Unless you buy something in the absolute budget end of the market, you'll be fine with whatever. I think some folks on here have Pianoteq running on a Raspberry Pi for crying out loud. If your purpose is to go small and silent, you could do a factor 10 cheaper than what you're planning now. Nevertheless, the Mac Mini is a fine machine, even if grossly overpriced.

Dear Community,

    (Maybe both processors are already "technical overkill" for this task?)

yes, they are overkill ! haha

if its *only* about Pianoteq, and if you don´t have big pockets, i´d suggest to buy a M1mini,
probably even just a 2nd Hand M1.
they run here (switzerland) insanely low. ( just sold two M1 minis.....so i know)
Even the M1 is stupidly good. its 3 times better than what you need for pianoteq.
Even just on one core

i have a M2pro Mini now. But for what i do will i NEVER run this thing hot based on audio tasks.
Not shure if its even possible to make the fan run, just by using audio apps.
so, no, there won´t be fan noise. WEll, could be that the fan is allways running, => but idle !
....i´ve NOT read any bad reports vs. the M2-minis.
The M1 minis are so silent, "now" you begin to hear *everything* other (computery) !! my M2pro is same.

my perfomance check vs. Pianoteq shows a performance index of 130-150 !
that remains when i disable the multicore support, haha
M2pro Mini, 12core, 16GB RAM

Dear Community,

I am considering using a Mac Mini to run Pianoteq. Mac Mini is available with two processors: M2 and M2pro. The only additional software to run simultaneously with Pianoteq is "iReal Pro". I have two concerns/ questions:

1. Is the processor power from the M2 sufficient or do I get better results with the M2pro?
    (Maybe both processors are already "technical overkill" for this task?)
2. Does anybody know if the Mac Mini with M2 or M2pro has a fan and if the sound of the fan is somehow "disturbing"?

Thank you for your advice.

With kind regards
Stephan

Hi Stephan,

Yes the Mac Mini with M2 does have a fan like its previous model (M1), which I own one.  I have never heard the fan run so far.  It is directly on my desk.  I always have multiple application running, including Pianoteq.

So I would say, that the M2 is indeed more than capable for your task.  I would suggest the following.

1- select the model with 512gb SSD storage to avoid the slower disk of the base model.
2- Increate memory to 16gb (future proofing if you start using for other tasks)

Happy shopping!

I have an old Mac mini 2014 and it works perfect with Pianoteq ( Have Ptq 5, 6, 7 and 8 Pro).
So considering this, M2 is more than good in my opinion when thinking of Ptq. (Organteq need much power so I have to buy M2 myself some day, mini 2014  Intel 5 says sometimes can’t handle all information using Organteq).

I suppose the difference is the price, M2Pro have probabvly more power, more RAM, more storage, better connectivity. I have noticed that these are things one often get  when paying more 
This is my third mini and I have never heard disturbing from the fan, it is very silent when it is on.

I suggest you can read a review to get right info. Anyway, M2 is on my Have to buy soon-list because I’m using Organteq too every day and it need sometimes power I don’t have.

Best wishes,

Stig

I am considering using a Mac Mini to run Pianoteq. Mac Mini is available with two processors: M2 and M2pro. The only additional software to run simultaneously with Pianoteq is "iReal Pro". I have two concerns/ questions:

1. Is the processor power from the M2 sufficient or do I get better results with the M2pro?
    (Maybe both processors are already "technical overkill" for this task?)
2. Does anybody know if the Mac Mini with M2 or M2pro has a fan and if the sound of the fan is somehow "disturbing"?

Thank you for your advice.

With kind regards
Stephan