M2 Pro Mac Mini or Studio?

[VTGuy79]

Hi, I'm trying to decide between the:

1. $1400 - Apple M2 Pro with 10‑core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
   • 16GB unified memory
   • 512GB SSD storage
   • 10Gb Ethernet
2. $2000 - Apple Studio M2 Max with 12‑core CPU, 30‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
   • 32GB unified memory
   • 512GB SSD storage

Right now I have a M1 Mac Mini that was free, it has 8GB of RAM and am starting to push the boundaries a little bit. It's the RAM usage that's the problem. The system still runs very well, it's just a little choppy when I have a ton of RAW files open and editing. It surprisingly works light years better than my Intel i7 for my work.

• Heavy Photoshop and Lightroom uses
• iMovie video editing and exporting (nothing professional)
• Web Design, other light duty work

The reason why I'm considering the Studio is because of the SD port and 2 USB C ports on the front for convenience, but that's a steep price to pay.

 

[VTGuy79]

Anyone?

 

[Fishrrman]

OK.

There's no doubt that the Studio has a "higher end".
But you'd probably have to push the m2pro Mini really hard to get to that point at which the Studio would do that particular job better.

I'm a Mini fan, myself (currently using 2018 Intel).

That said, there's something wrong with BOTH of your choices above.
That is:
You need a 1tb drive inside instead of 512gb.
Particularly for the Mini -- a 1tb drive on the m2pro Mini will be 2x as fast (due to the chip arrangement). Not that the stock 512gb is "slow" -- but again, the 1tb version is twice as fast.
I believe it's something like 3,000MBps (512gb) v. 6,000MBps (1tb).

Not sure if this is the same on the Studio.
Perhaps others will answer.

So... for the Mini (at least), a 1tb SSD should be "your minimum".

 

[VTGuy79]

The 1TB brings the price much closer to the studio at that point. I could wait it out and see what M3 options are and or iMac. I really only like the idea of the Studio for the front ports and the specs I'll probably never outrun for many years.

 

[Silencio]

If you're doing heavy Photoshop and Lightroom, get the Studio. You'll have more room to grow if your video needs get greater, as well.

I agree you should stretch for the 1TB internal storage, if possible. Better read/write speeds and a more future-proof system.

 

[traderdude123]

Whatever you decide.

Make sure to get the highest RAM possible.

i made a mistake of getting 16GB.

 

[ikir]

Hi, I'm trying to decide between the:

1. $1400 - Apple M2 Pro with 10‑core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
   • 16GB unified memory
   • 512GB SSD storage
   • 10Gb Ethernet
2. $2000 - Apple Studio M2 Max with 12‑core CPU, 30‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
   • 32GB unified memory
   • 512GB SSD storage

Right now I have a M1 Mac Mini that was free, it has 8GB of RAM and am starting to push the boundaries a little bit. It's the RAM usage that's the problem. The system still runs very well, it's just a little choppy when I have a ton of RAW files open and editing. It surprisingly works light years better than my Intel i7 for my work.

• Heavy Photoshop and Lightroom uses
• iMovie video editing and exporting (nothing professional)
• Web Design, other light duty work

The reason why I'm considering the Studio is because of the SD port and 2 USB C ports on the front for convenience, but that's a steep price to pay.

I’ve made this video with benchmark, the video it is in Italian but you can easily check benchmark

Mac mini vs Mac Studio 2023

 

[theorist9]

Hi, I'm trying to decide between the:

1. $1400 - Apple M2 Pro with 10‑core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
   • 16GB unified memory
   • 512GB SSD storage
   • 10Gb Ethernet
2. $2000 - Apple Studio M2 Max with 12‑core CPU, 30‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
   • 32GB unified memory
   • 512GB SSD storage

Right now I have a M1 Mac Mini that was free, it has 8GB of RAM and am starting to push the boundaries a little bit. It's the RAM usage that's the problem. The system still runs very well, it's just a little choppy when I have a ton of RAW files open and editing. It surprisingly works light years better than my Intel i7 for my work.

• Heavy Photoshop and Lightroom uses
• iMovie video editing and exporting (nothing professional)
• Web Design, other light duty work

The reason why I'm considering the Studio is because of the SD port and 2 USB C ports on the front for convenience, but that's a steep price to pay.

If you only want front-facing SD and USB ports, you could pair the Mini with a $100 Satechi Stand & Hub (it's a single flat box that sits under the Mini and contains a hub):

How to upgrade your M2 Mac mini without paying Apple's high prices

There's a lot you can do to upgrade your Mac mini after you buy it.

www.macworld.com

I can't speak to its operational robustness—it's likely not as nice as having the ports on the machine itself (as would be the case with the Studio), but it may be good enough for your purposes.

OTOH, in your comparision, I see you're spec-ing each with the minimum amount of RAM, which is most of why the Mini is less. But are you sure 16 GB would be fine? If not, then you might want to spec the Mini with 32 GB as well, in which case it would be $400 more, putting it much closer to the Studio.

The best thing would be if you could try your workload on a 16 GB M2 machine, and see if the memory pressure in Activity Monitor stays in the green zone (don't worry about the numbers, they can be misleading).

 

[zgagato]

I bought a top M2 pro mini in February. The M2 Studio came later. If you can afford it get a M2 Studio. Its simple as that. The only thing that is better in the Mini is that it is smaller than the studio. The SSD is faster too, but its not "upgradable". The front ports are nice too.

 

[KenSM]

I have an M1 Max Studio with 32GB memory and 1TB storage. For what it's worth, my drive delivers read and write speeds just a whisker short of 6000 MB/s. I did consider a similarly spec'd Mini, but for a similar spec the costs were similar, while the Studio has more ports, so I got the Studio. As always, it depends on what your needs are. But do I need the Studio, or would a lower-spec Mini suffice? I'm actually surprised how powerful my wife's M1 MBA is with 16GB memory and 512 TB storage (read and write speeds half what the Studio delivers), and it's possible that I don't really need any more than that; but a Studio with 32GB/1TB is one hell of a machine.

 

[PsykX]

The Studio has a much better GPU. If you need really good graphics, go with the Studio.
It also has faster RAM, but it is less noticeable than the GPU.

Other than that, I did the same comparison and bought a refurbished M2 Pro Mini. I will add a Satechi Hub as soon as it supports NVME. It will give me basically the same ports the Studio has, as well as upgradeable storage in a clean way.

 

[OrenLindsey]

If you can find an M2 Pro mini with 32gb ram, you should get that instead. You don't need the Mac Studio, but you need that much ram. Whatever you get, get 32GB.
You can get a brand new Mac mini M2 Pro with 32GB ram and 512gb SSD for $1700 in USA. The studio with the same ram and SSD is 2000. That's a much better comparison.