M4 vs M4 Pro Mac mini buying guide (2025): DON’T MAKE THIS MISTAKE!
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- Опубликовано: 8 фев 2025
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Are you torn between the M4 and M4 Pro Mac mini? In this video, I break down the key differences, performance benchmarks, and real-world usability of these two powerhouse machines. Whether you're a creative professional, a casual user, or someone looking to future-proof your setup, I'll guide you through which model is the right investment for you-and the common mistake you absolutely need to avoid.
Links to products in the video:
M4 Mac Mini: geni.us/jtMGBwW
Studio Display: geni.us/BFdHB
BenQ PD3220U: geni.us/t9mC6m
Magic Keyboard: geni.us/WJKbb
MX Master 3s: geni.us/HbtKtT
Sony XM5s: geni.us/AwpbJ
Sony MDR-MV1: geni.us/PGBa9V
Vernal Desk: geni.us/LByQw
RayCue Mac Mini M4 Dock - geni.us/Wi1hGW
CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 Dock - geni.us/drjLbZ
Other Keyboards:
Keychron K3 Max Keyboard: geni.us/XPqepE
NuPhy Halo96 Wireless Keyboard: geni.us/kDjVep2
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Bought the M4 one with 512Gb, Really pleased with it and it runs Photoshop beautifully. happy new year
The RAM is soldered to the board, so get what you feel you need. But the Thunderbolt ports make the internal SSD largely irrelevant. Instead of paying the Apple Tax on SSD storage, use that money to buy a good external Thunderbolt 4 NVMe SSD enclosure (NOT a fixed external SSD). This means you'll be able to avail yourself of the FAR cheaper NVMe SSDs out there, and in many cases they'll be FASTER than the internal SSD. Buying an enclosure means you can upgrade the external drive any time you like. You can even treat this SSD as removable, having different SSDs for different use cases or project archival. I strongly recommend going through the setup wizard to make your basic user account on the internal SSD, but then move your Home folder (documents, application software etc) to the external Thunderbolt drive. You can buy a very good 4Tb or 8Tb PCI 4.0 NVMe SSD for a fraction of what Apple charge, and fitting it into an external enclosure is a piece of cake. If you really want to go bananas, you can buy a Thunderbolt DAS (Direct Attached Storage) array with multiple SSDs or hard drives fitted for huge amounts of archive and backup storage.
I just bought the new acaisis Tb5 enclosure and will pair it with 4Tb Samsung 990 Pro.
Ive already set up my Mac mini M4 Pro but can you change the Home folder to the external SSD after the fact? My iCloud is set up too and currently stores my Documents folder. Probably not the fastest way to access files though??? I also run Windows 11 on a parallels VM and plan on putting that on the external too as its an 80Gig VM.
I have the M4 Mini base model with a Samsung 4TB external drive. This combination exceeds my needs for music composing production.
How many audio tracks and VSTs are you using?
I am an amateur photographer and when I decided to upgrade from my Intel Based 21" IMac, I chose the M4 Mac Mini and upgraded to 24 GB of RAM and the 1 TB SSD drive. I primarily use Capture One and ON1 Photo Raw for photo editing. Both programs utilize AI in various modules of their softwares and the upgrade to the M4 has vastly improved the performance of these modules. I run a 2TB external SSD, in a Thunderbolt 4 rated enclosure, on which I store my photo libraries and my entire music collection. I notice no difference in speed when comparing the loading/saving photos from/to the external drive, to the speed of loading/saving from/to the internal drive. In addition I use an older slower speed 2TB external SSD drive, from my old system, for my Time Machine Backups.
Which monitor are you using for your Capture One editing? I've some comments online about slowdowns with the Mini, CO and Apple Studio display combination. Have you observed that?
@@jcktoronto3533 I don't use an Apple display. I use a 27" ASUS ProArt 4K display (PA279CRV) . I have no complaints with this monitor other than I find it slow waking up from Sleep Mode. But then, I'm retired...I have the time to wait!
I got an M4 Pro 24GB, 512GB... A couple of key differences many forget to include when comparing to the base M4 models. Firstly, the memory bandwidth of the RAM in the Pro model is more than twice as fast as the base model (273GB/s Versus 120GB/s). Secondly, the hard disk speed is much faster. The Mac mini M4 has a write speed of 3,454 MB/s and a read speed of 2,966 MB/s in a Blackmagic SSD test, while the M4 Pro has a max read speed of about 6 gigabytes per second and a write speed of about 5 gigabytes per second. Now people say that Apple charges exorbitant prices for their SSD storage upgrades, and it is much cheaper to just buy external SSDs... However, the speeds you are getting with the Apple SSD upgrades are at THUNDERBOLT 4 & 5 speeds (depending on M4 model). External SSDs at Thunderbolt 5 speeds are not cheap either! People are mostly comparing to lower-cost SSDs they can buy with 1,000 MB/s speeds. One needs to compare "apples with Apples" to be fair (Excuse the pun :) )
If you're using LM Studio or Ollama to run LLM, Then the M4 Pro will be much much better than the basic model.
You can get crucial t500 2TB for 150$ at 7GB secs proof that Apple overcharges without aditional performance.
150$ is expensive for you?
There s nothing fair about Apple.
The SSD speed probably doesn't matter. Even if they cut that 1,000 MB/S in half down to 500 it still probably wouldn't be noticeable under most conditions. The RAM speed however, I do expect to matter; especially with unified memory and especially at higher resolutions. OK. This give me some info.
@That_Guy78 My Boss PC boost in 4 secs. Has a 12GB/ sec system SSD.
Snappy as hell.
@That_Guy78 you said " probably" because you re not so used to Hardware.
That's exactly what I got; 16GB/512GB SSD. Thanks for the great, down to earth videos Mark; keep them coming! Regards from New Zealand!
What a lovely comment - thank you!
My needs don't outstrip what my M1 Mac Mini can do. Just keeping the M1...for now. My last new Mac was purchased in 2011, and it operated until 2024. Good machines, these Macs.
I got the Mac Mini M4 with 32 GB RAM and 256 GB storage. I got the 32 GB instead of the 16 or 24 GB RAM because of my music arranging hobby, as I use NotePerformer Playback Engines (NPPE) with BBC SO Core (which recommends 32 GB). With this set up, I still have about 10 GB RAM free when I run NPPE, and I have about 150 GB of storage remaining. I use OneDrive extensively, as I also occasionally use a Surface Pro, and I often delete my WAV/MP3 and video files, as I can easily reproduce them. I don't use an external SSD now given that I don't currently need it. For my monitor, I went with a cheap one from Acer (available at Costco for ~$90) given that I may be moving soon, and I'll buy a more expensive one once I get settled. For my keyboard, I bought a Logitech Wave, and I use a ~3 year old Logitech mouse. For my speaker, I use an Amazon Echo connected via Bluetooth (I've gotten used to Alexa's announcements).
Also what i intend to do. I run alot of different software and vms at once when coding and doing IOS development, so i 32gb ram and 256gb SSD was the most bang for my buck. Eventually i will get a NVMe and a SSD Enclosure.
As a new Mac user, I opted for the base mini with 24gb ram. I have added 2tb NMVe external storage for all programs than I can move from the Mac. 1tb external NMVe for Time Machine backups. I expect this will keep me happy for a few years
And yet other RUclipsrs are saying… “don’t make this mistake, I sent back my base model and got a Pro instead”. For example, one reported that FCP’s timeline was less laggy with the Pro. I use Logic Pro mostly with sample libraries and guitar sims which can be heavy on CPU and RAM. It’s been said to get the most RAM you can afford for sample libraries. With respect, most of us aren’t changing their machines every five minutes like reviewers. It makes more sense to me to future proof when buying a machine especially when AI is likely to become part of the software experience in a few years.
The pro is awesome. Took me two days to move all my plugins and samples to an external drive and now everything is moved over I only used 150gb of internal storage and everything works so fast and so much better
You've answered your own question, mate - we are only offering one type of opinion. Go with your gut.
By the way, nothing against Mark as he provides decent reviews but my point is that it’s so confusing when there are conflicting opinions. The only thing you can do is go with what you can afford. 😊
Depends on what kind of video you're editing. I'm still using M1 and FCP timeline is smooth.
I’m a Logic user, got the M4 and really happy with it, up until now I was using a iMac 2015 27ins, home studio so it serves me perfectly. I bought it thinking I will upgrade next year depending on what new models come out.
I got the Mac Mini M4 Pro, 24 GB with 512 GB. Using it for AI Coding (VS Code, Cursor, Windsurf) and running LLM locally. Thank you again for making this video. Very insightful. Much appreciated.
May I know what model you're running and if Cursor responds quickly to prompts?
@@kdta91 using ollama and running Phi4, llama3.2 -text, llama3.2-vision and llava models locally. Cursor response is the same to prompts, however compared to my old macbook pro intel (i7, 16GB) the applications run faster on the mac mini. The RAG pipeline I have setup completes in 30 secs on the mac mini compared to macbook pro intel which takes 3 mins thats huge time saving 😀
@@jaggyjut Thanks for the feedback. Great to hear it from someone having a similar workflow.
by running locally do you mean finetuning or inference?
@@ivanradkevich8269 Using for RAG pipeline with langchain, streamlit and ollama.
I got the base model. I installed Microsoft Office, Adobe Premiere Pro, Lightroom CC and Lightroom Classic, Whatsapp and a few other apps to the in-built memory. I have over 150Gb left on the internal SSD
I also bought a Seagate Expansion HDD 6Tb and set it as the default download location for all files. Paid £115 for it.
This is a steal.
💯
How is Premiere working?
Keep in mind that 3/4 of your storage (movies etc) do NOT need high speed internal memory. For most people 256GB fast internal memory for system and apps is more than enough. If you do lots of video creation, you already know all this. External storage is 1/4 the cost of Apple internal SSD and is plenty fast via USB-C .. 4TB only $100-$150 (£ in UK)
I’ve just bought the base M4 mini after using the same 2017 intel iMac for the last 8 years. I’m absolutely sure the M4 will do the business 🎉
Thanks Mark. I'm slightly less confused now. I'm a photographer, looking to upgrade my home computer system and really torn between an iMac &Mac Mini.
Unfortunately, the Mini M4 Pro, runs at at 109 degrees C, and the fans noise level is 45 decibels, with any kind of serious processing apps. The size of the case is just too small to install the proper cooling technology, so the components lifespan is severely reduced. But hey it fits in your pocket , you can buy another one in two years , so what's the problem ? (Apples overriding consideration)
Dude I'am still rocking a 2011 i7 27" Imac despite the lack of software updates it's still amazing..recently I have purchaced the M4 base..if I buy the M4 pro..Mac will most likely come out with the M5 this year which will probably eclipse the former..so the base M4 is fine for now.
I apologize for the English, I use a translator. I loved the video. I need to change equipment and unfortunately I have a limited budget. I swore I wouldn't go back to a Mac, but I'm really attracted to the Mac mini M4 and am considering purchasing it. I am an illustrator and graphic designer, although I do not currently work on it. I have thought about the 24 GB ram model, because I need the device to work well with Adobe's Creative Cloud in general, let's go. I really want to use After Effects and Blender for sculpture, learning to do interesting things. And the 24 GB version in Spain, my country, comes at a price that seems affordable to me. The pro is out of my budget and also, for that price, I consider that a high-end gaming laptop could also be a good option. Although the idea is not to spend so much. Can you tell me if you think the Mac mini m4 with 24gb ram is the right configuration for me? I have doubts because I'm afraid of making mistakes. Thank you very much in advance!
Still got the M1 Mac Mini and it’s doing perfectly fine for general use.
I’m going to get the m4 pro, I’m choosing the fastest cpu, 48 gig of ram and a 1TB storage, I’m not so sure about the 10gigabit Ethernet as I don’t use cloud storage or stream or anything like that. I use photoshop and iMovie that’s it but I tend to keep my macs a long long time, my current iMac is from 2014 and still runs just fine but it’s a bit chuggy with the latest OS and the new photoshop package with my new camera which has quite big raw files. I’ve come into some cash so why not go for it, unless Apple bring out a 27inch iMac with an m4 pro option, then I’ll go that way but I’m waiting!!!
I'd do EXACTLY the same, as my iMac 2019 is getting a little long in the tooth and I love the monitor. Would kill for another 27". That's not gonna happen. Look at @MarkEllisReviews on the BenQ PD3225U vs PD3220U
Great video - IMO - Storage - Crucial X10 Pro. Amazing!
I have the M2 pro Mini with a CalDigit dock. I think you just saved me some money. Liked & Subscribed !
Mini M4Pro, 20-core, 48gb, 1Tb, 10Gb-Ethernet. My first new mac ever. Will use to support PC based game dev for App store releases.
Hi
Would this setup good to go with davinci resolve studio.
No-one ever seems to take account of the initial cost over the lifetime of the machine. If you buy the base M4 Mini and use it for 3 years, it cost you £200 per year (£600/3). Buying the M4 Pro model with its much faster & larger internal drive, 5Gb Thunderbolt ports and larger base memory can mean you have much more futureproofing and could use the machine for 5 years, which would work out at £280 per year (£1400/5). I was able to run my 2013 5K 27" iMac for 7 years by spec'ing it up when I bought it. So don't just look at the cost on the day you buy it. Very interesting video, thanks 👍🏼
I'm subscribed. I have 2 M4 minis: 1 base with 16RAM 512SSD hooked up to my AV system as a media server. The 2nd is a Pro 48RAM 2TB SSD on which I edit video and do a lot of video transcoding. I have a drawer full of SSDs including Sandisk and Samsung. Video takes up a lot of space!
Welcome onboard!
Thanks I bought this. Apple Mac mini: Apple M4 Pro Chip with 12‑core CPU and 16‑core GPU, 512GB SSD
just ordered the one you recommended. Seems like a reasonable one that we can be happy with for a long time!
great presentation, very clear. Subscribed!
Thanks and welcome!
Maxed out the options on the non pro mini. Added 38" Dell monitor. Added four 2TB SSD external hard drives. And audiophile Swans speakers. Should be good.
Congratulations on the work, excellent videos review. hug here from Brazil.
Thank you very much!
Got the base model with 2TB SSD and returned it last week after 2 months (thanks to the extended return period). Reordered it qith 32GB ram , 1TB SSD and got a samsung T7 2TB which i will attach to the back of my Samsung G8 ultrawide 34" as I like a minimal look. I need to run windows 11 on a VM for work amd possibly Home Assistant and Ubuntu which brought the 16 GB to its limits
I'm doing this now.how do you like the 32 gb?
I am still rocking a Bose QC 15 that I purchased in 2009.😅
What a lovely gesture - thank you!
I'm looking ahead at the moment and toying with the idea of the M4 Mac Mini @ 512Gb, keeping my Mac keyboard and adding the aLogic 32" touch screen monitor for digital art to replace my 2015 27" iMac when it goes belly up. My previous iMac lasted 11 years so who knows when I will need it.
Question ❓
Hey there
Thanks for this video it's very helpful.
What's your opinion with regard to the M4 pro and AI software?
There are very expensive AI software packages on the market but also many free versions which can save a fortune.
Do you think the M4 Pro is geared up for AI video editing and most importantly the actual processing, rendering and exporting of the AI video?
I've heard that the high end graphics cards for a pc are needed for this type of work yet most of the best cards cost way more than the M4 pro alone.
I hoped that the M4 pro at such a low cost in comparison to a new PC and new card would be ideal.
I've done an internet search and though there are many free AI downloadable options for the M4, how good or how limited they are is something I cant seem to work out.
Some folk say it's ideal whereas others believe it's not really designed for this kind of work.
What's your opinion on this.
Many thanks
Thinking of getting Mac Mini with a mobile display like Asus ProArt. Middle ground between a laptop and a stationary.
Went for the base model. I am a professor and I bought it for $500. I bought a 2 TB Sandisk SSD and put the home directory on it. I am using a my 4K TV as a monitor for the moment. But I am going to move it to a desk and use a spare 30” 4K monitor I have. I am just experimenting with it. It might be a good replacement for my wife’s M1 MacBook Pro.
One thing I would like to try is to run Baldur’s Gate 3 on it. I wonder how well that might work. Does anyone have experience with that?
I’m mostly using the Logic library and BBC with 3 to 10 tracks per piece. The libraries are stored in the external drive to maximize the Mini’s capacity. I haven’t seen any latency as a result.
I have had an iMac for yrs and it has finally bit the dust, so I’m moving toward the Mac mini Pro. My question is toward the Ethernet upgrade. What is the real difference I would see by adding that? I am a basic Mac user FYI.
I bought the base model and I am very happy with it. Running Da Vinci Resolve on it and it is amazing how fast things are going.
Thanks for the up front review Mark. I have been weighing up a number of options for a month or so now. I think after watching your guide I will go for the Mac mini 4 512 24g
You and @Patrick_Rambles are like Asterix en Obelix (you can work out who is who!). I can be the Roman Agent if you both need more excitement. Jeez boys, it's not the size of the ship but the motion of the ocean. 🤣🤣🤣 Happy New Year and a continuing successful 2025 for you both!
I'm obviously Obelix. Happy new year!
Your usual standard of excellence. This machine is remarkable. I purchased a loaded Mini Pro 4, gambling that it would do what I had been looking at a studio to accomplish. I was amazed, and the notion of a studio is gone. Some complain about the ports in the front. Not me. I love the position.
Great video and advice Mark, I had to delay changing my iMac 27 inch and before the switch to the M4, was debating between the M2 and M2pro in part because while gamers don't buy a Mac, I enjoy playing the odd game and in part because there were more ports. Now that with the two ports in the front and the back having 3 for both base and Pro (although TB5) I think that as a consumer the base M4 will be plenty, TB4 is plenty fast for my external drive and needs and I don't feel the need to future proof that much. Because leaving the iMac is expensive, in the long run it saves money and also upgrading the computer will be much cheaper hence future proofing is not as much of a requirement for those buying a base config. Happy new year!
I did go with the M4 Mac mini 512GB, didn't want to deal with moving my Home directory to an external SSD and what that may bring in the future (which probably would have needed to do with a 256GB model). I did connect an already owned CalDigit TS4 Thunderbolt 4 dock and a 4TB M.2 NVMe SSD. This replaced my Windows 11 Desktop server, which I gave away to my son. Loving it!
i would say skip the 16GB ram if you are using your mac for other than web browsing. With only 2 ides open Windsurf and Vscode, spotify and couple of chrome tabs, im hitting swap memory about 1.5GB im not noticing any performance drops or anything but for longevity wise i dont think its gonna get better from this point on :)
TLDR get the 24GB and external drive.
Mark - love your reviews! Just subscribed & purchased M4 Mac mini base model, 512GB SSD based on your recommendation! Thank you sir
Nice - and welcome onboard!
I've had the M1 Mac Mini (16 RAM/256 SSD) for 4 years now. I do light-medium 4K video/photo editing, color grading + other everyday tasks. I have the OS, softwares and essential files on the internal SSD and everything else including DaVinci Resolve Cache folder (which can build up quickly) setup on an external SSD. It has been more than enough. I usually have 150 - 190 GB available on the internal SSD. One thing to monitor regularly - due to video editing, certain types of system cache files build up and my available space got down to 130 GB after 2 years. After a OS reset + OS update, it was back to 190 GB. After a lot of looking online, a hard reset/OS update was the only clean way to remove those files I've found.
For light-medium use cases involving editing of any kind, I would recommend more RAM as can be afforded and an external SSD for everything outside of OS/softwares.
I just put this out here, for anyone looking to get the best machine for a similar use-case on a tight budget. Loved the video, great recommendations and easy-to-understand breakdowns Mark. Cheers!
thank you for your comment, exactly what i was looking for. Im into music production with Logic Pro and every reddit answer is like "256gb is not enough in 2024!" But i don't understand why it wouldnt be if I just keep Softwares on the internal and everthing else on external. Your comment has given me more confidence to buy the 256gb model.
@cortg7930 Glad I could help. I think what they're referring to is - you would know - Logic Pro has a sound library (approx 70 GB) and I've seen people who aren't that tech savvy have trouble with moving/keeping this library on an external drive. I'm not into music production so not sure. Maybe it's that.
Wish you well.
@@watzmaaname It's very possible. That and i think the majority of people just think they need more than they actually do, or don't want to put in the time to manage their files/folders properly. I admit i fell into the 1st group my entire apple career but only now with the new M4 minis am i realizing that every macbook/ mac studio i ever bought in the past was vastly over-specced / overkill. So now i'm trying to do things smarter, save money, and manage my files more closely. Thanks again 👍
@@cortg7930 Exactly, I'm on the same path. 🙂
These were and still are a very capable machine, I used mine for 4 years straight and only started to slow near the end
I bought the exact spec. You recommended several weeks ago, and love it! One point of caution to those that like to use beta versions of the OS: 15.3 beta is buggy! Final Cut Pro 11 is very laggy and can’t even do some things in this beta release of the OS. Don’t upgrade. Stay on public release 15.2 I made the mistake and I regret it. Otherwise, this Mac mini M4 is an absolute beast, and I absolutely love it. Thank you for an excellent, excellent video.
in the end I opted for a basic mac mini m4 pro, mostly in anticipation of how much the machines will be squeezed with the ai. just to get to 7/8 years of use without anxiety or swearing that a mini m4 is a bit too narrow
I’m waiting to see if apple releases an updated Mac Studio before buying a Mac mini Pro with upgrades.
The performance of the MacBook M4 Max is phenomenal and I would benefit from the upgraded GPU.
My birthday is in June let’s see what new products are released this spring 😊
Hey Mark!
Great video! I am torn, I am considering the Mac Mini spec'd out to M4 Pro chip with the 64GB ram. Do you reckon this machine will easily handle 4K video editing. (I am a videographer / editor by trade) This will be my main machine as my custom windows laptop is starting to throw the towl in. I can't justify the crazy price increase to get the M4 Max MBP. Any guidance would be much appreciated!
I’ll buy the M4 Mini and will only upgrade to a 1TB model. I know I can get there for less money but I like the simplicity of a clean device. Magic Keyboard with numeric keypad and the Magic Mouse because it’s simple, clean and I own it.
Thank you so much! I love all the extra suggestions for accessories to the computer like the screen and the keyboard and the mouse etc. You definitely earned my subscribe. I just took my iMac into the Apple store the other day and they informed me that I'm very close to becoming obsolete and that it's time to shop for a new computer so I am doing a lot of research and this has been the most helpful video by far!
That's lovely to hear!
I love your content! You are so informed and make great recommendations.
Thank you!
I bought the M4 Mac Mimi with 32 Gb memory and 1TB storage. I'm a published writer and photographer and wanted this for my photos of birds.
I bought the M4 Mac Mini with 16GB RAM and 256GB SSD for $500 on Amazon - a fantastic deal, and it's really fast. The SSD is too small but so is 512GB therefore I will be adding a 2TB external SSD. I remote login via screen sharing from my 27" 2017 iMac and its glorious 27" 5k display.
Remote login?! What’s this sorcery?
It’s done via screen sharing which has been built into MacOS for years. Google it and find out.
What mic do you use? The sound is more than perfect
Can someone please advise me? I’m a hobby photographer who has been editing on a MacBook Air (lowest spec) for the last five years. Lightroom is painfully slow so I’m looking to upgrade. I’m by no means computer savvy but it looks like the issue is my restricted unified memory. Would the base model Mac Mini with 24GB memory upgrade be a big improvement for me? Probably a stupid question but I don’t want to spend £1000 to not see much of a difference. TIA!
I bought the base model M4 Mac Mini and paired it with a Crucial X9 Pro SSD. Works fine with my extensive photo library on the external drive.
Still not sure whether to choose the M4 Mini - 32GB RAM / 1TB SSD or the M4 Mini Pro - 24GB RAM / 512GB SSD. I’m not worried about storage, as there are plenty of options for external SSDs, but I’m still unsure if 24GB RAM in the Mini Pro is enough for video editing and After Effects. The Pro version doesn’t offer 32GB RAM; the next option is 48GB RAM, which costs €500 more.
I am also having the same choice as you. I hope to receive your opinion as well as everyone's to choose which option mini M4 PRO 24/512 or M4 32/512. I specialize in processing photos on Ps, Lr. Thank you !!!
Got the M4 with 512gb and 24GB of Ram and going to use the OWC 1M2 SSD with 2 TB of T500 nvme, I plan to use it mostly with Final Cut Pro for this RUclips channel
My base model M1 Mac mini is still chugging along as the family transcoder but compared to my M2 Max MacBook Pro it’s definitely not as quick. I want a Studio, but the M4 Pro is probably what I’ll upgrade to and it’ll last longer than a 8GB M1 ever could’ve.
Love all your recommendations, I have studio display (pricey) and keycron keyboard, and MX mouse, Sony headphones M4 as per your recommendation, check check check, check. I would like the fingerprint log in on the Apple keyboard. I would almost buy it just to log in without password. And I still have M2 pro Mac mini which was the sweet spot choice at the time. I would love an M4 mini but can't justify at moment, you are right I don't really need it. The base model seems so good now, don't even need the M4 pro.
Just Subscribed 🎉
Just got the M4 Pro with highest cpu & 64GB with 1Tb.
Just used for photography and video editing.
Spent to much and over spec, yes probarly but it should last me years 👌 upgrade from a 2019 imac with 48GB, 2TB Intel chip which struggles with Video in Davince studio and even LR on times.
Welcome onboard!
Have been tempted to get an M4 Mac mini base model , I know 99% of my use is basic harry suburban stuff, so the M4 base would do the job no worries , but ….. at the same time , i wouldn’t mind having a go at some gaming , like first person shooters , multiplayer gaming , i don’t need all the fancy shadows and ray tracing , i like the old games like counter strike , battlefield , day of defeat , half life original, , quake .
I don’t know how either version would hold up , don’t really want to spend 4 or 5 K + on a dedicated PC gaming machine .
Decisions decisions 😊.
Happy New year!
Same to you!
After much research… I went with the Mac Mini 24 ram 512 HD… wanted the Pro but after looking at the upside vs. the costs I went with the MacMini I picked for my work flow needs.
the Ram and CPU speed are different between base and pro. Pro has 2 more performance CPU core and 6 more GPU core. You will upgrade your base mac mini in the next 2 years.
I would suggest M4 256/16 for light users, M4 512/16 for normal users, M4 mac mini pro for professional people. some suggest use of a external drive for your home directory but moving home directory makes troubles for few programs. For example, iterm2 has AI features that you can't use for it.
Thanks for the video, very clear and straightforward. I use Logic, with UADs which are pretty demanding - M4 or M4 Pro do you think? I seldom have more than 8 tracks, but have plenty of plugins on each, guitar amp sims, virtual instruments and plugins on the Master Bus.
hi, happy new year
Awesome vid - love seeing fellow Brits on here - subscribed!
Another great video Mark - thanks for posting!
I've got a quick question about storage.
I'm going to get a Mac Mini M4 to replace my old iMac. I will be adding the Studio display, magic keyboard with touch ID and will now look at the Logitech MX Master 3S mouse ....... which you are clearly besotted with! 😀
I had almost chosen the spec you recommend; base M4 with 16GB memory and 512GB SSD but then wondered if I may need the 1TB SSD. I have a 3.12TB Fusion drive in my iMac but am only using about 0.7TB ..... so clearly overdid this when I got it 🙄. I use iCloud and have a 6TB external drive for Time Machine back-ups.
So the question is; would I be better off getting the 1TB SSD, or just stick with the 512GB SSD and get an external SSD to use for Time Machine back-ups and storing data I don't need to access that often, like old photos?
PS - I've seen that Satechi are going to be launching a dedicated M4 stand and hub in the spring that looks very interesting.
PPS - I wish you and your family a very healthy and Happy New Year!!
Thanks for the kind words. Avoid buyer's remorse; if you have the budget for 1TB, go for it (although 512GB will do, in my opinion). Have a great NYE!
I hv taken m4 pro, 24gb, 512gb, only for photo editing. Will it be ok for next five yrs only for photoshop and light room?
yes
I'll try and post again, hopefully it stays this time. Great video.
I don't know enough about memory so basically my slowing down iMac late 2015 27inch 3.2 GHZ Quad Core Intel Core i5 with 32 GB of memory, which cannot be upgraded past Montery, will not even come close to the new Mac Mini M4 with 32GB of unified memory?
My everyday is Illustrator / Indesign / Photoshop and Lightroom. Maybe all open at once. Once in a blue moon I may take a video and just compress it size wise, but I am no high end video or music editor. It's a big saving if so from the M4 Pro.
Like the Satechi, the RayCue MacMini hub is a nifty design, but there's no Thunderbolt I/O. So you're really not getting the full speed out of your NVMe drive. Yeah, if it came with Thunderbolt, it would cost more, but why pony up $300 for the fastest SSD when your I/O loses all the speed you're trying to gain? They're hoping you don't think of that.
I have just brought a M4 Pro 24/1Tb for use mainly with Logic Pro. I did so because Logic does NOT use the efficiency cores - so the the difference in performance between the two levels of Mac Mini is immediately much more pronounced and will ensure that this model will last me much longer.
Interesting 👍🏽✌🏽
Any reports yet?
For fcpx it won’t matter. For davinci resolve with Braw 6k it will, and if you do animation or other cpu intensive work. That and pick middle memory and middle storage (1tb for instance). I think 80% of buyers will be fine with m4. I’m solid m4 pro and max cores. Though for the increase of price I could argue a m4 and a windows box with $400 gpu for other work and be a hybrid work environment
I got the M4 with 512GB and 32RAM. Everything else (my Photos) are on a 2TB M.2 SSD. Love this little maschine😅
I’m going to buy a M4 Pro Mac Mini with 1TB storage, 10Gbps, and 48GB DDR. I do quite a bit of photo editing and am worried that 24GB DDR isn’t enough. I also want a bit more room on my local SSD, but I’ll be adding a 4TB external drive for my main photo & other storage.
@@gordonramsay2177 still experimental, voids warranty & NO it's not ````
just "2 screws". We'll have to wait before validating that kludge.
Really I still edit on an M1
i did the same thing, make sure to get a fast SSD and a thunderbolt 5 enclosure like the TREBLEET one. Also doing it for photography photo editing and storage
Hello Mark, I got off the phone with Apple UK adviser (I actually spoke to two advisers who came up with the same specs) and asked for advice on specs and described what I would be using the Mac mini for; which was Multiple photoshop layers, heavy use digital art, some files 2GB plus; also wanted to make sure it was future proof (at least 5 years+) for adobe increasing use of generative ai; and possible use of generative ai such as Mid Journey or Stable Diffusion; almost certainly no video or animation use; they have recommended the Mac Mini Pro 48Gb Unified Ram and 1TB SSD (although I normally use 2TB SSD on my 2015 iMac); do these specs sound about right, reasonable or overkill; would appreciate constructive comments/advice from any subscribers; many thanks...
I bought the base model and moved my home folder to a 1TB Thunderbolt4 external drive that now has 326GB used. I have about 190GB free on the internal drive. My memory usage runs around 11-12GB with mail, safari (with 5 tabs open), messages , stocks and calendar, activity monitor open. I see 431MB of swap usage in activity monitor but haven't noticed any slow downs. So far this machine is awesome for my casual use. Im a lifelong Windows user and have a I year old Dell XPS15 that I haven't touched in over a month since I got this MAC. I had an Intel i7 MacBook Air a few years back with OS12. I just couldn't use it as a daily driver so I gave it to my Son.This new Mac with OS15 with some settings tweaks to add some windows like conveniences finally got me to switch. In Hindsight I wish I would have got the 512GB SSD. Im afraid the external drive will fail or get corrupted somehow or Apple will "accidentally" change something that will no longer allow the remote home folder.
Me too
I am a teacher and use pc only
Do some videos by screen shot and editing by luma fusion on ipad
I want to try mac for first time especially for editing videos
Other work i will do with my pc
Do you think base model is okey for my work
I can buy enclosure and external nvme ssd
I
I have an M1 Mac Mini with 512gb ssd and 16gb unified memory. I’ve had it for about 4 years. I’ve currently got nearly 300gb of data and software combined. Thanks to the introduction of AI this system is now starting to show the spinning beach ball for the lightest photo editing that includes a bit of AI object removal in Lightroom. Due to this, I am considering getting the entry level m4 Pro Mac Mini with 48gb memory and 512gb SSD. It will last longer. If Apple are providing 16gb memory in the base model then it’s almost guaranteed to be inadequate in a couple of years or so as the AI overhead increases. Those are my thoughts. There is also a valid argument stating that you can always replace the entry level model in a couple of years and with the new base model and still be better off.
I bought the spec you recommended about a month ago, and am happy so far. I had an M2 mini with a 512GB ssd and I wanted to just get 256GB in the M4, but my photo and music libraries were too big. I tried turning on Optimize Mac Storage for Photos on the M2, which seemed to do the trick, reducing my overall usage to well below 256, but in the end I chose the 512 M4 and I’m glad I did. The photos still used the full amount of space on the M4, so I would not have been able to migrate to a 256 M4. (Comments, anyone? Am I incorrect?)
256 makes absolutely no sense for a photographer, even 512 is really on the small size and will have people running into trouble if working from the internal drive.
It is possible to move the photo library to an external SSD, but I think you did the right choice.
Clear and thorough review, Mark! You helped make a good decision to not overbuy for a Pro and stick with your recommendation. Kind regards from Florida!
Happy to be of assistance 😁
@@MarkEllisReviews Hey Mark - What monitor would you recommend for the Mini M4? Not looking to pay the outrageous cost of an Apple Display but would like a recommendation of one that is best for business use and online conferencing. Thanks in advance!
I need to render models from SketchUp. Should I choose 16 or 24gb memory?
I'll toss in a comment about RAM... I got 32GB, 99% of the time is zero swap used but a massive amount of RAM is compressed. When switching from Android Studio to Xcode depending on whats compressed, I'll be presented with the loading beach ball for sometimes a minute plus. For some reason Apple is hyper aggressive with memory compression with at times I'll be looking at 20GB+ of compressed memory. This is all while memory pressure is still low, still very very green. Apps freezing will happen around 30 minutes of not using it, like the app goes to sleep and then when I do alt+tab to it... just freezes.
I'm hesitating between 16GB and 24GB RAM. Is it advisable to make the computer last for several years or is it an unnecessary investment?
As for the SSD, I think 256GB could be a problem in the coming years, so I think I'll get the 512GB SSD version.
Get an external drive
Please respond to this comment. I am thinking of buying the M4 pro with the following criteria:
Apple M4 Pro chip with 12‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
48GB unified memory
1TB SSD storage
Gigabit Ethernet
Three Thunderbolt 5 ports, HDMI port, two USB‑C ports, headphone jack.
I will be iOS Fusion360, photoshop as well as coding languages like c, c++, etc. are these criteria good enough, overpowered or something else?😂 please help me. Thanks for your amazing video. I subbed as well.
My base Mac M1 mini still does pretty well, I def struggle with SSD size, I, always moving stuff around to create space.
If you plan on just hooking it up to a TV to be a media server, I'm sure the base model is more than capable with an added external drive.
I needed a 24/512 config and it was not available in Houston, so I ended up getting the base M4 Pro. It was a ~12 minute out the door transaction at the flagship store and life is good.
Same with me but I am in Australia.
Just found you. Impressed with the speed of info output! Subscribed
Nice - welcome onboard!
Very well said and thorough. Im doing basic premier pro editing with standard RUclips 4k export and have wreaked my brain on which model to upgrade to. I'm essentially hoping the base model will do it for me. Would you say the base $799 model should do it for me?
Thanks for a great review. Does the base model with 16 GB vs. 24 GB RAM have a significant difference in processing speed, assuming both are 512 GB SSDs?
You earned the subscibe for sure.! That's exactly what I was thinking if I go for an M4 Mini.
Nice - welcome onboard!
I was not in the market for a Mac at all until a phone call came. I have been an 11" M2 iPad Pro only connected to an external monitor. Last week of November my phone rings and a friend of mine offered me a Mac mini m2 pro with 16gb ram and 1 tb drive for $700. He used it for a week and boxed it back up and was going to return it and he left it in the box and put away. I jumped at this opportunity. All that said, I DO NOT need the pro chip but the price was too good.
Studio might be a bit niche but anyone upgrading from the base Mini Pro will rapidly come into touch with the studio’s base price and at that point, the studio makes a lot more sense (once released)
I agree. And I think anyone exploring the upper echelons of the M4 Mac mini will naturally be considering the Mac Studio, too.
Great and very timely video for me except......you mentioned the M2 . I am on a 2020 M1 works great but I'm ready to step up, thought I'd made the decision on the M4 but apparently not. I really don't want to go back into the darkness of the 'comparison analysis paralysis' Is shooting and editing 6K (sometimes) the thing that says M4?
I knew what wanted as a like for like replacement for my M1 Mac Mini. So I got the M4 Mac Mini with 16gb memory and 1TB SSD. Can’t be bothered with an external ssd for system files. Too much faffing around. I use external drives for backups and Time Machine.
So a bit more for the internal ssd but for me it’s something I’m happy to pay more the ease and convenience. Such a great computer. Peerless IMO