Should i get the mac mini m1 16gb ram version?

[turbineseaplane]

So I tend to buy once and keep it as long as I can.

Sound, smart, decision making.

Again though - that said - we might be entering a new era here where the desirability of upgrading more frequently may increase rapidly. Apple is at the helm of the whole stack now and if one looks at how that's gone on iOS, it could mean much more performance gain over much shorter time periods than has ever been the norm before for the Mac.

 

[utazdevl]

Buying high end and keeping it the longest possible is what I personally experienced to be the more economical in term of money.

I too am a buy on the high end now and then holding on as long as I can in my machine. The only reason I chose to upgrade from my 2018 Mac Mini to the M1 is Apple's trade in is giving $630 for the 2018 model. When you put that against the 512SSD 16GB M1, I upgrade to the new chip for about $500, meaning my spend for 2 years on the Intel is $250 a year, which is a really good deal.

 

[Lowhangers]

I have vacillated on these topics and decided that I am going to just go with a base mini for 2021 in anticipation of probably upgrading more frequently. I expect Apple will update the internals much more often than they had been doing when they were Intel.

Same. The 8GB one I have flies, I am running World of Warcraft in a window while typing this note as well as Safari and other stuff. No issue with RAM whatsoever. I think few people really need 16GB of RAM with ARM chips. It is a different ballgame entirely.

I too will be upgrading more frequently if necessary as 700 bucks for the base machine is a steal. I figure 2022 will probably be the next mini, and I'm more than good until then.

Heck, people spend way more upgrading their phone every year.

 

[pldelisle]

I think few people really need 16GB of RAM with ARM chips. It is a different ballgame entirely

I'm of those who say 1 byte in x86 is the same as 1 byte of memory on ARM. A byte is a byte, a Gigabyte is a Gigabyte. The more stuff you run at the same time or the biggest the apps you need to run, the highest memory it requires.

 

[MacCheetah3]

I'm of those who say 1 byte in x86 is the same as 1 byte of memory on ARM. A byte is a byte, a Gigabyte is a Gigabyte. The more stuff you run at the same time or the biggest the apps you need to run, the highest memory it requires.

That is true, however, it’s probably also true the common/average consumer doesn’t need 16 GB of RAM.

Technically, Apple could set the base at 10 or 12 GB, although, that would throw off the doubling upgrade options and would not look as valuable for the first tier RAM upgrade.

 

[pldelisle]

That is true, however, it’s probably also true the common/average consumer doesn’t need 16 GB of RAM.

Not yet. But in 3-4 years, 16 GB will be standard.

I bought my MacBook Pro 15 in 2013 with 16 GB of RAM. I remember it was big and I was saying I'll never need more RAM. Well ... when I still don't exceed 16 GB most of the time, I find it's not that big ! 😅

 

[ilex27]

I did. But tbh coming from the PC world I feel like it's not even CLOSE to enough.

 

[turbineseaplane]

An interesting curveball here could be if Apple spec bumps the Mini's with more RAM options and a new SoC (m1x/m2) this coming year.

Given how this all just got going, it might not be bad to put as little on the table as possible, roll with a base M1 Mini, and plan to update

 

[4sallypat]

I did. But tbh coming from the PC world I feel like it's not even CLOSE to enough.

I know what you mean!

The PCs I have had to work on as IT professional has been a RAM + OS doubling or tripling these days where 32GB of RAM seems not to be enough to run a client OS. Don't talk to me about RAM for servers - we are to 128GB of RAM - that's huge!

I think Intel and the memory chip manufacturers are in cahoots to sell more RAM for every Intel chip out there - including Macs which is why Apple didn't want to fall into that trap.

Now that Apple switched over to the M1 SOC with unified memory, running RISC processes, there is no more need for more and more RAM.

I am glad Apple un-brainwashed my Intel thinking...

 

[Fishrrman]

Buying an m1 Mini with 8gb of RAM in 2020,
is like...
... buying a 2014 Mini with 4gb of RAM in 2014...

 

[4sallypat]

Buying an m1 Mini with 8gb of RAM in 2020,
is like...
... buying a 2014 Mini with 4gb of RAM in 2014...

Disagree - my 2012 Mini i7 Quad Core 2.6GHZ server with 16GB of RAM with a single display was so pitiful slow, lags, spins beach balls, runs hot, fans full on like crazy, plus a cooling fan underneath to prevent thermal throttling.

Now my 2020 M1 Mini with 8GB RAM with dual displays is fast, ice cold, no fan noise, no more spinning beach balls and lags - plus the best part - absolute silence - threw out the cooling fan too....

 

[IowaLynn]

Any comparison should be from a freshly installed stock system. Best thing I did was give my old Mac that had been through many upgrades, had a lot of old software and drivers built up over years. Amazing. Was no longer lagging or stuttering. If it was slow and ran hot on day #1 that's another story entirely.

 

[InuNacho]

Apps don't seem to be getting smaller or having a lower demand upon memory. In the late 80's and early 90's developers were forced to write software that used as little memory as possible. Unfortunately after we started going from Meg to Gig of RAM available, developers decided it was the Wild West, and they could blame their issues on the computers memory or lack thereof.

So if Apple does a crap job with their prize pig MacOS for the past decade it is suddenly a developer's fault?
Think you have some rose tinted glasses there too. People bitched and moaned about that original Mac being gimped from the start with a slow CPU and paltry 128k of ram.

 

[MacCheetah3]

Some developers definitely became/are lazy, including a portion of Apple’s software programmers. However, it’s also a fact some data(sets) simply are big/huge i.e. require a lot of storage space, both persistent and temporary.

 

[IowaLynn]

OS 7 turned on VM. There was a 32-bit barrier in OS X making storage arrays limit to less than OS 9 and it was only once there was ability to address address spaces of 4GB and beyond that we got into 64-bit territory. 64-bit offers lots of benefits.

An adage as old as mainframe, software and user demand for more robust types of applications will sell hardware. It isn't being lazy. Putting online access to data was a huge driving force for decades. No one thought punch cards and paper was the ideal medium for information.

 

[MacCheetah3]

You reminded me... It’s not always a software developer being lazy. When part of a corporate business, time is far more prioritized over quality, complete the job to minimal standards then perform proper adjustments, optimizations, and fixes if time allows. Too often, programmers are limited/prevented from doing thorough code reviews and testing. Sadly/frustratingly, the results are the same.

 

[harriska2]

I have a 2 year old mini and am hanging onto it until Apple figures out how to have a good OS on a M2 or M3 with bluetooth/hdmi bugs worked out. That or more lightening/usbc 40” 4k monitors are available without the name LG on them.

 

[IowaLynn]

If your name is SolarWind, and your CEO is only interested in bottom line profit, and not security - and it was only EU regs that forced them to take baby steps recently to meet new standards...

Looks foolish today, and other organizations that signed off on using your firm?

 

[Ethosik]

RAM requirements NEVER lower over time. Even if you don't need more than 8GB today, you will some time in the next 2 years, and given the lack up upgradability on the Mac Mini M1, you'll either have to replace the machine or live without the upgrade.

In some cases they do stay the same though. I do 1080p video editing. I did it on a 2010 Mac Pro 8GB of RAM and my 2019 i9 iMac with 128GB of RAM (after market) was not much better. It was really a $4,500 waste. Putting in the stock 8GB in my iMac showed I can still work on my 1080p videos.. 10 years later and 8GB is still fine for me.

 

[Ethosik]

Disagree - my 2012 Mini i7 Quad Core 2.6GHZ server with 16GB of RAM with a single display was so pitiful slow, lags, spins beach balls, runs hot, fans full on like crazy, plus a cooling fan underneath to prevent thermal throttling.

Now my 2020 M1 Mini with 8GB RAM with dual displays is fast, ice cold, no fan noise, no more spinning beach balls and lags - plus the best part - absolute silence - threw out the cooling fan too....

I have actually been paying closer attention to my 2019 i9 iMac 128GB of RAM. And boy do I get beach balls often. I never noticed. Also, Safari takes 6 jumps in the dock before it opens. I have the 2TB SSD version, Vega 48, 128GB of RAM, i9. So it is pretty much maxed out (I think RAM can go to 256 but not sure, I think thats just the 2020 model). It will be interesting to see if I get any beach balls when my M1 Mac mini delivers.

Not really sure why the iMac is that slow sometimes. I never looked at it this closely before though.

 

[Ethosik]

You reminded me... It’s not always a software developer being lazy. When part of a corporate business, time is far more prioritized over quality, complete the job to minimal standards then perform proper adjustments, optimizations, and fixes if time allows. Too often, programmers are limited/prevented from doing thorough code reviews and testing. Sadly/frustratingly, the results are the same.

That is the agile mentality that IMO needs to stop. Trying to get a MAJOR feature done in a 2 week sprint in both dev and QA and code reviews is way too fast. But companies use this approach all the time.

 

[dogslobber]

Yes.

 

[dogslobber]

I have vacillated on these topics and decided that I am going to just go with a base mini for 2021 in anticipation of probably upgrading more frequently. I expect Apple will update the internals much more often than they had been doing when they were Intel.

The leap from Intel to M1 will never be replicated so any marginal gain from M1 to M2 will be just that, marginal.

 

[dogslobber]

Disagree - my 2012 Mini i7 Quad Core 2.6GHZ server with 16GB of RAM with a single display was so pitiful slow, lags, spins beach balls, runs hot, fans full on like crazy, plus a cooling fan underneath to prevent thermal throttling.

Now my 2020 M1 Mini with 8GB RAM with dual displays is fast, ice cold, no fan noise, no more spinning beach balls and lags - plus the best part - absolute silence - threw out the cooling fan too....

That's because the 2012 had a spinner in it.

 

[4sallypat]

That's because the 2012 had a spinner in it.

Nope - my 2012 i7 Mini Server had dual SSD drives and still lags compared to the M1 Mini with half the memory!