Hello. I'm deciding between the mac mini m2 with the 24g upgrade and the m2 pro 16g. I'll mainly be using it for music production and recording in my home studio. Nothing orchestral or anything too crazy like that. But will definitely be using a decent amount of plugins and samples. A friend of mine was even recommending I get the 2018 intel mini for the extra ram. Would love to get some opinions on what would give me the most bang for my buck.
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Mac Mini M2 or Mac Mini M2 Pro for music production
- Thread starter CitrusWater
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I think the RAM ultimately will be more important for music production than the extra graphic power or even the cores. The standard m2 is plenty powerful, and if you had to choose the RAM is likely more useful.
Something also to consider is the ports on the m2 Pro however, which gives you more options.
Obviously if you can go 32gb on that pro that is ideal, but more expensive.
Something also to consider is the ports on the m2 Pro however, which gives you more options.
Obviously if you can go 32gb on that pro that is ideal, but more expensive.
Either the M2 or M2 Pro is plenty powerful for general music applications.
I would not recommend the 2018 Intel. Mine though was an i5, but I had 32GB RAM, and the 6 core processor struggled at times, regardless that I had that much memory. I replaced it with an M1 Mac Studio, but the M2 mini's are at least as good now.
I would not recommend the 2018 Intel. Mine though was an i5, but I had 32GB RAM, and the 6 core processor struggled at times, regardless that I had that much memory. I replaced it with an M1 Mac Studio, but the M2 mini's are at least as good now.
The base M2 is speedy and the M2 Pro blows the doors off the non M series $25,000 Mac Pros. A 16gb M2 Pro Mini is almost unstoppable.
Depends on the type of production.
If you use a lot of plug-ins, 100% go for the M2 Pro and consider 32gb if working with large projects.
If you use a lot of plug-ins, 100% go for the M2 Pro and consider 32gb if working with large projects.
M2 Pro 16GB here. It's an amazing music system. I replaced an 11 year old iMac though 
That said, everything is screaming fast with this system. The extra ports on the Pro are nice. Im hosting AU instruments, Mainstage and Logic Pro.
That said, everything is screaming fast with this system. The extra ports on the Pro are nice. Im hosting AU instruments, Mainstage and Logic Pro.no generalisations possible ! usecases differ !
I was able to run my M1 into its knees, based on the overall databus speed becoming its bottleneck.
This are special apllications, more on the realtime-play sounddesign side of the things.
Not what many folks would do, i´d suspect. But......"one possible bottleneck"
a M2pro ( which i run now) has double the databus speed of a M2.
real live numbers.
definitly M2pro for music production ! if funds allow.
If funds are very short anyway.
A 2nd hand M1 instead of a new M2, would i consider to be a viable idea.
Then, step up to M2pro, when "these" prices do fall. Or jump "then" for the upcoming 3nM units.
......running applesilicon macs only second hand, allways one Generation behind, could be a clever strategy. since the M1s are allready so and so much powerful.
i personally see no point or weight, towards the M2.
Go one better, or limp one behind.
I was able to run my M1 into its knees, based on the overall databus speed becoming its bottleneck.
This are special apllications, more on the realtime-play sounddesign side of the things.
Not what many folks would do, i´d suspect. But......"one possible bottleneck"
a M2pro ( which i run now) has double the databus speed of a M2.
real live numbers.
definitly M2pro for music production ! if funds allow.
If funds are very short anyway.
A 2nd hand M1 instead of a new M2, would i consider to be a viable idea.
Then, step up to M2pro, when "these" prices do fall. Or jump "then" for the upcoming 3nM units.
......running applesilicon macs only second hand, allways one Generation behind, could be a clever strategy. since the M1s are allready so and so much powerful.
i personally see no point or weight, towards the M2.
Go one better, or limp one behind.
hi, I bought a basic $599 mac mini m2, my intention was to use it with an external sound card to record, and use only 6/7 plugins to make a provisional mix of my tracks, do you think it's good for this guy of use? or is it too slow?
It depends the type of plugins you use, if you use sample-based plugins with big libraries, just get the max RAM possible, if you use more processing plugins (like eq, effects, etc) then cpu will be more important in my opinion.