Is the M4 Pro Mac mini REALLY as good as it's cracked up to be? Benchmarks...on my channel? Yup...that's right! And then a chunky Final Cut Pro 11 export. How do you use your Mac mini and what specs did you go for?
I would like to get a computer for making orchestral music, and then as much RAM as possible it preferred, and with the Macbook pro maxing out at 48GB with the M4 pro, I started to consider if a need a laptop with battery, or if a "portabel" mac mini would be fine. I would anyway like to get a pen display to bring with me, and would have done that even with a laptop, and in many situations I would be able to dock with another screen and not use the built in screen that much anyway. (But I do get car-sick, so there are very few situations when I would be able to use a laptop on the go). Besides the price difference is almost enough to get a Macbook Air with base spec's, if I later realize that I need a laptop for surfing and working with text documents. it would have been cool if there was support to use an air as a screen, some iMacs in the past supported that, but I don't think current Airs support that (of course their displays don't match that of a Macbook pro, so it would not be the best of 2 worlds).
@@DavidLewisTech The RAM offerings in this generation is confusing though. M4 Pro in Mac mini with 64GB, but only 48GB in the macbook pro. The binned M4 Max, with only the option of 36GB, so you can't pick the binned Max, if you want more RAM rather than a better CPU. With the M3, the binned max got up to 96GB of RAM, if that was still the case, it would make more sense, as then you might have to accept not being able to get more than 48GB with the pro, but there would still be the binned option of the Max for more RAM. But now you have to go for the Maxed Max to be able to get 64GB of RAM or more. And that jump is way to big. With the M3, it was also the case that due to the P-core and E-core configurations, the M3 Max offered a lot more performance in many use cases compared to the M3 Pros. So in terms of RAM options for Macbooks, you are not spoiled in terms for choices.
UBB C is a port you can stick anything into, including an SD card adapter, but the only thing you can stick in an SD port is a SD card which comes in two sizes, one of which needs an adapter.
Hi Peter - good point and I'm aware that not everyone is a video editor. It was just one minor point - but as you can probably tell I love this Mac mini and don't have one bad thing to say about it!
Agreed, a USB port will allow SxS card readers, CF Express A or B, external SSD drives from an Atomos, the list goes on. Not having a card reader that only does 2 cards, isn’t a big deal for my workflow. I’ll take more USB ports any day.
If I decide to use the mini Pro to replace my MBP (which I am considering) then I'll hook up my Ivanky dock to it rather than using the Anker one that you saw me use in the video
@@DavidLewisTech Which is best, why and what are the ports on each. I have a Macbook Pro M1 Pro and have been looking for a good dock that simply multiplies the USB C ports. Nearly all docks have a lot of irrelevant USB A, SD cards, Ethernet ports which are all usable with simple small cheap adapters. Of which I have a drawer full.
@@DavidLewisTech I'M looking forward to BUY NEXT YEAR ONE OF THIS "M4 PRO 48 GB 1or2 TB . JUST waiting to see.. if it actually gets easy to "swap" with inside storage with not too complicated Storage units. ( without involving soldering of chips ... people doing it already .. I saw on other videos ) ..OR my better idea is to wait for under neat aftermarket MINI HUB- with Thunderbolt 5, where has m.2 to use the (Crucial New 2024 T705 4TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe M.2 SSD with Heatsink - Up to 14,100 MB/s) ... I already saw a PRE-orders for this hub google it and let me know if u can do some testing in the future.. to see results, because if you can utilize this 14,000 mb/s with the mini.. will be sick. THE NAME OF THE HUB IS : RayCue ... the only thing that they don't mention if the connection is basic Type-C or Thun 4/5 towards the MINI M4 !?! :)
I don't understand how the M1 Max is still performing up against the m4. That's pretty crazy when you think about it. Thank you for the video. Great work.
My thoughts exactly! When I was ordering the Pro and trading down from a Max I was sure I'd be making a mistake! But as much as these M4 chips are staggering, it just proves how good ALL Apple silicon is
2 місяці тому+1
Simple, because he was testing GPU in this specific benchmark and the Max chips have way more memory bandwidth and more than twice GPU cores.
Love your videos soo far David, you are giving some hope with the Mac minis. can you please advise if it’s ok to buy the base model M4 Mac mini to edit 4k videos without any hiccups on Final Cut pros, after effects & photoshop files as well? Thanks in advance
Yes, absolutely! When I was using the non-pro mini, it was very nearly as good as the Pro. You can see the test in this video - I pulled no punches...what you saw is what I achieved with it. I would have settled for it if I wasn't doing this full time. It's a great Mac!
Now this is what I call a comparison. Great work David! Thank you so much for making this an also listening to your viewers and what they want to know. Great stuff!
...what is it they say....if it was easy everyone would do it right! This video I started Saturday morning and took me around 50 hours to shoot, produce, edit and upload...but I'm pretty chuffed with the results 👍🏻
@ Wow! And so you should be, I loved all of the new graphics too, worked incredibly well with the newer style of content! Well that makes me feel a lot better, I felt like me wasting a few hours of filming and then deciding I wasn't happy with it was a huge waste, I think I am trying to do too much too early, and might just focus on a 1 camera setup and go from there. Thanks for the reply, greatly appreciated! And I look forward to hopefully joining you on a project in the future! But one step at a time!
Glad you like it! A little background story that I wouldn't normally share...this video took me 50 hours to make! I started it Saturday morning! Thanks for watching and commenting bro
Great video new subscriber. Minor quibble- in future charts, can you use a rounder font and a touch bigger? Those oldies reading on an iPhone need help lol
Heya mate, I'm a recent Australian subscriber to you (was an easy choice!) Your content is great. Well presented. Good on you for benchmarks. It's not overtly my thing, since so many other subscribers do it. I've got this in my cart right now: * Apple M4 Pro chip with 14‑core CPU, 20‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine * 48GB unified memory * 1TB SSD storage + Magic Keyboard & Magic Trackpad All up $3,517 (AUD) - bloody pricey. I'm currently running a MacBook Pro 14" (M1) - 2021. Only having one computer, it's going to be handy having a dedicated desktop. The price is a killer though. I'm still ummm'ing and arrr'ing over the Pro Vs No-Pro chip. Arrrrgghhh. For me, general use browsing use, IOS and Android development + Logic Pro. Keep up the great content Dave! Simply brilliant mate!
Hey Ben - it's great to hear from you and thanks for such amazing feedback. The Mac in your cart is more or less the same as mine. I've started to use it this week as my main machine (over my M1 Max MBP - it's that good!). You might want to check out the latest episode of my Minus Sixteen podcast (that I host with an Aussie funnily enough) where we chat over this exact problem at some length. Also, the video I am working on now looks into this issue too 👍🏻 Will Daniel FINALLY switch to Apple silicon? Fold SE hands-on, Mac Mini & MKBHD dramas! | Ep. 74 ua-cam.com/video/Q0ViWefDLgs/v-deo.html
@@DavidLewisTech : You're most welcome, my friend! FYI: I've known about you for quite some time (many, MANY months) - But via Medium! Your articles always come up in my newsletter feeds to read your content! Nice hey?! As you can see, I finally found you on UA-cam as well. Yep, having watched your videos I can see the spec selected is the same. I look at the spec above @ $3,517.00 (educational discount - as I'm doing some post grad study) - Vs the Non Pro M4 @ 32gb unified memory @ $1989.00 - Such a massive difference in price. However, the faster disk speeds and thunderbolt 5 - kinda of win me over. Such a tough choice. IMHO, I don't think I'll utilise the power of the pro - but it's nicely forward compatible. My wife has said, "Just get the pro. You don't spend any money in life. Why don't you shout yourself for a change?" - lol. I'll have a listen to the podcast now Dave. You're a good man! thanks again! Benjamin edit: I just followed you on Medium! haha. Sorry for the delay!
So - I'm just sitting here replying to messages and doing admin. I still manage (just!) to reply to everyone. I think it's important - I've always said that if folks are kind enough to watch me and take time to comment, I need to find the time to reply...just me maybe... Your wife is spot on. You are going to buy this thing once and it will last you for years. You're getting the educational discount as well, so just checkout and enjoy it! As you'll see next week I liked it so much I've just gone out and bought a new USBC keyboard/mouse/trackpad for it! That says it all! Medium eh! Yup...I love writing. I just sit down with a coffee and bang out a story and I thoroughly enjoy it! The fact you've followed me there and given me a sub here as well...Friday is turning into a good day!
@@DavidLewisTech Heya mate! :-) Let me say thanks for your efforts in replying to 'all'. That's a tough gig. But of course, gets engagement on your channel. It's very obvious from my perspective the effort you put in. So Good Sir! I've DONE THE DEED and purchased the Mac Mini Pro with the aforementioned specs. It will be delievered around the 17th Decemeber. Whooo Hoooo. My wife breathed a sigh of relief when the transaction was completed! hahaha. Happy wife, happy life right? Medium is great, I love that platform. Awesome to read creators, their ideas, thoughts and all things on the world. Take care and of course, I'll let you know how the new beast goes! 🙂 I'm glad you're having an amazing Friday!
Well done Ben - you will have gone to bed a happy man! My bet is that Apple will deliver earlier than they've promised. Without exception, everyone I know who placed a customer order had theirs delivered earlier than the first quoted due date. And yeah, let me know how you get along with it Ben 👍🏼
I wondered if you uploaded a new video on the new mini and I found out you just did less than an hour ago haha. tnx I’m working from home most of the time and once a week I’m working from my parents house so I really want to have two mac minis, one for each location. I really torn between getting the m4 mini base model (maybe with 512GB) now and use it as my main machine until the m4 studio base model comes out and then buy it, use it as my main machine and place the mini base model in my parents house. The other option is to buy now two minis: - M4 10/10 16/256 - for my parents house - I need it just for stock market trading. - M4 Pro 12/16 48/1TB 10Gbps or maybe M4 Pro 14/2048/512 10Gbps - as my main machine. Maybe you can help me with that decision. The upcoming m4 studio will have basically the same/better specs than the m4 pro and it comes with 10gbps and also will have more ports and better thermals. I don’t really need that power and i do love the mini form factor but I hate fan noise.
@ I thought about it already and since I have the iPad Pro m4 1TB it’s clearly enough for my portability usage/needs so I don’t really need a laptop. Also, I’m going to use it always in clamshell mode so it’s a bit of a waste haha..and on top of that, it has worse fan noise under load
@@DavidLewisTech I definitely enjoyed watching it. I know that my first comment was way long, but I will be happy if you can help me deciding which route to take , thank you
Another great review, I agree for most people, even for some major video editing, the Mini or Mini Pro is all you need. I almost upgraded to the Mini Pro, until I saw some graphic tests that even now the current Studio beats the Mini Pro due to the massive amount of GPU cores. So maybe if you do lots of heavy graphic work, 3d rendering, effects, or want to work with local AI or generative AI, then maybe wait and see. It's so hard not to jump on this but I just decided I'm waiting until March when we hear something about the Studio. The Mini Pro with 20 GPU cores is just too close to what the Studio will cost, I would kick myself if the Studio was $500 more with a M4 Max chip plus 2 times the GPU cores, and even more. Graphical performance of the Studio will be insane, I'm really hoping it beats a PC with a Nvidia 4090 for AI, but we shall see. I just strictly need more graphical performance, more GPU cores since I will be doing more and more graphical and 3D work with generative AI in the workflow. So just keep it in mind if your ready to lay down over 2k, certain use cases might be wise to wait a few months to see the Studio, otherwise jump on the base Mini Pro or even just the base model for most, if you have extra $$ always bump the memory, I regret that every time.
Hi Fred - I think you are making a really logical decision...also I admire your restraint and will power with waiting until spring 2025! If the UA-cam gods are kind to me, I'd love to try one of those next year too...up against my mini Pro. But as your work is all graphics - you are making a smart choice my friend!
I have been waiting all week for this-thank you so much for the content you produce. I was on the fence between the M4 and the M4 pro, but your excellent information has moved me towards your earlier suggestion of the M4/512GB SSD/24GB ram. Unfortunately I am coming from an Intel iMac, so I will need to purchase all the necessary peripherals. I miss the days when you can use the iMac in target display mode.
To know this video has helped is the best feedback I could get - so thank you. It's odd isn't it, for all of Apple's zero emissions and green policies, there are all these fantastic, redundant iMacs sitting around that could be used as displays. It's a crime! Bring back Target Display - the petition starts here. I think I can feel a Short coming on actually!!
The thing about SD cards is outside of those working with photos and videos very few people ever actually touch them. In both of those worlds SD cards also are not the standard they once were either. Many higher end cameras are moving to CFexpress B or other types of faster cards. On the video side there is also an increase in recording directly to SSD. Either recorded externally like on a Ninja V or on cameras that support recording directly to an attached SSd. Blackmagic camera, and some Panasonic and Fuji cameras for example. Even the iPhone shooters are now more likely to shoot directly to a SSD drive. SD card slots are nice but its also once of the easiest and cheapest things to add to a system. I really don't see it as a big deal and for many in the photo and video world they are still likely needing to use an external reader of some kind anyway.
I love your reasoned argument - and you've won me over. I realise SD cards are for the minority - in all the years of using my 27-inch iMac I never used it for example. And you are right, when I finally switch cameras I will almost certainly get one that records to SSD. Thanks again d
@DavidLewisTech I'm seeing the m4 mac mini base model going for £530 at some places and £500 from apples education Web site, it might be worth picking that up and waiting to upgrade to the m5 or m6 chip in the future, as you'd probably sell it for £350 and it's such a capable machine for today's needs
Great video, thanks for all the work that went into this. I ordered a new pro version with the extra cores and 64mb of memory, hoping this will fix issue I had with it struggling (oddly) with dropbox doing an initial large sync in the background and falling over when building large databases
I love Dropbox - I use smart sync on all my devices. From my experience, I think you'll be fine. These M4 minis are a whole new experience. I may even ditch my MacBook Pro!
A really great overview and comparison of multiple models. Would it be possible to make a short video on the GPU performance across the same models. There has been next to nothing on the Mac minis performance in 3D apps like Blender or the bforartists fork of it. Would be good to see After Effects or Apple's Motion too, to see how the GPU stacks up in both rendering and whilst working in the environments.
@@DavidLewisTech Thanks for replying! Sorry I don't have an AE project and I don't use it often, but I have a animation short project that I am just starting, it's a mixture of hand drawn and 3D that will need AE or Apple Motion in the next couple of months. I think PugetBench would work, as it would allow me and others to compare against PC builds too. If you could show how any of these programmes feel to use in the new M4 models that would also be really beneficial. There are quite a few people game testing, but there just isn't an awful lot of production GPU comparison tests out there. With the updated raytracing hardware, I have a feeling that the Mini's could be a real powerhouse for 3D and effects. Love the channel and thanks again for all the hard work you have put in already!
Thanks, Charlie - glad you are liking the content sir! I will see if I can find any AE templates - also my studio is above some architects - I will see what 3D programs they have...
Great video! I am tempted to go for the Mac Mini 24Gb Ram and 512Gb storage (I don’t need it right now, but want it badly), that one is right now on Amazon at a good discount price! !5k subs? I bet you will go over 20k before the end of the year!
Tb 5 is double the speed of tb4, so 80gb up and down. The 120 comes from the fact that it’s got 4 lanes. With a display it can run 3 lanes up to the display, and one back. So rather than 80/80 it can do 120/40 in that mode. With storage, it’s always 80/80. Still pretty fast though!
if they make good TB5 enclosures, you will almost reach the max read/write speeds of the nvme you put inside it, and that externally. Or you could use 2x TB4/USB4 enclosures and get the same performance for both drives on th same port.
Dave, been looking forward to this one. Can anyone give me some advice please - I run Parallels on my Mac so that I have access to the windows OS but it is too slow on my current MBP. Is it necessary to go for the mini pro chip or will the standard m4 with upgraded RAM suffice? Is the pro chip mainly for graphic related work? Thanks
@@DavidLewisTech was this question ever answered. I am in the same predicament am about to order a new Mac mini and was thinking about getting same specs as you, just want to be sure about it running parallels all ok? great video btw. I'm only just come across your channel and you produce amazing content and I'm now a new sub!
Hi there - thanks for the sub, fella👍🏻 No, I've not seen an answer to this yet - does anyone know how Parallels runs on an M4 Mac mini? Any help would be greatly appreciated
@@DavidLewisTech Thanks for the reply David. I did some searching last night on the parallels forum(s) and from what I can see being reported it works well on both the base M4 and M4 pro chips. Some users were suggesting 24gb ram was plenty. I think where it will become essential for more ram and the extra GPU's is if ppl are using parallels for gaming etc. In my case its only for a certain application related to my work which won't work with Mac OS, so I think my original plan of going for the config you have gone for will be slightly overkill BUT my thought process is it will future proof for a good couple of years etc. Anyway looking forward to your future videos.
I honestly love the community feeling we are building on the channel. It's always great to hear from you, and where ever possible, I'll always try to help!
Mate - 50 hours went into this video! Honestly, I don't think you'll need a Pro. Get a bit of extra memory in the basic M4 config and you'll be set. Catch ya on the pod on Friday
This would have been an excellent time for Apple to change their strategy, and launch a The Mac, to replace the studio, and only offer M4 Max as the best chip, and keep the ultra dual chip design for the Pro series only. Possibly introducing a Max plus chip or one with another name, if they wait until july, or do one for the M5 and not wait 2 years for the update, it would be nice if they could have a stationary chip that offered a bit more performance than the Maxed max chip, but wasn't the dual chip ultra.
@@DavidLewisTech There are music plugins that are very resource demanding, so the Max is useful, if you can afford it, and the option of 96GB and 128GB of ram is only available for the Max. And there are probably 3D renderings and Video project renderings where the Pro could struggle, even for hobby uers or lower end professionals. So I would say that the Mx Max still makes sense in high end consumer / Pro-sumer / lower end Pro system. At this point, if the dropped the studio, since the M2 is two years old, and the M4 chips took a good leap in terms of performance, there would only be a significant drop in GPU performance compared to the Maxed out ultra, and on most cases the CPU of the M4 Max would still outperform the M2 Ultra, even the maxed out version. (for the maxed out M1 ultra and the binned M2 ultra, the GPU is about 25 faster, but the CPU performance is much better with the M4 Max) If they introduce a Mac studio with the M4 Ultra inside, it is possible that an opportunity like this will not arise again, where the Max chip will still be an update compared to most experience with the ultra chips on offer. It would clean up the line so much. Both in terms of Naming, if they have the Mac mini, The mac, Mac Pro. But also in terms of what product makes sense for different categories of users. The Mac Pro, is quite a bit more expensive compared to the studio, so many that would like the Pcix for storage, still go for the studio instead. If you had to go for the studio to be able to get the Ultra chipset (it would also offer the advantage of actually being able to cool it, to get the most out of it), then it would be an easier choice, you simple have no option and you also get the opportunity of expanding the storage internally. And they could even offer The Mac with Mx Pro CPUs, but with more ports and better cooling (and possibly with 32GB/1TB as baseline), so that some that would consider the Mac Mini would start considering The Mac and then possibly even end up being convinced to go for the Mx Max cpu.
i ask CHATGPT build windows strong same as Mac Mini M4 and the result is : CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K or AMD Ryzen 7 7700 GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3060 (12GB) or AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT RAM: 16GB DDR5-5200 or 32GB DDR4-3600 SSD: Samsung 970 EVO or WD Black SN770 Do this right? Or Apple buy CHATGPT lol?
Running Cinebench R24 between my 7800X3D desktop and my M4 Pro 14 Core CPU / 20 Core GPU MB Pro (There has to be an easier way to type that) I'm shocked by how much it slaps the desktop CPU in CPU performance.
I'm so disappointed with my M4 Mac Mini Pro 20CPU/64GB. I'm training ML models using CreateML and it's not faster at all!!!! than my Intel iMac 2020 27inch, 3.8GHz 40GB RAM. What a bummer :(
Hey, I'm sorry to hear that. Honestly, it's the only negative comment I've heard about the Mac mini. I'm guessing that CreateML must be pushing things hard
@@DavidLewisTech I saw one thread in the Apple Support forum (a guy complaining about opening apps and some other problems not related to CreateML app) but it was after I typed "Mac Mini M4 Pro CreateML performance problems". I hope it's because the app is not optimized (even though it's Apple's native app!). I haven't yet tried other stuff because I didn't have time for it. On iMac it took 10.5 hours, on this Mac Mini it took 10hours (30mis faster). I was checking "About This Mac" two times because I thought that maybe they shipped the wrong model! But no, there was not mistake.
New sub here. Great channel. Would you be so kind as to answer a few questions. I mostly use Final Cut Pro & Photoshop to create videos on my Billy Luna Crime Stories YT channel. I am working in 1080p, but plan to start working in 4k. Currently I am Using a Sandisk Extreme Pro SSD (2TB & 4TB) to edit off whilst using FCP. I like to use Final Cut Pro, Photoshop and 40 web browser tabs open simultaneously. 1) For my needs, which exact configuration of the new M4 Mac Mini should I get? (Pro or no, RAM, SSD) These are the two configurations that I have been mulling: $1,079.00 Apple M4 chip with 10‑core CPU, 10‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine 32GB unified memory Or $1,799.00 512GB SSD storage Apple M4 Pro chip with 12‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine 48GB unified memory 512GB SSD storage 2) Is there any speed or performance advantage in going with a 1 TB SSD vs 512? 3) Do I need to worry about fan noise when I’m recording on camera video or voice over?
Hello, im no expert nor a techie, but have been binging in these reviews of MacMini and i think i have some idea as to your questions being answered based on what i have aggregated. (1) Definitely go for the Pro with as much RAM as you can afford. If you were only using Photoshop and remained at 1080p, the M4 Mini might work. Or for me, with a use case of mainly graphics and web, with the occasional video as hobby, i concluded that a maximum RAM on the basic M4 would do. Apple does have a method to this price tier madness. Video editing in 4K meant the Pro chip at the very least. (2) A reviewer I watched caught differences in speed between the 256Gb and 512Gb internal, with the latter going faster and closer to the 40Gbps rated speed, and the 256 running less than 30Gbps. I have not seen any speed comparison between 512 & 1TB though. (3) Most reviewers do talk of fan noise and throttling with the M4 chip generally whether base, Pro or Max - the latter in particular. But only with benchmarking apps, not real world use case. Those benchmarks are equivalent to trying to stitch panoramic HD images all day long, or running machine learning code for building AI apps all day long or some major 3D rendering as that would tax any system. But i guess if you plan to use external SSDs as you main drive, it would even mean the fan noise issue may already have a workaround. Hope this helps. 😊
Hi Billy - thanks for the sub fella. Right, let's get into answering your questions then...your workflow is ever so similar to mine and similar to what you saw in the video. I once tried editing from an external SSD and had overheating problems. But assuming you don't and are happy to edit from that then I'd suggest: M4 with 10‑core CPU, 10‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine 512GB SSD 24GB/32GB memory (I think 24GB will be enough). Does that help? That M4 mini (non-Pro you saw) was dealing with 3D graphics, plugins, ProRes LOG and colour grading. It handled it fine - with NO fan noise. D
Depends on expectations. With medium settings you can run many AAA games at 40-60 fps. Now, for this money a gaming pc will do double that, at higher settings. But, if you want a Mac, these can also game a bit. Better than older macs.
Get over the SD card slot misinformation. SD is a SLOW format. I do not want to pay for a redundant built in feature. My camera Nikon Z9 for example does not have an SD slot - for a very good reason. Apple can see that card formats are changing, you should too. Loved the rest of the video but not the SD card slot complaint.
Is the M4 Pro Mac mini REALLY as good as it's cracked up to be? Benchmarks...on my channel? Yup...that's right! And then a chunky Final Cut Pro 11 export. How do you use your Mac mini and what specs did you go for?
I would like to get a computer for making orchestral music, and then as much RAM as possible it preferred, and with the Macbook pro maxing out at 48GB with the M4 pro, I started to consider if a need a laptop with battery, or if a "portabel" mac mini would be fine. I would anyway like to get a pen display to bring with me, and would have done that even with a laptop, and in many situations I would be able to dock with another screen and not use the built in screen that much anyway. (But I do get car-sick, so there are very few situations when I would be able to use a laptop on the go). Besides the price difference is almost enough to get a Macbook Air with base spec's, if I later realize that I need a laptop for surfing and working with text documents. it would have been cool if there was support to use an air as a screen, some iMacs in the past supported that, but I don't think current Airs support that (of course their displays don't match that of a Macbook pro, so it would not be the best of 2 worlds).
we are spoilt for choice right now. This is a great time to be a Mac user
@@DavidLewisTech The RAM offerings in this generation is confusing though. M4 Pro in Mac mini with 64GB, but only 48GB in the macbook pro. The binned M4 Max, with only the option of 36GB, so you can't pick the binned Max, if you want more RAM rather than a better CPU. With the M3, the binned max got up to 96GB of RAM, if that was still the case, it would make more sense, as then you might have to accept not being able to get more than 48GB with the pro, but there would still be the binned option of the Max for more RAM. But now you have to go for the Maxed Max to be able to get 64GB of RAM or more. And that jump is way to big. With the M3, it was also the case that due to the P-core and E-core configurations, the M3 Max offered a lot more performance in many use cases compared to the M3 Pros.
So in terms of RAM options for Macbooks, you are not spoiled in terms for choices.
It still amazes me how good the M1 Max chip still it
Hi David. I must have missed it but is this the 12 core M4Pro or 14 core M4Pro ?
UBB C is a port you can stick anything into, including an SD card adapter, but the only thing you can stick in an SD port is a SD card which comes in two sizes, one of which needs an adapter.
Great point
Hi Peter - good point and I'm aware that not everyone is a video editor. It was just one minor point - but as you can probably tell I love this Mac mini and don't have one bad thing to say about it!
Agreed, a USB port will allow SxS card readers, CF Express A or B, external SSD drives from an Atomos, the list goes on. Not having a card reader that only does 2 cards, isn’t a big deal for my workflow. I’ll take more USB ports any day.
If I decide to use the mini Pro to replace my MBP (which I am considering) then I'll hook up my Ivanky dock to it rather than using the Anker one that you saw me use in the video
@@DavidLewisTech Which is best, why and what are the ports on each.
I have a Macbook Pro M1 Pro and have been looking for a good dock that simply multiplies the USB C ports. Nearly all docks have a lot of irrelevant USB A, SD cards, Ethernet ports which are all usable with simple small cheap adapters. Of which I have a drawer full.
Amazing how far these computers are coming. These M4s smoke my current custom built PC Geekbench scores haha. That is wild.
I know - so powerful, so small, so quiet and affordable...they are possibly the best Mac ever
excellent work we were waiting for this one 😎🤙
It took me a while - lots of data in this video, but hopefully, you found it useful and interesting 🙏🏻
FINALLY A VIDEO WITH 48GB MINI PRO... GREAT VIDEO SIR !
Thank you Emil! I'm glad you enjoyed it. I love the Mac mini so much that I've just bought a new USB-C keyboard, mouse and trackpad for it!
@@DavidLewisTech I'M looking forward to BUY NEXT YEAR ONE OF THIS "M4 PRO 48 GB 1or2 TB . JUST waiting to see.. if it actually gets easy to "swap" with inside storage with not too complicated Storage units. ( without involving soldering of chips ... people doing it already .. I saw on other videos ) ..OR my better idea is to wait for under neat aftermarket MINI HUB- with Thunderbolt 5, where has m.2 to use the (Crucial New 2024 T705 4TB PCIe Gen5 NVMe M.2 SSD with Heatsink - Up to 14,100 MB/s) ... I already saw a PRE-orders for this hub google it and let me know if u can do some testing in the future.. to see results, because if you can utilize this 14,000 mb/s with the mini.. will be sick. THE NAME OF THE HUB IS : RayCue ... the only thing that they don't mention if the connection is basic Type-C or Thun 4/5 towards the MINI M4 !?! :)
Absolutely fantastic video. Well done. You’re killing it!
🙏🏼 Thank you! Feedback like that matters so much! I have another video coming out this week with some further thoughts on the Mac mini Pro!
Useful! debating between Mini pro and mac book pro 14"
Thank you - I hope it was useful 🙏🏻
Great video David, much appreciated!
@@paulwoodward8265 thanks Paul. This one took a lot of making! I needed to sit down for a bit after editing this video
Subscribed!
thank you so much! 🙏🏻
I don't understand how the M1 Max is still performing up against the m4. That's pretty crazy when you think about it. Thank you for the video. Great work.
My thoughts exactly! When I was ordering the Pro and trading down from a Max I was sure I'd be making a mistake! But as much as these M4 chips are staggering, it just proves how good ALL Apple silicon is
Simple, because he was testing GPU in this specific benchmark and the Max chips have way more memory bandwidth and more than twice GPU cores.
Love your videos soo far David, you are giving some hope with the Mac minis. can you please advise if it’s ok to buy the base model M4 Mac mini to edit 4k videos without any hiccups on Final Cut pros, after effects & photoshop files as well? Thanks in advance
Yes, absolutely! When I was using the non-pro mini, it was very nearly as good as the Pro. You can see the test in this video - I pulled no punches...what you saw is what I achieved with it. I would have settled for it if I wasn't doing this full time. It's a great Mac!
Now this is what I call a comparison. Great work David! Thank you so much for making this an also listening to your viewers and what they want to know. Great stuff!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for taking the time to watch and give me that feedback 👍🏻
Lovely work as always my Friend! Absolutely loving the videos you put out! I Appreciate the time and effort it takes you. 🎉
Thank you so much 😀. That means so much!! Cheers Tony
@ I have been filming mine for the past few days, and now I realise just how much work is involved haha :) It's not as easy as I thought :/
...what is it they say....if it was easy everyone would do it right! This video I started Saturday morning and took me around 50 hours to shoot, produce, edit and upload...but I'm pretty chuffed with the results 👍🏻
@ Wow! And so you should be, I loved all of the new graphics too, worked incredibly well with the newer style of content! Well that makes me feel a lot better, I felt like me wasting a few hours of filming and then deciding I wasn't happy with it was a huge waste, I think I am trying to do too much too early, and might just focus on a 1 camera setup and go from there. Thanks for the reply, greatly appreciated! And I look forward to hopefully joining you on a project in the future! But one step at a time!
I'm always here for you Tony. It can be lonely, tough and demoralising, but overall it is so rewarding!
Hi David! I went MBP in the end - M4 Pro with the 20 core GPU, 48GB RAM, 1TB SSD and the nano display … arrives 2 Dec !
Just got the same one apart from storage and ntd is an absolute beast great choice.
Yikes!! That thing will be awesome mate! An M4 MacBook Pro. 48GB memory - just like my mini Pro! I bet you are counting down the days eh!
cool - a great choice 👍🏻
@ Thank you! It’s already shipped to store so hopefully I might have it by the weekend or early next week!
@@itz_wallace3681 thank you! Do you have yours already?
Would the Mac Mini Pro be good enough for Adobe After Effects and Premier Pro?
I don't do much in AE but it worked fine for the basic tasks I tried in it - and Premiere... absolutely! I am a huge Adobe user
Damnn! Love the graphics and animations in this video. Make it looks very polished and clean.
Glad you like it! A little background story that I wouldn't normally share...this video took me 50 hours to make! I started it Saturday morning! Thanks for watching and commenting bro
Nice & Thanks :)
No problem! 🤛🏻
Great video new subscriber. Minor quibble- in future charts, can you use a rounder font and a touch bigger? Those oldies reading on an iPhone need help lol
Absolutely! I feel ya pain! Thanks for the sub 🙏🏼
Heya mate, I'm a recent Australian subscriber to you (was an easy choice!) Your content is great. Well presented. Good on you for benchmarks. It's not overtly my thing, since so many other subscribers do it.
I've got this in my cart right now:
* Apple M4 Pro chip with 14‑core CPU, 20‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
* 48GB unified memory
* 1TB SSD storage
+ Magic Keyboard & Magic Trackpad
All up $3,517 (AUD) - bloody pricey.
I'm currently running a MacBook Pro 14" (M1) - 2021. Only having one computer, it's going to be handy having a dedicated desktop. The price is a killer though. I'm still ummm'ing and arrr'ing over the Pro Vs No-Pro chip. Arrrrgghhh.
For me, general use browsing use, IOS and Android development + Logic Pro.
Keep up the great content Dave! Simply brilliant mate!
Hey Ben - it's great to hear from you and thanks for such amazing feedback.
The Mac in your cart is more or less the same as mine. I've started to use it this week as my main machine (over my M1 Max MBP - it's that good!). You might want to check out the latest episode of my Minus Sixteen podcast (that I host with an Aussie funnily enough) where we chat over this exact problem at some length.
Also, the video I am working on now looks into this issue too 👍🏻
Will Daniel FINALLY switch to Apple silicon? Fold SE hands-on, Mac Mini & MKBHD dramas! | Ep. 74
ua-cam.com/video/Q0ViWefDLgs/v-deo.html
@@DavidLewisTech : You're most welcome, my friend!
FYI: I've known about you for quite some time (many, MANY months) - But via Medium! Your articles always come up in my newsletter feeds to read your content! Nice hey?! As you can see, I finally found you on UA-cam as well.
Yep, having watched your videos I can see the spec selected is the same.
I look at the spec above @ $3,517.00 (educational discount - as I'm doing some post grad study) - Vs the Non Pro M4 @ 32gb unified memory @ $1989.00 - Such a massive difference in price. However, the faster disk speeds and thunderbolt 5 - kinda of win me over. Such a tough choice. IMHO, I don't think I'll utilise the power of the pro - but it's nicely forward compatible. My wife has said, "Just get the pro. You don't spend any money in life. Why don't you shout yourself for a change?" - lol.
I'll have a listen to the podcast now Dave. You're a good man! thanks again!
Benjamin
edit: I just followed you on Medium! haha. Sorry for the delay!
So - I'm just sitting here replying to messages and doing admin. I still manage (just!) to reply to everyone. I think it's important - I've always said that if folks are kind enough to watch me and take time to comment, I need to find the time to reply...just me maybe...
Your wife is spot on. You are going to buy this thing once and it will last you for years. You're getting the educational discount as well, so just checkout and enjoy it! As you'll see next week I liked it so much I've just gone out and bought a new USBC keyboard/mouse/trackpad for it! That says it all!
Medium eh! Yup...I love writing. I just sit down with a coffee and bang out a story and I thoroughly enjoy it! The fact you've followed me there and given me a sub here as well...Friday is turning into a good day!
@@DavidLewisTech Heya mate! :-) Let me say thanks for your efforts in replying to 'all'. That's a tough gig. But of course, gets engagement on your channel. It's very obvious from my perspective the effort you put in.
So Good Sir! I've DONE THE DEED and purchased the Mac Mini Pro with the aforementioned specs. It will be delievered around the 17th Decemeber. Whooo Hoooo. My wife breathed a sigh of relief when the transaction was completed! hahaha. Happy wife, happy life right?
Medium is great, I love that platform. Awesome to read creators, their ideas, thoughts and all things on the world.
Take care and of course, I'll let you know how the new beast goes! 🙂
I'm glad you're having an amazing Friday!
Well done Ben - you will have gone to bed a happy man! My bet is that Apple will deliver earlier than they've promised. Without exception, everyone I know who placed a customer order had theirs delivered earlier than the first quoted due date.
And yeah, let me know how you get along with it Ben 👍🏼
I wondered if you uploaded a new video on the new mini and I found out you just did less than an hour ago haha. tnx
I’m working from home most of the time and once a week I’m working from my parents house so I really want to have two mac minis, one for each location.
I really torn between getting the m4 mini base model (maybe with 512GB) now and use it as my main machine until the m4 studio base model comes out and then buy it, use it as my main machine and place the mini base model in my parents house.
The other option is to buy now two minis:
- M4 10/10 16/256 - for my parents house - I need it just for stock market trading.
- M4 Pro 12/16 48/1TB 10Gbps or maybe M4 Pro 14/2048/512 10Gbps - as my main machine.
Maybe you can help me with that decision. The upcoming m4 studio will have basically the same/better specs than the m4 pro and it comes with 10gbps and also will have more ports and better thermals. I don’t really need that power and i do love the mini form factor but I hate fan noise.
Why not just buy a MacBook Pro 14 and have a single computer?
@ I thought about it already and since I have the iPad Pro m4 1TB it’s clearly enough for my portability usage/needs so I don’t really need a laptop. Also, I’m going to use it always in clamshell mode so it’s a bit of a waste haha..and on top of that, it has worse fan noise under load
Hope you enjoyed it! Sorry it was a bit slower this week - a lot of research went into this one
@@DavidLewisTech I definitely enjoyed watching it.
I know that my first comment was way long, but I will be happy if you can help me deciding which route to take , thank you
Hi Nir - here are my thoughts
For your purposes, I'd go with the M4 Pro Mac mini - 1TB/10GB Ethernet/48GB memory and get the upgraded chip as well.
Another great review, I agree for most people, even for some major video editing, the Mini or Mini Pro is all you need. I almost upgraded to the Mini Pro, until I saw some graphic tests that even now the current Studio beats the Mini Pro due to the massive amount of GPU cores. So maybe if you do lots of heavy graphic work, 3d rendering, effects, or want to work with local AI or generative AI, then maybe wait and see. It's so hard not to jump on this but I just decided I'm waiting until March when we hear something about the Studio.
The Mini Pro with 20 GPU cores is just too close to what the Studio will cost, I would kick myself if the Studio was $500 more with a M4 Max chip plus 2 times the GPU cores, and even more. Graphical performance of the Studio will be insane, I'm really hoping it beats a PC with a Nvidia 4090 for AI, but we shall see.
I just strictly need more graphical performance, more GPU cores since I will be doing more and more graphical and 3D work with generative AI in the workflow. So just keep it in mind if your ready to lay down over 2k, certain use cases might be wise to wait a few months to see the Studio, otherwise jump on the base Mini Pro or even just the base model for most, if you have extra $$ always bump the memory, I regret that every time.
Hi Fred - I think you are making a really logical decision...also I admire your restraint and will power with waiting until spring 2025! If the UA-cam gods are kind to me, I'd love to try one of those next year too...up against my mini Pro.
But as your work is all graphics - you are making a smart choice my friend!
I can you make Unreal Engine 5.5 from MacMini M4 and M4 Pro test and comparing thanks.
hey man - will that run natively on the Macs with no plugins required? If so drop it over please - david@talkingtechandaudio.com
Thanks so much!! 👌🏻
I just got the M4Pro with 48G RAM, it is freaking amazing!
Yup - you can see why I was raving about it now! Brilliant isn't it!
How is the fan noise?
totally silent - even during all those hours of benchmark tests
I have been waiting all week for this-thank you so much for the content you produce. I was on the fence between the M4 and the M4 pro, but your excellent information has moved me towards your earlier suggestion of the M4/512GB SSD/24GB ram. Unfortunately I am coming from an Intel iMac, so I will need to purchase all the necessary peripherals. I miss the days when you can use the iMac in target display mode.
To know this video has helped is the best feedback I could get - so thank you.
It's odd isn't it, for all of Apple's zero emissions and green policies, there are all these fantastic, redundant iMacs sitting around that could be used as displays. It's a crime! Bring back Target Display - the petition starts here. I think I can feel a Short coming on actually!!
The thing about SD cards is outside of those working with photos and videos very few people ever actually touch them. In both of those worlds SD cards also are not the standard they once were either. Many higher end cameras are moving to CFexpress B or other types of faster cards. On the video side there is also an increase in recording directly to SSD. Either recorded externally like on a Ninja V or on cameras that support recording directly to an attached SSd. Blackmagic camera, and some Panasonic and Fuji cameras for example. Even the iPhone shooters are now more likely to shoot directly to a SSD drive.
SD card slots are nice but its also once of the easiest and cheapest things to add to a system. I really don't see it as a big deal and for many in the photo and video world they are still likely needing to use an external reader of some kind anyway.
I love your reasoned argument - and you've won me over.
I realise SD cards are for the minority - in all the years of using my 27-inch iMac I never used it for example. And you are right, when I finally switch cameras I will almost certainly get one that records to SSD.
Thanks again
d
Is there any real advantage in upgrading the pro to the higher core chip, 48gb ram or 1TB ssd?
I would say for graphics performance and presumably it will help as more AI comes our way
@DavidLewisTech I'm seeing the m4 mac mini base model going for £530 at some places and £500 from apples education Web site, it might be worth picking that up and waiting to upgrade to the m5 or m6 chip in the future, as you'd probably sell it for £350 and it's such a capable machine for today's needs
my only reason for doing it was incase my video editing demands become more taxing over the next year or so
My M1Max Studio SSD is still churning out over >6GB/s write and >5.7GB/sec read. Noice.
I really must try out a Studio sometime...they sound amazing!
Great video, thanks for all the work that went into this. I ordered a new pro version with the extra cores and 64mb of memory, hoping this will fix issue I had with it struggling (oddly) with dropbox doing an initial large sync in the background and falling over when building large databases
I love Dropbox - I use smart sync on all my devices. From my experience, I think you'll be fine. These M4 minis are a whole new experience. I may even ditch my MacBook Pro!
A really great overview and comparison of multiple models. Would it be possible to make a short video on the GPU performance across the same models. There has been next to nothing on the Mac minis performance in 3D apps like Blender or the bforartists fork of it. Would be good to see After Effects or Apple's Motion too, to see how the GPU stacks up in both rendering and whilst working in the environments.
Hi Charlie - ok, I've made a note of these points. Do you have an After Effects project you want to send me that I try for you?
@@DavidLewisTech Thanks for replying! Sorry I don't have an AE project and I don't use it often, but I have a animation short project that I am just starting, it's a mixture of hand drawn and 3D that will need AE or Apple Motion in the next couple of months. I think PugetBench would work, as it would allow me and others to compare against PC builds too. If you could show how any of these programmes feel to use in the new M4 models that would also be really beneficial. There are quite a few people game testing, but there just isn't an awful lot of production GPU comparison tests out there. With the updated raytracing hardware, I have a feeling that the Mini's could be a real powerhouse for 3D and effects.
Love the channel and thanks again for all the hard work you have put in already!
Thanks, Charlie - glad you are liking the content sir! I will see if I can find any AE templates - also my studio is above some architects - I will see what 3D programs they have...
Great video! I am tempted to go for the Mac Mini 24Gb Ram and 512Gb storage (I don’t need it right now, but want it badly), that one is right now on Amazon at a good discount price! !5k subs? I bet you will go over 20k before the end of the year!
Tb 5 is double the speed of tb4, so 80gb up and down. The 120 comes from the fact that it’s got 4 lanes. With a display it can run 3 lanes up to the display, and one back. So rather than 80/80 it can do 120/40 in that mode. With storage, it’s always 80/80. Still pretty fast though!
if they make good TB5 enclosures, you will almost reach the max read/write speeds of the nvme you put inside it, and that externally. Or you could use 2x TB4/USB4 enclosures and get the same performance for both drives on th same port.
I think it was neat but wasn't as small as it could be
what the Mac mini?
Dave, been looking forward to this one. Can anyone give me some advice please - I run Parallels on my Mac so that I have access to the windows OS but it is too slow on my current MBP. Is it necessary to go for the mini pro chip or will the standard m4 with upgraded RAM suffice? Is the pro chip mainly for graphic related work? Thanks
Hi Adam - great to hear from you!
Can anyone in our community with Parallels knowledge help our friend out please...
@@DavidLewisTech was this question ever answered. I am in the same predicament am about to order a new Mac mini and was thinking about getting same specs as you, just want to be sure about it running parallels all ok? great video btw. I'm only just come across your channel and you produce amazing content and I'm now a new sub!
Hi there - thanks for the sub, fella👍🏻
No, I've not seen an answer to this yet - does anyone know how Parallels runs on an M4 Mac mini? Any help would be greatly appreciated
@@DavidLewisTech Thanks for the reply David. I did some searching last night on the parallels forum(s) and from what I can see being reported it works well on both the base M4 and M4 pro chips. Some users were suggesting 24gb ram was plenty. I think where it will become essential for more ram and the extra GPU's is if ppl are using parallels for gaming etc. In my case its only for a certain application related to my work which won't work with Mac OS, so I think my original plan of going for the config you have gone for will be slightly overkill BUT my thought process is it will future proof for a good couple of years etc. Anyway looking forward to your future videos.
I honestly love the community feeling we are building on the channel. It's always great to hear from you, and where ever possible, I'll always try to help!
This was crazy extensive. Maybe I dont need an M4 Pro 😅
Mate - 50 hours went into this video! Honestly, I don't think you'll need a Pro. Get a bit of extra memory in the basic M4 config and you'll be set. Catch ya on the pod on Friday
This would have been an excellent time for Apple to change their strategy, and launch a The Mac, to replace the studio, and only offer M4 Max as the best chip, and keep the ultra dual chip design for the Pro series only. Possibly introducing a Max plus chip or one with another name, if they wait until july, or do one for the M5 and not wait 2 years for the update, it would be nice if they could have a stationary chip that offered a bit more performance than the Maxed max chip, but wasn't the dual chip ultra.
Hi Jon - I do begin to wonder at this point whose workflow outside of high-end movie or music editors would need a Max or Ultra chip
@@DavidLewisTech There are music plugins that are very resource demanding, so the Max is useful, if you can afford it, and the option of 96GB and 128GB of ram is only available for the Max. And there are probably 3D renderings and Video project renderings where the Pro could struggle, even for hobby uers or lower end professionals.
So I would say that the Mx Max still makes sense in high end consumer / Pro-sumer / lower end Pro system.
At this point, if the dropped the studio, since the M2 is two years old, and the M4 chips took a good leap in terms of performance, there would only be a significant drop in GPU performance compared to the Maxed out ultra, and on most cases the CPU of the M4 Max would still outperform the M2 Ultra, even the maxed out version. (for the maxed out M1 ultra and the binned M2 ultra, the GPU is about 25 faster, but the CPU performance is much better with the M4 Max)
If they introduce a Mac studio with the M4 Ultra inside, it is possible that an opportunity like this will not arise again, where the Max chip will still be an update compared to most experience with the ultra chips on offer.
It would clean up the line so much. Both in terms of Naming, if they have the Mac mini, The mac, Mac Pro. But also in terms of what product makes sense for different categories of users. The Mac Pro, is quite a bit more expensive compared to the studio, so many that would like the Pcix for storage, still go for the studio instead. If you had to go for the studio to be able to get the Ultra chipset (it would also offer the advantage of actually being able to cool it, to get the most out of it), then it would be an easier choice, you simple have no option and you also get the opportunity of expanding the storage internally.
And they could even offer The Mac with Mx Pro CPUs, but with more ports and better cooling (and possibly with 32GB/1TB as baseline), so that some that would consider the Mac Mini would start considering The Mac and then possibly even end up being convinced to go for the Mx Max cpu.
Anything that can help simplify the range is always welcome in my book! Some good points you've made.
i ask CHATGPT build windows strong same as Mac Mini M4 and the result is :
CPU: Intel Core i5-13600K or AMD Ryzen 7 7700
GPU: NVIDIA RTX 3060 (12GB) or AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT
RAM: 16GB DDR5-5200 or 32GB DDR4-3600
SSD: Samsung 970 EVO or WD Black SN770
Do this right? Or Apple buy CHATGPT lol?
Running Cinebench R24 between my 7800X3D desktop and my M4 Pro 14 Core CPU / 20 Core GPU MB Pro (There has to be an easier way to type that) I'm shocked by how much it slaps the desktop CPU in CPU performance.
@@declangallagher1448 MBP M4P 14/20 (;
Yeah, Dec - when I was compiling the data I too was pretty shocked at what I was seeing...
I'm so disappointed with my M4 Mac Mini Pro 20CPU/64GB. I'm training ML models using CreateML and it's not faster at all!!!! than my Intel iMac 2020 27inch, 3.8GHz 40GB RAM. What a bummer :(
Hey, I'm sorry to hear that. Honestly, it's the only negative comment I've heard about the Mac mini. I'm guessing that CreateML must be pushing things hard
@@DavidLewisTech I saw one thread in the Apple Support forum (a guy complaining about opening apps and some other problems not related to CreateML app) but it was after I typed "Mac Mini M4 Pro CreateML performance problems".
I hope it's because the app is not optimized (even though it's Apple's native app!). I haven't yet tried other stuff because I didn't have time for it.
On iMac it took 10.5 hours, on this Mac Mini it took 10hours (30mis faster).
I was checking "About This Mac" two times because I thought that maybe they shipped the wrong model! But no, there was not mistake.
The reason it doesn't say "Mac Mini Pro" on the box is simply that this name doesn't exist 😉it's the Mac mini with M4 or M4 Pro.
valid - but it would be neat to have some kind of differentiation on the body, somewhere
The design for the power button is an after thought … it’s a stupid place to put it
...but, it's hardly ever used!
If only more scientific applications were compiled for Mac OS instead of just Linux. 😅
...one day eh! One day...
New sub here. Great channel. Would you be so kind as to answer a few questions. I mostly use Final Cut Pro & Photoshop to create videos on my Billy Luna Crime Stories YT channel. I am working in 1080p, but plan to start working in 4k. Currently I am Using a Sandisk Extreme Pro SSD (2TB & 4TB) to edit off whilst using FCP. I like to use Final Cut Pro, Photoshop and 40 web browser tabs open simultaneously.
1) For my needs, which exact configuration of the new M4 Mac Mini should I get? (Pro or no, RAM, SSD) These are the two configurations that I have been mulling:
$1,079.00
Apple M4 chip with 10‑core CPU, 10‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
32GB unified memory
Or
$1,799.00
512GB SSD storage
Apple M4 Pro chip with 12‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
48GB unified memory
512GB SSD storage
2) Is there any speed or performance advantage in going with a 1 TB SSD vs 512?
3) Do I need to worry about fan noise when I’m recording on camera video or voice over?
Hello, im no expert nor a techie, but have been binging in these reviews of MacMini and i think i have some idea as to your questions being answered based on what i have aggregated.
(1) Definitely go for the Pro with as much RAM as you can afford. If you were only using Photoshop and remained at 1080p, the M4 Mini might work. Or for me, with a use case of mainly graphics and web, with the occasional video as hobby, i concluded that a maximum RAM on the basic M4 would do. Apple does have a method to this price tier madness. Video editing in 4K meant the Pro chip at the very least.
(2) A reviewer I watched caught differences in speed between the 256Gb and 512Gb internal, with the latter going faster and closer to the 40Gbps rated speed, and the 256 running less than 30Gbps. I have not seen any speed comparison between 512 & 1TB though.
(3) Most reviewers do talk of fan noise and throttling with the M4 chip generally whether base, Pro or Max - the latter in particular. But only with benchmarking apps, not real world use case. Those benchmarks are equivalent to trying to stitch panoramic HD images all day long, or running machine learning code for building AI apps all day long or some major 3D rendering as that would tax any system. But i guess if you plan to use external SSDs as you main drive, it would even mean the fan noise issue may already have a workaround.
Hope this helps. 😊
Hi Billy - thanks for the sub fella.
Right, let's get into answering your questions then...your workflow is ever so similar to mine and similar to what you saw in the video. I once tried editing from an external SSD and had overheating problems. But assuming you don't and are happy to edit from that then I'd suggest:
M4 with 10‑core CPU, 10‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine
512GB SSD
24GB/32GB memory (I think 24GB will be enough).
Does that help? That M4 mini (non-Pro you saw) was dealing with 3D graphics, plugins, ProRes LOG and colour grading. It handled it fine - with NO fan noise.
D
@@DavidLewisTech oh cool! Thanks for this reply. Quite eye opening. :) 👍
sure is! 👌🏻
Download a game. Any 3d. And see them struggle
lol
I'm no gamer. I know Apple is trying to go that way. Is the experience still not good then?
Depends on expectations. With medium settings you can run many AAA games at 40-60 fps. Now, for this money a gaming pc will do double that, at higher settings. But, if you want a Mac, these can also game a bit. Better than older macs.
Thanks Paul
Get over the SD card slot misinformation. SD is a SLOW format. I do not want to pay for a redundant built in feature. My camera Nikon Z9 for example does not have an SD slot - for a very good reason. Apple can see that card formats are changing, you should too. Loved the rest of the video but not the SD card slot complaint.
I hear ya
nobody cares about export time !
I think plenty of folks do actually as it's a relevant performance guide even if you don't export videos