Did this coupon
work for you?
work for you?
Frontpage
Apple Education Discount: Apple Mac Mini w/ M2 Chip Pre-Order: 8GB RAM, 256GB SSD
$499
$599.00
+ Free Shipping
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
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
Original Post
Written by
Edited January 17, 2023
at 11:19 AM
Apple just released the new M2 Mac Mini for $599, however Education Users can get it for $499 which is $100 off the Regular price.
https://www.apple.com/us-edu/shop...c/mac-mini
https://www.apple.com/us-edu/shop...c/mac-mini
Created 01-17-2023
at 08:29 AM
by Undisclosed
in
Computers
(2)
Get Apple Store Coupons
If you purchase something through a post on our site, Slickdeals may get a small share of the sale.
Community Wiki
Last Edited by dclive
February 20, 2023
at
03:08 PM
Anyone can purchase from the Apple Edu Store. One simply googles "Apple Edu Store", then purchases goods from the store and picks it up or has the goods shipped normally. There is no verification currently. Apple's stated qualifications are to be a teacher, a student in college, or a member of several other education-facing groups.
Apple's SSD "maximum" speeds on the new M2 Mini is as follows:
1500MB/s for 256GB mini; 3000MB/s for 512GB/1TB mini.
3000MB/s for 512GB mini Pro; 6000 MB/s for 1TB++ mini Pro.
And for the vast, vast majority, since random access speed is vastly more important than maximum transfer speeds, none of this matters at all; random access speeds are similar on all models, and are faster than the M1 models before these. If you have a day job where you copy data from the internal drive to an external Thunderbolt 4 high-speed SSD, and you do that 8x5 as part of a job, all day every day, look at the 1TB Pro models. Otherwise, ignore all of this; it simply doesn't matter.
Compared to the previous gen M1 mini, the M2 mini is perhaps 10-15% faster in single core operations and about the same in multicore operations. The graphics operations, for some things, can be up to 40% faster, a significant jump, which is useful in games and in some video and ML applications that use the GPU cores.
Apple's SSD "maximum" speeds on the new M2 Mini is as follows:
1500MB/s for 256GB mini; 3000MB/s for 512GB/1TB mini.
3000MB/s for 512GB mini Pro; 6000 MB/s for 1TB++ mini Pro.
And for the vast, vast majority, since random access speed is vastly more important than maximum transfer speeds, none of this matters at all; random access speeds are similar on all models, and are faster than the M1 models before these. If you have a day job where you copy data from the internal drive to an external Thunderbolt 4 high-speed SSD, and you do that 8x5 as part of a job, all day every day, look at the 1TB Pro models. Otherwise, ignore all of this; it simply doesn't matter.
Compared to the previous gen M1 mini, the M2 mini is perhaps 10-15% faster in single core operations and about the same in multicore operations. The graphics operations, for some things, can be up to 40% faster, a significant jump, which is useful in games and in some video and ML applications that use the GPU cores.
Recommended Deal Alerts For You
What are Deal Alerts?
Want more deals like this?
Create a deal alert for Computers.
Add Deal Alert for Computers
More Computers Deals & Discounts
View AllFrontpage
$2900 (or less)
+ Free Shipping
31
62
876 Comments
Your comment cannot be blank.
Featured Comments
POLL
How many browser tabs do you keep open?
"Like" for 10 or less
"Funny" for 11 to 20
"Helpful" for 21 and above
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. 😊
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Will using monitors that support multi-stream transport work and only require one display out?
Scratch that, guess Mac OS does not support…..
But 16GB is probably "enough".... but it always depends.
Most will be perfectly fine with 8/256, particularly a student, just starting out, just learning Logic.
The 16/512 is a logical enhancement to that, giving more than sufficient RAM and double the disk.
Most will be perfectly fine with 8/256, particularly a student, just starting out, just learning Logic.
The 16/512 is a logical enhancement to that, giving more than sufficient RAM and double the disk.
But 16GB is probably "enough".... but it always depends.
Mac hardware keeps value fairly well. Selling it in a year or three for 50-80% of cost isn't a bad deal, and once the nephew (?) knows more what they want, they'd then be able to do that and get a nice upgrade.
If it's ever needed. It's also possible he might decide audio stuff isn't for him and it becomes a Facebook machine forevermore.
Mac hardware keeps value fairly well. Selling it in a year or three for 50-80% of cost isn't a bad deal, and once the nephew (?) knows more what they want, they'd then be able to do that and get a nice upgrade.
If it's ever needed. It's also possible he might decide audio stuff isn't for him and it becomes a Facebook machine forevermore.
And if they ever need more, selling a 16GB Mac Mini probably won't be too hard (like you said), or they can keep it as a backup or side machine while they get something else, or hand it down to a family member. When I upgrade my main computer, I keep my previous one and still use it for other things.
Oh, I have 32GB in my last 2 machines which is more than enough but those are Windoze PCs and it seems they are much less efficient with RAM than M1/M2 Macs. I would want at least 16GB in any Windoze machine I use regularly for work... 8GB might cut it doing light work on Windoze but I strongly prefer at least 16GB.
I guess 16GB on Windoze is like 8GB on a M1/M2 Mac Mini.
So yeah, the 16GB is probably the better option but one should keep in mind that RAM cannot be upgraded later but storage can... and some (but not most) people could actually use that additional RAM.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
Mac hardware keeps value fairly well. Selling it in a year or three for 50-80% of cost isn't a bad deal, and once the nephew (?) knows more what they want, they'd then be able to do that and get a nice upgrade.
If it's ever needed. It's also possible he might decide audio stuff isn't for him and it becomes a Facebook machine forevermore.
An amateur who purchases equipment with quality or features suitable for professional use.
"the magazine is aimed at the prosumer who uses a $10,000 camera to make home movies of his dog"
For a techie kid who always wants the latest and has money to burn, my estimated lifespan is one year, until Apple brings out something new.
For the technie hater who wants to buy one thing and never change a thing and run it until it all dies (think grandma here), my estimated lifespan is 10 years to 15 years.
Knowing the person you'd gift this to, where do they fit within that spectrum?
For a techie kid who always wants the latest and has money to burn, my estimated lifespan is one year, until Apple brings out something new.
For the technie hater who wants to buy one thing and never change a thing and run it until it all dies (think grandma here), my estimated lifespan is 10 years to 15 years.
Knowing the person you'd gift this to, where do they fit within that spectrum?
At 17, they're not doing anything professionally; an extra 30 seconds on something they do twice a week won't matter a bit. I'd get the $499 one and call it a day. But if you do want to spend more, get the 16/256 version or the 16/500 version, and he's all set.
Given Apple's high upgrade pricing, it's not a bad idea to gift the cheapest model, save your money, and get something later when and if he does become more advanced.
In the grand scheme of things, music production is lightweight and easy. Is this Garage Band? Logic Pro? Something else?
At 17, they're not doing anything professionally; an extra 30 seconds on something they do twice a week won't matter a bit. I'd get the $499 one and call it a day. But if you do want to spend more, get the 16/256 version or the 16/500 version, and he's all set.
Given Apple's high upgrade pricing, it's not a bad idea to gift the cheapest model, save your money, and get something later when and if he does become more advanced.
In the grand scheme of things, music production is lightweight and easy. Is this Garage Band? Logic Pro? Something else?
I'd love to buy him a new rig in 2-5 years but who knows if my finances will allow that down the road.
Sign up for a Slickdeals account to remove this ad.
I'd love to buy him a new rig in 2-5 years but who knows if my finances will allow that down the road.
Ableton is a pretty standard audio app; here are the specs: https://help.ableton.co
I'd say he's perfectly safe in 8GB/256GB. He'll want Ableton 11, so perhaps instead of buying extras on the Mac side, you might look at buying that software.
It should be noted that Live 10 works with AS, but via Rosetta (so not native, not quite as fast).
But none of that should be an issue for a nonpro.