Price check: M2 MacBook Pro and Mac mini

18 January 2023
Here are the prices of the new M2 powered Macs. There are many configurations available and it gets confusing quickly.

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  • Anonymous
  • 70d
  • 31 Jan 2023

dbjungle, 29 Jan 2023I have an 8GB M1 Macbook Air. Normally, I would be fine tr... moreIt depends on applications. Some applications use a large amount of memory. When you use 3 applications simultaneously, one of them may be a virtualization application. It also depends on usage. For example, a web browser with less than 10 tabs open will use less memory than a web browser with more than 100 tabs open. I use virtualization occasionally. By the way, doesn't video editing work require a large storage? The usable storage of a 256 GB Mac mini will probably be about 200 GB or less. Is it enough for doing a lot of video editing?

    Anonymous, 27 Jan 2023I don't doubt the non-gaming performance of the M2. Wh... moreI have an 8GB M1 Macbook Air. Normally, I would be fine trashing Apple if we're talking about iOS, but the M1 Air can do way more than 3 applications at once. The swap to their SSD is a pretty unique experience. It happens so fast that it actually feels like you have double the RAM with unless you're doing something that legitimately requires all that RAM in use at one time like running virtual machines. Daily tasks swap in an unnoticeable manner. It's something you have to experience to appreciate. With that being said, 8GB is still 8GB. So if you do something like running virtual machines that will use all of that RAM and lock it all up in one go, you will run out very fast. I have experience with that as well.

      • ?
      • Anonymous
      • 70d
      • 27 Jan 2023

      dbjungle, 23 Jan 2023I agree with your take on the whole, but not necessarily on... moreI don't doubt the non-gaming performance of the M2. What I don't like is the limited amount of RAM and storage. 8 GB of RAM is enough for using 2 applications simultaneously, but if you use 3 or more applications simultaneously, it may not be enough. It's too limiting. And as I said, 256 GB of storage is too low. You also have to consider the fact that new versions of applications tend to more RAM and storage. If it's enough for you, that's good for you.

        Anonymous, 23 Jan 2023If you want it for graphic designing and video editing, I g... moreI agree with your take on the whole, but not necessarily on the value of this device. Not sure how familiar you are with M1 devices, but if you use it you'll understand. Unless you plan to play PC games... This thing literally crushes everything you throw at it that doesn't require more than 8GB dedicated physical memory. The memory swap capabilities with their SSD are pretty amazing.

          • ?
          • Anonymous
          • 70d
          • 23 Jan 2023

          dbjungle, 22 Jan 2023I think you have to consider the performance of what you�... moreIf you want it for graphic designing and video editing, I guess it has a good value. I don't care about those applications, though. If Apple wants to make the Mac mini more appealing to a wider audience, the base model should have 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage. If you don't intend to do graphic designing and video editing, the base model of the Mac mini is expensive for what is it.

            Anonymous, 18 Jan 2023I don't think so. It has only 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB o... moreI think you have to consider the performance of what you're getting for that price though. This thing crushes video editing and day-to-day multitasking (not high performance applications). I was pretty impressed by my M1 Air and I got it for $860. At $600 I would enjoy what it does that much more assuming you don't need / want the portability.

              Anonymous, 21 Jan 2023I don't see why they shouldn't buy a Windows PC i... moreThe PC you mentioned definitely has a great value especially when considering the CPU performance, and if a person prefers Windows I would recommend them to get it over M2 Mini depending on how they want to use it. With that said, it is quite a bit more expensive for students (Its price will bounce back to 759 USD after a while, whereas Apple's education discount is permanent), has a significantly less powerful GPU and I doubt if it runs just as silently as Mac Mini if noise is their concern.

              I'm not saying that M2 Mac Mini has the best cost-performance ratio among all mini desktops nor your Minisforum PC has objectively worse value than MM, but I wouldn't dare to make a conclusive statement such as "I don't see why they shouldn't buy a Windows PC instead" like yours. It all depends on the use case.

                • ?
                • Anonymous
                • 70d
                • 21 Jan 2023

                Nick Tegrataker, 20 Jan 2023Not everyone is an engineering student. Some majors require... moreI don't see why they shouldn't buy a Windows PC instead. Now you can buy an AMD Ryzen 9 6900HX Minisforum with 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage for $649. It's more expensive, but it provides much better value.

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                  • Anonymous
                  • TTx
                  • 21 Jan 2023

                  Anonymous , 20 Jan 2023Imaging of using mac os in university which can't even... moreWere you taught by your lecturer that engineering is the only faculty that exists in your university and nothing else matters? Because it definitely seems like it.

                    Anonymous , 20 Jan 2023Imaging of using mac os in university which can't even... moreNot everyone is an engineering student. Some majors require Windows (e.g. business analysis, engineering), while others where you can get away with using Linux or macOS, such as CS. If a person majors in courses that do not require Windows-specific applications to be installed on their computer, then they shouldn't have any issues with Mac.

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                      • Anonymous
                      • XSs
                      • 20 Jan 2023

                      Nick Tegrataker, 19 Jan 2023With the educational discount, 499 USD for the base model M... moreImaging of using mac os in university which can't even have most of basic free engineering tools!

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                        • Anonymous
                        • XSs
                        • 20 Jan 2023

                        Anonymous, 19 Jan 2023USB 3.2 Gen 2 does not support eGPU, it's only TB3/TB4... moreTechnically it does. All gpu doesn't need pcie gen 3 4links bandwidth

                          • ?
                          • Anonymous
                          • 70d
                          • 19 Jan 2023

                          Rick, 19 Jan 2023But at the same time. An M1 GPU is like equivalent to a $60... moreAs far as I know, the gaming performance of the M1 is quite poor.

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                            • Rick
                            • Ab@
                            • 19 Jan 2023

                            Anonymous, 19 Jan 2023I don't talk about high resolutions or frame rates. I ... moreBut at the same time. An M1 GPU is like equivalent to a $600 gpu in 2019. Lol. And apples are so efficient with ram and cpu with their soc.....

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                              • Tim
                              • Ab@
                              • 19 Jan 2023

                              Anonymous, 19 Jan 2023Shit pricing once again. Paying 230€ for such a miniscule u... moreThe Ram upgrades is definitely criminal. Costs 20 bucks and apple charges 200 bucks.

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                                • Anonymous
                                • t@S
                                • 19 Jan 2023

                                Anonymous, 19 Jan 2023Shit pricing once again. Paying 230€ for such a miniscule u... moreUSB 3.2 Gen 2 does not support eGPU, it's only TB3/TB4/USB4 that do so.

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                                  • Anonymous
                                  • nVJ
                                  • 19 Jan 2023

                                  Shit pricing once again. Paying 230€ for such a miniscule upgrade for RAM or storage space is just a bad joke and makes the base price meaningless, as those specs are only enough for basic usage. For the same price of a base Mac Mini you can get a Minis Forum with a Ryzen 6900HX, 32 GB of RAM and 512 GB storage space..Unless you need NacOS for some reason I don't see any reason to choose that one over the Minis Forum. If I'm not mistaken the USB 3.2 Gen 2 port should even allow eGPUs to be used, which will still cost less than a decently configured Mac, while beating it in both CPU and GPU power, not that the Radeon 680M is bad at all for an iGPU.

                                    • ?
                                    • Anonymous
                                    • 70d
                                    • 19 Jan 2023

                                    Nick Tegrataker, 19 Jan 2023Notice that I said, "portable, silent desktop that doe... moreI don't talk about high resolutions or frame rates. I understand that Mac is a bad choice for playing demanding games. 1080p60 is all right. The thing is, the file sizes of many modern games are huge. 256 GB is just too low. Gaming is likely what many kids to young adults use their PCs for. In any case, buying a PC with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage, mini or not, in 2023 is nonsensical, in my opinion. The minimum should be 16 GB of RAM and 512 GB of storage.

                                      Anonymous, 19 Jan 2023$499 is a good price, but I don't think that it's... moreNotice that I said, "portable, silent desktop that does the job for most primary/intermediate/high-school students and some university students". If you're playing graphics-intensive games, you probably won't be looking at a 499 USD desktop or a machine that runs on Mac OS anyway.

                                        Anonymous, 19 Jan 2023You should have been more specific. That comment made no se... moreYou should've been more careful in reading comments and seeing posts made after the initial comment, before jumping the gun and making premature conclusions.

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