Deals: Get Apple's 512GB M1 Mac Mini for Record Low of $799 on Amazon ($100 Off)

[citysnaps]

What is Apple's flagship desktop device if not the m1 mac mini? The m1 iMac is worse than the mini and the intel options lag behind Apple silicon.

X-Plane is mostly a single-core CPU bottleneck. It's a terrible judge of performance for anything except itself. As soon as you need GPU or multicore performance the m1 falls apart.

The M1 Mini is Apple's flagship machine? Seriously? No. The MacPro is, across multiple metrics, especially doing real work like video editing/processing/exporting.

Regarding X-Plane. Nope. As I said up above, running X-Plane, which uses a ton of graphics, on my M1 MBA is outstanding. And that's with enhanced scenery, high objects/reflections/detail/texture//antialisasing and frame rates of 40+fps.

 

[TallManNY]

I bought an 8GB mini a couple of weeks ago. Mainly use it as a digital music front end for my stereo to stream and play local music, and some other occasional light stuff. Running Tidal, Music, Safari (just 3-4 tabs open) plus a couple of small utilities, it was already using over 7 GB of RAM. I returned it and paid the Apple Tax for the 16GB upgrade. (Refurb so only $170 for the extra 8GB at least.) Memory usage only goes up over time and starting at 88% of available... not good.

That isn't how memory usage works. The computer has access to all the RAM and it is super fast. The computer knows it is there and knows that it is fast. It also knows that not using the RAM doesn't help anything. So it uses all of it pretty much as soon as you start doing anything. Just because you see something using a lot of memory, doesn't mean the application is memory constrained. Example, I've got Safari open with a half dozen few basic websites in tabs. My Mac mini says Safari is using 5.6 GB of memory right now. It doesn't mean that I'm nearly out of memory or that my computer would run faster if I had 16GB instead of 8GB. But nothing else open is using lots of memory right now, so the Mac just gives it to Safari in case I change tabs.

You will run out of memory when you do things like open files that are multiple GB in size and you want to be able to scroll through it really fast. So folks that work on digital media that is huge (think editing 4k movies) need lots of RAM so the entire movie or clip they are working in can be fully loaded in RAM. Most folks don't need lots of RAM. I assume your digital music tabs are not GB sized. So you won't see any difference.

 

[alex2792]

8gb of ram? That’s good for like what 4 chrome tabs?

 

[4jasontv]

The M1 Mini is Apple's flagship machine? Seriously? No. The MacPro is, across multiple metrics, especially doing real work like video editing/processing/exporting.

Regarding X-Plane. Nope. As I said up above, running X-Plane, which uses a ton of graphics, on my M1 MBA is outstanding. And that's with enhanced scenery, high objects/reflections/detail/texture//antialisasing and frame rates of 40+fps.

The Mac Pro gets smoked by 3000 series ryzen at half the price. Newer hardware murders it. Sure, the Xeon mac is faster than the m1, but it's not flagship because it's a nearly 2-year-old dead-end product.

And stop it with X-plane. Your MBA is not getting 40 FPS on X-plane with maxed-out settings at 4K. The m1 MBP struggles to stay over 30 FPS average. Maybe peaks of 40 FPS, but as soon as you hit a city that already jerky frame rate is going to drop to cinema mode. The only measure that means anything in games is FPS 1% low.

 

[4jasontv]

But you shouldn’t have to replace it constantly. It simply sounds like your use case would be better suited for a 3080 or 3090 chip than anything Apple can put out right now. And you can add peripherals to the iMac just as you can add them to the Mac Mini. The price will robably the higher on the Mini for quality peripherals than it will be on the M1 iMac, despite them being the exact same internally.

That’s what I have. With a MBP and some iPads. I’m not arguing that m1 is junk, I like it a lot anf think it’s the best in its class. I think the MBA is the best laptop period, better than the m1 MBP. But that’s cause laptops can justify performance and upgrade limitations in ways desktops can’t. As soon as you are tied to a desk everything changes.

It’s all about the task. Ive got a 12000x1440 display because I do a lot with wide spreadsheets. My MBP struggles to drive a single panel 32:9, but I keep using it because nothing like devonthink existing. So I do all my work on windows, then transfer it to my Mac to be archived. Then I use my iPad to search my database.

I’d consider getting a Mac mini and DT server, which lets you work on the DB from a browser, so I can do more work overall. For me it’s a convenience fee. It also means I can pull radiographs on my preferred display for dx and then access it later when presenting or writing up papers.

I used to do this with an iMac, and then its display died and Apple wouldn’t support it. So I’m biased against iMacs because I expect my Mac to run for at least 10 years and apples disagrees.

 

[utazdevl]

I need to replace a 2014 Mac Mini 1.4 Ghz that I used only for a Plex Server and to stream content to my AppleTVs via iTunes (I use Plex for my out of home viewing). I have about 14TB of content on external drives in a 4 bay enclosure. My "Media Server Mini" (as I call it) doesn't even have a monitor attached, I just use Screen Share when I need to access it.

For $799, it might be worth replacing the 2014 with this, though I think I can get away with the 256GB model for $600. 8GB of ram is meaningless because it is such limited use and storage is all external.

 

[citysnaps]

The Mac Pro gets smoked by 3000 series ryzen at half the price. Newer hardware murders it. Sure, the Xeon mac is faster than the m1, but it's not flagship because it's a nearly 2-year-old dead-end product.

And stop it with X-plane. Your MBA is not getting 40 FPS on X-plane with maxed-out settings at 4K. The m1 MBP struggles to stay over 30 FPS average. Maybe peaks of 40 FPS, but as soon as you hit a city that already jerky frame rate is going to drop to cinema mode. The only measure that means anything in games is FPS 1% low.

No, the Mac Pro is Apple's flagship product. Period. Being 2 years old is totally irrelevant. That will likely change next year. It's certainly not the M1 Mac mini. That's so funny!

*The* m1 MBP? Do you own and regularly/personally run X-Plane on an M1 MBP? Yes or no. If yes I have a bunch of detailed questions. As I said, mine works great at 40 fps with my M1 MBA (with yoke, pedals, throttles) and Orbx scenery, driving my 75" Sony, MBA display, and an iPad flight panel via WiFi.

 

[4jasontv]

No, the Mac Pro is Apple's flagship product. Period. Being 2 years old is totally irrelevant. That will likely change next year. It's certainly not the M1 Mac mini. That's so funny!

*The* m1 MBP? Do you own and regularly/personally run X-Plane on an M1 MBP? Yes or no. If yes I have a bunch of detailed questions. As I said, mine works great at 40 fps with my M1 MBA (with yoke, pedals, throttles) and Orbx scenery, driving my 75" Sony, MBA display, and an iPad flight panel via WiFi.

I'm sorry, but I refuse to consider the Mac Pro a viable product. It's a zombi, discontinued in every sense but the order sheets. Even with a $7000 CPU upgrade, it's bested by an $800 consumer chip sold at BestBuy. Heck, you could pick up a used last-gen consumer CPU for $500 that blows it out of the water. Calling the Mac Pro the flagship is like saying the 1963 250 GTO is Ferrari's flagship.

I run X-Plane on a custom PC build. It was impossible to play on a Mac.

When you say at 40 fps, what do you mean by that? I suspect you are reporting the average frame rates.

 

[orderoftheditch]

Buying separate components is what makes it flagship. The non-replaceable 60 Hz 21" monitor is a waste because it's so small and slow. The M1 iMac can't handle most things I throw at it because it doesn't have enough cores or dedicated GPU. It's a crippled iPad on a stand. It might work as a word processor and email client but it's not a flagship desktop. It can't handle large Excel documents, you can't read documents when quickly scrolling, and it stutters when asked to any truly hardware-intensive task.

But you are right. People expecting performance aren't the m1's target. I said that already. If you just want a basic computer the m1 Mac Mini is the best mid-tier option because it gives you the flexibility to use select your own peripherals. The m1 iMac is pretty, but that's about it. I would only recommend the m1 iMac if you wanted the smallest possible footprint and for some reason couldn't use an iPad instead.

I have a 16GB 1TB M1 Mac Mini. It is My primary machine that I use for work and my first ever Mac.
I run Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Visual Studio Code, at least 15-20 Chrome tabs and sometimes Fusion 360 all at the same time, usually with Outlook, PowerPoint and calendar also open.
It has never slowed down or crashed. Oh and I get to work in total silence with no fan.
The Mac mini is so damn cheap for what it offers.
This discussion about it being a flagship is totally insane. The desktop flagship is obviously the Mac Pro as it can take up to 2TB of RAM.

 

[N1noodle]

Flagship product change every year it seems, and usually defined by what apple pr department says is its flagship.

Doesnt mean we as consumer agree on sentiment of course.

macpro is for ppl like movie studios or something ,1.5tb ram ok who needs this ?
28core cpu
2 pcs AMD Radeon Pro Vega II Duo
All about raw calculation its not about fps in a game.

 

[Gherkin]

8GB models always go on sale because they're not worth buying for most people. Please, please, warn people before they buy and waste their money.

Nah you have it backwards. The Mac Mini is literally the most basic, entry level computer that Apple makes. You could buy it for your grandpa and attach your old monitor and keyboard/mouse you have lying around. 8 GB on an M1 machine is fine for MOST people actually.

 

[4jasontv]

I have a 16GB 1TB M1 Mac Mini. It is My primary machine that I use for work and my first ever Mac.
I run Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, Visual Studio Code, at least 15-20 Chrome tabs and sometimes Fusion 360 all at the same time, usually with Outlook, PowerPoint and calendar also open.
It has never slowed down or crashed. Oh and I get to work in total silence with no fan.
The Mac mini is so damn cheap for what it offers.
This discussion about it being a flagship is totally insane. The desktop flagship is obviously the Mac Pro as it can take up to 2TB of RAM.

Flagship refers to the most advanced or most important product in their lineup. The Mac Pro is neither of those things.

 

[4jasontv]

8GB models always go on sale because they're not worth buying for most people. Please, please, warn people before they buy and waste their money.

People will say 8GB is enough for most people, but my grandmother struggled with her computer for the very reason that most people see hardware as something turned on and of. They don’t think of software like that. An every-person computer needs to easily run all common apps simultaneously simply because they can’t be expected to quit the program. They very idea of behaviors for clearing ram is an enthusiast mindset.

You’re correct to tell people to get more than 8GB. They won’t use it all and that’s the point. General users don’t want to understand how the machine works.

 

[garylapointe]

8GB models always go on sale because they're not worth buying for most people. Please, please, warn people before they buy and waste their money.

My 8GB M1 Mini beats the pants off my 2015 MacBook Pro 15" 16GB MBP 2.8GHz quad-core i7 with a Radeon M370X video card (that's a 2-step processor upgrade [2.2GHz->2.5GHz->2.8GHz] and a graphics card upgrade). Keep in mind, the Air M1 base model has one core less than the other M1 models (including the Mini).

I'm driving 3 monitors (4k monitor, a 1080p monitor in portrait mode, and a 12.9" iPad 2732x2048 via SideCar) with my 8GB/256GB M1 Mini and it's insane on how much I can run and have open at once (especially when teaching with Zoom and sharing windows). I have these all open at the same time: Zoom (dual monitor mode), Excel (1 or 2 windows), PowerPoint (2-3 windows), VLC, Safari (multiple windows and multiple tabs), Kindle app, Activity Monitor, and probably some other things too (Speedtest, Maps, etc.) and I'm constantly impressed by how well it runs.

I paid $599 for my 8GB, 33% more for 16GB is a lot. I think you'd be better off saving that $200 (it was $270 more when I purchased) as a 13 down-payment for the M3, instead of trying to get longer out of the M1.

Obviously, the more expensive the model, the lower this percent goes down. When I get my 2TB 16-Core M1X MacBook Pro 16" (M2?), that $200 is going to be more like 8% and a no-brainer to get an extra year or two out of a $2500-$3000 device.