Apple 2020 Mac Mini M1 Chip (8GB

6 reviews for Apple 2020 Mac Mini M1 Chip (8GB

1. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   A. M (verified owner) – 2 December 2021

   Amazing computer for light computing needs – I have owned many Macs. I have two of these. One is used as a Plex/Homebridge server, the other is attached to a monitor on my desk and is great for light email, internet, zoom usage. I had a mac mini from 2013 and it was slow and painful to use. This thing zips right along, as long as you aren’t trying to play games, do video editing or anything else that needs serious computing power. Great family computer. It also works really well as a plex server. Love it.

2. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   K. Z (verified owner) – 10 December 2021

   Update: to previous Really mixed issues – Update: The lower review was for a M1 mini 8gb/256 that ended up with a port problem that was causing issues. Amazon took it back and I ordered this 8gb/512 to replace it. First Apple product in 48 years that I have ever returned and that includes 42 Macs. This one still has the built in limit of 1 monitor per interface… USB and HDMI but I’m only using one on it right now anyway. It will now boot on a Thunderbolt drive where+as the returned unit would not. The ultra high security precautions that Apple has made on the newer machines is somewhat frustrating as frequent code words, passwords and security checks are very common and often interferes with my work flow but that is a little like complaining about having to fasten seat belts. Photo work, especially with M1 ready apps is really a breeze. App launch times and renders are much faster than my 5K 27″ 32 GB/2TB SSD iMac and I find myself moving to this Mac Mini more and more even with the smaller single monitor. So… it went from three stars to a 5 star machine and I almost never give 5 stars to anything.

3. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   A. M (verified owner) – 13 February 2022

   Amazing computer for light computing needs – I have owned many Macs. I have two of these. One is used as a Plex/Homebridge server, the other is attached to a monitor on my desk and is great for light email, internet, zoom usage. I had a mac mini from 2013 and it was slow and painful to use. This thing zips right along, as long as you aren’t trying to play games, do video editing or anything else that needs serious computing power. Great family computer. It also works really well as a plex server. Love it.

4. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   K. O (verified owner) – 21 May 2022

   This is the most powerful little Mac mini ever. The M1 chip with 8GB of RAM never drags down. – I love everything about my M1 Mac mini. I got it only a week after it had launched for 749.99 on sale here on Amazon. I love that it is machined out of a solid block of recycled aluminum now, and all the tin used in the solder on the logic board is also recycled. The 8 core GPU is surprisingly powerful, blowing the best integrated graphics on a chip that intel sells out of the water by multiple times its power. you can actually play games with it. on the 24 inch iMac the base model only has the 7 core GPU M1 chip just like with the M1 MacBook Air. The M1 Mac mini is the Mac that the M1 puts out the most power on because the overkill power supply and overkill cooling system. it can maintain running at 100 percent load indefinitely. To get rid of the 256GB storage limitation I got a 1TB Samsung T5 external USB-C SSD. They are the best. I put all my programs on it except a.few things. of course its not near as fast as the internal SSD but it is very fast. The most thing I love about macOS is if you have new hardware, all you have to do is plug it in and macOS does the rest installing drivers and necessarysoftware on its own in seconds so you never have bloatware software for plug-in peripherals. I have always had Mac mini’s so I already had the old wired Apple aluminum keyboard with numerical pad, which still types like a dream. and I have the original Magic Mouse that is Bluetooth only takes batteries instead of having to charge it like the Get 2 ones they sell now. I plug my LG DVDWriter in that is so slim I just set it to the right of the Mac mini itself. but then is my favorite, My 27″ curved Samsung Full HD monitor. macOS was able to download an apple calibrated color calibration made for my exact monitor that is Mac’s color calibration that they do so it looks like a Mac screen. That’s what I love about the M1 Mac mini, it’s the only Mac that the average person can buy that you pick your monitor, keyboard, mouse, plus you can add accessories, it connected to my Canon printer that’s just my network printer downloading full drivers that even show my ink levels. But they don’t add any programs you have to go to printers under settings and select my printer to see information, it integrates it all in the OS. M1 Mac mini is very powerful, uses as a whole desktop less than what a PC desktops processor would use. the M1 is an SoC, every computer component is on the M1 chip itself including the Unified RAM because of it’s unified memory architecture. it also has a total of 16MB of L2 Cache, 4MB for the 4 power saving CPU cores. 12MB for the 4 high performance CPU cores. For some reason GeekBench only picks up the 4MB for the 4 power saving CPU’s, you think if it was showing how much for type of CPU cores it would be showing the 12MB for the high performance CPU cores. I’ve owned mine just about a year and have updated to macOS Montery, love it, had some trouble on first update so had to reinstall it from the boot menu, the second time it didn’t malfunction and installed properly and runs like a dream, its even faster than Big Sur because they made even further optimizations for the M series of Apple silicon for Mac’s. Intel Mac’s will not be supported long just like PowerPC Mac’s were barely supported when they went Intel. DO NOT get an Intel based Mac at this point. That will be throwing away money. They are making the next Mac mini to have the M1X chip be smaller, and more stylish, it will be the most powerful Mac. I’m happy with mine though I don’t even use all the power this has, I’m a photographer and this has plenty of power for my photo editing. All in all with the price drop I would definitely take advantage of this and pick one up. If your a windows person, you do need a keyboard made for Macs, does’t have to be an apple brand, but they are the best typing keyboard made. I would also highly recommend the Magic Mouse, the top of it is one piece of glass that acts like a trackpad to do gestures on it makes interacting with the computer incredible, you still move around the mouse to move the cursor and it clicks, click something with your pointer finger its a normal click, lifts all fingers off and click with your middle finger and it will do a right click. The best part is getting to choose your monitor, it just has to have an HDMI connection and hopefully comes with the cable, another fun part is choosing speakers, I got a 50 dollar set of stereo speakers and they sound incredible so you don’t have to pay a lot. My DVD Writer was 24.99. What saved me a lot is since I’ve always used the mini I already had the apple keyboard and Magic Mouse. My Monitor was 130 because its only FullHD but it’s picture is incredible. then the 50 for the speakers, and 749.99 plus tax for my M1 Mac mini. I will be using this Mac for many years to come, and I’m sure many of you will too.

5. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   K. O (verified owner) – 4 June 2022

   This is the most powerful little Mac mini ever. The M1 chip with 8GB of RAM never drags down. – I love everything about my M1 Mac mini. I got it only a week after it had launched for 749.99 on sale here on Amazon. I love that it is machined out of a solid block of recycled aluminum now, and all the tin used in the solder on the logic board is also recycled. The 8 core GPU is surprisingly powerful, blowing the best integrated graphics on a chip that intel sells out of the water by multiple times its power. you can actually play games with it. on the 24 inch iMac the base model only has the 7 core GPU M1 chip just like with the M1 MacBook Air. The M1 Mac mini is the Mac that the M1 puts out the most power on because the overkill power supply and overkill cooling system. it can maintain running at 100 percent load indefinitely. To get rid of the 256GB storage limitation I got a 1TB Samsung T5 external USB-C SSD. They are the best. I put all my programs on it except a.few things. of course its not near as fast as the internal SSD but it is very fast. The most thing I love about macOS is if you have new hardware, all you have to do is plug it in and macOS does the rest installing drivers and necessarysoftware on its own in seconds so you never have bloatware software for plug-in peripherals. I have always had Mac mini’s so I already had the old wired Apple aluminum keyboard with numerical pad, which still types like a dream. and I have the original Magic Mouse that is Bluetooth only takes batteries instead of having to charge it like the Get 2 ones they sell now. I plug my LG DVDWriter in that is so slim I just set it to the right of the Mac mini itself. but then is my favorite, My 27″ curved Samsung Full HD monitor. macOS was able to download an apple calibrated color calibration made for my exact monitor that is Mac’s color calibration that they do so it looks like a Mac screen. That’s what I love about the M1 Mac mini, it’s the only Mac that the average person can buy that you pick your monitor, keyboard, mouse, plus you can add accessories, it connected to my Canon printer that’s just my network printer downloading full drivers that even show my ink levels. But they don’t add any programs you have to go to printers under settings and select my printer to see information, it integrates it all in the OS. M1 Mac mini is very powerful, uses as a whole desktop less than what a PC desktops processor would use. the M1 is an SoC, every computer component is on the M1 chip itself including the Unified RAM because of it’s unified memory architecture. it also has a total of 16MB of L2 Cache, 4MB for the 4 power saving CPU cores. 12MB for the 4 high performance CPU cores. For some reason GeekBench only picks up the 4MB for the 4 power saving CPU’s, you think if it was showing how much for type of CPU cores it would be showing the 12MB for the high performance CPU cores. I’ve owned mine just about a year and have updated to macOS Montery, love it, had some trouble on first update so had to reinstall it from the boot menu, the second time it didn’t malfunction and installed properly and runs like a dream, its even faster than Big Sur because they made even further optimizations for the M series of Apple silicon for Mac’s. Intel Mac’s will not be supported long just like PowerPC Mac’s were barely supported when they went Intel. DO NOT get an Intel based Mac at this point. That will be throwing away money. They are making the next Mac mini to have the M1X chip be smaller, and more stylish, it will be the most powerful Mac. I’m happy with mine though I don’t even use all the power this has, I’m a photographer and this has plenty of power for my photo editing. All in all with the price drop I would definitely take advantage of this and pick one up. If your a windows person, you do need a keyboard made for Macs, does’t have to be an apple brand, but they are the best typing keyboard made. I would also highly recommend the Magic Mouse, the top of it is one piece of glass that acts like a trackpad to do gestures on it makes interacting with the computer incredible, you still move around the mouse to move the cursor and it clicks, click something with your pointer finger its a normal click, lifts all fingers off and click with your middle finger and it will do a right click. The best part is getting to choose your monitor, it just has to have an HDMI connection and hopefully comes with the cable, another fun part is choosing speakers, I got a 50 dollar set of stereo speakers and they sound incredible so you don’t have to pay a lot. My DVD Writer was 24.99. What saved me a lot is since I’ve always used the mini I already had the apple keyboard and Magic Mouse. My Monitor was 130 because its only FullHD but it’s picture is incredible. then the 50 for the speakers, and 749.99 plus tax for my M1 Mac mini. I will be using this Mac for many years to come, and I’m sure many of you will too.

6. 

   Rated 5 out of 5

   K. Z (verified owner) – 23 December 2022

   Update: to previous Really mixed issues – Update: The lower review was for a M1 mini 8gb/256 that ended up with a port problem that was causing issues. Amazon took it back and I ordered this 8gb/512 to replace it. First Apple product in 48 years that I have ever returned and that includes 42 Macs. This one still has the built in limit of 1 monitor per interface… USB and HDMI but I’m only using one on it right now anyway. It will now boot on a Thunderbolt drive where+as the returned unit would not. The ultra high security precautions that Apple has made on the newer machines is somewhat frustrating as frequent code words, passwords and security checks are very common and often interferes with my work flow but that is a little like complaining about having to fasten seat belts. Photo work, especially with M1 ready apps is really a breeze. App launch times and renders are much faster than my 5K 27″ 32 GB/2TB SSD iMac and I find myself moving to this Mac Mini more and more even with the smaller single monitor. So… it went from three stars to a 5 star machine and I almost never give 5 stars to anything.