Need to upgrade from 8GB Mac Mini

[jerryk]

Hi,

I am starting to have memory issues quite often with my 8GB M1 mini I got in early fall. My workload has changed, and I am running databases, doing more development, docker images, browser sessions, and processing more data. Memory pressure shows me in the yellow a lot more often and I am having to reboot every few days.

Any suggestions on where to go? I want at least 16GB of memory and 512 GB of SSD.

Anyone think the mini will get a M2 update soon and is that worth waiting for?

How the Studio? Will they update it to variants of the M2 this year? Can you mount a Studio under a desk? I love having the mini and it cables out of sight.

Thoughts?

 

[shaunclarke04]

depending on the kind of development you do I would suggest just getting a 16GB mac mini. you can wait until September to see if they release a new model. but I doubt they will. i don't think the mac studio would be worth it for the stuff you do.

as for mounting it, absolutely! there's a tutorial here from the 8-bit guy about wall mounting things that arent meant to be wall mounted! he even uses a mac mini as an example! while the video is about wall mounting, you can use the exact same process for mounting to the underside of a desk

 

[appltech]

Starting with, you can downgrade to BigSur (sure thing if possible)

Problems with RAM behavior is a Monterey trump

 

[shaunclarke04]

Big sur probably won’t be the best idea since OP does development, and you usually want to be on the last eat software release to ensure compatibility.

Also it’s not possible to just *downgrade* but you can reinstall a fresh copy of an older system

 

[Fishrrman]

If "8" is no longer enough, then you may find that "16" is "only adequate... for now".

Perhaps you should consider the base model Studio, which comes with 32gb.

I WOULD NOT buy another m1 Mini with 16gb of RAM. NOT NOW.

Your complaint is real-life testimony to a statement I claim originality for, made in this forum back when the m-series was just released:
"16gb is 'the new 8'".

There is almost no one who should buy an m-series Mac with only 8gb in 2022.
Doing so is the equivalent of buying a 2014 Mini with 4gb of RAM in 2016.
Yes, it will run that way, with the minimum RAM.
But one "needs more for the future"...

 

[bearcatrp]

Doubt we will see a new mac mini this year. If your going to upgrade, might as well get the studio max with 64 GB ram and 1 TB drive. Should put you over for a few years.

 

[EugW]

32 GB M1 Max Mac Studio

Or else wait 4-10 months for a 24 GB M2 Mac mini.

"16gb is 'the new 8'".

There is almost no one who should buy an m-series Mac with only 8gb in 2022.
Doing so is the equivalent of buying a 2014 Mini with 4gb of RAM in 2016.
Yes, it will run that way, with the minimum RAM.
But one "needs more for the future"...

8 GB is totally fine for light users for the foreseeable future (several years).

 

[jerryk]

Thanks for the replies. I ordered the Base Studio Max (32 GB, 512 GB SSD). I think that will last me a couple of years and should perform better than the 8GB M1 mini. And in a couple of years, the M3 will probably be around and I will want to upgrade again.

 

[iZac]

I guess with all the fanfare of the SoC revolution we tend to not think about the fact that in all machines prior, the system RAM and GPU RAM are separate.

I know it's not a fair comparison, but my PC has 32GB of system RAM and an 8GB GPU, so when 'shared' like 40GB total.

Right at this moment my system RAM is using 25% but my GPU is maxed out doing 3D work. If this was an Apple system I'd be using 16GB of RAM and starting to page RAM in and out on a top end mac mini.

Again, I know it's a poor comparison because the efficiencies of an SoC but it's worth remembering that the M1 is sharing RAM between CPU and GPU tasks without that dedicated RAM for graphics work.

Yeah, I'm waiting for a 24GB M2 mac mini