Conundrum

[roland.g]

For quite a few of us I think a M1 Pro tier Mac Studio at $1,399–1,499 would be the sweet spot. A machine with 32 GB of memory, a bit more horsepower over the M1, and the ports. But the delta from the Mini to the base Studio makes it tougher.

Truth is I don’t need the creative power of the Studio for a home machine, but handcuffing the Mini with 16 GB RAM makes it hard to not consider the Studio.

I know that for most of my usage the cores in the M1 Max will behave much like an M1 Mini without really utilizing their potential.

It’s also hard to say I don’t love the idea of the speed of the RAM and the speed of the SSDs in the Studio make it hard to reject out of hand.

 

[cpnotebook80]

I did a speed test on my base ultra 1tb n was like 7.5gbs speeds - I was like wholly jebus! I have been on an old Mac Pro 5.1 with mix of drives so this is something else . I wish cost of the drives for upgrade by apple were cheaper and debating if I need all this power but I do want to get into design n video editing so I know it will be fine in long term.

 

[Spanky Deluxe]

A hypothetical M1 Mac Mini with 32GB of RAM and 512GB SSD would cost $1,499. The $500 premium for the Mac Studio gives a *lot* of extra power for the money. If you need a computer now, then get an entry Mac Studio and don’t feel bad about it. It’ll be 6-12 months until the M2 Mac Mini comes out and a 32GB version, which will almost certainly be slower than the M1 based Mac Studio in multithreaded workloads. Alternatively, look at it this way. When the M2 Mac Mini comes out, the M1 Mac Mini’s resale value will plummet but the Mac Studio with M1 Pro will still be the ‘current’ model and will likely still have a very high resale value. Chances are, you could sell your Mac Studio to buy an M2 Mac Mini and only lose out on a couple of hundred dollars. Would you rather save $200 over the next 6-12 months and stick with your current machine or is that a cost you could live with to upgrade now?

 

[now i see it]

To put things in perspective, a 64 MB (not GB) RAM module in 1997 cost $460. Adding that RAM to a $2000 machine only made it run a little faster some times. Nothing like the quantum jump in performance the Mac Studio has over the Mac Mini

 

[TJ82]

You could justify it using the future proofing argument.

It’s a good one, but I think in practise a lot of people upgrade at a point when they simply want something new as opposed to their existing setup no longer being fit for purpose.

 

[roland.g]

You could justify it using the future proofing argument.

It’s a good one, but I think in practise a lot of people upgrade at a point when they simply want something new as opposed to their existing setup no longer being fit for purpose.

I’m 6 years in this month on my late 2014 release Mini that has felt slow for some time. That’s a machine I maxed out the RAM on AND I can’t remember if I had to opt for the SSD over a HDD or Fusion Drive but if so I think I future proofed it fairly well, but at 6 years I feels older and slower for daily tasks. Things like iMovie and Adobe software are much slower.

I could likely get a M1 Mini and be quite happy, though I am a bit reticent to get a computer/chip releases over a year ago vs waiting for the M2 edition, though I suspect the M2 will still carry the same 8/16GB RAM options and not graduate to 16/32. And that the M2 will be iterative and not that much faster. The M2 Mini may also not get the RAM bandwidth or SSD speeds that they are putting in the Studio.

 

[ct2k7]

I’m 6 years in this month on my late 2014 release Mini that has felt slow for some time. That’s a machine I maxed out the RAM on AND I can’t remember if I had to opt for the SSD over a HDD or Fusion Drive but if so I think I future proofed it fairly well, but at 6 years I feels older and slower for daily tasks. Things like iMovie and Adobe software are much slower.

I could likely get a M1 Mini and be quite happy, though I am a bit reticent to get a computer/chip releases over a year ago vs waiting for the M2 edition, though I suspect the M2 will still carry the same 8/16GB RAM options and not graduate to 16/32. And that the M2 will be iterative and not that much faster. The M2 Mini may also not get the RAM bandwidth or SSD speeds that they are putting in the Studio.

If I’m going to be honest…. It shouldn’t be slow or feel slow after 6 years, but I understand that software changes.

 

[TJ82]

I’m 6 years in this month on my late 2014 release Mini that has felt slow for some time. That’s a machine I maxed out the RAM on AND I can’t remember if I had to opt for the SSD over a HDD or Fusion Drive but if so I think I future proofed it fairly well, but at 6 years I feels older and slower for daily tasks. Things like iMovie and Adobe software are much slower.

I could likely get a M1 Mini and be quite happy, though I am a bit reticent to get a computer/chip releases over a year ago vs waiting for the M2 edition, though I suspect the M2 will still carry the same 8/16GB RAM options and not graduate to 16/32. And that the M2 will be iterative and not that much faster. The M2 Mini may also not get the RAM bandwidth or SSD speeds that they are putting in the Studio.

You‘re in a win/win situation if you wait for the M2. If you love it then you got the latest kit, if you’re not impressed, you’ve got a price reduction on the M1 Studios by that’s point and can buy in cheaper. Question is how long to wait and does that offset the fun and enjoyment of just splashing out now on the latest thing…