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Cham2000

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Mar 11, 2022
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I'm still struggling in choosing the right mini for me: mini M2 24GB/1TB (choice 1) or mini M2 Pro 16GB/512GB (choice 2) :confused:?? The price is about the same for both. But then, choice 1 have much more memory than choice 2 (8GB more), and two times the SSD. Choice 2 have a much better GPU (CPU is about the same, the difference is negligible in real world), and two more Thunderbolt ports (but then the Studio display gives three TB, so the two extra ports of choice 2 isn't a good argument). So which choice is better for the following typical work? Currently, I'm thinking about selecting choice 1, but I feel insecure :oops: !

I'm keeping lots of apps running at the same time, even if several aren't doing anything (for example: VLC Player keeping a 4k movie in standby). I typically keep open dozens of web pages in my internet navigators (several YouTube videos, for example), and play music in the background. I do LaTeX compilations in the background, while using Mathematica to do calculations in the foreground, draw figures and diagrams with a vector drawing app, viewing lots of pictures and photos with Preview (or another app), editing photos with Pixelmator Pro.

I rarely edit videos. I don't do 3D rendering (or very rarely!). I would like to play some modern 3D games, hence a better GPU is preferable (hence choice 2). But considering all the open apps and previous workload, a lot of memory should be preferable over a better GPU (hence choice 1). So is 16GB enough on the M2 Pro? What choice should be a better alternative, while the price of both choices is about the same?
 
I would pick the first option if I was you.

IMHO, more RAM and storage trumps less RAM and storage with slightly better CPU.
I tend to agree, but choice 2 has a much better GPU for graphics and games, and two extra TB ports. Maybe 16GB is enough?
 
If gaming is really important to you, and M2 Pro has significantly better GPU (not something like 3-4 FPS more in games or something), then go with M2 Pro.

I think 16GB will do, however I do not know how long do you intend to keep that Mac and how long will 16GB be enough. Should be couple more years at least.
 
What machine do you use now, and what is the memory usage and pressure? And storage usage?
If gaming is really important to you, and M2 Pro has significantly better GPU (not something like 3-4 FPS more in games or something), then go with M2 Pro.

I think 16GB will do, however I do not know how long do you intend to keep that Mac and how long will 16GB be enough. Should be couple more years at least.
I intend to use the mini for more than 5 years, at the very least (ideally 10 years).

Games are not that important to me. It's just a desire to try some new titles for fun. But it is sad that the M2 non-Pro doesn't have a better GPU. 3D Games like Shadow of Tomb Raider or World of Worldcraft may have a low frame rate on the mini M2 (around 30FPS only) even with graphical options set to a medium setting (which I hate!). The mini M2 Pro may have a much better frame rate even with all graphical options set to best.

The computer I'm using right now is VERY old (12 years old MacBook Pro 13" of 2010, with an old 20" Apple screen, still under Snow Leopard. It has 8GB of ram). Doing the workload I described on top is very difficult on this old system, I get a lot of strong lags. Can't load many YouTube videos at once, or the system while crawl, and it can't load any 4k videos anyway... so the comparison is impossible.
 
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I have a similar Mac Mini, but the M1 with 1TB SSD and 16GB RAM. I also play WoW and often have many apps open at the same time, as well as many tabs in Safari open at the same time, sometimes over 50 tabs.

The 16GB of RAM has been doing well, but I occasionally end up having to use swap.

My recently ordered 12c/19c M2 M2 Pro Mac Mini with 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD just was delivered yesterday, and I haven't had a chance to play around with it yet, but I can post here and let you know if my experience is any different than my M1.

The M1 MM that I got was more of a stop-gap for me to replace my aging Late 2012 iMac with the 3rd gen i7 and 680mx gpu, but I got tired of waiting for a 27" AS iMac, so I ended up getting the 12c M2 Pro MM.

My plan is to keep it as my main Mac for at least 5 years, and maybe up to 10 years, which is why I chose the 12c/19c upgrade and 32GB of RAM.

Choice 2 have a much better GPU (CPU is about the same, the difference is negligible in real world),
This isn't really accurate.

Single-core tasks, yes it is the same, but multi-core tasks, the 10-core M2 Pro has an almost 50% performance increase over the 8-core M2, and the 12-core M2 Pro has almost twice the multiple-core performance as the 8-core M2.


and two times the SSD.
It is worth noting that there is no speed advantage of the 1TB in the M2 Mac Mini versus 512GB in the M2 Pro Mac Mini. The only benefit would be twice the storage.

The 1TB M2 Pro Mac Mini (6000Mbps) has twice the speed of the 512GB M2 Pro MM, and 1TB M2 MM (Both 3000Mbps).

To me, if you end up getting an SSD with the slower speed, then this wouldn't be as important because you can just use a much cheaper external SSD down the road if you need more storage.

3D Games like Shadow of Tomb Raider or World of Worldcraft may have a low frame rate on the mini M2 (around 30FPS only) even with graphical options set to a medium setting (which I hate!).
You might do better with the M2 MM than you think, at least with WoW.

What is considered acceptable and playable frame rates is so subjective. I currently have a M1 MM with 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM, connected to a 1080p ultra wide monitor at 165Hz refresh. I play WoW with all the graphical settings to the max, and get about 30-45fps, with dips in the mid 20's. There is an occasional fps drop which is annoying, but overall, very playable for me.

A lot of people would rather have a smoother 60fps, sacrificing the eye candy and viewing distance, but I prioritize viewing distance the most > fps around 30 >= eye candy > fps above 30ish.

Here are screenshots of my settings:
WoW Graphic Settings 1.png

WoW Graphic Settings 2.png

NOTE: This is with "Target FPS" setting turned off. Many people keep it on, and it makes it impossible to get a good comparison between different computers' performance when playing WoW. The setting dynamically changes the graphical settings prioritizing the desired frame rate. So, even if a particular setting is chosen the system could lower or raise the setting to get the desired frame rate.

People talking about their WoW performance are not always clear on whether Target FPS is turned on or off. I suspect it is on and set to 60FPS because that is the default.
 
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Curious when I see folks saying they have huge numbers of browser tabs open. Why is that? - it seems more complicated to navigate all those tabs. I had a former grad student that I'm fairly sure never closed a tab or an app in her life (and I suspect had about 20 copies of the same ones open). I don't think I've ever used more than 3-4 tabs in an open browser before, and I just reflexively close most apps that I am not using.
 
Curious when I see folks saying they have huge numbers of browser tabs open. Why is that? - it seems more complicated to navigate all those tabs. I had a former grad student that I'm fairly sure never closed a tab or an app in her life (and I suspect had about 20 copies of the same ones open). I don't think I've ever used more than 3-4 tabs in an open browser before, and I just reflexively close most apps that I am not using.
I use frequently many temporary tabs in YouTube to listening music, or to watch later some videos that I find interesting, but not good enough to keep several bookmark files on my desktop (or in the bookmark menu). That may take a lot of ram (especially in Chrome, which is a real memory pig!!). This is mostly why I'm struggling deciding between both models, considering the unreasonable high price for a 32GB M2 Pro. Ideally, I would take the mini M2 Pro with 32GB and 1TB SSD, but it's a premium price that I don't want to pay, even if I do have the money!

The choice 1 (mini M2 24GB/1TB) appears to be a more reasonable option to me. I may even go with an 512GB SSD, instead of 1TB but I don't want to regret it a few years later.
 
Maybe I can help with your choosing.

In my art studio/small business I have a Dell i7-8700 with 32GB of Ram, a GTX 1070 and TONS of internal storage. It's my go to for mostly everything. I do photo scanning and repair for clients in Affinity Photo and some of these scans are monster 64MP equivalent files. I don't game on this machine but I use it for heavy photo lifting; Affinity Photo will will use every ounce of grunt you give it.

My new purchase was a base M2 Mini with an edu discount. I haven't taken a community college art class for expanding my skillset since the pandemic but I was still eligible for the discount. Heck they didn't even ask me if I was a student when I ordered online and picked up in store. Kinda weird.
Anyways this is a secondary video capture and editing machine. As I type this I'm transferring a VHS through a hardware upscaler to a Razer Ripsaw X connected via USB 3 to a Thunderbolt 3 dock using OBS. All my recordings are 1080p.

Overall because my edits are not heavy it the 8GB isn't that big a deal. All footage and video is stored on cheap external SATA SSDs in enclosures.
For reference I bought 2x 500GB Samsung 850EVOs on eBay for $30 each.

Hope this helps.
 
I would pick the first option if I was you.

IMHO, more RAM and storage trumps less RAM and storage with slightly better CPU.
Agree with this. More RAM and storage is the way to go, since they're soldered. The advantages of M2 Pro will only be realized in extreme heavy duty tasks. In regular tasks, the RAM and storage will give longer life and usability.
 
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IMHO, more RAM and storage trumps less RAM and storage
More RAM and storage is the way to go, since they're soldered.
I agree about the RAM, as it would be beneficial for the OP's stated tasks, especially when playing games, but I disagree about the storage being that important.

There is no speed benefit for the storage sizes that the OP was thinking about, and external storage is cheaper, can be just as fast, and can be added later if needed.



with slightly better CPU.

I wouldn't call the M2 Pro a "slightly" better CPU than the M2. Even the binned M2 Pro has about 50% better multi-core performance than the M2.

Since the OP is considered about gaming, the binned M2 Pro 60% more GPU cores than the M2. The M2 has better GPU scaling the the M1-chips, so that should equal about 60% better GPU performance.

These types of performance gains is not what I would consider "slight".


That said, it is very subjective if the cost is worth the benefit for the extra performance of the M2 Pro for the OP.

For some of the stated tasks:

LaTeX doesn't benefit from the boost in multicore performance, but Mathematica does.

Pixelmator Pro benefits from both the multicore performance and the extra GPU cores of the M2 Pro.

Gaming like WoW would benefit from he extra GPU cores.

Mix all that with the fact that the OP is looking to keep this Mac for maybe 10 years, I think that the M2 Pro might be worth it, especially over storage that could be purchased externally later on.
 
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I agree about the RAM, as it would be beneficial for the OP's stated tasks, especially when playing games, but I disagree about the storage being that important.
...
Mix all that with the fact that the OP is looking to keep this Mac for maybe 10 years, I think that the M2 Pro might be worth it, especially over storage that could be purchased externally later on.
Well, choice 2 (16GB M2 Pro) doesn't have enough ram, so I should eliminate this solution. But then, the mini M2 Pro with 32GB/512GB (choice 3) costs much more than the mini M2 24GB/1TB (choice 1). And I'm not sure I'll really appreciate the performance differences.
 
I suspect the 16GB RAM model will be (far) more than sufficient.

I suspect you'll get a lot more out of the more GPU and CPU grunt of the Pro (and quality/simplicity of life with more ports) vs. just another 8GB on the non-Pro.

I'd get the Pro.

I did.... I went from an 8/256 base model to the base Pro. I'm happy. It's significantly faster for games, and I like it.
 
I use frequently many temporary tabs in YouTube to listening music, or to watch later some videos that I find interesting, but not good enough to keep several bookmark files on my desktop (or in the bookmark menu). That may take a lot of ram (especially in Chrome, which is a real memory pig!!).
I use Safari, and the new tab groups feature means I can just open a bunch of tabs for a single project (let's say: "christmas shopping") and then once that tab group is saved I can close the whole window. When I open it again, every tab opens right back up. I use it at work for big projects and it means I can get away with having maybe 3-5 tabs open max, with the rest saved as groups I can open whenever I want.

I feel like there's probably also a Chrome extension that would accomplish something like this, if you're dead set on using Chrome.
 
I had the same dilemma when I had purchased and ultimately went with M2 pro with 16GB/512GB because I need 3 display inputs.
 
What is the price difference between M2 pro 32GB, and 512 GB compared to option 1? I would max out on processor and RAM before the disk space.
 
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I had the same dilemma when I had purchased and ultimately went with M2 pro with 16GB/512GB because I need 3 display inputs.
One thing is really certain in my case: I'm not interested in a multi-monitors setup. I'll use only a single large (27") monitor forever. So I don't really need extra TB ports to drive monitors.
 
What is the price difference between M2 pro 32GB, and 512 GB compared to option 1? I would max out on processor and RAM before the disk space.
The price difference is around 500$CD, from choice 1. The total price (with taxes) including keyboard and Studio monitor comes very close to 5000$CD, which is my ultimate psychological threshold for a new computer. Choice 1 is around 4200$CD (including monitor, keyboard and taxes), which is much more confortable and reasonable to me.
 
I also play WoW
My recently ordered 12c/19c M2 M2 Pro Mac Mini with 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD just was delivered yesterday, and I haven't had a chance to play around with it yet, but I can post here and let you know if my experience is any different than my M1.
What is considered acceptable and playable frame rates is so subjective. I currently have a M1 MM with 1TB SSD and 16GB of RAM, connected to a 1080p ultra wide monitor at 165Hz refresh. I play WoW with all the graphical settings to the max, and get about 30-45fps, with dips in the mid 20's. There is an occasional fps drop which is annoying, but overall, very playable for me.

A lot of people would rather have a smoother 60fps, sacrificing the eye candy and viewing distance, but I prioritize viewing distance the most > fps around 30 >= eye candy > fps above 30ish.

I got a chance to unbox and play with my new 12c/19c M2 Pro Mac Mini, and with WoW, there is a huge difference in performance between the M1 MM and the M2 Pro. I am very impressed!

With the same exact settings that I use on the M1 (got around 30-40fps on the M1), I was getting a consistent 130FPS with the M2 Pro in the DragonFlight zones.

I went to the graphical settings, and turn every possible setting there is to the max, including the ones I usually don't touch like Ambient Occlusion Type, Resample Quality, etc., and it stays around 100fps.

Finally, I looked at any setting that I haven't changed yet, and the last one was the Anti-Aliasing setting, the default is "none". I changed that to the highest setting, and by doing this, it adds more settings to change, and I changed every Anti-Aliasing setting to the highest, and I am getting 50fps. It looks amazing.

Everything is so much smoother on the M2 Pro as well. With the M1, turning would sometimes cause choppiness. It was playable for me, but a little annoying.

Even with all the settings mentioned above, the M2 Pro keeps everything smooth.


**That said, the M2 Pro MM runs a lot hotter than the M1. The fans are still low, and I can't hear them over the ambient noise, but temp are higher and the physical case is hotter as well.

**EDIT: I couldn't understand the differences in temps, and couldn't believe how high the temps were getting in the M2 Pro, I double checked, the the M1 MM was in Celsius and the M2 Pro was in Fahrenheit. The temps are very similar. Sorry for the screw up!
 
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That said, the M2 Pro MM runs a lot hotter than the M1. The fans are still low, and I can't hear them over the ambient noise, but temp are higher and the physical case is hotter as well.
Do you have some readings/measurements about this? With iStat or other apps, you should get the various temperatures inside the mini. This could be interesting.
 
A lot of people are giving some pretty good advice when it comes to upgrade priorities.

Based off of your stated usage, I really think the priority of RAM > CPU/GPU > Storage is the way to go. You can always use external storage, but the RAM and chipset is final once you make that purchase.

While 16GB of RAM might be great for you now, you said yourself that you wanted to keep this Mac for up to 10 years. Keep in mind that the GPU will also be sharing this RAM.

Even if a you can get by with the lower options now, you might be looking to replace your MM in a few years due to constraints in the RAM and GPU.


Do you have some readings/measurements about this? With iStat or other apps, you should get the various temperatures inside the mini. This could be interesting.
This is with iStat Menu, which is on both my M1 MM as well as my new M2 Pro MM.

The M2 Pro seems to just run hotter all the time, even at idle, but the fans barely run.


**While playing WoW, the M1 GPU stays in around the 60C, but the M2 Pro was getting close to 150C. This is with the fans at idle on both Macs.

For the M2 Pro, Apple is prioritizing low fan speeds over low temps, which really isn't that unusual with Macs. It is just a surprise when comparing it to the M1.

One thing is really certain in my case: I'm not interested in a multi-monitors setup. I'll use only a single large (27") monitor forever. So I don't really need extra TB ports to drive monitors.
Keep in mind that the M2 Pro HDMI can also do higher resolutions with higher refresh rates, with HDMI 2.1. The M2 MM only has HDMI 2.0 like the previous M1 MM.

Even if you won't benefit from this with your current monitor, you said you want this MM for 10 years. You could need to get a new monitor at some point, and wouldn't be able to take advantage of the higher resolutions or refresh rates.

**EDIT: I couldn't understand the differences in temps, and couldn't believe how high the temps were getting in the M2 Pro, I double checked, the the M1 MM was in Celsius and the M2 Pro was in Fahrenheit. The temps are very similar. Sorry for the screw up!
 
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I got a chance to unbox and play with my new 12c/19c M2 Pro Mac Mini, and with WoW, there is a huge difference in performance between the M1 MM and the M2 Pro. I am very impressed!

With the same exact settings that I use on the M1 (got around 30-40fps on the M1), I was getting a consistent 130FPS with the M2 Pro in the DragonFlight zones.

I went to the graphical settings, and turn every possible setting there is to the max, including the ones I usually don't touch like Ambient Occlusion Type, Resample Quality, etc., and it stays around 100fps.

Finally, I looked at any setting that I haven't changed yet, and the last one was the Anti-Aliasing setting, the default is "none". I changed that to the highest setting, and by doing this, it adds more settings to change, and I changed every Anti-Aliasing setting to the highest, and I am getting 50fps. It looks amazing.

Everything is so much smoother on the M2 Pro as well. With the M1, turning would sometimes cause choppiness. It was playable for me, but a little annoying.

Even with all the settings mentioned above, the M2 Pro keeps everything smooth.


That said, the M2 Pro MM runs a lot hotter than the M1. The fans are still low, and I can't hear them over the ambient noise, but temp are higher and the physical case is hotter as well.
M1 Mini: 8 GPU cores.
M2 Pro Mini 19c-GPU: 19 GPU cores, plus 20% or so uptick in performance per core, thus call it 23 M1-speed cores.

Yes, you ~tripled your graphics performance. Assuming a well-written app where everything just lines up perfectly, it might be 2x faster (3x the speed). Most things won't line up quite so well, but for this app, between the graphics being faster and the bump in CPU speed plus having 50% more cores, it's a great jump.

I noticed a good jump in performance in the various M1s I've had to the M2 Pro. It's fully noticeable in gaming.

Notice that neither quantity of RAM (>16GB, at least) nor disk IO speed figured into any part of this. :)
 
M1 Mini: 8 GPU cores.
M2 Pro Mini 19c-GPU: 19 GPU cores, plus 20% or so uptick in performance per core, thus call it 23 M1-speed cores.

Yes, you ~tripled your graphics performance.
Yup, even better than a triple gain.

I think the M2 GPU cores have better scaling than the M1, boosting the performance a little more.

WoW is probably well optimized for AS compared to most big games. They were an early Metal adopter, and had the first AAA game that had native AS support.

So far, I am very impressed with the difference between the 12c M2 Pro and the 8c M1.

**A guess a downside is that I also tripled the temps.


Notice that neither quantity of RAM (>16GB, at least) nor disk IO speed figured into any part of this. :)
Yeah, 16GB is good for WoW on both the M2 Pro and M1. Although, just from the POV of the OP wanting to keep this Mac for 10 years, 16GB might be good for now, but maybe not in a few years. Mix that with the fact that the OP stated that they like to multi-task, considering more RAM might be a smart move.

As for disk speed. I have the 1TB SSD on the M2 Pro MM, and the 1TB SSD on the M1 MM, and for the WoW load speed, it is noticeably quicker on the new M2 Pro MM.

The funny thing is, I didn't even notice how much quicker my M2 Pro MM was loading WoW until I was going back and forth between the M1 and M2 Pro MMs. I haven't timed it yet, but it seems like the M2 Pro is about twice as fast, which kind of makes sense.

That said, the M1 MM isn't exactly slow to load.

**EDIT: I couldn't understand the differences in temps, and couldn't believe how high the temps were getting in the M2 Pro, I double checked, the the M1 MM was in Celsius and the M2 Pro was in Fahrenheit. The temps are very similar. Sorry for the screw up!
 
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