Mac Mini choice

Stephen L

Stephen L

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Idly thinking about upgrading from my iMac i7, 2017, in the New Year, and for cost reasons it will have to be a Mac Mini instead of a iMac. Question is, M1 with 16gb ram, or M2 on 8gb? It will only be running LR Classic, and not heavily at that. The iMac runs it fine but since the latest LR update has become slow to load.
 
I'd go with 16GB RAM. I barely noticed the difference between M1 and M2 but definitely notice the difference from having more RAM while running larges merges or have many things going at the same time.
 
I have recently moved from PC to Mac for the first time and bought a mini Mac M2 pro with 16gb memory and 512 gb ssd. My PC was quite old and was struggling with some of the new Lightroom features like noise reduction. I probably could have got a lower spec Mini Mac but most advice was to get 16gb of memory. (It is also our 40th wedding anniversary next year)
 
Just moved over to Mac with mini M2, 512, 16GB bought for under £1000 from reseller on Ebay UK very impressed with performance over Windows 11.
 
russellsnr said:
Just moved over to Mac with mini M2, 512, 16GB bought for under £1000 from reseller on Ebay UK very impressed with performance over Windows 11.
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That's a good price! Always had some misgivings about Ebay sellers, but it's worth looking at.
 
Might not need to upgrade just yet. My main reason, as I said, was because Lightroom was slow to load. Well, I had been trialling Avast a/v (yes, I am aware there is much less a likelihood of contamination on Apple but I'm an ex-IT Security Manager) and I have just removed it. Speed has been restored!
 
When I upgraded earlier this Year I was advised to go for the M1 chip due to little difference between 1 and 2 proved to be sound advise
 
the black fox said:
When I upgraded earlier this Year I was advised to go for the M1 chip due to little difference between 1 and 2 proved to be sound advise
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That was the conclusion I was reaching, before my decision to stay with my iMac for a while (see above). My only concern would be future-proofing for as long as possible.
 
Stephen L said:
That was the conclusion I was reaching, before my decision to stay with my iMac for a while (see above). My only concern would be future-proofing for as long as possible.
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its accepting all updates at the moment , bought a mid range 27" dell monitor plus a usb hub that fits under with a ssd enclosure that puts a lot of ports at the front for ease of use .. so if at any future date a upgrade is needed all that's got to change is the actual Mac mini box .. definitely the way to go for future proofing ..
and rest assured even the M1 chip for P/P work is blisteringly fast i.e topaz de-noise use to take a couple of minutes on my 2013 i.mac its now virtually instant i.e 2 to 5 seconds if that
 
the black fox said:
its accepting all updates at the moment , bought a mid range 27" dell monitor plus a usb hub that fits under with a ssd enclosure that puts a lot of ports at the front for ease of use .. so if at any future date a upgrade is needed all that's got to change is the actual Mac mini box .. definitely the way to go for future proofing ..
and rest assured even the M1 chip for P/P work is blisteringly fast i.e topaz de-noise use to take a couple of minutes on my 2013 i.mac its now virtually instant i.e 2 to 5 seconds if that
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What memory did you buy it with? My iMac (2017) won’t accept the latest operating system. I’ve seen those hubs -they look very sensible.
 
the black fox said:
its accepting all updates at the moment , bought a mid range 27" dell monitor plus a usb hub that fits under with a ssd enclosure that puts a lot of ports at the front for ease of use .
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Which hub did you go for? I was looking at several and went with the Qwiizlab as it has a power-in socket which is useful if I want to plug in a lot of power-hungry peripherals. I came across a YouTube video saying that some people had complained of the USB-powered ones breaking down or failing to work,
 
I bought my Mac Mini from a private seller on Facebook Marketplace.

Went to his house to view it working and got a copy of the original receipt so all good.

There are bargains to be had if you search carefully and don’t just jump at an unbelievable sale price.
 
garryknight said:
Which hub did you go for? I was looking at several and went with the Qwiizlab as it has a power-in socket which is useful if I want to plug in a lot of power-hungry peripherals. I came across a YouTube video saying that some people had complained of the USB-powered ones breaking down or failing to work,
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can't remember the name and the box is in storage but its the one with the raised silver fins ..it works fine and looks good to it was reduced to under £50 on amazon..tbh they don't do much but look pretty . for speakers I got pair of GXtrust ones from amazon as if I listen to anything its on my i.pad with h/phones
 
Stephen L said:
What memory did you buy it with? My iMac (2017) won’t accept the latest operating system. I’ve seen those hubs -they look very sensible.
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I got a 512gb ssd which is all my old i.mac had .6 months in its still got well over 300gb unused and as yet ive not backed anything up got a plug in ssd drive ready and empty though when I get time and inclination .. these Mac minis are really the dogs doodahs though
 
the black fox said:
I got a 512gb ssd which is all my old i.mac had .6 months in its still got well over 300gb unused and as yet ive not backed anything up got a plug in ssd drive ready and empty though when I get time and inclination .. these Mac minis are really the dogs doodahs though
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Sorry, I meant ram.
 
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