New macs are out, the m2 mac minis are actually really well priced! remember to stack with gift cards, they don't check for student id :)
Mac Mini M2 from $795.30, MacBook Pro 14 M2 from $2840.20, MacBook Pro 16 M2 from $3532.10 @ Apple On Campus AU Store (e.g. AEU)
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Not much of an upgrade for the Mac Mini really; they could have at least made 512gb SSD and 16gb ram as standard for the base model; sticking with 256gb and 8gb ram means you really need to spend at least $1343, even with the education discount pricing you posted, to get the device up to spec. Anyone who doesn’t think they need at least those specs is better off getting a discounted M1 model than going for the new M2.
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/747702, last m1 discount was $100 more for the same ram/storage combo so I’m pretty sure this is a good deal
Obviously the M1 Macs will be more heavily discounted now that these new models are out, and this is not really a deal, only a pricing announcement of the education store pricing.
Nope, won't be, apple stuff slowly go down in value and on top of that m2s have gone like $300 up on base models? Even more on higher ones. I don't think m1s will go down more then $200-300 max $500, max of their retail price. Especially as i don't think there's a significant performance upgrade to justify paying extra $500-1500 for m2 range.
@drazenm: What are you talking about ‘$300’; there is only a $100 price difference between the new and old base models; the op’s pricing is with the usual education discount, not RRP.
@mr_me450: Looks to be about a $200 uptick for the binned M2 Max 16", which is slightly annoying because they are the same price in the US. Is what it is though
@drazenm: The M1 is still relevant as a productivity workhorse, and likely will be for another five years.
Anyone who automatically believes that 8GB is insufficient and that external SSDs are not better propositions, simply doesn’t work the way I do. Stop preaching to us!
Yup, with the money for the 256->512 upgrade you can easily get a 2tb external ssd with change, the base model is the best value option imo
Not if it shares the same SSD as the base Macbook Air M2.
@chrisandrew: Much less of a problem for desktops, just slap a nvme to Thunderbolt adapter and put a 2tb ssd like the sn850x in it and install macOS there if speed is a concern
@Kazusa: I'm not disagreeing with your suggestion as it's probably the best option given what Apple are offering but am I the only one who thinks it's crazy how Apple have shifted the whole market to a point where you don't buy a Mac with the specs you want and instead get a boat load of accessories to make up the difference?
Just seems kind of counterintuitive when you would assume Apple has the purchasing power to offer at least equal value to the current accessory path.
@DeToxin: "Apple is forcing me to buy things I don't want or need!"
"Fine, here's a basic model, with upgrade options"
"Apple is forcing me to use their upgrade options!"
"Fine, here's a basic model, you do you on accessories and upgrades"
"Apple is forcing me to go somewhere else to buy extra things I want or need!"@GrueHunter: Apple aren't forcing me to buy anything because I don't own one. The only Mac I use is work supplied..
If the pricing wasn't so crazy I would go with Apple is forcing me to use their upgrade options! but thats my choice.
My point is that many people opt for hacky add-ons to meet their needs because it's cheaper when Apple could probably offer equivalent options for a similar price and not lose any money.
Not sure why you want to white knight for apple but you do you.
@Kazusa: That's not correct either. Thunderbolt 4 is limited PCIe gen 3 x4 for SSD, so any high end gen4 PCIe x4 SSD is technically an overkill in the enclosure, unless you care about sustained write very much. Even so, your read speed is halved. That combo costs at least $430.
Early last year, old batches of cheap Thunderbolt enclosures were available, but they are all gone now.
How about memory? There is no workaround for RAM for Mac Mini.
@Kazusa: I think most people would want their premium computer to meet their immediate needs and expectations straight OOTB. Less a budget hack than it is a reflection of Apple's extortionate upgrade pricing.
@chrisandrew: Serious question, how much difference is there in the ssd? Does the 256gb ssd actually not meet expectations or is the problem just numbers on paper?
@chrisandrew: Only the lower capacity models were slower - they use larger modules, so they don’t benefit from distributed read and write.
No, you cannot anymore. Cheap Thunderbolt enclosures are pretty much gone, you are looking at least $150 for the cheapest enclosure. That leaves you with less than $150 to get a decent 2TB SSD (which honestly costs $180 when there is an OZB deal, probably once or twice a year, unless you want to gamble on NV2, which has a lottery of TLC and QLC). No, if you opted for a QLC SSD, that's not a decent solution.
You cannot memory upgrade Apple Silicon based Macs.
I don’t automatically believe that, I know it from experience. Once that 256gb starts to fill up and the unified memory starts looking for more hard drive space to compensate for the lack of ram your Mac will slow considerably. The Mac won’t use an external SSD as unified memory, so with the OS and other essential functions likely taking up almost half your internal SSD anyway you’re left with a bit over 100gb of internal space before things start to slow down.
As I indicated, from my experience, 8/256 can be more than sufficient for some(many) work patterns - e.g. me who develops code every day. Not everyone works with large video editing applications and data.
@chrism238: If you are not moving massive stuff around all the time then I agree that the base model will be more than fine for 99% of the people out there.
256gb drive models "Apparently" suffer drive performance when moving 50ish gb files. I've owned the M1 Air 256 and M2 Air 256, nothing I do shows a difference in HDD performance.
@chrism238: I think 8GB is underweight for dev, particularly if you add in a bit of Docker, VSCode, XCode, a few dozen browser tabs - I find my M1 Air 8GB paging.
@jpz: This comment isn’t given enough attention. Youtube reviewers do benchmarks and conclude 8GB is fine. Real world is Chrome sucks 4GB, add some docker containers or VMs and you are paging badly.
I’m considering 32GB if not 64GB.
Simply not true, you can install macOS on an external drive and then the page files will be dumped there instead of the internal ssd, a cheap Thunderbolt to Nvme adapter and a good 2tb ssd will cost less than the 256->512 upgrade, it’s a desktop at the end of the day
As a developer, 16GB+ is necessary for me. Our dockerised build process has been known to use more than 10GB by itself, and honestly we're not doing anything particularly special.
I wouldn't buy an 8GB model these days.
Apple's use of RAM is not that magical that you can just ignore the capacity.
I agree that 256gb is insanely low for such a powerful machine. And, in my experience, the SSD fills up very quickly. I have the 512Gb M1, and there is only 50Gb left after software and a few photo/video files.
But, in my experience so far, 8GB ram is plenty, even for editing large 4K video files. The M2 will handle this no problem.
This is rubbish - many people will only need this configuration. My parents literally only browse the web and have a base model M1 Mac mini that is more than enough for their needs.
So would a $150 ex-office refurb machine…
Indeed. Got my wife one of those micro desktops from Fusetech for $160. Tiny, silent and run Windows + browser, office etc perfectly. And, unlike the mac, dead easy to open and upgrade memory / ssd if the day comes.
Only thing I did was image the hard drive with some free tool (Paragon HDD backup?) in case Windows goes weird one day. Which it doesn't, if you're not downloading and installing random crap.
Obviously another surface reading spec lover who can’t do without an arm processor but actually wishes mac ran on windows
Wow, been waiting for more than a year, finally it's here… Not sure if this one is better than previous one though..still need to wait a little bit
Where’s the confusion? You can can spec the M2 Pro with 32GB RAM, what else were you expecting?
You can copy and post this BS next year and year after year.
I am very happy there is an M2 pro version of the mini. High performance in a tiny box.
And, I might add, the M2 Pro version has four Thunderbolt ports, and even the base model has a performance boost combined with a drop in price in an inflationary environment.
How does it compare to the Mac Studio?
The studio will still be faster. And costs more.
The M2 Pro mini vs M1 Max studio is probably gonna be pretty close, depending on the task.
For CPU tasks the mini is probably gonna be faster… for GPU it depends how the GPU cores compare - 16 of new one vs 24 of old. Studio will probably win that battle.
Is the 'back to uni' promotion cancelled due to this new release?
It’s not canceled.
Actually they just announced it. Check here:
https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/751788Can you stack the AOC discount with the 'back to uni promo'? It doesn't pop up the airpods offer for me
Not available for purchases through AOC I believe
Where is the mac studio m2?
No M2 Ultra SOC yet.
Isn't it just 2 maxes taped together like last time?
Newbie question.. how can I link my Uni email to my Apple ID? Tried to Google it but it seems Apple does not make it easy.
you dont need to, just buy using ur normal apple id
They don't require a .edu.au email address to checkout?
No.
Now you can finish your essay 5x faster on M2 Mac than your Windows PC.
No, chatGPT can finish your essay for you faster.
"remember to stack with gift cards, they don't check for student id"
Could you please elaborate?…sorry im unfamiliar.
Not OP, but I’m speaking from experience: you can purchase from Apple’s AOC store with multiple gift cards – you get woolies/coles points back from your gift card purchases (when on promo).
And Apple does not verify if you’re a student or not at time of purchase or at collection.
I believe you just say you're a student and bam, they give you student discount. I just get a family member who's studying still to say it for me and give them the money but probably not necessary. That's for the back to school deal. The gift cards are a different thing. You can buy apple gift cards for a discount. Usually like 10-15%. So for a $1000 gc you pay $900 and then use the gift card to buy a Mac. Bam, 10% discount on your Mac and you can pair that easily with back to school discount.
Thank you both… are there any discounted gift cards available now? The best i can find from a quick search (based on employee perks) is 5%.
So legit question is it practical/possible to buy $4k of Apple gift cards on discount or with bonus points? Looking at Max model.
Can anyone get the education store discount without them checking?
Yes. I always use it when buying personal Macs because it the saving on list price usually covers a RAM upgrade.
You will save more money from the refurb store (or a 10% off sale for most models) if all you want is a base configuration though.
Would it work for iPhone to?
Aren't these technically better than 10% off? The mac mini is 20% off list price and the mbps are 12% off
AOC is yeah, I was thinking Ed store.
Damn. Just bought a MacBook Pro M1… It is in the mail right now ..
You could probably return it if you're keen on the M2 model. Should be a 14 day window.
Oh, right! Probably will do that then. Thank you :)
With Apple Store you can cancel and refund within 14 days with zero penalty.
Thought I’d look at trade in price for my Mac Mini M1… Apple happy to recycle it for me…
Good price on the M2 mini nonetheless, thanks OP
Yeah, coming up as $0. Based on the trade-in price check screens, Mac Studio could be in the same boat. There isn't an option for Macs it seems, just Macbooks.
Have been looking at Mac Studios for work (but thinking M2 minis would be fine too) will be interesting to see how they benchmark - maxed out mini is slightly cheaper than base model studio with similar enough specs
It's all about the GPU cores and ProRes. That's where M1 Max shines. CPU wise, M2 Pro should have slightly faster CPU performance (same number of performance cores - so faster, and 2 more efficiency cores) assuming you upgrade the M2 Pro to the high core count model.
Smart from Apple to release Apple Mac Mini with M2 Pro. Another product to entice people to buy.
Yea mini upgrade was well over due
We mostly use them for creative suite (eg illustrator, indesign, photoshop) so not sure we will really utilise them to full potential.
Some how the 2014 iMacs are only really just starting to show there age (i5 4690 with 24gb ram)It is difficult. M2 Pro Mac Mini is quite enticing, but if M3 Pro, which is going to be 3nm gets another performance leap like what happened to the 5nm, will we be wanting to upgrade again? Cannot keep on buying Apple toys regularly.
@netsurfer: haha yea im a bit of an upgrader at home - have an M1 with 8gb ram iv been hanging out to upgrade mostly because i need more ram
but at work id be surprised if we upgraded before 5 years. Id be pissed buying the studio though and that getting an m2 upgrade within months (but id guess thats a year away at least)will we be wanting to upgrade again? Cannot keep on buying Apple toys regularly.
Speaking as someone who is a recovering chronic upgrader, you only need to upgrade if you're dissatisfied with your current Mac's performance.
M2 mini pro velcroed to the back of a 4K monitor: a cheaper, high performance iMac.
yea thats basically the plan. Its a shame the 5k options are so expensive and still basically the same panel the imacs had (but updated of course)
@macmanluke: Apparently dell is about to release a 32 inch 6K display, that this will run at 60hz no problems, and Samsung is coming out with a 5K 32 inch display.
Might be interesting. And you could just velcro the Mac mini as you upgrade displays!
@macmanluke: I hope the Samsung Viewfinify S9 doesn't suck. Keen to replace my 27" imac with that + m2 pro mini if the price is right and it doesn't suck.
WHEN ARE THE 27 INCH IMACS GOING TO BE UPDATED.??!!!…. DAMMIT!!!
yea they seem dead :(
Looks like its gone forever TBH now that they filled in the space below the studio with a pro mini…
Oh wait so AOC is different from education store? I remember last year or 2021 they started checking id’s again. I guess the AOC is different?
Someone enlighten me about the differences :3
Edu store is for for students and staff, the AOC store is meant to be for members of the Australian Education Union, but Apple don’t check so you may as well save some money.
AOE = Apple on Campus, basically affiliate apple stores (physical or virtual) for campus presence. Usually have flat percentage based discounts instead of the sale/promotional discounts. All the major universities would have an AOC reference.
Is there meant to be a certain way to you buy it? People have said they call you. I’m getting a feeling this all won’t work.
Do you know if Jbhifi can price match the AOC store? Or is it only the standard education store
You can try, but given the prices are around 15-20% below retail they’re unlikely to match because it’ll be below cost.
You can try, but given the prices are around 15-20%
Where are you getting these figures from?
With AOC, the discount is ~ 12.4% for a 16" M2 Max MBP with 96GB RAM.
If you want 15% off RRP, you will need to make friends with an Apple employee.
Last time I was told, they couldn't use Apple Gift Cards for purchases under Friends & Families. It had to be paid using a credit card.
Just ordered Mac mini, no email check, apple id log in, done. Thank you all.
Very good price for the M2 Mac Mini. Ordered.
Just ordered Mac Mini M2 Pro, Thanks OP
Mac Mini M2 Pro seems to be better value than M1 Max Mac Studio?
I've got a M1 Max Studio with the 1tb SSD upgrade. Just specced up a M2 Pro Mini with the same specs and theres only $4 between them. Will be interesting to see how the M1 Max compares to the M2 Pro.
I have the same, it will be interesting but I think the Studio will still blow It away. Ports, better thermals and all those GPU cores :)
thanks