M4 Mac mini Buyer's Guide: Don't Waste Your Money!

[@matthias5421]

1:45 (and throughout the rest of the video): You got the CPU cores wrong for the base M4: It's 4 performance cores and 6 efficiency cores.

[@ItsCaputo]

PINNED: Thanks for the correction.

[@zabaizabai2]

@@matthias5421 so the number of performance cores in M4 Pro is double from the M4

[@matthias5421]

@@zabaizabai2 Yes. M4: 4 Performance, 6 Efficiency, Total 10 Cores M4 Pro: 8 Performance, 4 Efficiency, Total 12 Cores

[@yugiohfanatic1964]

@@matthias5421 and single core performance bench = EQUALS lol

[@janplexy]

I wasted my money on M4PRO, but I don’t think I wasted my money at all. 😀 24gb ram/512gb ssd/Thunderbolt 5, more and faster cpu/gpu cores.. This is a serious working machine for the price of my iPhone! So happy with the purchase! 😊

[@mentos.0]

Mac mini pro is anotther beast, ordered the base model first then noticed it wasnt for me and I changed it to the pro and it is so nice. Cant be compared. Faster SSD, Faster GPU,Faster RAM and Faster CPU. You will regrett big time if you go down the base model.

[@gunting]

@@janplexy Went with the same route as well. M4 base definitely not enough for me, so my original plan was just to grab M4 24/512. Then I splurged, might as well get the base M4 Pro for future proofing.

[@josef.hernandez9781]

@@mentos.0 what type of work do you do? i went with the m4 pro but am thinking of returning it as i dont know if ill actually use all that power

[@mentos.0]

@@josef.hernandez9781 I am doing light video editing/photo editing and some gaming. And plenty of LLM. For LLM it would better suited with more than 24 GB actually but I have to comprimissed. M4 base is a powerhouse and the value is insane. I dont think there is any wrong going for M4 base tho.

[@Traumatree]

The MM M4 Pro is the true gem of the line up. Anything lower spec can be done on an iPad.

[@Guilla4Life]

I have the M4 with 24GB of ram and 512 storage… It works pretty good for pro tools, RX and other apps so far… I’m happy with the purchase

[@_Francis]

I went for a M4 Pro Mac mini, 14 CPU, 20 GPU, 16 Core neural, 24 GB unified memory and 2T SSD., 27” studio display, Magic Keyboard and mouse. I got it just this week and been using it for a couple of day now. I also got (for my office) a purple M4 iMac with 10 CPU, 10 GPU, 16 Neural and also 2T SSD. BOTH machines feel like the very best Mac I ever owned, everything feels better, faster, flawless… and the total, absolute absence of noise, the silence… very impressive

[@bennym1956]

I buy and spec-up Macs for longevity. Definitely Mac Mini Pro with extra RAM, never short yourself on RAM, especially since you now CANNOT upgrade RAM after the fact ! Still running great, my 2017 27" 5K iMac w/1 TB HD 48 GB RAM....real good deal on RAM for $6 more. And I'll be able to use the iMac 27" screen using Luna display with USB-C w/o lag.

[@southbaycommuter]

I like how Caputo explained how synthetic benchmarks don't tell the whole story, they're just a snapshot regarding performance.

[@yannkitson116]

Over time I have learned always to buy the most I can afford because I tend to use my machines for a very long time e.g. I still use a PowerBook G4 and several Minis from the very first models and they all still work even though my M1 MacBook Air is my preferred machine for daily use.

[@noahneutral7557]

I got a M4 base config Mini and so far I'm having a blast with it. I only really needed it for one workload, which is kind of unique but so far I'm having a great time with it.

[@woltzwurld6760]

Well done video. I have watched several and none of them were click-bait, but yours was the best. Thanks.

[@ItsCaputo]

Glad you liked it!

[@Games_and_Tech]

1:50 Are you sure it is 6 performance and 4 efficiency cores and non the other way?

[@ItsCaputo]

You got it correct.

[@viewssoundsmedia]

That 800 dollar upgrade is certainly worth it. I had both and when your working with any kind of BRAW or Red footage the base model simply just can't handle it when you start adding grades, NR and anything intensive outside of editing the footage. The Pro handles all this much much much better. But in my eyes it's still a stop gap machine until the M4 studios release. The M4 Pro does the job for light weight professionals much better. The Base is hobbyist stuff. Still was impressed with what the base could do though for what it is It all boils down to the memory bandwidth between the 2. 120gbs is not enough for intensive work.

[@shucklefan1]

Ill be getting the Mac Mini m4 base. This is the mac i was waiting for. Im a heavy windows and linux user and work in IT - But everyone has to have a taste of mac products now and then. I am a fan and have a iphone and ipad - but never the computers. Its a good start and im going to just test the complete ecosystem- while still having my gaming rig and dual boot OS. Thanks for the review ! Also- right now best buy is pricing the m2-m3 mac mini models with 8b of ram for 800-999$ and sell this one in full stock for 599 lol. Apple beat their own MSRPs with this one and best buy should just heavily discount any mac mini before this

[@redesignedlife777]

@@shucklefan1 ya that old pricing for m2 m3 models is for the suckers who don’t know any better. That’s the sucky part for someone

[@gercarey3261]

Hi Mike, great video thank you. I have ordered the 27" Studio Display already, and I agree, the base Mini with the extra RAM, is the one to go for. Thank you.

[@seancloutier2577]

I just completed a 65 minute video, with 300 clips, I have text, effects, Izotope sound, color graded, ....I only have an M2 with 8GB ram...I would say 90% of the time it did the job without any issue...and I mean I never ran into any issues while working...my mind is blown...however I want to upgrade to the M4 with 32 GB ram for two reasons...avoid that 10% when I have minor issues...and I do find myself using AI at the same time I am running resolve...so I will be upgrading to M4....from everything I see for resolve there is no difference between the M4-PRO-Max

[@dawnrazor]

Ok how about developers using vms and large docker containers. So many videos I’ve seen about performance of M4 talk about video editing. What about other use cases? We’re not not all KZbinrs or photographers

[@initID]

Yeah considering there are lots of developers uses MacOS. But almost 90% of them are "photo/video editing benchmarks", some gaming benchmarks. Meanwhile I only see 1 person did benchmark doing LLM. Why aren't there people benchmarking different compile time for example, across different chips.

[@imamshuzaifah]

you should see xcode benchmark for compile time, and vms and docker use RAM so invest to that instead for CPU.

[@colinstock325]

@@dawnrazor my concern as a hobbyist photographer is how long will this computer last if I upgrade from my M1 Mac Mini. It’s frustrating because most of these “reviewers” compare the entry level M4 Mini with a specced up M4 Pro Mini, for video editing which is meaningless. Most of these “reviewers” are KZbin creators first and much of what they state is irrelevant for me. So while I am no longer a programmer, I share your frustration.

[@ItsCaputo]

Hey! Tell me what you want tested and I can test it.

[@ItsCaputo]

@@colinstock325 The M4 and the M4 Pro tested are the "off the shelf" versions with no other changes. What's your workflow for photography?

[@goddessgermanika2466]

My husband has been using Macs for about 37 years. He stopped using Final Cut and moved to Open-Source Blender to edit video

[@nick066hu]

What is a waste and what is not merely depends on what you do on your computer and how much time of your life you spend with it. If I am spending less than 5% of my weekly hours in my $60k car (when a base model could cost one third of that) there is no excuse to leave out a $200-$1000 feature (the cost of one rim on my barely used car) of a workhorse computer if I am spending 80% of your working hours using it even if an 'expensive' feature adds just a little bit of better experience. The same is true for a good chair, desk, and of course your bed where you spend most of your 700k hours we spend on Earth in average. But I am actually looking out for the base model mini M4 , I need it to occasionally run XCode only to build the apps for IOS, those I program on my PC. No video editing, maybe some grapics occasionally as some asset for a software (ie. not high resolution) but I'll do that on my PC as well, as I used to, no reason to buy my software twice. Maybe my wife will use the Mac Mini for browsing. ...but there is that thing we call 'future proofing' , maybe I'll like it that much it will be my main computer, who knows, then I need the Pro. ...so I am still undecided. ...my wife then gets the base, and I buy myself a Pro later ? the longer I think, the more uncertain I am 😀

[@FlyingFun.]

Base unit would be fine for me i think, id just add an external ssd. But i dimply wont buy apple products because i hate their greedy upgrade costs and im not alone so apple are missing out on a heck of a lot of sales. These days they should not be selling a new computer with less than 1tb ssd and 32gb ram, those things are relatively cheap. If mac mini came with 1tb ssd id for the £600 price tag id get one tomorrow without a thought.

[@paulhancock]

I'm late to all these videos but as someone who just bought the base spec Mini M4 it might help someone to hear my personal use and why I chose one or the other... I'm a semi-pro 'enthusiast' user. I use the machine for all the usual web browsing and email and office type apps, I have a couple of media players for playing my own music and 4K movies from HDD, I have Photoshop, Lightroom and Illustrator installed along with a few other bits and I have plenty of space on the 256GB SSD. It's maybe half full? I have never felt lacking in power but obviously I would see a speed boost for certain tasks and mass importing images into Lightroom with the M4 Pro and double the RAM but I would I pay 2X the price just to speed things up a little when they're already quick? No, no I wouldn't. The upgrade prices are just a really poor return on investment for MY needs. It makes sense to buy the base model and use this machine to death for a year-or-so and then buy a faster machine with more capacity (M4 Pro or Studio M4 Max) if necessary further down the line. That way I still have my original Mini M4 to keep for other purposes (like a media/ HTPC) for the same price as the upgrades. So yeah, ignore the reviews which say the base M4 is almost useless because of it's small SSD... That's clickbait and just having a dig at Apple. It's plenty for casual enthusiast users with a handful of professional programs installed. It's a sensational value machine but just be honest with yourself about your needs before choosing.

[@tony1454]

I chose the Mac Mini M4 Pro and Studio Display for KZbin, reading news, paying bills, and listening to music. I expect it to last me 15 years like my 2009 iMac 🤷🏻

[@andrewcrossley2448]

@@tony1454 wow, big investment for the use case. I love my studio display (nano) which currently pairs with a great old Dell P2715Q 4K driven by a 16/256 M1. All fine for my work but a bit limited on AV and photo - speed not function. I have 2Tb of fast external memory and the great Satechi hub with another 1TB of storage, and a 2 TB iCloud account. I’m thinking about a 16 or 24/ 512 M4 but not sure of the M4 additional cost. I guess it’s very future proof.

[@koolkutz7]

I think I may have to buy the M4 PRO as I want to be able to edit 4K video, do music and video production too. Or do I wait for the Studio to see what that has to offer?

[@ItsCaputo]

If you edit video as a side hustle or as a hobby, then the M4 pro is a very good choice. The only downside is that importing media via SD cards is impossible without a dongle or doc where there is an SD card reader on the front of the Mac studio. If you get paid for your work and you equate time to money, get the Mac studio

[@tezz7523]

I'm a stock trader and i do heavy web browsing like 20 to 30 tab on Crome so m4 base variant sufficient for mi or i should go with 24 gb ram???

[@ItsCaputo]

I’d go with 24 in your situation. How much ram do you have today?

[@tezz7523]

@@ItsCaputo 8 gb faces lag when i switch tab

[@ItsCaputo]

@@tezz7523 I stand by my recommendation. Also, have you tried using memory saver feature on Chrome to see if it helps?

[@endofexistence]

Faster drive write speeds on M4 Pro. If you are anything above a hobby level producer, go M4 Pro base. Things are rapidly changing.

[@steve4321able]

Upgrade ram instead of storage?

[@DJSNAV]

I do photography as a hobby. I don't think I've ever exported a hundred photos. But even doing 500, you're telling me it'll export everything in the time I takes me to use the bathroom and get some coffee? Yeah that's plenty enough performance for me 🤷‍♂️

[@simonconquest]

Is the 10Gb ethernet really worth it? I realise its future proofing. Yes I have a 1Gb internet connection - but my switches are currently only 1Gb - although the stock router has one 2.5Gb port. Was thinking - buy a 2.5Gb USB3 network adapter and upgrade a switch to 2.5Gb. But the adapter is $20-£25. The 10Gb Mac upgrade is $85. So it's an extra $60. What to do??????

[@Niccobi]

@@simonconquest this is the question I need answers to

[@simonconquest]

@@Niccobi I ended up buying one with 10Gb Ethernet to future proof myself.

[@Jimmyfly215]

dont get caught up in Benchmarks. i have a M3 Pro, former owner of a M1 Pro, even that i wish i never got rid of. the majority of tasks and processses that run on Mac NEVER reach synthetic benchmarks.

[@BJMolette]

Instead of upgrading the ethernet I'm just going to wait a couple of years until I need that speed and just buy an adapter used for probably 20 bucks lol. I'm not getting over 800gbps at home anyways. Upgrading the ram is definetly a good idea though

[@ItsCaputo]

You won’t need an adapter because the standard Ethernet port is capable of speeds up to 1Gbps 👍🏼

[@BJMolette]

@@ItsCaputo I meant in the future for the potential reasons you mentioned in the video.

[@fredrikhall9767]

M4 with 512gb SSD and 32gb RAM is better for music production in Logic Pro and it’s cheaper than M4pro with 24 gb RAM. Comparing 256gb SSD is slower than 512 go SSD. M4pro is slightly better than M4 when it comes to rendering specifically but almost no difference when it comes to editing video. More RAM is more important when it comes to handling heavy plugins in Logic Pro and it’s good to have when editing i Davinci Resolve!which probably is more RAM-hungry than Final Cut Pro that is optimized for Apple. I would love to see a test between these specs

[@shavockiphea]

Question about your Single core CPU chart scoring. You had the M4 at 3,827, and the M4 pro at 3,747. Did that inadvertently get swapped or is that the correct score?

[@maxgottfried]

I have 4TB of memory on my 2013 iMac. So I need to go the M4 Pro route. The mini won't cut it for me. Right?

[@jojag5]

I currently own the M2 Mac Mini with 16GB of RAM and I run out of RAM pretty often. I wouldn't recommend the base 16GB version. Spend the money and upgrade to 24/32GB. I would agree that the M4 Pro is a waste for the vast majority of users though. If you have to ask, you don't need it. M4/24/512 is probably the best $1,000 computer currently on the market.

[@JaysonFlores-d1p]

I personally think 200 bucks for more memory even is a bit too much. Those that run out of 16-gb never state why but I can tell you that web browsers often is the culprit when you run multiple apps. I think the mac mini was introduced as a budget machine, the amount of money you are already spending upgrading memory then becomes a never ending cycle of "if its worth it". For most people I agree with him but if you are someone working on audio and video and do it for a living then maybe. Arguably that can be accomplished on much lighter resources.

[@yasumitsunaka6094]

5:18 The Mac Studio doesn't - and won't - come with the Pro chip, just the Max and the Ultra.

[@ChrisMasoner]

I got the M4 Pro, I am a photographer and tend to edit massive files that can often exceed 1GB, I thought the base Pro was a good budget starting point.

[@nobodywar]

Off apples page and the reason I’m buying the pro M4 Pro Simultaneously supports up to three displays: Up to three displays: Three displays with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt or HDMI Up to two displays: One display with up to 6K resolution at 60Hz over Thunderbolt and one display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz over Thunderbolt or HDMI Thunderbolt 5 digital video output Support for native DisplayPort 2.1 output over USB‑C HDMI display video output Support for one display with up to 8K resolution at 60Hz or 4K resolution at 240Hz (M4 and M4 Pro)

[@peteherrera1502]

How fast is the single CPU, MHz speed wise in the Mac Mini Standard? and how fast is the single CPU, MHz speed wise in the Mac Mini Pro?

[@danirichard470]

I too got a M4 Mac Mini Pro with Thunderbolt 5. It is paired with the 27" studio display. The Mac Mini Pro is same configure as my 2017 27" iMac 18,3. 64 GB of RAM and 2TB of mass storage. Only the 18,3 iMac had 8GB of video RAM, the Fusion Drive SSD, and Thunderbolt 3. On a single core benchmark the Mac Mini is about twice the performance as the Intel iMac. I still have more benchmarks to do. I am very pleased.

[@ItsCaputo]

Huge upgrade coming the Intel Macs. Congrats! 🎉

[@danirichard470]

@@ItsCaputo If I had program that could use the muti-cores I estimate a 5x in CPU performance. The SSDs I/O data rates are very impressive and blow away any hard drive. Now that I am in retirement I am getting a chance to study and do some programming I I would hope explore the limits of computational power.

[@phusebox]

I only owned one mac aber, a macbook pro from 2014. Hasnt been used for a few years now but looking to go back to mac. I just have a lot of fear I will regret the base model 2 years down the line, even if I buy the 24/512 upgrade. The m4 pro is too expensive for me. End of the day my indecisiveness will probably make me not buy any mac and upgrade my windows machine instead...

[@odmusicman]

I don't understand how anyone can do work with only a 256GB drive. I guess you assume people are hooking up a 1-2TB drive to the Thunderbolt connections?

[@ItsCaputo]

Did you know that you can mount your entire OS on an external drive and run it from there?

[@odmusicman]

@@ItsCaputo Yes, I'm an IT guy

[@RCLeahcar]

I'm looking to get a Mac Mini for music production. I use Logic (mostly virtual instruments), and am torn between the base M4 mini and the M4 Pro mini. Would I need the Pro for that?

[@hmolera]

For a Creative director who uses keynote, Illustrator, and photoshop primarily - which model would you recommend? Thanks!

[@GurmukhSinghBahra]

I purchased the base M4, but upgraded the RAM to 24GB and SSD to 1TB - with student discount I got it for the price of 512GB

[@aerbnce]

@@GurmukhSinghBahra could have buyed better external nvme SSD with its enclosure

[@ItsCaputo]

That's a fantastic deal

[@maxgottfried]

This is my current make up of my 2013 iMac Model Name: iMac Model Identifier: iMac14,2 Processor Name: Quad-Core Intel Core i7 Processor Speed: 3.5 GHz Number of Processors: 1 Total Number of Cores: 4 L2 Cache (per Core): 256 KB L3 Cache: 8 MB Hyper-Threading Technology: Enabled Memory: 32 GB Boot ROM Version: 433.140.2.0.0 SMC Version (system): 2.15f7 I have about 4TB of storage space. and 32GB of memory. It performs very well, but has symptoms of slowing down with the beach ball spinning. I use Adobe products for minor graphics projects. I also have an SSD for Time Machine back uo and another ssd for back up files that I do not keep on my hard drive. (Backed up by Backblaze.) I think it's time to update. With your findings which M4 should I pursue? Money is not the issue, longevity is. Thanks, Max

[@iOBSD]

What monitors are you using?

[@jamesverity]

only one question: is 24GB ram on MacMini M4 Pro enough?

[@pembrokejones3969]

@jamesverity I have the pro with 24 gb ram and I have been using premiere and after effects with good results

[@ItsCaputo]

yes

[@robertong1104]

I am just a light user and I intend to keep the mini for maybe 5 years. Should I buy the base model, with upgraded memory to 24MB and SSD to 512GB?

[@astro9219]

I doubt it will be be necessary to bump up the specs if it’s light use

[@nick066hu]

With those upgrades your price is getting into tempting proximity of a Pro. I would either stay with the base for light use, or would go for the Pro if heavy use.

[@rustumd]

Just add 2tb external ssd as your user folder.. saves you a lot

[@ItsCaputo]

You're at $999 USD and you would be fine. The essential difference between your configuration and the M4 Pro is that you're getting more CPU/GPU cores and faster memory bandwidth, neither of which sound beneficial to you.

[@AdmiralCecil]

Not unless you handle very large files in Photoshop, Capture One, or use Light Room. Go for the base model if all you do is Word/ Excel, email, and watching videos.

[@AdmiralCecil]

All Max CPU's have double encoder/ decoder engines hence why it's faster than any pro cpu. But not all video editing software takes full advantage.

[@544931]

One of the things I noticed is that you didn’t mention the difference between the base model solid-state Drive and the pro model SSD on your performance testing. My understanding is 512 versus 256 is a pretty decent jump in performance. Is that your understanding too?

[@dreswan1]

@@544931 but can you notice the difference in real world use? Most experts say No.

[@Traumatree]

The memory is also quite faster on the M4 Pro which plays a huge part in the perf increase.

[@ItsCaputo]

Here are the numbers in MB/s for write and read M4 Base: 1177, 2287 M4 Pro: 4415,5011 M3 Max: 7400,5555

[@premalb1]

What’s the best non Apple monitor to pair with the M4 Mac mini? Please advise or point to your video review.

[@viewssoundsmedia]

@@premalb1 Dell G3223Q

[@hedges3976]

I got the m4Pro base and got a Asus Pro art 4k best monitor go to 800 nits brightness 100 color correct.

[@20windfisch11]

Depends. The M4 Pro base model is just right for me. It has more power than my i7/RTX2080/32GB Linux box, runs 14B LLMs and Windows 11 with Visual Studio 2022 in a VM well. However I am going to set up a local LLM Exo cluster soon and I will be using the small base models for this, as two of them with an external SSD each are about the same price as one M4 Pro and should achieve a bit more performance for this task together.

[@yorkan213swd6]

@@20windfisch11 runs 14B LLMs… Thats what i wanted to know. Which LLM you are using ?

[@20windfisch11]

@@yorkan213swd6 I am currently still testing, haven't yet settled, but Qwen 2.5 Coder in the 14B variant runs smoothly and fast with Exo, LM Studio and Ollama. The 32B variant struggles but still outputs about 3 to 4 tokens a second.

[@20windfisch11]

@ for some reason my previous comment was swallowed. I get around 15-20 tokens per second with the Qwen 2.5 14B Coder model. With the 32B variant it’s still around 8 to 10.

[@yorkan213swd6]

@@20windfisch11 thanks wonder if a 64 Gbyte would be faster but i dont think so…

[@20windfisch11]

@@yorkan213swd6 no but it would run larger models. The 64GB should run 70B if they are 4 bit quantized.

[@wangsong4511]

Straight to the point and very sensible recommendations. I bought a base M4 Mac Mini with 10gbe upgrade only and very happy with snappy daily tasks. I am, however, itchy about 4k 120fps video editing from my action camera(4k60/120), insta360(5k30) and drone footage (all in HEVC format or 360 INSV) as a hobbist to try out base M4 Pro Mac Mini in Davinci Resolve & Insta 360 Studio. Do you still recommend M4 over M4 Pro dispite a 8gb(16-24gb) unified memory increase, given the diminishing return on performance gain？(say 800 USD delta does not warranty any performance gain less than 30% increment in performance) .

[@tomasspacey6828]

Thanx. Nice work. My focus is actually professional audio work and I have heard great things about M1 mac studio pro. Now I have noticed one surprising spec about this new M4 chip and that is very low cache memory - 4MB L3 which IMO influences demanding audio performace greatly. Could U pls comment on this one. Thanx

[@johnz4412]

As a professional photographer, going with the Pro makes the additional cost acceptable. Since we're committed after purchase, I prefer to eliminate the possibility of regrets during daily use.

[@ItsCaputo]

Thankfully you get an extended holiday return period if you buy from Apple (here in the US, at least.)

[@szabolcskiraly1166]

As i know the 3,5mm jack "combo" always mean IN and OUT (mic- line-in/analog-, maybe digital-out too/

[@kyleparfait61]

Why are we comparing against the M1 Ultra and not Mac Studio models with the M2 chips?

[@ItsCaputo]

Because I own the M1 Ultra

[@kyleparfait61]

@@ItsCaputo Haha I figured. I do wish I could see more comps of the M2 Studio out there since that is likely the current purchasing debate! It's hard to wait, but the M4 Studios may be worth it!

[@ItsCaputo]

*owned. I sold it in August as I was anticipating a studio refresh, andI thought previous performance would useful as a reference point. Let's hope!

[@dougscott188]

Don’t you get thunderbolt 5 with the M4 Pro? That along with the Ethernet upgrade seen to make it worth it for more power users. Do you think it is worth going to 48GB ?

[@ItsCaputo]

Yes, you do get Thunderbolt 5 with the M4 Pro. Whether or not it's "worth it" is a matter of workflow and means. How are you using it?

[@Rabessey]

One reviewer got ~ twice the read/write speed with a 512 upgrade vs. the standard 256 - both standard Mac Minis.

[@andylewis750]

Thanks for the great vid.... I am considering the M4 Pro, but one thing concerns me is the fact that it might run hot, and have a lot of fan noise. Maybe it won't be a real issue, as I am a hobbyist Lightroom user, but do a lot of AI based masking which is really stressing out my 2017 27" iMac (16GB RAM) - and which can no longer upgrade beyond Ventura.... Do you have any insight on noise level in real world scenarios?

[@larrysing]

@@andylewis750 you don’t have to worry about that. Look at some of the other reviews. None of the folks have reported fan noise at all or excessive heat.

[@letsRegulateSociopaths]

@@andylewis750 it's super efficient. Low power usage

[@boonyarithdumrongpalasith5501]

I will go with M4 Pro. Thanks for vid.

[@anderspedersen6750]

Went with the base model. No upgrades. Why? First ever Apple product and no idea if I will like it or not. So far played a heavily modded Farming Simulator game, handled it better than my 32 GB. Geekom mini PC (about a year old). Same with 7 Days to Die with a 10k x 10k map.

[@ItsCaputo]

Still undecided? Drop your questions in the comments, and don’t forget to hit subscribe for more Mac Mini tips, accessories, and setup ideas!

[@HB9GUF]

I purchased thr Mini M4 base-version. I want to connect it to the Dell U4025QW (5K2K) using TB4, but I'm hearing rumors that it won't run native 5K2K. Apparently some people have gotten it to work. If anyone knows the truth, please reply to this comment. Perhaps they're using the wrong cable? If anyone can recommend the right cable, please reply & Thanks!

[@core3547]

Where did you find the retro Apple logo sticker that fits your Mini!? 🙂

[@ItsCaputo]

www.michaelcaputo.com/stickers

[@phinyx]

Switching to Mac from a high-powered, custom PC build (128 GB RAM, NVME 4 drives, Ryzen AMD super CPU). It was only justified if the Mac M4 mini could out-perform it for single-core performance. That meant the M4 mini Pro....it doesn't outperform the Windows machine I had, but it does match it. What I have now is a far more energy efficient machine, less noisy (as in SILENT), and doesn't heat up my music studio. Worth it? Yes. Just don't like all the mouse-centric Mac OS...trying to learn shortcuts, but Windows is still a lot better organized and much faster with keystrokes than a mouse-centric Mac OS...sigh.

[@Mozi2380]

Will there be a significant difference in having 32gb over 24gb. I use LR and Capture One.

[@ItsCaputo]

Lightroom Classic or Creative Cloud?

[@Mozi2380]

@ Classic :)

[@DJSNAV]

I just picked up a base with 16gb of ram and don't notice any type of slowdown in LRC that makes me wish I'd gone with more. If that's all you're doing (like me) I'm sure you're fine

[@Mozi2380]

@@DJSNAV thanks. So as i want it the next years i went with the 32 :)

[@angosalvo5734]

I am thinking to get one specifically for After effects work. I believe having more ram should make a big difference. Did anyone had a test and tell if swapping from ssd is fast enough ?

[@ItsCaputo]

I don't use AE, but I don't think the SSD speeds on the base configuration are fast enough for swap without it impacting performance. Here are the write and read speeds in MB/s - Base M4 with 256GB: 1177/2287 - M4 Pro with 512GB: 4415/5016 - M3 Max with 4TB: 7400/5555

[@angosalvo5734]

@ItsCaputo thanks. The thing is that the raw numbers in practice aren't decisive. There are some bottlenecks while working in after effects like cpu and GPU speeds depending on the used effect or plugin. One has to do real work to find out the difference.

[@togisivni]

I want to keep the next Mac mini for about ten years, just like my i5 2012 I'm using. Originally it was 4 ram and I've 16 now. Guess I'm going to m4 pro 24. Thinking if worth going to 48 ram… 🤔

[@ItsCaputo]

I think you will be fine.

[@kennethjackson4858]

Hey Mike, looking for a new Mac mini and I'm new but doing music production and I was thinking the Mac mini pro would be better for me. I know I need Ram, lie 32 or higher. I think as for storage I feel SSDs would be better than Apple's strange which is expensive. Your advice please.

[@ItsCaputo]

Hey Kenneth! Yes, Mac mini pro is a safe bet. Are you using pro tools or something similar? What’s your average project size?

[@kennethjackson4858]

Logic Pro: 10.7.9 Kontakt 9 Ultimate Omnisphere OT Discover ProjectSam's Free Orchestra Nucleus Lite version Hollywood Opus Edition (a friend's advice, why😂⁉️❓ MUSIO (monthly) Sir, this is what I have in me Logic which I need to upgrade 0:58 super the new Logic upgrade. I'm going to just get Kontakt and not the Ultimate because I don't use their internal libraries that much and it'll save my money. The Ram I need but do I need the TBs when I can use SSDs? You use your 2tb SSD and is your brand better than Samgung or does it matter. Thank you for answering and I hope I hear from you again. Just a note: even though I'm new to all this and learning, I just don't want to waste money so I can keep learning at my age.

[@db9091]

Can’t see writing bc of ads that can’t be removed.

[@minilisper4499]

4 perform­ance cores and 6 efficiency cores

[@miquelgl5199]

thanks for the video! for me the most important thing is the timeline fluency when editing with davinci. So if I want to expand the M4 pro chip, what do you recommend: ram ? or chip processor? I just can afford one of them

[@ItsCaputo]

Upgrade ram first and SSD second. The M4 Pro has faster memory bandwidth (270 GB/s vs 120 in the base) and you want maximize the system's ability to move data across the system faster. If you run into a bottleneck where the system needs to use swap, you'll benefit from having a larger, faster SSD.

[@southbaycommuter]

TLDR: The Mini M4 Pro graphic performance is bananas!

[@ItsCaputo]

This is a true story

[@yorkan213swd6]

Sorry my english is not so good. Does this mean very good ?

[@thedjnamedves]

@@yorkan213swd6 yes

[@nick066hu]

@@yorkan213swd6 Yes, don't confuse that with 'lemons' - what means bad 🍋 =/= 🍌

[@Traumatree]

You don't my the MM M4 Pro for the GPU increase, but for the M4 P-core increase you banana.

[@marcioslsouza]

Great video, Caputo! Would a photographer using Lightroom, Photoshop, and some noise reduction apps like (Topaz Phot AI and DxO Pure Raw) benefit from having more memory and CPU/GPU (14/20), or the M4 pro base model would be okay? In this scenario, would you pick the M4 or the M4 Pro?

[@ItsCaputo]

Thanks! Within each app, there are certain tasks that are optimized for different components. I just downloaded DxO pure raw to see how it performs and I'll let you know. Most of the time, the benefit of moving up in processor class (12/16 > 14/20) is incremental and does not net a huge amount of performance. While I don't go into too much, the memory bandwidth is faster on the M4 Pro which would be the biggest overall benefit. What computer are you using today?

[@marcioslsouza]

@@ItsCaputo Hi! Today, I have a PC (AMD Ryzen 5 3600, 128GB of RAM, AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT), but I used to have a Mac Mini before, until it died. Then, I bought a PC due to budget constraints. I want a Mac Studio, but I cannot afford to buy the configuration I want now. I want to return to the Apple ecosystem, and the M4 Pro is a good option, especially the M4 Pro, due to the larger memory bandwidth and Thunderbolt 5 ports for the years to come.

[@pab77777]

I do not know what you are discussing, but you never mention the best color. Do you have a favorite?

[@ItsCaputo]

there's only one color?

[@zifuzmalikoshaylou1052]

Worth it or not worth it ifs and buts.. Always argueing about new things coming every year even . Apple always has been this kind of company wanting to grab your money 2 or 3 times year with same product with little differences and let you down anytime with your beloved machine to force you to get another one what s wring eith previews ones ? They shiuld yi refund everyone as they loose their values within 2 years of use.. How much money you spent already since? and still running behind their new products ...since M1 already M4 here next year M5 , M6,5 etc.. I'm still with the 2012 mbpro doing my things ..i dont use internet cause they will slow it down if you try to download an update shit from them . .

[@greccoox]

"m4 MM performance better than MB M3 Pro Max" .... than creator conclusion "yeah, is great, to do daily tasks, browse web, light video editing, is the computer that i recommend for most people" ... WHAT? (not you but mostly is this conclusion)... so powerful machine and at the end "handle good basic tasks" ... anyway, amazing video, thank uu!

[@ItsCaputo]

Thanks! Essentially all Macs are really good at doing the basics nowadays. They can be tweaked in certain ways to find the "ideal configuration" for what you want it to do outside of that.

[@peterturner6497]

Good but like moat contest creators we need to know about Da Vinci.

[@jackofblades6736]

Got the Pro since work gives a $600 discount. 🎉

[@teslatalk42069]

If someone has the Samsung Neo 57 inch monitor they absolutely want the advantages of thunderbolt five in the Mac mini Pro

[@tonkellner8582]

I enjoyed watching your explanation, clearly explained and easy to understand. As an amateur I work a lot with FCPX 11.0 on an I-Mac Pro gray 2017 3.2 GHz 8 core Intel Xeon W with 32 GB and 2TB internal SSD. Is a switch an improvement to Mac Mini Pro 4 as in your explanation. My recordings consist mostly of HECV or H265, I am not so satisfied with how the I-Mac currently handles the new codec, also in editing, very often the beach ball turns and can only continue afterwards. But at the end of your video came and with me your comment about whether or not to buy Mac Mini pro 4. Thanks again for the nice explanation Gr.Ton Kellner

[@josephnorris4095]

The M4 Mac Mini has 4 performance cores to the 8 Performance cores that the M4 Pro has.

[@idontexist2868]

to all inhere: if you are using an Intel Mac, you will be more than 4x faster with the base Mac Mini. Even the 16gb ram are not an issue, because the whole M4 system is so much faster. If you want more Ram, go for 24Gb. Do not upgrade the storage to 512gb. Just go and buy an external USB4 SSD for 200 Dollars. You are safe for the next 5 Years. If you want to use LLMs (AI Stuff), than wait for the Studio M4 Max or Ultra (because of the GPU). To all Art and Creative directors: currently i am using the MacBook Pro M1pro for Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, videoclips and so on, and i am barely using 25% of the Power the old M1 has. Dont worry, and don't get fooled by Apples strategy. The Base M4 is more than you'll imagine.

[@michaellurie9138]

Mac Studio will be refreshed with M4 Max and M4 Ultra

[@Traumatree]

The Mac Pro will get the M4 Extreme I've heard.

[@stephenm.fochuk7795]

@@Traumatree And probably at an extreme price too.

[@muhammadsalman7714]

Seems like i am going to wait for M5 🙂

[@ItsCaputo]

And that's completely reasonable. But why?

[@muhammadsalman7714]

Hopefully they fix button and double the base storage.. my gaming pc still rocks with nvidia 😉

[@benjamingay1897]

Fully loaded M4 Pro and I'm returning it.Not worth the price for the performance.

[@ItsCaputo]

What is fully loaded and what were you expecting?

[@benjamingay1897]

@@ItsCaputo Great point. Sorry if I was a bit terse. M4 Pro with 14 Core CPU, 20 Core GPU, 16 core Neural Engine, 64 GB memory, 1 TB SSD, 10 GB Ethernet. Price out the door was $2499 + $99 for apple care and then tax. For the speed difference between my existing M1 Max with 64 GB memory and 4 TB storage I am not seeing a significant perf improvement. I will probably hold for the Studio refresh so I can get additional GPU cores., Super helpful video though. I agree with a lot of your points

[@mex5341]

again , export time is nothing . better to show how it handles edit in real time with effects , denoiser and etc .. And ofc there even Macbook m2 Max or m1 Max would over perform cuz they both have more GPU .

[@ItsCaputo]

I edited this video on the M4 Pro

[@123qqc]

To be as full stack developer, please let me know which version I shall choose, consider a gift for my partner. Thank you, guys.

[@alphabravo6337]

M4/24 RAM/256 SSD/ and-thanks to your advice-10 ethernet.

[@ItsCaputo]

Very nice!

[@xheralt]

It's not going to do any good telling Mac users to "not waste their money"...that's precisely what they do, every time, and Apple Inc. knows it. In fact, Apple Inc.'s entire business model is based on getting people to do just that. Their customer demographic has almost always been "people with more money than sense"; has been since the "Lisa", the Mac's predecessor.

[@frankthespank]

Bro, do me a favor, annunciate your words and slow down, K please? As you talk you start rushing and whispering your words and you’re hard to understand. I bet your viewers whose first language isn’t English get frustrated and move to another channel. Great video, I wish your channel success 🙂

[@JaysonFlores-d1p]

you dont like the video dont watch it

[@frankthespank]

@ I was helping him out by telling him why he’s probably seeing a bunch of people start to watch his videos and then click to something else but a dolt like yourself states the obvious and doesn’t see the point in my post. 🙄

[@marks42]

M4 with 512Gb as the SSD is faster and the extra space helps with the base machine and apps an External SSD is then just for data. But other than that I fully agree with you.👍😊

[@stephenhall3515]

No SD card reader has ruled this out for our business as designers and printers. Dongles just will not do.

[@ItsCaputo]

Interesting perspective. Something to think about.

[@sfnyc]

Short answer: No. His answer: skip to 11:56.

[@LeungCY429]

Just buy the base model, and save the money to buy the next Mac Mini

[@ItsCaputo]

^^^^

[@DHux86]

$200 for 8GB of RAM!!! That is WILD!

[@graphguy]

I use my PC for heavy lifting. We have macs in the house, so I will be getting just a base M4 to park next to my PC graphic station so I can do mundane single core tasks while my workstation is chugging through 100GB files.

[@dcotai2902]

512 gb...usd200 .. More faster

[@مسلم-ط8ق1س]

Apple give you best pcs and kill them after while ?!!

[@scj00380]

A useful video, but I wish you'd taken whatever you were chewing, out of your mouth, before you started speaking. You also speeded up towards the end, making it very difficult to understand what you were saying.

[@ItsCaputo]

I wasn’t chewing anything, captions, and the downloadable file which was talked about in the beginning goes through the whole thing.