I'm not sure if anyone has found themselves in this boat. (And I spend FAR TOO MUCH time on Apple's site configuring Macs that I will never in a million years buy for myself.) But if you are in the position of shopping for either a high-end Mac mini or a lower-end Mac Studio, here is some advice that may or may not help you make your decision:
1) A Mac mini with the full/un-binned 12-Core CPU/19-Core GPU variant of M2 Pro and 1 Gigabit Ethernet and 32GB of RAM will always cost the same as a Mac Studio with the 30-GPU core variant of M2 Max and 32GB of RAM (assuming the same size of SSD is chosen for each).
2) Your only difference in cost between these two will be AppleCare+ (and we're talking about a difference of $~70.).
3) The difference between a high-end M2 Pro and a low-end M2 Max will have considerable differences when it comes to battery life and cooling (with extremely minor differences in weight due to the different cooling materials) on a MacBook Pro; and much moreso on a 14-inch MacBook Pro than on a 16-inch. This difference is functionally unimportant on a desktop, especially on two different desktops with the same footprint.
4) Odds are decent that if you are opting for the higher-end/un-binned M2 Pro configuration on your Mac mini instead of the binned (10-CPU Cores; 16 GPU cores) variant, it stands to reason that you are probably also wanting 32GB of RAM over 16GB (and if you aren't, maybe you ought to).
5) The cost difference between a binned M2 Pro on a Mac mini with 32GB of RAM and a Mac Studio with the base/binned M2 Max SoC also with 32GB of RAM is $300. $200 if you add 10Gb Ethernet to the Mac mini. This is a close difference, but not so close that it's foolish to buy such a Mac mini instead of said Mac Studio, especially if you know you won't need or even appreciate the extra two performance CPU cores and the extra 14 GPU cores.
6) The M1 Max variant of Mac Studio has two extra USB-C ports and an SD card slot on the front of it in addition to an identical rear selection of ports.
Given this: I'd say that unless there are VERY specific reasons to buy a Mac mini with the un-binned 12-CPU Core/19-GPU Core version of M2 Pro (i.e. specific form factor considerations for something like a datacenter), it's a substantially better idea to buy either a Mac mini with the 10-CPU Core/16-GPU Core version of M2 Pro or a Mac Studio with the binned/base 12-CPU Core CPU/30-GPU variant of M2 Max (assuming your needs aren't obviously higher or lower end than these Macs).
Hope this helps those of you picking between these two Macs!
1) A Mac mini with the full/un-binned 12-Core CPU/19-Core GPU variant of M2 Pro and 1 Gigabit Ethernet and 32GB of RAM will always cost the same as a Mac Studio with the 30-GPU core variant of M2 Max and 32GB of RAM (assuming the same size of SSD is chosen for each).
2) Your only difference in cost between these two will be AppleCare+ (and we're talking about a difference of $~70.).
3) The difference between a high-end M2 Pro and a low-end M2 Max will have considerable differences when it comes to battery life and cooling (with extremely minor differences in weight due to the different cooling materials) on a MacBook Pro; and much moreso on a 14-inch MacBook Pro than on a 16-inch. This difference is functionally unimportant on a desktop, especially on two different desktops with the same footprint.
4) Odds are decent that if you are opting for the higher-end/un-binned M2 Pro configuration on your Mac mini instead of the binned (10-CPU Cores; 16 GPU cores) variant, it stands to reason that you are probably also wanting 32GB of RAM over 16GB (and if you aren't, maybe you ought to).
5) The cost difference between a binned M2 Pro on a Mac mini with 32GB of RAM and a Mac Studio with the base/binned M2 Max SoC also with 32GB of RAM is $300. $200 if you add 10Gb Ethernet to the Mac mini. This is a close difference, but not so close that it's foolish to buy such a Mac mini instead of said Mac Studio, especially if you know you won't need or even appreciate the extra two performance CPU cores and the extra 14 GPU cores.
6) The M1 Max variant of Mac Studio has two extra USB-C ports and an SD card slot on the front of it in addition to an identical rear selection of ports.
Given this: I'd say that unless there are VERY specific reasons to buy a Mac mini with the un-binned 12-CPU Core/19-GPU Core version of M2 Pro (i.e. specific form factor considerations for something like a datacenter), it's a substantially better idea to buy either a Mac mini with the 10-CPU Core/16-GPU Core version of M2 Pro or a Mac Studio with the binned/base 12-CPU Core CPU/30-GPU variant of M2 Max (assuming your needs aren't obviously higher or lower end than these Macs).
Hope this helps those of you picking between these two Macs!
