M2 Mac Mini - the BEST PERFORMANCE / VALUE ? 

Yep… Apple is doomed… again!!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂

@@brucemckay6615 “Here’s why Apple is doomed” 😂

Thank you 😊

14” M2 pro?

@@gurugamer8632 m2 mini, I nave another intel MacBook for portable using.

@@peterh.2488 ok cool 😎

Glad it was helpful!

My last three phones were iPhones because I also looked at the price per year. An iPhone provides 5 years of iOS updates and a further 2 years of security updates which means I only need to save up a seventh of the price of an iPhone each year to buy a new one. This logic also led me to buy a £1,500 i7 windows PC in 2011 which continued to be usable until last year, which was a 10 year life for that Windows PC.

Over 20 years of buying I have never regretted spending more and getting the more powerful mac- it's often meant I've got an extra 2, 3, 4+ years of use from the machine. And I think the pro label marketing often just means its their premium option.

Why bother when they downgraded the SSD to near HDD speeds?

@@danmac6185 hdd speed? 1500mbps is 3x faster than sata ssd. The random speed speed on m2 is actually faster than m1

But the 3 monitor support :( I want 3 monitors :(

Thank you 😊 and welcome!

Thanks 😊 I would think the base model would do just fine for online gaming like that.

More storage space is an ok justification. Claiming you bought a vastly more expensive SSD for more nand chips is fucking pathetic.

Thanks 😊 AFAIK the M2 Mini has a single chip for 512GB, whereas the M2 Pro Mini has two chips. The Pro board has space for 8 chips, whereas the standard board has space for four, which may explain the difference.

Yes, I’d say the Mac Studio is a better option due to its stronger GPU performance and additional encoders/decoders. I haven’t personally tested the Ultra, but I expect the performance benefit is not as large as the price difference. The M1 Max has happily dealt with everything I’ve thrown at it.

That's the model I ordered, can't wait to test it out with Ableton!

@@mikeklement7223 how did it run ableton ?

I have a photographer friend who bought an M1 MacBook Air 16GB to upgrade his i5 MBP and he says it has revolutionised his workflow. The M2 will be an excellent choice for photography work, but go for 16GB RAM if you can. Don’t forget that Apple has a no questions return policy in most regions, so if you get it and it’s not right for you, it’s still possible to change your mind.

The storage is the one thing that makes me pause, but a central server can deal with the ridiculous storage offered

Thank you 😊 That spec is well matched to Logic for most users. If you are doing large compositions (e.g. orchestral) with complex instruments, you will find the RAM limits.

Thank you 🙏🏼

I haven't tested it and Apple doesn't list it as a possibility. However, 4K @ 144Hz uses slightly less bandwidth than 6K @ 60Hz, so it should be technically possible... I've seen reports that it can be done with M1 Max (using Thunderbolt to DisplayPort), and Apple didn't specifically list running two 4K144 displays as an option, so you might be in luck. If not, I would have thought you could at least run both at 120Hz.

Very kind of you, thank you 😊

👌nice setup!

I.

I’m so happy 😁

Thank you 😊 I think either machine will be good for you, and 32GB RAM is a lot in an Apple Silicon machine, so you'll have plenty of headroom and future-proofing.

How much performance in going is there on the studio comperated to Mac mini m2 pro would like to know. Do u think 10 g Ethernet is a must in 2023???

@@uncleanAlibertine1 I think the figures presented in the video are accurate. The M1 Max Mac Studio has more GPU performance, but less CPU performance. The M2 Pro will be fine for the Adobe apps you mentioned. I’d focus more on the benefits of the Studio chassis vs the Mini, and that better display support may be important. A 10 gigabit ethernet port will allow you to use 10, 5 or 2.5 gbit switches. The speed you actually get will depend on whether your switchgear and cabling support those higher speeds. 2.5gbit ethernet is becoming quite popular because it works with older CAT 5e cabling, and a lot of NAS units now include 2.5gbit. So, if you are likely to use network storage and equipment beyond 1gbit speeds, it may be a worthwhile upgrade. In fairness, you can also get USB-C 2.5gbit ethernet adapters for about £30 - £40. I now have a custom-built NAS server with 10gbit networking to both my Mac Studio and my PC Workstation. I can edit 6K video on either machine over the network, so for me the faster port is essential.

Thanks. You are correct, I mostly use my Antelope interface on my desktop, but it’s a great thing to have on my MBP. I was wrong anyway, as the Mini does now have the same high impedance support. 🤦‍♂️

@@ConstantGeekery fair point, my MBP is on docked to my monitor so often I forget that people take laptops places LOL

The 1 TB SSD in my M1 Max hits 5.7GB/s write and 5.2GB/s read. I have a feeling the 512GB in my Mac Studio is similar (if not slightly quicker). The 2TB should be slightly quicker again, but honestly that's just so ludicrously fast already, would you ever be able to notice the difference outside of benchmarks?

I would personally buy the Pro, but that’s me. I think you will see more real-world benefit from the Pro than you will from upgrading a base M2 from 16GB to 24GB RAM… unless you are specifically running a memory intensive workflow.

Thank you 😊

For storage it would have 1TB

The HDMI port is 2.0 on the base M2 Mini, so that's 4K 60Hz. Technically, the Mini should be capable of doing it via Thunderbolt, using a Type-C to DisplayPort or Type-C to HDMI 2.1 cable, however this hasn't worked historically AFAIK due to limitations in macOS (or so it would seem). It's possible that this will be different now that Apple are shipping machines with HDMI 2.1, but I haven't tested it., and since Thunderbolt 4 spec only requires 60Hz for 4K displays I'd expect it won't work.

I can recommend having a read of TSMC’s description of 3nm FinFlex. There are three different options on density, which can be combined within a single SoC. This allows for prioritisation of speed, power efficiency, or physical size within discrete sections of the chip. Maximum speed option is 33% up on their 2nd generation 5nm. Best power efficient option is 30% better. The best bit is that all three options improve both speed and power efficiency in a smaller physical space. If Apple combines that with other improvements, it has the potential to be a substantial leap forward! www.tsmc.com/english/news-events/blog-article-20220616

I don’t use either application, so perhaps another viewer can help. I did watch a video back along where it seemed that the M2 Pro mini sat somewhere between M1 Max and M1 Ultra for After Effects performance - that was just a couple of tests though, so you’ll want to do your own research. It can obviously run AE successfully. Unreal Engine I can’t comment on.

It's hard. M2 mini is 100 bucks less for the base model.

will probably have to upgrade stuff internally

Refurb minis on the Apple Store have just dropped in price.

If you’ve been happy on the A12X, then M2 would be good enough. If you can stretch to Pro, that will give you some future proofing. Choose at least 16GB RAM if you can.

That’ll be quite the upgrade - enjoy the new beast! 😁

The 8 GB will not be around long as it will be 12 GB / 24!

Music production is a multi-threaded workflow. M2 has more multi-core performance than the 8-core 2019 Mac Pro, so it probably has enough performance even for many professionals. Whether you will see much difference going from 16GB to 24GB RAM in real-world use is debatable. Personally, I would choose the M2 Pro. For a relatively modest additional spend you are getting better multi-core performance, and 16GB is enough RAM. Also pertinent to your use case is the two additional Thunderbolt ports, which will open up more possibilities with interfaces and audio gear. It's just a bit more future-proofed. A side benefit is much improved GPU performance - not needed for music production, but it's nice to have. If you go M2, consider 16GB and 1TB SSD - that will probably provide more real-world bang for your euro than the additional RAM.

In real-world use, you're more likely to notice the CPU and GPU performance difference of the Pro, than you are the increase from 16GB to 24GB RAM. Plus there's the extra Thunderbolt ports.

The Mini certainly is more portable... though I do have a lovely purpose made leather bag for my Mac Studio, and it has travelled! 😁

the problem as I see it is knowing which apps are single core and which are multi core...how do you find out? if we knew that I think making the right choice may be easier

The 8GB RAM is the most likely candidate for the lacklustre performance. LR is a good example of where 16GB with the M1 makes a big difference, and especially so if you have a lot of other apps running. I’d be looking at any M2 chips, or the M1 Pro or Max machines, with 16GB+ of RAM. Depends how much you’re willing to spend, but the Mac Studio with M1 Max would be a huuuuuge upgrade. If you want to spend less, the base M2 Pro Mini would be a good choice.

You can see CPU core usage in Activity Monitor - you’ll find it in your Applications > Utilities folder, or use Spotlight to find it. Run your app and watch what happens - it will be pretty obvious if it’s multi-threaded. Remember though that most multi-threaded apps won’t necessarily use all available cores or scale up indefinitely. For the OP’s comment, it’s a RAM issue rather than a lack of CPU horsepower.

@@ConstantGeekery Thanks for that - also a fairly heavy user of LightRoom along with Photoshop/InDesign/Acrobat I'm probably being a bit thick here but I can't see anything that reports the number of cores just % cpu ...does the number of threads have any relation to number of cores? Interestingly Creative Cloud Libraries Synchroniser shows over 100% does that mean it's using more than one core? btw running Monterey 12.6 on a 2021 16GB 14" M1 MacBook Pro I too am looking to upgrade (being using the MacBook as my main machine) and the differences between M2 Mac mini and the Studio are causing a few headaches!

@@lordflinty double click on the CPU Load graph in Activity Monitor and you will see the cores. Press CMD-4 to see GPU load history. Threads are individual tasks being handled by the CPU for a given app. You can't necessarily use this number to confirm whether an app or process has been specifically optimised for multi-threading, Better to use CPU%... On a UNIX system (which macOS is), 100% CPU usage means one thread is fully utilised. Since there's no hyper-threading or SMT with Apple Silicon, one core equals one thread - i.e. each core can handle one thread concurrently. So, on an 8-core M1 CPU, if every core was utilised, the percentages could add up to 800%. For example on my M1 Max 10-core, if I run Cinebench, it will show 930% CPU usage in Activity Monitor. I hope that helps.

I loved my 11” Air when I used to travel more for work! Wish they would re-do the 12” MacBook with a cut down “M” chip!

2013 11 inch air owner here. I upgraded the SSD to 1TB. It's great for daily use. However the RAM is only 4GB means you cannot do anything more than web view or email.

@peterh you can pickup an 8GB version on eBay for not much money these days. It still works pretty well.

Not sure yet. The channel doesn't earn enough to cover big purchases like that, so it's a case of whether we need them in our main business. I will certainly do some content if I get my hands on any though. Thanks for your support 😊

If you're a student, you can get the M2 Pro Mac Mini for $1,199 and upgrade to 32GB of RAM for $360. Not exactly $300 although if you buy now, you can get a free $100 Apple Gift Card too.

It's certainly true that Apple Silicon seems to be able to do more with less RAM, and is able to do things that seem to defy logic from a traditional x86 viewpoint. But, Apple hasn't changed the laws of computing physics, and RAM is still RAM. Apple is using things like memory compression and very fast swapping to the SSD to help, but there's also the large memory bandwidth and the Unified Memory access, where everything on the SoC can potentially address the same memory space. This eliminates a lot of CPU to GPU memory copying for example. There's also the impact of dedicated media engines, image signal processors and machine learning cores to consider. These things have impacted the speed of traditional workflows - provided the software has been updated to support them. It's entirely likely that a 16GB equipped M chip will perform the Lightroom tasks you mention faster than your i5 MBP, since the processor is so much faster that the memory deficit isn't important. However, it's also possible that the task will still be memory bound. Apple's return policy (depending on your country of residence) is usually very generous, so you can try it and return if it doesn't work for you. Everyone's workload is different, so you really need to test your specific requirements on the machine if possible.

@@ConstantGeekery Many thanks for the detailed reply. I’ve always been of the opinion to ‘buy once, buy well’ so I’ll stick with the 32gn of ram. I’m in the UK so will be pushing £2k by the time I’m happy…!

@@jamesstanley7263 that will certainly future proof you, and I have no doubt that you will be very happy. It'll be a massive performance upgrade! Enjoy the new beast 😁

That limitation really starts to kick in from the 32 GPU M1 Max, so I wouldn’t be concerned about it from the perspective of the chips discussed in this video.

Depends on what type of footage and codecs you are using, but yes, they will excel at video editing work. Spec 16GB+ RAM for anything serious though, and go for the M2 Pro if you are working with RAW codecs.

I'd get the M2 Pro. You'll definitely see the benefit of the additional CPU and GPU performance over the standard M2. Whereas you probably won't notice much (if any) difference going from 16GB to 24GB RAM outside of very specific applications.

Thank you 😊 The 512GB SSD on the base M2 Pro Mini is definitely two NAND flash chips. 👍

@@ConstantGeekery thanks but I think you will find it is only one nand chip on the 512GB. See Maxtech and 9 to 5 Mac. Why is Apple cheapening out on this? Would you change your Best Buy to Mac Pro mini with 16GB and 1 TB ssd?

@@pauljazzman408 the board is double sided with a chip on each side, as shown in @lukemiani ‘s teardown. There are spaces for 8 NAND chips - 4 on each side of the board.

@@pauljazzman408 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-vbmb_Z8QdxU.html

@@ConstantGeekery My mistake there is a chip on each side of the M2 Mac mini. However for some reason the the Read/write speeds about half of 1TB? Are they slower chips? Apple have made this a minefield! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GdVgcO326_o.html

Teardowns are still being done. The 256GB storage on the Mini is definitely one NAND flash chip. On the new MacBook Pro, even the 512GB models are one chip, so sadly this will probably also be the case with the Mini. Thanks Apple. 🙄

Correction: according to Luke Miani, the 512GB model does have two chips - one on each side of the board and speeds look good.

Thank u you represent a benchmark to honest review and not fanboism! My favourite tech utube channel

Gonna be awhile because M2 is pretty new but if u save for it now you can afford the M3 Pro.

@@jpesicka999 Yeah, it sounds like M3 is delayed until early 2024 now

I know plenty of users have had Bluetooth issues, but to present a counter point, I believe this is a small percentage. My M1 Mini never had any problems at all, and the only thing I’ve experienced with the Mac Studio is that it can take up to 10 seconds to connect Apple’s Magic Keyboard and Trackpad when you boot it up. I suspect that there will be a correlation between poorly shielded USB 3.0 devices being connected or very close to the Mac in cases where people have issues. USB 3.0 emits RF in the 2.4GHz spectrum. Likewise, if there’s a lot of 2.4GHz activity where the Mac is being used, it may cause interference.

@@ConstantGeekery Interference could be a problem in my case, but I just received the M2 Pro Mac Mini so lets see. Time Mashine Backup is running right now. And could you try connecting AirPods (in my case Pro 2) to your Mac Mini and/or Mac Studio and walk about 5 meters away from it? Thats where I geht huge Problems (also with mouse and keyboard) and I don´t have these problems with any other Apple or Windows device.

@@angrytechaddict7803 let me know how it goes. I haven’t had issues with my headphones, but I don’t use AirPods. I have some Sony WH-1000XM3 and for earbuds I use Edifier Neobuds Pro. Moving five metres from the computer would put me in the garden behind a wall, but I will give it a try!

Currently using the M1 Mac mini (while waiting to receive M2 Pro Mac mini). Using multiple bluetooth devices (3 keyboards: one Logitech, two Apple), mouse, trackpad, AirPods Pro 2) with the MM without issue. Also have two external drives connected to the Mac mini.

@@ConstantGeekery ok results are in. It is as bad or even worse. I also tried my Sony MX5´s and Senheiser EPOS Adapt 660 and not just is the bluetooth as bad, I also have huge wifi connectivity issues with the new one. -.- If I put my MacBook Pro or even an iPhone at the same spot the Mac Mini is, I have no issues with any connection so even if it is related some kind of interference, the Mac Mini is aspecially influenced.

Without knowing your specific use case, it’s difficult to say, however for the vast majority, the 16/512 would be the better option. The SSD will be twice as fast, and for most 16GB is enough with an M2.

@@ConstantGeekery For 4k video editing and app development

@@freemax469 I think I would personally want the additional capacity for working space and the faster transfer speeds of the 512. Additional memory probably won’t make a big difference to video editing. It might be noticeable in app development if you are working on something complex, or you need to fire up multiple VMs. The faster SSD will be noticeable in general use. The additional RAM will only be noticeable in specific use cases where 16GB isn’t enough. The faster SSD will make memory swapping much less obvious, so on these two configurations, I’d probably still go 16/512. That’s just my personal opinion though.

@@ConstantGeekery Thanks Brother I will buy m2 mac mini 16/512 tomorrow 😊

@@freemax469 I hope you enjoy it - they are fantastic machines! 😁