Mac Mini M2 Long Term Review 2024

[@mgaming7]

Best $599 computer you can buy. MacOS is fantastic. This thing is fast. I recently went to a studio after selling my Mac mini to a friend. The $1299 pro model is even More incredible.

[@DsLmaNiaC]

What do you think of the studio so far? Are you doing video editing, what is your case of use?

[@Sensei_Leo]

first ever Mac ive bought/used. I'm a simple user, browse the internet such as KZbin, social media and Netflix (and other sites like Netflix) I only consume content. works like a charm for me. the pc I had before this was just as snappy but it'd randomly crash and that is a no no for me. already had the apple ultra watch, the phone and the AirPods so I decided to fully get into the ecosystem. do not regret it, great performance so far.

[@snowglobe-alj]

Do you think it's solid enough for light gaming, web browsing, light video editing and messaging?

[@Rush-Reviews]

Yes, it's perfect for that

[@akin242002]

The real cost is not $599. 8GB isn't good for professionals in the 2020s. The real cost is with 16GBs, so $799. At that price it is slightly above the BeeLink SER7 and Geekom A7. For the MacOS fans, that is still an excellent price to stay in the MacOs ecosystem. Even better if you use the student discount of $100, then it becomes. $699. To bump up the SSD space to 512GB, it will cost another $200. Thus, $899 total. Excellent deal for 16/512GBs, including the student discount.

[@MR-vj8dn]

I'm so annoyed about the belief that the M-series machines needs less RAM than the Intel ones. That's wrong and an ill advice for all your viewers.

[@craigsketo]

I have owned Intel Macs for years (and power PC before that) and you definitely need less RAM with the M series than intel, the 8GB M2 mac mini I have now smokes all my previous Intel makes in terms of speed, and if you use a good quick external SSD for all of your data and keep most of your software and data on that and the main hard drive relatively free so it can blaze through swap space then its pretty unlikely the SSD will fail anytime soon. I never have slow downs or lock outs, having said that my use of the Mini is as a plex server for the house, I use it as a web dev for coding and the like and run a couple of k monitors off it and use it in conjunction with a decent thunderbolt hub, but honestly I NEVER see slowdown or have short of memory errors and the fan never cuts in to a speed where I can hear it either, my old MacBook Pro i7 Quadcore with 16GB RAM always sounded like a plane taking off when given anything slightly stressful to do, I also own an M1 MacBook air in its base config which I've had from brand new and again it smokes all my old Intel Macs and the battery lasts 14-16 hours for general use,.

[@MR-vj8dn]

@@craigsketo Thank you for sharing your experience. But: While it’s true that M-series Macs are faster with the same amount of RAM as Intel-series, the idea that they actually NEED less RAM than Intel Macs is a misconception. Here are a few key points: 1 RAM requirements are determined by the tasks you perform, not the CPU architecture. Intensive tasks like advanced math studies, music making or running virtual machines still require substantial RAM. 2 Although M-series Macs have fast SSDs that handle swap memory very well by yesterdays standards, relying on swap memory too often can wear out the SSD and doesn’t replace the need for adequate RAM. 3 For light tasks, 8GB might be sufficient, but more demanding tasks will benefit from more RAM to avoid slowdowns. While M-series Macs are a significant improvement, it’s crucial to have enough RAM for your specific needs to ensure optimal performance.

[@craigsketo]

@@MR-vj8dn it’s not a misconception though, as you state yourself they do need less RAM for the average user, any power user shouldn’t be buying an entry level machine and a power user would know that, these 8gb machines are perfectly adequate for a high percentage of normal users, I’m 54 and grew up learning 6502 assembly language, C++ and making games and programming run in 64k of memory and to this day I run a farm of servers for one of the worlds largest companies in its sector so I’m pretty clued up on hardware coming from the era of HP and IBM servers and having to move with technology. I agree it’s horses for courses but the main point still stands almost all users apart from specialist will be perfectly happy with 8gb. The swap memory destroying the ssd thing whilst certainly possible as far as I understand it has not been a major issue with returns for apple considering it is now 3.5 years since the M1 hit the market so I agree it can definitely happen, but for the average user doing average things is very unlikely

[@ThatGuyyyyy]

I always chose higher RAM in past, but then I used my wife’s MacBook Air. M series just runs very efficiently and I think even 8GB is enough for “most” people, even for an IT professional like myself. Technically you are right, but in real world usage under everyday usage scenarios, experience with M series is just that good. I’m thinking of just selling my MacBook Pro for home and getting Mac Mini. I use iPad mostly for non-work stuff anyways.

[@MR-vj8dn]

@@ThatGuyyyyy If it works for you, it's good enough. 😊 The M series is wonderful to work with.

[@apollosophy24]

Everything is butter and cream till it comes to expandability. Memory, space future upgradibility path and software support 😅. Just my view

[@indoor_grow_lyfe]

u never get rid of support

[@Llama770]

Mad mine for about 5 months and it’s amazing

[@mosando]

How is yours specced out if I may know ?

[@Llama770]

@@mosando is just base model runs perfectly

[@kennymccormick8295]

Mad yours?

[@Llama770]

@@kennymccormick8295 had*

[@gregsmith1148]

what type of watch are you wearing?

[@Rush-Reviews]

Garmin fenix

[@gyanendramaurya1796]

Looks like I'm the first to comment. leaving a like and comment for KZbin algo. All the best to your youtube journey cheers.

[@Rush-Reviews]

You rock!

[@rodolac7848]

no you@@Rush-Reviews

[@lobramz]

Which one should i upgrade ram or ssd ? 16 gb ram or 512 gb ssd ?

[@gils33]

That’s depends of your need. The SSD can be enough and you can add an external one if needed. The ram is on the MB so it’s depends if it’s just for light task, but starting to really work (dev, photo or video editing…) 16 should be your goal.

[@constantinranis]

Both

[@Rush-Reviews]

I would choose ram first tbh. You can always get external drives to back up data when you fill up the drives.

[@LordJasonKing]

what about sound??? music?

[@robertodeleon-gonzalez9844]

External amplified speakers was my solution - connected thru the earphone jack.

[@artemrakov]

rush reviews - great idea!

[@Kaiokikaider]

Is there a way to get this to run 4k@120hz?

[@billb8262]

Yep it can do it

[@Kaiokikaider]

@billb8262 I've been trying to do it with a Cable Matters c to hdmi and I can't get it to work. Any recommendations?

[@billb8262]

@@Kaiokikaider Did you try one of the display resolution apps for Mac? You may need one that allows you to select 4K and higher refresh rate. Not sure if the default display settings app can. I think I used EasyRes or something like that to run an external and control its refresh rate when I did it.

[@Kaiokikaider]

@@billb8262 Thank you so much for the reply! I didnt know there was an app for that! i'll try it later today and let you know if it works. Thank you again!

[@Kaiokikaider]

@billb8262 almost worked. It'll do 120hz but only at 1440

[@wilyc0y0te]

Some constructive criticism - this was not really a very critical review. A NUC PC that costs the same or less can also run the programs you described, all at the same time, but usually the RAM and SSD can also be upgraded. Yes, for a basic computer user, this is a decent machine (although if RAM or SSD goes wrong out of warranty, it’s basically a paperweight). However, for a slightly more demanding user, it’s just not a good deal. If you want a more capable machine, you’re looking at double the price. I like Apple products, but you’re paying for the marketing and design, and I hate the feeling that their price gouging has reached a new level, now that they’ve eliminated the options for user upgrades. Just look at their profit margins.

[@wifienabled]

what do you recommend from a mini pc thats more customizable

[@mza2001]

Waffler

[@nontrickpony]

People are stressing me out in reviews saying get the 16g but I’m upgrading from a 2012 MacBook Pro 😂 I just wanna do some basic tasks and some light design work like the odd simple vector design and business cards. I get some discount through my partners job so I can get an 8g M2 Mac Mini and an Ultra 4K Samsung monitor for £800. Am I worrying about nothing?

[@Rush-Reviews]

I would also suggest the 16gb version tbh.

[@LexaTerrestrialx]

How long does it last for tho? If it’s more than 4 or 5 years then Okay!!!!!

[@Rush-Reviews]

You can keep using a mac for 10 years plus. They are super reliable

[@tobyknight]

Used a 2012 MBP every day for 12 years

[@Akakakakak1-h5r]

Buy 3 x ser 7 32/1tb for the price of 1 x m2 pro mac mini Same performance ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,..,,,,,,

[@Rush-Reviews]

On paper maybe, but the mac mini is so portable and well built!

[@mark-ze4en]

On the Mac M2 studio max,,, when using one monitor on the hdmi output and One on a thunderbolt display port do your get 2 screens in extension mode or are they mirrored??

[@Rush-Reviews]

You can have either option, each monitor has a separate settings section to set as you see fit

[@koudielover]

good job

[@felixal]

2 mins in no review top be found

[@balfronsocialclub4290]

I have been using this Mac Mini for about 9 months now, and it is a great multimedia computer, but as for use with external HDD's, it is by far the worst computer I have EVER used. I replaced a 2009 Mac Pro with this because it kept crashing when using any web browser. Frankly, this Mac mini does not work well with external hard disks, of which I have two, an 8tb and a 6tb disk. When connected they constantly spin up and down, as much as every thirty seconds, and often spend hours ata time writing something, though I have no idea what. its like a circus and there is absolutely no control over them. There is absolutely no way of knowing what they are doing either. It has come to the point that after booting up every morning I have to quickly disconnect them, as I cannot stand the constant noise, never mind the damage being done to my drives with the constant unnecessary use. I have updated the OS multiple times now and the problem remains. It has certainly convinced me that this is the last Mac I will ever buy.

[@Rush-Reviews]

Well they must be in use for some reason? Also, they are likely shingled which is another issue with regards to write speed as they fill up

[@balfronsocialclub4290]

The drives all have significant space on them, and this is a known issue with the Mac Mini (google it), an issue that never appears to get fixed. I suspect its purposefully designed to stop users who need additional HD space to use a higher end Mac instead.@@Rush-Reviews

[@bj0urne]

HDD's is a depricated medium and depending on brand, can behave differently. Also it sounds like these are pretty old so maybe they have dead sections and stuff that makes the computer slightly confused

[@balfronsocialclub4290]

They're not old. One is two years old and the other is just a few months old, both have several TB's of free space. I just unmount them now after the mornings back ups. Absolutely fed up of this computer.@@bj0urne

[@craigsketo]

I use external SSD's with mine and they are rapid in the thunderbolt 4 ports, I've also got a 2tb 2.5 external drive which I use for time machine every now and again and it works a treat but like others have said, if you are using old hard drives maybe that's the reason, nowadays you can get 1tb SSD's so inexpensively I just couldn't; be bothered using standard HDD's anymore, its also nice having a completely silent room, the fan in the M2 mini's is so quiet I don't think I have ever heard it running.