[chucker]

Seems the M2 Pro Mac mini is a pretty good in-between price point (I would've guessed $1500).

Another $400 gets you 32 GiB RAM, so $1700. Another $300 gives you more CPU and GPU cores, and brings you to $2000, like the Mac Studio starting point. At that point, the Studio might be the better deal; it includes 10 GigE (for those who care about that rather than making that another $100 option), and while its CPU is presumably worse, its GPU is probably a lot better. It also offers more useful ports.

Should a M2 Mac Studio arrive, my advise would be "be light on Mac mini BTO options because the Studio might end up being the better deal".