The BEST desktop Mac? M2 Pro Mac mini vs M2 Mac Studio!

32 Comments

1. Which one would you go for… and why?

2. I picked up a M2 Pro mac mini with 16GB unified memory but 1TB storage for the faster NAND. Sneaky Apple slowing the 512GB model down to 3000Mbps, when the 1TB is 6000Mbps

3. I am going for Mini M2 Pro for general usage, design and video. Basic configuration. Great value for money.

4. Hello Mark,
   Thanks for the great video.
   I find myself in the situation of needing to replace my outdated pre-2012 iMac 27.
   I have been looking at the Mac Mini M2 Pro and Mac Studio options, but now another question has arisen for me.
   According to rumors, Apple intends to introduce the new M3 Chip in 2024, and honestly I would not want to buy an M2 if the M3 with 3 nanometer technology comes out soon. Yes, I am a geek in wanting to have the latest on the market when I go to buy something.
   My question, what would you recommend me to buy now, to get out of the way, to then take advantage of Apple's refurb plan to purchase the new M3.
   And one last question, from an external drive can I manage my DropBox?

   Thank you very much,

5. I have been eyeballing both of these. Specing up the mini pro for me (I get a veteran discount here in the U.S.) it’s actually $200 more then the base Mac Studio.

6. I’ve been going back and forth on this for months. I’m driving an old 2014 mini (16GB RAM, 2 TB storage on 2 different 1TB SSD’s (on the 2014’s storage was upgradable). It’s showing it’s age.. it’s slow. Latest version of Turbo Tax drives it into the ground. I want a studio simply because I believe it’s a better class of machine but I can certainly get by on an M2 Pro mini. By the time I bump up the RAM.. I’m in Studio territory anyway. I need to look at the specs again. No video processing, no heavy lifting except for a VM.

7. Did you talk about the cost of the extra hub you need for the Mac Mini (because it shows up over and over again in the video)?

8. I was looking at getting an M2 Studio Max, but a near new Mac mini M2 Pro base model came up on eBay at a great starting price, so I bid on it at the starting price thinking I had no hope of winning it and somehow no one else bid on it and I got it. It's been a month now and once I got over the anxiety of running out of memory, as I've not had a base spec Mac in years, it's been a really surprising machine and is quite a speed demon. The Mini I got had very low usage and not a scratch on it and still has warranty coverage from Apple until mid next year, so I scored quite the bargain. Like you said in your review of this model, it just gets on with the job and I've noticed the caching works really well and it learns your work patterns, which boosts load times of apps you use often. I use the Mini Pro for editing YouTube videos, some coding and in my day job as a teacher, I use it for web surfing, email, video conferencing with Zoom and Teams and online teaching. It's not missed a beat.

9. Coming from a 2012 iMac 2.9GHz i5 with 32 GB DDR3 Ram and a 1tb SSD. Chose the base M2 Pro Mac Mini. I just do basic video editing and web browsing and word processing. Haven’t unboxed yet. Out working on a fire now. Hoping I made the right decision.

10. I went for a maxed out mini pro , don't like the size or design of the studio plus it's got noise issues

    32/12 core/2tb ssd

11. What screen have you there?

12. I just bought a Studio and I hate it…only joking!!

13. If you’re doing just photography and not really any video editing is the Mac mini m2 pro good enough?

14. That t shirt

15. m1 max refub and all your comparison is lost

16. A month ago, I was changing my 11-year-old MacPro to a Mac mini M2 Pro, based on the very favorable reviews of this mini computer that are all over the Internet.

    If I thought I would have the same positive experience than when I bought my MacPro, 11 years earlier, I can assure you that I quickly became disillusioned.

    First, migration with Apple’s migration wizard: two failures in a row, after 4 hours of migration each time. I was left to reinstall and reconfigure everything manually. Then the surprises. Unable to calibrate the colors of my monitor plugged into the HDMI port. After hours of searching the Internet, I finally discovered that Apple’s M1 and M2 chips do not calibrate an external monitor when plugged into the HDMI port. The problem comes from a bad design of the M1 and M2 chips, apparently. Monitor can be calibrated only if it is plugged in any other port than the HDMI and if it has a USB connection at the same time!! Then the continuous camera. Nice innovation, until you activate the firewall in the network settings. Say goodbye then to the continuous camera, it will no longer work. Delay sending an email in Mail? Nice addition to the features of Mail, but that never worked for me. Print with my old printer? Apparently, nothing could be simpler with AirPrint. However, I had to install my printer manufacturer’s application to be able to print and scan again. I now have to open it every time I want to print or scan.

    There is not a single YouTuber that has alluded to all these glitches that I have encountered in just a month’s possession of my Mac mini. They just copy each other, giving us the same information and test results, over and over again.

    Apple looks more and more like Microsoft, making us more and more captive of its technology that only works half way. And when you add up the cost of software subscriptions, which are increasing in number, and which inflate the costs to just be able to use a computer, you realize very quickly that the world of technology is becoming less and less attractive to ordinary people. Maybe the Mac mini M2 Pro is the last computer that I will ever buy.

17. I ran into this same question 2 weeks ago. I had to edit some 4k footage for a very last-minute work project, and our current computers just couldn’t do it well. When it was done I decided to pull the trigger on an M2 Pro Mac Mini, and as I got to the online store, saw that the M2 Mac Studios had been released. The upgraded Mac Mini I was looking at was only $100 AUD less than the base model M2 Max Mac Studio. With the additional GPU cores (and asking Chat GPT how each spec I was looking at could handle 4k video in Resolve Studio 18), and the option to upgrade to 64 GB of Unified Memory (yes, please), I went with the 512 GB M2 M2 Max Mac Studio. It came a few days ago, and replaces my 2014 MacBook Pro for all things Apple, and will be my go-to pre/post-production machine for any client events.

18. I switched from iMac2011 -> macmini pro m2 16 1TB for 1500 Euros, no need fo a studio….i spend that money for second ASD 🙂

19. M2 Pro Mac Mini on sale at Costco for $1099. Until July 30.

20. I have a base Mini M2 Pro(upgraded to 32GB RAM). I use it for development (web development, JVM-based creative coding, occasionally C++-based stuff too), UI/UX design, photography and general productivity. It's pretty much perfect for me.

    I've heard many say it's such a poor value over the base Studio, but if I truly don't need any of the upgrades than I think that is poor value. This idea of ”good value” in a general abstract sense is so silly. Value depends on your needs! The Mini I have fulfils my needs pretty much exactly and I'm extremely happy with it. I also strongly prefer the form factor, it's just less unwieldy (which matters when switching the monitor cable with my work laptop). It's also funny people being worried about base SSD performance, aside from the OS and light weight documents (because iCloud needs to be on default drive)… I just run everything off an regular Samsung T7 which AFAIK is much slower than even that SSD and it's still plenty fast for my needs. I don't need the most fancy thing, I just need the thing that does the job well, and this does.

    (I copy pasted this from a previous comment I wrote for another video as it fit in very well here too.)

21. Replaced my old late 2013 27” iMac with the base model M1 Mac Studio. Only upgrade I got for it was 2TB internal storage. Also bought a Studio Display for it with the tilt, raise, lower stand and anti-glare. Received the Mac Studio first and had to use our HDTV for a display until the Studio Display arrived 2 months later. I really like it! Suits my use case perfectly!

22. Good comparison. I got the M2 Pro 10 core (12 core not worth it) Mac mini 16GB but with 1TB because the 526GB is a slower ssd. Even with bigger external ssd it still slows down writing to that external drive as various YouTubers have proved in tests.

23. Thanks Mark. Spot on review, nice and concise (you still sound coherent at 1.75 x normal speed! 😂) and really helpful.

24. Sorry to say for me I’m not convinced for me M1 base Mac mini is still the best Mac Apple released, and whilst I keep doing the man maths to try and justify upgrading I still haven’t.

25. 25% of this video being an add is a bit much

26. Bought the Mac Studio due to workflow related to certain peripherals I need.

27. I love my M2 pro Mac mini (It has 16gb/1tb). I didn’t feel I needed a Mac Studio as the mini does what I need and I wanted the option to get a 27” iMac with Apple silicon (if Apple ever make one) in the future.

28. "If your budget is $2000".. Yeah, but it doesn't come with a monitor, so you still need to spend a buttload of cash to get that, especially if you go after the studio display ,which is likely itself around $2000 (depending on options) – never mind the Pro Display XDR.

    It's why I wish they'd do a new iMac – a proper one, not that small 24" version.

29. "For everyone else," the choice would be the current iMac. $1,299 or about 1,015 pounds sterling. Which has a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.
    Sufficient for all the usual personal computer tasks.

    The Mac Mini ($599-$1299 or 468-1,015 pounds sterling) would be for those who use any specialized software. Graphics, movie, music, orbital mechanics, etc. Because you need the extra processing power and 16GB unified memory. And if you bought the iMac but later you found you needed More? Get a Mac Mini, and use the iMac in screen sharing mode.

    The Mac Studio is for everyone left.
    With processes which in total use at least 48GB, this is our only choice.

30. I held on for ages and I’m so so so glad I did, I got the M2 Max with the higher core cpu, 64gb ram and 2tb, I’ve been saving for a really long time and it has not disappointed me in the slightest, it’s been amazing to use with audio and video.

31. Hi Mark! I’m planning to purchase the Mac M2 Max Studio with 1TB. I’m a graphic/web designer and this model should last me quite a while! I decided I will upgrade the internal ssd for $200. I’d spend almost as much for an external one and I’ve read that the internal ssd improves performance of the machine over external. Not sure how much though. Thanks for the video btw!!

32. Hi Mark,

    Thank you for the video, great content.
    Can you tell me which brand base that is which you use beneath the Mac Mini M2?
    I love that ports, which look even better then the Studio.

    Thanks!