Mac Mini M2 Base Model with 8GB vs Mac Mini Pro M2 with 16GB - Maschine Capabilities

Paul Derrington

All,

I am coming from an old 2012 Macbook Pro that did very well with Maschine and it's plug-ins until the last few updates. Them my system CPU usage hit the roof. I went from being able to run many tracks with a good bit of plugins to only being able to run very few tracks or software instances and very minimal plugins. I am looking to buy a new Mac but not go all in to the top models. My question for this group is, are any of you using a base M1 or M2 Mac Mini? If so how much can you throw at it before it chokes? I know it uses Ram differently but 8GB just seems too like too little. What can you do on your base model? Also, how many tracks in something like Logic are you able to run with plugins at once? Same question for those of you running the MAc Mini with the Pro M2 and 16GB.

ViktorVonVictor

Idk what the Mac Mini Pro is but I run a Mac Studio and cannot recommend it enough. This machine will last me well into the M4/M5 chip cycle before it will be useful to upgrade.

8gb of RAM is absolutely too little in 2023. 16GB is too little in 2023 if you're working with large libraries (EastWest / Orchestras etc)

The M1 vs M2 argument is barely worth having - they're amazing chips.

I would prioritize as much RAM as you can, depending on your genre.

I made a complete album on an M1 MacBook Air (16gb) and did not run into any sort of issues outside of CPU which is due to @nativeinstruments lack of optimizations.

If you're running UA plugs that's a little bit of a different story in which case if you're stacking tons of UA Native (not DSP) plugs then you'll want to prioritize CPU as well.

TLDR: 32gb of ram if you can afford it, will greatly increase the useful lifespan of the machine regardless if it's M1 or M2.