Mac mini m1 Deals

[Mity]

Why is this a big deal? you can put your home folder on an external drive, use the built in SSD only for the OS.

Are you asking why is having only 1 NAND chip a big deal? It's not about space. It's about speed. I've already linked a video explaining this. Here's another:

If this was a big deal, apple would not still offer 256 as the base option, they know they will sell many at that price, even though, I have to admit, it seems chintzy to not start at 512 bare minimum, and I don't understand why 1TB is not the base minimum, does it really cost that much?

You may find this surprising but Apple can be a real a$$hole when it comes to pricing. The whole point of giving you a poor SSD in the base M2 model is to force you to pay more for the 512GB model. Which is why I said to either buy a base M1 which has 2 NAND chips and thus a better SSD than the M2 base or buy an M2 with 512GB or more. All of this assumes the M2 base will only contain 1 chip but we don't know that yet.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

Are you asking why is having only 1 NAND chip a big deal? It's not about space. It's about speed. I've already linked a video explaining this. Here's another:

You may find this surprising but Apple can be a real a$$hole when it comes to pricing. The whole point of giving you a poor SSD in the base M2 model is to force you to pay more for the 512GB model. Which is why I said to either buy a base M1 which has 2 NAND chips and thus a better SSD than the M2 base or buy an M2 with 512GB or more. All of this assumes the M2 base will only contain 1 chip but we don't know that yet.

But for the average user, that's NOT a huge selling point. I bought a base M2 Mini with the EDU discount and Apple Card cashback for around $500. The difference in speed many will find is not worth the extra money. The 256GB SSD will still be fast. In fact in will be several times faster than an internal SSD.

 

[Mity]

But for the average user, that's NOT a huge selling point.

What is the average user? Someone that doesn't have multiple Chrome tabs open? If a person wants to use their machine like a glorified netbook, then they should consider a cheap Chromebook or Windows machine which cost between $300-$500 brand new. The speeds are 50% slower on the M2 Air than the M1 Air in major benchmarks and that is just not acceptable. Why should a newer model have worse performance? Why should anyone have to pay more for the M2 to get the same speeds as the M1?

The base M2 Air is an inferior machine to the base M1 Air. The only thing you can argue is that the M2 Air has a better camera. Is it worth paying $300 more for? No.

 

[Heat_Fan89]

What is the average user? Someone that doesn't have multiple Chrome tabs open? If a person wants to use their machine like a glorified netbook, then they should consider a cheap Chromebook or Windows machine which cost between $300-$500 brand new. The speeds are 50% slower on the M2 Air than the M1 Air in major benchmarks and that is just not acceptable. Why should a newer model have worse performance? Why should anyone have to pay more for the M2 to get the same speeds as the M1?

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The base M2 Air is an inferior machine to the base M1 Air. The only thing you can argue is that the M2 Air has a better camera. Is it worth paying $300 more for? No.

The average user is someone like me who uses their computer for web browsing, email, videos music etc. I don't need you to tell me what computer I qualify for unless you care to buy me the computer of your choice.

Hint, you don't even need a computer for most of my tasks. An iPad or most tablets can do the trick. I like a baseline Mini because I am not playing Apple's upsell game, got it? I like the features on macOS with the Magic TrackPad and keybd combo. Again for the average users who do the basics, the 8/256GB Mini is more than enough.

 

[benji888]

If the M2 base only has 1 NAND chip you should get the M1 base instead. Wait for reviews to come out - the professional reviewers/influencers will post videos soon.

You can get dual monitor support on the M1 Macs by buying a dock that supports DisplayLink. But obviously you can't upgrade the SSD of the base M2 Macs. No one should get the base M2 with the 1 NAND chip. So, either base M1 or M2 with 512GB.

Are you asking why is having only 1 NAND chip a big deal? It's not about space. It's about speed. I've already linked a video explaining this. Here's another:

You may find this surprising but Apple can be a real a$$hole when it comes to pricing. The whole point of giving you a poor SSD in the base M2 model is to force you to pay more for the 512GB model. Which is why I said to either buy a base M1 which has 2 NAND chips and thus a better SSD than the M2 base or buy an M2 with 512GB or more. All of this assumes the M2 base will only contain 1 chip but we don't know that yet.

Ok, so, I just watched a different video, and, yeah, you’re right, I overlooked this, when using heavy apps 8GB won’t be enough RAM and it will be swapping with the SSD and it will likely be a single chip which has proven to slow things down over having two chips (512 SSD = 2x 256 chips) by a considerable amount. So, maybe the better deal right now is the refurb M1 8/512 @ $639, which was still available last I looked. On the upside, though, the M2 does have a faster bus over the M1, so still will be faster than a base model M1, so if going with the base model, I’m glad I found the discount so I could buy the M2.

however I will be coming from a (upgraded inside) 2013 iMac 24” so the base model M2, even with the slowdowns possible, will still be a major upgrade for me. If I do get into some heavy work in future, this one will be paid for in a month, so, I could get something better, but, yeah, so this should still be good for 3-5 years, instead of 10 years if I got a beefier model.

 

[ivnj]

On January 29th was my birthday. That day or day after I got the M1 basic 8GB RAM 256GB SSD like about 3 months after it came out in 2021 almost 2 years ago. ABT (which was local for me) was having a sale for 650 dollars. Apple price matched that. They said with in 10 percent of the list price which it was. Then 150 trade in for my old 2014 8gb ram 2.6ghz Mac mini. Plus 100 for apple care 3 years. So I forget the total but good deal. Less than 700 total with apple care so not bad.

 

[benji888]

On January 29th was my birthday. That day or day after I got the M1 basic 8GB RAM 256GB SSD like about 3 months after it came out in 2021 almost 2 years ago. ABT (which was local for me) was having a sale for 650 dollars. Apple price matched that. They said with in 10 percent of the list price which it was. Then 150 trade in for my old 2014 8gb ram 2.6ghz Mac mini. Plus 100 for apple care 3 years. So I forget the total but good deal. Less than 700 total with apple care so not bad.

have you had any issues with it?

…I decided to pay for the base M2 since I couldn’t split between two payments like I wanted, (half on 6mos no interest credit), and i have 90 days to add AppleCare. Anyone reading this, I highly recommend getting AppleCare, either $100 for 3yrs or $35/yr for however many years you want. I had a lemon MacBook years ago that was replaced with a better model more than 2yrs after I bought it, as the one I bought was discontinued, thanks to AppleCare. (They tried to repair it twice and still had issues, all free to me). …the replacement lasted for years without issue.

 

[benji888]

What is the average user? Someone that doesn't have multiple Chrome tabs open? If a person wants to use their machine like a glorified netbook, then they should consider a cheap Chromebook or Windows machine which cost between $300-$500 brand new. The speeds are 50% slower on the M2 Air than the M1 Air in major benchmarks and that is just not acceptable. Why should a newer model have worse performance? Why should anyone have to pay more for the M2 to get the same speeds as the M1?

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The base M2 Air is an inferior machine to the base M1 Air. The only thing you can argue is that the M2 Air has a better camera. Is it worth paying $300 more for? No.

This is only for some major tasks, the actual performance of the M2 is very similar, mostly better than the M1, plus updated screen, MagSafe connector, hardware acceleration for more video editing apps, you’re being extreme in pointing out one thing. Also, this is a fanless Mac, the mini has a fan and may perform very differently than this. hopefully we will see comparisons for the M1/M2 mini soon.

 

[benji888]

some people's M2 orders are shipping today, I checked adorama and it said mine was "backordered"... --heavy sigh-- so I cancelled it 😶 and ordered the base M2 512, I just hope my tax refund covers the extra $200. Are you all happy now? 😉 ...now, 3 days later, I wonder how many orders are ahead of mine, will it come this week? 🤷‍♂️

 

[esbardu]

100% this. The M1 Mini is the Core Solo of 2020. It'll be the first Apple Silicon to lose updates

I had a Core Solo, I was lucky enough to be able to upgrade it to Core 2 Duo 1,83Ghz for free (CPU came from a friend's broken laptop) but until that upgrade it was a really slow machine.
Additionally I was stuck at Snow Leopard.
Now I have the chance to get a Mac Mini M1 8/512 for 550 dollars (512 euros in my country) but I'd rather wait after being reminded of my core solo experience , it was going to replace our 21.5 iMac 2013 (16gb/1Tb SSD) that it's still performing quite well. The only issue is that reselling price of the iMac will keep dropping.