Mac Mini M1 2020 8gb model
I purchased this Mac Mini M1 2020 8gb model at the end of October 2021 and I have been using it as my main work PC ever since. The Mac Mini M1 2020 8GB model cost me just under £1000 including Apple Care, An Apple Magic Keyboard with Number Pad and an Apple Magic Mouse (which I do not use! As I prefer my Razor Gaming Mouse).
As I was in a hurry to get the Mac Mini I went for the standard 8GB configuration as there was a lead time on the custom model with more memory. To be honest I have not had any performance issues with the Mac Mini only having 8gb of ram but this is mainly due to not having to run any virtual machines on the mac as I have separate VMWare ESXi servers for this role.
In my day to day role I am programming in Bash and Python a lot of the time as well as using a number of web based apps, Office, Teams, Slack, RDP and ssh so so I can be classed as a power user I guess. At any one time I can have a VPN to my office open (Using Client), upwards of 10 terminals open, at least 20 web browser tabs open, plus slack, email client, teams and Microsoft Remote Desktop client open. Not to mention Spotify playing 90% of the time. With all of this running the Mac Mini has worked flawlessly and never skipped a beat.
I initially planned to use this Mac Mini as a proof of concept and then swap it out for a MacBook Pro when I was happy with it but I have enjoyed using the Mac Mini so much that I have held off on buying a MacBook Pro and have no plans to buy one any time soon.
As I flit between my Home and Office all the time the small size of the Mac mini is a plus and as I ride a bike to and from the office the lack of a screen on the Mac mini is a definite plus as I tend to jump up and down curbs a lot as well as playing on my bike as I ride (the bonus of riding a BMX 🙂 ). To make sure that the Mac Mini stays safe and dry in my backpack I have bought a cheap dry bag from Amazon that I use as a carry case for the Mac Mini which works well as I had my water-bottle explode in my bag a few weeks ago and the Mac Mini stayed bone dry 🙂
To make Swapping between the office and Home less painful I purchased a couple of Satechi Type-C Stand & Hubs with SSD Enclosures but once they arrived and I started using them I realised that they were not ideal for my purpose as they did not have any inputs for video or power so they were basically expensive posh looking USB hubs! As the Satechi’s are not true docking stations I still have to unplug all of the cables from the back of the Mac Mini to move it which as you can imagine is a bit of a pain! I do really like the built in ssd Enclosure which means that I do not need an external disk to use for Time Machine backups so this clears some disk space 🙂
I also make a lot of use of the Satechi SD and Micro SD slots as I do a lot of work with Raspberry Pi’s so I am constantly copying the OS to Micro SD card so not having to have an external USB sd/micro sd reader is a bonus and the inbuilt one in the Satechi works really well 🙂
I am still looking for a suitable solution for a docking station but I can live with my current solution for now.
As I run 2 external Monitors (1 x Ilyama XB2481HS-B 24 Inch and 1 x Iiyama ProLite 34″ Ultra Wide Screen) at home and 2 x 27″ Dell Monitors in the Office I also had to buy a couple of USB-C to HDMI adapters as the Mac Mini M1 2020 model only has 1 x hdmi port. This is not a big deal as the adapters were only £10 each and now I have them they stay connected to the monitor’s hdmi cable all the time.
As the Mac Mini M1 2020 uses a standard figure 8 power cable that we have a lot of in the office there is no need to carry a bulky power adapter that I would have to with a MacBook Pro so that is another plus point for the Mac Mini.
The only real downside that I have found with the Mac Mini M1 2020 so far is that it cant be used as a stand alone device like a MacBook Pro can as it has no built in Screen, Keyboard, mouse or battery put most of the time I work at a desk so this is not an issue!