M2 Mac Mini Review: The Best Mac for $499!

It’s not every day a new Mac is released that actually excites just about everybody who would be interested in a Mac. We’ve got the MacBook Pros, the MacBook Air, and the Mac Studio, but what most people in everyday use will likely want to check out is the M2 Mac Mini. From everyday users to musicians or creators like myself, the Mac Mini seriously drives home incredible performance, especially for the value. I’m not going to pretend I’m some sort of professional either. Simply put, I’m a beginner creator who edits videos on Macs and uses it for literally everything else, and maybe a little bit of gaming. What I have here is the absolute base model of the M2 Mac Mini, so let me take you through my review so I can tell you everything I love about it as well as a couple of things you might think are deal-breakers.

Unboxing

So, getting this thing unboxed, there’s honestly nothing to it. Standard, minimal Apple packaging, but no less special. Inside, you’ve got the Mac Mini itself, which is actually a lot lighter than I thought it would be (and this is my first time reviewing any sort of Mac Mini). You’ve also got the power lead for power, of course, as well as the booklets and the sticker that everyone seems to mention but never use. And that’s it. You will need to supply your own mouse and keyboard, just something to be aware of when getting it.

Build and Design

M2 Mac Mini in hand, it’s honestly beautiful. I know people always mention wanting an updated design, and that would be nice, but honestly, as a first-time Mac Mini user, I really dig it, and this design still holds up extraordinarily well. The entire computer is super compact, lightweight, and goes just about anywhere you need it to. Weighing in at just about 545 grams, you can literally put it into just about any bag and take it wherever you go, assuming you have a monitor to attach it to. In this setup alone, it fits on top of my Grovemade stand, inside my Grovemade stand off to the side, or even vertically in this Mac Mini dock. It really sort of makes this the fits-all matte computer, and I do love how almost all Apple products make setups look nicer, and this one’s no exception. I do wish they had this in space gray, though, like they used to, but the silver enclosure is still elegant and minimal.

Ports

On the front end, you literally only have a tiny white LED showing its power is on or off, and that’s it. On the back end, you have the power button and Ethernet port, two Thunderbolt ports, an HDMI port, as well as two USB-A ports and a headphone jack. One thing that’s awesome about the Mac Mini is that it still has a fan, although in all of my testing, I haven’t been able to hear this thing turn on once, which is definitely a good sign.

Editing

Now getting back to how I use this, I don’t really care about synthetic benchmarks at all, like Cinebench and all of that, but I do want to dive into my actual use case performance. There are a lot of dope channels that go into benchmarks, but for myself as a creator, professional, and a gamer, how does the base model M2 Mac Mini hold up? Well, to cut to the chase, it does an incredible job, and I kind of want to start by talking about my creative work. As a smaller YouTube channel, none of my projects are overly complex, and to be completely truthful, even my M1 iMac grants circles around my 4K timelines.

The native Apple chips are legit just super powerful and efficient. That said, the M2 chip proves to be spectacular with my timelines, and I see completely zero skipped frames or jitteriness when scrubbing through and cutting through my 4K footage. Again, I don’t have a bunch of layers or anything like that, but seriously, for anybody who’s thinking about starting a creator’s path, this is definitely an easy pick. All less demanding creator stuff, like voiceovers, audio recording, and photo editing, are all also a breeze. For my voiceovers, I like to use a free program called Audacity, and I edit all my photos in Adobe Lightroom.

Gaming

Since I am a gamer, I do want to bring it up. Trust me, I know Macs aren’t meant for gaming, but I’m trash at games. And if I’m talking about all the things I do on here, that includes some casual gaming. Some of the games I do play occasionally are either Diablo 3 or Sims 4, both of which are natively available on Mac. The pickings are rather slim either way, but these run exceptionally well. I’m playing Diablo 3 here on my studio display, which is at a 5k resolution, so it’s even more wild that it pumps out a solid 5K at 60fps no problem. Sims 4, as well, is a more processor-intensive game, and it has zero issues and runs remarkably well. My sim is absolutely beautiful too. Clearly, I’ve peaked in video games. I dig Mac overall as a platform. I do simply wish gaming was more of a focus for them. I could only dream.

Everything Else

And it goes without saying, everything else on here is simply a breeze. I know macOS is a very mature operating system and a lot of people haven’t really tried it out yet, but for me, the continuity between iPhone, iPad, and Mac is just so seamlessly integrated, it’ll always be my preferred platform. I’m still working on my accounting designation in the evenings as well.

Overall Performance

It goes without saying that all the web browsing, spreadsheets, and word processing are handled with ease. In terms of overall performance, this Mac Mini is definitely an incredible choice. It’s versatile, powerful, tiny, and minimal. However, the primary bottleneck here at the base model is just how little storage you get – 256 gigs at the base model simply isn’t enough, even for the most basic of workflows. For myself, I’ll be installing an SSD into my dock to expand this, since not having enough storage would be my only regret. In terms of overall value, though, for just about any starter creative, or frankly anyone who wants to dive into Mac OS for the first time or returning, this is definitely a great budget option, especially since you can pair any monitor with it.