If you upgrade from a M1 mini would you do it again?

[jerryk]

Hi,

I currently have a base m1 mini and I need more memory and disk space. I am considering a base Mac Studio. It is probably overkill for my current needs, but the price looks pretty reasonable.

If you have made such an upgrade how do you like it? Was the difference noticeable?

 

[teohyc]

Hi,

I currently have a base m1 mini and I need more memory and disk space. I am considering a base Mac Studio. It is probably overkill for my current needs, but the price looks pretty reasonable.

If you have made such an upgrade how do you like it? Was the difference noticeable?

You didn't even mention the work you do.

Technology is supposed to save time and money. If you can save lots of time, it's worth the purchase. But ask yourself what is the bottleneck, the computer or you.

 

[jerryk]

You didn't even mention the work you do.

Technology is supposed to save time and money. If you can save lots of time, it's worth the purchase. But ask yourself what is the bottleneck, the computer or you.

I do software development, office work, photography, and video. I use various code editors (VSCode, etc.), ML frameworks, MS Office, Photoshop, and DaVinci Resolve. A lot of this is being done on my larger PC deskside Machine with 64 GB of Memory, 4 TB of SSD, and Nvidia 3070s. I would like to also do a subset of these tasks on the Mac.

 

[BeatCrazy]

I upgraded from M1 mini 8GB/512 to a base Studio Max. Love it! Mini was fine, but have the option to use both Pro Display XDR and Apple Studio Display is a real game changer from a productivity standpoint. And the performance is good.

 

[F-Train]

I do software development, office work, photography, and video. I use various code editors (VSCode, etc.), ML frameworks, MS Office, Photoshop, and DaVinci Resolve. A lot of this is being done on my larger PC deskside Machine with 64 GB of Memory, 4 TB of SSD, and Nvidia 3070s. I would like to also do a subset of these tasks on the Mac.

You were right in your first post. You don't need a Mac Studio. It's a matter of whether you want one anyway

 

[jerryk]

You were right in your first post. You don't need a Mac Studio. It's a matter of whether you want one anyway

I seem to run out of memory from time to time (Memory pressure is yellow and sometimes red). So I was going to upgrade. The question is, do I buy another m1 mini with more memory and more drive space, more up to the base Studio, or perhaps live with the stalls and slowness and wait to see if the M2 appears this fall.

 

[F-Train]

I seem to run out of memory from time to time (Memory pressure is yellow and sometimes red). So I was going to upgrade. The question is, do I buy another m1 mini with more memory and more drive space, more up to the base Studio, or perhaps live with the stalls and slowness and wait to see if the M2 appears this fall.

You have a fairly powerful PC, which gives you a lot of control over the demands that you place on the Mac mini. In your place, I'd wait for the M2.

Assuming that you aren't a gamer and that a PC isn't necessary for your work, I'd also be considering whether I want to replace the PC at some point with a Studio Max.

 

[jerryk]

You have a fairly powerful PC, which gives you a lot of control over the demands that you place on the Mac mini. In your place, I'd wait for the M2.

Assuming that you aren't a gamer and that a PC isn't necessary for your work, I'd also be considering whether I want to replace the PC at some point with a Studio Max.

No gaming. The problem for me with going all Mac is the Machine Learning work. ML is dependent on accelerators and most often via Nvidia GPUs.

 

[AlteMac]

I switched from a M1 Mini, 512, 16G to a Studio Max w/64G. The difference in photo editing is quite dramatic especially with filters like Topaz sharpen that use a lot of processing power. I have zero regrets. (I do not do video so Ultra was overkill)

 

[ashman70]

I am upgraded from a base M1 Mac Mini because I too was running our of memory and I wanted native support for three monitor. I upgraded to a base Studio Max and I couldn't be happier. If you need it now, upgrade to the studio, however if you can wait, then wait and see what gets announced next month.

 

[vddobrev]

Hi,

I currently have a base m1 mini and I need more memory and disk space. I am considering a base Mac Studio. It is probably overkill for my current needs, but the price looks pretty reasonable.

If you have made such an upgrade how do you like it? Was the difference noticeable?

If you need more memory, then consider an M1 mini with 16GB. It will serve you well and save some money, plus it will be quieter than Mac Studio.

 

[Moonlight]

If you need more memory, then consider an M1 mini with 16GB. It will serve you well and save some money, plus it will be quieter than Mac Studio.

The vast majority of Mac Studios are silent (Mine included) If you get one that is loud, you can return it and get another one.

 

[now i see it]

Apple solved the memory constraint problem:
Instead of a user adding another stick of RAM to a computer, we get to buy another expensive entire computer instead.
Apple for the win.

 

[BanditoB]

It sounds to me like another Mac Mini would probably suit your needs. Most of the apps that you are using aren’t taking advantage of the multiple cores available, so with the single-threaded apps, the performance will be the same on the Mini as it will be on the Studio. If you feel the extra cores would be of benefit, then go with the Studio.

Finally, the M2, will only be incrementally faster than the M1 on single-threaded apps. If they do add a couple of extra cores as rumors suggest, then it would have a fairly significant boost for multi-threaded apps.

Personally, I don’t think they’ll announce the M2 at WWDC. I think that they will only announce the new M1-based Mac Pro. If the M2 comes out this year, it won’t be until the fall. This is just my opinion, but I don’t see the need to rush out the M2 so soon while they are still completing the overall Apple Silicon transition.

Whichever way you go, I’m sure you will be well-served by a new Mac. The timing really depends on how soon you need to or want to switch your tasks to the Mac.

 

[OcelotWreak]

I'm in the process of upgrading from a Mini M1 to a Studio Ultra w/4TB. Why the overkill? I'm 70 years old and thinking this will do me into extremely old age where it's time to hang up my mouse and I forget what a Unix command line is used for. ;-)

 

[southerndoc]

If you need more memory, then you already have your answer. 16GB is the max for M1 processors.

I upgraded from an M1 Mac Mini 16GB to a Mac Studio M1 Max 64GB. Things are much smoother now when opening up very large Word/PDF documents and having numerous apps running at the same time. Don't regret it a bit.

 

[southerndoc]

I'm in the process of upgrading from a Mini M1 to a Studio Ultra w/4TB. Why the overkill? I'm 70 years old and thinking this will do me into extremely old age where it's time to hang up my mouse and I forget what a Unix command line is used for. ;-)

Unless you're doing video work, the M1 Max is probably all you will ever need.

 

[AlteMac]

If you need more memory, then you already have your answer. 16GB is the max for M1 processors.

I upgraded from an M1 Mac Mini 16GB to a Mac Studio M1 Max 64GB. Things are much smoother now when opening up very large Word/PDF documents and having numerous apps running at the same time. Don't regret it a bit.

I upgraded from Mac Mini w/16G to Studio Max 64G. Heavy photo editing but no video. I have zero regrets. The Studio is noticeably faster with PS files and neural filters and third party filters that use AI or anything else that is graphics-heavy. The Max with 64G is IMHO the sweet spot for serious photographers who do not do video editing. 32G probably would also be okay but I am future proofing. Plus I have printers, scanners, a webcam, speakers, and multiple external disks connected via TB or USB and the extra ports on the Studio are more convenient. The 2 TB and 2 USB on the Mini are inadequate.

 

[edubfromktown]

I too did not really "need" to upgrade from M1 Mini 16/512 but did so for a few reasons:

1. Resale value of my refurb was at a high due to no availability at the time from Apple's refurb site (so I sold it for what it cost me a year or so prior).

2. Better multi-display support

3. Disk I/O performance similar to what MacBook Pro's deliver

4. Doubling the RAM

I pre-ordered a Base Max and it was taking a while so I walked into a local Apple store and bought one then cancelled my online order. It has run with fans at nearly silent and no "coil whine" that some have reported.

The darned thing is super fast- especially after I ripped out all of the Lightroom CC extraneous process crap and installed only LrC 11 (which support provided upon request) to access my +20k photos.

 

[DeepIn2U]

Apple solved the memory constraint problem:
Instead of a user adding another stick of RAM to a computer, we get to buy another expensive entire computer instead.
Apple for the win.

RAM is the one major constraint I see in the current Apple Silicon deployments ... I mean 8GB RAM for base models in 2021/2022??! Really??!
Reallly!

Should be 12/16GB by default for all base offerings.

 

[pshufd]

I bought an M1 mini 16/512 July 21 and it has been great except for the limitation of two external displays and RAM. So I used it with two old iMacs which had a combined 64 GB of RAM. I bought a base Studio about a month ago and am almost done migrating everything over to the Studio. I just have a few Growly Notes Notebooks to move over and then I can move the monitor over to the Studio and put the M1 mini up for sale.

The Studio is just so smooth to use. I do wish that I had went with 32 GPU cores instead of 24, 1 TB instead of 512 GB, and I've thought about 64 GB of RAM but it's so far able to handle all of my production stuff without maxing out resources or swapping. I may upgrade to something bigger in a few years but the Studio is a beast of a machine. I really don't even think about it much anymore. The migration is just a matter of switching over and disconnecting the mini.

 

[pshufd]

The vast majority of Mac Studios are silent (Mine included) If you get one that is loud, you can return it and get another one.

I agonized over the Studio because of all the posts here. I bought it and it is silent from 2 feet away so it's a non-issue for me. I have no doubt that it is incredibly annoying for those that have it but my guess is that the majority don't have this problem or we'd be seeing a recall. I also live close to three Apple Stores so it would be easy for me to return it if it did have this problem.

 

[zedsdead]

I just bought a 2nd Studio Display and plan to use my MacBook Pro M1 Max as my main machine going forward because I really need two screens now. At work I use my MacBook Pro in clamshell mode on two screens and love it. I previously have always been a two Mac guy (dedicated desktop at home, laptop on the go/work), but lately I am just using the MacBook Pro a lot more. The Apple Silicon 14" Pro is so powerful I don't really think I need a separate desktop anymore.

So if the mini gets a pro option, then I likely will be tempted to have a dedicated desktop again. But at the moment, the one 5k monitor option is a limiting factor, as is the RAM limit. I am curious to see if the desktop/laptop will work for me full time.

I am very curious to see how the next round of desktops look with the mini pro/studio/Mac Pro and what will actually be the differences. If the M2 chips go 3nm on the upper end as half the rumors suggest, then I will be very tempted. If not, I will wait until the M3 line.

 

[haralds]

RAM and disk size are the most important parameters here. Go for 16GB and at least 512GB. The way swap works, small disks will burn out much faster.
I would not expect much noticeable performance improvement by M2 except that they will likely change the ability to hook up more monitors.
I have a Mac Studio M1 Ultra 64GB/4TB and love it, but it is very costly. In my use case with Parallels VMs and Xcode (which makes great use of parallel threads), the difference is impressive, but for most use cases my PowerBook 13" M1 16GB/2TB does not really "feel" any different, including using it with Logic Pro and Final Cut.
If it weren't for "Mac Lust," an M1 would have been fine to use with my Studio display at a fraction of the cost. As it is I have a couple of Thunderbolt M2 SSDs hooked up for additional space.

 

[CoMoMacUser]

The way swap works, small disks will burn out much faster.

How much faster? This aspect is concerning.