our opinion on this excellent price/performance ratio

With the Mac mini M2, Apple is going against the rest of its innovation and pricing policy. The firm announces a much more powerful machine than the previous generation thanks to the possibility of choosing between the M2 chip or the M2 Pro chip, while integrating a price drop.

The Mac mini M2 is listed at 699 euros, the minimum price for a Mac at Apple. Enough so that on paper it is an ideal machine for many uses. We had the opportunity to test both versions.

Apple Mac Mini M2 2023Data sheet

The Apple Mac mini M2 Pro was lent to us by the brand. The editorial team bought the Mac mini M2.

Apple Mac Mini M2 2023Our video review

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Apple Mac Mini M2 2023Design

It’s hard to get more compact than a Mac mini. Apple’s machine occupies only a square of 19.7 cm x 19.7 cm by 3.58 cm in height and weighs 1.18 kg (1.28 kg for the M2 Pro version). Therefore, the aluminum object can very easily slide on a desk, under a screen or even on the back of a monitor. The finishes are impeccable, as you would expect from Apple.

Apple always makes the curious decision to place the device’s power button on the back, at the level of the connector. For the rest, it is a machine with an appearance as simple as its use. Turnkey, with no possibility of repairing the product yourself, but that’s not the goal here.

connectors

Contemporary Apple is no longer solely based on all USB-C. The Mac mini illustrates this quite well as we will find on the back of the device two USB-A ports (up to 5 Gbit/s), an HDMI port, an RJ45 Ethernet port and a 0.5mm jack 3 port.

We are also entitled to two or four Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, depending on whether we take the M2 or M2 Pro version respectively.

Finally, there’s also the fairly industry-standard two-pin power socket.

Our only complaint is the lack of a port on the front that could make it easier to transfer data from a device like a USB stick or external hard drive. However, since the device is compact and lightweight, it is not very complicated to connect the device to the back.

Accessories are not provided

As for the Mac Studio, and unlike its iMac, Apple doesn’t provide any accessories with its Mac mini, except for the power cord.

Therefore, it will be necessary to add an external monitor, keyboard and mouse of your choice in order to use the machine.

Apple Mac Mini M2 2023Audio

The Mac mini M2 incorporates a small speaker. Let’s just say it right away, it’s basically there to fix problems and send notification sounds rather than provide a good sound experience. If you want to watch movies or listen to music on this machine, buying speakers will quickly be imposed on you.

Apple Mac Mini M2 2023software

The Mac mini obviously runs under macOS, more precisely under macOS Ventura 13.3, the latest version at the time of writing this test.

We’ve written extensively about macOS through our various Mac tests. The system has already largely integrated its transition to Apple Silicon (M1/M2) chips.

Today, the system is quite easy to learn and well integrated into the Apple ecosystem. It still offers some somewhat dated elements and may seem heavy at first glance with the many apps pre-installed by Apple and featured. The good news is that no third-party apps are installed by default.

The philosophy is of course different from that of Windows. If you come from the Microsoft system, count a few weeks before you find your favorite shortcuts perfectly. You will also have to take part in the adaptation.

We recommend that you take a look at our must-have apps for Mac to get started on the right foot.

Apple Mac Mini M2 2023performances

The Mac mini comes in two different configurations: with an M2 chip or an M2 Pro chip. Note that this is the M2 Pro chip with a 10-core GPU, which is a faster version of the MacBook Air M2. essential.

In both cases, the machine is actively ventilated to better dissipate heat. The chip supports 8 to 32 GB of unified memory and 256 GB to 8 TB of SSD storage.

The choice between the M2 and M2 Pro also has an impact on the external screen. In the first case, you’re limited to two displays, 6K 60Hz via Thunderbolt 4 and 4K 60Hz via the HDMI port. In the second case, you are entitled to three displays: two displays at 6K 60 Hz via Thunderbolt and the third at 4K 60 Hz via HDMI.

The points of reference

We already know about the Apple M2 chip that we tested in the MacBook Air M2. We still wanted to run some benchmarks on the Mac mini to see how it behaves.

Unsurprisingly, in Cinebench, the M2 chip well illustrates the low gain offered in single core, but the highest gain in multi-core applications. It should also be noted that the M2 Pro chip can reach the performance of the previous generation M1 Max. In other words, the Mac mini is more powerful than the first Mac Studio model. That’s a pretty impressive result in just one generation change.

Keep in mind that this level of performance is achieved in almost complete silence. The Mac mini has an active cooling system, but it is rarely activated.

As for storage, Apple has chosen, as in the MacBook Air M2, to save on performance in the most accessible version. Not only is it limited to 256GB of storage, but Apple only integrates a single NAND flash memory chip, limiting speed.

In fact, there’s no reason to panic: Apple’s 256GB SSD is still efficient at 1.4GB/s sequential read or write. If you need this machine for heavy-duty tasks, look for Mac mini versions with more storage to increase performance. In these versions, the maximum speed goes up to 6 GB/s in writing and 5 GB/s in reading.

Still, for most users, the basic SSD is good enough.

The machine for everyone

Beyond the benchmarks that can run on this Mac is the user experience. The Mac mini M2 is very suitable for the most common uses of a PC. Whether office automation, web browsing, photo editing, programming or even video editing: the M2 chip is largely at the level to perform all these tasks with the greatest fluidity.

Only the video game will be a hindrance to its use, and above all due to the lack of availability of games in macOS rather than due to lack of power. If you use your PC to play, you will have to resort to an alternative such as cloud gaming to really enjoy it on this Mac.

Note that it’s still possible to play anyway, we were able to test games like stardew valley, final fantasy XIV either encryption No problem. Apple’s system also makes it easy to manage gamepads. Even so, the catalog is very limited, too much today to really recommend the machine for this use.

Finally, if you have a high-level professional use, which requires, for example, video editing in 8K files or 3D creation, the M2 Pro version of the machine should be preferred.

Apple Mac Mini M2 2023Consumption

Chip developed for laptop requires, the M2 consumes very little power. On its site, Apple indicates a maximum consumption of 150 to 185 W, respectively for the M2 or M2 Pro.

In fact, we had a really hard time lifting the machine very high. Even during benchmarks, consumption rarely exceeded 50 W.

So buying a Mac mini should result in significant energy savings compared to any Windows PC.

Apple Mac Mini M2 2023Price and availability

The Mac mini M2 is sold by Apple from 699 euros. The M2 Pro version is sold from 1,549 euros.