M1 Mac Mini one year on

[Roxy.music]

The M1 Mac Mini is one year old today.
What are your views of it now?
Is it still as good as it was when it came out a year ago?Sad to say the old Mac Minis prices have slumped. I have the lowest one from 2012 it does have a 512 SSD and 16gb of ram.

 

[jazz1]

I do like my M1 MacMini. My only gripe is that even with 16GB of memory I get low memory warnings every once in awhile. This happens when streaming video, and running Safari, Messages, and Mail. When this happens I'm not running any non-Apple applications.

The lack of ports is also another minus. All in all I do like it. But, if the new, rumored large iMac gets released, it will be interesting to price it out against an accessorized MacMini (adding keyboard, mouse, monitor, USB dock). Though, there are rumors about a new MacMini pro.

I suppose we will never again see a Mac that the end user can replace storage, or memory. My dying Late 2015 iMac just about gave me everything!

 

[Juicy Box]

Is it still as good as it was when it came out a year ago?

Yes!

The M1 Mac Mini is an amazing machine for the price.

Think of it this way, a year ago, the M1 Mac Mini had the highest single-core performance of any Mac ever, and it was probably the cheapest Mac that ever existed when adjusting for inflation.

I have a few complaints about it, but nothing major.

One complaint was the lack of multi-core performance increase over my Late 2012 iMac with the 3rd Gen i7. While the M1 was faster, I expected better results when SW encoding over my much older iMac.

When doing long encodes, the M1 was only 50% faster than the 3rd Gen i7 in my Late 2012 iMac.

Really, the only other issue I have with the M1 MM is sometimes it Safari chokes when opening up a new tab for some reason. This has been going on since I have been using my M1 MM, so about 9 months.

My only gripe is that even with 16GB of memory I get low memory warnings every once in awhile.

What OS version are you using? Could it be related to the memory bleed issue?

The reason I ask is because I have pushed the M1 Mac mini to its limits when testing and comparing it to my older Macs, and never seen a memory warning.

 

[Juicy Box]

the memory bleed issue?

Users Reporting 'Memory Leak' Issues After Updating to macOS Monterey

Some users who recently upgraded to macOS Monterey are experiencing a bug known as a "memory leak," a scenario in which a specific macOS process or application is bugged out and stays running for prolonged periods in the background, consuming abnormally high amounts of memory or RAM. It's...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[jazz1]

Yes!

The M1 Mac Mini is an amazing machine for the price.

Think of it this way, a year ago, the M1 Mac Mini had the highest single-core performance of any Mac ever, and it was probably the cheapest Mac that ever existed when adjusting for inflation.

I have a few complaints about it, but nothing major.

One complaint was the lack of multi-core performance increase over my Late 2012 iMac with the 3rd Gen i7. While the M1 was faster, I expected better results when SW encoding over my much older iMac.

When doing long encodes, the M1 was only 50% faster than the 3rd Gen i7 in my Late 2012 iMac.

Really, the only other issue I have with the M1 MM is sometimes it Safari chokes when opening up a new tab for some reason. This has been going on since I have been using my M1 MM, so about 9 months.


What OS version are you using? Could it be related to the memory bleed issue?

The reason I ask is because I have pushed the M1 Mac mini to its limits when testing and comparing it to my older Macs, and never seen a memory warning.

I’m using Monterey. Note, I’m am running HBO Max for movie viewing via Safari when I get the warning. I wonder if Safari is he issue. I’ll have to check.

 

[Juicy Box]

I’m using Monterey. Note, I’m am running HBO Max for movie viewing via Safari when I get the warning. I wonder if Safari is he issue. I’ll have to check.

Check out this thread:

Users Reporting 'Memory Leak' Issues After Updating to macOS Monterey

Some users who recently upgraded to macOS Monterey are experiencing a bug known as a "memory leak," a scenario in which a specific macOS process or application is bugged out and stays running for prolonged periods in the background, consuming abnormally high amounts of memory or RAM. It's...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[Adarna]

Provided that the users of this forum are largely enthusiasts or professionals with more demanding requirements than a typical mass market consumer then expect any M1 to be "cramped".

 

[NathanJHill]

I am still breaking in an 8GB/512 GB M1 Mac mini. It was on discount at Costco for like $120 off or something, so I went for it. I am impressed by the speed and silence of this machine. I am nervous about the 8GB RAM limit, so I may return it and grab a refurb from the Apple Store. But right now, it's amazing, and no RAM errors.

I did buy a port expander thing which helps though.

 

[Roxy.music]

I’m using Monterey. Note, I’m am running HBO Max for movie viewing via Safari when I get the warning. I wonder if Safari is he issue. I’ll have to check.

I hardly use Safari ,i don,t like it much. Firefox and brave are the ones i use along with DuckDuckgo.

 

[Roxy.music]

I am still breaking in an 8GB/512 GB M1 Mac mini. It was on discount at Costco for like $120 off or something, so I went for it. I am impressed by the speed and silence of this machine. I am nervous about the 8GB RAM limit, so I may return it and grab a refurb from the Apple Store. But right now, it's amazing, and no RAM errors.

I did buy a port expander thing which helps though.

It certainly does ,plus the fact it goes well with the MINI.

 

[jerryk]

I just got a base model Mini M1. I already had an M1 Air so knew about the power of Apple Silicon since the Air replace and 16" Intel MBP. The mini has not disappointed.