I need help choosing configuration for M2 or M2 Pro

[JBx_]

I'm in the same boat as you. I decided I'm getting the standard M2 mini with 16GB, and 512GB and using the spare $300 to get a better monitor.

Have you used the LG 27UL850 with any M-series mac? For me, the bottle neck has always been the monitor, so doing a lot of research to find a lag-free option for that M2 machine.

Hi !
I've got a mate here haha.
I hope the thread helped you a bit in your choice.

I never used the 27UL850. I actually have two Asus VE247H 1080p monitor that i use with my windows computer. But I know that finding the right monitor for Mac can be tricky. Finding the perfect balance between price, resolution, ports.
But for my needs, a USB-C Monitor was the only option. And of course, the price isn't too high. Comparing this one to Asus ProArt or Dell UltraSharp, i don't know the quality of those, but they are really expensive !
But i found good reviews on YouTube, and Internet in general, so I think, all of those people aren't lying, and the monitor seems to be worth the money.

But if you find a better one, feel free to tell me, i'm curious. My choice about the Monitor isn't closed yet. But I didn't find an equivalent.

 

[nikikaly21]

Hi !
I've got a mate here haha.
I hope the thread helped you a bit in your choice.

I never used the 27UL850. I actually have two Asus VE247H 1080p monitor that i use with my windows computer. But I know that finding the right monitor for Mac can be tricky. Finding the perfect balance between price, resolution, ports.
But for my needs, a USB-C Monitor was the only option. And of course, the price isn't too high. Comparing this one to Asus ProArt or Dell UltraSharp, i don't know the quality of those, but they are really expensive !
But i found good reviews on YouTube, and Internet in general, so I think, all of those people aren't lying, and the monitor seems to be worth the money.

But if you find a better one, feel free to tell me, i'm curious. My choice about the Monitor isn't closed yet. But I didn't find an equivalent.

Nice, I'm thinking of trying out this one:

INNOCN 32" 4K Computer Monitor USB C IPS Display 95% DCI-P3 HDMI 2.0 Monitor 60Hz HDR400 1.07B+ Colors PC Monitor with Speakers, Height Adjustable, Narrow Bezels, Wall Mountable, Black - 32C1U​

Bigger than the 27UL850, and about $100 or so cheaper. Folks on the product page are saying that the INNOCN works very well with the M-series.

However, not holding my breath! I think you're right that the 27UL850 is the safe, "absolutely-will-work" choice. Just trying to see if I can get away with the larger INNOCN, but ready to return it and probably get the 27UL if it doesn't work.

 

[JBx_]

Nice, I'm thinking of trying out this one:

INNOCN 32" 4K Computer Monitor USB C IPS Display 95% DCI-P3 HDMI 2.0 Monitor 60Hz HDR400 1.07B+ Colors PC Monitor with Speakers, Height Adjustable, Narrow Bezels, Wall Mountable, Black - 32C1U​

Bigger than the 27UL850, and about $100 or so cheaper. Folks on the product page are saying that the INNOCN works very well with the M-series.

However, not holding my breath! I think you're right that the 27UL850 is the safe, "absolutely-will-work" choice. Just trying to see if I can get away with the larger INNOCN, but ready to return it and probably get the 27UL if it doesn't work.

I don't know this brand but thanks for sharing haha !
Unfortunately, 32" is too big for me. Even 27" will change my life considering my old 23.6" !
(But i found out that they also have 27" monitor. But the price for me, in France, is quite the same as the LG haha)

But yes, the LG will be the goto and will work in any circumstances. But i can be wrong on that.
Of course, if you buy the INNOCN from Amazon, you'll be able to return it easily and then go for the LG.

The fact that Mac Os is build for 218 PPI makes everything more difficult ! I don't want to spend like 1.7k€ on the Studio Display, but i don't want my screen to be foggy or anything

 

[iObama]

I ended up going with the M2 Pro base configuration. I figure that should last me at least 5 years and I wanted the extra ports. I had originally spec'd out an M2 Pro with 32 and 1TB, but didn't want to spend that much.

How is it so far? Just ordered one for work.

 

[Cham2000]

I finally decided to go for a mini M2 Pro 32GB/1TB, instead of mini M2 24GB/1TB. Didn't ordered it yet, but will do it most probably in a week. This "premium" choice is costly and "overkill" for me, but I don't think I'll regret it later. It is 750$CAD more than the M2 24GB/1TB, but for this I'll get:

1. Faster CPU in multi-core (around 20-40% faster).
2. Much faster GPU (around 50%).
3. 8GB more ram than 24GB (it's certainly overkill but I'll never complain anymore that I don't have enough ram!).
4. Two more TB4 ports.
5. Faster SSD (I'll never notice the difference, but I'll not complain anymore about disk access!).
6. HDMI 2.1 and support for more/larger displays? Maybe good for resell, but I don't care, I'll keep that Mac!

 

[NeonNights]

I finally decided to go for a mini M2 Pro 32GB/1TB, instead of mini M2 24GB/1TB. Didn't ordered it yet, but will do it most probably in a week. This "premium" choice is costly and "overkill" for me, but I don't think I'll regret it later. It is 750$CAD more than the M2 24GB/1TB, but for this I'll get:

1. Faster CPU in multi-core (around 20-40% faster).
2. Much faster GPU (around 50%).
3. 8GB more ram than 24GB (it's certainly overkill but I'll never complain anymore than I don't have enough ram!).
4. Two more TB4 ports.
5. Faster SSD (I'll never notice the difference, but I'll not complain anymore about disk access!).
6. HDMI 2.1 and support for more/larger displays? Maybe good for resell, but I don't care!

I didn't realize you're in Canada. The pricing difference is sizable. Stateside everyone has access to the education pricing and the difference between M2 24GB/1TB vs M2 Pro 32GB/1TB is ~$500, or roughly $40/month on the 12-month plan.

It is odd that for the price of the M2 Pro 32GB/1TB, you can get an M2 24GB/1TB plus another base M2 8GB/256GB (in essence 32GB/1.25TB, just not all in one machine). Apple shenanigans.

 

[rich32gb5s]

I saw different people on the internet telling that the gap between 16GB and 24GB is not worth the money. It seems that the power delivered isn't extraordinarly good.
Of course, ports aren't an issue with the Studio Display.... But the price of it is just... too much haha
I saw that M2 Pro produces more heat, can be a bit loud and it seems to have some issues with Ethernet port as well....
Yep M2 Pro can be good for gaming... but i don't think it's build for it so.... difficult question on that !

I suspect the improvements in CPU power is taking a lot of the reliance of the RAM away. Especially with the unified RAM technology

 

[Cham2000]

I saw different people on the internet telling that the gap between 16GB and 24GB is not worth the money. It seems that the power delivered isn't extraordinarly good.
...
I saw that M2 Pro produces more heat, can be a bit loud and it seems to have some issues with Ethernet port as well....

Can you give the source of your assertions? Where does it says that the M2 Pro produces more heat and that it can be louder?

Tes sources pourraient être intéressantes. Où dit-on que le M2 Pro produit plus de chaleur et peut être plus bruyant que le M2 ? Je crois que la différence est tout à fait négligeable, mais peut être ai-je tort ?

 

[ChrisA]

I would go 16GB 256GB, save the money and plug in an external SSD. I have 0 swaps on M1 with 16GB and I have a ton of productivity/browsers open.

The 256 GB storage is much slower than the 512 GB version. With 512 you get two of the 256 GB chips and they interleave the I/O. It is almost twice as fast.

Also with 512 GB the SSD is used less and will last longer. And with 16 GB RAM the SSD will also be used less for swap. 512 GB and 16 GB is a good high performance system,

That said, for the intended use case speed is not required.

 

[JBx_]

Can you give the source of your assertions? Where does it says that the M2 Pro produces more heat and that it can be louder?

Tes sources pourraient être intéressantes. Où dit-on que le M2 Pro produit plus de chaleur et peut être plus bruyant que le M2 ? Je crois que la différence est tout à fait négligeable, mais peut être ai-je tort ?

Hi Cham,
Thanks for the traduction of your post haha.
About my sources, this forum. There are tons of threads and posts that talks about M2 Pro using more heat. And making more noise. But I think that reading too much information about a product can be unproductive.
I made my choice about the M2 16/512 and it will be home one day. And since this day, i stopped looking at reviews and all those comments about the product.
But I think that you can easily find some infos about what you need by looking at the forum's differents threads.

Have a nice day ! And i hope that you'll find all your answers for what you need !
Cheers !

 

[JBx_]

The 256 GB storage is much slower than the 512 GB version. With 512 you get two of the 256 GB chips and they interleave the I/O. It is almost twice as fast.

Also with 512 GB the SSD is used less and will last longer. And with 16 GB RAM the SSD will also be used less for swap. 512 GB and 16 GB is a good high performance system,

That said, for the intended use case speed is not required.

Thanks for the tip, and of course, i'll go with the M2 16/512. It cost for me like 1.159€ in France. It's a great price, it will last me for years and i'll be able to maybe sell it, or just give it to a member of my family if needed.
The internal SSD speed seems not to be a problem like you said, i don't really care about 1.5gb/s, 3gb/s or 10gb/s, i'm not a professionnal that needs to transfert a ton of data in like 10 seconds.

But thanks for the reply btw

 

[iZollo]

M2 Pro is the ONLY way to get past 60 hertz refresh rate on monitors, officially.

If you want to use an LG OLED C2 42inch and want to run at 120 hertz HDR you will need that HDMI 2.1 port. Something to think about. It make a great monitor in my opinion.

 

[zapmymac]

If you want to use an LG OLED C2 42inch and want to run at 120 hertz HDR you will need that HDMI 2.1 port. Something to think about. It make a great monitor in my opinion.

I’ve been hearing good things about that model tv.

Currently, I have a LG 65” Nanocell 120/DV set that I’d like to use.

 

[StoneJack]

Hi everyone,
I'm quite new here but i'm reading everything i can found about the new M2/M2 Pro mac mini.
And i'm getting a headache about choosing the right configuration.

My daily use is :
- Watching content on internet like : Twitch, Youtube, Netflix....
- Discord with friends
- Email
- Excel and office work in général

And my goal is to keep my mac mini for at least 5 years.

I would like to plug it into a LG 27UL850 4K monitor (USB C), and another 1080p monitor (HDMI) (The only purpose of it is discord, music etc)

So I'm concerned about the M2 or M2 Pro
Both of them with 16GB and 512GB of storage !
(I read here that it can be a good idea to upgrade to 1TB, but the price starts to be really expensive haha)

I also plan to buy a usb hub to plug all the peripherals that i have, Keyboard and Mouse (With USB Dongle), Webcam, and a cable to charge the peripherals.
So the M2 can be a great idea but don't have as many ports as i need and i don't want to be locked by that.
That's why i'm getting curious about the M2 Pro, for ports, power through the years.

I hope i can find good answers

Thanks everyone !

choose a cheapest one

 

[rich32gb5s]

I’ve been hearing good things about that model tv.

Currently, I have a LG 65” Nanocell 120/DV set that I’d like to use.

The C2 is a fantastic but expensive tv panel. Isn't it a waste using it primarily as a monitor?

 

[zapmymac]

Possibly. I’ve already got a decent 120 tv to hook it up you as a media center, or if/when I get a new tv in a few years. Of course, this is all speculation and whatnot at this point, as I’ve yet to purchase a Mac mini

 

[iZollo]

The C2 is a fantastic but expensive tv panel. Isn't it a waste using it primarily as a monitor?

I was able to purchase my LG C2 42inch for 800 on sale so not bad considering other high end monitors are well over 1000 and the Apple studio display is double the price. It’s a great display and I use it as a monitor and a gaming display to ps5 so well worth it.