Review of Mac Mini 2023: Priced from only 599 USD, equipped with M2 chip – Who should buy?

What does the new Mac Mini have?

The Mac Mini desktop computer is one of Apple’s oldest product lines, born in 2005 (the version using Intel chips), a year before the first MacBook.

All these years later, it kept its basic shape and appealed to the majority of consumers.

Unlike MacBook Pro and Air laptops or iMac desktops, Mini is designed to be lightweight, fit in small spaces, and pair with your choice of monitor and input device. into the.

With the optional M2 Pro processor from Apple’s chip family, the new Mini can take on more complex multimedia tasks, on par with the MacBook Pro line using the M2 Pro chip.

With a starting price of $599, the Mini is still the least expensive way to get a computer running MacOS. The MacBook Air with the M1 chip from 2020 is the closest competitor in terms of price, at $999. The M2 Pro version of the Mac mini starts at $1,299.

The Mini’s low price point remains one of the device’s most important selling factors.

Especially if you have a monitor and possibly your own keyboard/mouse setup, then the Mac Mini gives you all the advantages of MacOS, plus features that are right for design, production, and business. Export audio as well as edit photos and videos for a lot less.

Currently, the Mac Mini offers chip versions M2 and M2 Pro.

The two new versions of Mac Mini differ in both chips and some configuration options. The M2 model starts with 8GB of RAM, which can be upgraded to 16GB or 24GB. Storage starts at 256GB and goes up to 2TB.

The M2 Pro version starts with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage and is upgradeable to 32GB and 8TB.

Another difference is that the M2 Pro model has four thunderbolt 4/USB-C ports on the back, while the M2 version has only two. And while the M2 Pro can support up to three monitors or one with 8K/60Hz resolution, the M2 model can support two and peaks at 6K/60Hz.

The base model Mac Mini costs $599 with an 8-core CPU/10-core GPU M2 chip, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage; and an upgraded version with a 12-core M2 CPU/19-core GPU, 16GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage, for a total price of $1,799.

In benchmark tests, the different performance levels of the M1 and M2 chips were also apparent, partly because the number of CPU and GPU cores and clock frequencies have increased with each generation.

The Mini with the M2 chip outperformed its predecessor, the M1 chip, while the M2 Pro also beat the M1 Pro.

Who should buy a new Mac Mini?

You might love the MacBook Air when it’s easy to slip it into your backpack or bag to get to the coffee shop or airport. The iMac is a great centralized computer for the family room or home office command center, especially if you spend a lot of time on Zoom or other video meetings.

The Mac Mini is more specialized in some ways, but it’s worth attracting for its low starting price.

Mac Mini is great for people who want to experience MacOS at a low cost, while already having hardware devices attached. They could be audio producers or video editors who need to connect an external monitor, while still being able to take this compact device with them to plug into the office or studio.

Also worth noting, the Mac Mini has an Ethernet port, an HDMI output, and a USB-A port, which is great for connectivity, which is hard to find on some other Macs, even the very expensive ones.

Its main downside is of course still configuration. Unlike a Windows machine, MacOS can actually do well under most of the usual circumstances with 8GB of RAM, but the included 256GB memory looks like it will fill up quickly. Upgrading to 512GB will add an extra $200, which is a high cost.

The M2 Pro version offers a significant jump in performance, but it’s easy for consumers to compare with the MacBook Pro and even the Mac Studio.

Therefore, the mechanical Mac Mini version running the M2 chip will be a smart choice, suitable for many people.