I Returned The Mac Mini M2 Pro

The Mac Mini M2 Pro fits in nicely in Apple's lineup of computers but once you start configuring it out the lines get a little blurry on what you should actually get.

If you only need the base SSD this is the one to get

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The Bone Palace

[joesalyers]

Pro Tip to clean out idle RAM, open the terminal type, sudo purge, then enter your password and that will release any RAM that is not being used to free it up. Now for a little history lesson. MacOS is based on BSD IV and NetBSD 1.3 and the BSD family of operating systems are a bit different to Windows or even Linux in how they deal with RAM allocation. It's normal to see your RAM being used at an almost maximum capacity because this is what the OS needs for you to have a smooth experience. But if you are a creative who works in video editing and music production you should consider 32 gigs of RAM if you know you are a multitasking creative type. Working on multiple projects at the same time. If you are a single focused creative working on 1 task at a time 16 GB should be sufficient for 80% of users. But if you are a heavy video editor with say 4K compressed footage such as HEVC codecs you really should not go for the M-Pro chips and consider the M-Max chips if at all possible. The GPU core count matters for this type of work, but the GPU needs enough RAM just like on a GPU card to get work done. So most people wouldn't buy a Nvida 4070 GPU with 8GB of RAM today so why would you only get 16GB of RAM in a Mac, you only gave your CPU and GPU 16 GB total to work with, basically splitting it up between them. This video is informative and a great example of a real world experience with RAM allocation in real world tasks. It depends on the user but RAM is vital to a smooth working machine that has an integrated GPU for a system on chip design. Cheers!

[voiceoverguyharris]

I know this is 6 months old but just did exactly this. MacMini Pro looked like a great deal, but similar, 16gb of Ram just not good enough, so did the 32gb Studio and so far so good, really happy. Great video. I wish you many more subs!

[vewilli]

Well, I have the Mac mini M2 Pro, 1 TB SSD and 32 GB RAM, and I love that it runs so silent when the 2018 Intel Mac Mac mini (1 TB SSD and 32 TB RAM) got very loud already in my mini home-studio. And it‘s boot speed is extremely fast comparing to the „old“ one! I’m very satisfied with this machine …

[robsteal]

Glad I saw this video. You bring up some great points. Thanks for posting.

[juglenzwaan]

Funny, I returned the Apple Studio and bought the M2 Pro Mini. Best choice ever, I couldn’t stand the annoying continuous whine from the Desktop. The Mini is dead silent and extremely fast.

[TeaganMcLaren]

This is a great video - I have to return my Mac Mini because I also need 32 GB of unified memory. This video really helped me, thank you!

[TheThaiLife]

When I heard you say "stock 16-gigs of ram", I kind of expected that was the reason. Pretty much everyone says 32GB is kind of the happy place and that's my experience. I watched my memory pressure on my Macbook Air M1 and climbed the expensive Apple upgrade ladder to the 32 on the M2 Macbook Max 16" is literally the first computer I can't touch the power of. I had to download a blender 2gb sample file to peg it out, just to see what that looked like. Dude, the Studio was a sweet move. Definately for $90 and from Apple, I'd have jumped on that too. Nice video man.

[juddrizzo]

Great video for video producers.

I’m trying to put together a pure Music Production machine first.

I can’t wait to try Reaper on an M3 Mac mini w 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB HD. (In gonna try it on my early 2009 iMac first.)

[GeekShhh]

You never run out of ram on apple silicon it trades w the storage when u need more ram. Your good with just the mac mini.

[krunge]

Great video, nice to hear from someone like myself going from a iMac Pro to either a M2 Mac Mini or the Mac Studio which is the exact same upgrade path I'm looking into!

Too bad that Apple refurbished program isn't available here in Denmark where I'm from.

By the way, please turn the volume up on your next video, it's really low in this one compared to others and especially annoying when ads starts and are much louder.

[transitengineer]

Thank you, for sharing your experience and this is very useful information. From a cost perspective an M-2 "Mac Studio" is better than an upgraded M-2 "mac mini" Pro model. However, I much prefer the smaller size and form factor of the "mac mini" Pro. So, I am will to pay more, just to get less (smile...smile).

[itsleonsimpson]

Thanks for doing this video. Most videos I have seen have said 16 is enough and that’s what I was half looking at.

My machine now is constantly running out of ram and it’s good to get an indication from real use of what ram usage looks like.

[leftofcenter]

It depends on what you are doing.. me, I do music which doesn’t taxed the computer as much as video work. A M1 or M2 MM or MMPRO 8 or 16 U memory would run a pro tools HDX system just fine. And if you only do basic video editing 4k with limited effects you should be fine. I’Ll” be getting m2MM soon with 16 memory soon. But yep heavier editing film programs 32 is the baseline 64 to feel safe

[sharonb.]

Great video. I’ve seen several reviewers and I think the more Ram you have the more the M chip uses. It’s spread out to improve cooling and efficiency. I’m not a techie but I think it’s something like that. Alex Ziskind and Max Tech probably have several videos on how the SOC uses RAM. Before you spend more money, videos about how the M- series uses memory might be helpful.

[CCrotona]

Hmmmm got me thinkin brotha. I do rap music. But only use a few plug ins because I dont really mix.. but what I will be doing is shooting music videos. Dont know if ill use Final cut. Definitely use to capcut right now.. was thinking of just upgrading the to 32 with the 1 terabyte.. but that mac studio is super tempting with that sd card slot. Sheesh. I know i can just buy the dongle but idk. I got much to think about.

[elijahmant]

Hey, Brett. thanks for the video. I've been on the fence for so long whether to purchase this mac pro 2 mini. Still not sure.

[theaskpatt]

Awesome video. I’m currently on a 2017 iMac too, with 64gb ram and was opting for the m2 pro for heavy graphic work. Though this video may have swayed me to go the Mac Studio route haha

[WesleyClouden]

I always did a external M series Minis 4tb SSD NVMe as my main OS on the Mini for my production DIT setup

[randallbrander]

M1 Max Mac Studio 1tb ssd and 64gb of memory is great. But I have the basic M1 Max Mac Studio and use the 4tb Samsung T6 for storage and the 512gb is doing well enough for me. I wished I upgraded to the 64gb of memory but then I would have to wait 6 weeks for it to arrive back in 2020. I like your choice of the refurbished computer.

[just_jimi]

My 2 cents: I think your blaming the Mac for what is really adobes fault (buttery smooth video editing in FCP but garbage in Pr on same machine for example) . The truth is that 15 years ago I ran the adobe line on the current (at time) hardware and it worked light and nimble. Now, doing the same functions just leaks ram and I can not remember the last time that I enjoyed using any of adobe suite (Pr, Ai, Ps) they have added very little useable functions and slowed their own software down with features no one is using but at least they get me for 50 bucks per month, so i guess that is progress in adobe world.