Did I understood right, that this was only"reporting bug" win M-macs and when you use "non soldered" storage Apple can't or won't touch those storages' firmware and therefore there can't be any "reporting bug" with SMART values, which have nothing to with the OS?
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The new Mac mini is almost certainly coming
- Thread starter GabrieleR
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It might also be, that base models creates more profits, because they are replaced more often.
"Oh, I started doing this new thing, I need a new macbook that can handle it."
This might also be the reason for Apple to focus on gaming: more frequent "upgrades". Which with Apple means "new mac".
Budget gamers DIY upgradeable windows desktops, wealthy ones buy disposable laptops ans disposable macs.
I'd like to replace my Late 2012 iMac with a new Mac Mini, but I have trouble getting over the psychological hurdle of buying a new computer with the same or less RAM as my 2012 iMac (24 GB). I understand that memory today is faster, but sometimes you just need a lot of it (e.g., running virtual machines). It also pains me since my new-but-crappy Windows work laptop has 32 GB of RAM.
Can I be convinced that 16 GB of RAM connected to an M2 Pro is always categorically better than 24 GB on my iMac? The cost of upgrading to 32 GB is prohibitive.
Also, how likely is it expected that Mac minis will not be upgraded soon? The MacRumors buyers guide suggests they probably won't be updated for like 2 years. Is it safe to assume that M3 Mac minis won't be out any time soon?
Can I be convinced that 16 GB of RAM connected to an M2 Pro is always categorically better than 24 GB on my iMac? The cost of upgrading to 32 GB is prohibitive.
Also, how likely is it expected that Mac minis will not be upgraded soon? The MacRumors buyers guide suggests they probably won't be updated for like 2 years. Is it safe to assume that M3 Mac minis won't be out any time soon?
If you need memory, Apple Silicon Macs are not magic, despite what some people claim. In the case of content creation, I point to some M1 Mac mini reviews which stated that they'd sometimes get weird crashes with 8 GB RAM that miraculously disappeared as soon as they switched to a 16 GB M1 RAM Mac mini that was otherwise identically configured.
If you are going to be running several VMs, then get more than 16 GB RAM. eg. 24 GB M2 Mac mini (if the few ports it has are sufficient for you) or else a 32 GB M2 Max Mac Studio.
I wish we could get a 24 GB M2 Pro Mac mini, but Apple doesn't offer one, presumably because they want to push those actually need 32 GB RAM to the more expensive Mac Studio.
For my own usage my 16 GB M1 Mac mini with 1 TB SSD is significantly faster than a 24 GB Core i5-7600 27" iMac with 1 TB SSD, but in my case I don't run a bunch of VMs or manage complex scientific databases. I multitask with Office applications, lots of browser windows, VPN, email, Messages, and light photo editing. 8 GB was OK but sometimes restrictive, but 16 GB is more than fine for my usage.
M2 Mac minis only came out a few months ago. It is very safe to assume M3 Mac minis won't be out anytime soon.
No.
...but the consequences of insufficient RAM are usually just slow performance, the fast SSD in Apple Silicon machines reduces the impact of swapping and even the base Mini should be significantly faster than a 2012 iMac, so its quite likely that it would still be all-round faster, but lack of RAM could still mean its not reaching its full potential.
I'd say that if you really needed 24GB on the iMac you'll probably need 24GB on Apple Silicon. However, if you just ended up with 24GB because putting two 8GB sticks in the empty slots was the obvious sweet-spot upgrade, you may not really need that much. I'd suggest running Activity Monitor and looking at "Memory Pressure" and "Swap Used" ('Memory Used' isn't helpful - MacOS will soak up spare memory with file caches) while you work.
Personally, I'd say that if you do need 32GB, the base M2 Max Studio rapidly starts looking like better value than the M2 Pro Mini.
Oops. I guess Photos has totally locked up so its not generating page faults and slowing everything down any more
I'm sure that upgrading from 24GB to 32GB will fix that... er...
Actually it was still writing to the SSD when I snapped that screengrab.Oops. I guess Photos has totally locked up so its not generating page faults and slowing everything down any more
I'm sure that upgrading from 24GB to 32GB will fix that... er...
I tried to export the unmodified originals of my entire 50000 pic Photos library but for some strange reason this is an extremely difficult task for Photos (even though $20 third party apps can do it with no stress on the system whatsoever). It ran like that for about 45 minutes gradually accumulating swap memory usage before finally crashing. Never once did the memory pressure hit red.
Photos seems to be fundamentally broken for this function. My final solution in Photos was to limit the exports to only about 3000 pix at a time, but it does make me worry about the future viability of Photos as our image libraries further increase in size.
With all my usual stuff running + 2 VMs, the "Memory Pressure" graph is still green though it appears to be around 50% (I'm not sure exactly how this metric is calculated). Swap Used is ~430 MB. I rarely look at either of these metrics so I'm not sure how that stacks up. Would this imply 16 GB could be fine?
I had the same worry when I got the 16/512 m1 Mini to replace my late 2015 iMac with 24gb memory. I bought it instead of the 24" m1 iMac when it was introduced.
Mostly the m1's RAM could do the jobs for me. The only time it failed was at critical moments. I had to learn to keep a constant eye on Activity Monitor and make sure to decrease the memory load before starting an important project.
A couple months ago the m2 Minis hit the refurb store and I bit the bullet and bought a 32gb/1tb m2 Mini. It's way overkill for my normal daily browsing etc, but when I need it it's there.
This hurts to read. If I’m buying my first new computer in over a decade, it needs to be better than my last computer in every way. Especially since it’s not upgradable. If I bought one now, the idea that the computer I might be using 10 years from now in 2033 could have the same RAM as my Late 2012 iMac hurts me physically. 🫠
24GB RAM (in an Intel Apple computer) is the same as 24 GB RAM (in an Apple Silicon computer), in terms of amount. There is no "magic" more efficient use of Apple Silicon RAM, compared to usage of RAM in an Intel Apple computer.
richmlow
BTW, for the record, I'm not expecting this to happen.
I'm expecting the first M3 chips to come in 2023 Q4, but if accurate that would in turn mean the M3 Macs wouldn't arrive on store shelves until 2024. And those Macs may not include a new Mac mini. ie. I can see the M3 MacBook Air and M3 iMac coming before the M3 Mac mini, but I am not expecting any of the M3 Macs regardless of model to arrive until 2024.
Mine arrived yesterday--well, I picked it up from the Apple Store in a huge thunderstorm. I got...the absolute base model! It was $499 with .edu discount, and they threw in a $100 gift card--I don't know why. I wasn't expecting it.
It has been terrific so far--easy to set up; fast, smooth, silent, not even warm to the touch. It's a work computer whose few tasks will be to run productivity apps and a browser, and very occasionally to talk to a printer. None of my files are more than a few MBs. None of my spreadsheets or presentations are complex. It will do no gaming, video editing, compiling, or anything at all resembling power usage. I already have an excellent 30" monitor, as well as a keyboard, mouse etc. I have a fast external SSD on order, for the unlikely scenario of needing more space.
For what I need it to do it is ideal, and a bargain.
Edit: It’s my second Mini. First was a G4.
It has been terrific so far--easy to set up; fast, smooth, silent, not even warm to the touch. It's a work computer whose few tasks will be to run productivity apps and a browser, and very occasionally to talk to a printer. None of my files are more than a few MBs. None of my spreadsheets or presentations are complex. It will do no gaming, video editing, compiling, or anything at all resembling power usage. I already have an excellent 30" monitor, as well as a keyboard, mouse etc. I have a fast external SSD on order, for the unlikely scenario of needing more space.
For what I need it to do it is ideal, and a bargain.
Edit: It’s my second Mini. First was a G4.
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Please, could any mod pin again this thread?
Or if you think it deserves to be in the Apple Silicon subforum, please move it.
So, the next M3 Mac mini is certainly coming. But when? I'm afraid, all rumors point to a wait of more than a year, late 2024. I will certainly wait, because I want the latest and greatest and my current 2014 mac mini, despite being stuck on Monterey, works like a charm.
I had a 2010 MacBook Pro (my first mac <3 ), that I swapped the HD for an SSD and added more RAM to, and after 9 years of daily use, at the end of its life it was almost impossible to use, supper sluggish and slow. However, this 2014 mac mini, purchased second hand, has been one of my best purchases ever. Being the model with the 2,6GHz CPU and 8GB of RAM, and having swapped its original hard drive for a 1TB SSD, this mac mini has served me wonderfully for the last 5 or 6 years.
But the time to upgrade is approaching, and I will try to wait until the M3 mac mini is released, as said, in late 2024. Also, if I see the new Apple Silicon generation still uses the same architecture (16 core NPU, 8 core CPU), I may wait to see what happens with the M4 or M5 with the transition to the GAAFET 2nm technology. But if the M3 is the big jump we all wait for, I will probably purchase it.
What I certainly know is that I will prioritise RAM upgrades, because the way I use my mac with multiple apps at the same time, and lots of Safary tabs open, should benefit from it. What I am not so sure about is wether I will chose the M3 Pro SoC, or the regular M3... I'll have to watch some benchmarks, and the price increase, but I will probably stick with a regular M3 with maxed out RAM. However, there's the possibility that the M3 Pro models will get one or two more years of macOS support.
Finally, there's the design. I am one of those few who wishes the mac mini to be redesigned, with a top cover made of glass or polycarbonate, to make the Wireless and Bluetooth work even better. And making it more compact and lightweight. Weight is important for me because I sometimes carry my mac mini with me, so... I would really like a redesign like the one that was leaked years ago. And maybe, after such a wait for the M3, they finally redesign the case.
That's enough mac mini rambling for today!
Or if you think it deserves to be in the Apple Silicon subforum, please move it.
So, the next M3 Mac mini is certainly coming. But when? I'm afraid, all rumors point to a wait of more than a year, late 2024. I will certainly wait, because I want the latest and greatest and my current 2014 mac mini, despite being stuck on Monterey, works like a charm.
I had a 2010 MacBook Pro (my first mac <3 ), that I swapped the HD for an SSD and added more RAM to, and after 9 years of daily use, at the end of its life it was almost impossible to use, supper sluggish and slow. However, this 2014 mac mini, purchased second hand, has been one of my best purchases ever. Being the model with the 2,6GHz CPU and 8GB of RAM, and having swapped its original hard drive for a 1TB SSD, this mac mini has served me wonderfully for the last 5 or 6 years.
But the time to upgrade is approaching, and I will try to wait until the M3 mac mini is released, as said, in late 2024. Also, if I see the new Apple Silicon generation still uses the same architecture (16 core NPU, 8 core CPU), I may wait to see what happens with the M4 or M5 with the transition to the GAAFET 2nm technology. But if the M3 is the big jump we all wait for, I will probably purchase it.
What I certainly know is that I will prioritise RAM upgrades, because the way I use my mac with multiple apps at the same time, and lots of Safary tabs open, should benefit from it. What I am not so sure about is wether I will chose the M3 Pro SoC, or the regular M3... I'll have to watch some benchmarks, and the price increase, but I will probably stick with a regular M3 with maxed out RAM. However, there's the possibility that the M3 Pro models will get one or two more years of macOS support.
Finally, there's the design. I am one of those few who wishes the mac mini to be redesigned, with a top cover made of glass or polycarbonate, to make the Wireless and Bluetooth work even better. And making it more compact and lightweight. Weight is important for me because I sometimes carry my mac mini with me, so... I would really like a redesign like the one that was leaked years ago. And maybe, after such a wait for the M3, they finally redesign the case.
That's enough mac mini rambling for today!
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As far as I’m aware this thread has never been pinned. However, it has been popular from time to time, thus has remained high on the front page of this, the Mac Mini forum, from time to time.……
Because the new Mac Mini is almost certainly coming to the Apple lineup from time to time (despite naysayers predicting its demise from time to time), and to the desk of the faithful every few years.
Just when has long been a topic of conjecture.
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Maybe I mistook this thread with the MacBook pro one, where people kept waiting for the 10nm Intel processor for years… Anyway, I thought this thread had been pinned at some point in the past.
Why on earth do you not buy a m1 Mac Studio for a reduced price, if the disk is big enough?
Mac mini is still an entry machine, and you are not an entry user.
I’d hardly call the m2 pro mini entry level
Not everyone wants the big bulky ugly studio sitting on their desktop
Not everyone wants the big bulky ugly studio sitting on their desktop
I don't recall this thread ever being pinned, it was just more active in the past. But it still ranks as number 8 on the mega-threads list.
Oh cool, thanks for the info! For me this was a frequently visited thread back in the days of uncertainty (when we were afraid Apple was discontinuing it).I don't recall this thread ever being pinned, it was just more active in the past. But it still ranks as number 8 on the mega-threads list.
Being more expensive than OWC's hub, what are the benefits?Plugable 5-in-1 Thunderbolt 4 and USB4 Hub
3x Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 ports for speeds up to 40Gbps, and 15W charging for phones and tablets. 1x USB-A up to 10Gbps, 1x upstream Thunderbolt 4 port up to 60W charging to host
I run my USB-C monitor off it. Works fine, with no monitor sleep issues.
This is the OWC equivalent.
OWC Thunderbolt Hub - Add Three More Thunderbolt (USB-C) Ports
Add three Thunderbolt 4 (USB-C) and one USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A port to your Mac or PC and connect more storage, displays, and accessories.
The are the same Intel chipset and design but the Plugable comes with an HDMI dongle and I bought mine on sale at Black Friday.
I do remember someone complaining about an OWC TB dock having loose connectors but I can’t remember if it was this model.