Should You Buy the M2 Mac Mini in 2024?
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- Äas pĆidĂĄn 9. 03. 2024
- Hey đđ» In this video I talk through if Appleâs M2 Mac Mini is still worth buying in 2024, Iâve used this model for the past 10 months as my main computer for video editing, photography and even some gaming. I have put a lot of thought into the pros, cons and who this powerhouse is really for. I hope you enjoy the video.
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Bro put it on some bushes for a shot, the dedication đ
Hahah gotta get the shots! It was extremely windy that day too, was worried it was going to take offđđ
No doubt one of best investment I made last year after using Mac Mini M2 with 24GB RAM and 1TB SSD. Opening over 50 Safari tabs, 50 Chrome tabs, few PowerPoint slides, Excel, Word, Spotify, Microsoft Teams, Photoshop for small image editing fly through without any sweat or lagging at all. For whoever already own monitor, keyboard, and mouse; then MacMini M2 is the best and beast machine.
Completely agree my friend - thatâs an absolute power house you have right there! Do you have any of the MacBooks?!
In the beginning you want results, in the end you want control. Mac is for beginners, Linux is for pros. Window is for neither
Love that! Linux is great, I assume thatâs your go to?
@@brandonkennedy Indeed
I love Linux, but disagree unless by âprosâ you just mean people who tend to know more about computing, operating systems, privacy and full control. However, if you mean âproâ to be people who do heavy photo and video creation, Iâd disagree. Linux systems have horrible battery life and apps for photo and video creation have been painful to wait for them to improve. Yes, Darktable is great, but the interface is not very intuitive and has a pretty good learning curve. For video, I donât know any pros who rely on Linux for their video editing requirements. Iâm sure there are many, but the majority are using mainstream tools build for Windows or Mac, but usually not to include Linux availability.
I find Linux to be the very best OS, but not for content creation. I also love its privacy, its scarcity among the masses, and its polish across many distros. But I hate its horrible battery management on laptops. If I lived on a desktop, Iâd probably lean more toward Linux, but on laptops I have yet to find one that can get long battery life without weighing 5 pounds.
Did you have any problems with "call failed" when you click a number to dial out on your Iphone? Ive had two different mini's, two different phones, two different Networks, two different Apple Id's and Three different displays (apple grasping at straws). been through weeks of troubleshooting with Apple Care, They cant fix it.
I'm loving the quality and formats of the vids Brandon! đ
I don't know if people realise just have insane airdrop is!
Crying in old PC CPU rn đ
Thanks man! Trying to make them better slowly but surely đ
Haha yeah itâs a game changer.. not sure I could ever go back tbh.
Ahhh youâll be on the M series soon enough no doubt đ
Great vid. As a Mac user. With an older intel Mac that is scarily out of date. We were thinking of going base Mac min8 as have work monitors etc now at home.
Would be used for photo and music and general purpose use. Would it be a wise move to get the base model as I donât think I need mega power of the upgrades you took.
Hey! Thank you - and I think the base model is a perfect choice in your case, youâll have plenty of performance and coming from the older intel chip youâll notice just how dramatic of an upgrade it is đđ»
How is Lr Classic on this mac? I'm planning to also jump into mac. I would use my raw images from an external SSD 8 tb.
i use LR Classic on mine and it works great. and i am also using an external ssd drive. I also got a dock that it sits on that accepts an ssd, and i'm using that to store and run all of my applications.
very good video! Have you ever saturated the 16gb of ram? Do you think 24gb of ram is necessary to edit in premiere and afterfects?
Thank youđđ» Good question and Iâve got close for sure in some heavy premier pro sessions but itâs never overly noticeable - what kind of work are you doing in premiere/AE?
â@@brandonkennedy 4k resolution projects with some color correction in lumetri, and basic intros and animated text on AE
@@kennethbarrantes7132 personally I think youâd be fine with 16gb but if you feel youâd need a little more or plan on increasing the workload over time 24gb might be an option.. but you have to be careful youâre not getting close to Mac Studio pricing
Iâm looking to replace my 2012 iMac 27 with the mini but I am thinking to wait for the m3
No harm holding out, it will be a huge upgrade for you regardless
I went for the m2 pro , never had any issues with any tasks , I love it
Awesome! Itâll last for years to come my friend, best of luck with itđđ»
Brother, I have to do 4K video editing and Blender, will this be good ?
8/256 When is it enough or not.
16gb unified memory will be fine for 4k video editing, I haven't used Blender so I'm not sure but I'd say you'll be good! I don't think you'll get away with only having 8gb of unified memory if that's your main workload.
Only disadvantage I see is sudden power cuts, what happens then? Does the machine shuts down or there is some kind of power backup in it.
Great point - it doesnât have any power backup but like all PCs they have built in redundancy so it doesnât fry the unit - only thing that could be an issue is loss of progress if you were working on a project - although itâs happened me before and the mini seems to save very frequently so I was okay đ
@@brandonkennedy right... Are there any reasonable power backup options for the pcs and mac mini that could give an hour of power backup at least?
@@BeanOne-yg8vwYou could get some sort of uninterruptible power supply but to my knowledge theyâre pretty expensive, that said itâs definitely worth looking into if youâre in an area that gets frequent power cuts
Fantastic video man. Now I'm really craving for the Mac Miniđ€© For something so small, it's such a powerhouse of a machine. I hope it goes on discount when the M3 Mac Mini releases, it would be an instant copđ
You're right about the base model. Never get the base model. I've the base model of the M1 Macbook Air and it doesn't feel good to use up every bit of RAM after opening a few tabs...
Thanks man! Yeah itâs huge for sure, itâs made the biggest difference to my workflow. Going to avoid the base model going forward unless I know Iâm never going to use it for anything other than a portable media machine or basic light work đđ
To me, unless required, getting a high end laptop is a bad deal. Better get a good desktop like mac mini 16Gb Ram, then get a cheper laptop like a Windows one for 400$ you can get good ones.
@@nonsudunk Yep, it makes a lot of sense if you travel a lot and need to get work done on the go but otherwise agreed on having a high end desktop!
Iâm currently torn to get one now or wait for the new one in a few months
What kind of work will you be doing on it?
@@brandonkennedy mostly regular productive stuff, but I tent to dabble with PS/Canva. My biggest concern is future proofing cuz I ainât buying a new machine every 2-3yrs.
@@InfamousHp I think the M2 will be fine for the next 2-3 years and youâll have no issues with your workload.. however if you donât mind waiting Iâd say the M3 mini is right around the corner
When will m3 mac mini release?
Good question - Iâm not sure myself but likely at one of their events this year Iâd say, given that theyâve started releasing some of the M3 devices already
i use imac i5 2014 retina and a i7 12700k/3800rtx/128gbram side by side, both are 27 inches and i use the i7 for game dev and mac for light work or watching netflix while i work. as the screens on these imacs had issues like ghosting and blackening edges, i wanted to switch to a new imac but i cannot get back to a 21 inches. So I am considering this mac mini with a 27 inch screen. I dont use and never loved the magic mouse and the keyboard, more because i use a cross device single keyboard with instant switching, and also because the magic mouse is so flat i cannot use it fast and more often. so i think the mac mini will fit perfectly
I think it'll suit you just fine - I'm exactly the same when it comes to using the apple keyboard/Magic Mouse - I haven't really an issue with the Magic Keyboard but it is too shallow, I'd rather have a mechanical keyboard that can switch between the two and I use my MX Master, do you know what specs you want to get out of the mini?
@@brandonkennedy Yes the mouse and kb are too thin, I used a wired full KB from apple and it died just out of warranty, it broke my heart and I never went back to it :-). I use the mac for light work, wish they had a 27 inch imac and i would grab it. But mostly youtube, watching security cameras and browsing for the mac. Because my i7 does the heavy lifting of unity game dev I can do with a basic mac. So I dont know if the new shared type of 8gb memory is enough or not? could you share how much ram is used on the new M class macs if one opens youtube in 4k, couple of tabs and maybe an office app or some other 2-3 light apps in total. If it uses like 70% its fine and if it goes high and/or uses paging, then I would need 16gigs i think. internal ssd is never an issue, i always hook up a high performing external ssd on this imac 27 to prevent burnout later in life, mostly because i use systems well till the end of their lives :-)
@@GalaxianGamer Yeah the base model would be perfect for you, they are super powerful in their own right but do struggle under the bigger load applications - you will still get away with shorter term 'higher' load instances but it wouldn't be ideal if that was your workflow 99% of the time.
Hii i am a new apple user and i am about to buy one at end of this month..does it work whit non apple monitors?
Yes it does indeed! It has hdmi output as well as USB C
@@brandonkennedy thanks
@@RattyOfficial no problem!
Hello sir
My work only graphic design and video editing 1080p and 4k this possible!
It is indeed!
@@brandonkennedy can 1080p monitor this supported? My budget only 65k
55k mini m2
Other monitor and mouse keywords can possibly
@@KmlFactz Yep 1080p isn't an issue for M2 - I run a 27" 4k monitor
Have the Mac mini Pro M2 & love it . I will be keeping this for minute no doubt! Also I have MacBook Air M1 and itâs a beast!!
Great to hear! Iâm going to be joining you shortly with either the M2 or M3 Air đđ» what spec did you go for on the air?
@@brandonkennedyfor my M1 Air I got the second tiered one with 8 GPU and 512ssd . I am glad I got the higher storage at the time.
@@callmeNeno Awesome, I know we pay a premium for the products but with the performance and seamless transition once in the Apple ecosystem itâs really worth itđ Hope your air lasts many more years!đđ»
@@brandonkennedy I donât mind paying for quality up front . In the long run, you actually save. Thanks for the luv . Great content!!
@@callmeNeno Completely agree, likewise man, thank youđđ»
For video editor or DJs, yes! It just needs 16GB of RAM. You made an excellent choice!
For those who are not video editors nor DJs, the other Mini-PCs in the market are better. Especially BeeLink SER7, Geekom A7, Geekom IT13, and Intel NUC 13 Pro. BeeLink SER7 and Geekom A7 have the added advantage to PC game at 1080p.
Completely agree - thanks for adding some alternatives, sounds like youâve done your research!
there should be a separate video of sideways Mac Mini
Pity mine has to sit sidewaysđ€Ł
Just FYI, even if someone reading this doesn't want to pay for the 512 GB, you can also do the 16 GB with 256 GB, but get an NVMe drive for more storage and cheaper than having it internally. (They also make hubs that sit under the Mac Mini with a slot for an NVMe drive as well)
Currently have the new Satechi hub with a 1 TB NVMe and it works very well.
Fair call, however I think I read something about the speed being limited if you went with the 256gb storageđ
Iâve seen those hubs they actually look pretty cool, almost make it look like the studio đ
@@brandonkennedy So honestly, I was afraid of that with the 256 GB? But I did my normal workflow with VS Code, Affinity Publisher, Spotify, CZcams, MS Edge, and Discord open? It ran pretty smooth. And for any big files, the SN770 1 TB I have for external with the Mac Mini hub works flawlessly (got it for $58)
@@hafuridotusHmm must be a fairly unnoticeable amount then! Youâve really got sorted with the NVMe drive, sounds like itâs been a great buyđđ»
short answer YES especially Mac mini M2 pro and especially if you find for cheaper price
Completely agree! Do you have one?
@@brandonkennedy actually no i have 14 inch Macbook Pro M3 Pro but as a professional food photographer i know exactly in every photoshoot how much photos do i take, how much i upload in to Lightroom how much i edit and export, so basically i do same thing last 10 years so in near future i will continue to do same thing it mean if you know exactly your job professionaly or personally it becomes much much easer to choose right computer do not listen all youtubers, every single one says different things and it starts to confuse you. I recommend base model forget about 8GB Ram and 256GB storage go straight to 16/512 GB. Often if you are planning to work with photoshop and lightroom same time 16 GB not enough for you you will have swap memory in this case go straight to 24GB or 32GB but if you are ok to work in lightroom after finish close and then open photoshop and continue to work than you do not need 24 or 32GB
@@brandonkennedy i bought Macbook Pro M3 Pro that because on Black friday i found very good deal that is why i bought it otherwise if i had a chance to buy i would choose Mac mini pro m2 pro
@@yervandpapazyan4473Completely agree with that man! That laptop is beautiful, congrats on it. Iâve been considering the M3 Air recently.. donât need the pro for any of my work flows and my current pro has a battery that is shot.. decisions decisions
Should wait mac mini m3?
If youâre not in a rush, Iâd wait!
is the M2 worth it still? or is it junk?
It's 100% still worth it! Using it right now to edit my next video
Ordered mine from best buy today $499, my 2017 imac is showing its age baddd đ
Congrats! I wish they were such good value here đ youâll love it!
I upgraded my gf from a 2017 MBP to a M2 baseline Mini for $500. Huge performance jump for her.
@@SSquirrel1976 That's an insane jump, nice one man!
M3 will arrive shortly, therefore it is best to wait. If you do photography or filmmaking, 32GB of memory is essential. 16GB isn't sufficient. So you may consider the Mac Studio with 32GB of memory, which will cost the same as the Mac Mini. But if tiny form factor is what you need, the Mac mini is great.
Agreed, M3 is just around the corner. Thanks for your insight on photography/filmmaking - great call out on going for the studio, itâs a dangerous game speccing out the entry level models because after 2 clicks youâre better off with the more expensive oneđ
Any computer is ok to buy unless it has soldered drive and ram which is a big NO GO!
Iâd normally agree but have to give Apple the pass on this oneđââïž
Would have bought the Mac mini M2 Pro.
It all depends on your workflow, itâs perfect for međđ»
music is way too loud at the start, please turn it down it scared the shit out of me.
Thanks for the feedback - Iâll take it on board