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Anyone planning on getting a Mac Mini anytime soon (before the M2)?

B

Bearygoodfries1

macrumors regular
Original poster
Apr 5, 2020
201
197
Hi everyone,

I’ve been wanting to get a Mac Mini for a few months now. I DON’T NEED it (have an intel Macbook Pro), but would like a stationary set up while I keep my MacBook Pro elsewhere.

Anyway, I’m wondering if anyone is planning on getting a Mac Mini soon, instead of waiting for the M2 Mac Mini (assuming there will be one)?

Is it foolish to buy one now? Should I suck it up and wait?
 
Bearygoodfries1 said:
Hi everyone,

I’ve been wanting to get a Mac Mini for a few months now. I DON’T NEED it (have an intel Macbook Pro), but would like a stationary set up while I keep my MacBook Pro elsewhere.

Anyway, I’m wondering if anyone is planning on getting a Mac Mini soon, instead of waiting for the M2 Mac Mini (assuming there will be one)?

Is it foolish to buy one now? Should I suck it up and wait?
Click to expand...
You can get such good deals on an M1 right now that I would completely do that. The M1 will be great for years to come.

See this one from B&H for $599 for a base model (8GB RAM, 256GB SSD): M1 8GB RAM 256GB SSD from B&H

Crazy.
 
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I was waiting for the M2 Mac mini (maybe 24 GB), and had been using the 2014 Mac mini I bought last year for uber cheap, but a good deal popped up on eBay close by for a used M1 16 GB 1 TB model so I bought it.

It's great. It's picky with monitor support though, so it's now hooked up to a Huawei MateView 28.2", and I'm typing on it right now.

fricotin said:
Waiting for the M3...
Click to expand...
Actually I already have an m3 as well. Check my sig.
 
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OK, my only reservation with Mini M1 and the like compared to Mac Pro 6,1 (and earlier) is the limit of Installable RAM. I am so used to the benefits of running at least 64 GB, especially with Parallels and multiple VMs and with large image processing tasks; and I don't even edit videos.
 
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Bearygoodfries1 said:
I was thinking of this as well, but… Do we really expect Apple to drop the price of the M1 Mac Mini? I suppose other stores may lower their prices 🤔
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No, no price drop. I can even imagine that they will slightly increase the price of the (comming) Mac mini.

Anyway, they will simply replace the M1 with M2 and they will sell all the M1 versions that are still in stock and that's it.
 
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I just did. I got a good deal on an M1 mini with 16GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. It was a store return, but the box was still sealed, and I got it at about 25% off of the original price. I was planning to wait and see what shows up this spring, but the deal was too good to pass on. It's a huge upgrade over my 2012 mini that it replaces.
 
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If you really not need lot off power as Mac Studio, then M1 Mac Mini 16GB is great choice. I use 1,5 year Macbook Pro M1 16GB - its really do more than my previous MacBook Pro 15 late (Intel i9, 16GB).

From all real life test beatween M1 and M2 - there is not big diferents. M2 is not the same as M1 Pro. Its basical more like M1 16GB then M1 Pro.

If you really believe than Mac Mini also will be with M2 Pro chip. Then now you simpel can buy Mac Studio with lots of ports and power.
 
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I'm limping along on a 2012 Mini. I have an M1 MBA that is amazing! I'm waiting on an updated mini or even a new processor in the studio. There are definitely great things on the horizon, but I'm in no rush....
 
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I finally replaced my 2012 mini with a M1 just a couple of months ago, when it was apparent we weren't getting another mini updated until after Jan 1. The 2012 "Worked" but no doubt was getting sssslllloooooowwww on certain tasks... and being stuck on Catalina was really becoming an issue. So I got the M1 from the Refurb store, 16GB/512GB and have been very happy with it.

I'm sure the M2 will be great, and if you have, say, a 2018 mini that needs updating - worth the wait.
 
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The main benefits for M2 are 24 GB RAM and hardware ProRes acceleration. If you don't have need for those, then M1 is a great solution. I thought about waiting for the 24 GB option but I couldn't pass up the good deal on the used 16 GB / 1 TB Mac mini I bought.

I wanted more ports, but didn't want to spend the extra money on the Mac Studio. We shall see what Apple offers on the M2 Mac mini, but I'm hoping they make it 4 x USB-C instead of 2 x USB-C + 2 x USB-A. Back in 2020 the 2 USB-C + 2 USB-A configuration made a lot of sense, but in 2023, the added flexibility of 4 x USB-C (with 2 of them Thunderbolt) is more desirable. (For those who need USB-A, the adapters are ~US$3 each, and provide speeds faster than Apple's native USB-A ports too.)

To address the lack of ports on my M1 Mac mini, I got a Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 hub. Mine's a Plugable, but identical models are available from Club 3D and OWC, with the same chipset. These hubs convert one of my Thunderbolt ports into 3 Thunderbolt ports + 1 USB-A port.

BTW, I run my Huawei MateView 28" 3840x2560 3:2 monitor connected to the hub. Works great. No sleep issues.

A perfect machine for me would be an M2 Pro Mac mini with 24 GB RAM and 6 USB ports (4 USB-C including 2 Thunderbolt, + 2 USB-A), with support for more than 1 USB-C monitor, but I don't think Apple will release that. And at this point I don't really care that much, since my much less expensive M1 Mac mini + hub setup works well, at least for now.
 
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[Christmas Rant]
I'm hanging on for two or three M2 Mac Mini units to replace three old Intel Macs that all have developed small faults of one type or another in last year or two (Mac Mini 2014 periodically cycles fan speed from 0 to 4500 rpm every 5 seconds that SMC resests and two fan changes have not fixed; 15" MBP 2016 lemon with faulty screen flex cable and infamous keyboard issues that miserly Apple refused to fix under extended warranty despite doing so for 13" model; 2017 MBA that occasionally refuses to charge and boot with fault in battery charging/detection circuit).
These hardware issues have really soured me on Apple's product quality control and outrageous repair costs. For example, $800 to fix the $5 flex cable issue on 2016 MBP because a new $5 flex cable requires an entire new LCD top half--this fault occurred 2 years after buying new for $3500.
[/Christmas Rant]
Right, I feel better after that 😃.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, 新年明けましたおめでとうございます、Enjoyable Extended Winter Vacation, Joyeaux Noél, Frohe Weihnachten, etc.
 
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Bearygoodfries1 said:
Hi everyone,

I’ve been wanting to get a Mac Mini for a few months now. I DON’T NEED it (have an intel Macbook Pro), but would like a stationary set up while I keep my MacBook Pro elsewhere.

Anyway, I’m wondering if anyone is planning on getting a Mac Mini soon, instead of waiting for the M2 Mac Mini (assuming there will be one)?

Is it foolish to buy one now? Should I suck it up and wait?
Click to expand...
No. Go out and get one. If you're worried about it being a bad buy, get an Apple Certified Refurbished Mac mini from the Apple Online Store. Honestly, I might hit up eBay soon and get a couple, myself.
 
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Bearygoodfries1 said:
Hi everyone,

I’ve been wanting to get a Mac Mini for a few months now. I DON’T NEED it (have an intel Macbook Pro), but would like a stationary set up while I keep my MacBook Pro elsewhere.

Anyway, I’m wondering if anyone is planning on getting a Mac Mini soon, instead of waiting for the M2 Mac Mini (assuming there will be one)?

Is it foolish to buy one now? Should I suck it up and wait?
Click to expand...

Decided to answer in detail and realized I already commented, oops, but I took it more seriously this time.

If you don’t need the specific benefits of the M2 chip (more GPUs, hardware encoding of certain video formats, 24GB of RAM), you don’t need to wait.

The trick is, what is the M2 Mini going to bring in terms of design? It’s not going to be faster/better than a Mac Studio, but maybe it will bring some other benefits? I chose the M2 Air over the M1 not because I needed the power but because the design, in my opinion, was a generational leap forward. If the M2 Mini brings the same, maybe it’s worth it, but unlike with a laptop, there’s only so much Apple can move the bar.

If you’re the sort that’s prone to FOMO, like I am, wait. Otherwise grab an M1, it won’t disappoint.
 
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