Deals: Get Apple's M1 Mac Mini for Record Low Price of $569.99 ($129 Off)

This is really a killer machine for the price. I had a base M1 MBA that was unbelievable how good it was for app development, graphic design and 4k video editing. I upgraded to a base 14" MBP for the XDR Display for Her video grading but honestly the MBA was still la great performer. I also wanted the base 16 GB of ram vs the MBA base which had 8 GB.

With that said after using the 8 GB MBA for a year I can honestly say the ram was rarely ever an issue. Many reviewers will say the same thing. The M1 can do a lot with 8 GB of ram and the super fast storage makes the swap file act like a secondary source of ram without much noticeable slow down.

If one is a content creator on a daily basis 16 GB might be nice to have but I wouldn't really call it a must. Casual YouTube video editing is perfectly fine on the MBA or Mac mini. The M1 is really a stunning chip. More than enough for 95% of users out there. 8GB is also more than enough for most users out there.

I still have a MBA with 16 GB my work provides and honestly it doesn't feel all that much different than my 8GB model. I develop cross platform mobile apps for work and having a ton of development tools and applications open does eat into the ram pretty quickly. I did the same type of work on my 8 GB MBA as well without any issues at all. So really I have mixed feelings on the subject of 16 GB. I'm not entirely sure its really needed.

One last thing. After a year of heavy swap file usage on my MBA 8GB the usage cycles for the life of the drive was between 1% and 2%. There is zero concern about wearing out the flash storage with heavy swap file usage. Many reviewers are finding the same thing and recommend lower ram amounts to save money or use towards storage instead. The larger the storage the faster it will be making the swap file even faster.

For those on a budget I highly recommend the base Mac mini. This sale price makes the point of entry very affordable for what you get. A desktop PC for $570 would likely be a turd compared to this.

Wow, I was looking at getting one of these used for around $500-550 on eBay. $570+tax for new is an easy decision for me.

BTW, I'm still rocking a mac mini from 2011 that is dire need of being replaced. It did a good job of serving me for over a decade.

The 8GB RAM version of this machine is a total non-starter for me. Where are the deals on the 16GB version?

Even at 1.5 years old, the M1 is an amazing device for the price. This deal just makes it even more worth it.

How much storage is left on the 256 gb model after the operating system?

A standard OS along with the default included apps takes about 20GB total, so you should have around 230GB left.

If no one buys this maybe they will stop making 8GB base models.