Microcenter has
Apple Mac Mini Compact Computer w/ Apple M1 Chip (Late 2020 Model, MGNR3LL/A) on sale for
$549.99. Click the Reserve Now button on the product page and pick up at your local store.
Thanks to Community Member
warpshield for finding this deal.
Specs:- Apple M1 Octa-Core Processor (4x high-performance + 4x high-efficiency)
- 8-Core Integrated GPU
- 8GB RAM (onboard)
- 256GB Integrated NVMe PCIe Solid State Drive
- 802.11ax WiFi 6 / Bluetooth 5.0
- Ports:
- 2x USB Type-A (USB 3.1 / USB 3.2 Gen 1)
- 2x Thunderbolt 3 USB Type C (supports DisplayPort / HDMI / VGA & Power Delivery)
- 1x HDMI 2.0 (output)
- 1x 3.5 mm Headphone
- 1x Ethernet
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My swap (with 48 days of uptime) is 3-4GB. Just because it's in swap doesn't mean it's actively writing/reading from the swap.
Here's a graph of my swap over time, and ALSO how much swap reads and writes over the course of an hour.
https://imgur.com/a/AOK9lFg
Memory swap isn't bad.. It's like a tiered memory storage... It's only bad if it's actively trying to utilize the swap with read/writes, but it takes a lot of those to hurt the ssd.
This is with discord + vscode + spotify + chrome + occasional FT. 8gb M1 256gb.
https://www.costco.com/mac-mini-%...94159.html
8GB on an M1 is not a problem at all, it is much more memory efficient than Windows PCs with 16GB+.
M2, based on how they are pricing the M2 MBAs are going to be $200 more. Not worth it for that minor bump.
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I think this is a very good deal for someone is just going to use it for surfing the web, youtube, streaming movies, word processing, etc. Basically the everyday average person. the 8 gig is enough. The only time I noticed memory/storage swapping was when I used Foxfire.
The only other negative is the very few ports it offers. You are likely gonna need to purchase a doggle (and keyboard/mouse, however, you can use your old set from old computer). I also have bluetooth issues that you will see people on the net complain about. If I walk 10 feet to the bathroom, I lose bluetooth connection.
Side Question:
Can anyone recommend speakers for the Mac Mini? Something that is synced with what is playing on the monitor like movies/person speaking, with no "delay".
I have an LG Ultrawide monitor that has built in speakers which I thought would be good enough, but it doesn't get loud enough in some situations like watching a movie or youtube video that has low volume from the original source.
Thank is advance.
I have an M1 Air 8GB and get crushed by swap and yellow/red memory pressure. My belief based on the Activity Monitor is that the problem is the OS. The mds_stores seems to leak memory from me after sometime, o matter what fixes I try (and I've tried a lot). I only had Big Sur for a week but never noticed these issues. Monterey has been an abysmal experience.
https://www.costco.com/mac-mini-%...94159.html
8GB on an M1 is not a problem at all, it is much more memory efficient than Windows PCs with 16GB+.
M2, based on how they are pricing the M2 MBAs are going to be $200 more. Not worth it for that minor bump.
Ended up getting this one - thanks for the heads up!
That's because of Firefox. I uninstalled Firefox and swap usage went down drastically. I suspect Firefox has some bad code in there where it writes its cache every few mins.
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No, there use to be an extra $100 savings. Guess it's over
The 8gb machine with 256gb drive is perfectly acceptable for the very basic of users. Anyone running chrome/firefox and multiple tabs on this will soon realize that the machine does start to get sluggish rather quickly.
For basic work use, I can tell you that running just Chrome, Microsoft teams and perhaps Outlook on this will basically remind of you of the 5400rpm main drive experience we all were so accustomed to in 2012. The thing becomes extremely sluggish, switching apps takes forever. Chrome tabs are slow to open.
Basically, if you want a machine to open a browser with a couple of tabs, this will do fine. If your usage requires significant use of browser tabs, Any work related microsoft suite items (just outlook/teams), you will start seeing this slow down and become cumbersome to use. I run the m1 optimized teams build as well.
On the upside, battery life is excellent!
and as far as i know, the only 3.5mm port is used for either mic or speaker. so if you plug in a wired mic, you will have to pretty much use internal speaker, or another DAC device.