2020 Apple Mac mini with Apple M1 Chip (8GB RAM, 512GB SSD)

I've never owned a Mac before, they have simply cost far more that I was ever prepared to spend. In a moment of madness the more reasonable price of the M1 Mini and the countless positive reviews tempted me to give the M1 Mini a try after 30 years of using a PC.As others have said, it's lighting fast, silent, and doesn't even get warm. I mostly use my for desktop publishing, with occasional photo and video editing. No matter how many applications I have open, it seems impossible to slow it down or even start the fan running.I thought I might regret not getting the 16gb model, but so far I've not had any situations where more memory would've been useful.After 3 decades using windows, its a learning curve to get used to Mac OS, but it is well designed and much more stable than any of the 7 versions of Microsoft's operating system I've perviously used.Negatives. Apple have really skimped on ports - Just 2 regular USB ports. Most people will need to buy a hub, particularly if you prefer to use a wired keyboard and mouse. Having a couple of ports & power switch on the front would be a big improvement, even if it spoilt the aesthetic slightly. A SD card reader would be good too.The internal speaker is so poor that I don't know why they bothered installing it.The extra cost of buying the models with more memory or storage is simply outrageous. £200 for an extra 8gb of memory is a complete rip off, and charging £800 for 2tb of storage is just obscene.Some programs are still not working on the m1, most annoyingly Google Drive, although that is apparently coming next month. If moving from a PC you may have to factor in the additional expense of buying new licences for some your software. And of course, some specialist software isn't written for Macs, and the M1 chip means you can't simply use Boot Camp to run windows.However for most users (even power users on a budget) the basic model is a fantastic computer. Just remember to budget for extras like software, keyboard, mouse, usb hub, webcam, external speakers, and of course a decent monitor if you haven't already got them.

I recently upgraded to the M1 Mac Mini from a 2016 Macbook Pro - so far I am very happy with the decision.I have been using my 2016 Macbook Pro 13 for work for a number of years, of course this has increased to daily use having been working from home since March last year. It has been working great and I have primarily been using it with Citrix to log into work, some photo editing with lightroom CC or lightroom classic and light video editing on final cut. Other than that I would use it for general email/web browsing, Spotify etc. It has been reasonably fast but this M1 feels ALOT faster and snappier.I had my macbook pro set up with a magic keyboard, LG ultra wide lg99 monitor and an mx master 3, I would use it with the lid closed and plugged into the monitor via usc-c 95% of the time. I had been awaiting the release of the apple silicon 16 inch macbook pro to upgrade to that, however given it does not not look like that will be released until October time, and considering I am almost always using the Macbook as a desktop anyway, I decided to give the mac mini m1 a try - it is literally a quarter of the price of the base16 inch MacBook Pro (without the keyboard/mouse/monitor however) and it beats it in many tasks. So i figured instead of spending £2400 on the new 16 inch Macbook when it comes out, why not spend £650 now and get the M1 Mac mini - and I have been very happy with it.I strongly considered the 16gb version, however given this configuration needs to be ordered direct from apple for £900 meaning it's an additional £250 premium on this version - it's nearly a 40% increase in price just for 8gb a RAM. Some people may need the extra ram and people will argue that it will make it last longer, but personally I'd rather save the £250 and upgrade the mac in 2-3 years - considering these entry level mac mini's are very reasonably priced. Additionally, considering this M1 is a first generation product, the next iterations will only get better. Some people may require 16gb and if so go for it, but for my use case 8gb works great.Opening programs is very snappy, and even lightroom is significantly faster than the intel macbook I previously used now that both CC and classic have native M1 versions. Video editing is also super smooth on final cut, even with heavy footage.If you have a mouse and keyboard (or even if you don't) this is great entry into the Mac OS eco system. You can pick this up, along with quality keyboard and mouse & 4k monitor for under £1k - which is great.In terms of bluetooth issues - I have not had any - I upgraded to Big Sur 11.4 immediately and I use a magic keyboard and Airpods Pro and I have had no issues with bluetooth disconnecting. I use the MX master 3 with the supplied USB receiver.Overall, if you primarily use a desktop setup the mac mini is a fantastic option and the power for the price us unbeatable, especially if you already own keyboard and mouse peripherals. I would highly recommend

I'm no Apple fanboy but I do like mini-PCs. I've usually always built a decent PC every 5 or so years and a few years back I bought a bare-bones mini-pc and I'm convinced this is the future.Mac minis can to my attention a few years ago and I nearly bought one a few times. I'm so glad I waited. Looking at some of the many reviews online will show you how powerful this little machine is.I've seen some chancers trying to sell 2018 mac minis without the M1 chipset for prices higher than this thing - good luck with that! This is super quiet and decently fast.There are a couple of teething issues with niche use cases - I had to mess about a bit getting this to replace my PC as a second projector monitor in the living room so I could watch movies but I got there and it works well hardly using any power at all.The latest operating system Catalina is ok but I definitely don't like the costs associated with many of the applications. There are quite a few apps that I could get freely on Windows or Linux but I'd have to pay for them on the Mac!? What's all that about?So, the application side of things can be a bit of a rip off depending on what you want but the purchase price of this machine is very competitive and offers good value for money. After getting my projector set up I run 2 monitors on it, at different resolutions, 1080p and 1440p - some users have experienced some issues with dual monitors but I managed to get lucky with my set up.I've no regrets buying this - just avoid paying for any apps you can get free elsewhere!