Poll: Mac Studio M1 Max or (upcoming) Mac Mini M2 Pro

[roland.g]

For a high end consumer machine to replace an existing Mac Mini and a user who wants more RAM but realizes that most of the time tasks are Single-Core and the M1 Max doesn't have any real advantage over the M1 other than 2x the RAM capability, it is reasonable to expect that an upcoming M2 Mac Mini with an M2 Pro would have the same 32GB RAM option as the M1 Pro MacBook Pro, alleviating the 16GB RAM ceiling in the current M1 architecture.

Would that make the M2 Pro Mac Mini at around $1399-$1599 a better option for a non creative consumer, and likewise worth potentially waiting for than the current Max Mac Studio.

Apple Testing at Least Nine New Macs With Four Different M2 Chip Variants

Apple is internally testing several variants of the next-generation M2 chip and the updated Macs that will be equipped with them, reports Bloomberg,...

www.macrumors.com

 

[rw1979]

It’s not just the processor that decides on one form factor over another.
Ports, external monitor support, application requirements, and RAM sizes will be other reasons to go for one model over another.
I run a 3 monitor setup on my 2018 Mac Mini (w/Blackmagic Pro eGPU for the extra monitor support) with 64GB RAM.
I’m routinely at 48GB+ RAM used. For me the only desktop upgrade that fulfils my needs for today and the next few years is the Mac Studio with the Max or Ultra.
I can’t see the M2 Pro being able to support 3 monitors or 64GB RAM as it will undercut the reason for a Max variant.

 

[roland.g]

I bought a late-2014 Mac Mini in 2016 w 16GB RAM which is still the current limit for RAM on all M1 Mini and iMac machines. Meanwhile a MBP with M1 Pro can go to 32GB. The appeal of the Studio Max is the 32GB RAM more than the performance which will really never be utilized of the M1 Max CPU or the GPU. Which is why a potential M2 Pro 32GB Mini appeals to me. Just not sure if it is worth waiting for.

 

[Fan Gate]

A silent Mac mini M2 Pro or M2 Max. The Mac Studio is too noisy.

 

[Wando64]

I’d be very surprised (and a bit annoyed) if the plain M2 didn’t allow for 32GB RAM.
….and, by the way, I still believe Apple will release a Mini with an M1 Pro.

 

[F-Train]

...a potential M2 Pro 32GB Mini appeals to me. Just not sure if it is worth waiting for.

According to this post, you ordered a Studio Max less than a week ago: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-for-pickup-on-march-18.2337388/post-31015539

 

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

A silent Mac mini M2 Pro or M2 Max. The Mac Studio is too noisy.

I put my ear 1 foot from my studio and I can't hear a thing. you might want to exchange your unit.

 

[F-Train]

I put my ear 1 foot from my studio and I can't hear a thing. you might want to exchange your unit.

That would defeat the purpose of his user name

 

[southerndude39]

I kept reading about how loud the Mac Studio Max was and I hate to even type this message as it may be a jinx. I got it yesterday and set it up and turned it on almost expecting a loudness but I couldn't even tell it was booted up except for the Monitor coming on. I can't hear anything unless I put my ear up to the case and I can hear the fan whirling but I don't hear any noise coming from the vents. The is in a room without any noise.... it's as quiet as my Mac mini was. I also did a stress test last night and the fans never ramped up past the 1300 rpm. Mine was made in Malaysia since that is one theory to the difference in loudness.

Also I have great hearing as I can easily hear the air filter's fan in the other room and I turned it off to test the loudness of the Studio Max.

 

[fastlanephil]

I kept reading about how loud the Mac Studio Max was and I hate to even type this message as it may be a jinx. I got it yesterday and set it up and turned it on almost expecting a loudness but I couldn't even tell it was booted up except for the Monitor coming on. I can't hear anything unless I put my ear up to the case and I can hear the fan whirling but I don't hear any noise coming from the vents. The is in a room without any noise.... it's as quiet as my Mac mini was. I also did a stress test last night and the fans never ramped up past the 1300 rpm. Mine was made in Malaysia since that is one theory to the difference in loudness.

Also I have great hearing as I can easily hear the air filter's fan in the other room and I turned it off to test the loudness of the Studio Max.

Good to hear!

I’m hoping that Apple has or will soon identify what is causing the higher frequency sound some users have been reporting and it will be corrected although I don’t expect to hear anything from Apple about it in the short term if ever.

 

[now i see it]

Apple knows better than anyone that there’s (millions?) of Mac Mini owners chomping at the bit to get a higher performance Mac Mini while not paying the $2000 Mac Studio price.
My take on the situation is the Mac Mini will forever be “not quite enough” in order to push people to the Mac Studio.

 

[appletvbob]

Impatience caused me to purchase the Studio Max though I was actually waiting for the next gen Mini to go all-Apple silicon. It is very quiet, I'm yet to see a spinning beachball, and the 2 USB C ports on the front delight me to no end when I connect my audio interface or a USB C to USB A hub. One TB4 port connects an Apple Thunderbolt display perfectly via adapter. Another port has a cable hanging off it to connect Samsung T7 drives when (rarely) needed. Two empty TB4 and USB A port solutions waiting for a problem. Ethernet cable connected. A 1TB drive that doubles what I had before. 32 gigs of Ram doubling what I had before. Everything works perfectly after a seamless Migration.

I imagine I would have willingly laid out $1,500 for a well-spec'd Mini so the extra $500 feels worth it every minute I use this awesome machine. Who knows when the next Mini will launch...

 

[southerndude39]

Good to hear!

I’m hoping that Apple has or will soon identify what is causing the higher frequency sound some users have been reporting and it will be corrected although I don’t expect to hear anything from Apple about it in the short term if ever.

Some users that have complained are using it on 220v so maybe it’s voltage. I won’t speculate as right now there doesn’t seem to be a constant.

 

[roland.g]

According to this post, you ordered a Studio Max less than a week ago: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...-for-pickup-on-march-18.2337388/post-31015539

Correct. Having my Mini w 16GB and wanting 32GB I ordered the Mac Studio M1 Max 32GB base CPU/GPU Cores w/ 1TB SSD. So I am waiting till end of May for my unit. I know you are likely out further as your build is a longer lead time than mine even.

I sold me 2018 Touch Bar 15" MBP this week and now have said Mini and my 2020 iPad Air which I am trying to use more like a laptop. My current Mini will be relegated to an iTunes server when replaced. My options are to wait the 6 weeks for my Studio (and I don't think I will have an issue with fan noise, knock on wood), OR to wait even longer for the potential announcement at year end or Q1 '23 of an M2 Pro Mac Mini.

I ordered it once I knew I was selling my MBP and before the article I posted came out today indicating that there could likely be an M2 Pro Mac Mini.

To the poster who said the M2 should be 32GB. I doubt we will see that. I believe Apple will continue with the architecture of base M chips at 8/16GB options for now, M Pro chips 16/32, and M Max chips 32/64 and of course Ultra at 64/128 for RAM.

One question will be how does the M2 architecture improve upon the Single-Core benchmarks we see in the M1 array, as the M1, M1 Pro, M1 Max and M1 Ultra have almost identical scores for single-core and the higher end SoCs only really show their pedigree in multi-core benchmarks. One would think an M2 Mini would beat an M1 Max Studio in typical single-core tasks, but we don't know yet what sort of theoretical speed improvement Apple will boast.

I am cautious on my order that the Studio comes out at the tail end of the M1 product cycle with the MBP Max already previously released, however, I also see that if the Mini is announced in an M2 Pro variant, I would have no need for a M2 Max Studio nor would I wait for it. I guess the upside to my Studio order is that I won't get it until right before WWDC, which should mean I am in my 2 week window when WWDC happens. But I don't see that being any real opportunity as WWDC will likely only reveal a new Apple Silicon Mac Pro and that the soonest we will see the M2 is September or October.

 

[roland.g]

Impatience caused me to purchase the Studio Max though I was actually waiting for the next gen Mini to go all-Apple silicon. It is very quiet, I'm yet to see a spinning beachball, and the 2 USB C ports on the front delight me to no end when I connect my audio interface or a USB C to USB A hub. One TB4 port connects an Apple Thunderbolt display perfectly via adapter. Another port has a cable hanging off it to connect Samsung T7 drives when (rarely) needed. Two empty TB4 and USB A port solutions waiting for a problem. Ethernet cable connected. A 1TB drive that doubles what I had before. 32 gigs of Ram doubling what I had before. Everything works perfectly after a seamless Migration.

I imagine I would have willingly laid out $1,500 for a well-spec'd Mini so the extra $500 feels worth it every minute I use this awesome machine. Who knows when the next Mini will launch...

I am guessing that my impatience and the wait for the M2 Mini will likely lead me to keep the Studio. The additional ports and my teenagers starting to get more into Video might actually lead to buy FCP as iMovie is rather limited.

 

[Moonlight]

A silent Mac mini M2 Pro or M2 Max. The Mac Studio is too noisy.

I have a Mac Studio and NO it is not noisy "Fan gate". This is a lie, and your username makes me question if you have ulterior motives to spread said lie?

 

[PianoPro]

I ordered it once I knew I was selling my MBP and before the article I posted came out today indicating that there could likely be an M2 Pro Mac Mini.

FWIW, I've seen the article today and I still don't believe there will be an M2 Pro Mini. The time for a Mx Pro Mini was last October when the M1 Pro was introduced into the MacBook and before the Mac Studio existed. Since they didn't do it, I have to think it was because they didn't want it to now take away sales from the higher revenue Max Studio.

Apple has never been about filling ever possible price vs performance point. We'd have had a Studio (or lessor Mac Pro) a long time ago if that were the case. I think the Mini is now going to be only the lower tier of the headless Mac lineup with the Studio occupying the broad sweet spot in the middle and the Mac Pro at the extreme high end. Just my $0.03 (with inflation).

 

[Realityck]

For a high end consumer machine to replace an existing Mac Mini and a user who wants more RAM but realizes that most of the time tasks are Single-Core and the M1 Max doesn't have any real advantage over the M1 other than 2x the RAM capability, it is reasonable to expect that an upcoming M2 Mac Mini with an M2 Pro would have the same 32GB RAM option as the M1 Pro MacBook Pro, alleviating the 16GB RAM ceiling in the current M1 architecture.

Would that make the M2 Pro Mac Mini at around $1399-$1599 a better option for a non creative consumer, and likewise worth potentially waiting for than the current Max Mac Studio.

I think this poll is along the lines of buying what's available now compared to something that would be late 2023. The M1 Pro/Max were introduced Oct 18, slightly under 6 months ago. There is zero chance you would see the M2 Pro this year.

 

[jasoncarle]

For a high end consumer machine to replace an existing Mac Mini and a user who wants more RAM but realizes that most of the time tasks are Single-Core and the M1 Max doesn't have any real advantage over the M1 other than 2x the RAM capability, it is reasonable to expect that an upcoming M2 Mac Mini with an M2 Pro would have the same 32GB RAM option as the M1 Pro MacBook Pro, alleviating the 16GB RAM ceiling in the current M1 architecture.

Would that make the M2 Pro Mac Mini at around $1399-$1599 a better option for a non creative consumer, and likewise worth potentially waiting for than the current Max Mac Studio.

Apple Testing at Least Nine New Macs With Four Different M2 Chip Variants

Apple is internally testing several variants of the next-generation M2 chip and the updated Macs that will be equipped with them, reports Bloomberg,...

www.macrumors.com

Do you have a crystal ball?

 

[Boil]

For a high end consumer machine to replace an existing Mac Mini and a user who wants more RAM but realizes that most of the time tasks are Single-Core and the M1 Max doesn't have any real advantage over the M1 other than 2x the RAM capability, it is reasonable to expect that an upcoming M2 Mac Mini with an M2 Pro would have the same 32GB RAM option as the M1 Pro MacBook Pro, alleviating the 16GB RAM ceiling in the current M1 architecture.

Would that make the M2 Pro Mac Mini at around $1399-$1599 a better option for a non creative consumer, and likewise worth potentially waiting for than the current Max Mac Studio.

M1 Max has three advantages over the M1 Pro; higher GPU core count, higher RAM ceiling, double the UMA bandwidth...

Starting price for a full-die (10-core CPU/16-core GPU) Mn Pro Mac mini (16GB RAM/512GB SSD/Gigabit Ethernet) should be $1099...

A silent Mac mini M2 Pro or M2 Max. The Mac Studio is too noisy.

Hmm... Fan Gate user name, MacRumors Newbie... Constantly trashing the Mac Studio for purported fan noise... Yeah, that all checks out... WE GOT A TROLL HERE FOLKS...! ;^p

I am guessing that my impatience and the wait for the M2 Mini will likely lead me to keep the Studio. The additional ports and my teenagers starting to get more into Video might actually lead to buy FCP as iMovie is rather limited.

You could spend $299 for Final Cut Pro, and another $199 for Logic Pro; or let the kids buy the Pro Apps bundle for Education...

 

[mcnallym]

Starting price for a full-die (10-core CPU/16-core GPU) Mn Pro Mac mini (16GB RAM/512GB SSD/Gigabit Ethernet) should be $1099...

Good luck with that price. Apple charge 1099 for the M1 8/8 with 16GB RAM/512GB SSD/Gigabit Ethernet.

On the MBP then Apple want 300 to move from the 8/14 M1 Pro to the full 10/16 and we don’t know what they would charge for M1 to M1 Pro as they don’t currently have any machine with M1 and M1 Pro.

Is the same SoC that would be using so going to be same upgrade prices.

So there would have to be some real serious price cuts on the M1 Mini itself and upgrade costs to get that price.

 

[roland.g]

M1 Max has three advantages over the M1 Pro; higher GPU core count, higher RAM ceiling, double the UMA bandwidth...

Starting price for a full-die (10-core CPU/16-core GPU) Mn Pro Mac mini (16GB RAM/512GB SSD/Gigabit Ethernet) should be $1099...



Hmm... Fan Gate user name, MacRumors Newbie... Constantly trashing the Mac Studio for purported fan noise... Yeah, that all checks out... WE GOT A TROLL HERE FOLKS...! ;^p



You could spend $299 for Final Cut Pro, and another $199 for Logic Pro; or let the kids buy the Pro Apps bundle for Education...

I thought that was college only. My kids are junior high and high school.

 

[Boil]

I thought that was college only. My kids are junior high and high school.

Bummer, looks like FCP is gonna be three bills...

 

[Fishrrman]

Any new Mini probably won't be released before Oct/Nov this year...

 

[handheldgames]

A silent Mac mini M2 Pro or M2 Max. The Mac Studio is too noisy.

Considering I don't work in a library I've been unable to hear 'too noisy'. The studio is quieter than the 2,1, 3,1, 4,1 and 5,1 mac pros as well as the AMD 3900x based hackintosh with water based cooling it's replacing.

Personally I think the small external PCIe enclosures with the BlackMagic Decklink 4K and the Highpoint SSD7101A I'm taking out of the 3900x corsair case, each with their own fan are going to end to making more annoying high pitched noise than the studio will. Then again, the external 16TB hard drives are going to definitely get me in trouble.