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Looking to buy a new Mac Mini M2 (maybe Pro)

picpicmac

picpicmac

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Aug 10, 2023
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Loco Sock said:
Anyway, if anyone has any experience with it, I'd love to hear about it.
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There are threads here about the LG Ultrafine 5K.

LG displays (the affordable ones anyway) seem to have a lot of bad reviews online. I don't know if that is because more people own LGs over say BenQ, or if LG just doesn't care to QC their lower cost displays as much as some other manufacturers.

So I am looking at BenQ and Dell monitors, though the latter appear to not play as well with Macs as LG and BenQ.

I am like you, pricing out a Mac Mini set up. I have decided to try the same Acasis box you referenced.

But for Time Machine: my current Time Machine HD (and it is the sole HD I still have) is running off of a FireWire (!) port. Does fine for my use, but the first Time Machine save has to save entire volumes so it can take overnight. The incremental backups are of course much, much smaller.

So I plan to go with a TM hanging off one of the regular USB ports on the Mini, probably through a USB hub. 5GB/s will be fine.
 
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Loco Sock

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May 17, 2010
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Well, I'm heavily debating the Mac Studio Display now... even if they had introduced a larger iMac, I don't think I will go "All-In-One" again.
 
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Loco Sock

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Well, I went ahead and ordered a setup, I went with a "Mid-Range" monitor in hopes that there is a Mac Studio Display with "ProMotion" in the next couple of years. So, to just get me by, I went with:

Apple Mac Mini M2 Pro 16GB/512GB
LG 27UN850-W UltraFine UHD 27"
Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID

and a couple of other little things, but that's the bulk of the setup. Dumped my 27" iMac for $430.
 
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mr_jomo

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Loco Sock said:
Well, I went ahead and ordered a setup, I went with a "Mid-Range" monitor in hopes that there is a Mac Studio Display with "ProMotion" in the next couple of years. So, to just get me by, I went with:

Apple Mac Mini M2 Pro 16GB/512GB
LG 27UN850-W UltraFine UHD 27"
Apple Magic Keyboard with Touch ID

and a couple of other little things, but that's the bulk of the setup. Dumped my 27" iMac for $430.
Click to expand...
Pretty sweet kit - and with the very minor M3 Pro bump over the M2, you're in the safe zone regarding "new release envy" the next couple of years 🤣
 
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Loco Sock

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picpicmac said:
Report back to us in how you like it.

That combo is on my shortlist.

Wonder why you went with the LG 27UN850 instead of the 27UP850?
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It's incredible, imho. Everything is very fast... the display is amazing. I'm not sure why I went with the UN instead of the UP. I have a LG display (27UD69P) from 2017 when I bought my iMac and it is still going strong. Its main role is being the display for my Xbox. I may return this and get the newer model, just because there is a newer model.

I'm running at 3200x1800 (which is very similar to the resolution I ran on my iMac) and it looks amazing. If someone had swapped this out for my iMac without me knowing, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

I didn't want to run Rosetta, but it looks like I'm going to need that to run the LG software. My only disappointment is that I can't control the volume of the speakers via the Mac... I need to use the LG menus, which haven't changed in years. I'm going to get some small external speakers/soundbar though, I listen to music probably 24/7. https://monitorcontrol.app gets the job done. (Did try HDMI to see if that would work, no go, back to USB-C)

Overall, would recommend... 10/10.
 
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Loco Sock

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Most likely going to get the Gigabyte M28U sometime this week.... and also getting the Logitech Z407 Speaker System, I like the fact that it has a USB connection (and bluetooth and aux) and a little puck to control things. Only problem was I had a Dell gift card and bought it from them, but it says delivery is going to be like, mid December!
 
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Loco Sock

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May 17, 2010
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Hmm.. to go with a 32GB/512GB Mini or a Mac Studio for $300 more?

I'm just freaking out a little. Never had a computer I couldn't upgrade the RAM on... all the way through my 30+ years with Apple.
 
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picpicmac

picpicmac

macrumors 65816
Aug 10, 2023
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Loco Sock said:
It's incredible, imho. Everything is very fast... the display is amazing.
Click to expand...
Thanks for reporting back.

LG has a very large number of 27" 4K models on their website. It's quite confusing to sort through them all. Sometimes there are slight changes year to year and that may get a letter change.
 
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Loco Sock

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Got the Gigabyte M28U today and it looks great. I'd say the display is as good looking as the LG at a minimum. And the refresh rate is crazy, still getting used to it.
 
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Loco Sock

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And a Stream Deck for the cherry on top... why more people don't have those, I don't know... fits all types of workflows/hobbies/general use.
 
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