The M2 Mac mini base has 4 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores.
The M2 Mac mini Pro base has 6 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores.
If you have an app that can use those extra cores, the M2 Mini Pro could be (for CPU tasks) perhaps 50% faster.
The GPU is 16 cores in the base Pro vs 10 in the normal M2 mini, so the Pro could be 60% faster if you have an app that can use all of those cores.
For most common apps that you as a user use for everyday things, the only thing that matters is single-threaded CPU speed, and at that, the M2 and M2 Pro are exactly the same speed.
I went to the Pro because:
1. It was immediately available
2. It had 2 more TB4 ports
3. I wanted the faster GPU with 60% more GPU cores (for the almost nonexistent MacOS games)
4. The price premium was $330 or so. Not happy, but it is what it is.
The additional 2 cores of CPU didn't really figure into it for me, as I almost never have jobs that overwhelm "even" "just" 4 CPU cores.
For code-compile, multimedia encoding, and some music creation tasks, particularly in Adobe and Apple professional apps, there is a significant gain to be had there. For Chrome, Edge, Safari, Mail, and GarageBand, probably not as much...
expiredsocalguy9 posted Feb 20, 2023 08:41 PM
Item 1 of 5
Item 1 of 5
expiredsocalguy9 posted Feb 20, 2023 08:41 PM
Costco Members: 512GB Apple Mac Mini w/ M2 Pro Chip
+ Free Shipping$1,250
$1,299
3% offCostco Wholesale
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256GB = 1500
512 = 3000
1TB = 6000
Pretty crummy, borderline criminal of apple to not advertise this little change and give all the youtube reviews early-access to the 1TB knowingly hiding this important fact upon launch.
The M2 Mac mini Pro base has 6 performance cores and 4 efficiency cores.
If you have an app that can use those extra cores, the machine could be (for CPU tasks) perhaps 50% faster.
The GPU is 16 cores in the base Pro vs 10 in the normal M2 mini, so it could be 60% faster if you have an app that can use all of those cores.
For most common apps that you as a user use for everyday things, the only thing that matters is single-threaded CPU speed, and at that, the M2 and M2 Pro are exactly the same speed.
I went to the Pro because:
1. It was immediately available
2. It had 2 more TB4 ports
3. I wanted the faster GPU with 60% more GPU cores (for the almost nonexistent MacOS games)
4. The price premium was $330 or so. Not happy, but it is what it is.
The additional 2 cores of CPU didn't really figure into it for me, as I almost never have jobs that overwhelm "even" "just" 4 CPU cores.
For code-compile, multimedia encoding, and some music creation tasks, particularly in Adobe and Apple professional apps, there is a significant gain to be had there. For Chrome, Edge, Safari, Mail, and GarageBand, probably not as much...
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Costco just had the Studio at $1699. My thought process was (any updates to the Pro) make the Studio worthwhile (at $1699; not $1799 Edu or $1999 normal price). I just didn't feel like spending the $, and felt the Pro was close enough with the updated GPU cores in the M2. "Most of the benefit at 2/3 the price" was the thought process.
Everyone told me Tim Cook's Apple was going to suck at innovation but deliver on execution and here we are over 2.5 years into this transition and we've lost the 27" iMac, the 21" iMac hasn't been upgraded, and there's no sign of the Mac Pro. I'm guessing the Mac Studio and Mac Pro team either are one and the same, or consist of a lot of the same people, because I just don't understand their rationale for leaving the pros on Intel. Sure, the Studio has similar or better CPU and GPU performance as the base Pros, but a lot of the advantage of the Pro was the expandability. If they've really gotten stuck because of the integrated nature of the M-series, then that's really dumb design, but then the Studio is it and they ought to commit wholeheartedly to it.
Still like Costco, but it's not the same anymore.
Can confirm it's a beastly machine. If you want 3 screens, this is it. If you need 2 screens, better to buy regular M2 w/ 16GB of RAM.
Definitely get the 16GB of RAM for sure. I am a power user but even AT IDLE my computer is using 10GB of RAM and 5.70GB is free. Unbelievable!
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They removed the mini-pc power cable from the current gen of AppleTV which is a mistake IMO. For the most part, the AppleTV is just shy of rugged from a connector standpoint.
Though, they DID start to go down an awful path with the AppleTV app, shoving AppleTV+ programing up our noses . . . if it ain't broke.
For the vast majority of casual users, for a $499 machine, 8GB of RAM is plenty sufficient, and it's not worth a 40% upcharge to get more RAM that they don't really need.
Far wiser to save that $ and get a better machine in 3 years that has real, differentiated performance differences, rather than just "more RAM".
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For everyone else this is probably the version to get. If you're a casual user you should get 5+ years out of it. Daily/office users would probably want to upgrade from this in 2-4 years at the current rate of CPU speed increases.
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