Mac 2 Mini Spec - Advice required

[taxboy]

I'm going to jump from an ageing PC (windows 8.1 !) to a Mac Mini. The question is which spec do I go for. It will primarily be used for photo editing using Photoshop / Lightroom with Topaz plug ins plus the usual browsing, occasional spreadsheet etc. I don't game and I don't do video editing currently. However I may be tempted to occasionally dabble with video in the future but I don't see this becoming serious. Based on my use which is the best option please and why.

Will I see much improved performance from the 24GB RAM option or is the Pro with 16GB a more rounded choice? Alternatively do I just get the standard Mini with 16GB and put the money saved towards other stuff?

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

[LeeM135i]

I have 2x M1 MacBook Pros, one is the minimum spec 8gig ram 256gig SSD and the other is a 16gig ram 512gig SSD. Both run everything I want to and I can't tell them apart in terms of speed but the basic one does get a 'app using lots of memory' pop up which the higher spec one doesn't.

They are mostly used for office with a little bit of basic gaming and photoshop. I think the middle option with 16gig ram and 512gig storage will be more than enough. Looking at the YouTube videos the Pro chip and higher memory is only really useful for video editing.

[Craikeybaby]

M2 16GB RAM would be my suggestion.

[JohnnyUK]

Craikeybaby said:

M2 16GB RAM would be my suggestion.

+1

[BlueMR2]

Apple Mac mini, M2 Pro Chip, 10-Core CPU, 16-Core GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, MNH73B/A

£1299.99 from Costco online.

[HairyMaclary]

Unless you know how to use a mac I'd upgrade to a PC. I went mac fanboi last year and whilst the macbook pro and mac mini are beautiful machines to look at they are fooking annoying to relearn all the stuff you need to especially when it comes to video.

Saying that I'd love to get a mac studio just because..

[Evolved]

HairyMaclary said:

Unless you know how to use a mac I'd upgrade to a PC. I went mac fanboi last year and whilst the macbook pro and mac mini are beautiful machines to look at they are fooking annoying to relearn all the stuff you need to especially when it comes to video.

Saying that I'd love to get a mac studio just because..

The software (unless Apple specific) is pretty much the same across platforms. Shame you didn’t gel as the Mac platform is superb for productivity.

[Craikeybaby]

Photoshop and Lightroom work pretty much the same between Mac and PC.

[taxboy]

Thanks for the input all. Looks like the base M2 with 16GB seems the way to go

[BlueMR2]

BlueMR2 said:

Apple Mac mini, M2 Pro Chip, 10-Core CPU, 16-Core GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, MNH73B/A

£1299.99 from Costco online.

£1264.99 at the moment.