Mac Mini M1 After 1 Year: What You NEED To Know!

My M1 Mac Mini Long Term Review — I have used the M1 Mac Mini extensively over the last year. I've went through a bunch of different Macs over that time — the M1 Pro MacBook Pro, the M1 MacBook Air, and I still end up on this little powerhouse most of the time. Check out the video and see why I prefer the M1 Mac Mini vs MacBook Pro.

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[LuisCesarJimenez]

I got the M1 Mac Mini a little under a year ago and it’s been such a great investment. After using Windows laptops since college (and now for work) having a solid Apple desktop for my personal machine was refreshing. Aside from day to day, I record, edit and export audio for a podcast and it’s always ran buttery smooth. Aside from the audio software, I usually have a trillion tabs open on Safari, Spotify and all kinds of other things running and I’ve never noticed slow-down. Good info/video. Envious of the desk setup, my kids would steal that Mandalorian lego statue before my morning coffee. Cheers

[yodabolt]

Loving mine since Feb 2021. Got the 16GB with 256GB storage and it's been more than enough for daily driving.

[bjtwuk]

I have a Late 2012 Mac mini that I upgraded with 16GB ram and 1TB SSD. I used Open Core Legacy Patcher in order to make it accept MacOS 12.5 Monterey. I don’t do video rendering like you, but the machine is rock solid stable and perfect for me. It’s a shame Apple considers my machine to be obsolete because I use it productively for many hours everyday.

[Salty_Biscuitz]

M1 Mac mini is one of the best value apple product right now. no doubt about that. Such a powerful little computer for so little money. it's a steal.

[mammothscott]

Also very pleased with my M1 Mini after a month or so. Got the 16 GB and 1 Tb drive to replace my 2015 Mini. Use for CAD and photography which performs great.

[BrakRulesAll]

Like some others commenting, I opted for 16g/1tb and was able to snag one from the Apple refurb store at a nice discount. As for the port location headache, I slapped the Satechi hub underneath it - voila, front-facing USB A & C ports, headphone jack, and SD card reader. Could have gone for base storage and slapped an SSD into the Satechi but wanted full speed so made the 1tb investment. Couldn't be happier. Replaced my aging 2015 27" iMac.

[winstonsmith]

Thanks for the review and thoughts. I’m waiting for the M2 mini and hoping for more ports and a SD slot on the front!

[cmonkey]

My daily machine is a Late 2012 Mac mini, purchased in 2015 and has 16Gb of ram and an extra internal SSD. The only moving part is the cooling fan, I bought a box of spare ones on eBay. Looking to replace it with -- another Mac mini! Thanks for the tips on external storage. About to clock in 7 years with this box, expect to get the same from the next one. A simple fan control app and regular backups are the only insurance I need.

[Hypertechtix]

with so many doubt i bought mac mini base variant 4 months ago and its working smoothly, working mainly on fcp along with AE, and photoshops no issues so far

[FluffyBunnySlippers]

You definitely know your reach arounds bro

[frankwalder]

First of all a Mac is a PC(Personal Computer), running MacOS instead of Windows or Linux. I got the 16 Gb RAM and 1 Tb Storage option. 10Gb Ethernet was the Mini’s biggest selling point for me, so I got that as well. I still use my 27” Cinema Display that I bought refurbed in 2014, with a mini-DP to Thunderbolt adapter. The HDMI not being 2.1 just means I won’t spend as much on a 4K 32” display if the 27” I have fails.

[vintageretro]

Had to have a full motherboard replacement within warranty. Now having screen wakeup and crashing issues. When it works I love it. It's not a trustworthy machine unfortunately. Crashed 4 times in 3 days recently. Basically used for a printing machine and internet surfer. I want to love it but just have got the bad end of the stick.

[WanderingAroundAZ]

I got a M1 Mac Mini 16GB/1TB through the Apple refurbished store. It's the best desktop machine I've ever had. It's super quiet and very powerful. The thing I hate most is my Magic Keyboard with Touch ID. I got it for the Touch ID, but I'm use to my Logitech Ergonomic keyboard. Having to enter my secure, lengthy password every time I unlock my Mac is tedious. I guess I need to try using my iPhone Face ID as an alternative so I can go back to my preferred keyboard. Fortunately, I haven't had any issue finding the headphone jack hole 🤣

[KeriRautenkranz]

Have been using my M1 16 / 1TB for almost a year, having replaced a Mac Pro 5.1 six core. It is actually sightly faster and much smoother at FCP while using a tiny fraction of the power. I did have to get an OWC Thunderbay for my previously internal drives and a TB3>TB2 adaptor for a Thunderbolt Display

[Popotams]

I just actually got one and I am loving it! Based memory but I upgraded to 16gb of ram. I am using it for work at the moment since I am new in Macs as I am using windows from when I first use a computer! Still learning to use it.

[KeyTone]

Just got one yesterday, upgraded from a Thinkpad and my god do I love it! Great video

[filaphill]

I had the Mac Mini for a year now and yes it's a beast and I love it.

[MacCrafter]

Rewatching this after a year. I love my M1 Mac Mini still. I did get the designed for mac mini dock with the SSD expansion. Love the front ports. Wish there was a way to turn it on from the front. I don't do video though, just iOS and website development.

[BillyParsons]

Enjoyed the video. One tip though; Do a screen recording in Mac OS instead of recording the screen with the camera. Looks 100 times better (no scan lines or fuzzy text) and is actually easier to accomplish.

[peropolero]

I'm happy with my M1 Mini as well. Using it for 6 month now for basic graphic design stuff, a bit of blender and AE / daVinci. Everything works just fine ... almost... the only thing that bothers me, which not often but still regulary occures is a problem with system-memory using too much disc space. This sometimes leads to a situation where I'm not able to save open files (mostly Photoshop) anymore. It's a pain in the a... sometimes. From my experience a memory-upgrade to at least 500 GB (I have the base model 16BG/256 GBHD) ) would be a wise decision.