M4 Mac Mini Review - Apple NAILED It.

[@Dave2D]

This thing is awesome The graph 3:51 has an error. The M3 Pro bar graphs are correct but the numbers should read - 138 | 1040 The 1690 value is for the M3 Max Also the animation at 1:35 is reversed (if you were wondering about airflow directions)

[@utube9487]

Of course it is, it is specced up to the gills by Apple for the reviewers. Why don't you add in the TRUE title, 'M4 Mac Mini Pro 48GB Ram, 1TB SSD review'. I bet you, your view count will plummet. Every reviewer is ommiting that they are reviewing the Pro M4 title and not mentioning the specced up Ram and SSD upgrades Apple already put in the system. Sheesh man, people know these tricks. Change the title bro, be the first one and yes you will get less views but you will get a lot of brownie points from long term viewers. AND mention in the video that this is a near fully specced up variant by Apple and costs this much of money. Don't try to fool the people to click on the video thinking this a $499/ $599 Mac Mini M4 review.

[@purpshell]

I disagree with these 2 comments above. He's testing the highest configuration of each. check the other slides

[@deepaksuperrao]

Brother can you please give me one, I really need one for my law school

[@NukkadGamer]

wow incredible way to present the video. I was planning to get this for my youtube livestreams and now I am totally confessed that this is best thing for me

[@joeymusacchio9816]

Waiting on my M4 pro base model with 1Tb.

[@pablomolero3856]

best part of the video is seeing the workflow of Dave

[@MoeAji]

I've always thought the editing of Dave's videos felt very natural and smooth. It feels like it doesn't have any cuts or changes between the different angles. It turns out there are no cuts or setting up the camera for a different angle. I do enjoy his style and the flow of his videos.

[@MaxPowers1245]

So it’s like four separate capture cards.

[@WhiteRabbit33333]

Life is fun when you are with friends and lovers. The reason we are not happy is because work disconnects us from them.

[@neonlights4]

MAN!!!! I saw that and was like, "How on earth did this man get OBS to record 4 separate inputs all in the same window????? Does it also give him four different files when he export/convert from mkv?"

[@cowmix]

@@neonlights4 Yes.. need more info on this!

[@tech8167]

i really love how you said: 600 and 500 instead of 599 and 499 respectively. When you said that, I realised that I had unconsciously that these were only 500 and 400 dollars. It brought me back to earth.

[@heshameid4858]

That's why this pricing scheme is called "psychological pricing" 😊

[@Evan8506]

@@heshameid4858some stuff at best buy is priced at 299.00 or 399.00 as opposed to 299.99. weird...

[@anatolykhalizev2356]

+tax

[@doompod]

$579.99 on Amazon respectively 😂

[@kiyoponnn]

so you don't understand what numbers are and by extension basic math ?

[@nathanchurch3442]

People who complain about the charging for the Magic Mouse seem to be missing the fact that it’s a terrible mouse in the first place that shouldn’t be used. 3:06

[@rrp6405]

the theory is that apple put it on the bottom so people would not see it connected by a cable in pictures and shows a wireless setup

[@cai0]

My theory is that they put the port there so that people focus on that one aspect, and forget about it being a terrible mouse overall :)

[@HenryKlausEsq.]

Real talk. I've been on Mac since 2005 (from being a build your own WinTel starting 1996). Their trackpads are excellent but WTF is up with their mice? They f'ing suck. The click is wrong, the build is wrong, the connectivity is wrong. I even tried the mouse with the "clitoris" roller ball and I realised I can stimulate real women better.

[@Ruiso7]

​@@HenryKlausEsq. The clit roller xD

[@gumbilicious1]

I have the Magic Mouse, it hasn’t created any black holes yet. I wouldn’t say it’s horrible other than being horribly mediocre imo if you want the finger gesture functionality the track pad is far better, they killed it on the track pad, would have bought that instead if I knew more at the time

[@SirSethery]

I’m so glad they finally made the switch to 16GB so we can buy the base model without thinking about it. That $200 for an extra 256GB storage is so silly when you can use external storage.

[@kushagraN]

This will definitely bump their sales exponentially

[@_purge9488]

It’s almost like shoving a desktop inside a roll of duck tape (5x5x2”) has restrictions. Just cause it’s cheaper to buy external SSD’s doesn’t mean they should take a loss on upgrades. Duh?

[@MartinVanBoven]

"finally made the switch to 16GB" What? That is 2x UNDER an acceptable lower limit for RAM in even a low-end modern computer.

[@a.dudeman7715]

@@MartinVanBovenYou’re talking out your ass, 16GB is perfectly fine for your everyday user. 32GB is baseline for power users.

[@_purge9488]

⁠​⁠​⁠@@MartinVanBovenI’ve never seen this take in my life, from friends, comments online, or any of the tech reviewers 😂 You have serious delusions on what a “low end modern computer” is considered for 99.9% of people.

[@ithinkits8674]

Dave’s reviews are always so incredibly elegant and concise, it’s so soothing in this modern world.

[@LetsYouTubeThanks]

Yea man. Flawless presentation and still relaxed. Love Dave; best "mainstream" reviewer by far.

[@PeterdaPanda]

Apple should've named it the Mac Nano. 😂😂

[@Testimony201]

😂

[@jeyendeoso]

Mac Nuc

[@N0Xa880iUL]

That's the apple TV. If it ran MacOS

[@monkeyfish227]

That’s the next version

[@OlokodanaMoses]

It’s really small 😂😂😂

[@sjoerdvankampen484]

The M-series continues to amaze me. It's still crazy to me how fast these computers have become. I still have an M1 air for music production and STILL blazes through every project I have.

[@LukeSchneiderEWI]

Hi...just wondering... Are you able to record with very low latencies with a lot of plugins on tracks @ 96 khz ? What's your workflow ?

[@MathematicPony]

@@LukeSchneiderEWI I'm on an M1 Max MBP so I could also do high-power GPU stuff, but I record a ton of music. I used an M1 Air, 16GB 1TB, for music production until the M1 Max MBP came out. The M1 Air is seriously insane for music. It's so good. I actually didn't encounter a single thing audio-wise it couldn't handle. I use Logic (hence why I'm on macs to begin with), and the Air RIPS. I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who wants to use it to primarily do music. Yes, it can do extremely low latency recording with tons of plugins, and I also record at 96khz a lot of the time. It was so reliable, I often used it for live gigs (running Keyscape soft synth with a midi keyboard). For contrast, my mid-2012 macbook pro (which I used until the m1 air came out) with 16 GB of RAM could handle MAYBE 3-4 instances of keyscape at 128 sample buffer due to how huge the keyscape libraries are and how much RAM they want to eat, maybe 4-5 instances at a 256 sample buffer. Shockingly, my M1 AIR with 16GB of RAM handled 22-23 simultaneously running instances of keyscape, which is absurd. And even then, the hiccups were minor rather than catastrophic. Even at my messiest, I've never needed literally 22-23 different keyscape tracks running simultaneously, so safe to say tons of head room. Even my most complex Logic sessions with live recording and tons of power-hungry plugins can be comfortably run at a 64 or 32 sample buffer. Obviously this is anecdotal, as everyone has different workflows, but for me the "Keyscape benchmark" as I call it demonstrates more headroom than I'll need for several years. 16 GB is so damn good on these M chips. I specifically got 64 GB memory on my m1 Max to future-proof, but having had it now since it came out, it is straight up overkill. I have NEVER managed to find a way to push it to actually cap out using all 64 GB of memory. tl;dr, M1 Air w 16GB of memory is MORE than enough for Logic with tons of power-hungry tracks, low buffer (and thus low latency), and 96kh.

[@sjoerdvankampen484]

@LukeSchneiderEWI It's really dependant on which software and plugins you use. I have an base M1 with 16gb RAM and use Logic Pro, mainly for mixing and producing. On top of that, I mainly use stock Logic plugins (with some waves, fabfilter and others for specific cases). At home I have a fairly simple 48khz setup, with 16 ins, multitrack recording isn't always necessary there, but I do use it. It works flawlessly for me personally. If you want 96 khz multi track recording with plugins, I'd recommend you go for at least an M1 Pro, but most certainly an M1 Max. I have worked in a studio with an M1 Max, that records multitrack in 96khz, and it works flawlessly. With the advent of the newer chips I'd say go for an M2/M3 pro or Max, if you have the budget.

[@dynamitejimi]

The BTS part was cool to watch

[@michdo23]

As a kid i played around on my dads first computer - you had to insert a compact cassette (yes, like for music back in the day) and wait for about half an hour for the program load from magnetic tape in order to do things on a green monochrome monitor. I remember it quite well well considering it was so long ago. Today you can record 4 x 4k Streams in real time on a computer that fits in the palm of your hand. I don't think enough people realize how insane that is and how far we have come. Amazing.

[@leebeeskee]

I agree, and when you factor in price it's even more insane!

[@BenyaminLorit]

Completely unrelated and different products but just in terms of sizing, this is the kind of size and approach to space-efficiency I wished modern gaming consoles had. There are obviously legitimate reasons for them to be as big as they are given the heat that those things generate and the working temperature they have to maintain at long stretches of time but just as a tech fan, there's just something about high performance machines in compact form factors that appeal to me and nothing screams "progress" quite like it.

[@bumposlump8324]

I think we can reach that future if one or two things happen: either amd can make a gpu and cpu combination that is both powerful but extremely efficient so that it can justify a smaller size or increased arm compatibility along with increased gpu power and efficiency are good enough to switch to that kind of architecture

[@firasrabaia]

yeah but always it will be more expensive or less capable

[@AD34534]

Perceived value is higher with larger devices.

[@rudimussrodeln]

Physics is a problem

[@BenyaminLorit]

@@AD34534 that was me a decade ago way before I got into ITX/SFX and industrial design. Now, my wiring has changed where any desktop system that's ATX or larger just looks excessive and tacky to my eye. For consoles, as I look back, it's probably why I've always appreciated the PS2 Slim because it always felt like it was punching way above its weight for how tiny of a machine it was.

[@tarandeepsidhu6812]

Anyone else try to clean the hair off the screen at @3:12?

[@lDavidl]

Yup

[@vishalkothari7070]

Lmao Yes 😂

[@sumesh-kumar]

@@vishalkothari7070 lol

[@piggyooi]

Dave got us

[@JerryJerryB00mB00m]

I read this comment before getting to that part and it STILL got me😑

[@TamTran-yo1cm]

Thanks for your review, this might be the first MAC i buy.

[@Wezzybman]

You pointed something out that I think is an explanation for the power button on the bottom. The ventilation on the bottom. By putting the power button down there, it ensures that people keep the ventilation open, which is necessary for such a powerful but compact device

[@dothetontim]

Nobody needs to use the power button on a Mac. That's why it's on the bottom.

[@prnva_]

I wonder how this would perform thermally if used upside down.

[@8bitchiptune420]

I rarely shutdown my M1 mac mini. It goes to auto sleep like 99% of the time and consumes like 1 watt.

[@RichCalsada]

@@prnva_ Probably better heat rises.

[@tackytaco8133]

Another explanation that could be the reason : Durability. Dust won't settle on the bottom but it will anywhere else. And Power button is the most important one.

[@Gmonkeystar]

I've been following tech for close to ten years now and I cannot recall a more impressive piece of hardware at this kind of price point. This is a real game changer.

[@nikicarrie4071]

What does it do

[@sharzo7728]

Noo, this review is very deceptive. This video shows as though the M4 base mac mini($599) performing his intensive workflow. But its the $1400 M4 Pro doing the work, he did clarify it at the end saying that apple only sent him the pro variant. But at a glance its shown as though the $599 doing his intensive workflow.

[@slalomie]

⁠​⁠@@sharzo7728No he clearly explained and showed that the $1400 M4 Pro Mini could keep up with the workflow of his $4000 M2 Ultra Studio. Few people are using their computers for the intensive work he does. He recommended most people get the base $600 Mini.

[@comebackata2]

Dave doesn't follow a script! Damn!

[@davidsentanu7836]

What? He deviates from script?

[@comebackata2]

@@davidsentanu7836 there is no teleprompter

[@John7No]

what I like in your videos are the no BS style. to the point , with the data you have and everyone expects to hear.

[@jammin023]

The baseline model is great value, but this just highlights how ridiculous the upgrade costs are. £599 for the base model, but if you want to double the amount of RAM and SSD, it's another £600 on top. You're literally better off buying two baseline Mac Minis instead so that you're also doubling your CPU power... (yeah I know it's not quite the same, but still, it's incredible to me that they would charge a whole machine's worth extra for a fairly modest upgrade).

[@Jasterrrr]

This is basically Apple for the last 20 years, and possibly even since their existence but I'm not old enough to know that for sure. They milk people on memory upgrades.

[@ber093]

​@Jasterrrr you must be younger than 14 if you think that

[@andyH_England]

Most people on limited budgets understand that the base models offer great value but diminish value returns if you upgrade. This is not a problem for the base Mac Mini as 16GB is sufficient for 95% of users, and you can use external storage, which is the whole point of Thunderbolt. Pros will not worry about the extra cost of storage as their PC is making their living, and that can easily be recouped.

[@klemennnn]

Can you update RAM/storage yourself?

[@poeticsilence047]

Doing a video on the fly is why you are one of best. Right up there with Floss.

[@agentsmith64]

Love floss but ain’t no way Floss is half as good for me personally. Dave2d always makes the best arguments irrespective of the visual stuff

[@poeticsilence047]

@agentsmith64 I know what you mean. Just like how they both just shoot a video and tell you so much without a script.

[@agentsmith64]

@@poeticsilence047 in that sense I agree

[@zihaosong9933]

Great to see your setup and how to switch between those 4 cameras seamlessly real time! Your videos have always been so smooth, thank you Dave for all the effort!

[@Testimony201]

Okay I waited for Dave’s review concise and straight to the point no glazing throughout the entire video non stop. 💯

[@bryans8656]

My base model M4 mini is scheduled to arrive tomorrow. I already have the peripherals, including external storage, so I'm all set. I've been enjoying your content for quite a while, so I finally subscribed.

[@ruachpneuma5638]

Which monitor and keyboard you using?

[@bryans8656]

@@ruachpneuma5638 My monitor is a Samsung LU28R555, keyboard is the Apple Magic with numpad, and I use a Logitech MX Anywhere 3 mouse.

[@TanguDisen]

I appreciate your videos' straightforward tone. concise, based on the information you possess, and everyone anticipates hearing it.

[@jordanaragones8852]

Finally a true Mac Mini

[@_sparrowhawk]

*shrug* As compared to the last tiny Mac they made with that name?

[@raepiste9744]

@@_sparrowhawk”shrug” bro stop

[@lordofbathurst]

@@_sparrowhawk Are you suggesting Apple should not reduce the footprint of the machine to keep up with competition and withhold the namesake? Clown

[@dragon2knight]

Amazing review! I love the real time example of it's raw power, no graphs, no fluff, just proof it's a beast. Thank you for doing it this way Dave, it's really appreciated 🙂

[@yuvrajkachhawaha7486]

Your content is always high valued and Informative....Keep up D2D

[@bzzerc]

I have a BeeLink Ser9 and have on order the new base model m4 mac mini and both are the same exact size and equivalent in power for both widows and mac users on one desk and i love it.

[@M4cintoshSE]

2:01 it had speakers??!

[@GohanKanor]

I like the direct tone of your videos. brief, grounded on the knowledge you have, and everyone expects to hear it.

[@li_tsz_fung]

I feel like thunderbolt 5 port is gonna be quite useful in the long run. Not necessary, but it would be handy for all kinds of apple devices that gives you limited number of ports. You can have your mac mini connected to your 5K 120hz monitor that doubles as a usb hub without worrying about bandwidth. 2 more SSDs? No problem..

[@joelv4495]

Regarding TB5 and storage, TB4 is fast enough for a single drive, but it starts to get constrained really quickly if you wanted more than 2 physical drives on one cable. Can't wait for an 8x m2 enclosure on a single TB5 cable!

[@segundacuenta726]

what about connecting more several mac minis to each other? Or to a macbook pro for ultra fast access faster than 10gbe.

[@glatt1817]

The upgraded fees aren't new. I have a M1 16gb / 512GB model; I can sell that for around $390 right now. Then I can get a M4 with the same upgrades for much cheaper than my prior purchase (when you count the money I would get for the M1 plus only having to pay for one upgrade this time around). I have plenty of external storage, but system files take up a lot of space and I know that virtual memory on my machine would be filling up more than I'd be comfortable with otherwise. The base model will be fine for many, but having that model start at 16gb is helpful, even for those of us who might add on an upgrade or two.

[@EpicAwesomesauce]

0:18 "Don't talk to me or my son ever again"

[@jessiesteele2675]

Lmfao

[@THEDOCTERO]

All I see is dankpods

[@Dl3o]

Composer here, lots of work with virtual instruments that rely solely on CPU and RAM. I've been waiting for a Mac mini to come with a Pro chip that can be upgraded to 64 GB of RAM-that's the minimum I'm willing to upgrade to-but as I suspected, at this price point, it may be worth just waiting for the Mac Studio upgrade and grab the M4 Max variant, where I can get a little more bang for likely a pretty similar amount of money. Great video!

[@Andrew-tl9gk]

The Max chip ONLY has more graphics power and thats it. I dont think you want or need that.

[@Dl3o]

@@Andrew-tl9gk I'm aware. I have a fair share of GPU-intensive workloads-video and photo editing for the most part, just as a personal interest rather than anything professional-so I was thinking that this could be a nice way to boost productivity there without a significant extra investment.

[@AirGunWeb]

Hey there Dave, did you ever make the switch to using the iPad Pro with Final Cut and wireless multi-cam? I remember you were pretty excited about it a while back. I have done some testing and certainly have found it useful, but there have been some issues, too. I'm just curious if you made the switch. Cheers Rick

[@johanrg70]

He showed you his setup in the video. Did you see an iPad?

[@gatesroyale]

@@johanrg70get a clue. He’s talking about what he’s talking about not related to this video.

[@bungalowfeuhler1541]

I am super-pumped about the fact that they brought back the user-upgradability. When I upgraded my old Mini, I spent twenty minutes trying to figure out how to remove the bottom cover. When I finally pulled it off and found out I couldn’t upgrade it like I did with my old one, I basically wanted my old maxed out model back.

[@gabrielmoro3d]

It’s crazy how much the price goes up with upgrades.

[@_purge9488]

It’s almost like using components that fit inside a roll of duck tape (5x5x2”) costs more money

[@gabrielmoro3d]

@@_purge9488 you're so smart! Thank you for this wonderful reply.

[@jilherme]

@@_purge9488 are you idiot or just pretends? Apple have insane price for upgrades due to their ladder price model. Every other computer they sell costs U$ 200 to do increase RAM or storage. Even if only 8GBs or just 256GBs.

[@Aethid]

​@_purge9488 You think Apple are using some kind of more compact NAND flash chips than everyone else? They aren't.

[@heroninja1125]

​@@_purge9488this is a markup, has nothing to do with the form factor. These same upgrade costs exist on the monolithic $9000 Mac pro as well.

[@AutoAuctionRebuilds]

Your setup is very impressive. I run a MacStudio m1 Ultra maxed out as well. I was really disappointed when we didn't get a M3 this offer this year.

[@adventuresonbikes1370]

Finally a down to earth reviewer without all the over-the-top bull**** Excellent review! 👍

[@spikatrix1486]

3:51 M3 Pro multi-core numbers seem to be off

[@madalincosminn]

For cooling you can buy a magnetic fan for around 20$ using it on top of it, it will cool very efficiently. I’m using it for iPads and even on the keyboard on a acer nitro 5(i5 gen 11 + 3050ti) stand with fan under laptop + the magnetic cooler on the keyboard the laptop stays around 50 Celsius degrees while playing Diablo 4 and stays cool. So if you use the MagSafe coolers on top of the mini, it will be perfect combo.

[@goodtoshi]

10G Ethernet upgrade for $100 is actually a very good deal and one upgrade that actually should be considered. For comparison, a good dedicated 10G card like Intel X550 costs a few times more than that.

[@eternity.in.a.m0m3nt]

Is it necessary for cloud gaming or basic model good enough?

[@segundacuenta726]

yep, that 10gbit upgrade is very good and worth it for those who live in places where you have or may have access to those speeds in the near future. Also it can be useful for connecting to other computers or nas.

[@XashA12Musk]

@@eternity.in.a.m0m3nt cloud gaming uses 25-50Mbps at 4k and base mac mini has 1000Mbps , so you don't need 10Gbps for cloud gaming

[@PapaJuansPizza]

The reason why I love Dave reviews is because he is straight to the point!!!

[@coder543]

3:10 the RAM bandwidths should be in GB/s, not Gb/s

[@Paul_Crosbie]

Just have to say thanks as always for your great work or should I say passion . Really appreciated by an old tech guy!

[@JonAdamsTech]

Dave I have been wondering this for months! What are you running the HDMI's into? Cam Link Pro in an external PCIE enclosure?? Please help haha!

[@mattbray_studio]

can we all just appreciate that dave is his own film crew. that man's brain!

[@austincodes]

When Apple introduced custom silicone for their computers it became the best performance per watt. Now they are the best value. Crazy

[@guitarvirtuo]

Thanks so much for the comparison between the M2 pro and the M4 base! Really useful

[@thegreatkizo]

That intro though 👌🏿. Take your flowers man. 0:00

[@anshulgoyal]

Now a days most of the time I like reviews of Dave2D better than MKBHD of same product. Very thoughtful reviews and insights.

[@fdov4]

7:10 **proceeds to install emulators**

[@XashA12Musk]

shh.... don't talk about it, nintendo ninjas maybe Lurking in the comments

[@fdov4]

@@XashA12Musk😂 🤐 🤫

[@jy75012]

amazing review as usual davey

[@liberationyogi]

I just want to say that you are the most f****** honest youtuber on the planet right now !!!!😊

[@chrisryan8894]

Nice review. It’s crazy how much some of you KZbinrs put into creating content now. As for your comments about it not being a gaming device, it most certainly can be. For my kids I set up a crossover installation on my m2 pro Mac mini and it handles any game with ease, it’s also great for emulators for old school games.

[@FarooqAhmadYT]

Wooooh, leave the Mac Mini review on side. @Dave2D can we have you OBS setup video? so you seen set to 4096 x 2160 or 7680 × 4320?

[@platterfoot]

Regardless of the it being lightweight the “ergonomics” of a product is still very important in my opinion and there were many good options for the power button to be without compromising the aesthetics of the design. I.E. in the back as its been done in the past or even on the top it. Just my thought

[@vvlvmusic]

They really hit the button on the bottom, as they say! Congratulations

[@CarlosDiaz07]

That’s why I love dave2d straight to the point no sugar coating, made me take my buying decision now

[@DerBesserwisser-h4b]

3:52 Why does the M3 Pro achieve a higher multi core score than the M4 Pro?

[@abz7800]

labelling error . the blue bar is way longer for m4 pro

[@despie8397]

it most likely is a clerical error

[@aligilal3673]

probably meant to write it as 1090

[@DerBesserwisser-h4b]

@@abz7800 But the blue bar also does not match. It looks more like 1090 or something.

[@DerBesserwisser-h4b]

@@aligilal3673 Yeah, probably just a typo I guess.

[@CraigThomasLive]

Mines coming tomorrow. It will sit in the media center connected to my main TV. I have a Mac Studio as my primary machine but I literally couldn't resist this.

[@ruikie5136]

That cooling system is so thoughtfully designed it's insane. I just hope it works as well as they intended it to!

[@darkxkyo]

Thank you for all the bts stuff!! Love to see the workflow / recording setup. We rarely see that from other reviewers. It's great to get your take on it. ❤

[@valvevac-systemchecker3773]

9:49 why not go all the way for an NVME M.2 drive in an enclosure? It can run even faster speeds than Apple’s built in SSD and thunderbolt 3 is already enough to run 10gb/s nevermind thunderbolt 4/5

[@samy.filmmaker]

I just did it today is amazing

[@andyH_England]

I did that with an iMac over 15 years ago when HDDs were the norm--I ran an external SSD, and it was like a new machine. Desktops like this give you the options. If you have a family Mac Mini, each member can have their own external drive, which they can lock or remove when they go and use it on other devices like their iPad, iPhone, or laptop. Ergo, 256GB of internal storage is fine.

[@cameronbosch1213]

​@andyH_England For the $600 price, I'd say it's decent, but not amazing. That being said, the upgrade cost is insane. Like, either use M.2 SSDs or lower the damn cost of SSD upgrades! (But why not both other than to be greedy?)

[@valvevac-systemchecker3773]

@@cameronbosch1213I never said the price of the machine was bad, more so that Apple chargers 600 for 2 TB storage presumably at around 6000 mb/s of reading and writing speeds. You can buy an m.2 tb ssd that does 7000 mb/s for 180 and an enclosure for 30 and be way better orf

[@cameronbosch1213]

@@valvevac-systemchecker3773 That's what I'm referring to as well. The problem is programs generally don't like running from an external SSD.

[@ZachAgape]

your reviews are so bang on always! very solid advice at the end for all the configurations, and thanks for mentioning those very fast drives!

[@joshuatochhawng8884]

Crazy on how efficiently space saving, simplistic, quiet it is. The pc masterrace really has to step up cause aside from gaming and configurability, this wins on all fronts. I believe the price being that low really makes it worth considering

[@filipshinigami7263]

Pc has also MINI PC's, with good AMD and Intel chips that are not that expensive, and they can be upgraded with ram and storage. The build quality isnt that good but hey, they can do some work and gaming

[@mohammedahmed5736]

Great video! Thank you for this. This is the first video I've seen that has an actual real-world test rather than just chat about specs and synthetic, nearly-real-world-irrelevant, benchmarks.

[@shapelessed]

On a MacBook the storage upgrades are outrageous. But on a Mac Mini? You can very well get yourself a 10Gb/s USB or even a thunderbolt NVMe drive enclosure, slap in a 2TB drive and have as much storage as you need. You aren't moving a Mac Mini like you do a laptop, so it looks like a very nice and cheap middle finger to Apple. You can even just install MacOS on that external drive and leave the internal SSD untouched.

[@WolfyMarcus]

Can you really install Mac OS on external and use Mac mini with it? I mean I’m just wondering how Apple being so greedy would ever allow that.

[@shapelessed]

@WolfyMarcus You can actually, as far as I've tested it their computers check for boot partitions and if there is more than once they let you choose which one to boot from (that's what asahi linux uses if you ever i stalled that). On MacBooks I don't expect anyone to carry them with a cable sticking out at all times, but with a Mac Mini, you aren't really walking around with it, so buying a good NVMe SSD and a thunderbolt enclosure for it would actually be cheaper while giving you way more capacity.

[@thejaideeparora]

Such an extensive and detailed review Dave. It's amazing honestly!!

[@DavidStruveDesigns]

I'm honestly surprised at this point - especially since we're now on the 4th version of their own in-house cpu die - that Apple HASN'T started developing their own gaming console. I mean, if there's one thing Apple absolutely loves, it's having a locked-down ecosystem, and consoles are just that for the most part (excluding cross-platform play). If they actually created their own gaming company/department within Apple and really made it easier for developers to create games (especially exclusives) that work natively on M4 chips and beyond, they'd potentially blow every other console - that already have to rely on hardware that's majorly out-of-date by release date and so rarely get an upgrade - out of the water.

[@rahulenork]

True but game development is already very time and effort consuming... theres pc, ps5 and xbox. Thats almost like making it 3 times.... add apple to the game and i doubt the game devs will want to work on yet another hardware. Its not a one time thing now a days.. the updates, the bug fixes...difficult stuff. I dont see game devs wanting this except that they find a very very good reason for it. Not to mention, the more its gonna cost them to make the game, the more they will be willing to charge us for the games.

[@DavidStruveDesigns]

@@rahulenork Yeah that is true. Though to be fair, most games - even console and mobile ones - are developed on PCs and then ported over to the various consoles - it's mostly just a matter of exporting them in the right coding language to run natively on said console OS. I get that in reality it's a BIT more complex than that, but I've yet to see any footage from inside a game developer company where they're NOT using PCs to do the vast majority of their game development.

[@DavidStruveDesigns]

Plus, Apple could just do what the others are already doing. If Microsoft can acquire Blizzard, then Apple could definitely acquire other big name (or small) gaming companies too. So it wouldn't JUST be on them and their staff to do all the work (though I still think they should have their own gaming department as well). Not to mention it's Apple - they have an enormous user base that isn't really properly tapped into when it comes to gaming potential, plus it means people potentially handing their rival Microsoft less money if they're buying games for an Apple console (as well as the console itself) - and they can integrate the games more smoothly into the rest of their ecosystem (desktop, iPhone, iPad) where developers will absolutely know for sure the game will work as it's designed to, and not have the worry over different specs like they do with Windows computers. Like honestly, I see more upsides than downsides for both Apple and games developers in the long term.

[@LetsYouTubeThanks]

It would be cool to see but all considered I think they would just want people to buy macs and wireless peripherals to get everything into the TV. I would suspect Apple doesn't deem a whole console project worth the risk and the investment in relation to the return. Perhaps they could do a game streaming service for mac and Apple TV.

[@MaxTechOfficial]

I assume Cinebench 2024 multi-core for M4 Pro is 2,580 instead of 1,580?

[@brd5548]

There are actually competitors in this NUC like class. I bought a SER7 from beelink for around $450 last year, with 16G LPDDR5 RAM and 1T nvme storage. And I'm very satisfied with it. It has similar size and io configuration, comes with a very powerful AMD 7840hs chip, but also upgradable RAM and storage. They also updated the series with SER8 early this year, with a neat new design.

[@rebs4jezus]

That’s all fun and games but the comparison is not even close. In 5 years what is the resell value of both devices?

[@michaeldendulk2230]

@@rebs4jezus why wouldn't the comparison be close? All depends on use case. Both devices could suite a certain person just fine for what they want it for. I also wager, with the lower purchase price of the SER7, you'll be writing off more on the Mac Mini over the 5 year period (a base M1 mac mini will still get your around $200-$300, depending on condition after 4 years, the SER7 won't be worth much, but it will still be worth something, even if it's just as parts). The Mini with 1 TB of storage would cost you $1000, have to keep the comparison fair.

[@foodfanatic851]

Who the fuck considers resale value when buying PCs lmao​@@rebs4jezus

[@loganmedia1142]

@@rebs4jezus Who cares?

[@andyH_England]

Most people buying the Mac Mini prefer macOS, so your option is only viable for the 5-10% swap between operating systems.

[@MelodIsseptsCoursDeMusique]

Best reviews are on this channel. Period.

[@APopov]

Finally a reviewer who admits that $200 for 8GB and $400 for 16GB of RAM is painful to just look at. In alternative universe (PCs) you can buy 32GB of RAM for less than $150. And add it by yourself. On demand.

[@24News-t5i]

micro center has a deal for 7700x + B650 mobo + 32 GB RAM 6000 Mhz at 399... less than what 16 Gb costs on a MAC.

[@andyH_England]

Microsoft also charges around $200 for upgrading RAM per 8GB. This is a well-established business model in the premium sector: Get the base model to the lowest price possible, where margins are acceptable by shareholders, subsidised by having higher upgrade costs. This means people with less disposable income have an entry point to Macs, and those who can afford more storage and RAM pay extra.

[@24News-t5i]

@@andyH_England stop enabling them

[@APopov]

@@andyH_England Its still a robbery. Doesn't matter if it is AAPL or MSFT, charging $200 for basically the cheapest component of computer which costs around $50 is a bit too much.

[@andyH_England]

@@APopov I have already explained the reasons, and Apple knows that not everyone will buy into it and doesn't expect everyone to. You are the consumer, and if you don't like it, then move on-this is how Apple makes money to survive.

[@betseyr.9081]

Just ordered the MacMini (mid spec upgraded to 1TB Storage) and the Mac Studio (Nano-texture glass)... this is replacing a 27" iMac (2017) in my home office... Have been holding out for the return of a 27" iMac but as MacRumors states, doesn't look like Apple will bring it back so this is the future!

[@macbitz]

There is an element of future-proofing in going for the M4 Pro model as well. Hardware and software demands increase over time so an M4 Pro with 120Gbps Thunderbolt-5 ports, a 512Gb drive and 24Gb of RAM could in theory give you a Mac Mini that is sufficient for your needs for a year or two past what the base M4 Mac Mini can offer.

[@otdosa]

idk, m1 air from 2020 is very 'alive' 4 yrs later. :)

[@ElNeroDiablo]

Ehhh, depends on the user's needs - I'm still rocking a 128GB M1 11" iPad Pro (WiFi) from October/November 2021 as my "away from desktop" device, and I'm not likely to need to replace it until like the M6 or maybe even M7 11" iPad Pro comes out with how solid this baby has been.

[@TheHardcard]

An important fact that needs to get out there is that 120 GB/s is for video only. Driving displays . Thunderbolt 5 for data transfer, including eGPU is 80 GBs.

[@esaezzat3330]

Or for that extra money you can buy the latest base model Mac Mini in the future which should perform better than the Mac Mini M4 Pro which is already at least 5 years old by that time. For the majority of users, it ain’t that deep - go get the base Mac Mini!

[@jammin023]

I used to take that attitude (I've eked 9 years out of my iMac), but with the baseline model being so cheap, and the upgrades so expensive, it's not worth it anymore. Say the baseline model is good enough for 3 years, while the Pro will last you for 5 - but because it costs more than twice as much, you're still paying more per year for the faster model. IMO it's only worth buying a non-baseline model if you know you need the extra power NOW. Otherwise, in 3 years time the latest baseline model will probably be as fast as today's Pro model...

[@Red_Snappa]

Great that someone actually understands that a LOT of viewers have _zero_ kind of 'workflows' at all....and just want a fast machine for the times they have the odd video(s) they're knocking up from their 4k/1080P holiday video footage. Infact, I don't know - or know anyone _else_ - that have friends or family that does video editing for a living.

[@ashleycodmyt2652]

Great Video Dave, What upgrades in processing power or graphics does the new Mac Studio offer over older models, and how do they impact professional workflows?

[@matejzima8210]

As always, Dave delivered a brilliant take, especially the real world application and comparison with Ultra machine. This adds so much more value to the information than some benchmarks or graphs. Thanks.

[@hreggerino]

The PS5 comes with 1tb ssd and you can add another m.2 one. This Mac is 600$ for 256gb, 800$ for 512gb, etc. No m.2. If only the PS5 ran a actual operating system.

[@Longlius]

The PS5 is also rocking a processor from 2018 and a GPU from 2019.

[@SandanuwanDhanushka]

Always genuine advices! Thanks man! ❤

[@hennessylieu]

The early gangs are here

[@brunoleitemilkie]

Cheers mate! Straight to the point, I like it. You've gained a new subscriber with this vid. I'm a graphic and web designer looking to upgrade my 2017 15" MacBook Pro. I was tossing up between the base M2 MacBook Pro, the M2 Mac Mini, or the M2 Pro Mac Mini. After watching your review, I reckon the base M2 Mini will be sweet for my needs. Didn't know about your channel before, but you've got a nice setup and you're a natural on camera. Gonna check out your other vids! Thanks again, see ya, and cheers from Australia!

[@JackAdams0]

"Apple nailed it" - yeah they nailed deceiving you into upgrading and paying an arm and a leg, cuz who the hell is gonna use 256 GB of storage?

[@Shimeih]

Been using my 2012 MBP for years now and I can finally afford this. I think the base model and 3 of my 1tb ssds will be enough storage for me. I just don't know how much more it will cost in my region.

[@richardpb11]

I have a theory on one of Apple's main reasons for the power button on the bottom. Tactility. When the original iMac was designed, Johnny Ive was asked (I'm paraphrasing) why it had a handle because it was light enough to carry/move without it (back in 1998 it was pretty small and light for a desktop). He said that by having a handle, just to take it out of the box, gives the end-user a bond with it, a relationship with it, back when computers were still scary for a lot of people. Apple have continued that design philosophy with almost all of their products. The want people to pick them up, touch them, look at them from all angles. I wouldn't be at all surprised if that is why the Apple mouse charger is on the bottom. Ok, maybe not not the mouse! 😅

[@dothetontim]

Nope. Macs historically have been able to be turned on by slapping the space bar if I recall my old Macs from the 1980s (I had an Apple IIe in 1983 and quickly progressed to Mac when they came out). You don't power-down a Mac by pressing the power button unless it's a hard shutdown. I expect you can still turn on a Mac without using the power button. The power button is almost a 'reset' button and might as well be a pin hole to avoid accidents. Apple did not design this to force you to pick up your Mac Mini.

[@Cyan101]

It's just so you can't see it so it looks better

[@DankGank]

This thread might actually perfectly sum up how the average Apple bro thinks LMAO. Form over function every damn time

[@richardpb11]

@@dothetontim I was referring to the reason why Apple may have placed it on the bottom. I'm sorry, but your comment has nothing to do with what I was talking about. I never said anything about the original iMac's power button (which was on the back if I recall). I was comparing the design philosophy of tactility. Incidentally, The Mac IIfx, IIce, IIcx I used in 1989 had the power button above the keyboard, I think that came with the introduction of ADB in 1986. I also never said anything about what scenarios you use the power button for.

[@richardpb11]

@@Cyan101 I don't disagree, I said one of the reasons, not the only reason.

[@aXimo]

All Apple had to do was to remove the empty space...

[@sofloemir]

I have seen few people mention the power button. I have the M2 mini. I've owned it for I think 2 years now, and I don't know where the power button is because I've never powered it off. Maybe turned it on once or twice when we lost power. (actually no, because it's connected to a APC lol). I can honestly say I've never used the power button on this computer.

[@utube9487]

It's just so slimy for Apple to send every reviewer the Pro model to review first. Apple probably loaded it with 48GB+ Ram and 1TB of the faster SSD to get even more gushing reviews. Especially when we all want to see the base M4 model reviews first. Pretty much dilutes the early review opinions to get as much praise as they can get to start the pre orders rolling but people are rushing to buy the base model but with skewed expectations going by M4 Pro review models with massive Ram upgrades and SSD speed / size upgrades. People will look at these reviews and go, wow the Mac Mini is great and buy the base version that performs significantly worse than the review Pro unit. God, does Apple think we don't see these tricks? Man, Apple.....every obvious slimy marketing trick they can get away with. Even early reviewers know this but to get massive view counts they do not put 'Mac Mini PRO' in the title because they know they will get less views because everyone is after the base Mac Mini M4 reviews. Apple have lubed up these reviewers well.

[@coolcha]

Yeah I agree on this. Dave used to buy the products to review now feels like a sell out. How can you not point out that doubling the ram and the ssd costs as much as a 2nd entire device and still call it a well priced product?

[@druxpack8531]

i bet the base model ssd speed is even slower than the m2....if that is the case, this is just a wet fart....

[@utube9487]

@@druxpack8531 Yea, noticed most reviewers trying to get max clicks on their video and fool the people into thinking this is a $499/ $599 Mac Mini M4 review. When it is a truly a specced up M4 pro model loaded to the gills with Ram and Storage upgrades from Apple.

[@andyH_England]

For decades, Windows OEMs have created a misleading impression in the market, which may have prompted Apple to adopt similar tactics. While non-Apple enthusiasts might view this as a grand conspiracy, the truth is that this is merely a marketing strategy. Windows often escapes criticism for their practices, so why shouldn't Apple do the same?

[@cameronbosch1213]

​@andyH_England I don't. I've called out Dell and Asus for doing the exact same crap with RAM on their laptops (and the 2024 Dell XPS laptops SUCK in pretty much every way), but at least you can upgrade the SSDs yourself on those devices. GG if you try to do so on an Apple Silicon Mac, though. I mean, Asus literally charges a fortune to get a Zephyrus G14 with 32 GB of RAM because they FORCE you to get the RTX 4070 config, which is $2000!

[@PeterEmery]

I found an adapter for the Magic Mouse on Amazon. It raises the entire device with the rear being higher than the front, making it sit in my hand more comfortably. The main reason for purchasing this adapter is that it it has a wireless charging coil in the base and connects to the mouse via a fixed vertical Lightning plug. Place the mouse on a MagSafe or Qi charging pad/puck and the charge starts, indicated by a bright white LED on the back. While charging, Bluetooth is disconnected. Lifting the mouse off the charger stops the charge and restores Bluetooth connectivity. I have formed the habit of charging it any time I'm not actively using the mouse.

[@LXXXIX]

God, if I just wasn’t so damn poor, lol

[@HearMeLearn]

a good solution for storage if you have one of the desktop macs but you have base model storage is a NAS. It's so nice having centralized storage that you can access from any computer. Once you get it all setup it almost feels like part of the computer, just external.

[@ash6563]

0:50 why feel the need to justify stupid decisions? People keep doing this the mouse too.

[@TheTehkman]

Ikr sick of youtubers doing this crap its an idiotic thing to do

[@stefanvasilev9318]

Apple knows best, right? I'm sure they tested it for over 100 000 pick ups and drops 🤣😅 They will always keep doing this, since the media will go to extremes to justify it for them 😂 So why bother in the first place

[@bowsed]

I want to agree, but if that’s his honest opinion then that should be respected - if not, why watch dave2d?

[@stefanvasilev9318]

@bowsed Because we're interested in the tech, maybe? And we want to know more about it? But it's getting really hard to trust anyone - most of the time "it's not sponsored" but at the same time " so and so were gracious enough to send this over for free" 😅🤷

[@mikeodeo]

Dude this is such a good video. Great job laying out practical considerations.

[@olorin11]

2:06 no mic 🎙️, what a ridiculous thing Apple???

[@KingKendrickTheGod233]

I need a mic so I can record my Kendrick Lamar raps 😂😂 I love Kendrick so much! ❤❤❤

[@aadityatokle]

I do not expect cpus to have mics honestly. Even if they did I have my headphones and you can get a 10$ earphones that will sound better mic than this thing if it got shipped with one.

[@jacoL8]

Stop time stamp spamming

[@KingKendrickTheGod233]

@@jacoL8 KENDRICK the GOD KING 🧱🏺🧿

[@papneja]

@Dave2D I attempting to search if you had a video, but could not find one. How are you able to get 4 4k streams into the computer? I am assuming your using obs to have 5 feeds recorded (4 inputs and 1 live feed). if you can share a small description on how it was done would be appreciated.

[@daveyjones777]

No excuses for the power button location. Zero.

[@jay294]

bro what

[@mikerichardson60]

if that's a deal breaker for you I don't know what to tell you. I'm sure Apple had a legitimate reason for putting it where they did.

[@saahilbains]

Solid video, loved the explanation on displays. Also liked the evaluation of gaming, coz that’s what I’ve been thinking since this launched.

[@druxpack8531]

both Dave2D and MKBHD no disk speed tests?? shady as f

[@Dave2D]

it's the same speed as all their drives for the past 4-5 years fast as hell

[@andyH_England]

In the base models, SSD speeds for the casual user on these models are overkill. You will find for most people their external devices are the bottleneck. Pro users will unlikely be buying the base model.

[@druxpack8531]

@ you are excuse making. Apple is deliberately lowering the disk speeds to force you to upgrade. How can you be ok with that?

[@EastMontana1]

Dave, your videos are always the best ! 👍