Definitive Guide to Buying a Mac mini (and NOT wasting money)

[@PeteMatheson]

Ok, be honest, who bought one of the upgrades and is now regretting it?

[@Ryzen-4090-i3n]

did you come from 7 hours in the future

[@KanielD]

I’m regretting not upgrading the Ethernet speed

[@timevvaste]

Got 500GB SSD upgrade, not regretting.

[@brettcee2]

Got the base with the 512. Now usually I’m a get the top of the line model, but it’s actually plenty for what I do. Although literally 3 minutes before watching this video I was thinking “should I get the pro instead?”

[@HoangTheBoss]

@@mojojojo1529 10Gbps is a 1.25GB/s, surely the internal SSD is faster than that, also they might need to receive data at 10Gb (editing) and not send

[@janplexy]

So happy with my M4 PRO Mini.. attached a 4TB ssd in Satechi enclosure, getting 3.800 mb/s read and write.. this thing is flying!

[@pruchay]

What about overheating? I have watched different videos, and there are cases where the speed is high at the beginning, but after, for example, 30 minutes of usage, it is down to, let's say, 500 mb/s.

[@janplexy]

@ I have absolutely zero issues. Not too hot, speed is excellent. Maybe I don’t abuse it enough. But I work from it 8-9 hours every day.

[@francescoliguori4708]

Configuration? 24/512?

[@archiew8003]

can you install and run apps on the ssd? is it really not worth buying apple upgrade fee at all?

[@janplexy]

@ of course you can, and on Sequoia you can even install OS on external drive, but I would not recommend this. What I woul recommend is, moving Home folder to external drive.

[@MasonQQQ]

I think what some people have done is that before signing into iCloud and setting up their profile, they move their user home folder to the external drive. I think that might resolve the home assistant issue, but that's a big and messy task after things have been set up. Just make sure to add a second admin account that stays on local storage

[@jesussepulveda9992]

agree this could solve that

[@nowave7]

I actually moved my home folder to the external drive, after signing in to the iCloud account, so even that is possible. Works like a charm!

[@bryans8656]

I opted for the base M4 Mac mini, and still have 176GB of local storage. I'm using a 2TB NVME external drive, which I formatted exFAT so that I can use it with different devices and platforms.

[@motivationalspirit7]

⁠ same here , base model with studunt discount from a junior, and 2tb nvme with acasis enclosure, mostly use fcp and capcut no problem at all (40 days)

[@bryans8656]

@@mojojojo1529 I use exFAT, despite its limitations, because both Mac and Windows can read/write to it. That allows me to store everything, including downloaded applications for both platforms, but I don't try to run the apps from the external drive. I do this for worse case scenarios where I have to reinstall everything to a computer. Some of my apps are very old, like my Photoshop CS2 program exe., and not available for download on the Adobe site anymore. But it's still useful for my purposes so I keep a backup copy.

[@KippyKipKip]

@@mojojojo1529 I tried APFS for my iPhone 15 to record video on ProRes format externally but it didn't work. So I formatted to ExFat and my iPhone 15 Pro Max recognized it right away.

[@jesussepulveda9992]

@@mojojojo1529 yes that's right, but the issue with APFS is that if you need to read it with other OS there sadly there is not option

[@EasyyokeFilms]

@@motivationalspirit7 Are you running your Final cut application of the NVME or your apps are installed on the Mac internal drive

[@efrenhaw]

16gb of ram I edit videos, code, simulate apps and never have I ever had any problem. So it's not just for emails and google sheets, this is capable of doing a lot of work. Unless the only thing you do is edit 4k videos, 3d rendering, or gaming this computer has you covered.

[@pweddy1]

If you are getting a fast M.2 drive make sure you get an enclosure that is faster than 10Gbps. ACASIS and a couple others have 40Gbps enclosures. There is a Thunderbolt 5 enclosure with an integrated hub that’s supposed to come out soon.

[@PeteMatheson]

Yeah - waiting on those TB5 enclosures, along with some docks too!

[@pweddy1]

@ I saw a prerelease review of a TB5 dock with integrated M.2 support. FINALLY. A drive and dock in one!

[@josephk.9567]

even in that case it does not make sense. In europe it's 230 eur for 8gb ram upgrade. You can almost get 128gb of ram for that price.

[@cristiabc1310]

What means virtual machines on a processor which is not compatible with the 86-Word??

[@RichardHubbuck]

Ah, top tip. Thanks.

[@AquidoSquido]

Very happy with base model M4 Mac Mini, 256GB is no issue when I move seldomly used apps to external SSD, and also store all finished work on NAS.

[@JohnWi11is]

Great Video Pete!! Thanks... I watched this before ordering mine... based on your recommendation were going for M4 Macc Mini Pro 12 core CPU & 16 core GPU, 48GB Ram & 1TB SSD

[@jacksprat2333]

How are you getting along with that?

[@jkdakid85]

I just ordered the 24 Unified Memorary and upgraded to 32 GB and was starting to overthink it but I'm grateful for your break down. I'm a film maker who is about to take full advantage of Creative cloud so actually doing a lot of green screen and AE and shooting up to 20-30 minute shorts. So I'm happy with the upgrade after viewing your break down seeing that I would need the extra memory especially since i edit in Premiere with multiple layers. Most projects have 8-10 audio layers and my last short had 16 for video because I was avoiding AE.

[@Shaunmcdonogh-shaunsurfing]

I do a lot of coding and editing with 16GB RAM on the original m1 MacBook. Absolutely no complaints

[@stephensauceda]

Same. Coding every day. Making music, editing photos and video on occasion and my 16GB M2 MBA never breaks a sweat. Though, if I were buying new, I'd probably bump up to 24GB just for a bit of future-proof security.

[@stephenvalente3296]

Whilst from the outside as a Mac owner not having bought one of these, I can see the headline figure of £599 being ok for the majority, it's the same old problem since Apple Silicon came into being, the outrageous incremental upgrade costs. If you add too much to the base model, you're knocking on the door of the Mac Mini Pro. If you do the same with Pro, you're not far off the Studio Max M2. When the Studio Max M4 comes next year, that price vs performance difference will probably be even more acute, making the Studio Max M4 the better buy. Apple are kind of killing their own sales in one sense as indecision leads to someone not buying, waiting for the next big thing, and going round in a loop.

[@PeteMatheson]

True! It’s getting near to the messy iPad lineup now with products crossing over one another.

[@Lauren_C]

@@stephenvalente3296 For the Mini, which isn’t likely to be moved often, external drives are not a huge compromise, though RAM upgrade pricing is a pretty huge con for myself. For a MacBook on the other hand (my laptop is my mobile do-everything machine), the up-charge on storage pricing is a total deal breaker.

[@stephenvalente3296]

@@Lauren_C Yes. Think they’d make more money in the long run from upgrades if they charged less in the first place really.

[@JAKOB1977]

@@stephenvalente3296 Aint there a little bell up in your head, that says bing bing, maybe the biggest and richest techcompany in the world, knows more about making money then little me, behind my keyboard..? The aspect of a Dunning Kruger syndrome.. "things" maybe seem obvious to you, simply because you lack the knowledge and the insight. that more skilled people have. I hope you can conclude, if there is something that Apple knows better then you, its to make money and to maximise their margins. they have a fleet of people analyzing all aspect of these things.. they even using machine learning math to analyze these aspect of psychology amongts consumers.They are not just winging it, and leaving profit on the street, because they haven't seen the "light", that you think you saw. Im not criticising.. we all do it... think we know, things better than professionals that have it as their daily job and been doing it for ages.. but a a certain point you also need to use common sense, and give more skilled people, the benefit of the doubt.

[@AllenMarkel]

I think Apple knows what they’re doing! Most people don’t flinch with the upgrades.

[@johnj596]

I got the upgraded m4pro with 1tbssd and 24g or memory. It’s really awesome

[@freddoflintstono9321]

There's also another quick fix for your network transfers: stick in a USB-C 2.5Gb network adaptor. I bought two managed 2.5Gb switches which also had a 10Gb SFP port so I could link them with an optical cable so I could create separate networks without impacting max network speed (most of these switches have at least a 40Gb backbone so it can handle a lot concurrently). I thus have one VLAN reserved for the Mac mini and my laptop to interconnect when I'm home using USB-C 2.5Gb network adaptors, and the rest carries the usual Internet traffic behind the firewall. Yes, 5Gb and 10Gb also exist, but they gets *way* more expensive - with this you already double throughput. 2.5Gb is now very affordable: 8 port switches have dropped to below EUR 100 now, and adaptors are around EUR 30 of a decent brand.

[@rezwanocean5934]

11:48 which model SSD failed? Can you please mention , we'll try to avoid that model then

[@C---M]

The Sandisk models seem to have been a bad series.

[@stevenwaldstein2249]

Thank you. Still trading off the configuration I need. I’m old school so SSD wise I always have configured 1TB in and 16-32 G real memory except for my older quad core Intel I9 based system that has 64 GB of memory. Now looking at an M4 machine. Take care.

[@aaronfenton1818]

I got a base model. I’ve installed a few apps on the system itself (Adobe suite, Microsoft Office suite, WhatsApp Web, Zoom and a few others. Those apps came to around 60Gb collectively. All media (documents, photos, videos, video project saves etc) are stored on an external hard drive tower. £95 for a Seagate 4Tb. Sorted

[@Jim_Mundy]

Dang. You back at boatload of information into this video. All so useful as I consider my next home studio purchase. Thank you!!!

[@Spidouz]

Just like it was a shame that not too long ago Macs were still coming with only 8GB RAM, it’s still a huge shame that any Macs is coming with less than 1TB of SSD… I mean, seriously, the bare minimum today should be 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD

[@Mr-Royn]

@PeteMatheson Hey Pete, What are your suggestions from the following choice for the usecases like Video editing, sometimes multiple line of track of both video and audio, and definately multi-widow at 1-2 browser. Option 1:- Two M4 mac mini base model Option 2:- One m4 mac mini with 24gb and 512 ssd Option3:- Shall I just get a windows custom pc? I already have M2 pro base macbook with 16gb and 10 cpu and 12 gpu.

[@deanbrandon3615]

I’m going to go for your second Mac-mini option. The M4 Pro with SSD upgrade to 1TB. I like the idea of more storage in the device itself. I have an NAS, but it was so difficult for me, of limited knowledge, to set up, I cannot say I like it very much as I was mainly looking for solid redundancy rather than sheer volume of memory. I do use Backblaze! Now, in reality, I’m not getting anything just yet, as I do not have a large display, just an older 27inch iMac. I’m hoping for an Apple studio display upgrade early next year.

[@djaykhay1953]

I am leaning in the same direction. I have run external SSDs for extra storage on my 2018 mac mini and frequently receive spontaneous disconnects of the SSDs. This is not uncommon even if one has high quality SSDs and connectors. I am considering the MacPro with 1 TB because, I simply don't want to deal with the potential disruption and data corruption that can come with these spontaneous disconnection issue. I find it a bit odd that in the current rash of videos extolling external SSDs that this issue does not seem to be addressed.

[@maxpwr]

Hi, can you make a video regarding setting up homeassistant on that Mac, setup setting and accessing external devices like zigbee dongles ? Cheers

[@TrendyWhistle]

Regarding the storage and apps off of the internal SSD 1. If you use a good bus powered SSD enclosure, it should boot as soon as the computer is on no issue, but some apps still do behave weird when in an external drive. 2. If you upgrade from spotlight to raycast, you can add an external folder to the “app search” 3. USB 4 NVME enclosures are more expensive but they perform faster than the internal Mac SSDs too, so it’s a great additional storage option too

[@kaszaniarz]

it is impossible that external USB drives are faster, try transfering lots of small files, it is at least 20x slower than any internal drive

[@TrendyWhistle]

@@kaszaniarzits been tested quite a few times, the USB4 enclosures with NVMe SSDs can read and write at about 3-3.3GB/s whereas the internal mac SSD reads and writes about 2.1 GB/s. Apple's SSD DRAM are not particular high quality ones. When more thunderbolt 5 capable devices come out, external SSDs will get even faster still.

[@yasserhy]

If you are a developer, don’t go for the 16GB memory. I personally tried it, and I run out of memory instantly. Also, if you are the kind of user who will watch a video, have many taps open in a browser, having many apps running in the background, maybe Teams or Zoom running … also, 16 GM memory will not do. As the gentleman said, 24GB seems to be fine for most professionals

[@johnplainsong9769]

The 512GB storage was essential for my recording studio with lots of third party plug-ins and App Support files. Moving the home folder was not a stable option. I have NO regrets getting 512. External storage for sound libraries and Logic projects. Sweet!

[@shaurz]

I bought the M4 with 16GB and 1TB storage. Happy with it so far, it's the first new Mac I've ever bought.

[@Axiomatic75]

The base model is all you need, get an external ssd and you'll be fine even for graphic design/video editing.

[@stcoding1780]

Thanks for the review! I love the super exagerated 0.5 seconds on the line chart @10:00 minutes 😂

[@edparker2]

You also have to think about how long you want to keep the computer when considering the memory upgrade. While the amount of memory I purchased 6 years ago on my MacBook Pro was sufficient at the time, as the OS and applications evolved RAM became an issue.

[@erickvon8752]

@@edparker2 same i bought M1 mac mini 8gb 512gb ssd based of the reviews and now it is starting to get slow when i have multiple youtube or chrome tabs. I will get 24gbs or ram as i tend to keep my computer for at least 6-8 years.

[@bennym1956]

ALWAYS get more RAM. Owned Macs for over 30 years...that's always a bottleneck you eliminate. I call it future proofing by buying more.

[@petemellows]

@@bennym1956 same. I always buy as much ram as I can afford. That usually gets me past the end of OS upgrades.

[@grafixnetz]

I have an M1 mini with 16gb and do everything with it, from photo editing and a few small videos to AI work and it keeps up just fine. No regrets. So why only 'basic tasks' with the M4 @16gb?

[@crypto-logisch]

9:01 10000 sympathy points 🎉 For recognising what most KZbinrs can’t relate to that „that’s the price of a car“ (knowing that most ppl buy used car at those price levels) 👍

[@yashdhas7538]

Just subscribed great information thank you

[@PaulOfCreation]

What about running a recording studio with Logic Pro?

[@derekrobillard7320]

James Zhan has some informative vids about this

[@legojenn]

Thanks for the walkthrough. I appreciate your enthusiasm, but you've just convinced me that these Macs are not for me. It's a shame. My old 2012 era Mac mini is a workhorse, albeit with a RAM upgrade to 16 GB, hard drive replaced with 2, 1 TB SSDs and running Linux Mint. The first half-decade of its life, it got me through uni, now it's a media centre and does just fine for music and 1080p video. I think that by telling folks that they don't need certain upgrades, Apple is dooming the devices to the initial use case, then they become landfill prematurely. They're well made computers very effective initially, but it shouldn't take dongles and add-ons to permit the device to do its job. It's like getting cheap laptop lockdown in a desktop. It shouldn't be that difficult to permit upgrades with commodity components.

[@infinitedarkness9476]

I decided to go with the 24 GB ram one terabyte space. I was considering the 16 with one terabyte but at the end of the day I wanted to go to 24. I plan on keeping this a while so I’m trying to plan for the future because you know there’s gonna be updates and things like that that’s gonna take up space

[@Garythefireman66]

This video was really helpful Pete. I don't know if I want to go MacMini or MacBook, but you brought up a lot of great points.

[@Nemlv]

I bought the best one. M4 pro base, 1TB storage, 10G ethernet. I am future proofed with (some) extra ram, TB5 and network upgrade.

[@PeteMatheson]

Boom! Nice spec

[@davadh]

M5 coming next year already bruh

[@clij5202]

Close to mine, ordered Mini Pro base with 24GB/512GB and added 10GbE; more storage then via TB

[@johnrobbins8093]

“Future proofed.” 😂 Back in 1987, I attached a 40MB HD to my Mac II, 68020-chip, computer. At the time, I said, “It has so much space, I’ll never fill it!” The lifetime of “future proofing” is, what? About five years, max?

[@Nemlv]

@ lol yes i keep my macs at most 5 years. Usually 3. BUT im needing TB5 for the upcoming apple displays ;)

[@ianforber]

I went for the base model but added the 512GB storage. I primarily use it for photo editing and keep all my files on an external SSD so only need internal storage for apps. I went for the 512GB to aim off for software bloat in future and thought it might make it better/faster for swap and memory if the Mac needed to. It’s definitely faster than my 2017 Intel MacBook Pro but not eye wateringly so. The bottleneck is probably my Samsung T7 drive but I’ll wait to see what Saetchi produces for an external hub before deciding whether to go for a faster external storage solution.

[@semperfi69]

Hi Went mini m4 pro 14 cores, 48gb, 512gb. Prefered upgrading ram and cpu and ill use a Raycue ssd enclosure under the mac mini for more storage.

[@bradleyolinger1691]

@PeteMatheson, I am considering a 256GB and 24GB model for my audio production work(self-produced musician) and some basic video/film editing work. Since external storage is best practice for both anyway, I see little reason to upgrade storage at this time, especially given storage is likely to soon be available third party(if indicators for the Mac Studio are to be believed to be a precursor for Mac Mini drives). I feel it’s better to put money into memory for my intended use.

[@PeteMatheson]

Agreed! The only issue may be how those apps behave when stored on external drives. Music production systems with various plugins expecting to look in one location but it being on external storage and so on. But absolutely I think more memory for your use case - you really don't need much in terms of extra CPU with these M4's !

[@bradleyolinger1691]

@@PeteMatheson it shouldn’t be too much of an issue in my case. Usually for audio plugins you can point to an external drive, with my project files also being external. As for video editing, I am not sure how those plugins function yet, but I mainly am concerned with simple edits for my self tape auditions(I’m working on an acting career) at the moment.

[@xDeadmanX1070]

Great Vid! For storage get a NAS with at least 2.5Gbps network speed then the SSD isn't as important (video editing not counted), I did the M4 with 24Gigs of Mem and the 512Gb SSD but I also have truenas Scale running with 8TB of space, running Immich for photos, and other apps. I also run WG easy for VPN into my home effectively giving myself a personal cloud. No more icloud, no more Google drive, I have office 365 for the apps but I might switch to open office. annnd scene. Loving my mac mini M4 so far.

[@smudgetherealmc]

A relevant conundrum I feel is getting advice on your own specific use case. I’m frustrated by my old Intel iMac but who can tell me the right options for the way I operate so that I spend my money on the right things?

[@webluke]

With the base system at 16GB, the only upgrade for everyone should be the 512GB SSD. I only use mine for cross-platform code compiling, so it kind of sits in the corner most of the time. If I were to start using it for more development work, I would go with the 32GB RAM and 1TB SSD with a base M4 chip. I do have a 1TB M.2 SSD in a USB-C enclosure connected to my system for storing bigger stuff that I don't need to be backed up, such as LLM files or game files when I was testing gaming.

[@igorcunha3930]

Hello Pete! Amazing video! Now, what configuration for mac mini m4 pro do you recomend? I edit and produce music on ableton live. Thanks!

[@Ayush.B]

I bought 24 gig and 256 gig model because I run two monitors and have lots of app open at any given time. Got 2tb samsung t7 and it's been really good so far.

[@matthewtrow5698]

Great overview - so good to watch something that isn't finger wagging "you made a mistake, buddy!" kinda thing. On the external SSD speeds - it may depend which model of the mini you buy, base or pro, as to whether an external NVMe drive matches internal. I'm in the process of finding out. (waiting for order to arrive!) I'm fairly sure a 10gbps enclosure is going to struggle to reach the speeds of the mac mini m4 pro internal SSD. That may even be the case with a 40gbps enclosure too - will that be able to match the m4 pro internal SSD? It certainly isn't going to get top speeds on an NVMe with 7400 MB/s read. However, Thunderbolt 5 and a Thunderbolt 5 enclosure will be interesting once they are fully out in the wild, but really only for professional content producers. For most of us it will simply mean quicker copying between drives - e.g. quicker backups. It would be overkill, considering the price that these enclosures will sell for initially, to use them for more trivial tasks. 10gbps would probably be enough for most people, 40gbps for power users perhaps?

[@aztrailrunner]

Unless I missed it you didn’t mention the option of using an external thunderbolt boot drive instead of paying for the extra internal storage for the Mini Pro - even with Thunderbolt 4 it’s at least as fast as the base internal drive (both in throughput and IOPS) and cheaper and more flexible for upgrade

[@aztrailrunner]

I take this back - having implemented the external boot I discovered it doesn’t support Apple Intelligence

[@RealtorRod64]

I may have misunderstood what you said, but it sounded like you said that if you use external storage that spotlight cannot search it or find things on it. That is incorrect as spotlight search will find applications and folders as well as the contents within on external drives.

[@Chalmoukis]

Excellent video! Thank you!

[@b9bot148]

I bought the 16GB 512GB version. Any hard drive upgrade can be done by buying an external SSD drive. Apple just charges way too much for the SSD updates. They should be having 1TB drives as the base model now a days. I'm also using the Cal digit TS3 Thunderbolt docking station.

[@fallenshallrise]

The way I see it I have a set of tasks that I do regularly which fit into a performance window. These requirements are essentially limited by the file formats I deal with. Years ago only the top spec machine matched up with that window but over time as the processors get faster and faster that window matches up with a lower and lower tier. At some point the current base models become so capable that it's pointless to spend more unless you want to buy into the "power user" aesthetic. I'd say buy basic machine, forget about which "M" you have and how many cores you have because the numbers are there just to make you feel anxiety when the new model comes out with a bigger number even if what you are doing is only using 7% of your CPU and the software you use isn't programmed to utilize the extra "efficiency cores" anyway. Add on some extra storage and you're good to go.

[@therealrockothetaco]

Hello, new subscriber here! Would it be possible to buy the base Mac Mini and use an external NVME SSD as the boot drive to completely bypass the 256GB internal drive? Or is this a bad idea? Thank you!

[@pantelistsiolas580]

Got the base M4 with 2TB storage as I run a Plex server alongside this being my main personal and work machine. Think about replacing it for 24 or 32 Ram and 1TB storage with an external SSD for the almost never used Movies and music collection. 16 GB is running great with a 8GB allocated RAM for a windows 11 VM for work but is at limits

[@teckniec2]

I upgraded the RAM to 24GB, I do some programming and might be running docker containers. I had the student discount so it was more like $100 extra. The storage will be upgradable at some point, its only a matter of time before the 3rd party solutions start popping up, its on a separate card. With my NAS and external drives its not really an issue for me, still should be 512 at the base model imo. I don't regret it, this little guy pulling under 50 watts doesn't heat up my room like my full desktop PC.

[@merion297]

Just got a base model home yesterday, and a ZikeDrive is on the way in delivery. 2 TB SSD is in the cart, waiting for the case to arrive. (For the price of +256 GB internal storage from Apple.)🤘🏼 It's extremely responsive. 😊 Apropos, have you noticed that the same $200 worth +256 GB SSD in the normal model, and +512 GB SSD in the Pro line? 🤦‍♂

[@williamstewart1490]

Pete, First of all thank you for the comprehensive post. Your detailed presentation will/has saved me a few hundred US$. (subscribed) and now the real issue. Your links are UK based and I'm not. I'm not the only viewer in the US who would like to use your links for purchase. Are there any US based Amazon or other vendor links available. Thanks again.

[@SpiritualEagle]

Anyone know what keyboard he is using at 4:40 minute mark? Possibly one of the best and good looking keyboards I have seen... must be good for work i bet.

[@wolfie8748]

@@SpiritualEagle keychron

[@21Million]

Pay extra for memory, you'll get it back if you ever sell the computer down the road

[@cyclemoto8744]

THought this was going to be click bait however I learned about possible Apple restrictions when using external storage. Thanks for sharing. Cheers

[@madebytdl]

I like that MacBook skin you have on - where did you get it?

[@stratosroukou]

Hi great video thanks for sharing all your knowledge. What do you think is better M4 base with 16 GB of memory and 512 GB SSD or M2 pro with the same gigabytes

[@mr.tipton]

Get a larger system drive if you're using apps for design, 3d, video editing, or coding. This is more important than maxing out memory, imo. System data has this way of overrunning and there is not anything you can do about it. My system data currently fluctuates between 80-130gb (currently 103gb)... Which leaves VERY LITTLE system drive space. So, when the system begins to use the drive for additional RAM, you run into major issues. Additionally, I tried to instal Unreal Engine on the external SSD, and it just wouldn't work and I almost lost the entire drive during the process, but MacOS was doing something in the background and it came back a day later... in summary... just assume System Data is going to be 130gb and that each software you use is going to be 5gb. In Xcode, each device is about 5gb to 8gb. Predictive code is 3gb. AI is 2gb. It all adds up really quickly if you're a professional user.

[@oldtimer99]

New to Mac and your channel; what about external storage suggestions? 4TB ssd minimum?

[@Huntgolfride]

I have a mac mini 2018 with 32gigs of ram. Im constantly out of memory and getting warnings etc. I believe with SSD drives, when that happens it begins to read/write to that drive to use virtual memory and get you through, which has a huge cost in terms of how long that SSD will last. Im a 62 year old home user who just surfs the net, does basic stuff. I keep things as long as I can to reduce use cost, so.......I always just want more ram!!!

[@jacksprat2333]

That's odd, I have a 2014 iMac with only 16 gigs of rams that I've used for 10 years, I've never run out of RAM a single time. CPU power may be but never ram.

[@nq2847]

I just got the M4 Pro base, 48GB/1TB for 8K editing and not having extra cables getting in the way.

[@DawnWalk65]

I like the Mac Mini I have the M1 my music for some light video editing but the problem with apple is that they charge entirely too much for storage upgrade and what I hated about the M1 unless they've changed things with the new software is that a upgraded to an external 1tb SSD I loaded the OS on it but for some reason it wouldn't allow me to take OS updates using the external drive which I hate it. Unless I had to use an Apple for making my money I would never buy a Apple Mac Mini that's more than a 256 because it's just too expensive for the memory upgrade when I can just take an external and use it for storage.

[@greatpix]

I bought the Mac Mini when it was $100 off but I won't get it until the first week in January. Worth it for the savings, plus, initial shipments of new products tend to have more bugs. Added 1TB memory and Thunderbolt 4 enclosure. If someone comes out with their own memory upgrade card for the Mac Mini I'll go for it, if it's not too expensive. My only worry about those would be Apple changing something in software/firmware to only accept their own memory cards, in which case I'll keep my eye out for someone dumping a defective Mac Mini but with a memory card still working or a reseller offering one at a good price.

[@UlyssesZopol]

Given that they've been doing this for years with the iphone, I would expect that 3rd party components will be blocked or artificially slowed down...

[@Spidouz]

9:05 Yeah I know, when I bought my MBP M1 Max, I had to think A LOT about committing myself to buy the 8TB SSD. It was like almost 7 grand for a freaking laptop. But it’s my main work device for both Music and Video Editing (and only that). With a payment over 36 months, it was something like 3 bucks a day, so it was worth it for my work, cheaper than getting Starbucks everyday. But still, Apple prices on memory and storage are just insane. Everything else is ok, but memory and storage is just a pure steal, and they know it.

[@robgilbert3395]

Really good video. Don't you just love the Logitech MX keyboard? I feel like a weirdo but I just love typing using it compared to the magic keyboard. But I digress... Cheers!

[@RobertGreene-z6n]

Why model do you recommend? I just looked it up and there are different versions

[@Skies-k6s]

Ram upgrades are cheap considering its unified ram. But for sure you have to eventually use it.

[@atomicmac]

Buy a crucial x9 Pro instead of x10 to shave off the cost a bit more. I have one x9 Pro 2TB (gives about 970Mbps) and a Transcend 2TB laptop SSD (at 380Mbps) in an enclosure. Apart from Final Cut I have all my apps, even Photoshop and Lightroom on the external drive. Runs fine for light to medium workflows. 200 GB empty space on the Mini.

[@smithrog34]

Why would the headphone jack be on the front of a desktop machine? So much for a clean look with desktop speakers

[@cristiabc1310]

Apple lost their best designer..since then..buttons on under side, audio jack on front..😂

[@NickPowellPhotography]

Will Home Assistant still work when the Mac is in sleep mode? I am currently running HA in Docker on my Synology DS423+, but this may be a better option.

[@PeteMatheson]

I set my Mac mini to never sleep. It consumes such little power anyway. I did the same with moving it from my Synology. Mac mini was always on for other things like Plex so it made sense to move it all into one place 👍🏼

[@catalicos]

The storage upgrade is not worth it IMO. On a macbook it is much more important, because any connected external SSD will drain the battery faster in stand-by, which can become quite an issue. Perhaps the 512GB upgrade makes sense, just to make sure you have space for future installed apps. After all, it's a performant computer that could last a long time on your desk. Then again, the base model is not that expensive, who knows what the base model Mac Mini will bring in 5 years time

[@AckMe321.5]

I thought in the olden days, you could go into the bios and delay boot on a particular port so you an external run your virtual machine and have a delayed boot up as a bypass maybe

[@wilty5]

Hello Pete , good info, I was wondering if there is any advantage to buying two base M4 Mac mini’s instead of the Mac mini M4 pro or instead of upgrading a base m4 mini? Thanks

[@danieljmildren]

I went with base model but upgraded to 32gb ram and have an 8tb external ssd

[@viceroy7792]

Sir where do u get that fantastic looking keyboard. Really would love to know! Thanks!

[@marcorobbe9003]

What I really would be interested in is the difference in powerconsumption of this models. Could you please provide a comparsion of that? Maybe somthing like in idel mode and with home assistant running in the background. That would be so great 😍

[@overyonderjustapiece]

9:10 or you can buy an 8TB and an external M.2 enclosure for less than $900 USD and it is ONE drive and not 2.. PLUS it is portable!!

[@PeteMatheson]

Ah yep of course, forgot to mention this!

[@keddaw]

One constraint people always forget is that you need enough space available to download updates before installing, so factor in another 20-30GB of space you can't use.

[@robertskinner6487]

In Canada it,s cheaper to get the 1TB upgrade from apple than to add an external case & ssd .Savings don,t kick in until you upgrade to 2TB & over

[@RichardHubbuck]

There are a couple of channels that show you how to use an external drive for your apps, but this procedure must be done from a fresh/formatted Mac Mini.

[@DLR1976]

For the price of all uprgrades you can get the Mac Studio M1 around 1500€.

[@hawaiixtc]

I use my M2 Pro Mac Mini w 32 gb for rendering video's on my youtube channel, and it slams whatever I give it. Not sure if five seconds faster would be worth another 1800.00 for the M4 Pro w 24 or 36 gb ram... (but I sure do like the new FCP!)

[@mikeandersonwa]

I still have an M1 Air with 8GB Memory, and I am still able to do some basic game design in Unity 6, Fairly heavy workloads in Pro Tools (mixing songs with 80+ tracks and a fair amount of plugins), Standard video editing in FCPX, Photoshop work (nothing too crazy, but at least basic work hasn't caused any headaches).... Honestly I'm blown away by this laptop. I'm starting to want to upgrade to a newer machine, but honestly I'm in no rush because even with the fairly heavy stuff I do I'm able to work just fine. The biggest issue for me is the 13" screen...

[@PeteMatheson]

M1 Air is still great. My wife is still using hers, as is my channel manager - basically anything with an M-series chip is a beast!

[@kdeuler]

Thanks for the vid. Was wondering: What is your "home automation system"? IE, brand, etc. Thx.

[@excavate08]

@@kdeuler Home Assistant is the name of the software.

[@fangost]

Are you connecting your NAS with a 10G switch? I missed the step if you connected your Mac Mini directly to the NAS or you used a switch. Are you using SMB or NFS? I am trying to get NFS to work using hardlinks to Downloads, Documents and Desktops.

[@EMIL-IVANOV]

Great video

[@PeteMatheson]

Thank you!

[@TheMiniatureStudio]

Which usbc / Thunderbolt port do you connect the Mac mini to on the Caldigit Ts4 to? Is it the one labeled 'Computer' even though that provides power for charging? I have a Mac mini on the way for x-mas but don't want to damage it by plugging the TS4 if i get one into the Mac Mini. (Subscribed and liked!)

[@PeteMatheson]

Hey! I’m connecting HDMI direct from my Mac, and then yeah, using the one marked for computer out of the caldigit. It’s OK as it won’t send power as the ports don’t support it 👍🏼 Enjoy the Christmas present!

[@TheMiniatureStudio]

@ Thanks!

[@dalroth10]

Just found your channel and glad I did, so have subscribed. I need to replace my late 2014 iMac, which has a 3.2 TB Fusion drive. I am considering a Mac Mini with M4 chip and the Apple Studio display rather than an M4 iMac. I'm only using 0.6TB of the Fusion drive and the bulk of the data is photos. I had been thinking I'd need a 1TB ssd in the Mac mini but listening to what you've said, and understanding my needs, I'm now thinking 16GB of RAM and a 512GB ssd would probably be more than enough. I realise I'm comparing very old technology to very new, but have struggled to find any useful information on the web comparing a 3.2TB fusion drive with a 512GB ssd drive using Apple silicon. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

[@mchobbs73]

I am in a similar situation to you with my 2017 iMac and now need to replace it. I have a 4TB Fusion Drive. The computer is for personal use and I am not a professional designer or video editor but I do use my machine for Video Editing, music production and photo editing. Even using Thunderbolt 5 and the very latest external SSDs it is still slower memory access to the internal SSD memory due to chip direction connection within the computer. As such to make mine as future proof as possible I will be opting for a Mac Mini with base M4 Pro chip, 48GB memory and 4TB storage for my music production and video editing needs. For you (subject to how much video editing you are doing) I would recommend base model M4 with 24GB memory and 1TB inbuilt SSD storage. New Apple Intelligence AI demands will place only more strain on your computer resources. Your last computer has lasted 10 years. Hope this one will too!!

[@IronHulkTriathlon]

As a power user I'm almost always constantly maxing out my 64gb of ram/memory on my mac M1 MAX. As a digital marketing freelancer I have to switch between multiple projects (3-5 at any given time). Each project has four or more spaces/chrome browsers, each with four or more tabs. Then there's the apps running along with all the tabs. I'd like a TB of ram/memory please. :-)

[@grande001]

Fabulous. Thank you

[@MechnoSferatu]

Just a comment on your home assistant launch at startup, I'd bet you can create a CRON task that runs every 5 minutes that will check if your process is running and, if not, run it.

[@mchobbs73]

Whilst you are correct that Apple internal SSD is way more expensive it is faster than any external SSD even via the latest Thunderbolt 5 technology due to its direct to chip connection architecture. The Mac Mini M4 Pro features an internal SSD with impressive performance metrics. For instance, the 1TB SSD configuration achieves read speeds of approximately 6,351.8 MB/s and write speeds around 5,133.8 MB/s.  In contrast, external SSDs connected via Thunderbolt 5 which the M4 Pro supports - offer notable speeds but still fall short of the internal SSD’s performance. High-end external SSDs can reach read speeds up to 4,000 MB/s and write speeds around 3,500 MB/s, depending on the specific model and configuration.  Therefore, the internal SSD of the Mac Mini M4 Pro is approximately 1.5 times faster in both read and write operations compared to the fastest external SSDs over Thunderbolt 5. This performance advantage is due to the internal SSD’s direct integration with the system architecture, allowing for higher data transfer rates and lower latency compared to external connections. Remember, this is for Thunderbolt 5 which is not widely available at the moment. Thunderbolt 4 will be slower still. Hope this helps.

[@RobertGreene-z6n]

Can you please tell me what type of monitor you are using?

[@robinmountford5322]

What is the make of the keyboard seen at 0:35?

[@Stasisofseasons]

You can actually upgrade the storage yourself! There are already companies coming out with compatible replaceable drives. My guess is you can't say that in this video... if you are going to upgrade do it for the memory, because you can't upgrade that.

[@jacksprat2333]

Replaceable internal storage? I thought they were soldered in?

[@FARMERMIXU69]

Tough decision. I am searching for a new pc to myself for work purposes. I am not creating anny Hollywood movies and earlier i have used MacBookPro and now work laptop is MacBookAir. Now just thinking M4Pro or "basic" versions from which to choose.

[@sysadmin-info]

Additionally I would like to say that RTX 5090 is coming so it may be worth to see will it beat Mac Mini in case of local llama for example.

[@collcatillwill]

Good video.