Mac Mini M1 OR Studio?

Carl Shank • January 13, 2023

Through the modern years, Mac Mini's have kept their shape and design — with a width and depth of 7.7 inches and 1.4 inch height. The newest Mini M1 weighs 2.6 pounds and fits nicely beside my desktop monitor.

The new Mac Studio has either the M1 Max chip or the M1 Ultra chip driving the computing power. The M1 Max chip is a 10-core CPU with 8 performance cores and 2 efficiency cores, with a 24-core GPU and 16-core Neural engine. The M1 Ultra chip has a 20-core CPU, a 48-core GPU and a 32-core Neural engine. What all of this means is that this beast is FAST — especially at video rendering and production.

Mac Studio typical speed test.

With the Apple release of the new Mac Studio in 2022, users who have relied on Mac Mini's on their desktop are left with the question of which one to use for them. Both machines use the newer M1 chip in their architecture, giving a notable speed boost to everything from ordinary computer use to layout and design with Adobe products. I have used numerous Mac Mini's through the years, from the humble 2005 PowerPC model through the Intel models in the mid-2000s all the way to the latest Mac mini M1 released in 2020.

The back of the Mini M1 has two Thunderbolt/USB 4 ports. with two USB-A ports, a HDMI port and a Gigabit Ethernet port (configurable to 10Gb Ethernet). A 3.5 mm headphone jack is included. Of course, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are built in, along with a built-in speaker. This Mac can support up to two displays, one with up to 6K resolution and another with up to 4K resolution. This is a powerful machine for its size and stature!

Although it's height is bigger than a Mini (3.7 inches), it is still 7.7 inches by 7.7 inches in width and depth. The biggest seen difference here is in the multitude of ports on the back and front of the Studio. There are four Thunderbolt 4 ports (up to 40 Gb/s), a Display port, two USB-A ports (or USB 4 and USB 3.1) a HDMI port, a 10 Gb Ethernet port and a 3.5 headphone jack port. The front of the M1 Max Studio has two USB-C ports and a SDXC card slot. What the Mini M1 lacks in ports, often needing external help in getting extra ports, the Mac Studio has them all built-in.

Mac Mini M1 typical speed test.

The Mac Studio outpaces the Mac Mini M1, as it should. Of course, others have done more extensive speed tests (find them on YouTube). The speed differential in normal computer work is not that great.


The Mac Mini M1 is a lot cheaper ($699 to $899 retail) than the Mac Studio ($1,999 to $3,999 retail) and its power is quite adequate for most normal computer tasks. The Mac Studio is a pro-sumer computer, less than a professional Mac Pro computer ($5,999 to $6,499 retail), an in-between computer for those wanting multiple displays and faster video editing capabilities or a multitude of high memory use programs simultaneously open. The 8 Gb or even 16 Gb memory option for the Mac Mini pushes the limits of memory use for memory-hogging programs. Notably, a super fitted Mac Mini computer costs about the same as a base line Mac Studio.


Which of these two smaller fitting desktop computers should you buy? It all depends on your use of them and the programming you use on them. I like the faster Mac Studio with its built-in 32 – 64 Gb memory options contrasted to the 8 – 16 Gb memory options on the Mini M1. I also like the multiple ports on the Mac Studio, if you can afford it.

Successful Layout & Design

Typeface Characteristics: Which Type Where?

By Carl Shank • September 9, 2026
Typeface characteristics are the visual and structural features that distinguish one typeface from another. They determine a typeface’s historical appearance, readability, personality, and appropriate use. Useful Ways to Analyze Any Typeface. When examining an unfamiliar typeface, ask these questions in order (provided by ChatGPT) — Does it have serifs? What kind of serifs? How much thick/thin contrast is present? What is the stress angle? What is the x-height? How wide or narrow are the letters? How are the counters constructed? What do the terminals look like? What are distinctive letters such as a, g, e, R, and Q doing? How does the typeface behave in a paragraph—open, dark, dense, airy, mechanical, or calligraphic? What historical or technological process does its construction suggest? What personality does the combination of these characteristics produce? There are a number of online sources to help identify typefaces ( See Feb. 6, 2022 Blog for more explanation and use.) Sources include — MyFonts ( www.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont ), FontSquirrel ( www.fontsquirrel.com/matcherator ) WhtFontIs ( www.whatfontis.com ) Identifont ( www.identifont.com ) is one of the best. Here are the questions it will ask you — Does it have feet (serifs) or not (sans-serifs)? What style is the tail on uppercase Q? What style is the ampersand (the &)? Is the numeral “4” open or closed? What style of vertical line does the Dollar sign ($) have? How high is the center vertex of the uppercase M? Sit on the line or not? What type of bar does the uppercase G have? How far below the baseline does the uppercase J extend? What about the uppercase R? How far does the center bar extend? Is there a gap with the vertical part of the letter? Does it meet or cross the vertical? What about the question mark (?) What shape is the dot at the bottom? Is it circular, square, triangular, rectangular or even missing? The important point is that a typeface should not be identified by a single characteristic. Its identity comes from the interaction of serifs, contrast, stress, proportions, counters, terminals, spacing, and letterform construction.

More on Variable Fonts (2)

By Carl Shank • September 5, 2026
Google’s variable font selection includes IBM Plex Sans, Inter, Newsreader, Open Sans, Playfair Display, Express Fraunces and Roboto. FF Meta Variable is now a licensed font from Monotype (myFonts.com). Formata Variable is a demonstration only font from CARE Typography. We consider two Google Variable typefaces here — Playfair Display and Express Fraunces. Playfair Display Playfair Display is a high-contrast transitional/display serif typeface designed by Claus Eggers Sørensen and released through Google Fonts in 2011. It was designed primarily for large display sizes, especially headlines, titles, and editorial typography. Its appearance draws inspiration from the late eighteenth-century transition from traditional broad-nib writing toward pointed steel pens, as well as from the elegant typefaces associated with the European Enlightenment and neoclassical period. Playfair Display is a contemporary high-contrast serif designed primarily for display typography. Its visual ancestry lies in the 18th-century transitional period, particularly the movement from broad-nib calligraphic forms toward the sharper, more vertical forms that ultimately produced Didot and Bodoni.
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