Mac Mini M2 and macOS Sequoia

[Saul]

As some of you will know, I have recently been looking at getting a Mac Mini M2. I do run an AMD Ryzen Hackintosh but ever since Apple moved away from using Intel silicon to their own ARM based M series processors the writing has been on the wall for Hackintosh.

Not that Hackintosh builds won't work of course and I know that many have already successfully installed macOS Sonoma but, it is becoming increasingly difficult and now more than ever before, some things such as wifi and Bluetooth just don't work. Or not without a lot of faffing around.

Given the relatively low price of the entry-level Mac Mini, it seemed a no-brainer to finally make the move to Apple hardware. This not only provides for a path to future OS updates but also saves me a lot of time trying to get the next build of macOS working on my AMD machine.

So I now have a Mac Mini M2 base model. 265GB storage and 8GB memory. Now this may seem like a very small amount of storage and memory given we are heading into the tail end of 2024 but, the way that Apple's unified memory works means that you hardly ever notice the lack of RAM and main storage is taken care of by an external 1TB drive connected over thunderbolt. It is faster than the internal drive with real-world read/write speeds above 2700gpbs. This is important because when the Mac runs out of RAM it starts using a swap-drive. In effect the drive acts as temporary RAM. Still slower than internal RAM but in real-world use you simply do not notice.

The bottom line is I now have a super fast M2-based Mac at a bargain price of £500 which includes a Mac extended keyboard with fingerprint scanner built in and a new Mac Mouse V2.

I initially installed Senoma, which is the current release build of macOS but of course, I couldn't resist the temptation to install the macOS Sequoia beta And this is what I am using at the moment.

The main question then is how does music software fare on this pre-release build of the latest macOS? Everything I have tested so far works fine. At least music apps like IK Multimedia T-Racks 5 V2, Mainstage, and GarageBand.

Cubase 13 Pro runs natively on Apple silicon but supports only VST 3 plugins. VST 2 is only available under Rosetta Mode. Apart from that it works fine.

I haven't tested Logic yet. That is usually the one that has issues with new macOS versions.

What I have concluded so far is that the base version Mac Mini M2 absolutely flies! It is incredibly fast and also completely silent. I have not heard the fan kick in at all. So at the moment at least, I think I definitely made the right move.

[sonic2000gr]

What I have concluded so far is that the base version Mac Mini M2 absolutely flies! It is incredibly fast and also completely silent. I have not heard the fan kick in at all. So at the moment at least, I think I definitely made the right move.

I have the Mini M2 8GB/512G disk.
I turn the Montage first, then the Mini. The mini boots up before the Montage. So in less than 17 seconds.
I only got the larger disk as it is actually (for this version of mini) a lot faster than the 256. Otherwise I don't mind about the storage as I have a network server.
Cubase runs absolutely fine on it. Montage Connect (for the classic Montage that I have) and MODX Connect only work under Rosetta. I do get some warnings from the OS that these plugins will soon no longer work. I doubt Yamaha will release newer versions unfortunately.
Roland cloud works fine, and Korg software instruments (Wavestate, Opsix) work fine too.
Focusrite also works, but I mostly leave this to the PC, Montage acts as the audio interface for the Mini.
In a pinch, you can throw it in a backpack with a small midi controller and you have a synth on the go. No audio interface needed, as the built in audio out will work just fine with VSTs. A big plus that ASIO drivers are only a Windows thing.
I imagine people with Montage M can have their portable M for very little money with a mini and the free ESP. I am very pleased to have it on my table with the Montage as it totally disappears, is unobtrusive and completely silent.

[Saul]

The Mac Mini M2 makes for a great music computer and like you say, it is small enough to stick in a backpack and take with you for a bit of mobile music making, although of course, you would need mains power, monitor and keyboard so perhaps not quite mobile in the sense that a laptop would be.

I have thrown everything at this little powerhouse of a machine and it has handled all of it without the slightest hint of slowdown or any other issue. Also, bear in mind I am running a beta of macOS.

Plenty of people seem to agree.

[Saul]

Logic Pro works fine by the way. It's unusual as there are often problems with it and new versions of macOS.

So at the moment, I have yet to find anything that I use regularly which does not work under Sequoia