M2 Professional Mac mini Overview

The M2 Professional Mac mini

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Up to date February 15 with Geekbench 6 scores

The Mac mini has at all times been an efficient entry-level choice for upgraders and switchers who have already got a keyboard, mouse, and show, however simply want the brains of the operation.

There has at all times been a slim computing energy vary in that small block, however till now, it by no means spanned that a lot of the efficiency spectrum. For those who wished extra energy than that pretty small vary, you could possibly get a MacBook Professional, a Mac Professional, or extra just lately, a Mac Studio.

Even going into the Apple Silicon period, the primary wave of releases solely supplied minor variations of the M1, with no choice for something extra spectacular just like the M1 Professional, M1 Max, or M1 Extremely. Stretching that far means a change to a completely totally different mannequin.

Nevertheless, for the 2023 mannequin, Apple’s spec bump replace is a good bit past what occurred final time. Certain, you could possibly get an M2 chip, however now you may go as much as an M2 Professional in case you want that further efficiency.

Offering entry to 2 chip tiers means you could possibly use it as an entry-level mannequin or go for one thing extra spectacular.

We maintain saying that the Mac mini is a identified amount in Apple’s lineup. The M2 Professional choice brings it to a brand new and thrilling stage.

For those who’ve simply completed studying the M2 Mac mini evaluate, you’re most likely anticipating that that is going to be extremely comparable in some ways. You’ll be proper.

Many parts of the M2 Professional Mac mini are unchanged from the M1 or M2 variations.

The M2 Professional Mac mini continues to be 7.75 inches extensive and deep and 1.41 inches in peak, so it’s going to nonetheless slot in with any docks or equipment that depend on the bodily dimensions of the mannequin.

M2 Professional Mac mini has the identical type issue

This curved sq. of aluminum is a bit of heavier in its M2 Professional variation, weighing in at 2.8 kilos or 0.2 kilos heavier than the non-Professional version. The burden distinction is probably going because of a change in thermal administration slightly than an externally-present change.

One of many solely actual indicators it is an M2 Professional mannequin is across the again, the place the ports reside. As a substitute of two Thunderbolt 4 ports, the rely has elevated to 4.

Apple is aware of what it is doing when it considers goal audiences. The M2 variant will attraction to households and informal customers who do not have a variety of peripherals. Not solely do “professional” customers typically have extra gear to connect, however there’s an elevated chance they’re high-speed Thunderbolt units.

We would have beloved to have a few front-facing ports for shortly connecting a charger or flash drive, however that is what the Mac Studio is for.

Whereas Apple is rumored to be engaged on a major change to the design, together with plexiglass-like covers, it is not right here, and it is not clear if it ever can be. That is not a nasty factor, as the present design of the Mac mini has stayed round for thus lengthy as a result of it really works so properly.

It is a disgrace that it is not all-new, however it’s not an issue both.

There are two variants of the M2 Professional obtainable to buy. The primary is the 10-core model, which incorporates six efficiency cores, 4 effectivity cores, and a 16-core GPU.

The opposite is a 12-core mannequin with eight efficiency cores and 4 effectivity cores, plus an upgraded GPU with 19 cores.

The M2 and M2 Professional variations are very comparable

There’s additionally the 16-core Neural Engine within the M2 vary, which sees its efficiency boosted from 11 trillion calculations per second within the M1 to fifteen.8 trillion.

Each M2 Professional variations have a reminiscence bandwidth of 200GB/s, double the M2 variants. The quantity of unified reminiscence obtainable can also be larger, beginning at 16GB and going as much as 32GB.

Just like the M1 Professional, the M2 Professional continues to deal with the Media Engine, particularly hardware-accelerated encoders and decoders for H.264, HEVC, ProRes, and ProRes RAW footage. Right here, there’s one every of the video decode and encode engines, plus a devoted ProRes encode and decode engine.

On this evaluate, we examined the 12-core M2 Professional with the 19-core GPU, 512GB of SSD storage, and 166GB of reminiscence. Aside from the reminiscence and storage, this machine is maxed out.

The again of the Mac mini has at all times been the place Apple congregates the ports, and given the skinny field design, it is sensible to take action from a producing standpoint. Because it additionally pushes all of the wiring to the rear, it is good for aesthetic causes too.

Just like the M1 and the M2 fashions, the again contains the 40Gb/s Thunderbolt 4 ports, which help USB 4, USB 3.1 Gen 2, DisplayPort, and different older requirements. With 4 ports as an alternative of two, this may allow extra {hardware} to be related on to the unit, with out working out of connections.

M2 Professional Mac mini ports

To the proper are two USB-A ports and a 3.5mm headphone jack with help for high-impedance headphones. Entry continues to be awkward in case you’re reaching round blindly and one of many USB ports is occupied, however it’s not an enormous headache.

There’s additionally the customary HDMI port, in case you do not have a DisplayPort or USB-C show.

For the Professional mannequin, the supported show rely is larger, from two to a few shows. It is doable to have two 6K 60Hz screens over Thunderbolt and one 4K 60Hz HDMI show working concurrently, or one 6K 60Hz over Thunderbolt and a 4K 144Hz display over HDMI.

Improved HDMI output

For those who use one monitor, that HDMI port can deal with an 8K image at 60Hz, or a 4K decision at 240Hz.

To the left is the Gigabit Ethernet port, upgradable to 10Gb Ethernet in case you want the additional pace, the ability connection, and the ability button.

For wi-fi connectivity, Apple contains an replace to Wi-Fi 6E, which can be useful on Wi-Fi networks that help the usual. Bluetooth 5.3 can also be in use as an alternative of Bluetooth 5.0.

The headphone jack and the everyday built-in speaker deal with Non-HDMI audio duties. That speaker will do at a pinch, however you are higher off using a TV’s audio system over HDMI or hooking up one thing to that headphone jack.

The bottom M2 Professional Mac mini is $1,299, which nets you the 10-core M2 Professional with the 16-core GPU, 16GB of unified reminiscence, and 512GB of SSD storage.

Upgrading to the M2 Professional with the 12-core CPUT and 19-core GPU prices an additional $300. If you’d like 32GB of reminiscence, that is $400 extra, and 10-gigabit Ethernet is $100 further.

Storage upgrades, as common, are costly on the time of configuration. From 512GB to 1TB, it is an additional $200, with one other $400 getting you to 2TB, an extra $600 once more to 4TB, and an eye-watering $1,200 on prime of that to get the 8TB mannequin.

Reminiscence improve choices on M2 Professional Mac mini

With the highest chip and reminiscence, the value for the unit goes from $1,299 to $1,999, in case you maintain storage at 512GB. Bumping as much as 8TB as properly brings the utmost price to $4,499.

Since you can’t improve or change inside parts after buy, a suggestion for saving cash could be to place the funds into the reminiscence and chip upgrades and decrease your storage improve.

Utilizing an exterior SSD or NVMe drive connected to one of many 4 Thunderbolt ports will nonetheless offer you high-speed and accessible storage with real-world speeds of as much as about 3GB/s, and notably inexpensive than Apple’s expensive upgrades.

The M2 Mac mini had a strong enchancment in comparison with the M1, so we anticipated comparable outcomes on the M2 Professional. Because it makes use of the identical CPU cores, simply extra of them, the single-core Geekbench 5 outcomes are almost similar.

We bought 1951 on the M2 and 1953 on the M2 Professional. These evaluate favorably to 1688 scored by the M1, representing a roughly 15 % acquire. Apple promised as much as 18 % sooner CPU, so these numbers aren’t far off.

Single-core Geekbench outcomes

With the extra cores, the M2 Professional model of the Mac mini flies. It notched a powerful 15172 on the multi-core take a look at. Once more, that is evaluating the 12-core M2 Professional versus the 8-core M2.

Multi-core Geekbench outcomes

Beneath the newly-released Geekebench 6, we noticed 2656 and 14317 on the one and multi-core checks respectively.

On Cinebench R23, the M2 Professional Mac mini earned a 14792 on the multi-core take a look at, which is unbelievable when the M1 Max Mac Studio solely scored 12389.

Working Cinebench R23

The M2 Professional version of the Mac mini places the pint-sized processing gadget into new territory. Certain, it supplied greater than sufficient efficiency for computing duties in its earlier guises, however now it is pushing to new heights.

Certainly, with excessive efficiency within the Mac mini type, it does increase the query of whether or not it is price getting the M1 Max-equipped Mac Studio.

Carry your keyboard, mouse, and show

The 12-core M2 Professional outpaces the 10-core M1 Max present in that machine. You possibly can choose up the brand new 10-core M2 Professional Mac Mini for $1,300 whereas the M1 Max Mac Studio begins at $2,000 — a $700 financial savings with comparable efficiency.

Spending one other $300 will get you a 12-core M2 Professional Mac mini, nonetheless a $400 financial savings and now higher efficiency. Mac Studio has extra ports, however in case you’re comfy with Ethernet, 4 Thunderbolt, HDMI, and two USB-A, the Mac mini wins out.

Plus, the Mac mini has further advantages the Mac Studio would not, akin to help for 4K 240Hz and 8K shows.

There are nonetheless many justifications for going to the Mac Studio, together with the far larger CPU and GPU core counts, larger reminiscence choices, and the sheer novelty of getting one thing that appears like a chunky Mac mini in your desk.

The Mac Studio continues to be the selection of customers who need Apple Silicon efficiency on their desks. The M2 Professional Mac mini would not fairly attain that stage, however it nonetheless presents greater than sufficient to maintain demanding customers completely happy while not having to pay for the steroid-consuming Mac Studio.

The brand new Mac mini is a superb machine

If Apple comes out with an M2 model of the Mac Studio housing an M2 Max and M2 Extremely, the M2 Professional Mac mini will simply slot in as the choice between the M2 worth proposition and the higher tier mannequin.

However for the second, it’s a nice desktop choice if efficiency is required, however the fee continues to be an element.

• M2 Professional chip
• Upgraded CPU and GPU efficiency
• Compact and understated design
• 4 Thunderbolt ports
• Improved HDMI output for high-end workflows
• Wi-Fi 6E
• Plenty of current peripherals to match the prevailing type issue

• Excessive price for reminiscence and storage upgrades
• No consumer upgradability
• No front-facing ports

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