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That's what I keep wondering. There's a high-end Mini with an M1 Max chip, and it's called the Studio. It's a distinction without a
A high end Mac mini makes no sense to me, the Mac mini was never intended for that purpose. The Mac mini was a low cost option to convince people to switch to the Mac, like a gateway drug. The Mac Studio is the desktop device made to replace the 27 inch iMac and be a "lower cost" option for the Mac Pro.
No and yes. The good news about the mini was that it wasn’t *just* a gateway Mac. The high-end minis are no joke — my platform of choice for the last decade.
 
If I do a batch conversion of large format RAW photos to JPG’s and there are more than 7-10 pictures then I end up getting a program error in both LightRoom and Affinity. No damage to the RAW files but no outputted JPG’s either. Drop it down to 3 to 5 pictures at a time and it works, but it’s definitely not just a few seconds and I can have 50+ pictures on a XQD memory card. The Nikon Z6 did not use a standard SD memory cards for storage.

Do you read direct from card or first load to the hard drive?

I have been to a couple of photography sites but the people that are professionals and Mac users tend to absolutely love MacBook Pro laptops, because they are portable and the batteries still last for very long time even running LightRoom/Photoshop and doing tasks that in the past were battery draining.

Not surprising, but the Mini's benchmarks are not that much worse overall. I was surprised how snapier even my M1 Air was over 2019 MBP.
 
Do you read direct from card or first load to the hard drive?



Not surprising, but the Mini's benchmarks are not that much worse overall. I was surprised how snapier even my M1 Air was over 2019 MBP.
I copy from the card to my computer’s hard drive first, then edit/save back to that same hard drive. I have a Synology NAS and I usually move my projects there once I think that I’m done with them.
 
Is there really a place for a Pro Mac Mini? The Studio is essentially that device.
Mac Studio is definitely the "Mac mini Pro" that was rumored. I don't get why Gurman doesn't explain this, it's so obvious.

And to those still daydreaming, what even would a "Mac mini Pro" be other than what Mac Studio offers? Aside from an M2 chip, there's no way it would be more powerful than Mac Studio or be equally powerful but lower priced.

And on that note, I really feel like this is all about price -People want a desktop M2 Mac that is on par with Mac Studio but costs less.

Never happening.

If Apple puts out a new mini in the near future then it'll be another entry-level product like M1 mini just with a newer chip, M2 or M3, depending on when (and if) this happens. Mac Studio is 100% the "Mac mini Pro", end of discussion.
 
Mac Studio is definitely the "Mac mini Pro" that was rumored. I don't get why Gurman doesn't explain this, it's so obvious.

And to those still daydreaming, what even would a "Mac mini Pro" be other than what Mac Studio offers? Aside from an M2 chip, there's no way it would be more powerful than Mac Studio or be equally powerful but lower priced.

And on that note, I really feel like this is all about price -People want a desktop M2 Mac that is on par with Mac Studio but costs less.

Never happening.

If Apple puts out a new mini in the near future then it'll be another entry-level product like M1 mini just with a newer chip, M2 or M3, depending on when (and if) this happens. Mac Studio is 100% the "Mac mini Pro", end of discussion.
My thoughts exactly.
 
The question Apple ha to answer is:
"Will the revenue and margin from such a product compensate for the lost sales of the Studio and possibly iMacs?"
If the answer is no, don't release it. If yes, consider making it.
That's the thing that seemingly no one in here gets -Mac Studio IS Apple's $1999-$3999 midrange desktop without a display and thus there is not room in the lineup for another midrange Mac without a display with better or worse specs in the same $1999-$3999 price range.

Apple never pits its' own products (in a given product category) against each other so a Mac mini M2 priced above $699 but below $1999 is barely worth putting out as it would only serve to kill nearly all Mac mini M1 sales, or it would kill most of the $1999 Mac Studio sales.

Apple's value/price ladder has a few big steps, not many small steps with even smaller steps in-between.
 
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Mac Studio is definitely the "Mac mini Pro" that was rumored. I don't get why Gurman doesn't explain this, it's so obvious.

And to those still daydreaming, what even would a "Mac mini Pro" be other than what Mac Studio offers? Aside from an M2 chip, there's no way it would be more powerful than Mac Studio or be equally powerful but lower priced.

And on that note, I really feel like this is all about price -People want a desktop M2 Mac that is on par with Mac Studio but costs less.

Never happening.

If Apple puts out a new mini in the near future then it'll be another entry-level product like M1 mini just with a newer chip, M2 or M3, depending on when (and if) this happens. Mac Studio is 100% the "Mac mini Pro", end of discussion.

"End of discussion". No, you're just confused. We're talking about a Mac Mini with an M2 Pro chip, not a "Mac Mini Pro." the Studio can definitely be the "Mac Mini Pro", but there isn't a Studio with an M1/M2 Pro chip in it.

From your perspective, why is Apple still selling the Intel powered Mac Mini? They've had plenty of opportunities to discontinue it, yet they haven't. Why? From my perspective, it seems obvious that it is waiting on its replacement. If Apple doesn't plan to release a Mac Mini with an M1/M2 Pro chip, why did they choose to start the Studio at M1 Max instead of M1 Pro?

"And on that note, I really feel like this is all about price -People want a desktop M2 Mac that is on par with Mac Studio but costs less."

A Mac Mini with an M1/M2 Pro wouldn't be as performant as a Mac Studio with an M1 Max though... People do want a cheaper option, but they would be trading a lot of GPU performance to get it.

edit: typos
 
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Perhaps people haven't seen the teardown videos of the Mac Studio, but the only reason it is larger is because it has a bigger heatsink. It doesn't matter if the die isn't much larger than the M1 chip, it requires more cooling to get optimal performance and heat dissipation.
the only reason for that big heat sink is for the M1 Max and Ultra. The M1/2 Pro does not produce nearly as much heat and works well in the 14" MBP. The Mini has been able to handle the heat from Intel i5 and i7 chips and we know how hot those get. The mini could easily handle the heat from an M2 Pro.
 
That's the thing that seemingly no one in here gets -Mac Studio IS Apple's $1999-$3999 midrange desktop without a display and thus there is not room in the lineup for another midrange Mac without a display with better or worse specs in the same $1999-$3999 price range.

Apple never pits its' own products (in a given product category) against each other so a Mac mini M2 priced above $699 but below $1999 is barely worth putting out as it would only serve to kill nearly all Mac mini M1 sales, or it would kill most of the $1999 Mac Studio sales.

Apple's value/price ladder has a few big steps, not many small steps with even smaller steps in-between.

"If you don't cannibalize yourself, someone else will." - Steve Jobs

Also: the 13" MBA and MBP exist. But yeah, sure, they never pit their own products against each other.
 
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I don't understand, but Apple already offers a Mac mini with both an M1 Pro and M1 Max. It is called the Mac Studio. The M1 Pro and M1 Max get considerably hotter and as a result this model Mac mini needed a bigger heatsink to more efficiently cool it. Thus the taller case. I don't see any reason to sacrifice cooling and install a half sized heatsink / fan to make it half height like the M1 Mac mini. I also can't imagine a single person's desktop that had enough space for a half height M1 mini but didn't have enough space for the full heigh M1 Pro / Max Mac mini (Studio).
The Studio comes with the Max or the Ultra. There is no Studio with the M1 Pro chip, that's why a lot of the comments say there is room in the lineup for a Mini with an Mx Pro chip.
 
Typical Apple tech dribble to maximize any possible profit. The moment the Macbook 14/16 M1 Pro/Max came out, they could have EASILY offered at least a M1 Pro mini, with a 32gig RAM option at the same time. Living life in a all Apple eco system is a PITA at times.
 
You are probably correct about what Apple is balancing but their profit concerns aren’t mine. My 2015 27” iMac is getting slower and slower using LightRoom and Affinity photo editing. My photography is a bit more than a hobby but not a real money making side job, I can’t justify a $3000 machine. I’ve watched a lot of reviews and everyone says that a Mac Mini would/wouldn’t be a good pro-sumer editing machine but that if that is the level you need then you need/don’t need to move up to a base Studio—-only if you do buy a Studio get a larger hard drive. In other words the advice is all over the place. I’ve seen video reviews that say you can use a MacBook Air, and others that say the Studio is what you need if you do more than occasional photo or video work. And both sides of this argument throw a lot of tech spec numbers to back up their positions.

I could probably buy whatever Mac Mini Pro eventually gets released because it will be faster than my older iMac is now. But it’s not the pixel density of my photographs that are increasing but the processor requirements of the editing software that is making my current system slow. If what I buy means that in 2 years I need to upgrade again to get back to sort of ok levels I definitely won’t be happy.

In the past I justified buying an iMac by trading a portable laptop with battery limitations for a more powerful processor and hi-res screen of an iMac, but not having an editing device that I could take with me easily. In the current situation the Studio Max does not offer a price discount based upon giving up portability.

For Lightroom (I can't speak to Affinity as I don't use it) I think you should be fine with any M1 or M2 chip-based Mac available. Your bigger concern would probably be:
  • Maxing out RAM for future-proofing as much as possible
  • Getting a 27" or larger 5K monitor so you won't lose the screen real estate & sharpness that you're used to
  • Making sure the monitor can be color-calibrated regularly
  • Having enough fast connections so you can move your digital assets to your photo archive drives or NAS (external storage is so much cheaper than internal storage from Apple)
Also, do you use a single large Lightroom catalog? I create a new catalog for every assignment I shoot, so Lightroom doesn't feel like it's bogged down with thousands of images.
 
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Is there really a place for a Pro Mac Mini? The Studio is essentially that device.

For people who want to future-proof a new Mac purchase with more ram and storage (or more GPU cores) than the standard M1 allows/has, but don't need the M1 Max found in the entry level Studio, yes.

Users who don't upgrade/cycle every-other year or even every 3 years that hang on to their tech for 5+ years, are looking for exactly that option/device.

Which is one of the reasons I suspect Apple isn't selling one. They're positive that customers will buy the new hotness right now, either settle for the M1 and buy a new Mac again 3 years from now, or upsell to the Studio for their 5+ year purchase. They don't seem to notice or care that there are plenty of users stubbornly waiting for Apple to sell them what they actually want.

How many users sat and waited for *years* (and even built and used Hackintoshes) until Apple released the "headless iMac" Studio? Waited for *years* until they released the MacBook Pros without the crappy butterfly KB?

Apple is making enough money that they just don't seem to care anymore. Settle for what we'll sell you .. or don't.

Now, I'm someone who thinks that the entry level Studio is damn near perfect for my office, but it's more than I can justify for the home, and the M1 Mini just isn't enough. So, while I'm perfectly happy that Apple released the Studio that feels a lot like my old Centris 650 in some ways, the space where a M1 Pro Mini would go, remains .. empty.

And, again, Tim's too busy swimming in the Olympic-sized pool filled with gold coins to notice, or care.


apple.com/feedback
 
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The standard Mac mini is $799.
The Mac Studio starts at $1999.
There is a massive gap right in the middle there that can be filled.
If one bumps up the Mini to 16gb and 10gb ethernet, the price gap shrinks to $800. If someone wants a "pro" machine, they'll just get the Studio.
 
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are you really trying to make ~$800 savings sound like no big deal lol
Yes. If you're really doing pro level work, and thus wanting/needing a Mac Mini "Pro", $800 more (for a lot more, including more ports and 32gb standard memory) is a no-brainer.
 
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