Where to buy the Mac mini M2 for cheap and at the best price?

About two years after the first Apple silicon Mac mini, now a new version is available. The Mac mini M2 sports the same design, but it is faster and above all inexpensive compared to its predecessor. Its best price is thus down a hundred euros, but you still have to know where to buy the beast: stocks are limited. This is partly explained by the price positioning, but also because of delivery times.

The Mac mini M2, however, remains one of the best CPUs on the market in 2023. In this guide, we show you where to buy its different versions, which are personalized according to storage capacity, the amount of RAM and the speed of the connection. Let’s go !

To go further, we propose below to go back in detail to the technical data sheet of the Mac mini 2023. If the software is the same as on the MacBook Pros announced at the same time, the components are very different.

The technical characteristics of the Mac mini M2

Power of the M2 and M2 Pro chips

When you buy the Mac mini M2, Apple gives you the choice between two types of chips. The first is that which allows the computer to be inexpensive: it is the most affordable. We are of course talking here about the classic M2 chip, which can also be found under the hood of MacBook Air and MacBook Pro M2. This is powerful enough for light photo editing and allows you to run low-power games such as Apple Arcade. Its better price is explained by the presence of a lower number of cores, whether for the GPU or for the CPU. The Neural Engine is however the same as on the M2 Pro chip.

The M2 Pro chip is more expensive, but can reach twelve cores for the CPU and nineteen cores for the graphics card. Its maximum configuration reaches two hundred gigabytes of memory bandwidth. Here, the graphics performance is much better than for the classic Mac mini M2. If you need to watch several videos at the same time or you have to perform fairly heavy calculations, it is better to opt for this version. Be aware, however, that the energy consumption will be a little more important, but macOS manages the difference in expenditure very well.

Memory and internal storage

It is currently not possible to change the amount of RAM and internal storage space after purchasing your Mac mini. This concerns not only the Mac mini M2 but also the Mac mini M2 Pro. Regardless of the edition, you can opt for either 16 GB of RAM or 32 GB. The more RAM you add, the faster your 2023 Mac mini will be. The capacity of the RAM also influences the possibility of using a large number of apps simultaneously.

With internal storage, it’s a bit different. Again, the options are multiple but change depending on the Mac mini 2023 model chosen. For the cheap, simple M2 Mac mini, it will be either 256 GB, or 512 GB, or 1 TB, or 2 TB. No more. On the other hand, with a Mac mini M2 Pro, you can also opt for 4 TB or 8 TB but the 256 GB option is not available. Each capacity is provided on an SSD, a type of hard drive that can launch apps faster than HDDs. On the other hand, it is clearly not the kind of technology at the best price: count +230 euros for the 512 GB option on Mac mini M2 or + 460 euros for the 1 TB SSD.

Connect the screen you want

Australia Beyond your Mac mini M2, after ordering it, you will also need to find out where to buy an associated monitor. Indeed, Apple does not provide the screen with this central unit. Luckily, the manufacturer has thought of everything and integrated a whole bunch of plugs to plug in the associated hardware on the back. The M2 version of the Mac mini 2023 therefore comes with two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, while the version with M2 Pro chip comes with four of those same ports. Better price therefore means less possibilities, here.

Also note that the Mac mini 2023 M2, if it is not expensive, does not embed a Gigabit Ethernet socket natively either. This is available as an option for 115 euros more on your final invoice. Ditto for the Mac mini 2023 with M2 Pro chip. With this, Apple has also included an HDMI port on the back of the Mac mini, to plug in the panel of your choice. This connection supports 4K resolution with a frequency of sixty frames per second.

macOS at its best

Each Mac mini comes standard with its operating system license. No need to find where to buy any installation discs, therefore. Moreover, macOS Ventura is not offered elsewhere than at Apple. This program includes many of the apps you’re probably already familiar with if you have an iPhone or iPad at home. This is for example the case of Photos, which synchronizes all your photos on iCloud to find them everywhere with you. We can also mention Mail, a completely free messaging app. Even the cheap alternatives don’t measure up, therefore.

macOS Ventura on Mac mini M2 is also the GarageBand software to produce music without the need to identify the best price of Fruity Loops or Abletone. So certainly, the features are not as advanced, but it is more than enough to start. Finally, know that macOS Ventura on Mac mini 2023 also has many advantages on the privacy side. Your data is often end-to-end encrypted and you are alerted when a publisher tries to install an app whose integrity has not been verified by Apple.

Where to buy the cheap Mac mini 2023?

Finally, remember that the Mac mini M2 at the best price is sold for €699.00. Below, find our usual comparative table to find the cheap device in France: