mini M2Pro vs M2

[houttbe]

I've been sitting on the fence whether to buy a mini M2 or M2Pro. In both cases 16 GB and 1 TB. Use case is mostly home office including a lot of Zoom/Teams calls, regular photo editing (Affinity) and some video editing (iMovie). Price difference is about € 500, except for different CPU/GPU only significant difference is 2 extra Thunderbolt ports but that doesn't matter much as I have an LG Ultrafine monitor with an array of TB/USB ports.

I've been waiting to see a real life comparison between both models but haven't seen anything addressing my use case. Does anyone have relevant experience? Thanks!

 

[grandoflex]

Other differences in addition to the ones (CPU/GPU and 2 extra ports) you mention are:

• quicker RAM in the Pro
• a quicker SSD in the M2 Pro Mini configured with 1TB – read & write speeds of c. 6,000 MB/s in Pro vs c. 3,000 MB/s in the standard M2 Mini
• Better display support in the Pro

It's hard to say whether these improvements will make much difference to your usage. The fact you do some video editing might be a good reason to go with the Pro, though. I guess I tend myself in these instances towards the old adage "buy once, buy well", even though the standard M2 may end up sufficing.

The price difference looks to me to be €390, so I guess it ultimately comes down to how much you'll miss that amount... (I'm in a similar boat to you usage-wise and, for what it's worth, decided to go with the Pro version in the same config.)

 

[michelg1970]

Am not sure where you are based. I am in the same boat.

Here in Holland, the same config you mention (16GB/1TB) M2 versus M2 Pro has a price difference of 390 euro.

For my use, the M2 would be enough. But, I am a nerd and always prefer the faster option. Why buy a Mac mini that is "slower" than my MB M1 Pro (10C CPU/16C GPU/16GB/1TB?

I made a quick comparison and for the 390 euro extra I get 2 extra TB4 ports (saves me an adapter), a faster SSD of 6 Gb/s (1 TB M2 Pro) as on my MB Pro M1 instead of the 3 Gb/s (1 TB M2) quicker RAM in the Pro (@grandoflex ) and I get a faster processor (8/10 M2 versus 10/16 M2 Pro).

In my case:

Will I use the power unleashed in front of me? Probably no, maybe never.

Can I afford the 390 euro difference, yes and add to that, I am a nerd when it comes to specifications...

Do I really need it? No because I have my laptop that is superfast for my use but since I am again travelling heavily and want to have something online at home that I can access from abroad, I consider now the Mac Mini. A NAS would be an alternative but will also cost me quite some money. And I could sit behind the MM when working at home, pick up my MB when sitting in the living room without having to disconnect it first.

Will I pull the trigger? Most probably soon.

I saw another thread about student discount. Bought my daughter a MacBook Air M1 last year (using her student discount) so maybe I could use her student discount again (saves me 140 euro).

Hope my considerations help you. At least writing this helped me making sense to myself now ;-) trigger = pulled

Best regards,
Michel

 

[michelg1970]

Other differences in addition to the ones (CPU/GPU and 2 extra ports) you mention are:

• quicker RAM in the Pro
• a quicker SSD in the M2 Pro Mini configured with 1TB – read & write speeds of c. 6,000 MB/s in Pro vs c. 3,000 MB/s in the standard M2 Mini
• Better display support in the Pro

It's hard to say whether these improvements will make much difference to your usage. The fact you do some video editing might be a good reason to go with the Pro, though. I guess I tend myself in these instances towards the old adage "buy once, buy well", even though the standard M2 may end up sufficing.

The price difference looks to me to be €390, so I guess it ultimately comes down to how much you'll miss that amount... (I'm in a similar boat to you usage-wise and, for what it's worth, decided to go with the Pro version in the same config.)

You were just a few minutes faster than me ;-) Thanks for the quicker RAM remark.

 

[mgscheue]

I've been sitting on the fence whether to buy a mini M2 or M2Pro. In both cases 16 GB and 1 TB. Use case is mostly home office including a lot of Zoom/Teams calls, regular photo editing (Affinity) and some video editing (iMovie). Price difference is about € 500, except for different CPU/GPU only significant difference is 2 extra Thunderbolt ports but that doesn't matter much as I have an LG Ultrafine monitor with an array of TB/USB ports.

I've been waiting to see a real life comparison between both models but haven't seen anything addressing my use case. Does anyone have relevant experience? Thanks!

From what you say, the M2 should be very much more than adequate.

 

[houttbe]

Yes price differential is more like € 390, thanks for correction. I guess that’s the nerd tax — which I’m willing to pay for overspeccing my purchase.

I still would like to see feedback from real life experience!

 

[Cham2000]

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm still hesitating between a M2 with 24GB/1TB (1594$CD), or a M2 Pro with 16GB/1TB (1794$CD). The price difference of 200$CD (+ taxes) isn't much and is worth the difference in performances and ports, but I'm yet wondering about the noise/fan of the Pro. The Pro version may be noisy, according to some new reports.

 

[hp1]

I'm in the same boat as you. I'm still hesitating between a M2 with 24GB/1TB (1594$CD), or a M2 Pro with 16GB/1TB (1794$CD). The price difference of 200$CD (+ taxes) isn't much and is worth the difference in performances and ports, but I'm yet wondering about the noise/fan of the Pro. The Pro version may be noisy, according to some new reports.

Typing this on a 24GB/1TB right now. Silent and cool to touch, as a small form factor PC should be. It's obvious the sweet spot is 16 or 24GB M2 and not M2 Pro. I wouldn't be suprised if you see Mac Studios reduced in price eventually if you need that extra GPU, monitors and ports.

 

[Cham2000]

Typing this on a 24GB/1TB right now. Silent and cool to touch, as a small form factor PC should be. It's obvious the sweet spot is 16 or 24GB M2 and not M2 Pro. I wouldn't be suprised if you see Mac Studios reduced in price eventually if you need that extra GPU, monitors and ports.

View attachment 2149186

After reading the speed of the 512GB and 1TB ssd is the same on the mini M2, I may reduce the price bellow a psychological threshold: mini M2 24GB/512GB is 1369$CD (educational price in Canada). Adding the Studio display, keyboard and taxes gives 3963$CD, which is below my first psychological threshold of 4000$CD. This is nice. My ultimate psychological threshold (or limit) is 5000$CD, so this exludes the Mac Studio (which is overkill to me anyway).

The other options I'm considering are: mini M2 Pro 16GB/512GB (edu 1569$CD), or other combinations: 16GB/1TB (edu 1794$CD), 32GB/512GB (edu 2019$CD) up to M2 Pro 32GB/1TB (edu 2244$CD). So the price rises very quickly! Adding display, keyboard and taxes, the first Pro option gives edu 4193$CD, which is just above my first psychological threshold (but I'm wondering if 16GB of ram is enough for an M2 Pro). The last Pro option reaches my ultimate psychological barrier: edu 4969$CD.

I'm still hesitating about the right configuration for a very long use. I want to keep the same computer for at least 10 years. While I understand their point, I don't agree much with the folks that prefer to upgrade their computer on a period of 5 years.

 

[houttbe]

Nice comparison of base M2 vs M2Pro at

. Bottom line is M2Pro is overall about 50% faster at more than double the price. Conclusion is that M2 is holding up remarkably well and the better choice unless you’re stressing the machine for professional video editing and the like.

Now if you would spec them identically 16GB/512GB, I suspect the performance differential would be closer. But than the price difference would also be reduced (to about €400).

 

[CausticPuppy]

I normally don't replace computers, just re-purpose them, with the exception of my 2018 Mini that I sold in order to get an M1 Mini.

If I got an M2 or M2 Pro, it would take the place of my current M1 (small upgrade) but my M1 would replace our aging 2015 iMac which can no longer run the current OS. The iMac still has some trade-in value so I'd likely send that in and just get a monitor instead.

I was debating whether to keep the iMac (since it's still working but lacks TB ports), and retire my 2011 Mac mini i7 quad that's currently sitting headless in the basement running Plex and Channels DVR... but the M1 would definitely be wasted in that capacity. The iMac gets laggy at times with just Chrome, but the old Mini is chugging along just fine (on High Sierra) with upgraded SSD internal storage and hell it might go another 5 years. If it dies it would be replaced with a Raspberry Pi.

As for the M2 vs M2 Pro, realistically the M2 would be perfect since the M1 is already more than enough for Logic Pro and hobby photo/video. Maybe "future proofing" is a good reason for the Pro but I know that in 3 years I'll want to upgrade to the M4 or M5 regardless. And I have an RTX3070 gaming PC in the next room if I'm craving a GPU...