Mac Mini M2 - Base Model is ENOUGH!!! 🤯

Today’s video is sponsored by Oeveo, a company based in North Carolina that is the top provider of quality, American-made, technology support products. Known for their sleek finish and easy installation, Oeveo strives to find quality solutions for simple problems with their computer mounts and cable management options.

In this video, I confess how the humble base model Mac Mini with M2 is a beast for music production, especially when you can get it for $499 with an education discount directly from Apple, or when it's on sale at Best Buy (for everyone else). Watch the entire video to see the only real issue with using this setup. It's a tiny beast that can be your main music production workstation! (or other singular purpose, like photography, or basic 4K video production)

Oeveo Products in this video:

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As a musician and songwriter, I make my own music for my videos, all music is original to me.

GEAR USED TO CREATE THIS VIDEO:

Edited via Davinci Resolve on the 16" M2 Max MacBook Pro, the 42" LG C2, and Apple Studio Display.

________________________

00:00 - INTRO
00:14 - Why Base Model M2 Mac Mini?
00:41 - 256GB is Enough!
01:19 - OEVEO
02:14 - Only Issue
02:37 - Singular Purpose
03:06 - Only $499!
03:27 - BYOP
03:53 - Add this DOCK
04:12 - Unified Memory
04:43 - MORE for LESS
05:13 - OUTRO

[TheBnary]

Thank you for this -- I've been saving for months for this base model. It's annoying watching 'influencers' tell everyone they need thousands on a computer. Really appreciate this video.

[billb]

This video is awesome. To hear influencers online, you’d think we all need a M3 Max powered machine with maximum RAM. I’ve watched so many base model videos that I’m convinced my photo editing and office workflow will be fine on an M2 Mac Mini and a MacBook Air, either M1 or M2 in base configuration. I can buy external storage and don’t think my work will push the machine much, so I’m going base models on both. My 2015 iMac is awful to use for photo editing, but my wife’s M1 MacBook Air does it easily on my brief trial with it. I’m gaining confidence I can just go buy the machines and ignore the “sky is falling if you don’t get 16GB minimum” claims.

Edit: and I love your desk setup, your tone throughout the video, the videography, etc. Very well done video!!

[Frank_JackJack]

Thank you for this video! I too went with the base model. At first I was a little bit apprehensive considering it only had 8 gigs of RAM and 256gb of storage. But, just like you said in this video I installed Logic Pro and all of its libraries without issues. I've even created a Logic Pro session called "stress test" where I put 60 tracks into 1 session and right around 250 active plugins. Activity monitor said it was using less than 6 gigs of RAM. I do NOT see a scenario where I'll need more than that.

[joesalyers]

You can also now store all of the 26 gb of Logic extra stuff on an external drive. So a $75 thunderbolt enclosure with a $60 dollar 1 TB NVME SSD will be perfect for all your sessions and sample libraries and extra little things. Get a Thunderbolt enclosure you can swap the SSD out when its full or you want to add more to it.

[earnhar]

Just got m2 mac mini on sale for 499 at Best Buy. Pretty great deal for the value the Mac Mini provides.

[MarbsMusic]

I had an M1 Studio and I just didn't use it enough to justify it. The plan was tons of tracks and spending a lot of time recording but due to work and other things, it just didn't happen. I sold it last year to help upgrade my MBP and was just docking that in the studio when I needed it but recently decided to get a base Mini and so far it's done everything I need and was about 1/4 the price of the studio a few years back.

[andthensome]

When you say it slowed down with lots of plugins, could you elaborate a bit? How many and what kind?

[JessaCamacho]

I also have the base model with 16gb ram and 256gb but bought a sata 2.5 evo 870 500gb SSD and have sandisk 500gb ssd as well. I wanted to get the 2nd mac mini m2 but just focus on the ram and save money. seems pretty good as of the moment.

[greccoox]

thanks for this, i was really tired to all the time when I check base model M2 stuff, reviews just dont give any information about base model + 16GB upgrade, and doing tests like running 50 tracks with vst's which is not real world, than in some cases you can have 60 tracks but not all of them with heavy stuff duplicated, this video is just a call down for the brain, I know yours is 8GB but just thanks for the real world perspective on it :)

[capone_rd_]

Based on the videos im seeing, this base model is enough for a lot of things, other videos out there saying it's not are doing it to get clicks and push a higher cost machine. This seems to be good enough for a lot of general purpose users.

[WalterTurnerBBB]

Great video as always Johnny! Love the look of the Mac Studio under the metal monitor stand with the LED bars. Speaking on musical equipment, how do you like the Arturia for song production?

[Henry]

I was looking at buying a M2 mini, but with at least a 16/512 (€1179) or 24/512 (€1409] configuration, just to be a bit more futureproof.
But ended up buying a used base model M1 Max Mac Studio (32/512 for €1300]
More CPU/GPU processors and more internal memory.😎

[howlcoproductionhdfi]

great video .. cheers ... i swear by my Mini's still rocking a 2014 mini soon to swapped out for a M2Mini
good one on the mac display

[FujiXH]

Slow Dock slow mini.. burn the money don't do that. Minimal Configuration is Bullshit

[crocodilegamer]

Mac and ipad are for grandma's to check emails and Facebook. Not for real computer users who want a good experience and to be productive without running out of ram