Mac Mini as writing computer: pros and cons

As of GHOST IN THE ASSEMBLY, I’ve now written and published two books using an M4 Mac Mini as my primary writing computer, and written two-thirds of another one (SHIELD OF BATTLE).

Overall, it’s been a good experience and I haven’t had any serious problems. Granted, nothing is perfect, and so I thought I would share the list of pros and cons for using a Mac Mini as my main writing computer.

Pros:

-Boots quickly.

-Interface is way less cluttered and less intrusive than Windows 11.

-Updates tend not to be as calamitous as Microsoft ones traditionally are.

-AI nonsense is much less overstated than in Windows 11.

-Very stable. I haven’t had a single crash.

-Computer runs very quiet with no fan noise.

Cons:

-Expensive.

-Finder just isn’t as good as Windows Explorer. For all the criticisms that one could level at Windows 11, Windows Explorer is nonetheless a very well developed file management shell. Finder just isn’t, and Windows Explorer can do more stuff.

-Apple still has AI nonsense, even if it isn’t as in-your-face as Copilot.

-The Mac Mini sometimes gets very hot when it goes to sleep. It appears to be running some sort of disk optimization process, which would defeat the point of putting it to sleep.

So, all in all, it’s a pretty good writing computer.

If I could perfectly work my will, I would write on a Linux computer, but that would introduce too many inefficiencies into my publishing/editing process due to software incompatibilities. My goal with a computer is not to have the coolest computer but one that will help me produce books efficiently, and so far the Mac Mini has done that.

-JM