Which MAC MINI to get...... Mini, M1 or M2 and specs.

[MacMan2023]

Hi All,

I'm currrently adding a SSD to my 2011 Imac for £50 to get a few more years work out of it for the office room.

In the meantime, I'm considering purchasing a Mac Mini or M1 or M2.

My hope is it will perform the following.
- Stream apple tv to my TV and Monitor.
- Stream Kodi to TV and Monitor
- Be used for browsing Internet, mail use and some office work related use.
- Stream SkyGo

I want something that will boot up reasonably quickly, and just carry out the above actions with total ease.

Long term It can then take over from my IMAC as my desktop. (only issue with this is IMAC is currently holding 500gb worth of data 12 years worth - need to review as i think majority are pictures) so i didnt want to go into the 1tb world as mini start to hit higher costs in that bracket. When in truth 512gb im sure would suffice.

1. Bottom line Pros and cons of any choice? definite no go areas. Truth is id like to spend as minimum as a I can (£350-500) but not at the cost of performance and longevity of product so any known limitations would be good to hear so i avoid and any steer on best value for performance also helpful. Baseline must haves would be great to know as there are so many specs. out there.

2. Plus connectivity wise... do you get as good a picture as say the apple tv would connected to a tv for streaming things like apple tv Skysports etc. The Imac is a brilliant picture for streaming.

3. Recommended 27 inch monitors to attach.. or monitors, brands in general?

4 Can they be mounted onto monitors? Are are they pretty cumbersome heavy? Dare I ask on this forum are their competitive mini android or window pc's!?)

thanks all

 

[MacsBug]

If it were me, I would get the M2 12 core CPU, 19 Core GPU, 32GB Ram, and at least 1TB Storage.

My reasoning is that I would rather have more than I need now, so that the Mac mini will be sufficient for me for a longer time. Even if it gives you a couple extra years of usable performance over a mini with smaller specs its a better value in the long run.

I havent seen reviews on the new Mac minis yet, but in the past there have been reviews of several Macs where the 512GB versions have slower read/write performance than those of 1TB or more.

The ram is unified which means that its used for both, apps and video memory. If you are streaming 16 may be sufficient today, but as apps get developed they will need more and more ram.

I am in the US, so I am not familiar with the pricing in the UK.

When streaming the picture on your TV will be as good as the surce file. I use plex on a Mac mini to stream to my TVs and the pictures are just as good as if connected directly to the mini.

As far as monitors go, you would have to look at reviews based on what you do. I am slightly spoiled and use dual LG Ultrafine 5K displays. I would highly recommend these, but they are expensive.

I am not sure how you would mount a mini to the back of a 27" monitor. If you do however you have to think about how the monitor stand is setup. If its a single center stand like the LG's that I have the weight of the moni would cause the monitor to tilt.

Hope that this helps and gives you some guidelines.

 

[Clave]

I am about to buy an M2 chip Mac Mini - I think it will be about £1,300 here in the UK.
I also like the look of the Asus 27" monitor, also from Amazon.
I don't know how the time scale will pan out, but I can probably do some kind of review in maybe a month?

 

[MacMan2023]

I am about to buy an M2 chip Mac Mini - I think it will be about £1,300 here in the UK.
I also like the look of the Asus 27" monitor, also from Amazon.
I don't know how the time scale will pan out, but I can probably do some kind of review in maybe a month?

That would be great if you do

 

[MacMan2023]

If it were me, I would get the M2 12 core CPU, 19 Core GPU, 32GB Ram, and at least 1TB Storage.

My reasoning is that I would rather have more than I need now, so that the Mac mini will be sufficient for me for a longer time. Even if it gives you a couple extra years of usable performance over a mini with smaller specs its a better value in the long run.

I havent seen reviews on the new Mac minis yet, but in the past there have been reviews of several Macs where the 512GB versions have slower read/write performance than those of 1TB or more.

The ram is unified which means that its used for both, apps and video memory. If you are streaming 16 may be sufficient today, but as apps get developed they will need more and more ram.

I am in the US, so I am not familiar with the pricing in the UK.

When streaming the picture on your TV will be as good as the surce file. I use plex on a Mac mini to stream to my TVs and the pictures are just as good as if connected directly to the mini.

As far as monitors go, you would have to look at reviews based on what you do. I am slightly spoiled and use dual LG Ultrafine 5K displays. I would highly recommend these, but they are expensive.

I am not sure how you would mount a mini to the back of a 27" monitor. If you do however you have to think about how the monitor stand is setup. If its a single center stand like the LG's that I have the weight of the moni would cause the monitor to tilt.

Hope that this helps and gives you some guidelines.

As every hugely informative thankyou.

Ive read the 256's are poor speed wise but the 512s run real quick so not an issue - apple storage is def am upgrade in price ie a premium but then with these kinks you can't upgrade so... Does push you toward ££ for the 1tb

 

[MacsBug]

The main reason that I recommend the 1TB internal is that I use Plex to stream to my TVs, and the Plex database on my mini is about 300GB.

If you don't think that you will need more than 500GB on the Internal, you can always add external SSD's Some of the newer SSD's run better than 2500MB/s Which is fast enough for most workflows unless your editing hi res video. This can save you money and as time goes by, the SSD's keep getting cheaper.

 

[Clave]

New machine is the Mini with the M2 Pro chip and 16 GB RAM. 500 GB SSD.

Great speed and startup times as well as opening apps. The jump up from an ordinary iMac is quite something!

I'm using an Asus 27" Art display which is also great, and runs straight from the USB-C port.

I had some small Bowers & Wilkins speakers already, so purchased a small amp to run from the headphone port of the Mini.
This is a VITAL purchase if you want any quality of sound (internal speakers are feeble at best)

I am running 2 x backup SSDs (Samsung 1 TB) - One running Time Machine, one running Backup Pro.

Word of warning for all upgraders: Copy down on PAPER all your email and ISP server passwords. Also, if you run Illustrator and Photoshop, make a text copy of your shortcuts and Actions etc. I have had a horrific time with my ISP refusing to help me recover missing stuff.

My future plan for the next year is to ditch my ISP/Email provider completely, but being 10 years in now, it's going to be a long road, and I also have to overcome very bad resistance from my other half, so there's that...

Summary: Buy a Mac Mini, they are great!

 

[MacMan2023]

So you say great start up speed and opening apps.. Just to compare to my 2011 mac with new SSD.. boot up takes 16 seconds to be exact, slowest speed. App openings are either instant or.. In seconds..

I obviously get as a whole package the M2 is a major upgrade but speeds wise unless apps are opening before I click my mouse can it be an improvement id care about?