Should You Upgrade From Your Intel Mac? i5 vs M1 vs M2 vs M4 - Performance Test

[@graphguy]

I'm mostly an Intel user but do have iphones and a couple Macs. I just went to Best Buy to play with the M4 mini and I must confess I was amazed. I opened up alot of apps with high GPU and CPU use and ran them all at once. The 16GB mini had zero issues and for $600, pretty insane.

[@craigneidel]

Yes, it is really snappy for sure and a great little machine. They are a bargin I think and that is a first for Apple.

[@gregclare]

Very helpful and practical video. Too many reviewers just compare benchmark test results, but this is a much more helpful way to understand the performance differences in real life use.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for the feedback on the video. I appreciate that

[@movdqa]

I have a 2017 iMac Pro which I spent $800 for about five months ago. It has 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB SSD and that would be expensive with Apple Silicon but you throw in the 5k display, great speakers, studio quad microphones and webcam and it's an even better deal. It outperforms M1 Macs in multicore and graphics too. There's one of these for sale in NY for $499 and I'd pick it up if it were closer. There are also 10 and 14 core models for $900. I do trading, video editing and work on Windows on this iMac Pro. If I need more performance, I use my Mac Studio with three 4k monitors. I just prefer to work on the 5k iMac Pro monitor. This is what I call cooperative processing where you have multiple systems and run the programs where they run the best or where you're most comfortable. If you have programs that require a lot of RAM but not a lot of processing power, then an Intel system may be fine. If you have a 28 core 2019 Mac Pro, then tat's going to outperform even my M1 Max Studio on a lot of tasks. If you have a native Intel macOS program, then that may run a lot better on an Intel system than on Apple Silicon. The best example I have is Fidelity Active Trader Pro. It's twice as fast on my iMac Pro compared to my Mac Studio. Apple could help fix this by making an iMac Pro with Apple Silicon, but, so far, they have relegated that iMac to low-end status. Even the mini has the m4 Pro available.

[@craigneidel]

Yes, the iMac Pro would help this for sure. My 2017 has 48 GB of ram but of course only an i5. But, my M1, M2 and M4 all outperform it in everything I throw at it even with 48 GB. I love the iMac but for editing I may need to switch soon.

[@unclefart5527]

Wish I did the same. Who thought Apple would screw their iMac 27" customers by telling them to go fish?

[@movdqa]

@@craigneidel The Geekbench 5 for the 2017 i5 is about 3K. It's 8K for the base iMac Pro, 7.5K for the base M1 and 10K for the M3 iMac. But the 18 core iMac Pro gets 14K. Everymac doesn't have the Geekbench 5 numbers for the M4 Macs yet.

[@movdqa]

@@unclefart5527 The Mac Studio + ASD is still an attractive option; if they would only update the Mac Studio.

[@bradleyanderson247]

I'd been using an i5 27" iMac as my main computer for several years. Picked up an M1 MBP because I needed a decent work computer while traveling. The MBP was considerably snappier and started using it as my main work computer; added a monitor, keyboard, mouse, etc. I've been happy with the setup but based on the reviews I decided to pick up an M4 Mac mini as a more permanent work computer. Like you I went for 512, just think 256 is too constrained and I'm not about to start setting up an external system disk or even moving my home directory to an external SSD. I didn't think I'd notice a difference between the M1 MBP and M4 Mini, but the latter feels snappier overall. I was running some mixed effects generalized linear models and the M4 returns results considerably quicker. The M4 mini provides a heck of a lot of bang for the buck.

[@IsmailKantar]

Beginning of the video "Should you upgrade?:. At the end "I cant tell you if you should upgrade". Great info. LMAO

[@craigneidel]

That's the truth as it depends on how you use it.

[@sotonin]

@@craigneidel No. the truth is you should have upgraded when M1 launched if you are on intel. Period.

[@jansix4287]

One of your Macs should be M1 or newer.

[@jeffreyswanson2207]

@@sotoninnot true. Period.

[@drsmith1988]

I just upgraded from M1 Air to the M4 mini. I am keeping the Air for my minimal on-the-road uses. I am officially retired, but I do a little bit of side hustle. The speed boost seems similar in picture editing and some other activities. I do some 3D printing. This is mostly single-threaded, so not as much speed increase, but you can definitely feel it. While I am retired, I don’t enjoy tapping my fingers while waiting on my computer. Hard to put a dollar figure on that. Photo and video editing programs use scratch discs while editing orcreating. It would be interesting to see how disc speeds affect how quickly things get done. Some of these new AI tools that are built into creative programs allow me to do things that I wouldn’t even tried before. These areas are difficult to bench mark. While exporting videos and pictures are easier to benchmark, what really matters to me is the responsiveness of these programs while editing. Max Tech does some of this, but they rarely look back more than one generation. Your niche seems to be looking at more of the non-pro hardware and seeing where the hobbyist can save some money.

[@TechGameDev]

your upgrade not worth it probably because apple crack marketing team make you to buy it

[@itsgmani]

I’m glad you made this. Nobody has done it I don’t think.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for watching the channel.

[@davidgonzales82]

I upgraded this year. Had a 2018 intel i5. The fans would kick in and be very loud. I am really happy with the M4 so far

[@craigneidel]

Yes they are very quiet which is nice.

[@thehypnoticlforoom]

I updated my music studio Mac Mini M1 (16GB / 1 TB internal SSD) to a Mac Mini M4 Pro (32GB / 512 internal GB SSD + a OWC 2TB external Thunderbolt 5 SSD for the homefolder and apps). I now use the Mac Mini M1 for my video (I create many KZbin videos a month) and graphics work which I usually did on my old 2017 iMac i5, 27' 5K with 64GB Ram and an external 4TB OWC Thunderbolt 3 SSD. My music production speed and stability is just superiour compared to the Mac Mini M1 and the video edits and render are so much faster on the Mac Mini M1. So yes it's for sure worth the upgrade 100%.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for sharing your data too as it helps people for sure. I appreciate that and thanks for watching the channel.

[@jeffkelly4329]

Is there anyway you can do some test that doesn't involve video rendering?

[@craigneidel]

Maybe in the future but the test is not that important. Rather its the difference in performance and then you can project to other things too. Not perfect but one piece of the puzzle.

[@lmacfa0]

Agreed. KZbinrs compare video work, as though it’s what matters most for us viewers too. I don’t intend to ever run Final Cut or Adobe Premiere.

[@craigneidel]

@lmacfa0 it just shows relative speeds and you can measure it. You can't measure opening a browser or typing a paper.

[@johnschofield3940]

I own a 2019 27 intel imac. When I connected it to my 32 inch Benq (an older model of the designer range )I found myself preferring that display for media consumption, it's bigger but not as sharp but not by much at all. I also own an intel nuc in artic case because its silent. I was running this nuc as a Hackintosh but changed the OS to Mint about three years ago. I bought the base mac mini to replace the NUC but it's ended up to most extents replacing my imac. It's considerably faster on stuff like handbrake and it's a bit quieter too. Like at least one contributor to this thread I wanted a 6K monitor at 32 inches but the Dell 6K seems rather expensive at £2000 plus.Truth is I would rather buy a better Mac than the base mac mini to use as my main machine but so far so good.

[@craigneidel]

Thanks for sharing. It's interesting to hear you prefer the 32 inch over the 5k iMac screen. Thanks for posting.

[@drumam]

Nice video! I do not usually export a lot of videos. Being so, the export time is not so important. However, I think the editing experience, like timeline smoothless with effects and transitions applied is crucial.

[@craigneidel]

It's just to show how these chips compare doing a task

[@drumam]

​@@craigneidel I got the purpose of the video. Just saying that a lot of videos do not take into account what I mentioned.

[@rtcurtis5858]

Craig, I have the 2020 27” iMac. The i5 middle model. I boosted it to 40gb ram. No video production here so it works fine on routine entertainment consumption. I’m guessing that Sequoia will be its last system version. Did you patch your 2017 model to Sequoia? Thanks! Randy

[@craigneidel]

Yes I'll keep using the 2017 27 inch because for content watching and general stuff it's great especially with that 5k screen.

[@_Francis]

I don't know how Apple does it but the minute they launch a new product, your old one tend to automatically die 😅 My 2019 27" iMac just died a couple of weeks ago that's how I realized Apple had released M4 devices... I just bought 2 macs, one for home (Mac mini M4Pro, 14 CPU, 20GPU, 2T SSD 24GB Ram with a 27" Studio Display) and one for the office (iMac M4 purple, 10 CPU, 10 GPU, 24GB ram and 2T SSD), I can't wait for them to be delivered in a few days, and I'm one of those who don't find the iMac outdated, I just regret that they are no longer in 27", otherwise I would have simply taken 2 iMacs instead of taking one of each

[@bryans8656]

My last Intel based Mac was the 2018 space gray Mac mini with the i5 chip, 16GB RAM, and a 512GB storage drive. It was a very good computer (albeit a heckuvalot more expensive than my new M4 mini), but nowhere near as fast or powerful as the M series Macs. However, I really miss the ability to run Windows in BootCamp rather than having a separate PC for the old 32bit x86 programs I still use.

[@craigneidel]

You can run Windows on parallels or other ways but I hear what you are saying.

[@Johnny-p3z]

for the most, you have tested the media encoders....

[@craigneidel]

Yes, just one part of the puzzle as noted.

[@rorywalters1614]

M1 Macs are getting so cheap right now, I’m so happy I upgraded from Mac mini 2014 to M1. Unless the Intel iMac is the top of the line 5K 27inch 2020, definitely upgrade, and keep the old machine for something else, don’t really worth selling in my opinion.

[@eduardowatkinz]

Why would you open any other program(s) if you are doing video editing? I don't understand that? Would you please explain?

[@craigneidel]

I have a ton of apps open. To create and add pics or pull info. I think it's super common. But this is just a test of one thing obviously.

[@Absorbing146]

I’ll be hanging on to my 27” intel Mac till it’s 5 years old or crashes. Which ever comes first.

[@NomadicBloke1]

8:53 I'm upgrading to mac mini m4 base model at 24gb ram to replace my intel core i5 2019 5k imac, which I'm currently using to edit 4k videos while doing 3D modeling via blender

[@Joe-lb8qn]

I'll upgrade when theres a 27inch or bigger iMac. OR when this intel iMac dies and i then have to choose between a mini + studio (Or studio alternative) and a 24 inch iMac.

[@craigneidel]

I'm hoping for a 27 inch iMac too.

[@JamesBond-fo6ow]

yea. right after M1s came out -- I bought a refurb 2020 27" iMac, 3.8 i7, 5500Xt, 128 GB/1TB running 2 extra screens (3 total) -- about $2K total for the iMac. I use all the ram in my workflow. Several browsers @ 30 GB, PS @ 12 GB, InD @ 8 GB. The most "cost effect" replacement is a mini M4 pro 64 GB/1TB + not a s good asus/LG/Samsung screen = $3000. Studio display (on sale) = $3500. ouch

[@David_Best]

Yet another video export test! Why that? The percentage of people who are doing video export intensive applications is small, so I'm not sure this is representative for a non-KZbin vlogger. I've done my own tests based on computationally intense STEM application like 3D CAD modeling and simulation. I tested my new Mac Mini with the M4 Pro, 64GB, and 2TB SSD. Whopping $2,800. Testing it it using Fusion 360 against my M2 Macbook Air (24GB, 2TB SSD), and my 2020 iMac with Intel i9 8-core processor, 64GB RAM, Radeon Pro 580X with 8GB of GDDR5. Here are the results for a Fusion 360 in seconds to complete. iMac i9: 27:47 , M2 Macbook Air 16:46 , M4 Pro Mini. 12:47.

[@craigneidel]

It's one test to see how they perform against each other. Just one data point.

[@munocat]

running 2 2009 late mac minis, one as file storage (all my old HDD), used for 2nd backup, also has time machine backup, the other serves wikipedia and other libraries. my 2 late 2014 mac’s both have ssd, one runs old games, and my raspberry pi pico dev system, the other is used for update cache, and file storage.

[@craigneidel]

Nice, might as well use them if they still work. That is my motto.

[@SeventyZombies]

It now takes me 7-8min to export one image from DXO Photolab if the AI denoise filters are on with a 2018 i5 Mac Mini. I’m looking forward to a big improvement to that with the M4 Pro Mini I have on order!

[@craigneidel]

Yes it will be a massive difference for sure.

[@patrickmolloy6994]

I've been waiting a couple of years for the 32" 5K replacement! I have 27" 5k 2017 intel 3.8Ghz i5

[@craigneidel]

Yes, but it could be a while. I might go with the M4 mini and a 5K monitor. If they do a 32 inch iMac it's going to cost like $3,500 at least.

[@digitalmarketinghumans]

Absolutely!!! Apple Silicon next level!

[@craigneidel]

It is fast for sure

[@TechGameDev]

I'm really happy I bought the macbook air M1 16gb when it came out I don't regret it. I really did well to take 16gb ram in addition that the SSD is superior to the mac M2 and equal to the mac M3 and M4 and no slowdown here macOS sequoia responsive like the first day never seen that in a mac I will replace it when it becomes slow or breaks

[@craigneidel]

Yes keep it for as long as it works for you. I only buy more regularly because of my channel.

[@kenwong5807]

[@craigneidel]

M4 max will be more than you might need but of course I don't know for sure. Coming from a 2017 the M4 pro would be a beast.

[@sonojon0]

Watching this video while on my Apple Intel 😂

[@craigneidel]

Still a ton out there.

[@itsgmani]

About to go from intel 2017 to an m4 pro lol

[@craigneidel]

Should be a nice upgrade.

[@NeilSnapePhotography]

I still have my 4.2 ghz i7 iMac from 2017, just now replaced by a MacMini M4 (512gb). Definately feel the difference in snappy loading of pages exports etc. Yet being an i7 I think it is a lot closer it exporting than your i5. I miss the gorgeous screen, but have to get used to it. One other thing is text rendering native on Apple screens is much beter than on 4K editing monitors.

[@craigneidel]

Yes, but still the Intel will be at least double the time as I have tested a few in the past but don't have them now. I just wanted to show people some of the differences with some real world data and they can take what they want from it.

[@steveblanchard7293]

thats the main reason i went M4 iMac

[@BobG-eh5fc]

M1 Mac still looks good

[@craigneidel]

For sure.

[@sotonin]

This is a silly video. The answer to the question is YES. It's been the same answer since the first M1 machines launched. The jump from Intel to ANY apple silicon is massive and nothing has changed except the gap has gotten even larger. If you are still on intel you aren't that bright.

[@craigneidel]

Of course but I'm showing the differences obviously. That is the value in the video. To see how much time you save.

[@jansix4287]

@@craigneidel Tell me how much should I spend on an almost five-year-old iPad Pro with an A12Z chip? On one hand it’s a pre-M1 chip, on the other it’s already an 8-core ARM SoC. With ipadOS limitations on multitasking, it could still be enough. Right?

[@steveblanchard7293]

If it ain't broken.... as they say.

[@darylcheshire1618]

lol I’m not very bright. I did buy an M4 Mac mini Pro, I don’t know what to do with the 2017 iMac. Still good for browsing and Zoom.

[@craigneidel]

@@darylcheshire1618 use it to watch content or whatever. They still work great.

[@BlackSlacksGarage]

I did......due to Ai

[@craigneidel]

They are faster for sure