Final Verdict! - M2 Pro Mac Mini 3 Weeks Later.

I've been running the base back M2 Pro Mac Mini through its Paces for the past few weeks and I think I finally narrowed down which users this capable Little Mac is and isn't for let's discuss [Music] hey guys I'm CJ with elevated systems and this is the 2023 Mac Mini featuring the 10 core M2 Pro SOC with 16 GPU cores 16 gigabytes of RAM and a 512 gigabyte SSD the MSRP on this model is thirteen hundred dollars now if you've been following my series on the Mac Mini you know I've put it through the test in some real world workflows and DaVinci Resolve blender and after effects comparing its performance to both the base Mac Studio model and assembly priced Windows PC I've also done some basic tests in Photoshop Lightroom Final Cut Pro logic pro and xcode and I think I've have enough Hands-On time now to determine who this mid-range desktop Mac is and isn't for because at thirteen hundred dollars it's not for everyone so who should set their sights lower with the 600 base model M2 Mac Mini if you're looking to upgrade your old Intel based Mac or get into the app Apple ecosystem and you're just using it for basic home office or small to mid-size business work word processing spreadsheets presentation correspondence telework web browsing media consumption then the base model Mac Mini will crush those tasks and is all you really need now of course you can do all that equally well with something like this b-link Mini PC I've reviewed a couple of these pint-sized PCS on the channel and they're more than capable of matching or outperforming full-size desktop PCS for these typical tasks however what elevates the Mac Mini over these mini PCS and makes it the best value desktop computer in my opinion is that based on its specs the mini punches above its weight class and can handle much more advanced tasks at what I would call the hobbyist level if you dabble in photo editing in apps like Photoshop and Lightroom or light video editing and resolve or Premiere Pro even do some light VFX in in After Effects the M2 with its 10 core integrated GPU and just 8 gigabytes of memory can do so much more than the base model Intel Max of the past or even similarly spec current gen PCS I've been building PCS for over 30 years and I can't build a 600 PC that can do most of what this little thing can do at the level it can do it but where it really excels is within the Apple ecosystem you want to Tinker with some IOS app development xcode or do a little home studio music production and Logic Pro or edit some 4K prores footage in Final Cut Pro then the base model will handle way more than you would expect from a 600 machine however if you're looking to step up your game from hobbyist to Semi-Pro the base Mac Mini is gonna start putting a kink in your progress with just that eight gigs of memory and a slow SSD you're gonna run into some serious roadblocks trust me the Mac is good at SSD memory swapping but it's still going to slow you down and that slow single module SSD just makes it worse but before you go upgrading the M2 Mac Mini listen up as you guys know I'm all about price to Performance and value and while the base Apple silicon Max offer Great Value upgrades come with big price tags two hundred dollars for an extra eight gigs of RAM another 200 for a 256 gig SSD upgrade that's just not justified especially with the cheaper components being used compared to the last generation now for a small group of users spending a thousand bucks for an upgraded M2 mini might make sense but for the rest of us I recommend jumping straight to the M2 Pro Mac Mini with 16 gigabytes of RAM a faster 512 gig SSD already and yes it's slower than the M1 Max sdsd but at over three gigs a second there's almost no application or devices that can come anywhere close to achieving those transfer speeds you also get an upgrade to a 10 core CPU a 16 core GPU double the mammary bandwidth two additional Thunderbolt 4 ports and the ability to support three displays or even an 8K display over HDMI now the value of the Mac Mini is definitely back on the table and those boosted specs will Elevate the level of work you're able to do in my DaVinci Resolve video I Threw one of the most system intensive projects that's realistically within my normal workflow 6K Blackmagic raw footage which the Mac doesn't have hardware decoders for multiple effects sharpening noise reduction several Fusion elements including an animated 3D composition and while there were a few tiny stutters in the edited full resolution timeline playback it was far from what I'd call a deal breaker and the mini was able to render the project however considering it took 24 minutes to render a 10 minute video we're definitely getting to the M2 Pro's limit however a limit we were able to surpass was in After Effects while I would never recommend a PC with anything less than 32 gigabytes of RAM for AE the 16 gig M2 Pro was able to handle a fairly system intensive 80 composition so while the base model M2 mini can definitely handle a typical YouTuber video type Premiere Pro timeline if you're going for a little more complexity by including some basic After Effects comps into your project Motion Graphics tracking and image replacement key lighting then you definitely want to step up to the M2 Pro this is the same for photo editing digital art or graphic design you can do much more complex projects in Photoshop Lightroom or illustrator on the base M2 mini then typically possible for an entry-level computer but again if your workflow moves past the hobbyist level to a more professional use case the M2 Pro may be a better fit as an example for photographers batch color grading just 100 photo raw images in Lightroom was 21 faster on the M2 Pro versus the M2 the same is true within the Apple ecosystem you can develop some great iOS apps on the base M2 but stepping up to more advanced Mac OS software development or cross-platform development outside of xcode can get very CPU and memory intensive so the extra RAM and bigger faster M2 Pro will extend your potential workflow if you're moving from a dozen tracks in logic pro to dozens of tracks instruments and plug-ins or you're going from a typical YouTuber video to a complex the mixed media project in Final Cut then it's time to look at the more complex M2 Pro Mini now while the performance difference between the M2 Pro Mini and the M1 Max powered Max studio is less significant than going from the M2 to the M2 Pro Mini I'm still going to recommend spending the extra 700 and jumping up to the Max studio rather than the 400 to upgrade the M2 Pro to 32 gigs of RAM for some users but not necessarily everyone again the base model Max studio comes with 32 gigabytes of RAM double the memory bandwidth at 400 gigabytes per second it also has eight more GPU cores SSD speeds almost twice as fast the taller form factor allows for much better cooling keeping the M1 Max cool and quiet which the M2 Pro is not and it has the front USBC ports and SD card reader while there isn't too much the Mac Studio can do that the M2 Pro can't the studio Does It Better Faster or both the timeline performance of my complex resolve project was Flawless and the render output in just over half the time on the studio outputting the after effects project was only a few seconds faster but the viewport performance was much more Snappy and responsive reducing the time spent creating the composition however most of these improvements in addition to the extra memory are due to the bigger GPU so for workflows that are more CPU intensive and don't require much if any GPU power it may make Financial sense to go with the 32 gigabyte M2 Pro Mini you may even get some benefit from upgrading to the 12 core M2 Pro I'm thinking mostly of developers working in xcode or any machined local EE and musicians working in logic pro who have complicated workflows but won't benefit from more GPU but the big distinction here is that the user group that's looking past the base spec M2 Pro are typically the people who are using their computers to make money in a specific field so while I can give you my best assessment on where I think each of these systems fit based on their price point and performance it's really about evaluating your use case and determining what best fits your workloads in terms of price to Performance time is money so which system is going to speed up your tasks allowing you to do more ultimately providing a return on investment over the system's intended lifespan now for some users the Mac Mini or any Mac isn't the best option for example while the single core CPU performance makes the Mac Studio great for 3D polygon modeling rigging and animation and programs like zbrush blender and Maya the limitations in memory is going to limit you to single high poly assets or low poly environments and the lack of GPU power makes looked EV in material development and texturing and scene lighting next to Impossible and compared to the Thirteen hundred dollar PC I built the M2 Pro took like eight hours longer to render the nine second blender animation sequence I built some 3D applications like SolidWorks and 3ds Max don't even have mac versions for any meaningful full 3d workflow and apple silicon Mac really isn't an option and you should definitely look towards a PC with a dedicated Nvidia graphics card also if you're moving from an Intel based Mac or from a PC to Apple silicon and you use programs outside of the Apple silicon or outside mainstream apps like the Adobe suite you'll want to make sure they're fully functional on the new Max but realistically while there are a few that still have issues Microsoft teams comes to mind at this point if it worked on an Intel Mac even if it has to translate through Rosetta 2 it's going to be better on an M2 Pro because and this blows my mind this thirteen hundred dollar Mac Mini has better CPU performance than the six thousand dollar Mac Pro that apple is still selling and I think that really exemplifies where the Mac Mini has progressed to apart from its form factor this thing has come a long way since its Inception it used to be a complete letdown with an overpriced and underpowered Intel CPU and basic integrated Graphics which was a total rip-off of what you were paying for but then came the M1 Mac Mini and the performance boost with the cost reduction was simply mind-blowing the Mac Mini became the best value desktop in Computing and now with the M2 mini we're seeing more normal generation improvements but at a lower cost which apart from the not so great SSD is insane adding this mid-tier mini now provides a great option for many users who want to Elevate their workflows without breaking the bank on a Mac Studio with the M1 iMac being a bit of a niche product and considering any upgrades quickly erase the value at the base spec level Apple finally has a well-balanced lineup of desktop Max from everyone from the Casual home user to Industry professionals and while Apple still has a long way to go and being more customer focused having several tiered options that actually deliver good price to Performance is a step in the right direction anyway comment with your thoughts on Apple's current direction in the desktop space don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe to see if it's possible to connect four independent displays to the M1 or M2 Mac Mini I'll see you in the next one

Channel: Elevated Systems

Views: 39,329

Keywords: m2 pro mac mini, m2 mac mini, mac mini m2, m2 pro vs m1 max, mac mini vs mac studio

Id: xpybow4qJso

Length: 13min 9sec (789 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 14 2023