Best configuration for Mac Mini M1 - general usage, transition from Windows to MacOS

[Dwuimienny]

Dear MacRumoers,

Soon I need to replace my Windows home PC, because it starts to malfunctioning. I’m thinking about getting the Mac Mini with M1 chip - 8 GB RAM and 512 SSD version.
Is aforementioned configuration sufficient for using: MS Office, EndNote, Abby FineReader, MS Teams, Prezi, ocasionaly photoshop and lightroom? Also I will be net surfing and programming with R (small datasets). I will not be doing any resource-intensive work (e.g. films editing).

Best regards,
Dwuimienny

 

[TechRunner]

I have an M1 Mini with 8 GB of RAM, and it's great for my use case. However, I'm not using Photoshop or Lightroom, which tend to hog more resources than the simple tasks I do on mine. Consider getting 16GB RAM for yours. Otherwise, the M1 Mini will do the job for you. The price/performance on these things is truly impressive to me.

 

[Fishrrman]

Agree with post above.
Get 16gb of RAM. Much better for long term.

Once you have it, plan on keeping the PC up-and-running for a while.
It might work best to move things over gradually...

 

[Madhatter32]

I, too, would look to get at least 16 gb of RAM if I were the OP.

 

[Media Pimp]

I have to agree with what others have said here. If you can, get 16GB of RAM if you're doing any kind of Photoshop/Lightroom work. You'll be glad you did.

 

[GoKyu]

Any Creative Suite products, definitely go 16GB. Unfortunately 16 is the max allowed for now, but hopefully a later Mini will allow 32 gigs...

 

[Dwuimienny]

Thanks for all replies. I will go for 512 SSD and 16 GB RAM Mac Mini.

 

[GoKyu]

Thanks for all replies. I will go for 512 SSD and 16 GB RAM Mac Mini.

That's what I went with.

Working out great so far.

 

[harriska2]

Just to let you know Finereader PDF for Mac absolutely sucks. So far it has crashed on me, doesn’t split pages correctly and has no way to manually split pages, has no erase, doesn’t let you renumber pages, you can only drag pages up or down a few pages at a time to re-order, and more. What a mess. I would continue to use my PC version but for some reason it has stopped. Finereader Pro for Mac is much better but doesn’t work in Monterey.

 

[phrehdd]

I date back to early PCs and learned then and continued to get at least slightly more than you think you will today with respect to CPU, graphics, RAM and storage.

To consider -

You might find a minimum of 8 gigs RAM okay for your apps but when you have a few open, things aren't always going to run fast. As you add more apps, their ability to consume ran might be a bit more. 16 gigs makes more sense as you can grow into it and keep your Mini longer. Understand, you can't update RAM later.

It seems that Apple is considering upping the base RAM on a few of their newer models. A key indicator they know that more RAM may be of value to the end-user for a better experience. Again now would suggest 16 gigs worth considering.

I have 16/512 and I consider it a sweet spot for this first incarnation of an M1 Mini. Though the OS has some foibles and some apps are not as smooth as others or are memory hogs, only a few issues plague me today in this venue.

Mac Mini 16/512, Caldigit Elements hub, Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q 2TB USB 3.2 / Tb3 SSD, Samsung T5 500gig (for TM), BenQ PD2700u monitor, Peachtree M24 Speaker pair. Occasionally attached - various drives, External Bluray RW player, wired headphones.