I just went back to compare the Mini with the Studio again. Despite your advice I would buy the Mini again for these reasons:
I'm on a newer generation chip that has a lower power draw. Meets my network speed minimum. All for the price of the entry level Studio. This box is basically an experiment to see how much processing power I need. I have a very specific project that will require the benchmarking of Apple's machine learning frameworks. I want to see how much of a machine learning load this Mini can handle. Once I have benchmarks maybe the Pro will exist and I will be in good shape to shop and understand what I'm buying.
I think a Mini of any spec is a great value. The studio has a place but I'm hoping the Pro ends up being like an old Sun E450.
This Mini experiment is to help me frame the hardware power vs. the software loads.
I'm on a newer generation chip that has a lower power draw. Meets my network speed minimum. All for the price of the entry level Studio. This box is basically an experiment to see how much processing power I need. I have a very specific project that will require the benchmarking of Apple's machine learning frameworks. I want to see how much of a machine learning load this Mini can handle. Once I have benchmarks maybe the Pro will exist and I will be in good shape to shop and understand what I'm buying.
I think a Mini of any spec is a great value. The studio has a place but I'm hoping the Pro ends up being like an old Sun E450.
This Mini experiment is to help me frame the hardware power vs. the software loads.