Make me sure about Mac Mini M2 16/256

[Barbel]

Hello,
I'm thinking about replacing my current setup with something new. At the moment I am using Lenovo Y700 (i5-6300HQ, Nvidia GTX960m, 16GB DDR4 2133 MHz). Unfortunately, the laptop is old and slowly stops working smoothly for my activities.

I use the computer mainly to handle Photoshop projects - files with a lot of layers, a lot of effects, a lot of intelligent objects (usually scaled from much higher resolutions - if it affects the performance because I am not sure about that), usually formats around FHD but sometimes larger ones and for projects in Illustrator - here the matter is simpler - uncomplicated designs consisting only of vectors, without unnecessary explosions haha. I use these programs interchangeably, often having both programs running and jumping from one window to another. I usually have several projects opened in Photoshop and Illustrator. I mostly work on "social media resolution" but sometimes I work with A3 formats for print (I think that after replacing my computer I will work more often on such formats). In the future, after buying a new computer, I would like to try AfterEffects and start creating simple, uncomplicated texts or 3D objects. Of course, all this is accompanied by the presence of a browser in the background (sometimes many tabs turned on), a movie, Spotify or Discord.

I am currently working on a 24-inch FHD monitor plus a 15-inch laptop screen, but after replacing the computer, I will want to buy a new 27-inch monitor (3840 x 2160) and use it with the old 24-inch one.

I have about $1000 to spend. I was thinking about a Mac Mini M2 16/256 - I can find a used unit for about that price. From the reviews I've seen on the Internet (although mainly the 8GB RAM versions) it seems to work great, but sometimes there are some freezes (but mainly with a lot of programs running and editing movies - which I don't do) although I think 16GB RAM will solve this problem anyway. Additionally, I don't know if the speed of the 256 disk will limit performance, there will be no problem with saving the file because I am currently using a disk with similar values for writing and reading data. Still, I'm not sure whether it will be a good purchase or whether this version of the Mac Mini will cope with my requirements.

Could someone advise me and make me sure that this is a good choice? Despite watching a lot of reviews, mainly from AE and PP which are not my domain, but it seems to me that they use more resources so for my use it should be perfect

Thank you very much!!

 

[Chuckeee]

It is a desktop you can always add an external SSD if and when you need it. If you aren’t a heavy gamer or doing semi- pro video editing you won’t need more processing Umff. You could use more RAM and since there is no way to add more later you have to get it with your initial purchase.

In my experience, RAM never goes unused. The same can’t be said for processing capacity or drive space

 

[Barbel]

Thats what I'm planning to do. I thinking about buying lowest disc capacity and expand it with currently own SSDs.
The most struggles are with RAM as you mentioned. I am looking for M2 with 24GM ram but... firstly there are very little, almost none, versions with that amout of RAM on second hand market and secondly there is huge price gap for me (about $250 beetwen 16GB and 24GB RAM versions in my country).

Funny thing is that it is cheaper to buy new Mac Mini M2 16/256 than used version from second hand.

 

[colinsky]

Mini m2 Pro 16/512 is $1,099 at the Refurb store today. That would give you plenty of fast scratch-disk space for Photoshop.

 

[Populus]

Today I saw an M2 Mac mini, 16/512GB, for just 815€, barely used.

Honestly if it wasn’t because I’m really hyped for the 3nm M3 and M3 Pro, I would have bought it, because it’s a pretty sweet deal.

That being said: OP, I’d pay a bit more and go with a 16/512GB setup. I wouldn’t downgrade the RAM because upcoming devices are going to have more RAM on average (the M3 will probably start at 12GB and the next jump will likely be 24GB) so 8GB in 2024 is a no-no for me.

As for the storage, I find 256GB plenty for an iPhone, decent for an iPad, but insufficient for a Mac. At least based on my usage. Jumping at least to 512GB you will not only have a decent storage to work with and save relatively big files, but also, as you said, faster SSD. And on the base M2, the first jump of storage is very noticeable in terms of speed. But not only that, having bigger storage means longer lifespan of the SSD.

So yeah, I voted for the 16/512GB M2 device. I think it’s a good sweet spot, but if you work with heavy 4K files and you’ll need the extra CPU and GPU cores, then go for the base M2 Pro. See the price difference on your country between the 16/512GB M2 and base M2 Pro, and see if the extra money will be worth it.

I hope you enjoy your Mac mini, however, if you can wait a year, keep in mind the M3 Mac mini is certainly coming.

 

[Populus]

Mini m2 Pro 16/512 is $1,099 at the Refurb store today. That would give you plenty of fast scratch-disk space for Photoshop.

This would be one of the best deals, honestly. Although after reading OP’s use, I’m thinking that maybe it would be worth spending more to go to 24GB of RAM. OP seems to multitask a lot and need plenty of RAM… but that would probably be too far from his budget.

 

[Thirio2]

I just bought the 16/256 version. I have only Used safari, numbers and activity monitor. Activity monitor shows 6gb memory used and 3 gb cached memory. A restart brings it down to 5gb memory used (No swap used). Not sure why so much memory is being used, but it makes me glad I bought the 16 gb ram version.

 

[Populus]

After giving it a thought or two, I wanted to share some ideas:

1) if you can wait until 2024, I think you’d really benefit from the M3 configurations. More RAM, more raw power, and longer lifespan. After reading your initial post, I see your use is rather professional so I think it would be a good idea waiting unless your current machine is really slow or uncomfortable to work with. However, keep in mind that prices may rise due to inflation and M3 being more expensive to manufacture, and during the first months it will be difficult to find good and affordable units on the second hand market, so maybe waiting up to a year may not be worth it.

2) I think you could really benefit from 24GB of RAM, however, I understand that configuration is not easily found on the second hand market.

3) Regarding storage, I didn’t consider the option of having a plugged external SSD via Thunderbolt, but as @Chuckeee said, that’s a viable option for having bigger storage at lower cost, letting you spend more on RAM (24GB). I didn’t consider that option because I’ve never used it, I like all the storage to be internal, and I don’t know if there could be any limitations when it comes to use an external SSD as a primary storage.

 

[Barbel]

Currently in my Lenovo I have a drive with similar data read/write speed as the one from the Mac Mini M2 with 256GB storage. Honestly speaking I'm satisfied with its speed, but as we all know higher speeds can't hurt, haha
From the very beginning I thought to expand the memory of the Mac with external drives (actually the ones I currently use) for an additional 1.5TB so the capacity alone is enough for me.

Exactly at the moment I am working on 3 files in photoshop - format a4@300dpi, each with about 100 layers. In addition, I have a browser open in the background with several tabs and I'm watching the final of the world basketball championship and the ram consumption of my computer is basically at 90%. Long load times, objects don't move smoothly, scaling also takes some time - I assume it's all due to insufficient ram. Although it seems to me that intel processors manage memory differently than apple processors and in both cases 16GB of ram will not give the same feeling.

I realize that versions of computers with the new M3 processor are coming out soon. I'm rather not targeting them, as they may be out of my budget, but I'm hoping that there will be some more aftermarket hardware at a lower price than currently. Maybe even versions from the official store will be a bit cheaper than currently. Waiting to buy until the new year is unlikely to be a problem
Of course, I will aim for the most powerful version possible (I aim most for more ram, then a better processor and finally more memory), but still the closest to my budget is the 16/256 version

 

[Ben J.]

My observations after 7 months with a 16/256 M2 Mini:

Drive size:
I have no problem keeping 50% free space on the 256. All system, apps, and essential library and user files on there, and large folders like audio, video, images etc. stored on a 2TB external Thunderbolt3 M.2 SSD, and symlinks/aliases on the internal. I have lots of audio software installed, plus Adobe Photo bundle. The 256 scores around 1500MB/s on Blackmagic disk speed test, half the speed of the 512 as expected, but I see absolutely no signs of it being slower than my previous M1 Mini with the 3000MB/s drive - quite the opposite - everything from boot times to app launch and opening of documents, is faster.

Memory:
I can run Lightroom classic and Avid Pro Tools simultaneously without RAM maxing out. I have literally never seen any memory swapping.

I say you're on the right track.
But I feel you should buy new, get the warranty, and have the option to return it within a few weeks, should you find that it's not perfect.

Good luck.

 

[Populus]

Yeah, OP should regularly check the refurbished section of the Apple Store on their country. After all, you can return the refurbished macs after 14 days just like the new ones, and that would 1) fit better their budget, 2) allow them to test the 16GB configuration, and see if it’s enough or they should spend more to go with 24GB.

 

[Ben J.]

I just bought the 16/256 version. I have only Used safari, numbers and activity monitor. Activity monitor shows 6gb memory used and 3 gb cached memory. A restart brings it down to 5gb memory used (No swap used). Not sure why so much memory is being used, but it makes me glad I bought the 16 gb ram version.

It's not like the mac only uses what it needs in ram. If there is a lot of unused memory, it will use it for fast access to frequently needed data, and release it if it's needed by more immediate use by OS/apps. If I had 32GB instead of 16, I'd expect to see the mac using maybe 20 something GB, instead of 13 something that I see now - with exactly the same things going on.

 

[Barbel]

Memory:
I can run Lightroom classic and Avid Pro Tools simultaneously without RAM maxing out. I have literally never seen any memory swapping.

Right now I'm a little more reassured that the configuration I want to buy will be okay with my needs. But still I will look for version with bigger amount of RAM

Yeah, OP should regularly check the refurbished section of the Apple Store on their country. After all, you can return the refurbished macs after 14 days just like the new ones, and that would 1) fit better their budget, 2) allow them to test the 16GB configuration, and see if it’s enough or they should spend more to go with 24GB.

Oh, great to hear! I didn't even know there was such an option with refurbished devices. I will keep tracking the refurbished section of the Apple Store but for now there is no any good deal.

 

[Fishrrman]

256gb SSD is no longer "enough".

Get at least 512gb.
If you don't, you'll regret it sooner rather than later.

 

[Ben J.]

256gb SSD is no longer "enough".

Get at least 512gb.
If you don't, you'll regret it sooner rather than later.

Again, an unsubstantiated claim from you.
Very unhelpful.

 

[Fishrrman]

"Again, an unsubstantiated claim from you.
Very unhelpful."

Well, I was going to suggest at least a 1tb SSD.
Who knows what the user's needs will expand to in the future?
So there.

 

[ovbacon]

I have a mini M2, 16GB/512GB and run Lightroom, Photoshop and Illustrator all concurrently with zero problems.

 

[OrenLindsey]

Mini m2 Pro 16/512 is $1,099 at the Refurb store today. That would give you plenty of fast scratch-disk space for Photoshop.

This is what you should get. An M2 Pro is faster than the base M3 chip will be.

 

[ovbacon]

Hello,
I'm thinking about replacing my current setup with something new. At the moment I am using Lenovo Y700 (i5-6300HQ, Nvidia GTX960m, 16GB DDR4 2133 MHz). Unfortunately, the laptop is old and slowly stops working smoothly for my activities.

I use the computer mainly to handle Photoshop projects - files with a lot of layers, a lot of effects, a lot of intelligent objects (usually scaled from much higher resolutions - if it affects the performance because I am not sure about that), usually formats around FHD but sometimes larger ones and for projects in Illustrator - here the matter is simpler - uncomplicated designs consisting only of vectors, without unnecessary explosions haha. I use these programs interchangeably, often having both programs running and jumping from one window to another. I usually have several projects opened in Photoshop and Illustrator. I mostly work on "social media resolution" but sometimes I work with A3 formats for print (I think that after replacing my computer I will work more often on such formats). In the future, after buying a new computer, I would like to try AfterEffects and start creating simple, uncomplicated texts or 3D objects. Of course, all this is accompanied by the presence of a browser in the background (sometimes many tabs turned on), a movie, Spotify or Discord.

I am currently working on a 24-inch FHD monitor plus a 15-inch laptop screen, but after replacing the computer, I will want to buy a new 27-inch monitor (3840 x 2160) and use it with the old 24-inch one.

I have about $1000 to spend. I was thinking about a Mac Mini M2 16/256 - I can find a used unit for about that price. From the reviews I've seen on the Internet (although mainly the 8GB RAM versions) it seems to work great, but sometimes there are some freezes (but mainly with a lot of programs running and editing movies - which I don't do) although I think 16GB RAM will solve this problem anyway. Additionally, I don't know if the speed of the 256 disk will limit performance, there will be no problem with saving the file because I am currently using a disk with similar values for writing and reading data. Still, I'm not sure whether it will be a good purchase or whether this version of the Mac Mini will cope with my requirements.

Could someone advise me and make me sure that this is a good choice? Despite watching a lot of reviews, mainly from AE and PP which are not my domain, but it seems to me that they use more resources so for my use it should be perfect

Thank you very much!!

The 1k, does that include getting a new monitor as well? If so I would get a refurbished mini m2 8/512 (or even the 8/256) or when they get one a 16/512 and still have money for a decent screen.

It really is all about what you really need... If you need things professionally you get more because your income depends on it, if you do a little photoshop for fun chances are you will be fine for a long time even with the base model. As I said I do very intense photoshop, lightroom and illustrator work on a M2 16/512 and I have all the design/photo/video files on a 2tb external ssd. If you do not have the money to spend on a higher tier mini don't spend it.

Until very recent I was doing all the work on a failing top tier 2015 iMac 5K and I could only have one of the 3 application open to work in at a time. This mini M2 blows the iMac out of the water. I first ordered the M2 Pro but found that I just didn't need it so I got the regular M2.

I have two monitors that work great but there are many good ones out there:
- BenQ PD2705U (27" 4K) +/- $500
- AOC U32P2CA (32" 4K) +/- $400

 

[Barbel]

The 1k, does that include getting a new monitor as well?

That is the budget only for Mac/PC

Anyway I know it is probably not the place for that but - how about PC and Mac performence in that budget (about $1000)? They are similar? Talking only about pure performance, not about size, loudness, compability issues or so