In reply to a post by TinyMongomery:

Oh, right. Yes, you can obviously use an external enclosure, just like any other external drive. If it’s a SATA drive it will be slower than a USB C external drive, but fast enough for data.

But most external drives are SATA

No. Modern external SSDs are NVMe internally connecting to the computer via USB C or Thunderbolt. These provide read/wrie speeds far in excess of the maximum that SATA can produce. For example, a Samsung X5 Thunderbolt external SSD is 5 times after than a SATA based SSD (probably why they named it X5).

But the X5 is quite pricey. The cheaper USB C T5 or T7 disks are not quite so fast, but are considerably faster than a SATA drive.

There are some docks that have NvME slots in, but they are pretty expensive., this one here is £144 and then you have to get the drives. Mind you if i get the mini from work I will save money on that. I think the one i linked to is USB3, not thunderbolt, but are they not the same speed these days?
i have to look more into it, I am getting out of touch
I got to keep some money back to buy the affinity suite as Serif don't give an offer for people who already have it which is a shame. The other thing is, i have to look if Davinci resolve have been redone to work natively on the m1/m2 chips.

i really need to look at this before I get the machine,

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

The other thing is, i have to look if Davinci resolve have been redone to work natively on the m1/m2 chips.

It has, a long time ago, they are very quick at adopting new Apple tech.

Edited by andynormancx (Thu 19-Jan-23 11:18:03)

In reply to a post by zyborg47:

I think the one i linked to is USB3, not thunderbolt, but are they not the same speed these days?

Most USB ports are not as fast as Thunderbolt (the USB 3 support in the Mac mini is not as fast as Thunderbolt).

But that's irrelevant; if your drive is SATA then that's what limits the speed. The interface is faster than the drive.

Had a look online. Not many retailers have got it. Seems it’s end of life. 🤷‍♂️

The M series macs I thought were USB4 ?

But the drives are USB 3 or Thunderbolt, not USB 4.

Just on ‘fast’ external SSD I was reading this article reviewing the Sandisk PRO-G40 and passing mention of the OWC Envoy Pro FX.

Very nice drives but whoa certainly not cheap, especially that Sandisk!

In reply to a post by jchamier:

The M series macs I thought were USB4 ?

They are USB4? i was not sure.
I will have a better look later on, the main thing is to get the machine first and get used to it,
Oh and a better mouse, thinking of getting a Logitech one to go with this keyboard, maybe the Logitech Lift, it is a bit pricey for a mouse, but it will work with the PC and Mac.