M2 Mac mini Reviews: The "Mac Studio Junior"

The first reviews of Apple's latest Mac mini have been officially released, ahead of the first orders arriving to customers shortly. In the reviews, we can take a first look at the performance of the Mac mini with M2 and M2 Pro chips, find out how it compares to the previous generation Mac mini, the Mac Studio, and much more.

Chris Welch, who wrote for The Verge writes, calls the new Mac mini "Mac Studio junior" and says that "Apple's smallest Mac has never been so attractive." The biggest drawbacks of the device, according to The Verge, are the lack of front-panel ports and the lack of an SD card slot.

It should come as no surprise that the 2023 Mac Mini is the best version of the product Apple has released to date. It looks the same but benefits greatly from the M2 platform whether you opt for the standard chip or invest in the powerful M2 Pro. Either way, you'll benefit from better WiFi and have few issues with the move to Apple Silicon. Spending more money on the M2 Pro will get you more Thunderbolt 4 ports and more external displays in addition to the increased speed. If you've been waiting for an in-between Mac that's more powerful than the iMac and less expensive than the Mac Studio, look no further. The new Mac Mini is still small and not the kind of computer that will draw attention on your desk, but it's never been more powerful.

TechCrunch: “A joy to use”

Dan Moren from Six Colors praises the versatility of the new Mac mini:

The benchmarks show that the M2 Pro lands exactly where you'd expect it to: in the same ballpark as the M2 and M2 Max in single-core operations (because the cores are pretty much identical), and about 68 percent faster than the M2 in multi-core tasks, thanks largely to the extra four cores. Graphics performance was also predictable: the M2 Pro has more than twice as many GPU cores as the M2, but can't keep up with the 38 cores of the M2 Max (or the 32-core M1 Max). In short, while it's a very powerful machine for graphics tasks, it might be worth investing in a more powerful machine—or waiting until Apple likely launches an M2 Ultra.

For TechCrunch says Matt Burns said the new Mac mini is "a joy to use" and has "conquered benchmarks and come to terms with Chrome's endless search for system memory."

Along with the M2 and M2 Pro, the Mac mini is one of the most powerful computers Apple offers at any price. Let's remember one of the Mac Mini's key selling points: it's mini. The Mac Mini is a tiny package that offers a lot of flexibility. Combine it with one of Apple's Studio Displays and you have a great alternative to the iMac.

New Mac mini available from 699 euros

Andrew Cunningham of ArsTechnica thinksthat the M2 Pro "looks good next to modern CPUs from Intel and AMD but doesn't break any records." Where Apple Silicon continues to shine, however, is in efficiency compared to Intel and AMD processors:

While AMD and Intel focus on maximum performance, Apple focuses on energy efficiency. Our Handbrake video encoding test shows how much power a CPU consumes when it runs an intensive test over a longer period of time. The M2 Pro encodes our test video a little slower than either of the two x86 processors, but only consumes about half as much energy.

You can now purchase the new Mac mini from the Apple Online Store order. The base model configuration for 699 euros includes an M2 chip with 8-core CPU, 10-core GPU, 256 GB SSD and 8 GB RAM. The base configuration for 1,549 euros for the M2 Pro chip has a 10-core CPU, a 16-core GPU, 16 GB RAM and a 512 GB SSD. The new product line also means that Apple has now stopped selling the Intel Mac mini, so the Mac Pro is the only remaining Mac with an Intel processor. (Image: Apple)