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Mac mini M2 or M3? Worth to wait?
- Thread starter daniramirezescudero
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This discussion has been had 1000s of times. If you can wait you probably don't need a new computer. If you don't need a new computer don't buy one. If you do need a new computer now then buy one now and be happy with it.
Here's a few Geekbench 6 benchmarks from my notes:
Mini M2: Single Core: 2,633, Multi Core: 9,750. OpenCL: 28,036, Metal: 45,600
Mini M2 Pro: Single Core: 2,650, Multi Core: 14,270 OpenCL: 49,984, Metal: 80,623
14" MacBook Pro M3: Single Core: 3,084, Multi Core: 15,240. OpenCL: 92,270, Metal: 153,749
By the time a new M3 Mini comes out I'd guess it will spec only a bit higher than the existing MacBook Pro model above. What I take from the numbers is that the processor upgrades are rather incremental, but big gains are being made in the Apple Silicone graphics benchmarks. Many will point out that GB benchmarks are hardly the end-all metric in performance in every case/app, but it can help give an idea about general speed.
Mini M2: Single Core: 2,633, Multi Core: 9,750. OpenCL: 28,036, Metal: 45,600
Mini M2 Pro: Single Core: 2,650, Multi Core: 14,270 OpenCL: 49,984, Metal: 80,623
14" MacBook Pro M3: Single Core: 3,084, Multi Core: 15,240. OpenCL: 92,270, Metal: 153,749
By the time a new M3 Mini comes out I'd guess it will spec only a bit higher than the existing MacBook Pro model above. What I take from the numbers is that the processor upgrades are rather incremental, but big gains are being made in the Apple Silicone graphics benchmarks. Many will point out that GB benchmarks are hardly the end-all metric in performance in every case/app, but it can help give an idea about general speed.
Unknown.
I myself am in the market to buy. But I think I will wait until the rest of the M3 line is announced (March 2024 ?).
I also suspect Apple may make some changes to its desktop lineup. Right now there is a big gap between M3 Pro and M3 Max in the MacBook Pro line. The M3 Max is quite the jump in price ($800 in US) because of the memory packaging.
If the Mac Studio follows the MacBook Pro pricing strategy, the base Mac Studio with M3 Max could go up in price. This makes me wonder if Apple might put an M3 Pro into a Mac Studio as a lower cost base version of the Mac Studio. (I need the ports and the Mac Studio has two ports in front I will use, as well as the SD card reader.)
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Whatever you buy is 'old tech' within months, so doubt and buyer's remorse is always there.
Much depends on what you do with your computer. I do Office Suite, wander the internet (with multiple tabs running), do the occasional photo or video manipulation / editing on a M2 8/256 and rarely have issues (beach ball) at all - and that always with flakey software (Apple's own and others) rather than hardware. Do I care that a M3 might shave a half-second off opening an app? I do not. Now, I might be inclined to consider more RAM, as increasingly, software is becoming a pig on that front, but my M2 handles it all so far.
(If it comes to that, I moved from a 2017 MacBook Air 8 / 256 to this Mini, and while I note the speed differences, I still have the Air for travel / mobile work, and its still chundering along doing all I ask of it)
Price might certainly be a consideration now, too. I've seen advertised drops in the M2 out there (as well as the chance of finding them in Apple's own online Refurb Store - offering decent prices), and if you find the M2 Mini with specs you think you need at a discount, why wait to see what Apple might do with M3 - and if it's all cracked up to be?
Much depends on what you do with your computer. I do Office Suite, wander the internet (with multiple tabs running), do the occasional photo or video manipulation / editing on a M2 8/256 and rarely have issues (beach ball) at all - and that always with flakey software (Apple's own and others) rather than hardware. Do I care that a M3 might shave a half-second off opening an app? I do not. Now, I might be inclined to consider more RAM, as increasingly, software is becoming a pig on that front, but my M2 handles it all so far.
(If it comes to that, I moved from a 2017 MacBook Air 8 / 256 to this Mini, and while I note the speed differences, I still have the Air for travel / mobile work, and its still chundering along doing all I ask of it)
Price might certainly be a consideration now, too. I've seen advertised drops in the M2 out there (as well as the chance of finding them in Apple's own online Refurb Store - offering decent prices), and if you find the M2 Mini with specs you think you need at a discount, why wait to see what Apple might do with M3 - and if it's all cracked up to be?
My plan has been, since apple silicon came along, to wait until M3 to invest in a top spec'ed mini to last me a few years. After being very happy with base model M1/M2 minis, I got the M2 Pro in my signature about a month ago. I'm not looking back. It rocks. It's cool. It's dead silent.
I got it new for about $2500usd (high cost scandinavian country, 25% vat etc. I think it's about $2000usd elsewhere).
I got it new for about $2500usd (high cost scandinavian country, 25% vat etc. I think it's about $2000usd elsewhere).
I bought an M2 Mac Mini, just the base 8/256 to be exclusively a music server.
I also bought a 15” M2 MBA 16/1.
I did this once I understood what the M3 brought to the table (not talking about the Max). IMHO, absolutely nothing, at least for my use case (word processing, web research, media consumption, light photo editing, light data crunching). If anything, from what I can see, the M3 is a step backwards in raw performance by some metrics.
To *me* the M3 is not only not worth waiting for in the rest of the Apple product lineup, it’s actively undesirable compared to the M2. But YMMV. That’s *my* opinion, and everyone has their own, lol!
I also bought a 15” M2 MBA 16/1.
I did this once I understood what the M3 brought to the table (not talking about the Max). IMHO, absolutely nothing, at least for my use case (word processing, web research, media consumption, light photo editing, light data crunching). If anything, from what I can see, the M3 is a step backwards in raw performance by some metrics.
To *me* the M3 is not only not worth waiting for in the rest of the Apple product lineup, it’s actively undesirable compared to the M2. But YMMV. That’s *my* opinion, and everyone has their own, lol!
What metrics are you referring to that show the M3 going a step backwards? Apple had consistently made higher-specced products over each generation.
Even where the M3 perform better, it’s by a minimal amount (again, I’m not talking about the Max), and you always have to ask if whatever the improvement is, is it relevant to your use case. For example there’s talk about how the M3 improvements have focused on certain aspects of graphics performance. But I’m not a heavy graphics user or gamer, so that’s irrelevant to me, meanwhile where it’s relevant, there’s hardly any improvement and possibly even worse.
So when asked to wait for an M3 before buying a mini or MBA, I pass HARD.
Now Max is different, but I’m not in the market for it, so no reason for me to wait, god knows how long for some mediocre @$$ chips.
I’ll happily get the M2 (and did), and enjoy it now, and when the time comes to upgrade, who knows what M8, M9, MX brings to the table, hopefully something amazing. At which point nobody is going to say, “remember back in the day M3?”, lol! I enjoy the M2 right now and wait for nothing, certainly not for “3”, lol, ridiculous…
So when asked to wait for an M3 before buying a mini or MBA, I pass HARD.
Now Max is different, but I’m not in the market for it, so no reason for me to wait, god knows how long for some mediocre @$$ chips.
I’ll happily get the M2 (and did), and enjoy it now, and when the time comes to upgrade, who knows what M8, M9, MX brings to the table, hopefully something amazing. At which point nobody is going to say, “remember back in the day M3?”, lol! I enjoy the M2 right now and wait for nothing, certainly not for “3”, lol, ridiculous…
Glad you'll be happy with the M2, but I do not agree that the M3 and follow-ons are "mediocre".
A great many drama queens on YouTube exaggerate claims in order to get views (because they want that YouTube ca$h, which only comes from views.)
Only the lowest, base version of the M3 Pro, in the MBP, showed no improvement or very slight decrease in some benchmarks. If one pays the $200 for the full-spec M3 Pro then there will be shown an improvement over the M2 Pro.
But as you noted, your use case is one of basic media consumption and everyday use, and even the base M2 model is going to do you well.
I’m in the same boat and decided to wait, but just because the M2 Mini is nearly one year old and maybe the M3 will get an extra year os MacOS updates. We know Apple, they may have future features exclusively for the M3 over the previous generations. Newer is always better.
The reality is that the biggest jump was from x86 to AS. That was a quantum change. It was only to be expected that further iterations of successive AS chips would come nowhere near the performance gains of the original x86 to AS massive jump. That's normal. Nobody should've been expecting there to be a massive jump from say, M1 to M2, or M2 to M3, although everyone remembers how some folks had outsize expectations of massive successive jumps (in part driven by Apple marketing and the contrast in the M1 capable laptops compared to the x86 based ones out there). Some really thought it would be a rocket ride with each iteration. That was totally unrealistic.
I personally was absolutely not disappointed with the improvement from M1 to M2 (even though there were many complaints here on MR regarding the alledgedly paltry gains). I thought the increase in capabilities from the M1 to the M2 was quite respectable.
My expectations are pretty grounded and I don't think were ever exaggerated or unrealistic.
But even so, with my expectations quite modest, I must say, I was very unimpressed with the capability jump from M2 to M3 (barring the MAX or future ULTRA). The base M3 and M3 Pro are very, very paltry improvements over the M2 and M2 Pro, mainly in graphics and memory handling, but overall, nothing to write home about, IMHO.
Before I bought my M2 MBA, I waited to see what the announced M3 would come with, and decide whether it would be worth (to *me*) waiting for the M3 MBA or not. Once the specs and tests of the M3 came out, my decision was a no-brainer. I saw nothing of interest (to *me*) in what an M3 might bring to the MBA or Mini over the M2. I call the M3 chips (base and Pro) mediocre, and stand by that opinion. I think the improvement from M1 to M2 was much bigger than the more side-move of the M2 to M3. No doubt Apple have their marketing and upgrade cycle mapped out over the next few years, and didn't feel the need to be particularly ambitious with the M3. I in turn think that the M3 is eminently skippable and feel quite confident that future jumps in capablities somewhere along the M4-M5-Mx evolution will be far more meaningful than the lateral move of the rather meh M3. Of course, opinions will differ and we'll see how these chips will fare in the hands of users. But to me, I'm completely fine with the M2 and have zero FOMO over the future M3 in the MBA whenever that happens/shrug/.
I personally was absolutely not disappointed with the improvement from M1 to M2 (even though there were many complaints here on MR regarding the alledgedly paltry gains). I thought the increase in capabilities from the M1 to the M2 was quite respectable.
My expectations are pretty grounded and I don't think were ever exaggerated or unrealistic.
But even so, with my expectations quite modest, I must say, I was very unimpressed with the capability jump from M2 to M3 (barring the MAX or future ULTRA). The base M3 and M3 Pro are very, very paltry improvements over the M2 and M2 Pro, mainly in graphics and memory handling, but overall, nothing to write home about, IMHO.
Before I bought my M2 MBA, I waited to see what the announced M3 would come with, and decide whether it would be worth (to *me*) waiting for the M3 MBA or not. Once the specs and tests of the M3 came out, my decision was a no-brainer. I saw nothing of interest (to *me*) in what an M3 might bring to the MBA or Mini over the M2. I call the M3 chips (base and Pro) mediocre, and stand by that opinion. I think the improvement from M1 to M2 was much bigger than the more side-move of the M2 to M3. No doubt Apple have their marketing and upgrade cycle mapped out over the next few years, and didn't feel the need to be particularly ambitious with the M3. I in turn think that the M3 is eminently skippable and feel quite confident that future jumps in capablities somewhere along the M4-M5-Mx evolution will be far more meaningful than the lateral move of the rather meh M3. Of course, opinions will differ and we'll see how these chips will fare in the hands of users. But to me, I'm completely fine with the M2 and have zero FOMO over the future M3 in the MBA whenever that happens/shrug/.
As a working visual artist I would beg to differ. From my notes, the M2 graphics benchmarks went from (base model Mini M2) OpenCL: 28,036, Metal: 45,600 to (base model 14" MacBook Pro M3) benchmarks of OpenCL: 92,270, Metal: 153,749 which quite literally tripled. From what I understand, the M3 surpasses the Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 in every metric. So in addition to pushing pixels in Photoshop (which I do all day) or Final Cut, next-gen gaming on an M3 could be at 4k and 60+ fps. At least in theory.
HobeSoundDarryl
macrumors G5
As in all of these types of threads, waiting for latest & greatest will come with new rumors for next latest & greatest. When you can buy an M3 Mini, the M4 rumors will probably be growing in abundance.
Buy when you need a new computer. There is no time to buy that will insulate against progress. Wait for M4 and M5 rumors will be thickening. Hello M5, what's this rumor about M6?
If you are indifferent- that is, you don't need a new Mac- WAIT. When M3 arrives, the M2 version will probably get a discount, so you can either buy M2 for less or buy "latest & greatest" at full price. Then hop on sites like this one with your new or not latest Mac and start reading many posts about the incredible, Wintel-destroying, glories coming with M4 and its graphics capabilities superior to the Nvidia 9090 (that they maybe haven't even begun developing yet).
Buy when you need a new computer. There is no time to buy that will insulate against progress. Wait for M4 and M5 rumors will be thickening. Hello M5, what's this rumor about M6?
If you are indifferent- that is, you don't need a new Mac- WAIT. When M3 arrives, the M2 version will probably get a discount, so you can either buy M2 for less or buy "latest & greatest" at full price. Then hop on sites like this one with your new or not latest Mac and start reading many posts about the incredible, Wintel-destroying, glories coming with M4 and its graphics capabilities superior to the Nvidia 9090 (that they maybe haven't even begun developing yet).
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True. That said, not all progress is created equal. Recently my 2017 27" 5K iMac's Fusion Drive messed up. Way back when I bought it, I waited, holding out for USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 connections. Picked up an on-sale Samsung T7 4-TB external SSD, got the operating system installed on it, used a Carbon Copy Cloner backup as a source for Migration Assistant, and now (even though it's a USB-C SSD, not a Thunderbolt one) my system not only works, it's noticeably snapper at a couple of things.
My point is, sometimes there's a credible likelihood that a new feature you might want will be incorporated shortly.
If the issue is just the performance gain from a new microprocessor (e.g.: maybe 10 or 15% overall real world performance, at a wild guess?), I agree, looks like this is an annual thing for now.
On the other hand, there are 2 technologies some might want that may deploy soon; Thunderbolt 5 and Wifi 7. Not only are these substantial improvements, but unlike microprocessors they don't get updated for years.
From other posters, I got the sense both are iffy for awhile yet and TB4 is already quite fast. I'm curious whether either or both will be out in time for a June Mac launch (perhaps an M3 Max Mac Studio?).
All that said, I doubt someone picking a base model Mac Mini is likely to be concerned about the added capabilities of Thunderbolt 5, and perhaps not much about Wifi 7. Still, if you plan to use the system many years, and are very ambivalent about when to buy, be aware.
Call it pedantic of me (and it probably is), but the English word "mediocre" really is a poor choice of a word for the M3 SOCs (base or "Pro").
The M3 are the opposite of mediocre - they are class-leading (for now.)
Just because something *disappoints* you does not mean that thing is "mediocre". All disappointment implies is that thing is not for you.
Maybe it's my long-ago experience in the systems/project management field, but I find it odd that people want to disparage objects that are technological achievements.
For example, the M3 Pro binned version is not a performance jump over the M2 Pro. But is that bad? Depends upon your perspective. What most end-users skip over is the fact that the M3 Pro is smaller than the M2 Pro. That means TSMC can produce more of them per wafer... which lowers the cost per SOC to Apple... which keeps Apple from having to raise the prices of their machines.
Prepare to be more disappointed. The M4 will likely bring Thunderbolt 5 and perhaps WiFi 7, and those will be part of the sales pitch for machines with M4. But don't expect huge leaps in benchmarks. If the M5 is on TSMCs next generation (N2) of processes the SOCs will shrink again, and once again I expect that is what Apple will want, to keep costs down. Only the flagship computers which use the upper end of the SOC line will see big jumps as ever more parallelization is attempted.
Why did you even bother replying? Clearly he is asking if there is a significant improvement from M2 to M3. It's a legitimate question. Is there a vast improvement over the current model or not? If there is a big performance or efficiency benefit, maybe we'll hold off. If improvements are negligible, then dont wait.. It's a simple and reasonable question. If you dont know the answer, dont bother responding.
Last year people were complaining about how the M2 was pointless and not an upgrade over the M1. I look forward to next year when people will complain about how the M4 is mediocre and say that the M3 is the one you want to buy.
I feel like some people are either really young or just don’t remember the Intel era. Macs back then didn’t have huge performance jumps every year.
Apple’s standard practice has long been to keep a particular design in production for several years while upgrading the chip in it incrementally. Intel and AMD have been in the CPU game longer than Apple and they aren’t able to bring massive improvements on a yearly basis. Most people who built high end gaming Ryzen gaming rigs back around 2020 haven’t replaced their CPUs yet because it’s not necessary.
I have a M1 Mini 16GB as well as a M2 Pro Mini base (16 GB) I use these in my office using Word, Numbers or Excel, Mail, iMessage, Safari, iTunes and some 2D CAD stuff. The M2 Pro "may" be a little faster????? I really can't tell. I suspect unless you're doing photo or video editing you would not notice a difference either. YMMV. Regards.......Ed
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The problem with waiting for the M3, is given the current release pace, by the time the M3 Mac mini comes out people will be talking about the M4, and you will then wonder, should I wait for the M4?
The virtues of the M3 versus the M2 is debatable, if graphics is your thing the advantages of the M3 are more obvious, but either way, it's a never ending treadmill to play this waiting game.
The virtues of the M3 versus the M2 is debatable, if graphics is your thing the advantages of the M3 are more obvious, but either way, it's a never ending treadmill to play this waiting game.
The Mac Mini Pro is way fast enough. Just get a computer and be done with it. Are you looking for one that’s 5 seconds faster or what? Years ago, the chip mattered but nowadays they are all super fast and can do pretty much everything. Why wait around???
True enough. The one argument you hear sometimes for waiting for a newer chip is that you’ll get longer support from Apple, and so your system will last longer. But the thing is, Apple support usually lasts anywhere from 5 to 7 years anyway, counting security updates, perhaps longer. And for most purposes these computers work perfectly well - there are plenty of minis around from 2012 or even earlier. That’s well over 10 years.
So your M2 can easily last (doing what you need) until 2034 - an eternity in the computing world (especially if you spring for 16GB RAM).
Are you telling me that you’ll wait possibly another 6 months to a year, so your computer can last till 2035 instead of 2034?! You’ll give up a year NOW for a theoretical extra year in the 2030’s? That strikes me as a very bad gamble, with a sure loss right now hoping for a nebulous win ten years from now. That is silly.
Anything can happen in 10 years. Computing might change so drastically it’ll be unrecognizable. Meanwhile you’re giving up real current needs for some distant “extra time” a decade from today. What?!
And keep in mind, you’re sacrificing time right now for a negligible if any difference (in capability to serve your computing needs) from the M2 to M3 chip. It’s not even like waiting to go from Intel to Apple Silicon. It’s a tiny difference or none, not worth wasting a month or even a week for. Oh, and by the way, that 2012 mini that is still serving people’s needs is Intel. And it still works in an Apple Silicon era. So do you imagine that in 2034, you’re gonna say “wow, wish I had that modern M3 system instead of the obsolete M2!” LOL.
Don’t waste your life waiting for nothing. Use a computer you need now. Future proofing something a decade from now is nothing but an illusion.
I have been reading this thread with interest. It has helped me for sure. I am a retiree and I have had computers for as long as I can remember. I bought a Commodore 64 for my son way back when they first came out and we had a tape drive to load it up. I bought the first "Hello" Mac after that to do some word processing and since then I have kept pace with things reasonably well. I avoid some generations and I built my own MS PC because it was cheaper to get the kind of performance I wanted than staying with the Mac. (It was also fun putting the parts together.) I even went to Motorola phones and Fit-Bit watches. I built my wife a high performance MS PC because she had used one for many years before retiring and didn't want to migrate to a Mac and retrain herself on Apple's technology.
Today, she owns a series 9 Apple watch, an iPhone 15 Pro (As do I) but still loves her MS PC after 10 years or so (I upgraded her video card once). It has been a very efficient cost model.
For myself (with her OK of course), I went with a 27" 4K iMac plus and extra OEM second monitor for my small music studio (For multiple track capability and sampled keyboard sounds). I went with a Mac mini (2018) i7 for me in our shared office and I hooked up an external disk expansion box (4 drives) for a total of roughly 10TB of drive space. I also have a 6TB Time Machine drive and a Synology mirrored NAS 4TB drive for photo backups (I have about 50,000 photos). I also have external SSD drives that give me some scratch space at 1.5TB.
So finally, I will get to the point (sorry, background might help). I agree with the people here who say that chasing the technology curve is fun but can be a waste of time and money. Like many others I get excited when new stuff comes out and I miss Steve's "..and one more thing" but after I calm down and get rational again, I realize that I have pretty much everything I need to do video/photo editing, creating music and writing. I even have an 11" iPad for the Doctor's office so that I can sketch with my Apple Pencil while I wait.
My "one more thing" is flight simulation - I LOVE it, but I think a Mac mini M2 Pro will do the job at $1,300 (installments that I usually pay off early) using a pretty big HD TV next to my music studio upstairs. I'll keep the Late 2018 i7 Mac mini in the office, it manages everything very well.
That's my story. I have always absolutely loved technology (and especially Apple) but a $3,500 virtual device is not in my future. After all, I probably have another 10 good years left so realistically I can sit back and watch everyone else drool for a change. The last thing I bought was a mount for my Mac mini at $16. Incidentally I love MacRumors for all the useful reviews also. Thanks for all the good info and keep posting!
Today, she owns a series 9 Apple watch, an iPhone 15 Pro (As do I) but still loves her MS PC after 10 years or so (I upgraded her video card once). It has been a very efficient cost model.
For myself (with her OK of course), I went with a 27" 4K iMac plus and extra OEM second monitor for my small music studio (For multiple track capability and sampled keyboard sounds). I went with a Mac mini (2018) i7 for me in our shared office and I hooked up an external disk expansion box (4 drives) for a total of roughly 10TB of drive space. I also have a 6TB Time Machine drive and a Synology mirrored NAS 4TB drive for photo backups (I have about 50,000 photos). I also have external SSD drives that give me some scratch space at 1.5TB.
So finally, I will get to the point (sorry, background might help). I agree with the people here who say that chasing the technology curve is fun but can be a waste of time and money. Like many others I get excited when new stuff comes out and I miss Steve's "..and one more thing" but after I calm down and get rational again, I realize that I have pretty much everything I need to do video/photo editing, creating music and writing. I even have an 11" iPad for the Doctor's office so that I can sketch with my Apple Pencil while I wait.
My "one more thing" is flight simulation - I LOVE it, but I think a Mac mini M2 Pro will do the job at $1,300 (installments that I usually pay off early) using a pretty big HD TV next to my music studio upstairs. I'll keep the Late 2018 i7 Mac mini in the office, it manages everything very well.
That's my story. I have always absolutely loved technology (and especially Apple) but a $3,500 virtual device is not in my future. After all, I probably have another 10 good years left so realistically I can sit back and watch everyone else drool for a change. The last thing I bought was a mount for my Mac mini at $16. Incidentally I love MacRumors for all the useful reviews also. Thanks for all the good info and keep posting!
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