The M2 Max Mac Studio Just Killed the M2 Pro Mac mini

Apple's announcement of the M2 generation Mac Studio at WWDC in June basically makes the M2 Pro Mac mini they launched just 5 months ago in January almost completely pointless. Well, ok, not the base model, but if you were looking to get an upgraded M2 Pro mini, you should set your eyes on the Mac Studio instead. Here's why.

[@MutePCdotcom]

Forgot to include the 10Gb Ethernet as another advantage in the summary list. What the Mac Studio gets you for "free" versus the similarly priced upgraded M2 Pro Mac mini is quite good.

[@JohnSmith-zl8rz]

Synology NAS have 10Gb, so that helps.

[@TheMetalMag]

good point!

[@Albarios]

The title of the video is a click bait as not everyone needs the power of Mac Studio spending several hundreds over a M2 Pro base Mac Mini. Good analysis, awful title. 🙄

[@litesoutproduction]

I returned the Mac mini and got the studio. I upgrade the Mac mini with 32g of ram and 1TB storage. 2200$ out the door. For an additional 1k I got the Studio M2 Max 64g of ram 38 core GPU and 1TB storage. I feel I made a better choice 💪🏾

[@JamesJosephFinn]

This advice is only pertinent if you need to spec up; and most people don't. The base M2 Pro Mini, as you've meticulously demonstrated in prior videos, is a bad ass machine that can handle most modern workloads.

[@flexairz]

Correct and cheaper

[@PhoenixAndTheRaven]

Pretty sure he knows what you're saying. No need

[@donp244]

He already states that in the beginning of the video

[@JamesJosephFinn]

@@donp244 Regardless, his click bait video title warrants my comment. The M2 Pro Mini has not been killed by anything. It's a ridiculous title; which he used not for your benefit, but for the benefit of his digital marketing, in an effort to capitalize on WWDC hype. He should stay true to his mission, and talk about the facts. A better title would have been: "New Mac Studio: Don't spec up the Mac Mini". I hate transparent marketing hacks, and so should you.

[@nahlene1973]

Just wanna say a big thank you for posting this video! I was exactly at the boat of having just bought a Max-out M2-Pro mini (ok except the SSD is upgraded to 1TB only). After watching your video I realized that a based Mac Studio model with 512GB, actually cost less than my Mac mini at where I live (Canada). Then I checked the return policy, I was at the last day of eligible return. So I rushed to nearby Apple Store and exchanged it for a Base Mac Studio and got a few hundred refund XD. The speed difference is very obvious when running Blender, but not so much in FCPX & Motion. I can now totally use that refund to buy a TB4 enclosure and a 4TB NVME for the extra storage. Thank you so much.

[@handleReallyDafaq]

yay

[@mohammednadeem2354]

This is probably the only video which has the most information that anybody who’s looking to buy a Mac mini or a Mac Studio needs. Compared to almost all the other nonsense comparisons that exists on KZbin.

[@crearg8259]

I quite like the form factor of Mac Mini, originally I planned to get it configured to 32GB+1TB. Now, with the price of Mac Studio, paying any amount more than $1300 on a Mac Mini is a disrespect to the Mac Studio (M1 Max Mac Studio only $1499)

[@chrisbogart687]

Last year in March, I was ready to buy a Mac Mini Pro since I over-taxed with the tasks I run on my Mac Mini M1. When Apple announced the Mac Studio instead, it took me less than 5 minutes after Apple made them available in the store to order the Mac Studio Max and trade in my Mac Mini. I have been a happy camper ever since. Announcing the Mac Mini Pro was too little too late. The Mac Studio Max is an absolute beast. Today, I tell people to skip the Mac Mini Pro and buy a discounted M1 Mac Studio and live happily ever after.

[@ausom22]

Very informative!! Thanks for posting this. Been waiting for this since I’ve seen your Mac mini comparison video a week ago

[@ericlee5935]

I was looking for a desktop Mac, went to the base m2 pro Mac mini and works perfectly.

[@MutePCdotcom]

Good choice! It's a great computer!

[@PapiVanWinkle]

me too and its more than enough for what I do

[@implisyt]

I've purchased the Mac Studio M2 Max not just for my workload but also because soon many windows games will be ported over to Mac (one would hope!) using GPT and the graphically intensive games would consume those extra graphics core on the Max.

[@JimAllen-Persona]

Well, I just pulled the trigger on a Studio M2 Max to replace my 2014 mini. I went back and forth and once you start spec’ing up the mini it just didn’t make sense not to spend a couple hundred more and get the studio. I plan on not replacing this for another 10 years.

[@mototacularlife5267]

The title makes no sense, most average people don’t need a Mac Studio for basic computing let me see $599 or $2000

[@johnborges5938]

M2 Max Mac Studio is a very good deal, yes. Has it "killed" the M2 Pro Mac Mini? Absolutely not. The base price difference is $700. There are plenty of customers for whom that $700 is a bridge too far, and for whom the additional features would be an utter waste.

[@null-nl5su]

And for these customers $700 to get twice the RAM and SSD as the base model, 2 more Thunderbolt ports, and a bit better SoC isn't a bridge too far? If you upgrade the M2 base model to 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD, it's $300 cheaper while only having 2 Thunderbolt ports, 2 CPU cores and 6 GPU cores less. The same with the M2 Pro and the Mac Studio. The actual price difference with same RAM and storage configurations is $300 not $700, while the Mac Studio has more benefits over the M2 Pro than the M2 Pro over the M2.

[@johnborges5938]

@@null-nl5su - There are plenty of customers for whom 16GB RAM is perfectly sufficient, and for them the Mini M2 Pro is the sweet spot. The point isn't that the Mac Studio isn't a good value, but regardless of what you're getting for your money, the price difference in most affordable configurations of the Mini M2Pro and the Mac Studio is in fact $700. The point is that the Mini M2Pro fills a hole in the lineup and, for a significant number of potential customers, offers the features they need for a better price than other options in Apple's lineup.

[@thischangeseverything972]

Yeah. I'm one of those who got screwed with the Mini M2 Pro three months ago. Specced up the Memory, CPU and GPU to the maximum available. This is really depressing.😡

[@azwb]

I bought a dji drone and they released the 3 lens, 14 days after I could no longer return it. So I feel you there. Realize you have a great machine, there will always be new machines coming out. Now go get em and be excited about the videos you are going to produce!

[@AlBergstein]

Yes, this makes the difference, even with bumping both to 1TB (a sort of minimum for these kinds of machines) to be about $300. I recently ordered a Mac Mini fully kitted out with 32 GB & 1TB and just priced the new studio at $2199.00. I paid $1899.00 for mine. I would have bought the studio for that price difference. I'm not sorry about the Mac Mini, it's an incredible machine for the price. I don't really push my video renders anymore. Just no longer doing multicamera work. So the mini will be plenty.

[@modalities]

I needed this video about 3 weeks ago! Thanks, great comparison.

[@raylampago]

i literally got the upgraded m2 pro before wwdc w 32 gig memory, 1 tb storage and 10gb ethernet.. luckily i was able to return it on the LAST possible day to get the base studio m2 max w 1tb! now i’m wondering if i should bite the bullet and upgrade to the 38 core gpu m2 max version… decisions…

[@BookClubDisaster]

You just don't know what you want!

[@jivexero]

Looking forward to see what your results with the coil whine are. When do you think that will be?

[@PapiVanWinkle]

you are wrong, its a lot less money the Mac mini its a great value for the money

[@TucsonBillD]

True… as long as you are specing the Mac Mini at the base specs. Once you begin to add the add-ons to equal the Mac Studio specs the cost advantage disappears.

[@Albarios]

​@@TucsonBillDThat's the point as not everyone needs a powerhouse like the Studio paying several more hundred from a M2 Pro Base Mac Mini.

[@tekis0]

I ordered a new Mac Studio M2, today. I'm looking forward to it.

[@abrock6215]

Looks like this is a great computer to upgrade to. Glad I waited.

[@snake3276120]

4x the price for 2x the performance which most people won't need? I don't think that makes the mini obsolete.

[@GuruPrasanna]

How is it 4x the price?

[@marclattoni1959]

Interesting. But not quite sure your comparison is universally valid. The top Mac Mini Pro with 32 GB and a 1 TB drive comes in at $500 Cdn less than a similarly configured base model Mac Studio. Is the extra computing horsepower and a SD card reader worth a 20% premium for a video editor? Maybe. But not for me.

[@GuruPrasanna]

How is it $500cdn less?

[@2204pc]

Impatient to know about coil and or fans noise versus Mac Studio m1. Hope you will try to lower fans speed from 1350 rpm to 1100 rpm as authorized by TG PRO , the fans control app. To see if we can have REAL silence or not. Impatient to see your next test on video. Best regards from France.

[@smgumbycat]

Totally agree that the Base Mac Studio M2 beats the Mac mini M2 Pro. The Mac mini M2 Pro with the 400 dollar 32GB upgrade ALONE makes Mac Studio M2 a reasonable choice. I still love my Mac mini M2 Pro base model but it doesn't justify any upgrade.

[@MutePCdotcom]

Indeed, Apple's upgrade pricing is always painful. Base model machines can be great values if the specs are sufficient!

[@professorwhaley]

Based on my testing, the base Studio M1 Max beat out the base Mac Mini M2 Pro as well.

[@smgumbycat]

@@professorwhaley I was talking about the Mac mini M2 PRO without any upgrades

[@Albarios]

​@@professorwhaleyThat's more than obvious without doing any testing. 😅

[@GuruPrasanna]

Also considering a similar 32GB upgrade on the M2 Max Studio only costs $200! $400 for the upgrade on the mini is a scam.

[@ssdigitalmixmaster8036]

Excellent Overview and Super Informative Video !!! Keep up the good work 🙂 !!!

[@barkmonster]

My plan now would be to replace my 2012 Mac Mini Server (2.6Ghz Quad i7/16GB) with the base spec 10-core/16GB M2 Pro Mac Mini and still keep my 2012 Mac Pro (3.46GHz 12-core Xeon/96GB) as a server/virtualisation system. Then get a refurb version of the M2 Max Mac Studio at a later date. I already have adequately fast external SSD storage I use with DAW software across both my current Macs and the only difference between my current systems is the Mac Pro handles much more effect plug-ins and software synths at low buffer sizes than the Mac Mini but uses a ton of power and is noisy. All benchmarks for running my main software show no issues at all running a 16GB M2 Pro Mac Mini. It has more than double the CPU power of my Mac Pro, equivalent GPU power to the 4GB RX570 I have in it for Metal support and it has very low power requirements. I boot off a SATA III SSD on the Mac Mini and AHCI PCIe SSD on the Mac Pro that tops out at 1400MB/s read and 600MB/s write so the 3000MB/s read/write speeds of the base 512 storage on either the M2 Pro Mac Mini or M2 Max Mac Studio will feel much faster than either of my current Macs and I can get the base spec M2 Pro Mac Mini for under £1,300 at places like Amazon.

[@bostjanlah123]

Hello. Please help me with an advice. Im a photographer, and i m not sure which should I buy, or mac mini pro m2 or mac studio m2 max. Is mac studio so much better? Could I use mu 2015 Imac as external monitor to mac mini or mac studio? thank you

[@akasinned52]

this is exactly why I returned my spec up mac mini pro. ill be buying the base mac studio for the same price i paid for the speced up mini pro 1999

[@MutePCdotcom]

👍 Great choice!

[@brienengel]

Thank you. I've been waiting for some youtuber analysis. I noted the m2 pro mini 12/19 w 32 gb memory is the same cost as m2 max base @ 12/30 also w 32 gb memory. I am currently using a ten-year-old i7 mini which has never let me down. But of course need to upgrade. I don't do a ton of fancy graphics although I do work on my website, make some rather simple movies with imovie or Final Cut occasionally, use Affinity products rather than photoshop, and don't have time (again stressing this) for super-fancy complicated graphics. But here's my question: Is there a DOWNSIDE to 64 gb RAM given what I write about my typical use? The base M2 Max studio allows me to up the ram to 64 gb. I have to order it with this upgrade or forever hold my peace, and I hope to get ten years out of it as well. Is 64 gb vs 32 in any way a *bad* thing? (in either case, it'll be 1 tb internal storage for me, then external storage)

[@kristianphilipsen]

Its not a bad thing by any means. But the workflows you’re describing would benefit very little from 64gb. Your likely to keep it for 10+ years like your current mini. Future proofing isn’t a bad thing, but I highly doubt even then you’ll get your moneys worth. If you survived on a Mac mini for 10 years, I’d say the 32 GB will do you perfectly.

[@brienengel]

@@kristianphilipsen Heya thanks for feedback!

[@brienengel]

I can't attach the screenshot here but-- today for a test all at once I opened a Logic project with 8 tracks playing, movie playing on timeline in Final Cut, an i-movie project playing, two radios playing in two browser, an audacity file playing, Word, Excel, three Affinity programs open plus vlc player playing a track... I think that's the list lol. Activity Monitor reported memory use was at 10.14 gb with the cacophony. Out of 16 gb on the current mini. So I dunno how suddenly intensive memory use might be with various plug-ins or programs to come, but you make (and maybe test results make) a very solid argument for saving the money on 64gb...

[@kristianphilipsen]

@@brienengel in my experience, Apple silicon handles RAM much more efficiently than Intel. I went from an I5 MBA 8gb ram to m1 MacBook Pro 8gb, night and day difference. Could handle a lot more tabs easily. I have had the 14 inch M1 Pro with 16gb for 6 months. I have never been close to pushing the limit. Granted my workload is lighter than yours, but still. Add to that if you get a 1tb SSD, the swap memory will be very fast too.

[@kristianphilipsen]

By the way, don’t worry too much about what activity monitor tells you, especially when you upgrade. On light workloads it will allocate RAM differently to make the system more responsive. So if you’re doing work and a lot of ram is being used, it’s not necessarily indicative of the system being pushed to the limit.

[@briansnively7896]

What monitor would pair with the m2 studio. Im new to the mac world upgrading for intel however i use iphones ipads. Price really doesnt matter just want something that i can easily use all devices with. Preferably 27 to 32”

[@briansnively7896]

I use a bose companion 5 for speakers and subwoofer so dont care for monitor speaker but if i can mute them ill be fine also not a gamer at all

[@BookClubDisaster]

If price doesn't matter get the Studio Display. No brainer. If price REALLY doesn't matter get the Pro Display XDR.

[@Tigerex966]

4k 120hz or higher portrait or landscape. Old or mini led multiple ports and picture on picture great warranty color accurate. Anything with out they apple logo .

[@torb-no]

Only the higher spec ones. I have a 32GB Mac Pro mini I have no need of anything extra the Studio gives me. With Apple prices in Norway going to the base Studio will increase the cost by an equivalent of 560 USD! That's a lot of money to be spending on something you don't need.

[@Albarios]

Sure, you're right. This video just have a click bait title.

[@jeanjasinczuk7543]

If Apple would lower the price of the upgrades on the Mac mini, Apple would also need to lower the same upgrades on the much more lucrative MacBook pro. Sadly for the consumer, the most profitable for Apple is to be left with very bad values upgrades on the Mac pro mini.

[@davidecollepardi3865]

very clear and helpful, thank you

[@Niels_f2704]

If this thing becomes a gaming beast it will be some decent value for mac gaming

[@ekphotography]

I was thinking about getting refurbished Studio Max, but I think I will fork out the extra cash and get the newer version, I am wondering whether or not to get 64 gigs of memory which will bump it up quite a bit. I am a full time video maker, but never have any huge timelines and actually am editing on an M1 Macbook air believe it or not and it has been fantastic. But lately I have been getting memory problems when have several apps open and working at the same time. but only have 16 gigs now. I am also pretty much an app freak and plugin Hog with FCPX and not really sure 512 hard drive will also work since apps and plugins cannot be stored on eternal hard drives as far as I know. SO might be better to get base model but with 1 TB SSD. Any suggestions?

[@MutePCdotcom]

You can try to check Activity monitor while using your 16GB memory Mac to see how much swap file space is being used as well, to see if the total will add up past 32GB. That way, you'll have an idea whether 64GB of memory will actually be beneficial. For storage, how much do you have now and are you approaching the limit? I always lean toward saving money where possible and not buying more than you actually need/want. If you aren't sure on the exact spec you need, I'd suggest purchasing the lower spec version from a store with a good return policy. You can get as long as 90 days from Costco, for example. Try it for your needs, and if it doesn't work out, return and upgrade. You might end up saving a lot of money if it does work out.

[@ekphotography]

@@MutePCdotcom Thanks and if I lived in the USA that would absolutely the thing to do, But I am an American citizen but live in South America and no returning anything for me. I currently have 140 gigs of Apps and 128 gigs in my FCPX Motion folder, so I might be able to squeeze by with the 512 gb SSD and I have at least 10 external SSD's. I am sure 32 gigs of Ram will be just fine since I have only have 16 at the moment, but getting memory usage errors lately. Thanks for the advice. I most likely will get the 64 anyways as it will give it a better resale value in the future over 32 ram.

[@AlBergstein]

@@ekphotography I'd recommend reading Larry Jordan's take on how much memory is enough. He wrote about it on his blog recently. I would definitely not buy the 512 SSD. You will regret it.

[@sinlokemp]

Always on point and on time. Love it! 👍

[@MutePCdotcom]

Thank you!

[@melmagallon6233]

All of Apple's products do this. It's the old "price ladder" approach meant to wring every single cent out of you.

[@Vedrajrm]

Buy an used M1 Max studio at around the same price

[@PL-rf4hy]

This was very timely for me as I actually today had placed a Mac Mini M2 Pro (With upgraded processor and 32 GB memory) in my Apple online shopping bag, ready for purchase. I need the upgrade for work. Now I am pausing to reevaluate based on what you’ve described. Thanks for your video!

[@MutePCdotcom]

Glad I could help!

[@Tigerex966]

The studio killed the Mac Pro and the Mac Mini Pro.

[@davem3325]

OH Bugger! I just bought a MAC MINI M2 Pro/32GB

[@McSaggler]

Same, I bought it about 5 weeks ago with a 1TB drive and it’s outside the return window. It is unfortunate for us, but it does everything I need (hopefully for you to) so it’s not the end of the world :) I also do like the compact design, works nicely with my setup.

[@davem3325]

@@McSaggler YEs, its a great little box, I bought the 512 ssd, as I never use the internal SSd and use instead a 2TB thunderbolt 3 SSD which is get 2500mb speeds, and is great, the 32GM ram, is great as I never have encountered swap memory usage of my SSD, therefore prolonging its life. I mainly use it for productivity apps, and Fusion 360. By the way, I also purchased the LG 42 in ultra wide 5k2k monitor, and THAT make the biggest difference, as apply don't make any affordable large displays.

[@PapiVanWinkle]

😁 me too its a great setup and saved the extra $400 with taxes, no regrets

[@PapiVanWinkle]

@@davem3325 its great!!! I feel the same, smaller and it does everything I want it to be

[@reynold.lariza]

duh!

[@danieleppelsheimer9273]

You are absolutely right The upgrades with Apple always defeat any savings and now Apple drop the prices Of existing models . How long That concept will continue Who knows. I will wait for your Review of the new base Studio. Before purchase.

[@wedomusic.]

nice

[@diewhitme843]

Wait till m5 and get better chip

[@mr_red13]

M6 will blow that out of the water.