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kardiackidneykids 192K Views
May 11, 2021 7:52 AM

Costco Members: Apple Mac mini (Late 2020): M1 CPU w/ 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD

$600

$670

10% off
+ Free Shippingat Costco Wholesale
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Deal Details
Costco Wholesale has for its Members: Apple Mac mini w/ Apple M1 Chip (MGNR3LL/A, Late 2020) on sale for $599.99. Shipping is free.

Thanks to community member kardiackidneykids for finding this deal.

Specs:
  • Apple M1 Chip 8-core CPU (4 performance cores & 4 efficiency cores)
  • 8GB Unified Memory
  • 256GB Solid State Drive
  • 8-core GPU
  • 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 & Bluetooth 5.0
  • macOS Big Sur
  • Ports:
    • 2x Thunderbolt / USB 4
    • 2x USB A
    • 1x HDMI 2
    • 1x Gigabit Ethernet Port
    • 1x 3.5 mm Headphone Jack

Editor's Notes

Written by qwikwit | Staff
  • About this deal:
    • Price matches this Frontpage Deal from February that received +161 votes from the community.
  • Ratings/Reviews:
    • PC Mag gives the new Mac mini a 4.5/5 (excellent) rating
      • "With a new lower starting price and Apple's straining-at-the-leash M1 CPU, the Mac mini is far and away the most polished, potent tiny desktop in its class."

Original Post

Written by kardiackidneykids
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Costco Wholesale has for its Members: Apple Mac mini w/ Apple M1 Chip (MGNR3LL/A, Late 2020) on sale for $599.99. Shipping is free.

Thanks to community member kardiackidneykids for finding this deal.

Specs:
  • Apple M1 Chip 8-core CPU (4 performance cores & 4 efficiency cores)
  • 8GB Unified Memory
  • 256GB Solid State Drive
  • 8-core GPU
  • 802.11ax Wi-Fi 6 & Bluetooth 5.0
  • macOS Big Sur
  • Ports:
    • 2x Thunderbolt / USB 4
    • 2x USB A
    • 1x HDMI 2
    • 1x Gigabit Ethernet Port
    • 1x 3.5 mm Headphone Jack

Editor's Notes

Written by qwikwit | Staff
  • About this deal:
    • Price matches this Frontpage Deal from February that received +161 votes from the community.
  • Ratings/Reviews:
    • PC Mag gives the new Mac mini a 4.5/5 (excellent) rating
      • "With a new lower starting price and Apple's straining-at-the-leash M1 CPU, the Mac mini is far and away the most polished, potent tiny desktop in its class."

Original Post

Written by kardiackidneykids

Community Voting

Deal Score
+174
Good Deal
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Top Comments

chumtastic
141Comments
59Reputation
After reading all the discussions about ram amount, I'm just curious how many browser tabs people keep open at a time during a typical day.

POLL
How many browser tabs do you keep open?

"Like" for 10 or less
"Funny" for 11 to 20
"Helpful" for 21 and above
Go to Comment
LarrySW
54Comments
22Reputation
The ones who have actually used them personally say 8 is enough for most people.

The ones who have never used it and are just guessing say it isn't enough.
Go to Comment
MrSkeptic
14.5KComments
3.8KReputation
Another very expensive problem with today's Apple. Prior to 2016, you could buy a computer and later upgrade it by adding more RAM or storage later once your needs change. My daily driver is a mid 2012 MBPro. I've doubled the RAM and added a SSD over the years.

Now, everything is soldered, so upgrades are impossible. To get 16 or 32 MB of RAM or a bigger SSD, you need to pay 3 times the price up front of what upgrades would cost for the same configuration, even if you don't realize the need now.

No thanks, Apple.
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451 Comments

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May 11, 2021 5:32 PM
232 Comments
Joined Nov 2013
EdwardK1919May 11, 2021 5:32 PM
232 Comments
Quote from ThriftyWing240 View quoted comment :
My sir I can vouch on the fact that in 99% of the cases 8 GB is pretty damn good. I have a YT channel and I edit and render 4K videos and 8 gig M1 macbook Air cuts it through like butter. No heat, no stalling, no delays. Just perfect! Although, i cant comment for gamers and what their needs are
Just open 5 browser windows and it will eat up gigs of RAM.
You're using the soldered SSD to do RAM, that's not good.
There is plenty of damn space inside this 13 year old case to fit a RAM and SSD connector.
F.U. APPLE AND THEIR HYPOCRESY ENVIRONMENTAL BS.

OK, SD will cancel me again.
See you some day.
12
May 11, 2021 5:33 PM
742 Comments
Joined Feb 2008
lev280May 11, 2021 5:33 PM
742 Comments

Our community has rated this post as helpful. If you agree, why not thank

Quote from incher View quoted comment :
Yes I tried 8GB RAM and returned it as it cannot be upgraded !!! It felt slow for very normal use of browsing, YouTube, Netflix as such. I was not running any resource intensive applications! Not sure why did they make 8GB RAM Model at all.
Quote from incher View quoted comment :
Yes I tried 8GB RAM and returned it as it cannot be upgraded !!! It felt slow for very normal use of browsing, YouTube, Netflix as such. I was not running any resource intensive applications! Not sure why did they make 8GB RAM Model at all.
It's for marketing and advertising the $599 price. I have a 8 GB model and even with a single browser tab open, I get the low memory warning when scrolling on Twitter. I have to then close the browser and restart it for the low memory warning to go away.
So NO, I won't recommend 8 GB model unless all you need is a simple computer for just occasional use.
1
1
May 11, 2021 5:35 PM
2.5K Comments
Joined Nov 2014
WestCoastSDerMay 11, 2021 5:35 PM
2.5K Comments
Quote from lev280 View quoted comment :
It's for marketing and advertising the $599 price. I have a 8 GB model and even with a single browser tab open, I get the low memory warning when scrolling on Twitter. I have to then close the browser and restart it for the low memory warning to go away.
So NO, I won't recommend 8 GB model unless all you need is a simple computer for just occasional use.
Are y'all using Chrome? Isn't that more of a RAM hog than Safari?
I bought a base model in hopes to run Logic for loop station recording.
May 11, 2021 5:35 PM
108 Comments
Joined Apr 2016
kdeals82May 11, 2021 5:35 PM
108 Comments
Quote from Teejaye1100 View quoted comment :
Yeah but for $599 and it's an M1, how long do people tend to keep these machines? Is paying the extra $$$ for 16gb's worth it when people may not even keep the devices 10-12 years? I'm guessing the usual average Joe ownership is 5-8 years, after that most people get a new Mac/machine anyway. So I'd say, 8gb's is fine.
At $599, keeping it 5-8yrs pays for itself.
It's debatable either way. $600 is a great deal on this Mac mini, but paying $200 more for 16gb ram will not suddenly make it a bad deal either as that extra $200 is providing you with certainty that your computer is built to last for long long time. I agree that 16gb models don't often come on sale, but if you manage to get it from Apple Education store 256gb SSD 16gb ram version comes around $830, which is $230 extra on top of this version. Is it worth paying that ? Let say how much would you consider worth paying for that extra 8gb ram, $150 ? In that case you are really only paying $80 to $100 extra for something that will last you long time. Take it as if you are paying $100 extra for insurance or peace of mind. There is a reason why we don't see 16gb models on sale anywhere as Apple knows that version on a log run will bring them less customers as less people will upgrade their hardware sooner so they keep the price higher.
May 11, 2021 5:36 PM
1.4K Comments
Joined Mar 2008
BUYmeTHISMay 11, 2021 5:36 PM
1.4K Comments
Quote from LarrySW View quoted comment :
The ones who have actually used them personally say 8 is enough for most people.

The ones who have never used it and are just guessing say it isn't enough.
I bought this unit a few months back at Costco with 8gb, and it's not enough with basic apps open. I have used 8gb plenty of times to know It's not enough. I'm actually returning it this week.
2
May 11, 2021 5:37 PM
9.5K Comments
Joined Dec 2013
doboy007May 11, 2021 5:37 PM
9.5K Comments
Lots of fearmongering going on this thread. 8GB RAM is perfectly fine for most people. People who need more knows it and doesn't need to ask Smilie
And yes, I own a M1 8GB Mini.
Last edited by doboy007 May 11, 2021 at 10:39 AM.
7
May 11, 2021 5:37 PM
98 Comments
Joined Nov 2016
slitheringMay 11, 2021 5:37 PM
98 Comments
From what I've seen, 8gb is enough for all the apps like Photoshop/FCPX, but there are reports saying that with only 8gb of ram, it writes to the SSD a lot more often, and wears them out prematurely, and since the SSD is soldered and not replacable, you'll want to get 16GB, not just for performance benefits, but prolongs the life of your SSD when do you doing heavy writes. I can imagine if you are a video editor and constantly dealing with large file writes, 16gb will be much better.
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May 11, 2021 5:38 PM
54 Comments
Joined May 2021
LarrySWMay 11, 2021 5:38 PM
54 Comments
Quote from ReturnToSender View quoted comment :
But can we get that coupon now?
That coupon expired
May 11, 2021 5:39 PM
626 Comments
Joined Jun 2010
thechidzMay 11, 2021 5:39 PM
626 Comments
These are going to be dirt cheap around the end of the year. I predict 400-500 max
May 11, 2021 5:41 PM
54 Comments
Joined May 2021
LarrySWMay 11, 2021 5:41 PM
54 Comments
Quote from thechidz View quoted comment :
These are going to be dirt cheap around the end of the year. I predict 400-500 max
Based on what? Did a similar huge price drop happen with the previous gen?
May 11, 2021 5:43 PM
54 Comments
Joined May 2021
LarrySWMay 11, 2021 5:43 PM
54 Comments
Quote from GiovanniO5288 View quoted comment :
I had the 8gb Mac mini and the ram was an issue. It does some sort of caching to the ssd which is great if you want to keep a lot of things open but not actually use them all at once. When you're actually using more than 8gb, the whole thing slows to a crawl. For my use case, I needed more.
You had the 8GB M1 Mac mini or the Intel Mac mini?
May 11, 2021 5:43 PM
635 Comments
Joined Nov 2016
Teejaye1100May 11, 2021 5:43 PM
635 Comments
Quote from kdeals82 View quoted comment :
It's debatable either way. $600 is a great deal on this Mac mini, but paying $200 more for 16gb ram will not suddenly make it a bad deal either as that extra $200 is providing you with certainty that your computer is built to last for long long time. I agree that 16gb models don't often come on sale, but if you manage to get it from Apple Education store 256gb SSD 16gb ram version comes around $830, which is $230 extra on top of this version. Is it worth paying that ? Let say how much would you consider worth paying for that extra 8gb ram, $150 ? In that case you are really only paying $80 to $100 extra for something that will last you long time. Take it as if you are paying $100 extra for insurance or peace of mind. There is a reason why we don't see 16gb models on sale anywhere as Apple knows that version on a log run will bring them less customers as less people will upgrade their hardware sooner so they keep the price higher.
It's definitely debatable or sure. That's why my angle came from the "average consumer" perspective. The folks who are browsing the web, checking emails, on Amazon stuff. 8gbs of Ram can handle that just fine for years to come. Now if you're a person who's on Logic Pro, Xcode, 4K video editing, music production or Pro apps, then the Air wouldn't be on your radar anyway. But the extra 16gb fee for being worth it I think is a matter of the user and workload. Also, you'd be surprised how many people don't know about Apple's education pricing site. Most just go to apple.com or third party retailers and pay the mark up.

But you know your stuff so I would count you as an average consumer either. 😂 So in your stance I see your 16gb Ram case.
Apple definitely knows what they're doing with the Ram/storage game, its a money grab.
May 11, 2021 5:44 PM
54 Comments
Joined May 2021
LarrySWMay 11, 2021 5:44 PM
54 Comments
Quote from EdwardK1919 View quoted comment :
Just open 5 browser windows and it will eat up gigs of RAM.
You're using the soldered SSD to do RAM, that's not good.
See you some day.
You tried to do this firsthand on an M1 machine with 8GB and found this to happen?
2
May 11, 2021 5:44 PM
54 Comments
Joined May 2021
LarrySWMay 11, 2021 5:44 PM
54 Comments
Quote from doboy007 View quoted comment :
Lots of fearmongering going on this thread. 8GB RAM is perfectly fine for most people. People who need more knows it and doesn't need to ask
And yes, I own a M1 8GB Mini.
It is the same crowd that jump into every PC thread and say "bUiLd YouR oWn"
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May 11, 2021 5:44 PM
150 Comments
Joined Jun 2014
GiovanniO5288May 11, 2021 5:44 PM
150 Comments
Quote from LarrySW View quoted comment :
You had the 8GB M1 Mac mini or the Intel Mac mini?
I had the 8gb m1 Mac mini and now I have the 16gb m1 Mac mini. They were $600 and $800 respectively at microcenter.

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