of external storage with prices plummeting in the last month or so
thank god for your channel
Good video. Gives a decent perspective of your views which may be beneficial to those of like view. However, I don’t agree with your video premise. 8 GB is fine and will be fine for casual users and there are a lot of people in that category. That said, if the user you are addressing as the every day user will be using it as you suggested, they wouldn’t consider the base M2. They would be looking at the M2 Pro.
one thing to note: these being arm based, dont need as much ram as a typical desktop, the os is much lighter then windows for example...
i do agree on the base model of mini being over priced for most users, but, it can make sense if you for example do alot of video editing but cant really afford a full on desktop, these are faster then most pc's for editing, and can still run x86 code very well, alot of games run amazingly well... more so when you consider its an ARM cpu running x86 code.. i mean better results then the average desktop pc from something so small and low power... i kinda want to see high power ver of these chips..
linux runs great on them btw, my buddy who has one of the models similar to what you got there, dual boots his, linux is better for some stuff, but osx is better for other things.. osx kicks arse for games for example... just slays... way better then any of us expected.. even after seeing reviews..
they can be fun, show me a notebook that can game for as many hours as a macbook m2 model with similar perf, running x86 and windows... i have never seen one that lasted 4 hrs of games like elite dangerous, eso, gw2, let alone giving better then 1070ti levels of perf..
I dont even do much and my Mac is using around 10GB of ram. So if you only have 8gb than you are screwed (a lot of swap).
Wait a minute. I know you :)
ARM-based uses more RAM, not less, as the instructions are simpler thus more are needed. I don't know why so many Apple users think its the other way around. Also the 8GB is shared video memory, so it's pretty RAM-starved out of the box today (let alone in a few years). The SSD paging is mostly quick (twice as fast on the M1 Mini) but will add a ton of wear and cause major slowdowns if it has to be used much at all. But, it's pretty cheap so if you can get by with it, it's still not a bad choice if you ask me.
Data transfer rate(s) is more concerning to me. It is said that the base configuration of any Apple computer have a slower Data Transfer than the next tier. Base config 256GB is slower than 512GB SSD with new M2 Mac mini (in this case).
Base config M2 Pro 512GB SSD is said to be slower than 1 TB SSD. And Apple is not telling us about it !!!!!!
Why would you buy the base version? Because I got a refurbished one for £550 from Apple.
The increased ram was like an extra £200 and a second hand M1 was almost as expensive and even more than the M2.
Second hand mini from 2018 was £450 on eBay, second hand electronic stores.
Even 2012 versions were £200 and still often needed now more SSD or ram and you would still end up with inferior product by far after an outlay of £70
MacBook Pro in UK, 2013 version with inferior chip would cost £300 and good modern versions are far more.
Brand new MacBook M2 is about £1300 and I bought M1 two years ago for my wife and price was nowhere near that brand new.
There was no point and I only needed for basic video editing and general use.
I have a nice 4k HDR TV I can use as a monitor and it's perfect for my needs.
It's obviously not for those who need for heavy video editing, but that's not me
The M2 chip and paying $800 for a 16/256 configuration isn't that bad if someone is a big macOS fan with casual needs. Add a QHD 27-inch monitor and cheap accessories to make the home desktop setup complete.
M2 Pro Mac Mini. Upgrade storage to 1TB. Job done. Slow(er) SSD speed of 512GB model solved. Price and value a personal decision.
What is the Dock you are using? -- NM found it in the other comments. Hagibis U100.
No serious video editor uses the internal storage. fast external drives instead.
Do not get the bigger storage, it’s a waste of money.
How can I search the web for hard drives for a mac mini/studio and know the hard drives are compatible? Thanks.
You can’t upgrade the internals on these models. For external it just comes down to which enclosure you use
Hi, do you have a link to that Thunderbolt dock?
Thanks
its in the video description now. Its a Hagibis u100.
Isn’t the internal storage faster than the external storage?
Better go for the m1 mac mini ✌️
How about upgrade to 16GB RAM & use the 2TB iCloud?
You
Ever considered booting from external?
If 32GB of RAM has been plenty for my workflow on a 2015 iMac would 16GB of unified memory be enough on a Mac Mini?
it depends what you are doing on the daily. tbh. if you are worried you can get 24 (i dont think this model offers 32)
@@TechGuyBeau I want the Mini Pro for the ports. Spent some time at the Apple Store running tests on a base Mini 8/256, a 16GB M2 MacBook Pro (same config as the Mini Pro), a Base Studio and a 32Gb MacBook. On each I exported a 45min Final cut 1080 video and duplicated that test but added an export of all the photos in their photos catalog. And I also opened about every app on the computers. They all worked fine. Watching Activity Monitor only the 32GB machines stayed at a constant flat green in Memory Pressure while exporting a photo library and video at the same time. The 16GB machines did add a layer of yellow but no red. Only the base mini went in the red, and that was when only exporting a video alone. When only exporting the video with all the apps opened, Memory Pressure stayed green on the 16GB Macs and didn't hit the swap hard. Would probably never need to replicate my video and photo exports stress test in real life. Even so, the computer handled it with aplomb. My takeaway: confirmed my theory 16GB is enough for my needs. 32GB would be throwing money away.
Thank u