Mac Mini M2 Spec - which one ?

[taxboy]

I've already received some helpful advice in my earlier thread but before I pull the credit card, I would appreciate some further input please on deciding what spec to stump up for. It will be used primarily for photo editing with LR and PS plus noise reduction plug in either DXO or Topaz. I don't do video but I may dabble at some point in the future, although I can't see this featuring hugely

Choices are:

M2 Mini 512GB SSD 16GB RAM £1049
M2 Mini 512GB SSD 24GB RAM £1249
M2 Mini Pro 512GB SSD 16GB RAM £1399

So do I go with the cheapest and save some cash or any of the more expensive options and Iif I spend more what will I benefit in the real world for my useage

Any advice appreciated. TIA

 

[cymruchris]

If it were me choosing - I'd go the middle one - the 24gb of ram one, purely for the additional ram capacity. The Pro may have the edge in some respects, but I'm not sure you'd notice it in daily use editing photos and browsing the net.

 

[ecoleman]

I bought the M1 with 16Gb Ram which handled LR, PS and DXO Pure Raw with ease but the ram would fill up fairly quickly and the machine would start writing to the disk especially when you had multiple images or an image with many layers in PS.

I was hoping for an updated Mini the next year but it never materialised so I bought the Studio Max with 32Gb Ram and while it's a lovely machine the CPU and GPU are way overkill for what I use it for.

It it were me I'd also go with the middle options and perhaps up it to 32Gb if you can. I'd rather spend the extra money on Ram than a CPU which where you would see little benefit other than shaving a few seconds of a large export or pano stitch.