Amazon Takes Up to $149 Off Apple's M2 Mac Mini, Including New Low Price on 512GB Model

[MacRumors]

Amazon today has Apple's M2 Mac mini on sale in all three configurations, starting at $499.99 for the 256GB model, down from $599.00. You'll need to clip an on-page coupon for all of these deals, and after you do you'll find the final discounted prices at the checkout screen.

Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.

Apple updated the Mac mini one year ago this month, introducing the M2 and M2 Pro chips to the lineup. Unless you have Prime, delivery estimates have begun slipping into late January for these computers, but all models still have plenty of stock available on Amazon at these discounted prices.

Note: You won't see the deal price until checkout.​

M2 Mac mini (256GB) for $499.99 ($99 OFF)​

You can also get the 512GB M2 Mac mini on sale for $675.99 with the on-page coupon, down from $799.00. This is a new all-time low price on this model of the Mac mini, and there's an estimated January 30 delivery date if ordered today.

Note: You won't see the deal price until checkout.​

M2 Mac mini (512GB) for $675.99 ($123 OFF)​

Lastly, Amazon has the higher-end M2 Pro Mac mini for $1,149.99 with the on-page coupon, down from $1,299.00. This model doesn't go on sale as often as the M2 models, and this is a solid second-best price on the computer.

Note: You won't see the deal price until checkout.​

M2 Pro Mac mini (512GB) for $1,149.99 ($149 OFF)​

Our full Deals Roundup has more information on the latest Apple-related sales and bargains.

Article Link: Amazon Takes Up to $149 Off Apple's M2 Mac Mini, Including New Low Price on 512GB Model

 

[ralph_sws]

a nice starter mac, just avoid 256gb

 

[coachgq]

I have the M2 Pro with 16/512 connected to a Studio Display. I plan for this to be my main machine for 10 years. Like the 2011 iMac i recently replaced.

 

[switz]

I use a M2 Pro mini (32GB Ram, 10GB Ethernet and 2TB SSD) as a file server. Does a great job. It has the 200GB/s memory bandwidth whereas the M3 Pro chips have a 150GB/s memory bandwidth. Memory is a critical part of file serving.....

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I have the M2 Pro with 16/512 connected to a Studio Display. I plan for this to be my main machine for 10 years. Like the 2011 iMac i recently replaced.

For many/most, a good Mac Mini will prove to be more than good enough. As others have already offered, with a planned use timetable of 7-10+ years, be sure to step up from minimum specs- particularly RAM- to try to somewhat future-proof the purchase... and retain the easy ability to swap out just the computing guts in a separates setup when Apple opts to vintage it or any computing part unexpectedly conks.

For those who NEED Windows too, while ARM for Windows emulation might cover the need, another good option is a Mac Mini-like Mini PC... which can be quite loaded via competition-driven, dirt-cheap pricing. If you want to go this way and/or think you might ever NEED such an option, select a monitor with at least TWO video inputs to make it as easy as possible to use the same screen with both without the cable swapping.

Also consider a keyboard & mouse/trackpad that can work with more than one device... and/or choose a monitor with a built-in hub that can readily switch input devices plugged into it when you want to jump from macOS to Windows and back again.

In my own setup, I have a 5K2K ultrawide monitor with built-in hub (new version of that monitor announced at CES 2024) leaning on a Logi keyboard with 3 computer support at the click of buttons. Shared resources like stand-alone speakers, optical drive, USB hub, etc link into the monitor hub so that both Mac and PC can use them when they are "in charge." Both computers hide behind the screen, making them invisible from the front.

 

[scheinderrob]

maybe i can use the drive from my 20 year old computer which has more capacity than this junk

 

[Heat_Fan89]

a nice starter mac, just avoid 256gb

Why? My base model M2 Mini 8GB/256 is twice as fast as my 2018 Mini with 32GB/256 and the Intel Mini has the faster SSD. I prefer the M2 base Mini.

 

[Makanmata]

Is there any practical reason to get the M2Pro over the M2?

 

[McScooby]

a nice starter mac, just avoid 256gb

Nothin’ wrong with the 256GB, if anything it’s best of the bunch. You get the benefit of the low price, single core scores roughly the same across the board & can buy separate storage at a significant saving to Apple.
Don’t worry about hammering the SSD with RAM as sell it next year for same/more u bought it this year for.
Don’t need to waste time etc reinstalling as mostly all info is in your external hd.
& elephant in the room is the 8GB, again as above if RAM needs it, it’ll swap it from SSD & with most of your content on the external it’s a relatively high proportion of space to play about with (in my case usage is 40GB, so have 200ish to use.

 

[GMShadow]

maybe i can use the drive from my 20 year old computer which has more capacity than this junk

I don't think it's advisable to store critical data on a 20 year old hard disk.

There's also been this change since then to solid state, you may have heard of it. Did tend to reset capacities.

Is there any practical reason to get the M2Pro over the M2?

If you need:

Extra power
4x TB4 ports instead of 2.
Support for more than 2 displays.
More than 24GB of RAM or 2TB of disk.

Most don't, so for the majority of users the base M2 is just dandy.

 

[Blackstick]

a nice starter mac, just avoid 256gb

It's fine for me, hooked up to a 12 terabyte external.

 

[picpicmac]

Is there any practical reason to get the M2Pro over the M2?

If you want to (easily) drive three monitors.

The four TB4 ports may be important to some people, also.

 

[CalMin]

Is there any practical reason to get the M2Pro over the M2?

A few...

• If you want more than 24GB RAM.
• More power for heavier weight creative apps (although M2 is no slouch).
• M2 Mac mini only supports 2x displays, so those that need more than that will need M2 Pro. More I/O on the chassis.

 

[BC2009]

8GB RAM in the 512GB model? No thanks.

 

[VaruLV]

Waste of money for 8GB version.
Unless you want to use it for year or two only and for ultra light tasks which could be better done with tablet/phone connected to external display anyway.

 

[jedimasterkyle]

a nice starter mac, just avoid 256gb

I've got the M2 with 256gb storage and it works flawlessly. Granted, I opted for the 16gb of RAM and everything is as smooth as butter but still, the 256 does just fine for me. Far and away immensely superior to the old Windows 11 machine I was running a few years ago and miles ahead of my 2016 MacBook Air that hasn't seen the light of day since I got my Mac Mini lol.

 

[GMShadow]

I've got the M2 with 256gb storage and it works flawlessly. Granted, I opted for the 16gb of RAM and everything is as smooth as butter but still, the 256 does just fine for me. Far and away immensely superior to the old Windows 11 machine I was running a few years ago and miles ahead of my 2016 MacBook Air that hasn't seen the light of day since I got my Mac Mini lol.

Same, I've got a 27" iMac that's 40/256 and the disk has been just fine.

 

[scheinderrob]

I don't think it's advisable to store critical data on a 20 year old hard disk.

There's also been this change since then to solid state, you may have heard of it. Did tend to reset capacities.

did...did you take that comment literally? wow.

 

[Rychiar]

a nice starter mac, just avoid 256gb

Being a desktop computer I could care less about the internal storage. They should sell this in ram configurations not hard drives. Ya can always stick a thunderbolt 4 NVME drive into this

 

[Biro]

A buddy of mine is in the market for a new Mac but has a tight budget. The Amazon deal might work for him. But a Mac Studio monitor is out of the question. What's a good budget monitor for him?

 

[Biro]

Being a desktop computer I could care less about the internal storage. They should sell this in ram configurations not hard drives. Ya can always stick a thunderbolt 4 NVME drive into this

Storage capacity isn't the reason anyone should settle for nothing less than a 512 GB SSD on an M2 or M3 Mini. It's the speed of memory swapping. Apple went cheap on the SSD for the 256GB model. It uses a single NAND chip for storage, resulting in up to 50% slower SSD performance. The base M1 Mini featured two 128 GB SSD's, which was a faster set up.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

A buddy of mine is in the market for a new Mac but has a tight budget. The Amazon deal might work for him. But a Mac Studio monitor is out of the question. What's a good budget monitor for him?

I recently gifted a Mac Mini to someone and they attached it to a 4K monitor. The “kool aid” had seeped in making me think it would be dramatically noticeable vs. 5K. It was not and looks great with a 4K monitor.

With 4K a commodity-not-oddball resolution, robust competition means good ones can be had for cheap. Have your friend do some online research to help select a good one. No need spending well above $1K for a perfectly usable monitor with Mac.

 

[Rychiar]

Storage capacity isn't the reason anyone should settle for nothing less than a 512 GB SSD on an M2 or M3 Mini. It's the speed of memory swapping. Apple went cheap on the SSD for the 256GB model. It uses a single NAND chip for storage, resulting in up to 50% slower SSD performance. The base M1 Mini featured two 128 GB SSD's, which was a faster set up.

Many of us updated from Intel Macs with fusion drives so any SSD is a massive speed boost. My 4tb thunderbolt SSD gets over 3000mb/s

 

[bradman83]

Storage capacity isn't the reason anyone should settle for nothing less than a 512 GB SSD on an M2 or M3 Mini. It's the speed of memory swapping. Apple went cheap on the SSD for the 256GB model. It uses a single NAND chip for storage, resulting in up to 50% slower SSD performance. The base M1 Mini featured two 128 GB SSD's, which was a faster set up.

The users the 8/256 models are targeted at are highly unlikely to be driving their machines so hard that it will produce a major performance impact; even the single 256 GB chip in the base configuration alone is still plenty speedy for moderate amounts of memory swapping even if it's not as fast as the dual chip models.

 

[jouster]

The way I look at it is that you're not future proofing your Mini by going from a 256GB SSD to 512 or even to 1TB; at least not if you hope to use to use it for 7-10 years. You will need more storage by then. And Apple's pricing for increased storage is, IMO, unreasonably high. That's why I went with the base model and a large SSD. There's nothing I do that requires the speed of access advantage afforded by increasing the size of the internal storage. Asking $800 for 2TB is not good value. My 1TB SSD cost $90.