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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

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Top Comments

Fortnite
282 Posts
66 Reputation
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
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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Feb 23, 2023 11:21 PM
112 Posts
Joined Apr 2018
pfukjobydnFeb 23, 2023 11:21 PM
112 Posts
Quote from spec2 :
Limiting the speed...as compared to a spinning platter 5200 RPM hard drive that use to go in the base models only a few years ago? Haha. You guys will always find something to complain about. At $500-600 this is a heck of an entry level computer let alone Mac. No one is buying this model to edit 4K RAW video or a stack of 45mp photos in Lightroom.
I didnt realize mods had removed my post, but you're delusional if you think 5400rpm drives were in macbook a few years ago, I've always had SSDs in my macbooks, since 2009
Feb 24, 2023 10:31 PM
1,150 Posts
Joined Feb 2009
spec2Feb 24, 2023 10:31 PM
1,150 Posts
Quote from pfukjobydn :
I didnt realize mods had removed my post, but you're delusional if you think 5400rpm drives were in macbook a few years ago, I've always had SSDs in my macbooks, since 2009
You are the delusional one. I've been using Apple laptops since the early 1990s. But to prove you don't know what you are talking about here are the stock specs for a 2009 MacBook Pro - note the 5400 RPM HDD:

https://apple-history.com/mbp_15_mid_09
Mar 02, 2023 07:00 PM
108 Posts
Joined Jan 2015
hotaboyMar 02, 2023 07:00 PM
108 Posts
Does apple tend to end these deals or they stay on for a long time?
Mar 02, 2023 07:05 PM
668 Posts
Joined Jul 2007
iotaMar 02, 2023 07:05 PM
668 Posts
Quote from hotaboy :
Does apple tend to end these deals or they stay on for a long time?
This isn't a limited-time deal - this is just the normal (educational discount) price. It's not going to change any time soon, most likely.
Mar 02, 2023 07:09 PM
112 Posts
Joined Apr 2018
pfukjobydnMar 02, 2023 07:09 PM
112 Posts
Quote from spec2 :
You are the delusional one. I've been using Apple laptops since the early 1990s. But to prove you don't know what you are talking about here are the stock specs for a 2009 MacBook Pro - note the 5400 RPM HDD:

https://apple-history.com/mbp_15_mid_09
I guess you're too simple to replace them with SSD's as every professional did.
Mar 03, 2023 12:45 PM
1,150 Posts
Joined Feb 2009
spec2Mar 03, 2023 12:45 PM
1,150 Posts
Quote from pfukjobydn :
I guess you're too simple to replace them with SSD's as every professional did.
Haha. Nice try to switch the subject. My original point was Apple shipped the stock models with 5400 RPM drives NOT that the user couldn't crack the case and add a faster drive or order a CTO model with one. No matter how much twisting you try here you are wrong. Let it go.

Also, side note, yes, back when you could crack the case I always ordered stock and upgraded the RAM and drive myself.
1
Mar 04, 2023 11:48 PM
463 Posts
Joined Dec 2009
dyrneMar 04, 2023 11:48 PM
463 Posts
Man.. I'm coming from Linux and need ram for VMs and more cores and wanted to try apple out but it's cheaper just to buy multiple base models and stack them. This is silly

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Mar 20, 2023 03:27 PM
34 Posts
Joined Feb 2014
drcrasierfraneMar 20, 2023 03:27 PM
34 Posts
Upgraded to 16GB RAM and 512GB storage in the configurator. For under $1k this is going to be a beast.
Apr 11, 2023 08:53 PM
337 Posts
Joined Mar 2020
easybeartApr 11, 2023 08:53 PM
337 Posts
Can this run Minecraft at 4k 144hz? My M1 Macbook Air can barely keep up at 4k ~90hz
Apr 11, 2023 09:56 PM
6,118 Posts
Joined Mar 2008
dcliveApr 11, 2023 09:56 PM
6,118 Posts
Quote from easybeart :
Can this run Minecraft at 4k 144hz? My M1 Macbook Air can barely keep up at 4k ~90hz
GPU said to be 40% faster than M1. Give it a shot, then let us know.
Jun 05, 2023 11:00 PM
82 Posts
Joined Sep 2021
MemorableWren1309Jun 05, 2023 11:00 PM
82 Posts
Now with $100 apple gift card for back to school
Jun 05, 2023 11:36 PM
6,118 Posts
Joined Mar 2008
dcliveJun 05, 2023 11:36 PM
6,118 Posts
Quote from MemorableWren1309 :
Now with $100 apple gift card for back to school
Where do you see that?
Pro
Jun 06, 2023 03:26 AM
264 Posts
Joined Dec 2018
BubblesInSF
Pro
Jun 06, 2023 03:26 AM
264 Posts
Quote from MemorableWren1309 :
Now with $100 apple gift card for back to school
does back to school applies for phones and education discount?
Jun 07, 2023 05:17 PM
19,859 Posts
Joined Feb 2006
tenderidolJun 07, 2023 05:17 PM
19,859 Posts
Quote from BubblesInSF :
does back to school applies for phones and education discount?
Details here [apple.com]

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Pro
Jun 07, 2023 10:44 PM
264 Posts
Joined Dec 2018
BubblesInSF
Pro
Jun 07, 2023 10:44 PM
264 Posts
Quote from tenderidol :
Details here [apple.com]
thanks, its just for ipads and macs.

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