Meet My New Mac Mini

Bought a new Mac! However, after owning two iMacs previously (2009-17, then 2017-present), I decided to get a Mac mini. The mini is considered Apple’s affordable “entry level” Mac so I’d never considered one before. But after researching and seeing great reviews for it—especially now that it sports Apple’s new M2 chip—I learned that the machine is plenty robust, and figured out that I could buy more computer for less money, despite the additional expense of a monitor since the mini doesn’t come with either a monitor or a keyboard. Indeed, with the upgraded configuration of 16G RAM (I formerly had only 8G) and a 1TB hard drive, the entire system cost nearly $700 less than an iMac with identical specs!

Fortunately, for once, I planned ahead. After I purchased the Mac mini online and waited for confirmation that it was ready for pickup at my local Apple Store, I researched and purchased a monitor (a 27” ASUS ProArt Display) and an appropriate HDMI adapter to connect it to the mini. (BTW, Apple’s recommended standalone 4k Apple display monitor is $1599. So, yeah, no. The Asus monitor was listed on several lists as a sweet spot between quality and affordability, below $300.)

The main reason I wanted to upgrade was because my iMac’s operating system (OS) was way out of date, dating to 2019—but if I upgraded the old machine, many of the programs on it would no longer work and I would lose access to my data. Some apps had already stopped updating due to my out of date OS. Knowing this day was coming, I spent the past year preparing for this migration, intermittently looking for replacement applications, which I fortunately achieved for the most part. I’ve written about this elsewhere but, in short, I weaned myself away from Adobe’s Creative Suite by moving to ClipStudio Paint and the robust Adobe knockoffs from Affinity—Photo, Designer and Publisher (my last comic book issue was completed using this new software). As part of this effort, in 2021 I also migrated my website from html/css format (created on Adobe Dreamweaver) to WordPress!

I’m glad to report that the migration went relatively smoothly, using the Macs’ built-in Migration Assistant. I initially connected them via wifi, but learned that method could be very slow (some people reported it taking as long as 20–30 hours!). Connecting them via lightning cable didn’t seem to take, but I ultimately connected them with an Ethernet cable. Took about 6 hours, which I let run overnight.

When I returned to the machines in the morning, the new computer was up and running, with the same settings and customizations as my old computer. There were a few hiccups early on, but otherwise, I spent the morning checking functionality and updating some apps and drivers. My main concern was ensuring that my 11x17 scanner, purchased in 2009, still worked, as well as a few obscure apps I use to track sales and inventory—and they all did, the scanner thanks to an updated driver. At present, my graphics tablet doesn’t seem to be working properly and an updated driver doesn’t seem to be available, but that will be relatively easy to replace if necessary.

Since Macs have become generally chintzy in their number of USB ports (the mini comes with just 2), I was glad that my existing USB hub that connected peripherals like external backup drives and the scanner re-connected seamlessly to the new system. I should note that the new monitor provides an additional 4 built-in USB ports too! Best of all, the computer is amazingly fast—even in downloading files and connecting to the web. It’s clear that my old iMac had slowed down and become bottlenecked, so this upgrade was overdue and timely!