Buying an M2 Mac mini? Watch this FIRST!

[@MarkEllisReviews]

What do you do with your Mac mini?

[@jimcabezola3051]

Sad to say...but my old 2011 Mac Mini gets more action than my M1 Mac Mini. As a hobbyist, I'm...for the moment...addicted to testing Linux distributions on the ancient Macmini5,1. My perfectly wonderful M1 sits there too much playing my Apple Music for me in the background. However, when I ask more of that M1, it utterly crushes the 2011 model into dust! Frankly...I need to put on my big boy trousers so I can run and test Asahi Linux which is the only purpose-built Linux distro for Apple Silicon. I'm too nervous about "losing" my M1 Mac experience. So...do I pay for therapy? Or...do I just run out and by an M2 Mac MIni? Decisions, decisions...

[@Hans-Curaçao]

I got the M2 pro. Basically because with my use the M1-8Gb version sometimes beachballed a bit. So, the extra money gave me the 16Gb RAM and 512 Gb of storage. I kept my docking station - including both an SSD-slot and a M2-slot, meaning that I've got about 6Gb of extra storage - and am very happy with it. My old M1 (8Gb/512Gb) I handed to my husband, who is new to Mac and is now happily using it, especially together with his Iphone and Ipad.

[@TheScottlabrecque]

I use mine mostly as a backup machine to play World of Warcraft on, I use an M2 16gb 256gb and a few usb4 external ssds for extra apps

[@HarryOsirian]

I want to produce music with Ableton 11 and color grade videos

[@jeffk3368]

first use case for me is to have a dedicated machine to take all the photos off my iPhone. Totally seems overkill but my Windows laptop doesn't play nicely with the iPhone.

[@peteandpuy]

Just upgraded from an M1 to an M2 Mac Mini because the Bluetooth and network LAN port issues were driving me crazy. I can report the Bluetooth issues et al are fixed. I've noticed no performance differences between the two computers. Just the elimination of the Bluetooth problems was worth the upgrade. I did increase the storage on the new machine to 512 and stuck with 16 GB of RAM. I can't imagine a more ideal everyday computer that doubles as a music production powerhouse.

[@rehanjr.8602]

Do you have normal or pro m2

[@peteandpuy]

@@rehanjr.8602 Unless it's a demanding studio enviornment the vast majoriy of users would have no problem with the normal. I think I read that Logic can't really take advantage of the Pro chip (check that). You're paying for the 16GB and 512 SSD I don't think you need anything else. That's the spec that will work for 90% (?) of you hobbiest out there. Anything beyond that spec probably isn't needed. I would build an SSD external drive for icing on the cake.

[@michaelboucher3100]

That was a fantastic straightforward review. Sick and tired of the reviewers trying to out-tech other reviewers, leaving those of us who just want uncomplicated advice/suggestions mystified and unsatisfied. Well done!

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Much appreciated!

[@notaforte]

Indeed..

[@SvenWesti]

Another great review! I bought the M2 Mac mini with 16 GB unified RAM and 512 GB storage. For me the perfect machine. Ports I don't care as I rarely use them.

[@SvenWesti]

Are you ķidding? For this stuff it will be in idle mode all the time. This machine is really very very fast.

[@readwriter]

The 16/512 (both!) should be the regret-free minimum for most users for many reasons in many videos.

[@BluMustang]

The regret is price - massively overpriced

[@ian.bravo2]

I think the main problem with the mac mini m2 base model is the number of ports. I just recently bought the m2 pro. and I filled up the ports real quick I even had to use a 4x USB port hub and a USB C dongle. my connections are: Elgato HD60x (USB A) 4 port USB hub connections (USB A) -Audio interface - Camera dummy battery - Monitor LED strip USB C connections -2nd Monitor -External SSD -Keyboard -USB C dongle (for SD card reader and video capture card)

[@ian.bravo2]

I recently switched from macbook air m1 2020 base model to mac mini m2 pro base model. honestly basic tasks feels the same. video editing and photo editing are a lot smoother. but also I could still do video editing work 4k footage in my macbook air m1 just fine. So if you have m1 devices and its going to hurt you financially to upgrade. I suggest stick with the m1 devices.

[@alexfischer9493]

16 gigs of ram has got to be the best upgrade. Bite the $200 bullet, and then boot Mac OS off an external thunderbolt drive. for the same 200 dollars you would spend for an extra 256 gigs of internal storage, you can buy a thunderbolt enclosure, and 2 tb nvme ssd. However, after purchasing, you are stuck with the amount of ram you ordered in the first place. 8 Gigs was not enough for me, so i returned it for a ram upgrade immediately. Don't let your 14 day return window run out or you will be very sad in the long run 😭

[@emack1974]

Got my daughter an M2 Mac Mini for college. Love it!!

[@alekseygoncharuk3029]

Thank you for the review with no tests!! And HI from Russia! God bless!

[@thedevhow]

Bought the base version with the plan to keep it for less than a year when M3 Max MBPs are out and I can afford one. I was really surprised how powerful this silent little machine is. I can open Signal, Telegram, Chrome with 20 tabs, Notion, Photoshop, Lightroom, Premiere Pro, do stuff in the terminal and have VSCode open too without any issues, it starts to swap but memory allocator is very smart about what you're actually using, together with memory compressor and fast internal SSD, the low physical RAM on these unified memory machines doesn't really matter unless you're into VMs and Docker or heavy music and video workflows. General browsing, coding, video and photo editing this machine kicks ass. Just grab the base and be happy!

[@musicpatron1693]

that's all i needed to hear

[@dennishp]

If i understood it correctly, u are using M2 Mac Mini for ur video editting and photo editting.

[@musicpatron1693]

that's what i hear from him and the video. if you don't know why you need to upgrade, you probably don't need an upgrade.

[@OakyToki]

Thank you for this! My current computer’s fan starts to kick in once I get notion open + other things I have open at the same time. Good to hear it doesn’t give you issues

[@craigsketo]

This is a great video, I have the entry level M2 Mini 8Gb / 256Gb and yes I wish it had more ports, but I bought an OWC thunderbolt 4 hub to plug into it and its absolutely great, I have external 2tb SSD plugged in and it runs smooth as smooth can be, I even use it to run as a plex server and it streams the movies from a synology NAS box which wasn;t up to the job of acting as a plex server as its only a 2 bay cheap one with a couple of 6tb NAS drives in it, however on a gig network connection its perfectly good at supplying the mac mini with the movies and the mac mini handles everything else. I have a carry case and have ditched my old macbook pro and now just take the mini into the office with me with one external SSD storage drive for all my data and use the internal drive purely for the software and OS, no data on it at all. I'm a web developer that does some light video editing and this thing is fantastic, likewise its great for transcoding movies from one format to another using the free Shutter encoder app and honestly I'm so glad I didn't waste money upgrading the hard drive or memory, 8GB is perfectly fine and I can't see the internal SSD failing due to too many writes before I eventually upgrade to a shiny new M6 or M7 sometime in the future when they come along. You can't get this much computing power, reliability and design brilliance anywhere else, oh and the joy of working in a completely silent room is genius!

[@raghuabroad]

Bro, im a small youtuber using movavi for video editing. Im planning to purchase adobe for video editing. My purpose is to edit three videos per week . 20 mins video with not much graphics. So for that purpose 8gb, 256ssd is enough right? Or do i need 16gb with 512gb to use for atleast 5 years? But my requirement is not more than three videos per week

[@grizzlypaws461]

I have the 8/256 model and it works great. I’m so glad I didn’t waste money on spec bumps. It does skip a beat.

[@ekphotography]

What are you doing, just navigating the internet ? LMAO

[@JohnJohnson-qv1fm]

Definitely doesn’t open more than one tab on their browser at a time lol

[@craigsketo]

same here, I'm a web developer and also run 12 web servers for a pretty large UK company so am fluent in command line Linux etc and know my tech pretty well and I also do video editing sometimes. I also use it to run as a plex media server and it handles it all with ease, my old quad core i7 Macbook pro with 16GB ram is a million miles off the new base level M2 and cost 3 times as much as it was the best version in its day, the way unified memory works now means that yes if you have the spare money to blow on more memory then feel free, but actually its not necessary at all for most users, if you are a power user you will know you are but in my long experience in the tech world I can say hand on heart most people THINK they need more power than they actually do in the real world (gamers aside and why would you buy a mac if thats you!), I have multiple 1U Xeon multi-core multi processor servers in my house in a server rack, I wish to god they were as power efficient as these little mac mini beasties, their writing is on the wall for replacement by some apple silicon !

[@ekphotography]

@@craigsketo Just wait until you start getting memory overload warnings, I have the M1 Air with 16 gigs, and have been getting lately the warnings I need to close some apps because no memory left. SO good luck with 8 gigs..

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Enjoy! It's a great machine.

[@iahorvath]

Great review and tips! I am a graphic designer and only use the Adobe suite applications. I have a 27 inch mac at work and am looking to buy the M2 mac mini for home. I am about to retire and will still do the occasional freelance job. I still want some performance which is why I am looking at the Mac mini and a non-apple monitor. At the Apple shop a salesperson was pushing the Mac Studio but do I really need it? After watching your review I am confident that the M2 mac mini should be enough for me. Mark, would you agree?

[@duckiezoomie]

I am also a graphic designer and I made the mistake of buying a 8GB ram m2 Mac mini when at work they require 32GB minimum for the art we do. :(

[@johnleahy4604]

Mark just want to thank you for helping me pick the m2 mac mini with 16gb unified memory and 512 ssd storage. I feel comfortable with my purchase and look forward to more of your insight into the apple world.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Glad to help!

[@dngriffiths8105]

Thanks, Mark, for another great video. One aspect that seems to be omitted from every comparison discussion here or by others is: how long does the purchaser intend to be able to effectively use the Mac? In my case, while my demands are low (eg personal photo editing) compared to someone such as yourself, I aim to do what I can to future-proof myself as much as possible, with the goal of getting something like 10 years from my purchase. (Call me "The 10 Year Man".) So, taking such a perspective -- relatively ordinary user with 10 year window -- how does that change the ideal specs? I'm thinking M2 Pro with 32 Unified Memory. Thanks again for your great content; it's been helpful.

[@nunyabidnes6010]

Why? What do you actually plan on doing with it? That matters more than how long you want to have it for tbh.

[@Katerationopia]

My 2014 Mac mini is still kicking... though very slowly now. But you can't beat this kind of power and sustainability for that price.

[@jimd1968]

I bought the M2 Mac Mini with 24 gig of memory and 1TB hard drive space. My mid 2011 i7 iMac died. I need 16 gigs of RAM and 1tb hard drive space. I am not a gamer unless PS 2,3,4 not 5. I do some graphic design work but I am a pre press person. For my budget it works. The iMac is too small and too much money. I wanted to try a Mac Mini but not a Pro for cost reasons. I will find out if I made the right choice. Thank you for your advice

[@trucktrekker]

I’ve bought the base M2 with 256gb storage. Not bothered about speed transfer as it’s plenty fast enough for me. Will be getting a dock though which can take either sad or m.2 storage

[@TomAshworth]

Done. Base model Mac Mini M2 purchased will use with my existing HP monitors. HP Prodesk will go up for sale. Son had for Christmas my iPad Pro 12.9 (2018 model) he loves it. Went for the Logitec Mouse and Logitec minimalist keyboard too. Sold old AirPod Pros. 2s ordered. Sold old pair of AirPods. Out with the old tech and in with the new. Thank you Mark your reviews are solid everyman with no bull I love them. Plus the fact that my brother Mark Ashworth knows a fella who knows you. Small world and all that.

[@a62dave]

I got the base M2 mini, 8/256, paid $479 US from Amazon. With the money I saved off the regular price, I bought the Satechi USB hub that has an NVME M2 slot built into the bottom of it. I got that for $79, and put in a Samsung EVO 990 1TB SSD for $69. All in, I spent $630 & have a total of 1.2 terabytes of fast storage, in an attractive little stack. Running the system monitor shows no “swap pressure” 99% of the time, so 8 GB of memory is plenty for me.

[@barry155]

Perfect, I like, and I quote you... "if you don't know if you need the Mac Mini Pro, you don't need a Mac Mini Pro".......Priceless

[@adampeacock7992]

I didn’t even know this existed as I’ve had an iMac for ten years and only just upgrading now. This seems insanely good value compared to an iMac!

[@irensaga561]

I think this was my favourite video yet of yours. Quick, snappy, lots of fun camera work and little snippets of humour. I think I’ll go and buy a Mac Mini now…

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@julianhigginson5946]

A quick note on if you carnt afford a Mac. My iMac 2011 build has just finally packed in it’s been faultless for nearly 14 years Ive battered it every day making music on it. My friend uses a mini m1 for music and he says it’s totally fine. I’ve just bought an m2 with 1tb drive and more memory so I’m looking forward to it 💥

[@ezrawilson6986]

Great video, thanks for posting. I just ordered the M2 mini from Amazon for $499 US plus sales tax. I finally had enough of the countless problems associated with Windows and look forward to a more intuitive and streamlined computing experience.

[@mockbattles]

I’ve just ordered my M2 basic.

[@TrogART]

I use a Mac mini Pro M2 with 32GB of Ram for video, design and photography. I have external Crucial 2TB drives, track pad rather than a mouse and a Wacom Pro tablet, handy because I use both trackpad with right hand and Wacom pen with left hand. I did splurge on the Apple display eeek. By the way do you or anyone else ever experience problems with your keyboard in that when typing all of a sudden the cursor seems to swap its position on the page and all of a sudden your typing somewhere else within your sentence? Its really annoying when your not looking at what your typing as you can be typing away but it is wrecking what your doing.

[@thatguy4139]

im diving in to the full apple experience. i switched to iPhone 13 pro max,, just got a ipad pro m2. now im looking to get a mini, should i wait for the m3. im not a content creator

[@KamalTiwari82]

I am an aspiring software developer should I get a Mac mini or would a Apple laptop be a better fit for my needs.

[@robinonephotography]

I’m jumping waaay up from a mid-2010 Mac Pro to this Mac Mini M2. I went with the 8/512 version. Fingers crossed it will work well for my needs. 😊

[@r_sheran_2024]

@MarkEllisReviews Superb video for newbies who are planning to buy Mac Mini! All areas and doubts are covered. Got one question : "M2 mac Mini M2 Mac Mini both supports 3440p*1440p resolution?". Of course your video shows an ultrawide monitor .Just need to confirm whether it will support 21:9 aspect ratio where the monitor screen will not have any ugly stretches.

[@MannyRTW]

I recently got this for my birthday! And I am in love with my Mac mini.

[@JujoeM]

got a 2nd hand M1 16gb 256. works great. I work on print design and web graphics.

[@ArjithAjayofficial]

I am planning to purchase 16gb ram and 256 gb ssd m2 Mac mini for music production Is it enough for music production ?

[@devarni]

Mac Mini M2... a fantastic computer in my studio. Mainly for music production and it's a big improvement over my Windows PC. Not just because of the noise level (inaudible), but because of the performance. The only thing I would do differently is buy a keyboard where the brackets also have keys ;) The little mini keyboards from Apple and Logitech don't have that... I need lots of ports for my stuff, external SSDs or a hub... no problem and the performance is excellent! The same goes for my Logitech MX Master. Not a single problem with my external hardware

[@HeartRecords-p5i]

Bought the M2 Pro some time ago & am totally happy with it .. I plumped for 16GB Ram as I just didn't trust only 8gig. If speccing again I would probably go 32gb but not sure its necessary ... As you say its a great workhorse for Audio & Video production ,..,.Thank you Apple

[@pppickle1853]

omg the reassurance i needed at the end, i was stuck on which one to get the m2 or m2 pro cause i wanted to do graphic design work and a little bit of gaming, but now i know im just gonna go for the m2

[@samogden7537]

Can you clarify- did you say they fixed the Bluetooth issue in the base model? Thank you!!

[@MartFish]

Thanks I think I’ll go with a standard M2 with 16Gb Ram and 1Tb SSD… I want it to last a while and I believe you cannot upgrade those internals later, right?

[@sharingmatters]

I am new here. Really like your channel and a down-to-earth attitude. I used to use Magic Mouse for over than 10 years. I switched to MX3 and never looked back. It just great for my palm.

[@javiergutierrez1031]

Thank you. I ended up buying the mac mini M2PRO 16GB Ram. I am planning on doing Video editing. I did purchase a high end BenQ monitor as well. I also have the Latest I Mac Pro M2MAX 32gb 1TB that I use often and I had thought about just buying another lap top. In the end, I am happy with my choice. Thanks Javier

[@ali.sherif1]

how is it going with you I am confused between getting m2 with 24 gb or getting m2 pro with 16 gb

[@talmorris3740]

one thing not mentioned is 10gbe ethernet option, why is it needed or not? Who needs it? Audio? Video, Streaming? Gaming? Internet direct connections? Please and Thank you

[@wayneatacornwoodturning2206]

Hi Mark, I have a late 2017 IMac which is as slow as a slug now! How about doing a video on how to connect a Mac Mini to an existing IMac, as I don’t really want to buy another monitor. Thanks in advance

[@mahmudulh.russell1814]

You might be able to use luna display or similar product to use your old iMac with mac mini

[@mn9978]

Very useful information, thank you! Which version would you suggest for a stock trader? Thanks again!

[@The-ll2gx]

Hi Mark. My 2012 27 inch Imac finally died 😢 so I took the plunge and got a refurbished M2 Mac Mini from Apple. I went for the 16gb memory model with the 256 gb storage. Planning on using my 1tb ssd as the external storage but need to update the OS on it as I was using it on the Imac. Great channel keep up the good work.

[@kingleo9981]

Thanks mate, I definitely need at least 16gb of RAM though (music production & Cybersecurity). So now I’m just trying to find one that I can get the best deal.

[@UGCDad]

I bought the refurb pro in 2024 for $1600 CDN. 16GB ram, 1TB ssd. I use it to edit videos obviously. it's my main machine and I also have a 2019 MBP 16" i9 but the mini will be mainly for editing at my desk and the MBP will be for editing on the road.

[@criostasis]

I went with 16gb/256gb/10gbe. Lower on ssd since tb4 allows ultra fast external storage and I can work off my nas fast with 10gbe.

[@gergemall]

I love the Mac Mini . I have an older one and it’s still amazing.

[@robcarr8505]

I've been driving myself crazy trying to figure out what computer to buy for editing videos on my new action camera. I thought I'd be able to just buy a cheap laptop and it would be fine but obviously not. As someone who doesn't know anything about computers, it made my head spin. I think the m2 Mac mini is the way to go. Hopefully I'm making the right decision but your video makes me feel more at ease. Thank you

[@franciscomedinav]

I'm starting an youtube channel pretty soon, and I've been looking for a decent-budget friendly computer for video editing. I think I'm gonna go for this macmini (I'm a windows and android guy) but I'm opting for the simplicity of Mac. I know I can get the job done with this little device, and $600 us dollars is a good deal.

[@DeepCrossing1]

Thanks this was exactly what I needed to hear, in terms of weighing up options. My type of work involves doing things like Ableton and Sibelius at the same time, and I know I need as much processing power as possible, and to also accomodate for soft ware updates etc. Also the type of stuff I do with Ableton involves performing live for which a laptop would normally be the best option, but I’m interested in the Mac mini pro for its portability, like the laptop. And you obviously get more bang comparing price points of Mac minis vs MacBooks 🎉

[@MaddDrEw]

This was great. I just an m2 and it does still have wonky Bluetooth problem - but I'm doing audio and I have like 12 usb things plugged in I'm guessing the electrical field is messing with it, cuz when I move it away sometimes it's better 🤷‍♂️

[@ClaudeSignoret]

I watched tons of videos on this Mac mini subject and you are by far the one who gives the best performance with humor bonus. I am a graphic designer, recently retired, but I would like to continue making posters with Photoshop and perhaps occasionally work with After Effects. I'm hesitant to buy Mac mini 2 or a Mac mini 2 Pro. What do you think ? Thank you !

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Appreciate the kind words! As for which one to go for, get the Mac which best suits your budget without blowing the bank ;)

[@Behindstage]

Well My 2015 maxed out Macbook Pro connected to my 2010 iMac (still a great screen and it amuses me greatly I’m still using it) is still going very Strong, I’m a graphic designer and only use illustrator and some light photoshop for my work, frankly I can’t justify the upgrade even if I can afford it, but a Mac mini would be my choice today and thanks to your review I feel the 8gb model would be the choice..however the longer I wait the better computer I’d get and the most value I will continue to get out what I have. I’m a big advocate of using what you have till it’s absolutely useless of broken. I’d rather spend the cash on travel for my photography.

[@ryanwood74]

I am going to use the M2 Mac mini prodominately for day trading. I was just wondering which one you suggest (MINI or pro) and the configurations?

[@xavieraubad3824]

I really needed this video! So happy knowing I can connect any monitor and keyboard to this as well. So used to Apple only allowing their own products to work in unison. Does anyone have suggestions on monitors?

[@boxart5268]

Hi Mark. Thanks very much for your quick & great review. This is really helpful in deciding what Mac to get. I can't justify buying a Mac for £1,000+ but the Mini looks good. So, I can you use ANY display monitor and keyboard? I have the 2012 Mac book Pro and I'm thinking of trading this in for a Mac Mini. Thanks

[@briansmith2739]

I plan to buy the Mac Mini in the next five years to replace my Intel I-Mac (27-inch, 32 RAM, AMD Radeon 580 RX). I'll get the basic version and add external storage for additional space.

[@jkporter9]

I'm buying the standard M2 Max Mini with 8G Ram, thanks much for your explainations. P.S. How is Huntingdon England these days? RAF Alconbury.

[@johndevitofranceschi1587]

Last month, I found my Mom a refurbished MM2023 on Amazon (base model w/Apple warranty & still eligible for Apple Care!) for $483.12. Such a deal!

[@VerseChorusCurse]

M2 Mac Mini with 16GB RAM upgrade. SSD for Hard Disk/Samples for DAW. I tried a DAW on my 8GB Macbook Air M1 and it didn't quite work out with memory.

[@John-hp8sg]

Hey Mark, great video. I decided to get the M2 mini with 24GB of RAM and a 1TB HD. Just waiting for it to get delivered. 😁

[@ali.sherif1]

I am thinking of buying this same option can you tell me your experience and what do u use the mac for

[@John-hp8sg]

@@ali.sherif1- I’ve had a really great experience with my Mac. I would definitely max out your ram, especially if your like me and plan on keeping it for a while. Plus, get at least a 1 TB hard drive. The other benefit of maxing out your ram is because of AI. Now I use my Mac mainly for causal gaming, writing papers, and working with photos. Hope this helps 😊

[@jpdemer5]

You can save hundreds more (enough to buy all the peripherals) by getting a used or refurb M1 mini. (Mine has never had any Bluetooth issues, and I have the Satechi dock sitting on top of it rather than underneath ... much easier to get at the SD slot.) 8GB/512GB is, I think the ideal configuration for most users. I'm running a law office on this thing, with two 32" monitors, and the apps that I use (Office for Mac, Firefox and Thunderbird) load and run in seconds. Photo files get opened, processed, and saved equally quickly. Unless you're editing videos, the M1 has all the power you could ever want. If you're doing routine document processing and web browsing, the M2 is simply not worth the extra money, because there's no real-world benefit in shaving half a second off of any operation.

[@pjlcarpexpeditions]

Glad I found this video. I been thinking of getting a mac mini for music production. I probably will opt for the mac mini pro as i do a fair bit of music recording and video editing.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Glad I could help!

[@40jarod]

I've been thinking about waiting for a new 27" iMac to come out to replace my late 2014 model. As a casual user; would I be better off choosing the Mac Mini with a decent monitor?

[@MarkEllisReviews]

You could be waiting a long time. Go for the Mac mini!

[@pokeypickle3]

Last month, I went for a 16 GB RAM Mac Mini over an iMac to replace my 2013 iMac. It’s cheaper. I got decent an ergonomic monitor (on sale) which I can raise. Cheap speakers (with external power) do a great job. I will get a webcam when I need one. Get an external SSD and make sure it’s the default drive for Documents, Music and Photos. There’s a setting in Time Machine to ensure that external SSD are backed up as well. I got a small 1TB external SSD and a 6TB powered back up drive for Time Machine.

[@Ben-j7f]

Currently looking at replacing my laptop - I definitely want apple, but I could kind of do with a big-ish screen (15-inch plus), and all the apple macbooks are quite expensive. Would a Mac mini with a cheap-ish portable monitor (so I can still take it to libraries, etc) be a good solution? And any recommendations which monitor to get? Thanks!

[@KING-BUZZ]

I have a 2010 MacBook Pro that I desperately need to upgrade. Was wondering about a Mac mini and this video was very helpful. I just use it for basic needs: backup iPhone, music, word processing, etc. I want to venture into content creation. I think the basic M2 model with the accessories you mention would be plenty for me. Sound about right? Also, hoping to get quite a few years out of the setup

[@michael7770]

So, buying an MSI Ultra Wide monitor, will give the exact same reproduction of an iMac? I ask as I have a second monitor which is a BENQ, and spite them saying it gives the same reproduction, it does not!

[@KingSlickJoker]

Def bought the base model with a new red dragon keyboard to start building my art site. Good info

[@AliexFolgueira]

4k heavy sony vid and 5K gorpro footage on premiere, multiple timelines, whats the lowest spec mini pro or pro would you get?

[@JamesMCrutchley]

I'm buying the Mac mini to compile dotnet Maui apps. When not compiling it will be off and unused. I'm going to get base model with 512gb of storage.

[@trebleboost7]

Audio production might be a special use case. My understanding is that fastest single core performance is desireable Especially to reduce tracking latency. I think the Pro is the baseline for this. Great advice BTW.

[@Superseanbarry]

Great job! I have the base M1 mini. It drove my blue tooth mouse nuts and mademy BT sub woof drop out. I got a non BT wireless mouse and that helped. I don't need more computer but if an M2 mini solves the problem I can justify purchasing an M2! Right? Right? Right! :)

[@Katerationopia]

I have had my 2014 Mac Mini for almost 10 years now. It's the reason I stopped buying windows computers. Sadly, Apple will no longer be updating the MacOs for the 2014 Mac Mini anymore, and I'm pretty sure the hard drive is finally beginning to fail. I have used this thing with Adobe photoshop and premiere pro, had over twenty programs running at once, along with a cpu hogging internet browser with 70 tabs open. It's a hard working little thing and I have loved it dearly, but it's time to upgrade. Thank you for your reviews on the new Mac Mini M2. I'm trying to decide what newer Mac Mini is right for me, and I was really wanting to upgrade from the 2014's 8Gb of RAM, but if the M2 is more efficient then is sounds like 8 will be perfectly fine for it as well. Thanks so much!

[@17stjames]

Went with 16/256 M2 MM. Had real awful wifi issues. Along with heaps of others. I managed to move the modem so I use Ethernet now, goes like a bullet, when on wifi, absolutely terrible.

[@bowieknife]

Is it a widely reported problem? Did you get it fixed?

[@glensavory11]

I got my base M2 with an Edu discount and an Apple voucher thrown in as a free gift. So now I have the savings and the voucher ready for the M3 one day maybe.

[@mikesparkes9626]

Thanks for the excellent review, which confirmed that I only need the basic Mini. I've been changing my mind for days now, but you succinctly established an essential fact for me. I'm not a gamer, nor an editor; I keep a lot of music on an external hard drive and edit photos a lot. I also write passages and am currently learning latin online.

[@tonywright8342]

I’m like you going back and forwards trying to decide which one to buy. I do like to keep mine for a long time. Like 5-10 years and also stay within my budget. I’m thinking the M1 with 16/512, but what about the Bluetooth issues. So may go the M2 16/512.

[@felixroldan3440]

this video is very helpful!

[@kylejameshendricks]

Thanks Mark. I heard that intial setup is difficult if you don't have an Apple keyboard and Apple mouse. Something about the OS having trouble recognizing third party accessories. Is that true?

[@bmoraski]

After your excellent advice i think im going with the base model ( $599 ). My current Mac Pro 5,1 2012 is used for music, home video's etc. running Mojave. Love this machine and will use it till it dies but it is getting dated. I have an M1 air for work etc. I could go on and on. Thanks for your excellent advice.

[@pratiksyadav]

Hi, pratik here, If you are reading this can you please share your experience with Mac mini m2. I am thinking of buying it. Thank you.

[@ofrutsra]

Thanks for the great breakdown. I'm planning to buy an M2 at the end of the month. My current laptop has 8gb of ram and 256gb of storage and it's starting to struggle on me when I'm running TTRPG sessions with Roll 20, 2-3 Google sheets tabs, and Discord all going, so I'm thinking I'm going to upgrade to the 16gb of universal memory. I'm also thinking about upgrading the SSD. I know the external drives are good, but I saw that the internal one gets a processing upgrade if you go up one level, and I want this computer to last a long time. $1000 still seems like a pretty decent price to get this machine at, but I would love to hear if I might be wrong about that.

[@quartlow7210]

First, I would think that most people, in this day and age, already have a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. So those "additional expenses" really don't apply. Second, if one already has an M1 Mac Mini, then a move to an M2 is sort of an indulgence. My 16GB/256GB Mac Mini is moving along nicely, with dongle added ports, doing whatever I want it to do. (Curiously enough, it refuses to clean the cat litter. Oh, well.) I enjoy your presentations.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

They’ll apply to people who want to invest in a brand new setup or their first desktop Mac which, I’d imagine, is a significant chunk of the Mac mini market. It’s important for us all to broaden our horizons in tech. Thanks for the kind words 👍

[@jeyanthinoelpillai6308]

Hi Mark, If I had the means to do just ONE upgrade. Which would you recommend? Upgrading the RAM/SSD? Use case: emails, KZbin, Microsoft office, banking. I’m trying to future proof for the next 5 years when I assume kids will have assignments that require some computer work. Pls advice. Many thanks!

[@KingKongWorld]

RAM over SSD Reason: you can extend an external SSD with Thunderbolt 3 or 4 (3Gbps to 7Gbps). RAM: at least 16GB or you are a donkey. Does anyone know if there are new Mac Mini with M3 chip for march 2024??? Maybe you should wait for this information before buying.....

[@FelixZhao]

October 2024 in Canada : Just checked out the NuPhy keyboard, it's about 40$ more expensive than the magic keyboard(the one without fingerprint sensor), why?!

[@mrconnsmythejjb3372]

Just bought the mac mini M2 and upgraded to 24 unified and 1Tb drive. Going to be running parallels and multiple users for the family.

[@FlyingFun.]

What about the fact that the 256gb version has REALLY slow ssd? Lots of other reviews mention that it does slow the whole thing down. Is this an issue or not?

[@bifferos]

Unfortunately that keyboard is more expensive than a genuine apple one as far as I can see. I would appreciate if you could adjust the recommendation (or add another one) to something that's a bit more in budget, maybe around the £50 mark? Thanks!

[@keypoint1293]

Definitely get 16gb for future proofing. I am on a 16gb 2012 mac mini.

[@bengalbhoy]

Very informative Mark I am thinking of trading in my 27inch iMac late 2017 for a new M3 iMac, but after watching this video I am curious to know if I can use my existing iMac as a screen with the M2 Mac mini?

[@robertblack7610]

another down to earth presentation, also good to get prices in £s and the proper pronunciation of ZED 🙂

[@EllenDean]

Will the Mac mini work with an old Mac computers please? Or, do you have to have a separate screen? I have various older Macs that still work, but won't update etc. I don't want to get rid of them even though I have an iMac M1 and MacBook M2. There are things I can do on my older Macs that I can't do on the newer ones.

[@gabrielgunnzalez]

2:18 That unboxing reaction 😆

[@Maynardtkrebs]

Thanks for the Bluetooth info. Would like to see some compare.

[@julianhrnndez]

Hi Mark, I like your video and it's really helpful. I'm just wondering does your USB Hub affects the ventilation of your Mac Mini? Thank you. :)

[@peteandpuy]

I can tell you both the SSD and the hub I have hanging out the back get hot. The MacMini sometimes gets warm. Additional cooling isn't needed.

[@Boitaoutix]

If you no longer want to have issues with Bluetooth dropouts, ban any connection of USB 3 devices to your computer. Intel issued an explicit warning over 10 years ago and I was able to verify its validity (Mac and PC). A Faraday cage can suppress interference, but it's not always easy to implement.

[@katjahefington1837]

Thank you for the info. It definitely helped me understand the basics. I am on the fence to buy the mini or new all in one m3 pc.

[@MarkEllisReviews]

Glad it was helpful!

[@dantedimaano9556]

Thanks Mark for this info it helped me decide which Mac mini to buy.Great job

[@Chinga3000]

Mate, Cyberpunk requires A LOT of memory.... 32G is necessary for RDRII... If you pair it with 4070TiSUPER it plays 4K/60 very well. Plus this ARM is kinda futureproofed where as the Ryzen9HS/HX also has 32G RAM. GPU has 16G of it's own to play with.

[@rogeneesparcia1179]

very well explained, straight to the point.. 👍