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Mac Mini vs. Mac Studio Buyer's Guide: 20+ Differences Compared
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I already have an M1 MacBook Air configured with 16 GB of RAM, and while it's definitely my fastest and most powerful Mac currently on hand, I want something to replace my 2012 quad-core i7 Mac Mini, and have the next step up for an Apple Silicon desktop. I don't want an iMac, as I already have a nice Apple Thunderbolt Display (I can even use it with my M1 MacBook Air in clamshell mode!) but I don't want to just get an M1 Mini that's basically identical to my Air in specs. I'm looking to step up, go to 32 GB of RAM and also have a 1 TB SSD (my Air has 512 GB, and the Mini I'm looking to replace has a 1 TB SSD in it, too) and have even better graphics. I do a lot of audiovisual production, so there's that, and I also like to multitask. So for now I'm wondering if the Mac Studio with M1 Max chip will be right for me. I could take my multitasking to the next level, and have even faster render/output times on my video projects than on my M1 Air (I still remember being blown away by how rendering a video project on the Air takes only one third of the time to render the same kind of project on the i7 Mac Mini!), and I'd also have the added benefits of having a built-in SD card slot, four Thunderbolt 4 ports and two "regular" USB-C ports, in addition to 10-Gigabit Ethernet and two USB-A ports. So maybe for me, the Mac Studio with M1 Max is the way to go (as I was initially looking to replace the Mini with the initially rumored "Pro" Apple Silicon Mini that would replace the current Space Gray Intel model still on the market.
The current iMac is an appliance. Just the port shortage makes it unsuitable as an "in between" system.
If the current m1 mac mini had a 32 gb option I would buy one immediately but instead my only option is the studio. Apple knows exactly what it's doing.
Mac Studio is in the middle of the line-up but it most certainly is not a "middle ground choice" in terms of price and power.
An M1 Pro/Max Mac Mini, were it to exist, would be what I'd personally consider a middle ground choice.
I have to say the base studio is a very impressive bit of kit , ugly as sin , but You can get round that 😝
Definitely on my Xmas list
Definitely on my Xmas list
Plus, the iMac has been popular with educational institutions for as long as I can remember. Since I work for an electronics recycling/reselling company that gets computers and tablets from nearby school districts, I know about this. We often get lots of older iMacs from schools to wipe/reset for resell, or pull the hard drive from and recycle if they're broken. And I suspect with the M1 iMac out and Apple having discontinued all Intel iMacs, we may soon be getting a LOT of older 21" Intel iMacs from schools that are upgrading to the new iMac.
The M1 iMac has a 24 inch 4K screen and a lot fewer ports. I have a 5k screen on my current 6 year old 27” iMac. I don’t care what the case surrounding the equipment looks like, square, iMac, cheese grater, I don’t want to buy a brand new computer that is a step backwards on memory or graphics or screen size, and the current 24 inch iMac steps both the memory and the graphic capability back.
The upgraded and rumored M2 Mac Mini might get rid of all my complaints-or maybe address something else that I’m not concerned about. I also don’t know when it will be available and I don’t have a good way of knowing how much it will cost.
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I totally agree that the 24" iMac is a disaster. It is a desktop machine crippled with compromises as if it were a laptop. I too was hoping for a new, awesome, 27" iMac. But Apple gave us the Mac Studio instead, so I ordered it. Still seems odd to go backwards from an all-in-one to separate components.
Just put it behind the display on your desk, my desk if pretty full, I have two displays, a slide scanner, speakers, a blu ray burner, plus the usual keyboard and mouse. It's pretty full, but workable.
Yeah I'm looking at possibly a riser to stick things underneath. Your desk sounds like mine.
So I'll be the idiot who asks I guess... I keep seeing people say that if you're questioning if you need a mac studio, you don't need it. But I currently have a 2017 27" imac, 4.2 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 and 64GB memory. It's horribly slow at this point with what I do - photoshop, final cut pro.. forget doing both at once. I'd like to use after effects but it's so laggy when I open that I barely try. If I have the $ for a studio, is it really a total waste? I don't want my dad to pay for power I'll never touch, but my imac sucks at this point for any graphics work
You are gonna see a huge bump with the M1 Max (or Ultra).
If you are using Photoshop, Final Cut Pro and After Effects, you definitely land in the "heavy" user category. I think the comments you see here are for people who mostly web surf, use Preview, use Office and maybe iMovie. Maybe they use Photoshop Elements (is that still a thing?) or even full PS, but for basic image clean up. Those people likely aren't going to take full advantage of the power a studio has, and a properly build M1 Mini is going to cover them well.
That makes sense, thanks. I don't consider myself a professional (right now) so I was worried the studio may be overkill ($ isn't a problem or he wouldn't be getting me a mac but still), but those programs are my every day use and my iMac is definitely struggling with them, we were discussing the mini before but now a max is looking pretty cool
Radeon Pro 580 8 GB and 3.12tb fusion drive. I think they were the max upgrades possible
Although your iMac is a bit long in the tooth, there is no way it should be struggling on even pretty advanced multi layered PS work - but this is the answer to that conundrum, you’re using a Fusion Drive. It’s clearly the bottleneck.
You can probably enhance your experience with this mac by buying a fast ssd scratch disk for use with these apps. Or even better, swapping out the Fusion Drive for a fast ssd.
That said, I don’t want to steal you away from the potential of receiving a mac studio! You would probably be able to make use of a top spec ultra version with 128gb, but it wholly depends on what you primarily do. More than likely a specc’d out max version will more than suffice until you’re ready to move on to the next level.
GPU is pretty good. Just getting a machine with a fast SSD will make huge difference. It is pretty easy to tell from activity monitor whether your cpu and gpu are being stressed. This will help focus on what specific upgrades are really needed.
As far as the Mac Mini, I will give you that. At work we use a bunch of NUC's
I know, but my thought is just that Apple have never really made much of anything that was not expensive.
No you’re right, nothing from Apple comes cheap but you get what you pay for. Still think there’s a hole the lack of a similarity priced AIO 27” iMac doesn’t fit.
At this juncture if I do decide to upgrade I know where I’m going. The mini is not enough so a Studio it is. Will have to find another monitor.
Of course there is a performance/price gap between the Mini and the Studio. These devices are not fully through the transition, yet. The M1, as good as it is, is a first effort. I would expect an updated Mini (M2) by end of this year or early next that allows more RAM, more monitors, and maybe adds more cores (ala M1 Pro). If they don’t add a Pro chip to the Mini, they are certain to add it as a new baseline to the Studio.
It is similar to the laptops where they have the M1 Air and M1 MBP and then a gap before you get to the 14” MBP. They are likely to do something with that M1 MBP to close that gap, too.
the M1 computers are definitely the low end of the Mac line, though their performance, is closer to midrange in the overall computer business.
As to whether the Studio is a middle ground, it certainly is within the Apple line. Considering the performance it brings, that $2000 price is fair. It outperforms pretty much any of the i-series Intel chip macs and gives the iMac Pro a run for it’s money. It is less than the price of the 14” MBP and that puts it within the consumer range, if perhaps in “prosumer”.
It is the Mac Pro that is not for consumers, but that doesn’t mean that consumers don’t complain about the price anyway. Same with the XDR Monitor and complaints about the price of the stand.
I do think, at some point, Apple will have a larger AIO desktop like the iMac.
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