So how silent is the M2 Pro Mac Mini?

[Truben]

I don't think people know what dead silent is unless they live in an anechoic chamber. which I suspect some here do.

I've been in a lot of quiet recording studio booths and even that can be unnerving, can't imagine a silent test chamber.

most people live constantly at around 30 dB or more of noise, which would likely mask the sound of the 1700 RPM fan. holding a dB meter close to the back of my M2 Pro Mini is around 34 dB level at that idle speed. If my external spinner Time Machine drive is awake it drowns everything out at 55 dB up close.



heh, not if you're running a big box with a lot of drives in it, which I'm sure some of us still are. my media server is around 40 dB, which has several fans, but a lot of foam .

So, you get the picture. Booths can be unnerving, and some have called them Whisper Rooms too. Sum to that summer heat because you cannot run AC or a small fan due to noise print.

 

[dotnet]

I’ve got an M1 Mac mini in my dedicated music listening room, which is well damped and pretty quiet at this time of the day (about 23dB(A)). I cannot hear the fan at 1700rpm with my ear more than half a meter away from the mini.

 

[uller6]

Well, I did use those CRT monitors in eighties - I grew up on them.
But in your case, monitors don't need more ram. I think you can save that extra cost and put it aside (or hell, even buy AAPL with it) and use that to buy new computer later when you need it. That investment will be better than just getting 32gb now for 'just in case'.
Up to you but I would reconsider it.

I returned a M1 air 8 gb for a 16 gb model last year because the 8 gb ram model didn’t have enough ram to run a 6k external display smoothly. The additional ram makes a very noticeable difference when driving all those pixels - you forget in Apple Silicon RAM is also VRAM.

 

[Freida]

I didn't talk about 8gb as 8gb is clearly not enough for a lot of things and there is a tons of tests to show that 8 vs 16 makes huge difference.
On the other hand, 16 vs 32 makes almost no difference (again shown in tons of tests online)

So, you've pointed out correctly the difference on the low end but that difference doesn't carry over later.
Most people have tendencies to 'overbuy' (especially with Apple) so they tend to spend more money than they actually need to. "Futureproofing" is one of the excuse that often (not always) doesn't work. Its also one of the best marketing strategies that plays with buyer's mind.

As for the RAM vs VRAM.
Well, I have 16gb RAM on my 2017MBP and now I have 16gb ram (to test for another 5 days) on M2 Pro. (I always buy the stock configuration and test it fully to see where its lacking)

And on 2017 MBP the 16gb is not enough for me. I often get red pressure etc. I've been testing the same stuff and I never had memory problems. iStats show me that for the past 7 days the pressure didn't even go over 56%. Same scenarios on the Intel go into reds.

People really need to test their workflow before they approach it the same way as Intel machines. This 'all on a chip' approach just works slightly differently.

And as always - if you use some specific app that eats ram like there is no tomorrow and the test shows you that 16, 32,etc. is not enough then of course go higher. All I'm encouraging here is test it for your specific needs and don't fall for the 'futureproof' nonsense UNLESS you know your needs drastically change in few years. Often, in those 'few years' scenarios - its better to buy new machine anyway so what you save now will easily offset the new machine.
Thats my view

I returned a M1 air 8 gb for a 16 gb model last year because the 8 gb ram model didn’t have enough ram to run a 6k external display smoothly. The additional ram makes a very noticeable difference when driving all those pixels - you forget in Apple Silicon RAM is also VRAM.

 

[Cham2000]

I didn't talk about 8gb as 8gb is clearly not enough for a lot of things and there is a tons of tests to show that 8 vs 16 makes huge difference.
On the other hand, 16 vs 32 makes almost no difference (again shown in tons of tests online)

So, you've pointed out correctly the difference on the low end but that difference doesn't carry over later.
Most people have tendencies to 'overbuy' (especially with Apple) so they tend to spend more money than they actually need to. "Futureproofing" is one of the excuse that often (not always) doesn't work. Its also one of the best marketing strategies that plays with buyer's mind.

I fully agree here. This is a voice of reason. Thanks!

 

[Truben]

I fully agree here. This is a voice of reason. Thanks!

So do I. Guilty as charged! The last time I checked, we were surrounded by superfluous gizmos. Do I need a Porsche? I can manage with a train! But hell no. I want the fastest car. That is gear lust, I guess. Call it overkill, headroom, future-proofing, or projected lifespan. I love it.

 

[taimansulimani]

Hello, thank you for this thread, it has helped me in my purchase decision.

Last year I bought a full specs Mac Studio when they came out. Waited many months (it was via F&F program so extra waiting) and I was so utterly disappointed when it arrived because of the horrible noise.
Not fan noise, that I can deal with, but whine around 2khz, piercing and intolerable.
That machine was defo an overkill for my workflow (music production) but I'm with @Truben here in that I just want the fastest thing.
Anyway, I couldn't deal with the whine so I sent the Mac Studio back.

Now I am waiting on a full specs Mac Mini M2 Pro, I'm sure it will be plenty for my needs (I'm on a 2016 MBP atm and it's still scraping by). Hopefully the noise profile won't bother me.

I'll report back once I receive it.
Thank you.

 

[Freida]

I used to be like that when I was younger. The more older I get the more I value other things and I just try to get things that I actually need rather than the ones I lust. In perfect world, I would want to have the best of everything but in reality, the happiness or joy doesn't scale with money spent. (which is a good thing). So these days, I buy things that I need and the money I save I either invest elsewhere (stock, properties etc.) or use it to create other joyful moments (like holidays, experiences etc.)

I understand your position though, the lust element is unfairly strong over reason. I've been there ;-)

So do I. Guilty as charged! The last time I checked, we were surrounded by superfluous gizmos. Do I need a Porsche? I can manage with a train! But hell no. I want the fastest car. That is gear lust, I guess. Call it overkill, headroom, future-proofing, or projected lifespan. I love it.

 

[Jeremy M.]

I used to be like that when I was younger. The more older I get the more I value other things and I just try to get things that I actually need rather than the ones I lust. In perfect world, I would want to have the best of everything but in reality, the happiness or joy doesn't scale with money spent. (which is a good thing). So these days, I buy things that I need and the money I save I either invest elsewhere (stock, properties etc.) or use it to create other joyful moments (like holidays, experiences etc.)

I understand your position though, the lust element is unfairly strong over reason. I've been there ;-)

I swapped out my initial purchase of a 32 gig Mac mini m2 pro for 16 gig after watching a Max Tech video online which showed how small of a difference 32 gig made, even with obscene work loads. I opted for a 1 TB internal SSD instead with 6 gig read/write speed and I am SO happy with my machine.
I can also report that there is no considerable fan noise or ANY coil whine from my machine. My external backup drives that I use to transfer my sessions over to under my desk is louder than the fan on my Mac mini under zero load, which makes me chuckle.

 

[Think77]

I swapped out my initial purchase of a 32 gig Mac mini m2 pro for 16 gig after watching a Max Tech video online which showed how small of a difference 32 gig made, even with obscene work loads. I opted for a 1 TB internal SSD instead with 6 gig read/write speed and I am SO happy with my machine.
I can also report that there is no considerable fan noise or ANY coil whine from my machine. My external backup drives that I use to transfer my sessions over to under my desk is louder than the fan on my Mac mini under zero load, which makes me chuckle.

10 cores or 12 cores?

 

[jmpage2]

Man this thread is getting off topic.

So my M2 Pro 1TB/32GB/10Gb NIC showed up yesterday and it took about six hours to transfer my data to it over from a TM backup.

During this entire process I couldn't hear anything from the machine.

Then I verified all my apps were working, loaded some photo libraries and did some other things and never heard it once. Completely silent.

As a final torture test I started up Handbrake and started encoding a 1080P Blu Ray rip which loads all the cores up to pretty much 100% and lets them sit there baking. It is just barely audible from my seated position, and is actually quieter doing this work than the M1 MacBook I also have.

If I put my head right up to it maybe 12 inches away I can hear the fan making kind of a rough whirring sound as it cools it off, but it is not bothersome at all to me.

Completely quiet under all possible situations? No. Acceptable for the workload I am putting it under? Definitely yes.

Completely acceptable to me and so much better than the i7 iMac it is replacing.

Also worth pointing out that the 10Gb NIC is wonderful. I enabled Jumbo frames and transferring the 28GB test file I wanted to encode took less than 2 minutes from my Synology NAS which also has a 10Gb connection to the network.

 

[NeonNights]

Man this thread is getting off topic.

So my M2 Pro 1TB/16GB/10Gb NIC showed up yesterday and it took about six hours to transfer my data to it over from a TM backup.

During this entire process I couldn't hear anything from the machine.

Then I verified all my apps were working, loaded some photo libraries and did some other things and never heard it once. Completely silent.

As a final torture test I started up Handbrake and started encoding a 1080P Blu Ray rip which loads all the cores up to pretty much 100% and lets them sit there baking. It is just barely audible from my seated position, and is actually quieter doing this work than the M1 MacBook I also have.

If I put my head right up to it maybe 12 inches away I can hear the fan making kind of a rough whirring sound as it cools it off, but it is not bothersome at all to me.

Completely quiet under all possible situations? No. Acceptable for the workload I am putting it under? Definitely yes.

Completely acceptable to me and so much better than the i7 iMac it is replacing.

Also worth pointing out that the 10Gb NIC is wonderful. I enabled Jumbo frames and transferring the 28GB test file I wanted to encode took less than 2 minutes from my Synology NAS which also has a 10Gb connection to the network.

Is your entire network 10GbE or is it a direct connection between the Mini and Synology? My LAN is still 1Gb. If I direct connect the Synology, neither NAS nor Mini will have Internet access, correct? Does MacOS allow dual NIC use, such as Ethernet plus WiFi? Just curious because I have a couple of Synology NAS but doubt I'll be upgrading internal network to 10GbE anytime soon.

From what I've read, the Mini's 10GbE chip is pretty power efficient and not hot like the Thunderbolt 10GbE adapters that require a loud fan.

 

[jmpage2]

Is your entire network 10GbE or is it a direct connection between the Mini and Synology?

I have a 24 + 4 port switch, 24 ports are gigabit copper and four ports are SFP+ 10Gb capable slots. I have the Synology, the NAS, my firewall and a server connected to those ports all at 10Gb using a variety of different SFP+ transceivers. For the Mac I am using a 10Gb copper transceiver and the connection goes through my house with CAT6E cabling.

My LAN is still 1Gb. If I direct connect the Synology, neither NAS nor Mini will have Internet access, correct?

Correct.

Does MacOS allow dual NIC use, such as Ethernet plus WiFi?

Yes. You actually must do it this way if you want things like Airdrop to work from the Mac. The Mac supports multiple connections and you can prioritize which ones are used first.

Just curious because I have a couple of Synology NAS but doubt I'll be upgrading internal network to 10GbE anytime soon.

From what I've read, the Mini's 10GbE chip is pretty power efficient and not hot like the Thunderbolt 10GbE adapters that require a loud fan.

I don't know whose 10Gb chipset Apple is using for the Studio and Mini (I assume they are the same) but it seems pretty power efficient.

 

[mikeboss]

I don't know whose 10Gb chipset Apple is using for the Studio and Mini (I assume they are the same) but it seems pretty power efficient.

Marvell AQtion AQC113

 

[NeonNights]

@jmpage2 , thank you for sharing. I was going to forego the 10GbE on my Mini order but may include it now and consider upgrading the LAN sooner. Years ago I climbed in the attic and ran Cat6 throughout the home, hope I don't need to redo any of it for 10GbE. Do you have any recommendations for particular switches? Right now I utilize two 5-port switches and a third 8-port that includes 4 PoE for some cameras, so a single 24-port sounds intriguing if it can do some PoE too.

I wasn't really considering 10GbE but I saw how fast my Sandisk Portable Extreme SSD was transferring 56GB of family photos (in 2 minutes) that it made my Gigabit LAN feel really slow. But it's a vicious upgrade cycle as I'll have to upgrade the DS418 and router too.

 

[jmpage2]

@jmpage2 , thank you for sharing. I was going to forego the 10GbE on my Mini order but may include it now and consider upgrading the LAN sooner. Years ago I climbed in the attic and ran Cat6 throughout the home, hope I don't need to redo any of it for 10GbE. Do you have any recommendations for particular switches? Right now I utilize two 5-port switches and a third 8-port that includes 4 PoE for some cameras, so a single 24-port sounds intriguing if it can do some PoE too.

I wasn't really considering 10GbE but I saw how fast my Sandisk Portable Extreme SSD was transferring 56GB of family photos (in 2 minutes) that it made my Gigabit LAN feel really slow. But it's a vicious upgrade cycle as I'll have to upgrade the DS418 and router too.

Upgrading is just part of the game if you want to enjoy what's possible at present.

I am using a professional grade switch that wouldn't be practical for your typical home user. There are many 24 port PoE switches that have 10Gb ports now, if I was buying one for myself I would probably be getting one from Unifi, but you do need to run their controller software on a Cloud Key device or VM so it comes down to how technically savvy you are.

Netgear and other switches for home office type users should also do fine. You will need to make sure you enable jumbo frames on all devices including the Mac, NAS, switch ports, etc., that are going to do 10Gb to get the fastest transfers possible.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

Here's the Windtunnel for reference. It was practically like having a hair dryer on next to you.

Ahh I remember those days. People don’t know they’re born now 😅

 

[madrag]

Ahh I remember those days. People don’t know they’re born now 😅

I had the PMG4 previous to that one and it was fairly silent for those days, nothing like the video you linked (which BTW denotes an issue, as the creator said in it).

I have a MM2018 i7 and it is very silent, and also have a MM2012 wich is also very silent. I am hoping that my next MM will be as silent as these two (I don't know when I'll need a new one, since my MM2018 is more than enough for me).

To be noted that also in my MM2018 i7, the fan at idle is at roughly 1700rpm.

For those that think the MM doesn't actualy sleep (at least from my tests with both the MM2012 and MM2018), you could test it with a power tester. My two MM reduce from about 17kWh (on/idle) to 2kWh (sleep). If it indeed doesn't lower the power use, it is probably not really sleeping, it could be a setting or something preventing it from sleeping.

 

[yadmonkey]

I had the PMG4 previous to that one and it was fairly silent for those days, nothing like the video you linked (which BTW denotes an issue, as the creator said in it).

Those two Powermacs were nothing alike and the video sounds exactly like a normal Windtunnel under a heavy load. I have had thousands of hours on every Powermac G3 through G5 and the first iteration of the infamous "Windtunnel" aka "Mirrored Drive Doors" compares to exactly none of them, before or after. The Windtunnel was probably 3-5 times louder than the 2nd loudest Mac of all time under load. I owned this one personally and it was astonishingly loud.

I remember the nightmare of trying to help professional musicians sufficiently isolate their recording equipment from that sound. Most of them gave up on it and went back to Quicksilvers. It was difficult to isolate even if it was in another room lined with acoustic dampening foam. Apple eventually released fan replacements for it that made it quieter, but still stupidly loud.

 

[James_C]

Those two Powermacs were nothing alike and the video sounds exactly like a normal Windtunnel under a heavy load. I have had thousands of hours on every Powermac G3 through G5 and the first iteration of the infamous "Windtunnel" aka "Mirrored Drive Doors" compares to exactly none of them, before or after. The Windtunnel was probably 3-5 times louder than the 2nd loudest Mac of all time under load. I owned this one personally and it was astonishingly loud.

I remember the nightmare of trying to help professional musicians sufficiently isolate their recording equipment from that sound. Most of them gave up on it and went back to Quicksilvers. It was difficult to isolate even if it was in another room lined with acoustic dampening foam. Apple eventually released fan replacements for it that made it quieter, but still stupidly loud.

I has a G4 MDD Powermac, not to bad when doing light work, but very noisy when pushed. They where not nick named the 'Wind Tunnel' Mac for no reason.

 

[Pluvier]

Sold my i5 Mac mini and now hesitating between Mac Studio 32Gb and mini m2pro 32Gb. Use logic and UADx plugins most of the time. i5 fan was audible in mics while tracking. I need a silent Mac, so I’m reading user experiences here, very useful. Thanks.

noticed this video, where m2 pro fan is dead silent. 😊

 

[fisherking]

i've been working my m2pro mini (16/512) pretty hard (logic pro), haven't heard the fans once yet. on my previous 2019 intel imac, they'd usually kick in when bouncing a complex mix (and sometimes when mixing; mostly 3rd-party plugins and lots of automation).

so far, so good. love this thing...

 

[Cham2000]

i've been working my m2pro mini (16/512) pretty hard (logic pro), haven't heard the fans once yet. on my previous 2019 intel imac, they'd usually kick in when bouncing a complex mix (and sometimes when mixing; mostly 3rd-party plugins and lots of automation).

When using your mini M2 Pro in typical hard workload, what are the temperature readings inside (in Celsius, please)?

 

[fisherking]

When using your mini M2 Pro in typical hard workload, what are the temperature readings inside (in Celsius, please)?

haven't checked, and not really interested. am happy to be working, using my mac. and if i run into a problem, i will investigate then.

but perhaps others here with the m2 pro can look into this for you 👍

 

[Cham2000]

Back to the original post of this thread...

To all mini M2 Pro owners: So, after a month of use, is your mini Pro noisy? While you work on it, is the fan kicking-in (frequently or not) and do you hear it? Or is it totally dead-silent all the time?

I'm also curious about the average and max temperature inside this model.