So, after reading tons of Apple articles about M* hardware over the last few years I finally decided to replace my (apparently unresponsive) 2010 Mac Mini. I tried starting the mini this weekend and the power light comes on, but nothing ever makes it to the display. Being a die-hard Trekkie, I was also holding out for the M5 (The Ultimate Computer), but that can always be a MacBook of some flavor 
It will also replace my current desktop, Windows 10 i7-5820K (32G RAM), which I built back in 2012. Aside from regular usage, a bunch of Handbrake encoding and I will move Plex off of my Synology 918+ and over to the Mac. I figure I can map the drives.
Looking at the refurbs last week, the Mac Studio Apple M4 Max chip with 14‑Core CPU and 32‑Core GPU 512/36 (1699) was too nice to resist.
I still have an unopened replacement magic trackpad and an external disc drive. I forget what type of disc it reads. I might have bought it to rip music originally. OTOH, I have a LG 16X BluRay/CD/DVD drive in a OWC Mercury chassis connected to the PC also.
I exerted no self control and made some Amazon orders today:
Satechi keyboard
Satechi Tbolt 4 hub, used for $87. I'll cope with the lack of Tbolt 5 for that price.
OWC 1M2 which I will connect to the Studio not the hub.
Samsung 9100 2TB
OWC Mercury Elite HDD enclosure for one of the spare WD Red 10TB NAS drives I upgraded from in the NAS.
I was contemplating the Satechi Mac Studio base, but it doesn't work for my purposes. I will have the Mac off the desktop, and don't want a bunch of spaghetti dangling down, so the hub makes more sense. Then I saw the the Spigen stands and given dust issues it seemed like a good idea. The shelf below the mac mini has the externals (barely visible). I may swap and put the Studio on the lower shelf, I also now have a diagonally mounted router (Mikrotik) to the right of where the mini is.
While I did see some videos talking about upgrading the internal SSD, and I did previously update the 2010 mini RAM and HD before, I decided not to do that with the Studio. Instead I should be fine with the 2TB SSD as working drive for Handbrake or other apps and the 10TB HDD for bulk storage and time machine.
I currently don't see or have a pressing need to change monitors, currently I run 2 on the PC. The latest being a LG 31.5" FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS AMD FreeSync, 1ms MBR Response Time, Refresh Rate 75Hz. Is there any preference with a Mac when hooking up monitors between HDMI or DisplayPort?
I didn't used the 2010 Mini a lot, so I am essentially a novice. I have been surfing articles on what to do first, apps to install, etc.
It will also replace my current desktop, Windows 10 i7-5820K (32G RAM), which I built back in 2012. Aside from regular usage, a bunch of Handbrake encoding and I will move Plex off of my Synology 918+ and over to the Mac. I figure I can map the drives.
Looking at the refurbs last week, the Mac Studio Apple M4 Max chip with 14‑Core CPU and 32‑Core GPU 512/36 (1699) was too nice to resist.
I still have an unopened replacement magic trackpad and an external disc drive. I forget what type of disc it reads. I might have bought it to rip music originally. OTOH, I have a LG 16X BluRay/CD/DVD drive in a OWC Mercury chassis connected to the PC also.
I exerted no self control and made some Amazon orders today:
Satechi keyboard
Satechi Tbolt 4 hub, used for $87. I'll cope with the lack of Tbolt 5 for that price.
OWC 1M2 which I will connect to the Studio not the hub.
Samsung 9100 2TB
OWC Mercury Elite HDD enclosure for one of the spare WD Red 10TB NAS drives I upgraded from in the NAS.
I was contemplating the Satechi Mac Studio base, but it doesn't work for my purposes. I will have the Mac off the desktop, and don't want a bunch of spaghetti dangling down, so the hub makes more sense. Then I saw the the Spigen stands and given dust issues it seemed like a good idea. The shelf below the mac mini has the externals (barely visible). I may swap and put the Studio on the lower shelf, I also now have a diagonally mounted router (Mikrotik) to the right of where the mini is.
While I did see some videos talking about upgrading the internal SSD, and I did previously update the 2010 mini RAM and HD before, I decided not to do that with the Studio. Instead I should be fine with the 2TB SSD as working drive for Handbrake or other apps and the 10TB HDD for bulk storage and time machine.
I currently don't see or have a pressing need to change monitors, currently I run 2 on the PC. The latest being a LG 31.5" FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS AMD FreeSync, 1ms MBR Response Time, Refresh Rate 75Hz. Is there any preference with a Mac when hooking up monitors between HDMI or DisplayPort?
I didn't used the 2010 Mini a lot, so I am essentially a novice. I have been surfing articles on what to do first, apps to install, etc.
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