Our opinion
We think an M2 Pro Mac mini might be the perfect Mac for many Mac users who may be considering the Mac Studio, but there’s no doubt that the Mac Studio is the best machine and the cheapest way to go. get maximum power.
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When Apple introduced the Mac Studio in March 2022, we were impressed with its combined processing power and great value for money. Now that the Mac Studio has been updated with Apple’s M2 Max and M2 Ultra chips, it’s still a great deal for content creators of any skill level, but Apple’s offering has changed over the years. months since the launch of the original Mac Studio. Now, the Mac Studio is competing with an M2 Pro Mac mini on one side and the M2 Ultra Mac Pro on the other.
As long as you don’t need the expansion options of the Mac Pro, the M2 Ultra Mac Studio, which shares the same specs as the Mac Pro, will meet the needs of all but the most demanding creatives. But not everyone needs the full power of a Mac Studio with M2 Ultra, and some don’t even need the power of the M2 Max, for those the M2 Pro Mac mini might be more than sufficient.
In this article, we take a look at how the M2 Pro Mac mini compares to the M2 Max Mac mini. We’ll discuss the Mac Pro versus the M2 Ultra Mac Studio elsewhere.
Mac Studio vs. Mac mini M2 Pro: Price
In January 2023, Apple introduced the M2 Pro Mac mini. This Mac filled a gap in Apple’s lineup: while the MacBook Pro offered an M1 Pro and now the M2 Pro chip, there was no desktop Mac with such a chip, until the arrival of this Mac mini. Starting at $1,299 / £1,399, the Mac mini with M2 Pro is also much cheaper than the equivalent MacBook Pro at $1,999 / £2,149 (which leaves plenty to buy a nice monitor to use with your Mac ).
How does the price of the Mac mini M2 Pro compare to the Mac Studio? Starting at $1,999 / £2,099 the Mac Studio is $700 / £700 more than the Mac mini with M2 Pro, which is a leap, but you get a 30-core GPU in the Mac Studio , while the Mac mini-only M2 Pro offers a 16-core GPU as standard.
For an additional $300, you can get a 19-core GPU option for the Mac mini. In this case, the 10-core processor of the Mac mini is updated to a 12-core processor, identical to the 12-core processor of the M2 Max Mac Studio. So you can match the Mac Studio’s CPU into a $1,599 Mac mini, which might be an option to consider if you don’t need the extra GPU cores. If you add 32GB of unified memory to this Mac mini to match that of the Mac Studio, you’ve got almost the same Mac, save for the GPU cores, for the same $1,999/£2,099 price.
Incidentally, the M2 Max MacBook Pro starts at $2,899 (it’s a build-to-order option), which makes the Mac Studio, almost $1,000 less, even more appealing.
The Mac mini M2 Pro is also a bargain over a similarly spec MacBook Pro. The Mac mini M2 Pro with a 10-core CPU and 16-core GPU costs $1,299/£1,399 compared to the $1,999/£2,149 14-inch MacBook Pro with the same chip. We understand these are very different machines, but this illustrates how much you can save by buying one of Apple’s desktop Macs. The Mac mini and Mac Studio are the cheapest way to get Apple’s most powerful processors.
Comparing desktop computers, let’s take a closer look at what you get for your money:
- MacStudio: M2 Max (12-core CPU, 30-core GPU), 32GB unified memory, 512GB SSD, $1,999/£2,099
- Mac mini: M2 Pro (10-core CPU, 16-core GPU), 16GB unified memory, 512GB SSD, $1,299 / £1,399
- Build to order mac mini: M2 Pro (12-core CPU, 19-core GPU), 32GB Unified Memory, 512GB SSD, $1,999/£2,099
If you’re considering buying either Mac, check out our roundup of the best Mac mini deals and the best Mac Studio deals.
Mac Studio vs. Mac mini M2 Pro: design
The Mac Studio is inspired by the design of the Mac mini. Both Macs are silver (there’s no Space Gray version) and feature a large Apple logo on top. The Mac Studio measures 7.7 inches square, like the Mac mini, but it measures 3.7 inches, which is almost three times the height of the Mac mini.
This extra space inside the Mac Studio means it benefits from a more efficient cooling system. The Mac Studio also offers a handy collection of ports on the front, including two USB-C ports and an SDXC card slot.
Apple
Mac Studio vs. Mac mini M2 Pro: Specs
When considering processor cores, there’s not a huge jump between the M2 Pro and M2 Max: the same processor is available for both. However, the standard Mac mini M2 Pro comes with a 10-core processor, compared to the Mac Studio’s 12-core processor with M2 Max. As we said above when discussing the price, you can opt for the 12-core M2 Pro processor at the point of sale if you want it in your Mac mini.
There are two key differences between the two models. One is the amount of RAM supported: the M2 Pro can support up to 32 GB of unified memory, while the M2 Max can support up to 96 GB of memory (if you opt for the 28-core GPU option).
The other major difference is GPU core count, with the Mac mini shipping with 16 cores, but with a maximum of 19 cores, and the Mac Studio with M2 Max offering 30 cores as standard, and a 38-core GPU as an option. construction to order. And that’s not even taking into account the M2 Ultra, which offers a 60-core GPU as standard and 74-core as a build-to-order option.
Here’s how the specs compare:
Mac mini M2 Pro
- Base model: 10-core CPU, 16-core GPU, 16GB unified memory, 512GB SSD, $1,299/£1,399
- Additional options: 12-core CPU, 19-core GPU ($300/£300), 32GB memory ($400/£400), 1TB/2TB/4TB 8TB SSD (up to $2,400)
Mac Studio M2 Max
- Base model: 12-core CPU, 30-core GPU, 32GB unified memory, 512GB SSD, $1,999/£2,099
- Additional options: 38-core GPU ($200/£200), 64GB memory ($400/£400), 96GB memory (+$800/£800), 1TB/2TB/4TB SSD 8TB (up to $2,400/£2,400)
CPU
You can get an idea of how the processors compare from our benchmarks below. We’ve tested the 12-core M2 Pro processor and the 12-core M2 Mac processor and can confirm that there isn’t a huge difference.
We ran the new Geekbench 6.1 benchmarks on the processor. Because our previous benchmarks were run using Geekbench 5, we don’t have the benchmarks for the Mac mini in question, but we ran Geekbench 6.1 on the equivalent MacBook Pro chip and as you can see, the results are similar, as you would expect from processors this close.
We also ran the Cinebench R23 benchmarks on the Mac Studio, in this case we have the Mac mini M2 Pro to compare. Here you can also see how similar the two processors are.
GPUs
When it comes to GPU cores, things are a bit different. The standard Mac mini M2 Pro offers 16 graphics cores (up to 19), but the standard Mac Studio with M2 Max has a 30-core GPU (up to 38 cores).
To get an idea of how it fares in testing, in the Geekbench 6.1 Compute benchmarks, the 38-core Mac Studio GPU scored significantly more than the M2 Pro in the MacBook Pro (we don’t have the Geekbench scores 6.1 for the Mac mini, but it’s the same chip here).
If you’re a gamer, you can also expect much better performance from Mac Studio, as per our video game benchmarks.
See how the M2 Pro and M2 Max compare here: M2 Pro vs M2 Max.
RAM
There are other ways the Max beats the Pro, regardless of generation. The M2 Max has more memory bandwidth (400 GB/s versus 200 GB/s) and can offer more RAM than the M2 Pro (96 GB versus 32 GB). Note that there’s a catch with the 96GB RAM option for the M2 Max – it’s limited to the version of the M2 Max with 38 GPU cores, while the cheapest option with 30 GPU cores still tops out. 64 GB.
Mac Studio vs. Mac mini M2 Pro: Ports
Apple
The Mac Studio has the most ports, with two USB-C ports and an SDXC card slot on the front and four Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.0 port, a 10GB Ethernet jack, and a 3.5mm headphones. on the back. The M2 Pro Mac mini has four Thunderbolt 4 ports, two USB-A ports, an HDMI 2.1 port, Gigabit Ethernet (10GB Ethernet costs an extra $100), and a headphone jack. Of course, there are plenty of USB-C hubs available if you want even more options.
The M1 Max Mac Studio was held back by its HDMI port, which was HDMI 2.0 rather than the Mac mini’s newer HDMI 2.1 standard. HDMI 2.1 supports 4K at 240Hz and 8K at 60Hz. The Mac Studio 2023 offers HDMI 2.1, so there is no limitation anymore (HDMI 2.0 can only connect a single display with a resolution of up to 4K at 60Hz.) This means that the M2 Max Mac Studio can now support up to eight 4K displays, six 6K displays, or three 8K displays, whereas previously it was limited to four Pro Display XDR displays and to a 4K screen. The Mac mini with M2 Pro supports three displays.
The 2023 Mac Studio also gains the new WiFi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 standard like the Mac mini M2 Pro did earlier in 2023. The older Mac Studio only offered Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.
Apple
Mac Studio vs Mac mini M2 Pro: Buying tips
Now that the M2 Max has arrived in the Mac Studio it’s certainly a more attractive option than it was, but even with the M1 series chips the Mac Studio was still a great option for those looking a powerful Mac that didn’t break the bank.
The Mac mini with M2 Pro is definitely a contender. The main differences between the two machines are support for more RAM and additional graphics cores in Mac Studio. It costs more, but you’ll definitely get what you pay for compared to the M2 Max redacted MacBook Pro. When you consider that spec a Mac mini up to a similar allocation of RAM and CPU cores, would cost the same as the Mac Studio, and still lack the extra GPU cores, it’s clear which is the better machine for value for money.
But if you don’t need that much power and aren’t running the most graphics-intensive applications, then the Mac mini with M2 Pro will be more than enough and a good saving on the cost of the Mac Studio. . Now you can save $700/£700 buying a Mac mini with M2 Pro, rather than the Mac Studio, and still get a machine powerful enough for your needs.
The Mac Studio offers a lot more though, aside from extra RAM and GPUs, you’ll find more ports (including some that are front-facing) and support for more displays.
For more Mac mini accessory options, read our article on How to Upgrade the Mac mini M2 and M2 Pro.
For more help deciding which Mac to buy, read our Best Mac buying guide.
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