M4 Mac Mini: The Best Value Mac - Internal vs. External SSD Setup Explained

[@NickCookActingScribe]

I’ve had my base Mac Mini for a couple of weeks now and have zero regrets.

[@ReachFilms]

glad to hear it Nick!!! What's interesting is I started editing 6k on my old iMac for fun and I realized the Mac mini actually handles the editing faster!!!! blew my mind. My old iMac still rendered faster but I rather edit faster as in the end ill leave the computer to do its thing while exporting a video

[@NickCookActingScribe]

@ compared to my old Mac, which was admittedly very long in the tooth, and my year old windows laptop, this thing is a huge step up for me. It rendered my latest film in 6 minutes as opposed to 50 or more. Very impressed.

[@edkelly5580]

Thanks!

[@warrenneame]

Thank you for that wonderful information I have purchased a mini Mac and I absolutely love it. I had a 27 inch iMac that was seven years old and so I upgraded But when I came to buy a monitor I found out I had to buy a 4K monitor. It would be good if you did a small video on what are the best monitors for the mini Mac I think that would help people tremendously .

[@ReachFilms]

I'm glad you enjoy your Mac Mini! I'll definitely keep that in mind for a future video. Thank you for the idea!!

[@warrendavies8454]

What monitor did you get?

[@jaspercoutu489]

So which ssd are you recommend? Your description now has links to 2? The crucial and the wd black? Make it easy for me lol which one?

[@ReachFilms]

@@jaspercoutu489 the crucial is the one I use currently and works great

[@goobfilmcast4239]

A little OT: If you have a older 1080p TV or even a budget 4K, it will make a great monitor for an Apple Silicon Mini. I "retired" my base M1 Mini, repurposed it with an old 32" 1080p TV and use it as a kitchen top computer. I have the Mini mounted on the back so it basically works like a slightly bigger iMac. I will eventually add a couple decent speed ext SSDs and turn it into a Plex server and Time Machine backup as well.

[@ReachFilms]

Sounds like you've got a great setup for your older 1080p TV, it's definitely a great option for a kitchen top computer!

[@BorderTerrier-yk2hw]

SEQUOIA 15.3 UPDATE ON EXTERNAL DRIVE If you want to update to Sequoia 15.3, installed on your external drive, You will receive an error message "Requires operator input", or similar. Solution: 1.Close down your Mac 2. Press and hold down the on/off button, and eventually a window will appear with two icons. 3. Press the right handed icon and 4 Icons appear with text asking, "onto which drive do you wish to install the new O/S". 4. Select the external, (Acasis mounted drive, on my case). The new O/S will then be installed on your Mac.

[@EscobarAdventures]

i went for the mac min m4 pro with 48gb of ram and 1tb ssd with the 10gb ethernet and don't regret it at all. The upgrades are worth it and will be adding a thunderbolt 5 ssd in the future.

[@rorywalters1614]

Either way, Time Machine backups are necessary, so you’ll not worry about losing data when the external drive fails.

[@Cv3T0m1R]

All the tutorials I've seen show connecting external SSD to M4 Mac Mini. But I need a lot of space, not so much speed. Can I connect external HDD instead of SSD?

[@ReachFilms]

Yes, the reason people talk about SSD vs hard drive is the write speed is leaps and bounds faster. It’s 150mb per second on a hard drive vs over 3000mb per second on an SSD. I still use hard drives for mass storage but I don’t leave them plugged in at all times. Way too slow

[@Cv3T0m1R]

@@ReachFilms Thanks. I'm aware of the parameters, and I just wanted to know if it's possible. When I'm seeding 3000 torrents for a few terabytes, the last thing I need is speed.

[@stevenishi9582]

I have an OWC Express 1M2 with a Crucial T500 connected to a M4 Mac Mini. Approximately 15 minutes after putting the Mac Mini to sleep, the OWC will turn back on for about 45 seconds. Then after another 15 minutes it will turn back on , and then off. This cycle continues throughout the day. There is nothing loaded on the OWC. Is this normal ?

[@ReachFilms]

@@stevenishi9582 if the Mac mini is a sleep yes. Because it’s not completely off. It will only completely turn off if you shut the Mac down

[@stevenishi9582]

@@ReachFilms Thanks Geoff!

[@tbirdvet]

Most user do not recommend using sleep. Only causes all kinds of issues. Just have the display turn off after a predetermined time.

[@leannakeightley4211]

I have a couple of questions. I just bought the base model yesterday and have not even plugged it in yet. I am not a power user of any computer by any means. But it is on my goal list this year! I am wondering. As I get into more applications to make my life easier (or at least more productive) and entertaining thus causing the factor SSD to cap out, can I move my home drive to an external drive to free up space? And my other question is this. You said in the video that if one does the home drive option one has to keep it connected to the MAC mini at all times. Does this mean when it is on? What if I turn everything off, disconnect the external drive, then reconnect it before turning the Mac Mini back on?

[@TheDanEdwards]

"What if I turn everything off, disconnect the external drive..."

[@john_hind]

I'm going to argue that the Mac mini is now so compact it is a good portable choice. Because it does not have a battery, it is no good for 'off grid' use, but I think most people just lug laptops from work to home to Starbucks and for this kind of portability, were you always have a power outlet, the mini is very practical. Particularly if you have access to monitors in all places. I am still trying to get to a portable bag with a Mac mini and an iPad where the iPad is the main monitor for the mini. Only problem is switching Sidecar screen mirroring on after power on without another monitor - found several solutions to that, just not a good one! But Apple's gougy internal storage pricing does make this portable scenario much less attractive since economic considerations drive us to external storage.

[@ReachFilms]

It’s one of those situations where can you use this as a portable computer? Yeah, but once the m4 air comes out it’s much more convenient to buy that if you need portability

[@john_hind]

@@ReachFilms I'd argue it is not very much more convenient and it is much more expensive, particularly over the longer term when you end up completely unnecessarily replacing your monitor, keyboard and pointing device just because you want a more powerful processor (or Apple force the issue by overtaxing the RAM or just cutting off support in a later OS revision). How many people buy a MacBook and end up operating it 90% of the time with the lid closed, on mains power, and with a much larger external monitor and a better keyboard attached?

[@ReachFilms]

@ most people who buy a MacBook do use it for portable use. The people who use it as a desktop are a small sample base. I am part of the small base which is why I started getting Mac desktops in 2020, the every day person isn’t. Every single person I know who runs a MacBook uses it for going between school, work and travel.

[@john_hind]

@@ReachFilms Yea, I guess I am just trying to make a distinction between 'transportable' in the sense of being able to easily move it between different workstations (and pack it away securely when not in use), and 'field use' when you actually need to use it in transit or away from mains power. Because desktops used to be big and bulky and a pain to set up, lots of people were forced to buy laptops when they only really needed them to be transportable. Particularly true now everybody has phones and maybe iPads for 'field use'.

[@robertvsnow]

I got the base M4 Mini with 16GB RAM and the 512GB storage upgrade. That leaves me with about 180GB free space. Black Magic shows my internal drive at 4,186 MB/s write and 3,012 read. Larger storage is faster and the computer will have better performance when it needs to use swap memory. I rarely edit video, pets and bike rides mostly, and I already had an Acasis thunderbolt 3 enclosure with a Crucial 1TB NVMe dedicated to that. It has no fan and reads and writes in the mid two thousands. It does get quite warm in use and slows down a bit, but fast enough for my needs. I can go weeks without the external drive plugged in. I think 256GB is awfully small if you plan on keeping a Mini for more than a few years.

[@ReachFilms]

so the upgrade to 512 really isn't a huge deal because the write speed is only slightly faster than using a USB 4 drive and the read speed is actually slower than using a USB 4 drive. In order to get really good speeds from the internal you really need to go 1TB or higher of internal memory. That's why for the $200 to upgrade to 512gb I would just save the money get the base model and buy a USB 4 drive all day, because for less money you can have 1TB of fast external storage and be able to upgrade it later on if you need more, which you can't do just yet with the Mac mini. If that changes than things will be different but as of now no company can make swappable ssd's for the mini yet and only recently have companies started to make them for the Mac Studio but that's years later

[@HoundDogMech]

I added a$29 KB& mouse a $90 15" monitor and put it all in a $10 Swap meet Breifcase and it' portable. I could add a Portable Power supply but I seldom go anywhere There isn't Power.

[@ReachFilms]

Sounds like you’ve got a great portable setup!

[@audigex]

My issue with the Mac Mini is how expensive the keyboard and trackpad/mouse are, they add a LOT the cost. I can get by with a generic keyboard, but MacOS really doesn't play too nicely with 3rd party mice in my experience, the acceleration just messes you up

[@ReachFilms]

I’ve been using the old Thunderbolt wireless mouse and keyboard. They are still on great condition over 4 years later so I can’t complain

[@00tich]

I have a BT Dell KB and a logitech BT mouse tied to a dell 4K KVM monitor and switch back and forth between 2 windows laptops and my Mac mini and have never had a single mouse/keyboard issue with any of the machines.I just can't get used to using the command button for so much (which is the windows button) some day Ill stop hitting ctrl c&v for cut and paste😄

[@alvaroflores9509]

I’m planning to get the OWC Express 1M2 enclosure with WD_BLACK 2TB SN770 SSD. Do you think is going to be a good combination or should I order the Crucial T500 SSD. I mainly will be using my mac mini for photo editing and some casual video editing.

[@ReachFilms]

Both options sound great, you can't go wrong!

[@sidewalkcinema]

I picked up this same combination M4 Mac Mini base model and the OWC Express 1M2 as my Application drive and storage for video and photo editing. And it is wonderfully quiet especially compared to my 2019 MacBook Pro fully decked out that now sounds like a 737 when I edit. So much faster and quieter 🎉

[@lindsaybruce1396]

If you want peace of mind, I'd recommend two SSDs in a RAID 1 configuration (you can set this up with Disk Utility), and a daily backup to an external hard drive or other network device. For myself, I'm using a TerraMaster D8 Hybrid external enclosure which has four HDD bays and four NVMe SSD slots connected to the Mac via USB 3.2, and a separate Acasis SSD Thunderbolt 4 enclosure for my Home folder and capture drive. I'm editing video, so that extra storage is kind of essential, but with photos your mileage may vary. I'd definitely say that a two-bay SSD enclosure is worth investing in - especially given how SSDs have come down in price.

[@goobfilmcast4239]

KZbin reviewers have poo-pooed Apple stingy disk space and inflated prices but Storage and Accessory companies must LOVE them some Apple now.

[@ВикторКашпур-б5с]

На внешний ссд можно установить новую систему макос и не переносить её с мак мини м4. Тогда внутренний ссд не изнашивается и его система действенная

[@jrgandia]

You haven't taken into account the higher write speed of higher end SSDs, which is twice as fast. The less free space left on the SSD, the lower the overall system performance. Also, if you need more RAM, it's better to swap to a faster SSD with more space. I know Apple's prices are prohibitive, but it might be worth upgrading to at least a 512GB SSD.

[@ReachFilms]

I have, this video was about the base model

[@jrgandia]

I know, ¿What do you think about the 512gb SSD upgrade?

[@ReachFilms]

@ if you are going to upgrade I would only do 1tb or higher as that’s where you see the main performance boost, but it’s also costly. It’s why I just recommend the base model with a USB4 drive. 512gb isn’t that much more and the performance is not much better than a USB4 drive, where 1tb and higher drives can almost double the write speed of usb4 drives and more than double of the base model

[@umartariq]

saw a video of a you-tuber gracefully upgrading the ssd of his macmini if he can do it why cannot apple

[@ReachFilms]

It involves soldering new chips onto the SSD so it isn’t quite so simple right now

[@umartariq]

@ kzbin.info/www/bejne/qKXHeKt4mriesJosi=1TBEyjmuzmsSrAqY i have not looked at the whole video but again ignore if not useful

[@brettburton1477]

The base model is a farce… my biggest tech purchase regret ever… 256 gb base memory… not even close to being enough , it is functionally inoperable. Load on MS products and the base os and base apps requires 512. Buy an external SSD, or buy the 1 Tb model.

[@ReachFilms]

Yeah, you definitely need a bigger drive, a good SSD can be a game changer as I discuss in the video, you probably need to do the home drive method if you are using enough apps that your drive is full

[@LukeSchneiderEWI]

Third party ssds are going to be on the market soon... I'd go for the 24 gig of ram version ,instead of the bigger SSD ,and just use an external SSD in the meantime...

[@kid5Media]

I've had an Apple laptop but my main computer the last 12 years has been a Mini and the new Mini will be my replacement. Not really interested in a laptop.

[@sonnyhe2002]

Solution: Buy a older mac mini or windows computer. No point having a fast cpu in theory when all the process is bottlenecked by a usb connection to storage

[@ReachFilms]

@@sonnyhe2002 what makes you think it’s bottlenecked? It’s Thunderbolt 4 not usb, faster speeds than the internal hard drive if you buy the right enclosure. Not sure you did the research here

[@sonnyhe2002]

@ReachFilms i will be the first to admit if im wrong. But can you show me a thunderbolt external storage (the one you use). I would like to see the read-write speed because, in reality, they maybe "compatible" with thunderbolt but an external ssd or nvme or hdd storage going through a thunderbolt adapter then to a thunderbolt port, will infact be bottlenecked.

[@ReachFilms]

@ check the videos in the description where you can find all that information. I go over the various read and write speeds of different drives

[@sonnyhe2002]

​@ReachFilms Yup, so still show exactly what im saying. The owc express you are showing only has up to 3151 MB/s. Even if you plug it into thunderbolt. If you were to plug the m2 internal nvme Directly, you will get 7200 MB/s

[@ReachFilms]

@ you skipped through the part where the Mac mini gets less speed than that with its internal SSD unless you upgrade to a 1tb

[@ReptilianRichardRamirez]

Do not put MacOS on an external drive guys. Lol You shouldn't even consider doing this for a variety of good reasons.

[@ReachFilms]

@@ReptilianRichardRamirez I couldn’t agree more that’s why I mention that I personally wouldn’t do it. Too complicated and you have to really have a specific use case on why you NEED to do that