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frontpageUndisclosed posted Jan 17, 2023 04:29 PM
frontpageUndisclosed posted Jan 17, 2023 04:29 PM

Apple Education Discount: Apple Mac Mini w/ M2 Chip Pre-Order: 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD

+ Free Shipping

$499

$599

16% off
Apple Store
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Deal Details
Apple via Apple Education Store is offering eligible Students/Educators: Apple Mac Mini Pre-Order w/ M2 Chip for $499. Shipping is free.

Thanks to community member Undisclosed for sharing this deal.

Note, this item will be available starting 1/24/23. You must qualify for the education discount (more information) to get this price.

Specs
  • Apple M2 Octa-Core Processor (4x high-performance + 4x high-efficiency)
  • 10-Core Integrated GPU
  • 8GB Unified Memory
  • 256GB Integrated NVMe PCIe Solid State Drive
  • 802.11ax WiFi 6E / Bluetooth 5.3
  • Ports:
    • 2x USB Type-A
    • 2x Thunderbolt 4
    • 1x HDMI
    • 1x Headphone Jack
    • 1x Gigabit Ethernet

Editor's Notes

Written by qwikwit | Staff
  • About this deal:
    • This offer is $100 lower (16.69% savings) than the $599 list price.
    • See forum thread for additional discussion.
  • About this product:
    • Mac mini with M2 supports up to two displays.
  • About this store:
    • You have 14 calendar days to return an item from the date you received it. See the return policy details here.

Original Post

Written by Undisclosed
Community Notes
About the Poster
Deal Details
Community Notes
About the Poster
Apple via Apple Education Store is offering eligible Students/Educators: Apple Mac Mini Pre-Order w/ M2 Chip for $499. Shipping is free.

Thanks to community member Undisclosed for sharing this deal.

Note, this item will be available starting 1/24/23. You must qualify for the education discount (more information) to get this price.

Specs
  • Apple M2 Octa-Core Processor (4x high-performance + 4x high-efficiency)
  • 10-Core Integrated GPU
  • 8GB Unified Memory
  • 256GB Integrated NVMe PCIe Solid State Drive
  • 802.11ax WiFi 6E / Bluetooth 5.3
  • Ports:
    • 2x USB Type-A
    • 2x Thunderbolt 4
    • 1x HDMI
    • 1x Headphone Jack
    • 1x Gigabit Ethernet

Editor's Notes

Written by qwikwit | Staff
  • About this deal:
    • This offer is $100 lower (16.69% savings) than the $599 list price.
    • See forum thread for additional discussion.
  • About this product:
    • Mac mini with M2 supports up to two displays.
  • About this store:
    • You have 14 calendar days to return an item from the date you received it. See the return policy details here.

Original Post

Written by Undisclosed

Community Voting

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Top Comments

Fortnite
282 Posts
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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.

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How many browser tabs do you keep open?

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StrongCaption2242
51 Posts
34 Reputation
I have a M1 Mac Mini with 16GB Ram, I'm a photographer and I've been running out of system Memory fairly often recently due to working between several applications. I'll have Adobe Bridge open with a session open, will open the a few raw files in Photoshop. I might be doing a head swap so there's 3 files open, in Photoshop, then I want to do a few face edits in Portrait Pro Studio Max, so I open that and I get an error that I've run out of application memory (RAM) oh and I have FIrefox open with 56 tabs open as well. So I usually either close Bridge until I'm done working in Portrait Pro, and then after I've saved the file I'll close Portrait Pro and re-open Bridge, and that works, but it's mostly just due to my messy multitasking workflow running multiple RAM intensive programs while shooting RAW files with a 50MP sensor.

So, as for me, I just ordered a Mac Mini M2 pro with the RAM upgraded to 32GB.

So if you run programs like I do, and you have Illustrator, InDesign, and Premiere or Final Cut Pro all running simultaneously with chrome or firefox and perhaps a music streaming service open too, then you might want to go for the 32GB option. If however, you work in a only 2 or maybe 3 programs simultaneously you should be fine, the most bang for your buck is gonna be the M2 with the 16GB RAM option, and just close the extra programs you're not working if you should ever run out of RAM. The Video programs can be kind of RAM heavy so if you or your church has the budget I'd go with the M2 pro with the 32GB of RAM, but you could probably do what you want to with the M2 with 16GB so long as you only work in Premiere and and After Effects and don't have Photoshop and InDesign also running, because I think each of those programs requires about 4GB of RAM when you have a project open in them.

Okay so I just checked my activity monitory and with Photoshop minimized and running in the background with no open projects it's using 1.35GB of RAM. I opened one 13MB (yes megabyte) JPEG file and the RAM use for Photoshop jumped to 4.24GB. I've closed that 13MB file and Photoshop is still using 4.14GB of RAM. I also have a session open in Bridge, and just looking through the photos in the session it's using up 3.45GB of RAM. Now I like to open a Raw image in Camera Raw before opening it in Photoshop. So if I open up one of my RAW files in Camera RAW (which is still a subprogram of Bridge) Bridge's RAM jumps to 6GB, if I pull a few sliders and do a single subject selection Adobe Bridge then takes up 8.94GB of RAM So you see where I can quickly run out of RAM.

My guess is you'll want the 32GB option, but you could make do with 16GB if you have to.

I hope this long winded comment can help you (and other creatives) in your decision making process. 😊
santy83
2389 Posts
572 Reputation
FYI..Base model M2 still supports only 2 monitors , which still should be good enough for most users .Also HDMI 2.1 not supported on base M2.

875 Comments

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Jan 17, 2023 06:59 PM
3,264 Posts
Joined Jun 2015
TheNarratorrJan 17, 2023 06:59 PM
3,264 Posts

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

Nobody will be able to find an equivalent machine more capable than this for less than $1000 minimum

This edits Pro Res, 8K, dominates photo shop etc for $499. It's insane.
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Jan 17, 2023 07:04 PM
5,265 Posts
Joined Apr 2006
SlickDitJan 17, 2023 07:04 PM
5,265 Posts
Quote from TVM925 :
So your saying the ram can't be upgrade once you buy it?
Correct.
1
Jan 17, 2023 07:07 PM
976 Posts
Joined Aug 2014
rocketman80Jan 17, 2023 07:07 PM
976 Posts
Quote from TVM925 :
Is adding 8 more ram for 180 worh it?
Seems like no unless you do heavy video processing
1
Jan 17, 2023 07:10 PM
1,818 Posts
Joined Jul 2011
clocks11Jan 17, 2023 07:10 PM
1,818 Posts
Surprised these still come base with only 8gb of ram.
3
Jan 17, 2023 07:10 PM
135 Posts
Joined Dec 2020
TVNYJan 17, 2023 07:10 PM
135 Posts
I own the basemodel M1 Mac Mini that was $569 from Costco, this newer one for $499 is a steal!
Jan 17, 2023 07:11 PM
19,859 Posts
Joined Feb 2006
tenderidolJan 17, 2023 07:11 PM
19,859 Posts
Quote from phatparents :
Trying to figure out a "cashback" deal…. Discover and Chase credit cards both offer 5% back at grocery stores right now… Could you buy an Apple gift card at the grocery store, get 5% back, and use it to buy the Mac mini? Not sure if gift cards get the 5% back…
You're probably fine with this plan, but you'll be forfeiting any potential benefits (e.g., extended warranties, etc) if you use a credit card.
2
Jan 17, 2023 07:12 PM
1,929 Posts
Joined Sep 2012
mars_88888Jan 17, 2023 07:12 PM
1,929 Posts
SSD makes the base model M2 MacBook Air to be slower than MacBook M1. Look it up.
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Jan 17, 2023 07:14 PM
19,859 Posts
Joined Feb 2006
tenderidolJan 17, 2023 07:14 PM
19,859 Posts
Quote from mars_88888 :
SSD makes the base model M2 MacBook Air to be slower than MacBook M1. Look it up.
Have you seen a report stating that it's also true for the mini?
1
Jan 17, 2023 07:15 PM
3,875 Posts
Joined Aug 2008
wolverine88Jan 17, 2023 07:15 PM
3,875 Posts
crazy, 16GB with 512GB SSD will cost $1200?

Hope they base it like 16GB RAM for $700....
1
1
Jan 17, 2023 07:16 PM
1,929 Posts
Joined Sep 2012
mars_88888Jan 17, 2023 07:16 PM
1,929 Posts
Quote from moctezumax :
And what problems are those? 🤣😂 Being too efficient at its price point?
Quote from slicktomorrow :
Can you elaborate on what problem?
Quote from tenderidol :
Have you seen a report stating that it's also true for the mini?
I have not. But it was both MacBook Air & MacBook Pro M2 models. I certainly hope that is not the case. I love my Mac mini M1 and I think it is an awesome!

I will upgrade if SSD speeds are not impacted. Otherwise I would go with 16gb version.
1
Jan 17, 2023 07:19 PM
640 Posts
Joined Nov 2017
augieliciousJan 17, 2023 07:19 PM
640 Posts
Quote from giantbruin :
$270 trade in value for M1 Mac Mini. $230+tax worth it to upgrade?
A bunch of people here (or local CL/Mercari) would probably take the M1 off your hands for more than $270
Jan 17, 2023 07:23 PM
1,906 Posts
Joined Jan 2008
BigbanksJan 17, 2023 07:23 PM
1,906 Posts
Quote from augielicious :
A bunch of people here (or local CL/Mercari) would probably take the M1 off your hands for more than $270
I would
Jan 17, 2023 07:27 PM
1,784 Posts
Joined Dec 2009
halogod2Jan 17, 2023 07:27 PM
1,784 Posts
I want to go with 512Gb hard drive and 16Gb ram, but it's a little pricey, compared to the based model. This machine will last at least 5 years for watching tv, youtube and streaming twitch.
1
Jan 17, 2023 07:29 PM
74 Posts
Joined Jul 2017

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Jan 17, 2023 07:30 PM
259 Posts
Joined Apr 2013
HaiderEJan 17, 2023 07:30 PM
259 Posts
Quote from mars_88888 :
I wonder if this has the same problem as MacBook Air 256gb with 8gb.
This +1

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