Help needed with new Mac specifications

[Colin Woods]

Hi everyone

 

Much as I don't like it, I have to accept that my beloved iMac 27" has to be replaced. Its 13 yrs old and getting very slow now and I can't update most of my software as I can't put on the latest version of the OS. Who can tell me about these new chips - M1, M2, M2 Pro, M3. I see 8 core or 10 core CPU, 10 core 16 core GPU, unified memory - can you run me through these terms? I am looking at the Mac Mini - does anyone have experience with this? Its base model looks cheap but when you get to the M2 Pro chip it is still pretty expensive, especially as you have to add a screen. As usual Apple charge exorbitant fees for the upgrades - can I get the into level 256GB SSD and add my own SSD to get more storage? My use is relatively light weight - photo editing in PS and general web browsing, occasional word/Excel documents. No video rendering, no music creation. Would the Mini be OK? When I look at the Mini M2 Pro with 32GB Memory it comes in at $2200 - at that point am I better springing the extra $400 and going for the Mac Studio base model which is $2600? So, over to you our computing genii, can you get me up to speed on the latest Mac terminology and guide me in my purchase now that the 27 inch iMac no longer exists.

 

Colin

[Mark Scheuern]

I have an M2 Pro mini and it's one of the best purchases I've ever made. Even a base mini (though I'd get at least 16 GB of RAM) is going to be massively faster than your iMac. I'd say the main advantage to the Studio would be the extra ports. It's true that you can configure a mini to cost nearly as much as a Studio but, from what you say, I don't think you need to spend that much. And yes, 256 GB plus a fast external SSD would work, but I'd suggest going with at least 512 GB internal drive. An M2 8-Core CPU, 10-Core GPU mini with 512 GB storage and 16 GB RAM is $1000. That will be very capable of doing what you need. If you have some extra case and plan on keeping it for a long time, maybe spend an extra $200 for 24 GB of RAM. 

Edited April 13 by Mark Scheuern

[M.Chapman]

I'm in a similar situation. My iMac is newer than yours (2017), I've fitted a fast external 1TB nVME drive which holds MacOS and all my files which helps a lot. It's also possible to install the latest MacOS on these older iMacs using OLCP. But performance is still lacking when running LR and especially denoise AI. So I'm looking at options too, and considering combinations like this https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/254791248487 although I'd rather have more RAM as future proofing. I also want to stick with a 5K Retina monitor. Ideally I'd like to use my existing 5K Retina iMac as the display but I've yet to find a good way of doing this, so may have to cough up for a new 5K monitor too.

 

Mark

 

 

[Julie Edwards]

TBH - I really would not worry about the internal disk - 256 or 512 is fine. What I would worry about in the non-upgradable RAM,. (As the internal drive can be increased with external thunderbolt drives, RAM cannot).

The unified RAM means it is shared between the working RAM and the graphics. MY experience is that for extended editing or editing of large images on 4K monitors, 16GB is not enough and I would go for 32MB (My Studio is 48GB and in an extended session I can see that drop to under 16GB available)

 

 

[Allan Bell]

My Apple mac is an M2 pro mini with 32GB ram. I settled on the 500GB storage and still have 374GB left after loading all the necessary OS and programs.

 

Should have gone for the 250GB storage and saved some dosh but I am happy with what I have and you never know it might come in handy later.

 

Allan