First look: Mac mini with M2 Pro
MacStadium's Brian Stucki gives a first look at (and teardown of) the Mac mini with M2 Pro.
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M2 Pro Mac mini teardown via MacStadium...
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First look: Mac mini with M2 Pro
MacStadium's Brian Stucki gives a first look at (and teardown of) the Mac mini with M2 Pro.
Second and third picture part of the disconnect if tried to shoehorn a Mx Max into this chassis. Right side of the top view with the heat diffusers there is a small gap between left side of the logic board. On the M2 Pro the head diffuser basically runs right up to the edge.
Apple is not trying to disrupt the line traces to the ports much so both M2 and M2 Pro top package edge is roughtly around the same place ( likely with stuff like USB , Thunderbolt , x1 PCI-e v4 coming out the same side in each package).
M2 Pro is bigger than the M1 Pro. The M2 Max is wider than its predecessor.
if they dramatically moved the power supply somewhere else then can get a wider board and better fit for the Max Package. The Mac Studio chassis does that by adding vertical volume to place more stuff. Also allows the fan to be more directly centered over the constraining limited bottom only inlet vents.
Where the same style (and size? looks pretty much the same) fan shifted to relative to the longer/deeper M2 Pro board takes up most of the space in that direction also. There is substantively less "empty" space in the M2 Pro internals.
Power supply same size and shape. Different wiring connectors coming out and rated wattage, but the outer components reused.
The changes between the systems have been kept pretty minimal if fold in what was present on M1 Mini , Intel Mini (exterior backplane and baseline thermal disposal threshold) , M2 Pro MBP 14" (just HDMI port and internal TBv4 provisioning. ) ).
YouTuber Luke Miani also took his apart.
Unfortunately for all Apple did to keep it cool, it sounds like there are consequences of stuffing the M2 Pro package in the existing chassis and it's noisier than the non-Pro even at idle.
Unfortunately for all Apple did to keep it cool, it sounds like there are consequences of stuffing the M2 Pro package in the existing chassis and it's noisier than the non-Pro even at idle.
I watched the video you linked and I can’t seem to find the part where he stipulates a noise difference from the non pro at idle? Could you point me in the right direction?
Apple love using tiny fans don't they? They could easily fit a bigger fan and make it spin much slower. Oh wait, I forgot Apple doesn't understand thermals.
Apple understands thermals very well. They simulate thermal performance of their designs for validation before designs go to manufacture. Obviously their design temperatures, while within operating limits for the electronics, are still too high to make you happy. They do push the temperature limits sometimes. That’s fine.
In the past I would purposely go for the slower cpu/gpu models knowing the cooling systems were likely designed for the highest level parts, so slower parts would probably have more thermal headroom and thus be quieter. These days with Max silicon there isn’t such a major disparity in thermal output among silicon options.
Can anybody tell if the WiFi, ethernet and BT modules are near each other to cause interference in the M2 series of Mini?First look: Mac mini with M2 Pro
MacStadium's Brian Stucki gives a first look at (and teardown of) the Mac mini with M2 Pro.
