I’ve been seriously tempted to splurge some dosh on getting a Mac Mini. Without doubt, if I was starting from scratch TODAY, this is the system I would start from – alongside a Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse.
But what specification would I choose, and what other accessories would I purchase. That’s the second part of this post.
After doing quite a bit of reading, and watching several reviews (see references at end), I have determined that for me (and I stress, for me), that the first decision that can be made is that the M4 Pro chip is way over the top for me, so that just leaves RAM and Disk Storage as a decision to make.
My MacBook Pro (2021 – M1 chip) is doing just fine, and that’s the real reason why spending money at this time is just not a sensible option, and it has 32Gb RAM. I often have several applications open at the same time when editing photos as well as Lightroom Classic – Topaz, Photoshop, Safari, and others. Having the “headroom” to know I can easily swap between them without delay (once they’re loaded) is important. So the first decision is an easy one – my MacMini should have 32Gb RAM.
The other decision to make is how much SSD storage do I need. When I purchased the MacBook Pro I imagined this would be a machine that would last me a very long-time, and so I decided that maxing up on internal storage “would be a good thing”. Wrong on a number of counts. Firstly, I really hadn’t worked out in my mind how I would use iCloud storage (I have 2.2Tb of storage – currently even in an Apple Family scenario it’s only 1.2Tb “full”). Secondly I had no sight of the incredible innovation in offline fast SSD disks, including those using NVMe technology (more later).
I recently purchased this 1Tb external SSD from Crucial for c.£99 – it does read/write at incredible speeds of 2,100 MB/s – certainly fast enough to read or write an image bearing in mind that my fast SD cards only r/w at 300MB/s. So having a large amount of internal SSD storage now doesn’t seem so essential – especially given Apple’s insanely high upgrade costs. So instead of the 2TB of internal storage (I must have been mad!) in the MacBook Pro, I think 512Gb SSD would be ample.
So we would have this Mac Mini, 2024 costing TODAY from Apple – £1199
Apple M4 chip with 10‑core CPU, 10‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
32GB unified memory
512GB SSD storage
Gigabit Ethernet
Three Thunderbolt 4 ports, HDMI port, two USB‑C ports, headphone jack
If I wanted to save cash, I would drop the SSD to 256Gb and save £200.
The next piece of kit I’d need would be a monitor. What do I particularly require? Good colour reproduction comes top of the list, with Adobe RGB compatibility as a possibility, Thunderbolt connectivity (better than HDMI for working with the Mac systems) and a good working relationship with Mac hardware.
Although the Dell Ultrasharp range would be a very sound choice, as would monitors from Asus, I’ve been very happy with the BenQ monitor I purchased to work with the MacBook Pro as a desktop system, so I would stick with them and with Wex Photovideo who I purchased the monitor from. Some in the range have a specific M-mode to ensure the best mirroring from a MacBook display. It makes sense to get that compatibility if available, even with the Mac Mini.
The monitor I have is the BenQ PD2725U 27 inch 4K UHD Thunderbolt 3 Monitor and it cost me then £899; the price has now dropped to £698 (on Amazon). However there are other BenQ monitors in the range and you can explore the BenQ and Wex Photovideo sites to see the current ranges and see prices on Amazon. You might also take a glance at this one – the MA 270U – which has a good review, or this one – the SW242Q (if you want a 24″ monitor).
So you have the Mac Mini, a monitor, keyboard and mouse, what else? Well although the MacMini is well equipped with ports, none of them are USB-A ports, and there’s no SD-Card slot – two deficiencies that I would have to rectify.
I can do that in one of two ways. I could use a docking station like the one I use with the MacBook Pro – the CalDigit Thunderbolt 4 Element Hub – which is just great (but currently unavailable but look at any in the range from CalDigit, Sabrent, OWC or UGREEN), or an alternative which is in many ways much more aesthetically pleasing (ie tidy) – a MacMini Hub, of which there a couple, but take a look at this one – I love it!
There are others on Amazon. None of them are Thunderbolt 3/4 yet, so I might wait a bit – they will be more expensive when they arrive, but could be worth the wait, because you can install that NVMe SSD RAM in them – a really cost-saving move for more storage. [Even if you can’t wait and have run out of storage, this Hub should be a good purchase – but it doesn’t appear to be available yet in the UK.]
The alternative is to buy an NVMe Enclosure and put a SSD NVMe card (from Crucial or Samsung) in it and hook it up to the MacMini directly. That’s a really earth-shattering and cheaper alternative to Apple storage, but again make sure you’re looking at 40GB/s transfer or Thunderbolt 3/4. I can recommend UGREEN kit.
Video Reviews of Mac Mini
The last one almost echoes my thoughts, but I think her original decision to go with 24Gb RAM on the MacBook Pro, was wrong!!
