Macbooks Vs MacMini
Not another Mac review? Yes BUT…
I have no intentions to be a reviewer of bleeding edge tech, I’ll leave that to my favourite reviewers of Mark Ellis , Luke Miani and Gary of Everyday Dad fame. This post is a bit of a rambling of my thoughts on the M1 series of MacBook Air, Pro 14 and MacMini. Yes, older tech Mac tech! So this post is perhaps more aimed that those looking to purchase an older, cheaper mac device.
A am very fortunate to have access to a fleet of Mac devices. A MBA which I own, a MacMini that I use for my own business The Loose Goat, and a MB Pro 14 which is owned by the company I work for that specialises in GIS.
MacBook Air M1 (256GB)
Excluding the iPad and iPhone, this was my first serious Apple purchase. The MBA marked my push to move from Windows to Mac, and while not the point of the post, a move that I have never regretted. I don’t use the MBA for heavy things, but that said I do have a docker instance running Postgres/PostGIS, and have Canva, QGIS, Dbeaver and VS code installed, and a few Apple Acrade games. Perhaps on reflection I do have some processor heavy apps running, but in the same breath I never push the MBA it to its limits. Simply because I don’t need to. When using these Apps, specifically the GIS and database ones, I do little bits of RnD or Dev work, so never need to push the device to do heavy task.
In terms of look and feel. I can’t faulter the battery life, the screen or sound. The keyboard makes that satisfying Mac keyboard sound, and with the aid of a usb to usb-c converter I can connect all my peripherals. My only criticism, and it is only minor one, is that I wouldn’t go as far as saying it was a lightest of device, I’ve had lighter Windows laptops, such as the Zenbook by Asus and even Chromebooks.
It’s definitely not for gaming, beyond Apple Arcade games. I’ve had the Epic games launcher and Steam installed on the MBA once, and while I found the odd game I liked on Steam, which ran ok, the Epic games store had limited MacOS games and the ones I did install didnt run. I tired to get Fortnite installed but even before it was uncompressed it took over 100GB of storage. The gaming experinece was me trying to see if I could get my son off Windows for gaming and onto the Mac, but this failed.
By having multiple accounts on the MBA, my son ‘borrows’ it for secondary school work on a regular basis, preferring it to his Windows desktop to do school work on.
If you are looking to purchase a used MBA M1, then having just looked on ebay you can pickup one for around £600 or on the Apple refurb store for aroind £850. I can’t fault the MBA, and while still a little pricy for a second-hand device, it will serve you well for years. The MBA just purrs along doing its thing, never getting stressed or narky with what I’ve asked it to do — unlike Windows!
MacBook Pro 14 (1TB)
It’s heavy and there is no comeback from that! Beyond this it knocks the spots of my MBA. It’s faster than the MBA and noticibly so, probally due to the M1 Pro chip. I can push it to do lots of GIS and database things without stressing it out. Again I have docker installed but with two postgres instance running, and along with Canva, Inkscape, QGIS, Dbeaver and VS code I have key Microsoft apps installed, as well as using Homebrew to install node, GDAL and Powershell. Much more a workhorse than my MBA.
One noticible difference between the MBP and MBA, was that the Pro was purchased as an Apple refurb! It was spotless when I got it, not scratched , no dinks (I like that word) or anything that would indicate that it had once had a previous owner. Look and feel, no really difference in sound, keyboard and screen, all virtually identical.
Would I recommend the Pro over the MBA? Yes if you think you’ll be doing heaver processing jobs and you can afford it. Having just looked at the Apple refurbs, you can pickup the lowest spec 14 Pro M2 for £1800, or an M1 on Amzaon for around £1600. Still rather pricy for a second hand device, but it’ll last you a while and be a good workhorse.
MacMini
It is harder to compare a MacMini to either the MBA or MBP espcially on look and feel, given that you dont pick the MacMini up, non does it have a screen or a keyboard! The sound quality is great but to achieve this you need to plug it into either headphones or external speakers with subwoofer, and I’ve only got a cheap sound system (Argos job!) and don’t have any complaints. Sadly there isn’t much to fall in love with on the MacMini, its just a shiney silver box that sits on the desk.
I got my MacMini boosted to 16GB RAM, so it is nice and fast. While i’ve not done any benchmarking, cos I can’t be bothered and its not my thing, I think its faster than the MBP. I have had some issues with QGIS which I can’t replicate on the MBA or MBP, which is a bit disappointing but not a show stopper. Otherwise, with the exception of Microsoft Apps I run all the same apps on the MacMini as I do on the MBP, and probably push it to the same extent.
Having looked on eBay I struggled to find a MacMini M1, but having looked on Amazon I found an 8GB version for around £550. Obviously you’ll need a keyboard, mouse and monitor on top of this cost to get up and running! If you don’t mind picking it up to plug in additional peripherals then you will be fine, otherwise you’ll need to purchase a dock of some description!
Would I recommend the MacMini? After some thought I’m not sure that I would. If you’re looking for an older Mac device, the MacMini comes with additional costs to get it up and running which when added together over takes the cost of a second-hand or refurb MBA.
If I had the money I would ditch the MBA and MacMini, opting for the MBP 14, not 13 which I’ve played with in store and really don’t like! Where money was a barrier, then I would opt for the MBA, perhaps seeing if my budget would stretch to a M2 version.
