Best M2 Mac mini for vm(s)

[Mac_Professor]

I'm currently running an intel 2018 Mac mini i7 with 32GB ram and 1TB and Sonnet Puck egpu which works well. I'm thinking of moving to to the M2 Mac mini but curious which one is better for virtual machines the 16gb M2 Pro or 32GB (I must get the M2 Pro as I want support for 3 monitors). I run a few VM(s) using Vmware but not as much as in the past as most of my stuff is running hosted OSes in the cloud with Azure AD etc. Just curious if I can get away running with 16GB with Windows 11 effectively. I have a M1 Air which I love and keep the Windows OS at 6GB with Parallels which is fine most of the time as long as I'm not doing a lot in it. I'm trying to save some funds which are tight, either wait a while and keep what I have or upgrade and be satisfied with the 16GB.

Just looking for actual experience. VMware Fusion currently works excellent on intel Mac mini, the egpu makes the only difference for me right now. I could do the M2 and use display link (which I have adapters) but want full multiple monitor support without turning off monitors for certain functions like watching streaming services etc.

Thanks for input.

 

[TechnoMonk]

I personally would wait/save for 32 GB, if I plan to run VMs. You can’t upgrade RAM after the fact. I would trade 1 TB storage for 512 GB, if funds are tight and M2 Mac mini can’t wait.

 

[mfram]

I hope you realize that the ARM Macs don't support EGPU or running x86 Windows with VMs. You'll need to run ARM Windows unless you run an x86 emulator which will be very slow.

 

[Mac_Professor]

I hope you realize that the ARM Macs don't support EGPU or running x86 Windows with VMs. You'll need to run ARM Windows unless you run an x86 emulator which will be very slow.

Yes, well understand that. I already have a M1 MacBook Air running Windows Arm version along with a few Linux vm(s) I use regularly. But its has 16GB Ram and I try to keep the MacOS side with 10 as I usually have a lot of stuff open. I used the M1 with a display link for the 3 monitors but don't like it, that why considering replacing my desktop, but I like the response of TechnoMonk and wait/save a few months and get the 32GB. Thanks for the response mfram!

 

[MikeDr206]

I would first go for the most ram and second the highest number of cpu cores you can afford.

RAM is most crucial, because you’ll likely want to dedicate at least 4GB if not 8GB to the VM. You also dedicate CPU cores, so more is better.

 

[Fishrrman]

M2pro with 32gb.