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

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

The new M1 powered Mac Mini is a breath of fresh air if you've ever owned a Mac mini before. If you are moving over from a Windows machine the power and smoothness of everything might surprise you. It is fast and responsive, totally quiet and runs very coolly. Apple have gone back to the silver aluminium colour after the previous generation's Space Grey making it less of a dark brick on your desk and consequently less noticeable. In the box you get the Mac Mini, a power lead and a small Getting Started type of leaflet and that's it. When you've connected it up to your monitor, keyboard and mouse the set-up process is the same as any previous macOS version. Worth noting - it is probably easier to go through initial set-up using a wired USB keyboard. A genuine Apple bluetooth wireless keyboard might be picked-up straight away but some people have reported this doesn't always go smoothly, especially if the keyboard has been used on a different machine previously. Once you are up and running though, there are no further issues. In use everything you could do previously is now faster, smoother and an all round more pleasant experience. There aren't too many third-party Universal applications yet - the type that run on both Intel and M1 CPUs - so on the first run of an Intel app macOS goes online to download the Rosetta 2 translation layer which allows Intel-only apps to be used seamlessly. I found no problems running all my older applications with it. Of course the Mac Mini M1 and Big Sur comes with all the usual free Apple applications the company is famous for and they've been updated for the new look and feel of the operating system. There's a bonus too. If you have an iPhone or iPad and have bought apps from the iOS App Store, then many of these will also run on the new M1 architecture. I tried this with a few from my own iOS purchases (there's a new tab in the App Store Purchased section which lists yours) and had a roughly 50/50 success rate. The apps you download appear in your Applications folder and if they are going to work, pop-up in their own window just like a macOS app. If they aren't going to work the icon just bounces in the dock and you get an error message. All in all the new Mac Mini is a superb little machine, far more powerful than its diminutive size would indicate. If you check the specifications you will be surprised by the monitor size and resolution it can accommodate. Truly into another league.