My next step in hardware and software

[Ben Jenssen]

I just ordered a Mac Mini M2, 16GB/256GB to replace the my M1 16GB/512GB. Not very dramatic, my thinking is; while waiting for the next step in processor technology ("M3"), I might as well pimp my setup slightly while waiting for ARM PT on fantastic next gen processors.

Of course, I'll be going from Big Sur to Ventura, and PT2020 to the latest. As always when I do these steps, I'll be installing everything clean. If everything works out, I'll sell my current Mini and get most of my money back. I'm saving some money on going to the smaller SSD, but it's no problem; done it many times before - using symlinks/aliases to offload the internal drive to external storage (M.2 NVMe TB3) - keeping 100GB free on the internal won't be a problem.

I don't expect to get very much out of it - maybe 10-15% processing power in PT. So it's kind of a in-between step, and it's about the steps in PT and OS versions as much as a new computer. For what I do, 16GB ram works fine. Even Adobe lightroom is fine with it. If I run PT and LR simultaneously, nothing breaks, but it's pushing the limits, but I have no problem with quitting one while using the other.

I have a reinstatement code that will let me in on Heat and a few other things until the next support renewal.

I expect to be able to just unplug the M1 and plugin the new M2. All my connections should just work, the two machines being so similar.

I guess I'm just wanting to show off.

But, a couple of questions:

What is the M2 mini fan noise like? The M1 is dead quiet, but the jump from 3.2 to 3.5gHz speed will generate some more heat, and ram speed is faster.

How is switching between PT Rosetta and native ARM back and forth? Is it 'seamless', or does it create issues?

I guess I'll find out.

(Added: It's the basic 8 core M2. I don't think the extra cores are worth the money. PT doesn't benefit very much, and I have no need for big number crunching power. The extra GPU cores might benefit lightroom, though.)

[thin ice]

The only thing I'd worry about is the internal hard drive. I thought I'd read that the 256GB M2 was half the speed with just 1 NAND?

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by thin ice

The only thing I'd worry about is the internal hard drive. I thought I'd read that the 256GB M2 was half the speed with just 1 NAND?

Good point, and you're right:

Macrumors forum thread
Benchmarks figures in the first post.

It's about half the speed of the M1 512GB that I have now.
1400-1500 MB/s. I'm not going to worry about it.
It's going to store only the very basic, system, applications etc, so the worst I can imagine it will do is to add a couple of seconds to startup and app launch times.

My external M.2 NVMe is about 1300MB/s and that's plenty fast.

[Stephen Bond]

Will be interesting to see how this goes. I'm sure it can't really go wrong with Apple since the M1 chips arrived

I'm in a similar situation with the small 256 GB internal drive, supplemented with external flash drives. To be honest, it's a bit of a pain to keep track of and update with the scores of plugins and apps. My budget is modest so I ponied up for the 16 GB RAM which seemed a better option. All drives are mega fast these days so not too much to concern oneself with there with the M2 I guess.

I'm still on Big Sur. Maybe it is safe to jump to Monterey now?

Concerning Pro Tools, I am sticking on 22.9 for the time being until Avid decide they want my money again. I will not be sucked into any software agreements where I relinquish my hard earned perpetual licenses in exchange for opening the cash drain that can never be closed...

Stephen

[JFreak]

I'm sticking with my fully loaded M1 mini until something really good comes out. Just waiting when my housing company delivers 10Gbps internet which this box is capable of, currently only getting 1Gbps. Talk about show off

[thin ice]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

Good point, and you're right:

Macrumors forum thread
Benchmarks figures in the first post.

It's about half the speed of the M1 512GB that I have now.
1400-1500 MB/s. I'm not going to worry about it.
It's going to store only the very basic, system, applications etc, so the worst I can imagine it will do is to add a couple of seconds to startup and app launch times.

My external M.2 NVMe is about 1300MB/s and that's plenty fast.

At least you're not depending on the internal drive for audio, so it should be fine. I'm really interested to hear about whether the fans come on with higher clock speeds.

[Ben Jenssen]

Just an intermediate report; While waiting for the M2 to be delivered, I've started to prepare on the M1 for the transition. I've upgraded from Big Sur to Ventura, as I'm sure the M2 is coming with it, and that has gone extremely smooth. Almost nothing to note, and even PT v 2020.12 is working fine, as are plugins.

I've also prepared my startup drive for the smaller storage. It's now actually about 100GB. All applications and essential library content is intact. I've moved lots of libraries; samples, IRs, the 'Shared' folder in 'Users' etc, to a fast external drive, and replaced them with symlinks (or aliases). I don't have lots of apps and games etc, but I do have Photoshop, Lightroom and lots of other smaller tools and apps.

So I'm saving the cost of a larger than 256GB internal drive. And even if I was to unplug the external, all apps and essential files would be there, and everything would work as normal, except some VIs and convolution reverbs.

I know some will be skeptical about this, but I've done it before, and it totally doable, and not difficult.

(I must add that in judging what to move to save space, Daisydisk has been invaluable. It's a very efficient tool for seeing what's taking up space on drives.)

Originally Posted by thin ice

At least you're not depending on the internal drive for audio, so it should be fine. I'm really interested to hear about whether the fans come on with higher clock speeds.

Actually, nearly 150GB will be free on the internal drive, so using it for audio will be no problem. I'll report on the fan, but I'm expecting it to be silent. Fingers crossed.

[Ben Jenssen]

The mac mini M2 arrived today, much earlier than expected, and it took me about two hours to switch. Unplugged the M1, updated the M2 from 13.0 to 13.2.1, transferred everything with Migration Assistant, customized some security settings to get extensions and stuff to work, and everything seems just fine.

Can't say I notice any difference (I didn't expect to), except shorter boot time, and some extra snappiness in windows and graphics. When I run PT with a session I know the performance of, together with a browser and a few apps I normally have running, the numbers in Activity monitor are almost exactly the same as on M1.

The 256GB SSD is showing almost exactly half the r/w speed of the 512 on M1, about 1500MB/s. This will NOT make a difference for me. And the trimming of the volume that I did before on M1, results in almost exactly half of it is free space.

So, the change means I now have a mini with everything the same except the M2 having two extra GPU cores, running at 3.5gHz (M1 @ 3.2), the memory bus a little faster, and the internal SSD smaller.

The numbers on Geekbench is pretty convincing.

I'll now sell the M1, and I sincerely expect to get what I paid for this M2 mini.

[Ben Jenssen]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

I'll now sell the M1, and I sincerely expect to get what I paid for this M2 mini.

After three weeks with the M2 Mini, I couldn't be happier. Just like the M1 Mini, it's completely silent and stable. No problems at all. I have the latest Ventura and the PT2022.12 beta running natively, also very solid, and I have so many native plugins now that I very rarely run PT thru Rosetta.

And today I sold the M1 mini. Having paid 10500 for the M2, I got 9000 for the M1 (that's NOK). So, almost according to plan.

[JFreak]

Originally Posted by Ben Jenssen

I very rarely run PT thru Rosetta.

Same here. Only when I need TC Electronic or Lexicon (hello?) but otherwise native.