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Advice getting Mac Mini M2 for music making?
My i7 iMac from about 8 years ago is dying a slow death and I need to find a solution. I was thinking of picking up a new Mac Mini M2.
I use a ton of plugins at once. Sometimes 15 or more running at the same time
I use Bitwig almost exclusively, aside from Aum on my iPad
I only use the computer for music. No games or high end graphics
Would love recommendations for these questions please:
1) Can I get by with the $600 base model?
2) 8 gigs RAM sufficient or do I need 16 gigs?
3) What good value display? I only use 1 display and am not obsessed with super high resolution
4) I do use a ton of USB ports. Right now I need 10 powered ports. I have 2 powered Anker hubs plugged into my iMac. Will the base Mac Mini allow me to plug in the Anker hubs I already own?
Will I need to get thunderbolt hubs or can I use USB hubs?
If I could spend around $1K total, I'd be happy. I could go up to $1,500 if really necessary.
Thanks for any advice!
Greg
Comments
Depending on the model of your iMac you maybe able to use it in target mode as a monitor
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT204592
Nah, forget it they seem to have disabled it on new models - mean of them!
I have a MacBook Air M1 8G.
I used to have a i5 MacBook Pro. The M1 blows it away. I use loads of soft synths and there is nothing I've thrown at it that has made it stutter or stop. The thing is a beast. The battery life is amazing and it's completely silent as there is no fans.
M2 must be absolutely amazing but to be honest but I'm not using all the power I currently have so no need for a M2.
Hope this helps.
Happy do so some tests on my machine if it would help.
I bought the M1 Mac Mini early last year and it keeps up with everything I throw at it (except shoes, definitely not shoes). I used an old iMac as a monitor for my wife's Mac mini as well, and I found it a bit of a pain to set up (had to buy cable, etc), but it worked. Ultimately I got her a different monitor. Make sure you get enough memory and a big enough hard drive. I got 16GB and 512GB for memory and SSD respectively.
I have two USB hubs, one for the external drives and one for other attachments. Are your Anker hubs USB? If so you should be fine.
I also have a second monitor using one of the USB-C (thunderbolt?) ports. I feel it works great for me. I used my old Samsung monitor as a second display. I bought an LG monitor for the main display, but I have no idea which one.
These are not my recommendations, it's just what I have, but they work for me.
If you truly never leave the house get the mini. Otherwise get an m1 macbook air with 16gb and your storage preference. On top get a viewsonic 144 hz 1080p 24 inch monitor. You should be good for years like that.
Yes, thanks. I checked into this first. Frustrating that I have this great monitor I won't be able to use.
Good to hear! Might take you up on your offer one day. Thank you! Super helpful.
Very helpful information for me. I really appreciate it.
I have multiple family members and friends who've bought the Mini and they are very, very happy with them. Plenty of power. Just make sure you get enough storage.
In doing some research on Mac Minis, I read multiple times that the 512GB drive and bigger is a lot faster than the 256GB drive. Something to consider, even though they charge a premium for RAM and HD upgrades.
Thank you!
I’ve had an M1 Mini for over a year now, best computer I’ve ever owned - quiet as a mouse, cool as a cucumber.
I’d recommend what I did, and get 16gb RAM to future proof it and avoid disk-swapping, and 500mb hard drive minimum, more would be nice, but it’s just enough.
I bought a USB hub for about 12 quid, which has been absolutely fine, and use a bunch of external SSD’s (USB3) for extra storage.
Thanks for these tips! Very much appreciated!
This is so helpful. Thanks so much.
Go for the 16gb, if only for future proofing purposes, because you'd be fine with 8gb as well, really.
For storage, a good external SSD is absolutely fine and MUCH cheaper than upgrading to extra internal storage. I have an M1 mini and I have all my samples and most instruments on the external SSD, with no issues whatsoever. No need to pay the ransom for Apple's extra storage.
For display, Philips has very good value cheap monitors. If you want more than that, Dell or one of the Korean brands have you covered. Again, for music making you don't need to pay the Apple surcharge.
Good luck!
I picked up a 27” LG 4k for mine, for £299 in the sales, and it’s superb, and no issues connecting to the Mac.
One thing I forgot to mention: make sure the monitor has a lot of connectivity. I don't mean the fancy bits, like audio etc. - just that you should be able to connect multiple computers to it at the same time. Especially if you only use the mini for music and nothing else (I do the same btw). My trusty old Dell can accommodate three computers and I absolutely need that, even though I never thought I would when I bought it. 🤷
Good tip I never thought about. Thanks!
Great info, thanks!
I got a Mac mini M2 (16Gb RAM 1Tb SSD + Logic Pro X) earlier this year, together with a Dell S2722QC USB-C 27 Inch 4K UHD (3840x2160) Monitor, 60Hz, IPS, 4ms, AMD FreeSync, 99% sRGB, HDR, Built-in Speakers, USB-C, 2x HDMI, 2x USB - so plenty of connectivity on the monitor. The Dell was about £360, still a fraction of the Apple Monitor and is perfect for my needs. I did splash out a bit on keyboard and mouse though (Logitech MX Master Keys and MX Master 3 mouse) but they can also control my iPad, if needed.
I love it! Everything is silky smooth and Logic Pro X is way better than I could have imagined - although I still love my 2018 iPad Pro because I can record apps from that into Logic Pro X, using IDAM or my Audio interface and Airdrop makes it a cinch to copy even large files between Mac and iPad and vice versa! Also quite a few iPad apps work fine on Mac mini and in Logic (though maybe not as many after the latest update of Ventura. I still have v13.2.2 and some of those listed as not working do still work on my Mac mini).
This sounds like excellent advice, and I heard much the same from another producer friend. I'm about to pull the trigger on an M2 Mini as well, with 16G ram and 512 storage. I'm a little unnerved by the prospect of my existing monitor/keyboard/mouse being used (one at a time) by the Mini and my work laptop. But people seem to make it work.
Just to I understand, can I just get the smaller 256 gig SSD Drive and then add an external larger SSD drive without hampering the performance (like someone suggested)? Is the internal SSD Drive essential to the system? Would I need to use the external SSD Drive to install the OS? Little unclear about this.
You can boot from a an external drive, but (if I’ve read this correctly), there are essential things hotwired into the internal drive that, if it dies, you can’t boot from the external drive again.
Personally I would go for 512 - I keep as much as possible on external drives, but mine is half full.
Also if you’re just going for 8gb RAM, you’ll be using the internal SSD for disk swapping.
Honestly, if you’re using it for music production I wouldn’t recommend skimping on RAM and internal storage - you can’t upgrade it at a later date. It’s a big, painful jump in price, but you’ll get years more use from it.
I would say that if you use a lot of soft synths then 8Gb is more then enough (because of the memory architecture on the M1) but if you're using large sample libraries then go for 16Gb.
From my experience from using an M1 MacBook Air - the only thing I wish I had done differently would have been to go the extra RAM. It will work great without it, but it will give you that extra headroom and peace of mind for the years ahead. The experience of the performance jump from an i7 MacBook Pro to an M1 Air is something difficult to adequately put into words and having the freedom to load an extra sound or put another plugin on a track without having to consider if it’s going to break things is a real feeling of freedom.
Thanks @monz0id , @cyberheater and @Mountain_Hamlet ! Really appreciate your feedback!
As much as I hate the absurd Apple premium for larger drives, I would suggest going with the 512 gig internal SSD as well. MacOS is sometimes fiddly that certain things need to be installed on the root drive, and it really is a pain when you reach the point where you have to worry about hard drive space, and where things are being installed. (Even though you have 4tb of external SSD space open…) SSD’s generally do better/last longer with plenty of open space to easily move things around as well…
Good points. I appreciate the reminder about some things needing to be installed on the root drive! So I assume I'll be able to use my newly purchased 5 TB external USB (3.0) drive?
Yes! Though if you’re running multiple drives through the same USB port, they would all have to share the bandwidth for that port.