Is the $499 M2 Mac mini Enough for Most? (Gaming, Video editing, Multi App Testing)

26 Comments on Is the $499 M2 Mac mini Enough for Most? (Gaming, Video editing, Multi App Testing)

1. I’d be interested to see how this compares with the base M1 Mac mini

   • m1 has faster ssd

   • I wonder how would this M2 mac mini entry would compare against the original M1 mac mini….similar results? I need a cheap mac to edit 4k30 and sometimes 4k60 but mostly 4k30 and also 1080p 60…XAVC S from a Sony FX30..my projects are usually anywhere between 5 minutes and 90 minutes and I want to use Premiere. I hate FCP X!
     I could get a gently used M1 mac mini with 16GB ram and 512SSD for $500 less than a new M2 Mac Mini with 16GB ram and 512 SSD…help! thanks-
     PS I wish I could get a Mac studio base- the M2Pro is a good one too..how does it compare to the Studio?

   • Many influencers want to ignore that comparison because I suspect that there isn’t much of a difference. M2 CPU is better (not by much) but M1 SSD is better (almost 2x better).

2. I just bought a used M1 Mac mini about a month ago for $475. I probably should have waited for this. Oh well, not like the M1 is slow or anything.

3. I used my Logitec keyboard and mouse equipped with a dedicated wireless usb receiver as previously used for my old windows pc for the initial setup. I just plugged in the the usb receiver during the setup and the mini recognized the keyboard and mouse immediately. I installed my bluetooth Mac keyboard and mouse once the initial setup was done.

4. While they can be charged and used at the same time, I don’t think any data is transferred on those Logi mice, rather the cable is only for charging. I ran into a similar problem setting up my Studio last year, had to dig out an old magic mouse then switch back to the MX. Great video is showing that this can do, it should be able to run WoW pretty well.

5. Saw a video comparing SSD speed (getting the 512G model) and getting 16G RAM. Conclusion was for almost all situations more RAM is better than a faster SSD. Surprised

   • I prefer both

   • which video is it?

6. One thing people seem to forget is what you are buying the computer for. If for example you just want something to watch YouTube, do office 365 type stuff and use the internet the base model is more than enough, and the extra money for more isnt worth it. The other side of that is to future proof yourself and get something that will do more allowing your needs to grow, but if you know that is never going to happen, you’d be surprised how good the base model is. It was refreshing to see this mentioned in this video, as numbers don’t always tell the whole story.

   Another take on why the base may be good enough.

   https://youtu.be/PXHxY2i9w9Y

7. Love this demonstration, thank you for the perspective on the new Mac mini. That price is tempting

8. QUALITY review!! Base model should do more than enough for most consumers.

   Any additions/upgrades cater more to the creatives circle.

9. Fernando, me and my wife are new to Apple been on it for almost a year. Your videos are amazing we’re retirees and older and you have helped us out so so much and we appreciate you we were looking to get a desktop. Do you think the Mac mini would be good for us just having the house to browse and look around and just playing around on what your thoughts

   • It would easily it will out perform everyday tasks

10. Yes the entry level M2 Mac Mini is more than enough for most, which ic teh actual answer to the question in the total off this video. Keep in mind that it is more powerful than the top of the lin eIntel based Macs that we used a few years ago to produce professional documentaries and other films so it actually is very powerful. Why people immediately jump to talking about 8k editing (which it actually can do) is nonsense,e 99% of the video consumed worldwide is 1080p (including some 720p as well) so focusing on 4k and 8k video editing for normal people is nonsense. In fact the only people we have seen doing any 4k an d8k video editing are the various YouTube channels, so this MacMini truly is far more than enough for the majority of users worldwide.

    • This will do 4k as demonstrated in the review , right?

    • I’m wondering if this base model of macmini is good enough for graphic design? Most people told me that 8gb ram is not enough to handle photo shop or affinity designer

    • ​@Junard Quimot Its a complex answer. Most people attempt to apply very old fashioned out off date Windows rules to modern Apple Silicon powered Macs which does not work, Apple Silicon powered Macs are completely different. If you are a professional then go ahead and get a Mac Studio with 128 GB RAM. If you are not a professional then you don’t have income to pay for the Mac Studio (which is the desktop model that is intended for graphic artists) and so you are a student or budget hobbyist, in which case your only choice is a Mac Mini because of your limited budget. Now, the question is will you work on gigantic projects that require 16 GB RAM? Why are you working on such a huge project and does it really matter to the world that you are working on a huge project. The answer is no, it does not matter to the world if you are working go gigantic projects because they are not paying you for that project. If they do pay you then make sure that they are paying you enough to pay for a Mac Studio with 128 GB RAM. Keep in mind that RAM is very different in Apple Silicon powered Macs, first of all it is many times faster than Windows/Linux RAM, by a massive amount. Second is that the storage system in Macs is built-in as an integrated design of the Apple Silicon processor, and Apple macOS is designed for maximum efficiency in the real world, so real world performance is vastly superior in Apple Silicon Macs than in all Windows/Linux computers. That is important because sooner or later all graphics artists choose to try to create larger and larger projects and no matter how much RAM they have they will over-run the RAM and the operating system will start paging out sections of their project to the storage system.Aha! Now the light bulb lights up and you see why it was necessary to learn about Apple’s super fast Apple Silicon architecture and macOS optimizations to see that Macs handle real world paging vastly faster than all Windows/Linux computers can do it (and no you can’t see it in synthetic (fake) benchmarks because benchmarks are all designed to see Intel and AMD processors, they do not deliver any realistic real world results regardless of their claims. So your choice of RAM really depends on how large a project you will be working on every day. If you don’t work on gigantic projects every day then it doesn’t matter how much RAM you get, if yo do work on massive projects then you should be using a Mac Studio or a Mac Pro (Mac Pro can go to 1,500 GB RAM, a truly astounding amount that can hold all your project inside RAM with great ease). What I tell my clients is that I have no way to kino how big a project they will be woking on and how much tolerance for paging they have, so I recommend that they lease a Mac mini in the configuration that they want, use it for a month then return it and then they will know if that amount of RAM works for them. You can do the same thing.

11. Definitely interested in this machine. Always been a fan of the mac mini in theory, but I’ve never taken the plunge and owned one. I’m definitely interested in a video giving some recommendations for some monitors, mice, and keyboards to pair with this machine. Really interested in a complete office setup on a slim budget.

    • I purchased the M1 mini shortly after launch and I’ve been very pleased with it. It allowed me to fulfill my dream of having one monitor with a mac, PC, and gaming consoles all connected at once, and I can switch between them easily with the monitor’s KVM switch. 
      I got a Gigabyte M28U monitor on sale from Best Buy and it’s a great monitor despite the quirks that likely caused it to be discounted. It’s a 4k 144hz monitor that usually retails for around $400-600. As for my mouse and keyboard, I’m still using the 2nd gen magic trackpad I got with an iMac about 10 years ago. Its battery is getting weak, but it works perfectly when plugged in, so I haven’t felt the need to make a change there. My keyboard is a Corsair, but I’m not sure how much I’d recommend it for multi-platform use. The volume wheel doesn’t really work properly on macOS and the modifier keys are all weirdly swapped around. That said, it does type well and, again, i haven’t felt the need to change it.

      If that’s anything to go by, the M2 should be easily worth considering.

12. I want to get a Mac Mini but with 16 gig ram and 512gig drive and if it gives me 4K that’s a bonus. My plan is to run a Microsoft machine and the Mini using the same monitor

13. Thanks for the review, I am planning to get the base model perfect to some office works and playing 4k videos on youtube and etc 🙂

14. Would the 256gb base model be able to stream video games to twitch (like fortnite) through obs studio or is it too good to be true and it would freeze up and not be able to encode and play the video game at the same time. Thoughts?

15. ive been trying to understand why apple is making these macs such amazing value, and i think i got it, i suspect apple is trying to suck as many pc users into the apple ecosystem as possible, and i also think they might also start making more affordable and just better iphone SEs

16. How much better is the Mac mini if I want to have 16GB of RAM?