Adorama is $799 for the 16 GB model. They have consistently been the best outside of Apple refurbished.
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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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Adorama is $799 for the 16 GB model. They have consistently been the best outside of Apple refurbished.
I like your framing of “weekend OS.”
My work computers are terrible, institutional, Dell Laptops and decent but small screened Lenovo [student] Chromebooks.
The weekend OS idea really helps frame why I want to replace a 2015 iMac with a 2022 device, not a 2020 device. I want to buy a device that is not already 2 years old do that I can expect 7 years or more.
I can see myself buying a Studio in October only because there is no incremental update to the Mini.
Yup. You can get new models discounted by $100 or refurbs discounted by $140 though they are out of refurbs for M1 minis right now.
Certain large U.K. Mac specialists do the same - they order CTO specs to sell.
Can you name a few? My issue is that as soon as you want to upgrade the RAM, you can no longer by the 8GB models from shops (Which are often heavily discounted), so the cost of upgrading the RAM is actually more than the £200 or whatever Apple changes. But perhaps these Mac specialists you mention offer them slightly discounted.
KRCS. I got my CTO'd i7/2TB Mac Mini from them for ~£100 less than the Apple store, and a further ~£75 off for ordering via Quidco.
KRCS as mentioned by @frou used to do larger discounts - they still do more modest ones which isn’t too bad. There’s also Jigsaw24 who don’t seem to do significant discounts any more (they used to clear out older models at very good prices) and Very who are much more of a box shifter (can’t say I recommend Very though)
I’m afraid if you do want extra ram you’re better off hoping that Apple do an official SKU with the memory you need.
This is partly the reason why I’ve been advocating an official 16gb mini sku.
By comparison: For example, the base M1 pro MacBook Pro 14 is still compellingly close to a 16/512 MacBook Pro 13 or m2 air due to commonly available discounts which are matched on Amazon in the U.K. and the fact that the 14” and 16” MacBook Pro’s were launched well before the current inflationary period we are in.
this situation likely won’t last as M2 pro MacBook pro 14 may well get a price increase in due course.
If you don’t mind switching to laptop then the base pro 14 is worth considering. I’m currently expecting the M2 mini is to have a higher retail price which might have the effect of having people compare with the mac studio more closely.
What I’d like to see right now is what effect does the m2 ProRes encoder have on an m1 mini.
This might make the M2 worth having for certain Workflows on a budget when the m2 pro comes out.
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Well thanks to inflation $699 in 2022 is equivalent to $610.61 in 2020. 😁
True but you selectin can be limited so it is best to look at as many options as you can.
Thanks. Not sure how I have never heard of KRCS. I agree on an official 16GB SKU. If I was in the market for an M2 MBA, I'd almost certainly get the 14in MBP due to the reason you say, unless I really needed the different form factor. The current 14in MBP is great value by comparison.
If you assume that putting an M1 pro cpu in a Mac mini would bump the price to £1299 for a mythical 16/512 configuration then £1735 (current street price for double binned 8/14 MacBook Pro 14 with 16/512 is only £436 more than the equivalent mini. And that gets you the 14” Mini LED screen, keyboard, trackpad, battery, extra ports (including thunderbolt 4) that many people are clamouring for, and probably fewer WiFi or Bluetooth issues.
The gap is even less if you try and spec up a MacBook Air M2 or MacBook Pro M2 13” as the retail price would be around £1749 from
Apple. In other words No gap at all, you only then have weight of laptop and whether or not you really want a Touch Bar to contend with.
It’s the obvious choice for people needing 16/512, bit more performance, or more ports.
I just have a feeling in the U.K. that the gap will get bigger once the M2 pro MacBook Pro 14 and 16 gets launched or perhaps even in October in general with unrelated mac launches if Apple feel they have to reorganise U.K. prices in general due to FX pressures.
"High-end" Mac mini:
- M2 Pro SoC (5NP)
- 12-core CPU (8P/4E)
- 20-core GPU
- 16GB RAM
- 512GB SSD
- $1399
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Agree again with your U.K. pricing point, plus the prices may go up $100/£100 anyway due to inflation... I do think it would be odd to release an M2 Pro mini alongside the updated M2 Pro/Max MBPs, unless Apple have a crazy supply of chips this year. Otherwise, it may be something for a future press release or March 2023 event.
I'd buy it if it comes with 32GB RAM
But IMO, Mac mini will come with M2 chip, not "pro". I think, as with the M1 pro, that there will never be a "Mx Pro" chip in the Mac mini (neither in the iMac).
I very hope I'm mistaken
A fair number of people do not take into account Net Present Value when making financial decisions...
I think $1399 would be for a binned M2 Pro with less CPU and GPU cores and then Apple would want $200 and $300 more for the "full meal deal" version with all CPU and GPU cores.
Also, based on what Mark Gurman has been speculating, M2 Pro might start at 10 CPU cores and 14 GPU cores like the M1 Pro and at the top end might be 12 CPU / 18 GPU (not 20). He believes M2 Max will also top out at 38 GPU cores (not 40).
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Should go up to 48GB of RAM, but you gotta pay extra for it...
Base M1 Max Mac Studio (10-core CPU / 24-core GPU / 32GB RAM / 512GB SSD) is $900 cheaper than an equally equipped 14" MacBook Pro, so the above specs and pricing is extrapolated from that...
Hopefully Apple will make 24GB RAM standard for the low-end of RAM with the M2 Pro SoC, but at the above price...
Which is why I think the Mac Studio is (IMO) under-priced so as to make it more appealing to a larger potential market.
And that under-pricing I believe is making it difficult for Apple to slot an Mx Pro model Mac mini into the line-up at a price low enough that people would not be tempted to pay a (relatively) little more for a far more capable Mac Studio.
I understand this viewpoint, but there is still a decent-sized gap where the Intel Mac mini sits, especially if you specced the i7 and 64GB RAM variant. I think there is sufficient room in the lineup. If... there is an updated Mac Studio (I assume it is a one-off like the iMac Pro) before an M2 Pro comes out, I will just cave in and get the base model. Otherwise I may be stuck buying an M2 mini or laptop, just for the M2 Pro version.
The Mac Studio has pretty much put paid to an M2 Pro mini in my opinion - forthcoming price rises are going to change the landscape but there's still not going to be a gap in the market there - the only thing I could see happening is an M2 Pro Mac Studio as an entry level SKU for that and even then Apple probably wouldn't use the lower binned M1 Pro and might not even want to use less than the 32Gb spec.
And as you suggested, I think £1299 would have been inflation price point - if they were to release an M2 Pro (double binned) mini in this climate it would probably cost £1399 which would make the current Mac Studio (32/512 M1 Max - £1999) look like even more of a no brainer than it already is.
I'm under no illusions that there's UK price rises coming for the stuff that's not been refreshed yet - 14" and 16" MacBooks and the Mac Studio will be under the spotlight next year.
I think @CWallace explained his point perfectly.
Let's reiterate for a UK price list as it stands, to upgrade a MacBook Pro 14" 8/14 (double binned M1 Pro) to a 10/24 M1 Max (the CPU that's in the base Studio) you have to pay £500.
This would in theory price an M1 Pro based Mac Studio with 32Gb RAM and 512Gb SSD at £1499. If you drop the RAM back to 16Gb you're dropping another £400 which leaves an M1 Pro Mac Studio with 16Gb RAM costing an eye opening £1099. And curiously this is exactly the same as an M1 Mac mini specced up to 16/512 would cost - there is no space for an M1 Pro model.
In other words, if you need the grunt you should buy a Mac Studio - concerns over fan noise and coil whine aside - and any entry level M1 Pro placeholder designed to push people up to the 'full fat' M1 Max Studio probably would be too successful for its own good and probably steal more sales from the M1 Max entry level Mac Studio than people who would upgrade an M1 Mini.
It certainly makes the £1799 priced refurbs we had on the UK refurb store very much a bargain compared to £929 you want any combination of 32Gb RAM, faster CPU, or more ports.
I'll also point out that there's situations where the double binned M1 Pro (8/14) actually loses out to the M2 (8/10).
The M2 has higher single core, the M1 Pro 8/14 is not much faster in multicore (around 10% on synthetic benchmarks)
The M2 has 100GB/s memory bandwidth whereas the M1 Peo has 200GB/s - does that actually mean much in light use?
The M2 has 8k capable media engine which also does ProRES which might be important for video editors.
The M2 supports 24Gb of RAM whereas the M1 Pro supports 32Gb - could be close enough for some people.
In other words, the M2 is good enough. The active cooling solution and power supply of the existing case ought to easily cater for the new CPU.
This leaves the main issues as:
1. Ongoing Wifi and Bluetooth issues with the chassis
2. Only 2 external monitors supported as per Mx chipset.
4. limited I/O compared with M1 Pro.
Anyone needing more I/O than 2 Thunderbolt ports and 2 USB-A ports, 3 monitors, 32Gb of RAM or more - probably needs to stop being stingy and fork out for a Mac Studio. I don't think there's enough people in that group to worry Apple too much as they have a cost effective solution already on sale.
I was just pointing the logical absurdity of still sold "new" hardware automatically dropping in sticker price. If anything such a price drop to a consumer that actually thinks signals 'ah they must be reducing stock for a newer better model. I'll wait for that to come out'.A fair number of people do not take into account Net Present Value when making financial decisions...
Except, for computers and other electronics, the norm for the last 40+ years has been for the sticker prices to stay the same, or even drop, while the specifications rise exponentially. In the 80s/90s, a new model would be expected to offer 50% better specs than last year’s model - and if a model hung around for more than a year it would be expected to drop in price. Also, it was pretty common for manufacturers to quote ridiculous “recommended retail prices” which you’d only ever pay if you walked into your local Mom & Pop store and asked them to order one - while all the large dealers sold it for 2/3 that price.
People like to point out that the original Mac would cost $7000 “in modern money” but it’s more interesting that the original sticker was $2500 - which wouldn’t raise eyebrows for a new, cutting edge machine today. There’s not a lot of point applying the average inflation rate to a class of product that you know has bucked the inflation rate.
If a manufacturer keeps old-spec tech products on the books at the original price, that is a sign of lack of competition: in Apple’s case a large captive market of users who wouldn’t dream of switching to PC.
However, things have started to change somewhat in the last few years - apart from chip shortages and pandemics etc. the tech is starting to mature, hence the people here still rocking 5-10 year old systems (which, in the past, would mean Apple II vs. Mac!).
As you mention that was "in the 80s/90s" back when Moore's Law still had a lot of room. We are now near the end of what can be done with those old real old methods. In the last 10 years, until the M1 people would have said expecting 50% better specs much less exponential improvement was at best way over optimistic and at worst delusional.
Considering the old Intel i5, 8 GB, 512 GB, Mini spec is currently $1,099.00 the same price the i5, 8 GB, 256 GB did in 2019 (got to love internet archive) you clearly don't know what you are talking about.
There is the fact many businesses ignore the fact Outdated technology costs businesses more than it saves which means that statement doesn't mean jack. Heck, I worked at a museum that had a freaking Kaypro...in 1998 and hotel that used a UNIX system because the program was too old to run on DOS...in 2008. If it wasn't for corporate forcing us to update odds are we would have still been using that old Unix system until some irreparable component died.
More over at $1,298 at launch an Apple II was far cheaper than the 128 Mac US$2,495 at launch. The M1 is a totally different beast and its wild performace (kicking nearly everything in its price class) to the curb raised the expectation bar to a level that there was no way the M2 could have ever met it.
Agreed for the general market, but that has generally not been the case with Apple products since Steve returned in 2001 and especially so since Tim took over.
Apple policy for some time now is if a new product comes out at a higher price, then the older product sticks around at the old price until it is either End of Lifed and/or the new product drops to the same price due to Economies of Scale.