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Socoder -> Hardware and Technology -> Apple M2 Drops

Wed, 18 Jan 2023, 04:24
Jayenkai

Apple M2 Drops


So, umm...
Apple just randomly dropped an M2 Pro/Max powered MacBook Pro (from insanity prices of £2k+), and an M2/Pro powered Mac Mini (priced much more sensibly, from £649), because..
.. You know..
why NOT just throw brand new super-powered computers out there, without even doing a big announcement!

The M2 Mac Mini comes in three base models.
M2 + 256Gb drive = £649, but I imagine that has the same "256Gb drive is slow" issue that the M2 Air has.
M2 + 512Gb drive = £849, which if it runs the same as my M2 Air does, you're sorted!
M2 Pro + 512Gb drive = £1,399.00 .. Which is a bit "eek".. But if you've already got a decent desktop setup with a super-decent screen, would possibly be a good deal..? Maybe..? Not sure.

The MacBook Pro's WAY out of my price range, starting as "low!" as £2,149.00 for a 14" M2 Pro model, and rocketing up to £3,749.00 for a 16" M2 Max
... For the base models!!
(The 16" M2Max can be expanded to 96Gb of Ram, and 8Tb of Storage, for only £6,749.00!)

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Wed, 18 Jan 2023, 04:56
rockford
Only £3,749? Bargain! I'll take one for all the family and a couple of spares, you know, just in case.
Wed, 18 Jan 2023, 05:07
Jayenkai
It's a real shame that you can't boot the Apple Silicons into Windows. I had my old MacMini sitting as a little Windows machine for such a long time, and it'd be nice to have a powerhouse do that.

As always, the Mini is the cheapest way into the MacOS ecosystem.
It's certainly not as cheap as it used to be, though, and if you're moving from Windows, you lose a TON of stuff. .. especially in the gaming department.

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Wed, 18 Jan 2023, 05:09
cyangames
Wow! That's expensive!

This ol' Thinkpad T420 sitll does the job, I might grab a spare one for £90 on ebay perhaps, just in case.

I'd rather chuck any spare money into assets on the market like POLY, TATE, UFO and TSCO currently mind, meanwhile have needed to buy new trainers for about 6 months now, hahaha, my priorities are odd

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Web / Game Dev, occasionally finishes off coding games also!
Thu, 19 Jan 2023, 04:02
therevillsgames
Looks like my wife will finally gets an upgrade! Been waiting for a new Mac Mini. So $300 extra to get 16GB and another $300 for the 512GB SSD...
Thu, 19 Jan 2023, 04:16
Jayenkai
\o/yeay\o/
Thu, 26 Jan 2023, 04:29
therevillsgames
From the reviews I’ve watch on YouTube, the M2 256GB SSD is even slower... think I’ll get her the M2Pro to future proof it for an extra $300!
Thu, 26 Jan 2023, 04:32
cyangames
Hope the wife upgrade goes well @therevillsgames ;D

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Web / Game Dev, occasionally finishes off coding games also!
Thu, 26 Jan 2023, 05:06
Jayenkai
I'd be super extra careful, from what I've been reading today.
Looks like the whole "one SSD Vs two SSD chips" thing is infinitely worse than expected.
M2 just seems way slower if it's only accessing one SSD chip, and it's exacerbated the faster the processor is.
Looks like no matter which of the M2 you opt for, buying it with the lowest spec SSD is going to give you slowdown.
Quite why Apple have done this... surely they didn't ONLY do it for the upsales?!

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Thu, 26 Jan 2023, 07:57
Kuron
Interesting...
Thu, 26 Jan 2023, 21:44
therevillsgames
Yeah not fantastic, but should be fine.

This video shows the speeds of the reads/writes with the base model of the Mini M2 and the base model of the Mini M2Pro:

https://youtu.be/PG9wUMxh0Mc?t=510

Mini M2:
Write: <1500MB/s Read: <1500MB/s

Mini M2Pro:
Write: <2200MB/s Read: <2050MB/s
Thu, 26 Jan 2023, 21:50
Kuron
People griping about read/write speeds are welcome to help me copy my 850MB 5-1/4" hard drive over to a flash drive. Dang that sucker is slow.
Thu, 26 Jan 2023, 22:22
Pakz
I bought the fastest possible external SSD drive last year for backups. It has 2 usb type connections. Compared to my previous external HDD it was lightning fast. But those things can get a bit hot and slow down then.