Mac mini M5 or M6 configuration for MATLAB and Maple programs

In terms of RAM, it really depends on the size and complexity of your MATLAB models. Getting the model with 24GB of RAM is certainly not a bad idea and also builds is some future proofing.

As for storage, I personally prefer to keep a lean internal drive wth only apps and only as much data as absolutely necessary. I have a very fast external SSD as a "work disk" where I keep data for all my currents projects. Then everything else, music, movies, photos, documents are kept on external hard drives. None of these items need the speed of an SSD and run well with a standard 7200 RPM 3.5" external drive. The big advantage to this approach, is when getting a new computer or restoring a current computer due to some malfunction is the migration time to the new state is way faster as all you need to do is just plug in the external drives instead of waiting for all that data to be restored to the internal disk.

Lastly, in terms of computing power, the M6 Mini will run circles around your old iMac. I would only suggest an M5 Pro if you are doing a lot of graphically intensive work due to its greater number of GPU cores.

Keep in mind that people really need to always have at least 100GB of Free storage space since even this amount can sometimes disappear very quickly even with seemingly simple workloads. Ignore the very misleading "Available" storage value shown everywhere in macOS since it is not synonymous with Free. The only place the Free storage value is shown correctly is in Disk Utility.

Plus with macOS 27 Golden Gate, Apple Intelligence is always active (cannot be disabled) so it may actually consume at least 35GB of storage for the local models. Keep that in mind as well when you are assessing your internal storage.

If you have 2TB of internal storage now, I would definitely avoid a 500GB internal SSD. Even with moving all your largest items to external media may still make a 1TB internal SSD borderline. I would highly recommend doing those relocations now so you can see exactly how much Free storage space you have on the system while running your most intensive workloads. Monitoring Activity Monitor's Memory Pressure graph along with the "Swap" & "Compressed" values next to that graph will help you determine if your memory is sufficient or if you are already pushing the limits of 16GB. If the memory graph shows yellow, then you are borderline on memory with your current workloads. If the graph is green and the "Swap" and "Compressed" are low (less than 5GB), then you are probably Ok with 16GB of memory for now.

Also, consider how your usage will change & grow over the next 5-8 years or so. You don't want to skimp now & realize a few years from now things are too tight.

alienator wrote:

FWIW, music, apps, documents, photos, and Apple TV stuff takes up a bit over 1 TB and will have to be stored externally.

You may find that apps expect to live on the startup drive.

As for Music, TV, and Photos libraries, you can move all of those to external drives. I'm running my Music and TV libraries from an external USB-C (USB 3.1 Gen 2) SSD, although even an external USB 3.0 mechanical hard drive would likely be more than fast enough.

Change where your music files are stored on Mac - Apple Support

Thanks. After thinking about this further, I decided I'll go with 1 TB internal storage, along with the 24GB of unified memory. I'll by using my current external drives to store stuff. 2TB of internal storage, though, is very expensive. With a trade in discount for my iMac, I'll still be able to buy the Mac mini and a 32" 6k monitor for less than I paid for my iMac 3 ½ years ago.

alienator wrote:

Compared to what I have now (2 TB Fusion Drive: 1 TB on SSD and 1 TB on traditional spinning disc)

FYI, unless that's a Fusion Drive that you created using aftermarket upgrades, it has

• 128 GB (0.125 TB) of SSD space
• 2 TB of mechanical hard drive (spinning disk) space

Out of curiosity, what SSD is serving as your work disc?