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Apple Announces New Mac Mini With M2 and M2 Pro Chips at Lower $599 Starting Price
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@TheYayAreaLiving 🎗 Well, I’ll eat my words from yesterday. Apple did lower the prices on something. Color me surprised!
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
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Hahaha! They sure did. The good thing is you got your wish granted. No Midnight MacBook 16" tho. Maybe in 2024 now?
I know! No Midnight MBP yet 😞 I hope it’s coming. The Midnight MacBook Air was the one to get. I’m sure they’d sell a lot of the Pros in Midnight, too.
TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️
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Yes sir! They will but now I can wait for the MacBook Air 15" (Midnight) Hopefully that is released later this year. I will be rocking 2 MacBooks. Going to upgrade my Macbook Pro in 2024 with a 3nm chip.
Best wishes to you!
My guess is there will be an upper end iMac with a pro level chip too, but who knows.
The iMac is in a really strange situation right now. Macrumors has said it might not update until a M3 in the fall. That's a very long time for it to stay on M1.
Does anyone think we might see a M2 version later in the spring?
The MacBook Pro 14 and 16 went $100 up in Canada. The base Mini is $799 but if you want one with the Pro CPU a reasonable 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD the price becomes $2,099, OUCH! More than 2 and a half times the price! This not for a high end system, just somewhat decent.
Some will say extras were always expensive on Macs but they were times were you had a decent system for the base specs, it's not the case anymore.
Some will say extras were always expensive on Macs but they were times were you had a decent system for the base specs, it's not the case anymore.
Ehnnnn, all my keyboard are usb-a, gaming mouse are often usb-a, my DAC is usb-a, my 2 external drives, my monitor hub… I can continue…
mini pro 16/512 is not 2099 in Canada.
It’s 1699, and who pay full price at Apple? So the real price for it is 1569$
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While I don’t think any of us here are the target market for the base M2 mini (256GB SSD is too small), for someone who wants a Mac and is a super casual user, I think the $600 price point is a good deal.
Very tempting, even though I have absolutely zero need for one. 
In terms of storage though, using an external SSD is pretty fast. And cheaper. You could even use an external nvme based one as well.
It's very difficult to find any USB-C accessories.
External drives, flash drives and other accessories almost all still use USB-A ports.
SanDisk for one finally has a USB-C stick, but they're rarely found in stores, only online.
I am thinking it could make a tempting choice for existing windows users who already have an iPhone or iPad. They already have a screen, keyboard and mouse, and gaming aside, performance actually looks pretty decent.
Myself, it’s looking more and more attractive as a 27” imac replacement. Now, if only there were a cheaper 5k monitor out there…
If Apple would bring back target display mode they would have me sold. My 2017 27” iMac is still fine, especially the display. I’d hook a new mac mini up to it though.
The Studio now exists as the more heat-tolerant box above the Mini. It makes total sense for Apple to clearly place the Mini line as the lower end of their desktop choices.
$599 with 8Gb RAM. 8Gb RAM when PC makers went to 16Gb standard RAM ages ago.
I find that galling. That is not enough RAM, so the base model is actually $799 for 16Gb which is the minimum any computer today needs.
Sometimes I hate Apple. Why sell a machine off the shelf that will give buyers issues right off the bat?
How much profit is enough for Cook, at the expense of Apple's reputation, which has already been damaged by that guy?
I find that galling. That is not enough RAM, so the base model is actually $799 for 16Gb which is the minimum any computer today needs.
Sometimes I hate Apple. Why sell a machine off the shelf that will give buyers issues right off the bat?
How much profit is enough for Cook, at the expense of Apple's reputation, which has already been damaged by that guy?
Someone would have to test out if 8GB would hamper performance. Remember this is an M2 chip and even if it does memory swapping would probably be instant. Not the same as a regular PC.
As much as I would like to get a higher end Mac mini, based on my last 10 years of using 10,1 mbp, I’m left with the logical conclusion that a base model Mini /8/512 will fulfill my needs. A 256 model would work as well, as I already have/use an 6TB external spinner, and a 1 TB SSD external on my network.
I do worry (reviews will negate/confirm) that the SSD speed will be gimped…
Handbrake and 2 Simultaneous streams of YouTube are the most I use my MacBook Pro anyway.
My friendly advice is to base your needs on what you already do realistically.
I also trust that commenters here, vs. influencers tell me “unified memory” actually is a new positive chapter in how to think about RAM usage.
This and my wife has already said, “no” to a $1300 model 🤪🤣
bonus: Open Core Legacy Patcher has been phenomenal.
I do worry (reviews will negate/confirm) that the SSD speed will be gimped…
Handbrake and 2 Simultaneous streams of YouTube are the most I use my MacBook Pro anyway.
My friendly advice is to base your needs on what you already do realistically.
I also trust that commenters here, vs. influencers tell me “unified memory” actually is a new positive chapter in how to think about RAM usage.
This and my wife has already said, “no” to a $1300 model 🤪🤣
bonus: Open Core Legacy Patcher has been phenomenal.
The number of ports on apple silicon computer has never been related to how many monitors it supports.
Then obviously you do need lots of RAM in whatever you do. I’ve never seen that message with 16GB of RAM. I know people who mainly use one app at a time or very little multi-tasking. They are fine with 8GB of RAM. You results may vary depending on what you do. Nothing magic here.