m1 Mac mini 512 vs m2 Mac mini 512

[nitroengine]

Comparing the same 512gb, which is faster ssd speed of m1 mac mini and m2 mac mini. m1 has 4 nand chips and m2 has 2, so is m2 slower?

 

[TechnoMonk]

The better question is which mac Mini is faster in using real world applications/use cases. How much Ram are you gonna order? What are you planning to do with your mac-mini?

 

[Pressure]

I doubt anything you would use either the M1 or M2 Mac mini for are going to show any noticeable difference in actual workloads.

Random read and write are much more important than sequential read and write performance for anything but large file transfers where you will be limited by the size of the SLC cache anyway 🤷🏼‍♂️

 

[nitroengine]

The better question is which mac Mini is faster in using real world applications/use cases. How much Ram are you gonna order? What are you planning to do with your mac-mini?

I will be doing a college programming assignment on a mac mini. I will deal mainly with text files and PDFs of around 1 GB and PDFs. I will also need to leave multiple tabs for browsing and watching YouTube. I hear gaming is harder to do on a mac. should I focus more on memory than storage when building a windows virtual environment?

 

[nitroengine]

I doubt anything you would use either the M1 or M2 Mac mini for are going to show any noticeable difference in actual workloads.

Random read and write are much more important than sequential read and write performance for anything but large file transfers where you will be limited by the size of the SLC cache anyway 🤷🏼‍♂️

For daily use, m2 mac mini may still have a slight advantage under the same conditions. To begin with, in my country, m1 mac mini is currently only available as a refurbished one.

 

[kschendel]

Sequential reading of a 1 GB file might take an additional 1/3 second, roughly. That's assuming that sequential reading actually happens, which isn't a given. I wouldn't worry about it; the m2 CPU will process the 1 GB of data more quickly, so you may end up ahead in the end.

Don't under-configure memory. You can add external storage, if necessary, but you can't add memory after purchase.

 

[nitroengine]

Sequential reading of a 1 GB file might take an additional 1/3 second, roughly. That's assuming that sequential reading actually happens, which isn't a given. I wouldn't worry about it; the m2 CPU will process the 1 GB of data more quickly, so you may end up ahead in the end.

Don't under-configure memory. You can add external storage, if necessary, but you can't add memory after purchase.

So, it is better to spend more money on memory than on storage. I want to achieve high performance at the lowest possible cost.

 

[TechnoMonk]

So, it is better to spend more money on memory than on storage. I want to achieve high performance at the lowest possible cost.

For best performance avoid swapping, unless you live in Max Tech Clown world. RAM has 100 GB bandwidth, that’s 30-40 X of any disk would provide in case of swapping.
RAM also gives you unified memory for both CPU and GPU. The way whole industry is moving, you may start doing the text processing in GPU soon.
Hopefully, you have done research on running Windows VM on ARM, or do more testing when you get Mac Mini.

 

[magbarn]

I will be doing a college programming assignment on a mac mini. I will deal mainly with text files and PDFs of around 1 GB and PDFs. I will also need to leave multiple tabs for browsing and watching YouTube. I hear gaming is harder to do on a mac. should I focus more on memory than storage when building a windows virtual environment?

I would go with the M2 model for your use case as 1gb of pdf and text files isn't going to stress the SSD like 4K/8K video files would. But what kind of windows virtual environment are you going to use? Apple Silicon doesn't do x86 windows emulation very well as you're basically forced to use Windows ARM built in x86/x64 emulation which is pretty bad. If you're aware of that and are happy with the performance then it should be fine. Just get at least 16gb if not more for the VMs. But the performance was so bad for me that I decided to get a Windows laptop for gaming and running the x64 apps I still need to run.

 

[foo2]

But the performance was so bad for me that I decided to get a Windows laptop for gaming and running the x64 apps I still need to run.

That’s not a bad idea; the Windows machines, for many of us, are already bought and paid for. Stick it in a closet with an ethernet and power cable, and access it remotely if you need to do something on it.

Also note that Steam (in-network streaming) works great across clients; a Windows Steam game system will happily stream to a basic M2 Mac running Steam, allowing that M2 Mac to play all kinds of Steam (Windows) games via streaming on the local network.

 

[nitroengine]

I would go with the M2 model for your use case as 1gb of pdf and text files isn't going to stress the SSD like 4K/8K video files would. But what kind of windows virtual environment are you going to use? Apple Silicon doesn't do x86 windows emulation very well as you're basically forced to use Windows ARM built in x86/x64 emulation which is pretty bad. If you're aware of that and are happy with the performance then it should be fine. Just get at least 16gb if not more for the VMs. But the performance was so bad for me that I decided to get a Windows laptop for gaming and running the x64 apps I still need to run.

So the speed of the ssd is not really relevant for reading a 1GB file.
When ssd speed is said to be slower on m2 compared to m1, are you referring to when swapping occurs?
I may not bother to create a virtual environment if I have a windows pc.

 

[nitroengine]

That’s not a bad idea; the Windows machines, for many of us, are already bought and paid for. Stick it in a closet with an ethernet and power cable, and access it remotely if you need to do something on it.

Also note that Steam (in-network streaming) works great across clients; a Windows Steam game system will happily stream to a basic M2 Mac running Steam, allowing that M2 Mac to play all kinds of Steam (Windows) games via streaming on the local network.

Your mention of steam reminded me that there are cloud gaming services like GeForce Now.
I will use it to play games since it is also compatible with macs.