❓Are you considering getting/upgrading to one of the M4 Macs?? ℹCORRECTION: The 16-core M4 Max is actually also available on the 14-inch MBP. Sorry for the mistake! ➡ My $12,000 Music/Video Production Setup, Powered by M1 Max: ruclips.net/video/cA3ms_2Yn-A/видео.html ➡ The Problem with M3 Pro MacBook Pro for Music Production | M3 Pro vs M2 Pro vs M1 Pro: ruclips.net/video/FSqX4bt9to4/видео.html
I don’t think I’ll upgrade my m2 pro just yet but the Mac mini sounds enticing from a cost and physical footprint standpoint. Looking forward to your reviews and tests as usual.
Thank you for the video. Usually, people just comment on the numbers without any solid evidence and are simply amazed at how everything is “better,” “stronger,” “more powerful,” and more efficient. But no one actually comments on what it’s like to edit on an M1 Ultra versus an M4 Max (for example) or to work as an audio producer in practice. That doesn’t seem to interest anyone on mainstream internet, even though it’s one of the essentials. That’s why I’m grateful for the video!
Glad you liked the video! I think the technical stats still matter for many use cases, because the newer chips usually gain improved neural engine, media engine, GPU etc. Often times, for stuff like video editing, the newest chip is the better one. It's just that for audio processing, it doesn't really take advantage of components (for now), and because some DAWs can't fully max out the efficiency cores, choosing the right Apple Silicon chips is a bit more complicated for Mac users in the music industry-it's why I started testing Macs specifically for music production to begin with!
Exactly what I needed. I discovered your channel yesterday, searching for info on how much computing power is needed for music production. Learning about the efficiency vs performance core distribution was super helpful. Looking forward to your test results.
I enjoy the way you present your videos. Always sensible, "here is the information". It is curious how some content creators seem incapable of just getting to the point. They digress, try to include "Entertainment". (which is usually insipid drivel) You... have it dialed in and are appreciated.
thanks for diving in on this... I have an M1 Max 16" ... the features seem cool to update.. nano texture, thunderbolt 5, better webcam, more brightness... but i think i may wait till the m5 where the max end gets more of a jump. although i would love to see an M1 max vs M4 max comparison... hahah! that is what has me on the fence right now of debating an upgrade
I was waiting your video! And now I’m looking forward to watching your tests on these new chips. As a Pro Tools user that is happy knowing that this DAW now does take advantage of the efficiency cores, I must say that these new chips and computers look really promising. Now, the new Mini blurs the line between it and a Mac Studio/Pro. It’s an incredible value for the cost. As far as the actual MacBook, I’d upgrade to the M4 Max if money was no object. Now, I don’t really need to upgrade so that stays as is for now.
Wow! I'm seriously thinking of "Upgrading" from a M1 Studio Max to a M4 Mini and the amount I would spend would be roughly half of what I spent on my Mac Studio.
To be frank, back in 2020 when Apple announced Apple Silicon for the first time, my initial plan was to get a Mac Mini, but because I wanted 64GB of RAM, the MacBook Pro was the only choice I had. If I were to buy a new Mac for my studio today, it would 100% be the Mac mini with maxed out RAM and storage. Such great value!
The M1 was a big bump for music production, hindered only by the max RAM that was supported in that architecture. The memory limitation was fixed in the M2, making it WAY more than what is necessary to create and manage very large musical projects. The M4 in all of it's versions has it's benefits, but for music production it's overkill in the extreme. If you can get a good used price on the M2 or M3, save the money and use it for other components in your studio.
I'm strongly considering upgrading to an M4 Max from my M1 Max just for the Thunderbolt 5 option which will allow me to daisy chain 2x more Thunderbolt devices than Thunderbolt 4 which could cut down on cables. Also 12 P-cores would be a nice upgrade from 8 in the M1 Max. But I'm going to wait for reviews to come out and see if it is a substantial gain since M2 & M3 were not enough for me to justify upgrading. Great break down as always!
Great video! Do you have any thoughts about the future of file sizes regarding hard drive capacity? Do you see music apps and plugins making the 512gb ssd too small any time soon?
Great content, James! Looking forward to your M4 DAW performance tests. Please test the unbinned version of the M4 Pro Mac Mini, to see how hot the CPU gets, and how much fan noise we get. The cooling solution looks kinda minimal for sustained high loads, but hopefully it will be fine.
Thanks! I'm not too worry about the thermals when it comes to Apple Silicon chips, honestly. I tested the passively cooled M2 MBA and it was totally able to run large mixing sessions no problem (I did a video on it!). Getting a Mac Mini is in the plans!
This is really helpful! I;m thinking of getting the M4 mini for music production and light general use. Would I be better off putting my money into more ram and just getting the 256gb ssd, or would it be better to get the 512gb ssd and less ram? Is the ram more important than the ssd? You’ve mentioned in other comments about amount of samples used determines ram needed, but how much is “too many samples” thank you.
Bought an M3Pro (14c, 36Gb RAM) earlier this year; while I knew new one's where coming around this time, and the M4 would be worth the wait; I needed the laptop back then... So curious about the comparison! But my M3 is doing just fine for now (Nuendo user)
You made the right choice. There's always the next gen chip coming. We could be getting M5 in Q1 2025? Who knows. The bottom line is that these Apple Silicon Macs are all incredible. I'm still using my M1 Max machine as my daily driver. The fact that new gen chips came out doesn't mean the previous gen chips stop being powerful chips!
@@JamesZhan Thank you James. A little like Brian Tong often says, these Apple silicon Macs are so good… Although I watch & appreciate your videos, I thought for the music work I’m doing a present the M3 will be more than enough. Also I have a great deal with Sky where I pay monthly & after 3 years can upgrade! I do look forward to your test results though with the M4 Pro. Thanks again James.
Can you pls cover what this new bandwidth will mean for music? Also, this inclusion of Bluetooth 5 - what it means for external drives and Sampling. Thanks
Thank you for your videos. Currently running 2018 intel i7 Mac mini and Right now I’m struggling between a studio M2 Max vs Mac mini m4 pro 64g. Using logic and mostly Native instruments plugins and vst. Any suggestions?
It all depends on who many sample libraries you use in your projects, as those are what will use RAM. But generally speaking 24GB should be abundant for music production.
I'm looking to by the basic Mac Mini 16Gb and SSD512. My M1 Max full loaded was too much. Do you think that 24Gb could help much more for me that don't use so much sample libraries?
Heard they’re “handicapping” the new models (started with the M3 and now the m4) by reducing rams bandwidth speeds in order to squeeze more money from their users! The m2 ram bandwidth was 200 GB/s, the m4’s bandwidth is 100 GB/s!
With thunderbolt, you can get something like the Caldigit TS4 and call it a day. It's what I use and I just plug this one single dock into my Mac and all my connectivity needs are covered. People connect so many things nowadays that I think it would look ridiculous for Apple to put so many ports on the computer.
Because then I can compare the 12-core M4 Pro to the 12-core M3 Pro. To me, matching the total core count makes more sense as a comparison because most people look at the total core count when buying a Mac. You can't even see how many efficiency cores and performance cores a chip has when you are configuring your Mac.
I'm for the new power button location haha. 1) doesn't take much to lift the Mac mini a little 2) you might not even need to lift it depending on your finger size 3) many people say they often accidentally press the power button on their M2 Mac mini 4) many Mac users don't power off their Mac regularly. I can't remember when I last shut down my Mac lol 5) it's already highly common for electronics to have their power button hidden. Many displays' power button is at the back. Treadmills have the power button at the bottom. Some speakers also have the power button at the back etc.
❓Are you considering getting/upgrading to one of the M4 Macs??
ℹCORRECTION: The 16-core M4 Max is actually also available on the 14-inch MBP. Sorry for the mistake!
➡ My $12,000 Music/Video Production Setup, Powered by M1 Max: ruclips.net/video/cA3ms_2Yn-A/видео.html
➡ The Problem with M3 Pro MacBook Pro for Music Production | M3 Pro vs M2 Pro vs M1 Pro: ruclips.net/video/FSqX4bt9to4/видео.html
yes for sure ! Time to upgrade my MBP 2017 intel :) 😂 But I’ll wait your video before deciding anything. Thank you for your informative videos😊
I don’t think I’ll upgrade my m2 pro just yet but the Mac mini sounds enticing from a cost and physical footprint standpoint. Looking forward to your reviews and tests as usual.
MacBook Pro M1 Max is more than enough for music production and video editing for me
@@RuinThatDay if you are still on intel, even the M1 Macs are gonna be an insane upgrade for you!
Thank you for the video. Usually, people just comment on the numbers without any solid evidence and are simply amazed at how everything is “better,” “stronger,” “more powerful,” and more efficient. But no one actually comments on what it’s like to edit on an M1 Ultra versus an M4 Max (for example) or to work as an audio producer in practice. That doesn’t seem to interest anyone on mainstream internet, even though it’s one of the essentials. That’s why I’m grateful for the video!
Glad you liked the video! I think the technical stats still matter for many use cases, because the newer chips usually gain improved neural engine, media engine, GPU etc. Often times, for stuff like video editing, the newest chip is the better one. It's just that for audio processing, it doesn't really take advantage of components (for now), and because some DAWs can't fully max out the efficiency cores, choosing the right Apple Silicon chips is a bit more complicated for Mac users in the music industry-it's why I started testing Macs specifically for music production to begin with!
Exactly what I needed. I discovered your channel yesterday, searching for info on how much computing power is needed for music production. Learning about the efficiency vs performance core distribution was super helpful. Looking forward to your test results.
Welcome to the channel 😁 Glad you found my videos informative!
Nice quality videos! Straight to the point and always interesting. Well done
I really hope you will do M1 Ultra vs M4 Max. I am really curious :) Thanks!
Hype for the Macbook Pro M4 test
I love your videos and i am very excited for your DAW tests with the new M4 Macs 😊
Waiting for this 🥰 thank you james
Grande James! Trabajazoo
James in the building!!!!!!
I enjoy the way you present your videos. Always sensible, "here is the information". It is curious how some content creators seem incapable of just getting to the point. They digress, try to include "Entertainment". (which is usually insipid drivel) You... have it dialed in and are appreciated.
thanks for diving in on this... I have an M1 Max 16" ... the features seem cool to update.. nano texture, thunderbolt 5, better webcam, more brightness... but i think i may wait till the m5 where the max end gets more of a jump. although i would love to see an M1 max vs M4 max comparison... hahah! that is what has me on the fence right now of debating an upgrade
Can't wait for your M4 test video!
I was waiting your video!
And now I’m looking forward to watching your tests on these new chips.
As a Pro Tools user that is happy knowing that this DAW now does take advantage of the efficiency cores, I must say that these new chips and computers look really promising.
Now, the new Mini blurs the line between it and a Mac Studio/Pro.
It’s an incredible value for the cost.
As far as the actual MacBook, I’d upgrade to the M4 Max if money was no object.
Now, I don’t really need to upgrade so that stays as is for now.
Bahah i saw the announcement and was waiting for this
Great video and content...waiting for the M4 review...💯👍
Thank you James.
Wow! I'm seriously thinking of "Upgrading" from a M1 Studio Max to a M4 Mini and the amount I would spend would be roughly half of what I spent on my Mac Studio.
To be frank, back in 2020 when Apple announced Apple Silicon for the first time, my initial plan was to get a Mac Mini, but because I wanted 64GB of RAM, the MacBook Pro was the only choice I had. If I were to buy a new Mac for my studio today, it would 100% be the Mac mini with maxed out RAM and storage. Such great value!
@@JamesZhan Thanks for the reply and thank you for such quality and well thought-out content.
Excellent content as usual, thanks!
Glad they are moving toward more Performance cores. I just bought a 12 core M2 Pro 14 in 1tb 16gbram
The M1 was a big bump for music production, hindered only by the max RAM that was supported in that architecture. The memory limitation was fixed in the M2, making it WAY more than what is necessary to create and manage very large musical projects. The M4 in all of it's versions has it's benefits, but for music production it's overkill in the extreme. If you can get a good used price on the M2 or M3, save the money and use it for other components in your studio.
Please consider Bitwig in your comparison!!!
Ah bro i can't wait for your review
Can you test for studio one if you can when you get it? Love the videos!!!!
Please do a best-of-the-old vs worst-of-the-new where you compare M1 Max 64GB vs Your new M4
I'm strongly considering upgrading to an M4 Max from my M1 Max just for the Thunderbolt 5 option which will allow me to daisy chain 2x more Thunderbolt devices than Thunderbolt 4 which could cut down on cables. Also 12 P-cores would be a nice upgrade from 8 in the M1 Max. But I'm going to wait for reviews to come out and see if it is a substantial gain since M2 & M3 were not enough for me to justify upgrading. Great break down as always!
thanks a lot...nice work ...will be great to see some measurements with Cubase + M4 chips
Great video! Do you have any thoughts about the future of file sizes regarding hard drive capacity? Do you see music apps and plugins making the 512gb ssd too small any time soon?
Can’t wait!🔥🔥🔥🔥
What about comparing the M4 Mac mini’s memory bandwidth against the M2 Mac mini’s? Is that a consideration?
Great content, James! Looking forward to your M4 DAW performance tests. Please test the unbinned version of the M4 Pro Mac Mini, to see how hot the CPU gets, and how much fan noise we get. The cooling solution looks kinda minimal for sustained high loads, but hopefully it will be fine.
Thanks! I'm not too worry about the thermals when it comes to Apple Silicon chips, honestly. I tested the passively cooled M2 MBA and it was totally able to run large mixing sessions no problem (I did a video on it!). Getting a Mac Mini is in the plans!
This is really helpful! I;m thinking of getting the M4 mini for music production and light general use. Would I be better off putting my money into more ram and just getting the 256gb ssd, or would it be better to get the 512gb ssd and less ram? Is the ram more important than the ssd? You’ve mentioned in other comments about amount of samples used determines ram needed, but how much is “too many samples” thank you.
Bought an M3Pro (14c, 36Gb RAM) earlier this year; while I knew new one's where coming around this time, and the M4 would be worth the wait; I needed the laptop back then... So curious about the comparison! But my M3 is doing just fine for now (Nuendo user)
I was the same, but so far enjoying the M3 Pro. 🙂
You made the right choice. There's always the next gen chip coming. We could be getting M5 in Q1 2025? Who knows. The bottom line is that these Apple Silicon Macs are all incredible. I'm still using my M1 Max machine as my daily driver. The fact that new gen chips came out doesn't mean the previous gen chips stop being powerful chips!
@@JamesZhan Thank you James. A little like Brian Tong often says, these Apple silicon Macs are so good… Although I watch & appreciate your videos, I thought for the music work I’m doing a present the M3 will be more than enough. Also I have a great deal with Sky where I pay monthly & after 3 years can upgrade!
I do look forward to your test results though with the M4 Pro.
Thanks again James.
There’s no m3 pro with 14 c just m3 max
Will you be testing the m4 Pro 24G unified?
Please include Digital Performer in your Daw testing.
A man of good taste, I see.
Can you pls cover what this new bandwidth will mean for music?
Also, this inclusion of Bluetooth 5 - what it means for external drives and Sampling.
Thanks
Thank you for your videos. Currently running 2018 intel i7 Mac mini and Right now I’m struggling between a studio M2 Max vs Mac mini m4 pro 64g. Using logic and mostly Native instruments plugins and vst. Any suggestions?
Great video..But..The 16 core version of the M4 max chip is also available on the 14" ..
Good catch! Will put the correct info in the pinned comment :)
Cheers mate👍😉 Look forward to the hands on test👊
I know you addressed this in an earlier video, do you know if any of the recent Pro Tools releases are tapping into the efficiency cores yet?
I'm currently thinking of getting the Mac Mini M4Pro 12-Core CPU, 16-Core GPU with 24GB of ram. Do you think 24GB is too low for music production?
It all depends on who many sample libraries you use in your projects, as those are what will use RAM. But generally speaking 24GB should be abundant for music production.
Do you think I’m better off with m4 pro with 48gb or m3 max with 36 gb of ram? I would use it for video editing and music production
I'm looking to by the basic Mac Mini 16Gb and SSD512. My M1 Max full loaded was too much. Do you think that 24Gb could help much more for me that don't use so much sample libraries?
If you don't use many sample libraries, 16GB should suffice
Heard they’re “handicapping” the new models (started with the M3 and now the m4) by reducing rams bandwidth speeds in order to squeeze more money from their users! The m2 ram bandwidth was 200 GB/s, the m4’s bandwidth is 100 GB/s!
It also doesn’t increase if you add more ram! You have to upgrade the chip to get faster ram speeds!
You don’t even get it. It’s ssd speed not ram. And 273gb/s on the pro is more than enough
What kind of music do you produce
I wanna see the out takes for this video, because these naming conventions are out of control....thre is no way you did this is one take, well done :)
👆This guy knows lol I don't even want to talk about it 😂
Less I/O so now I'd need to buy a second dock. What is with Apple always cutting back on connectivity. It's not helping.
With thunderbolt, you can get something like the Caldigit TS4 and call it a day. It's what I use and I just plug this one single dock into my Mac and all my connectivity needs are covered. People connect so many things nowadays that I think it would look ridiculous for Apple to put so many ports on the computer.
Bro ily!
but why 14 inc, 12 core. Go for the base 16 model
Because then I can compare the 12-core M4 Pro to the 12-core M3 Pro. To me, matching the total core count makes more sense as a comparison because most people look at the total core count when buying a Mac. You can't even see how many efficiency cores and performance cores a chip has when you are configuring your Mac.
power button location is a joke, and dimensions will be a mess for rackmounting in some Sonnet rack (doesn't fit in 1U anymore)
I'm for the new power button location haha.
1) doesn't take much to lift the Mac mini a little
2) you might not even need to lift it depending on your finger size
3) many people say they often accidentally press the power button on their M2 Mac mini
4) many Mac users don't power off their Mac regularly. I can't remember when I last shut down my Mac lol
5) it's already highly common for electronics to have their power button hidden. Many displays' power button is at the back. Treadmills have the power button at the bottom. Some speakers also have the power button at the back etc.
what for camera do you use for ur videos?
Sony A7 III! All my gear is listed in the video description :)
goated
literally just bought a M2 mini a day before the M4 announcement 🥲🥲🥲🥲🥲
You have a 7 day return window or something like that. Get to an Apple Store!!!