Mac mini with M1 chip and 16gb ram

I think when you select it you can upgrade the RAM.

 

I tried configuring those specs into several sites " unavailable " at all...

 

I bought the previous version (2018) in the middle of last year. It is user upgradeable. The new M1 chip versions are not. You have to purchase it the way you want it set up and it cannot be changed.

 

I got mine delivered last week - fantastic machine. I ordered it just before Jan 1 - It took about 3 weeks before it was delivered. There's no issue ordering from apple, they say delivery in mid Feb.

 

Just checked it out on the Apple site and there was no issue configuring an order for an M1 Mac mini with 16gb ram. It does add several weeks to the shipping date compared to the 8gb model which is more or less available immediately. I can't speak for resellers, and it could be the case that resellers only have 8gb models available for sale. Personally, I think Apple should have just made 16gb standard for the M1 Mac mini.

 

A few business resellers order 16 GB for their stock. Apple's site lets you configure the 16 GB and more storage. For the past month+ the lead time has been either side of a month and it looks that way with the consumer or business/enterprise ordering site.

I've had to deal with lots of backorders for a while. CDW has has some really large orders where I got some items 1-3 weeks faster than through Apple but I don't recall 16 GB M1 with much storage. If you have an account at CDW you'll probably see discounts like the Apple enterprise customers. Also, if you are an Apple Business customer you can add other resellers to your ABM account. There are great local resellers who are competent and more available during pandemic.

FWIW, a lot of people would probably do fine with the 8 GB versions because of the different architecture. My all time favorite laptop little 12 inch MacBook with 8/512 works better than many think. Use utilities any current Mac has to look at your resource use to figure out if you really need so much RAM. Few of my users ever really need some of what they ask for.

 

Totally thought this was going to be a gun thread.
Must be getting dyslexic, I saw M1 "clip" not "chip".

 

Video editing can use that much RAM but I suggest more internal storage and budget for a pair of Time Machine drives. The simplicity of your libraries for your video and photo apps on same volume and backing all that up to the single time machine drive. Cycle one of the time machine drives off site.

 

I am looking forward to owning an M1 Mac and can't wait to see what the redesigned iMac will look like later this year. If it's not to my liking I will buy an M1 Mini with 16GB "unified" RAM.
However I've read several reviews that say the unified 8GB of RAM is more than capable. I just want to future proof as this will likely be one of my last computers. At some point I will only require an iPad.
As for storage, I've been rocking 256 GB in my MacBook Pro for over three years. With cloud storage I don't have much need for more but I don't do photography or video. Besides I have an external drive for my Logic projects.

 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1604803-REG/apple_z12n_mgnr_05_bh_mac_mini.html

 

I have a Mac Mini M1 with 8gb - it's very fast indeed.

Looking at benchmarks and YT reviews, the consensus is that unless you are doing very very intensive tasks (such as very frequent 4k video rendering), 16gb is not at all as essential as it was on the previous models. For a vast majority of the use cases people have checked, 8gb massively overperforms.

For example:
https://www.lifewire.com/how-8gb-ram-overperforms-in-m1-macs-5091929

 

On the apple site: Mac > Mini > Buy (blue button in the top right corner) > select the first one with the M1 > configure your RAM and SSD storage.

Their site is dumb and lists multiple configs that I guess they "recommend" but it's all the same thing when you configure it on the next page, I found the same nonesense when I ordered my MacBook pro a couple weeks ago. The good news is, it's still a fantastic product.

 

This is my understanding as well. The M1's memory/page management is very efficient.

 

I make first and final decisions on buying technology for our getting towards 1000 employees. If their site is dumb, you must not also buy from Dell, HP and Microsoft (Surfaces). Apple's site mostly reflects boxed or packaged products resellers get before you get to customization. The others have messes of stuff for particular resellers both consumer and professional. Now Microsoft is dividing Surface with a business site.

My earlier comment on getting more storage comes from our getting problems people get personally too - a device failure or migration to new one. If my Mac users have their photo, video and Adobe CS libraries on a single larger drive they make fewer mistakes, and their time machine backups are in an ideal way to restore to another or replacement system.

Now I just wish the Air and Pro replacements would be sooner than later. I can't stand the "touch bar" and I'm totally spoiled by a higher spec 12" MacBook. A physically trimmed Air would be nice and I'll say it again. I can't stand the touch bar that is at least 938% stupid when you have a background rooted in older technology and do sysadmin work.

 

What can I say, I'm an individual private consumer so I have a very different experience than you, and that's great!

I will say that it must be a lot of pressure to make those decisions, so I really appreciate your point of view. I figured their site is geared toward getting prepackaged stuff out the door, and I can truthfully say I have never, ever, considered buying from those other manufacturers. Windows just isn't for me and I'm not a computer person, so I have a very skewed view of the industry. I too got a decked out little Macbook pro because my last one lasted ten years more or less problem free.

I just fired up my new audio interface last night, just jumped into GarageBand for some quick noodling over a fresh backing track. The touchbar lit up with a bunch of features for adjusting all the emulator settings, and I am into that. It ain't for everyone, but so far I'm glad I got one before they kill it Different strokes!

 

My observation with our marketing dept users who do content professional content creation seems to mirror news that few use the touch bar features. I confess some bias here because net/sys admin tasks mean using old fashioned F keys happens more than being in my Adobe or video editing software.

There are unfortunate exceptions, but I understand your purchase because the MacBooks we buy last long, please users, and get top tier support and repairs. At this point all of our tech staff and c suite laptops are Surface and MacBook. With so much now web-enabled, I re-stage 2-5 year old MacBooks for other company use and but a few with strong brand fan-boy going on like them.

Your sentence on pressure made me smile. Buying computers is nothing compared to infrastructure decisions like clusters, phone systems and security. A welcome break from what pandemic times have been.

 

I am typing to you from the MacBook Pro that I just received a couple of weeks back. It has the 16Gb of memory. I ordered mine direct from Apple and it was shipped right to my house. This has the M1 system on a chip option. It works great.

 

I am so close to ordering my next mac mini. I had upgraded my previous 2012 mini to 16 GB for use with recording. I think I ran into processing issues before I ran into RAM issues.

I like what I'm hearing about the new chip. I was initially thinking of going with the 16 GB RAM. Storage isn't as critical as I will use external for my Logic Pro projects. Besides, I've had my music machine since 2012 and have used only 180 GB of the 500 it came with. All my Logic Pro stuff since I got it in September 2019 has only totaled 15 GB.

I'm leaning towards keeping the music machine as it is and use the new mini as my main personal machine (2010). I'm going to look into trying to trim a ton of stuff from 21 years of Mac ownership that is simply archaic dross carried over every time I transfer my files to the next machine. As long as I have my pictures, music and journals and essential files to drive my printer, I'm good unless somebody can convince me otherwise.

As such, I think the new M1 Mini with 8 GB RAM and 256 GB storage will be more than sufficient. Hopefully I can find a way to generate income before the music machine needs to be replaced. I may have to pause buying guitars for the next couple of years. I know, I know, heresy.