I am thinking of going Mac mini M2 Pro 32gb Ram ... but am I silly to not get the 12 core? Can anyone list things that one would want the 12 core for vs the 10 in this scenario?
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M2 Mini Pro: Who is the 10 Core for vs. the 12 Core?
- Thread starter sidgriffey
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I haven't ordered it, but if I do, I am getting the 12c.
For the 12 CPU cores, I suspect that I could have about a 20% improvement over the 10c when it comes to SW encoding. Is 20% more performance worth $270 for the upgrade? Not sure for you, but it is for me.
*The upgrade also has 3 more GPU cores as well.*
The GPU tends to be the biggest weakness of Macs in the long run, so since I plan on keeping this Mac for a long time, having the better GPU might get me more time with it. The GPU in the M1 seemed to be the biggest issue, so I assume with the improvements on the M2 along with improvements with scaling, the M2 Pro GPU should be pretty good.
As for what I plan on doing with the GPU, primarily WoW and some older games. I might end up getting the new RE game that recently released on the Mac.
For the 12 CPU cores, I suspect that I could have about a 20% improvement over the 10c when it comes to SW encoding. Is 20% more performance worth $270 for the upgrade? Not sure for you, but it is for me.
*The upgrade also has 3 more GPU cores as well.*
The GPU tends to be the biggest weakness of Macs in the long run, so since I plan on keeping this Mac for a long time, having the better GPU might get me more time with it. The GPU in the M1 seemed to be the biggest issue, so I assume with the improvements on the M2 along with improvements with scaling, the M2 Pro GPU should be pretty good.
As for what I plan on doing with the GPU, primarily WoW and some older games. I might end up getting the new RE game that recently released on the Mac.
10-core has 6 performance and 4 efficiency cores, the 12-core adds another 2 performance cores.
It's up to you whether the 20% (max) increase is worth the silly price.
It's up to you whether the 20% (max) increase is worth the silly price.
The M2 Pro 10c has 6 performance and 4 efficiency cores. The 12c adds two more performance cores.
I ordered the 10C machine - I don't usually run my Macs at 100% on all cores so I don't think I'll miss the additional P cores. The single-core speed, and ultimate machine responsiveness, is the same. I hope the 10C model actually uses less power at full load so is quieter too. And, by the time the machine feels old enough to replace the difference between 16 and 19 GPU cores won't make much difference anyway. I would rather save the money.
This is my exact thinking and was on my prior iMacs as well. Not maxing it out also gives you justification to upgrade sooner than if you spend a lot more with the initial purchase you may feel obligated to keep it even longer before upgrading.
I always buy the highest spec so it will last the longest. I had a macbook for 10 years and it was still running strong when I sold it.
Where are you seeing that the 2TB has that fast of speeds?
I have been going back and forth between either the 16GB and 32GB of RAM and the 1TB and 2TB of storage.
Both the 32GB and 2TB would be making this a $2.4K Mac (this is also with the 12c,19c upgrade), which is a lot more than I planned on spending.
I am leaning toward 32GB and 1TB or maybe just 16GB and 1TB.
I am definitely doing the 12c, 19c upgrade, for $270 with the discount, that is well worth a 20% boost in performance to me.
For me 10-core was plenty.
Better single core than the M1 Mac Mini it's replacing, and as capable in multi-core as the 12-core 2019 Mac Pro I had before that. Crazy amount of CPU horsepower already. Stock 16-core GPU is even about 2.5 times better than the M1 as well which is a nice extra.
By all means splash out on the higher config if you like (I did not remotely need a Mac Pro when I bought one 3 years ago lol), but the 12-core and 32GB Ram upgrades are definitely not as great value price wise imo.
Better single core than the M1 Mac Mini it's replacing, and as capable in multi-core as the 12-core 2019 Mac Pro I had before that. Crazy amount of CPU horsepower already. Stock 16-core GPU is even about 2.5 times better than the M1 as well which is a nice extra.
By all means splash out on the higher config if you like (I did not remotely need a Mac Pro when I bought one 3 years ago lol), but the 12-core and 32GB Ram upgrades are definitely not as great value price wise imo.
For me, my purchase decisions are usually a combination of how much I'm willing to spend, how I'd prioritize my needs and what the other offers are, in the foreseeable future...
The Mac mini Pro M2 seemed a must, since I do lots of various stuff on a system and my current system will very likely stop working in the upcoming year. (I've also been looking at Mac mini for around 8 years, but until the M1 generation, I was viewing those as utilitarian server instead of main computer)
As a customer, my profile would be:
After that, it's a consideration of RAM or CPU/GPU upgrade. Although I could appreciate both, I felt improving them would bring the price point way too close to the Mac Studio, which will likely be updated later this year and I perceive those upgrade as being unlikely to significantly influence resale value, 3-7 years from now.
Had I to prioritize upgrades, for a Mac mini Pro (M2), my consumer profile would've made me go in that order:
The Mac mini Pro M2 seemed a must, since I do lots of various stuff on a system and my current system will very likely stop working in the upcoming year. (I've also been looking at Mac mini for around 8 years, but until the M1 generation, I was viewing those as utilitarian server instead of main computer)
As a customer, my profile would be:
- Data storage usage, for a desktop computer: around 280 - 430 GB
- I highly dislike waiting after my system in order to do something
- I tend to consider resale value when purchasing something
After that, it's a consideration of RAM or CPU/GPU upgrade. Although I could appreciate both, I felt improving them would bring the price point way too close to the Mac Studio, which will likely be updated later this year and I perceive those upgrade as being unlikely to significantly influence resale value, 3-7 years from now.
Had I to prioritize upgrades, for a Mac mini Pro (M2), my consumer profile would've made me go in that order:
- SSD (512 GB -> 1 TB)
- Memory (16 GB -> 32 GB)
- Ethernet port (1 Gigabit -> 10 Gigabit)
- Processor (10-core -> 12-core)
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10c version for me. Upgrading from an i8 2018 mini. 80% single core speed increase and >2x increase in multicore (Geekbench 5). 1TB SSD, which turned out to be a good choice given we have now learnt that is the minimum size for the full speed SSDs.
If you do audio production, having more cores and CPU power is really important, particularly for multi-threading of audio tracks and the plugins used in a DAW. More cores also will improve bounce and export times (albeit marginally).
Thought about the 12 core, but for the price it is not enough improvement to justify the cost for me. Apple really gets you on upgrades.
I am retiring my 10 old iMac 27" for an M2 Mini 16/512. My iMac still runs great but I can't upgrade the OS past Catalina and I'm wondering when they will stop security upgrades. And for the past 6-8 month I kept getting messages from banking/financial websites saying that their site won't support my version of Safari. So I moved over to Chrome.
When I replaced my M1 Mac mini it was due to RAM and GPU not being up to the tasks I required. CPU usage rarely exceeded 50%. Your needs will vary. As Jeremy M. stated, audio production requires CPU cores (photo editing and most gaming need GPU power). Now that the M2 has 24GB RAM and the M2Pro is also available in the mini my concerns are met… won’t be replacing my M1Max MBPro anytime soon but the mini could now be an option, fulfilling my present needs.