M2 pro

Thanks Kcatt, its a juggling act ; I reckon i might want at least 24 gigs of ram but am not truly sure i.e. 16 might do. The one nand chip means slower SSD performance (the M1 used multiple nand chips) and how does that impact swap memory particularly if 16 Gigs Ram is not quite enough.

Does a 1 terrabyte SSD mean 2 nand chips and possibly faster performance? or should I save money and stay at 512 Gigs SSD as i'll be using externals for audio work anyway.

To raise the ram on the basic M2 is $300 AUD in multiples of 8 Gig up to 24 Gig but if I went for the M2 Pro it's $600 AUD to go past 16 Gig - to 32 Gig (they don't have 24 as an option on the M2 pro) The pro then starts to become close to the Studio.

Given the single core performance of the base M2 and the Pro is not too far apart yet is obviously an improvement on the M!, is the biggest difference for audio in the M2 variants , the extra TB ports?
Questions, questions.
I've seen a lot of vids but none have totally answered those questions yet.

Cheers, Ross

Ps for what its worth I have 16 g ram, 256ssd m1 mini, in logic never seen cpu over 30%, never heard fans come on.

Only system problem I ever have results from me filling up my hard drive.

The more expensive m2, tend to also give you more gpu performance, great if you need it, what if you don’t?

Meaning, maybe the lower cost, machine is better for some users.

This is a super comprehensive video with comparisons between the base M1 all the way up to M2 Pro, including the Mac Studio with the M1 Ultra. It's not audio-focused but it does illustrate that RAM is still quite important for performance.

The answer to that question is... it depends. It's true that the Apple Silicon unified memory RAM system can do a lot more with less than an Intel/AMD system, but it also means the distinction between RAM, swap, and processor usage is also a bit more fuzzy from the user side of things. You're never going to be upset you had more RAM in your machine (especially when it's 16 vs 24 or 32), and that extra $300 or whatever on the Mac Mini amortized over the life of the machine, say 5 years, equals $60/year. You think that's worth cheaping out on? Think of it as induced demand - less may be adequate for your needs now, but you will absolutely have a better experience with time as demands on computer hardware continue to increase. I've been a Mac admin for a long time and have purchased and provisioned thousands of machines, not once have I ever found extra RAM to be a frivolous expense in any situation, no matter the use case. Not ever. Use these benchmarks, find the sweet spot, and buy as much RAM as you can afford.

BTW it looks like with the M2 Mac Minis that even 512 is just using 1 NAND chip so you'd need to get 1TB to get the faster read/write speeds.

M1 vs m2 ssd speeds

www.cultofmac.com/803861/entry-level-2023-mac-mini-and-macbook-pros-use-significantly-slower-ssds/?utm_source=twitter&fbclid=IwAR0Zm8W-EO2oukB5-2w-ImKu2MtJjZJNfK-hz1_j_4IXYuVmpq3T9UyHRs4

Read and write speed on the slower SSD is around 3000MB/s. Memory bandwidth is either 100GB/s or 200GB/s depending on which M2 processor. Whether or not you notice that when the machine is using swap is not something I can answer.

Thanks KCatt - If I dont get enough Ram in the first instance then will swap memory be compromised by SSD speed? - trying to get what's right for me  as apple's ram is so pricey. I'll certainly go at least 16 Gigs  Ram but just dont know if in fact  more Ram is spending unnecessarily and the perhaps few times I flirt into needing it could be  taken care of with swap. .
Cheers, Ross

M1 mini to m2 and studio

Thanks for that KCatt - Not keen on a mini on it's side from an aesthetic P.O.V. so would give that the flick

As to a hub with storage, I've already got external Samsung T7s but might think about it as a Time machine drive though

Am thinking if I was to buy a mini Pro rather than the non pro it would already have enough T/Bolt ports and so I'd just want a T/Bolt hub to power 4 or more USB ports of 5 G/sec without compromise.
I am seriously considering a Mini Pro , 16 gig ram and 1 Terrabyte drive; what I record of others and also write myself would be similarly taxing as Wiz's projects and he's running an M1 Mini with 8 gig ram, 512 SSD. The M2 pro has a bit faster single cores and 2 more cores than the M1 so I'm thinking that should stop any 2nd guessing myself.

Biggest gig would be 30 - ish tracks with a couple having 5 plugs , the rest maybe 2 or 3 ; 4 group busses with up to 5 plugs each; 3 fx busses and that's basically it. If any of you folk see any issues , please reply.

Cheers, Ross

M2 pro should be at least 20% faster processing and double read write to ssd ?

The m2 is about 20% faster thsn the m1 and more throughout read write ssd , 512 even faster, m2 pro is roughly 20 % faster again.

Wiz and I have similar mini m1 but i have 256 ssd snd 16 g ram, zero problems running logic 30 odd tracks sessions, with 3-5 vi, 3rd party snd ua plugs and i run an octo card

So an m2 with 16 g of ram would outperform my m1, you just need to decide by 512 or larger ssd or go smaller, save the money and but the external faster cheaper drive.

By the m2 pro if you want more speed snd connectivity.