- [Jeff] In this episode of The Rewind,
I discuss my experience with the Mac mini
after using it as my daily driver for the last few months.
Spoiler, it's awesome.
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Welcome to The Rewind, my experience with the M1 Mac mini.
The M1 Mac mini starts at 699 for the entry-level model
with 8-Core CPU, 8-Core GPU and 256 gigabytes of storage.
More importantly, this Mac mini comes with
just eight gigabytes of unified memory
which cannot be upgraded after the fact
like Intel based models can.
Apple still sells that Intel Mac mini which starts at 1099.
But despite its ability to accommodate
money saving Ram upgrades, along with more IO options,
like two additional Thunderbolt three ports
and ten gigabit ethernet,
it's hard for me to recommend Intel piece max,
given the leap in performance made possible
by Apple Silicon.
But this isn't a head-to-head comparison
of Intel versus Apple.
It's a long-term look at my day-to-day experience
with Apple's most compact desktop computer.
And I'll just say this, my outlook is largely favorable,
but the Mac mini isn't perfect.
And it's not a foregone conclusion that you should upgrade
to this Mac mini if you own a previous version
or if you're in the market for a new desktop.
And there are some reasons for that.
But I will say that ultimately, yes,
you're gonna wanna go to Apple Silicon.
Because in a lot of respects, the performance benefits
are downright amazing.
The most important thing to consider about the Mac mini
or really any M1 Mac for that matter
is how you plan on using it.
If you just plan on using it to browse the web,
do spreadsheets, word processing, things of that nature,
really, really low key things,
the base model is more or less up to the task.
But if you plan on doing anything else,
anything that's even remotely heavy in nature,
then I absolutely recommend that you opt for
the 16 gigabyte upgrade.
First and foremost, just like Apple's laptops
Ram configurations are final.
If you choose an eight gigabyte Mac mini,
you're stuck with an eight gigabyte Mac mini,
and you can never upgrade.
Considering that the upgrade is just $200
to 16 gigabytes of Ram, I definitely recommend
that you upgrade in almost all circumstances.
Otherwise be prepared to encounter
slow and choppy performance when you run out of Ram
due to the fact that you'll be swapping out to disk,
which is inherently slower.
And if you have a limited amount of disc base,
you can even start getting out of memory errors
when trying to swap out to disk.
Yeah, that can be super annoying.
The moral of the story get 16 gigabytes,
I'm gonna say it again, get 16 gigabytes.
You will not regret it.
Storage is a much more flexible subject matter
because more storage can just be bolted on
using USB and Thunderbolt SSDs.
And the Mac mini in this regard is better equipped
than its laptop brethren because it also includes
two USBA ports for connecting
external peripherals like SSDs.
That means that you're able to retain
those precious Thunderbolt, three ports for other uses.
Thanks to an external SSDs, it's relatively easy to get by
with the base 256 gigabytes storage amount in the Mac mini.
But I recommend opting for at least the next here,
which is 512 gigabytes.
Because that gives you a little bit more wiggle room
to work with.
Now, along with the Ram upgrade,
that brings the price of the Mac mini to 1099
or the same amount that Apple charges
for the base Intel Mac mini currently.
In my opinion, an M1 Mac mini with 16 gigabytes of Ram
and a 512 gigabyte SSD is the sweet spot
and is the configuration I recommend for most users.
Now to supplement the Mac minis internal storage,
I primarily use an OWC Helios 3S enclosure
paired with my 24 terabyte and full texts
with PCIE SSD setup.
You can learn more about that setup in another video
I did last year.
Now for portable storage, I love using the Samsung T7
which continues to be one of the best mobile SSDs
on the market.
I love using that between my Mac mini and my MacBook Pro
and even my iPad.
(soft music)
And speaking of IO, here's how the Mac mini
compares to the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro.
Now, the MacBook Air slash Pro
includes the two Thunderbolt ports
and a 3.5 millimeter headphone input.
That's all you get with the laptop.
The Mac mini on the other hand includes
the two Thunderbolt ports, a 3.5 millimeter headphone input.
And you also get HTMI 2.0,
you get two USBA ports and you get gigabit ethernet
although there is no 10 gigabit ethernet option,
which is unfortunate.
So comparatively the Mac mini is a much more capable machine
in terms of IO.
Now, granted you can connect dongles to your MacBook
but the Mac mini provides a cleaner solution out of the box.
As mentioned though, it still lacks the type of IO options
those two extra Thunderbolt ports
and the 10 gigabit ethernet option
that are found on Intel based Mac mini machines.
The biggest difference between the Mac mini
and the MacBook Air slash MacBook Pro is the form factor.
With the Mac mini you obviously had to provide
an external display for it to connect to.
The good news is that you can connect your Mac mini
to a variety displays
from the 10 ADP run of the mill HTMI monitor to a television
owned up to something like Apple's pro display XDR
that Thunderbolt enabled 6k display.
And as a pro display XDR user, I've been really happy
with the performance of all in one max
when paired with this display.
It makes for a great Mac mini companion
because the M1 GPU can drive the display at full resolution.
That's 16 by 3384 at 60 frames per second.
But the fact that you have to provide an external display
can also be seen as a negative as well.
It should come as no surprise,
but unless you already own a standalone display,
you need to factor in the cost of a display
into the purchase of your Mac mini.
Now let's talk about Bluetooth problems because wow,
this is still going on and it's 2021.
And since the Mac mini doesn't come with a mouse
or a keyboard, you're gonna need to provide your own.
I rotate between a magic mouse slash magic track pad
and the magic keyboard slash Keychron K2.
Now unfortunately all these devices experience
intermittent connectivity from time to time
due to the ongoing issues with Bluetooth.
My biggest beef with the Mac mini and to a lesser extent
my one MacBook and MacBook Air
are its Bluetooth connectivity issues.
Apple has simply never been very good with Bluetooth
or perhaps Bluetooth in and of itself
is just the wrong type of wireless technology
to use for such important peripherals
like a keyboard and a mouse.
The issues with Bluetooth are glaring on the Mac mini
or any desktop Mac computer.
Because unlike a laptop, there is no integrated keyboard
or track pad.
I've even had major Bluetooth issues with my Mac Pro
so it's not solely an issue with the Mac mini
or Apple Silicon.
The issue usually revolves around intermittent disconnects.
And although it doesn't always occur,
it seems to happen at the most inopportune times.
I've tried all the so-called remedies
disconnecting any USB3 devices, eliminating wifi, et cetera,
and still no dice.
And I will say that Apple's Mac Wes 11.2 update,
which had Bluetooth fixes in tow seems to have helped out
a lot as a lot of the Bluetooth issues on my M1 Max
are nowhere near as bad when compared
to the previous version of Mac West.
But they haven't entirely disappeared.
Now let's talk about speakers because the Mac mini speaker
is laughably horrible, but that should come as no surprise
since it's always been that way.
But Apple basically includes a speaker in the Mac mini
that's good enough for one thing in one thing only.
And that's simply to be audible, nothing more.
With that in mind, you're gonna need
to either rely on a pair of headphones
or connect a pair of external speakers or monitors.
Unfortunately, the pro display XDR doesn't have any speakers
and I've yet to settle on a pair that's small enough
to fit within my compact workspace.
I might end up getting another pair of iLoud Micro Monitor,
which are surprisingly powerful to be so small.
Alternatively, I guess I could use
a home pod mini stereo pair,
but that would only be good for music playback
due to inherent latency issues.
Performance, now the main reason I use max
is to have access to Final Cut Pro.
The Mac mini like all in one enable max
is surprisingly good at editing videos
thanks to it's powerful GPU and CPU.
What's even more impressive though,
is how well these machines handle HEVC H.265
and 10bid HDR workflows.
If you haven't noticed, we have largely transitioned over
to HDR videos on 9to5Mac YouTube channel,
and much of this is owed to the M1 system on a chip
because it just makes it so easy
to work with Tinbit video on the timeline
and when exporting.
The Mac mini when paired with an HDR capable display,
like the pro display XDR is a great companion
for HDR workflows and it has made working
with this type of video so much easier than before
even when I had more costlier machines
and Apple's Mac lineup.
And you may say,
this is just for your particular workflow, Jeff,
but I think you're gonna find these sentiments echoed
across many different types of disciplines.
Obviously the Mac mini isn't great
for certain types of work
and there's an outright lack of bootcamp support
which makes it difficult for users who rely on Windows.
If you're a gamer, for instance,
you're probably not gonna want to go with the Mac mini,
unless you're just like really super into Apple Arcade.
And also there's no external GPU support for M1 Max.
And that's obviously a bad thing because if you already own
an EGPU, you can't use it at all with this new Mac.
But it's a good thing in the sense that you actually
don't really need an external GPU with this Mac mini
like you need it with the Intel Mac mini
which absolutely required an external GPU
to do anything graphics wise.
It really shows how impressive Apple's IGU is on the M1 Mac.
But all that being said, the Mac mini is still
a first-generation product
and there are occasional bugs and crashes
and just the overall weird stuff that I haven't seen
on my Intel machines before.
But by and large, the M1 Mac mini, like the M1 MacBooks
are downright outstanding machines
and provide an incredible amount of power
for not that much money.
And another thing I wanted to mention is that
the Mac mini is pretty much dead quiet
for everything I do with it.
Including rendering and exporting
large complex 4K HDR videos via Final Cut Pro.
(soft music)
Is the Mac mini worth it?
Well, as long as you're up for the 16 gigabyte version
during the build to order process, the answer is yes.
But you also need to consider the fact
that this is a first generation or a first iteration
of the Mac mini with Apple Silicon.
And forthcoming versions will likely
feature more powerful chips,
more robust configuration options and more IO.
But even in its current form,
the Mac mini is the most versatile of any of the machines
in Apples in one lineup.
And it also happens to be the least expensive.
When paired with the right peripherals,
the Mac mini shines is one of the best Macs
that we've seen in quite some time.
What do you guys think?
Let me know down below in the comment session.
Thumbs up if you appreciate this video,
thumbs down if you didn't
and be sure to subscribe for more videos like this.
This is Jeff, with the 9to5Mac.
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(upbeat music)