ULTIMATE Mac Mini Comparison - M1 vs M2 vs M2 Pro vs M4 vs M4 Pro

[@theTechNotice]

Amazon is already selling them cheaper than on APPLE, see here: 👇👇 ✅ Check out Apple Mac Mini M4 here: geni.us/C2NvT (Cheaper than on APPLE!!!) ✅ Check out Apple Mac Mini M4 Pro here: geni.us/C2NvT (Cheaper than on APPLE!!!)

[@mrsrhardy]

This is awesome advice and the conclusion I came too as well. I picked the base as Ill get the 256gb, re-soldered to 1TB (Dosdude1 showed its possible) and external storage the rest. You might want to point out much of the performance boost the M4/a18 generation and a reason to upgrade is its on the NEW ARMv9.2b architecture after well over a decade on the older V8 one and that alone was a 30% boost. You wont be seeing the M5 with as big a performance jump next time so this is the generation to jump too if your a M1/2/3 owner for longevity. I think ARM are upto V9.4 which will be a spec jump at best and be on the same 3nm process but will have Wifi7 MESH over the current 6.3... Although twice the price of the base M4, the Pro version in the mac-mini is for people that want to get 3 years of use out of it as a content creator, real programer or Ai maybe. The base is people like me, almost everyone who just need a little bit better than what they have now and can flip/upgrade in a year or two as you only spent half as much!!!

[@WireHedd]

Take a shot every time Lauri says "it's ridiculous". A great video Lauri, thanks.

[@phillipt6493]

Literally earlier today I just bought a M4 base model + a 2TB NVMe drive and 40gbps enclosure (thanks to your other video). Thanks for the rundown and the advice. Finally upgraded from a 2016 MBP, so I am looking forward to it.

[@thetheoryguy5544]

Got base M4 Mac Mini for music production and loving it.

[@GlobalWave1]

The base model is pretty much the ultimate in value for music production! Get an external drive and you’re good to go for about 75% of producers. Obviously more ram for the more sampled libraries is the other 20% and the last 5% need the max version for insane productions.

[@derter2007]

Thank you for the review and benchmarks! 🎉

[@PolluxChung]

I lost count in how many times I heard "ridiculous" 😂 Yes, totally agree with you on M4 upgrades. Calling that a scam is an understatement.

[@originallyKing]

Absolutely love your videos I was going for your 750 dollar pc And now going for m4 mini - for editing So good videos, love from india

[@christopher3d475]

The M4s perform so well in Blender GPU because they use the raytracing cores. This is what I'm most excited about, I'm getting my M4 Pro machine soon for Blender work.

[@chidorirasenganz]

Partially but also the GPU architecture, fast LPDDR5 memory, dynamic caching, mesh shader acceleration etc

[@daveh6356]

@@chidorirasenganz Significantly. The M3 would have shown a huge bump too (if Apple had released a mini with an M3). Not quite RTX but the RT performance is roughly doubled.

[@chidorirasenganz]

@@daveh6356 yes but the M4 generation is faster still. M4 is about 20% faster in raw performance than M3. M4 Pro has more cores and is about 30% faster than M3 Pro

[@samuelfredolin5605]

The majority of my workload is video editing, hence i’m looking forward to upgrade to an M2 Pro. But the flexibility of the base M4 is rather tempting for me😂 Anyway, thanks for the video man. It sure helped a lot of people.

[@earthlingbox]

go for M4 if that saves money, I belive its far better

[@samuelfredolin5605]

@@earthlingboxthe M2 Pro MBP is around $100 cheaper in my country. But yeah, overall the M4 is still a better pick. It’s slower at Premiere Pro by not that much. But other than that, it’s faster than M2 Pro, which is insane.

[@thecartooncynic]

I am currently running a 14900k with RTX 4080 super. I'm looking forward to the M4 Ultra Mac Studio, depending on the financials I will be purchasing it.

[@Keven-ol1hd]

Will there ever be a time when a Mac even comes close to a 4080/4090?

[@hasansahin7965]

@@Keven-ol1hd 4080/4090 is GPU model. Not the CPU, Apple certainly will pass the any kind of graphics cards, but ARM is a new technology, it needs more time.

[@RunForPeace-hk1cu]

@@Keven-ol1hdguarantee you m4 ultra will 1TB/s memory bandwidth , 256gb unified memory Go find a 256gb vram GPU 😂😂😂 It’ll cost you waaay more than $10k and you need a 2000W PS, not 350W PS of the m4 ultra

[@Ryzen-4090-i3n]

@@RunForPeace-hk1cu nah bro it would cost like 50k and need like 10000w PSU 256gb vram is no joke, expensive and power-hungry, and a CPU that can render all those frames

[@charlievarley]

​@Keven-ol1hd the max lands somewhere between a desktop 3080 and the 4080 in blender rendering and cinebench. The ultra (as it is 2x max) could be in the same ball park as the top end 50 series. There has also been rumour of an extreme variant, which is 4x max chips.

[@Chewyness]

I bought the m1 and when the m4 came out the traded it in for the m4 and the difference is pretty big. Although the downside for me was I had to get a usb hub cause it only had use c ports

[@shiftctrlhack]

Yep I know 3 people / shops who in the “repair / design” field that are modding these to upgrade the storage. There’s a few videos already out about it. There will still be some time to get everything sorted out but keep an eye out. DosDude already upgrade his base M4 Mini by swapping the chips directly on the removable module. That would be non feasible to most to DIY but like you said there will be 3rd party modules soon. I’m excited they did use a module but hopefully they don’t go back to soldered on after what’s coming out to counter their outrageous SSD prices.

[@ozzieu01]

If you are not sure you need M4 pro, then you definitely don't need it. There is no future proofing. You would just waste money and have to deal with higher power consumption and louder fan noise for no reason. Get a base mac mini M4... and if you can afford, upgrade storage to 512gb, because it's significantly faster than 256gb. Also you might want to consider 24gb ram because it's not upgradable later.

[@coltjustice45]

I just purchased a mac mini m4,. I was thinking to go with the pro, but in Canada it is $600 more. I purchased my m4 mini with 24 gb ram, 512 ssd , for $1299. The m4 pro with the same specs is $1899. Been wondering if i made the right choice, but for mainly music production i think it will be fine...

[@TonyLuuvlogs]

Yeah! The same in Australia, upgrade double ram same price on M4 and M4 pro 600 AUD

[@McMarvin42]

Create content! Appreciate the very thorough review.

[@TheDanEdwards]

It's not difficult to use external SSDs on a Mac. And if one moves one's home folder (the one created with your account on the Mac) to the external SSD then all your files will go there. See one of several videos floating around KZbin on how to move your home folder.

[@radovanrosic3653]

You opinion: M4 PRO 14CPU 20GPU 48GB UM vs 13900k 4070ti 64GB RAM video editing (Premiere Pro)? Thanks a lot,keep a good work!

[@mzeeshan]

Great comparison video!. Would you be kind enough to make a comparison video about Mac Studio M2 Ultra (maxed out) vs Mac mini M4 pro (maxed out) please ?. Thanks.

[@AlyxSharkBite-2000]

I snagged the base M4 Mac Mini for my Plex server, upgraded my s/o's M1 iMac & iPad Pro to the new M4 ones, and I'll be snagging to the M4 Ultra studio when that hits launches from my M1 Ultra studio.. They ae massive upgrades, my s/o is a digital artist, I use mine for my hobbies of video restoration (taking old VHS for friends / family restoring it, digitally and making it into nice high quality video for them) and recoding/editing my guild in wow's videos and streams. The difference the M4 has been so far for my s/o is huge all their aps run so much faster (Photoshop, Clip Paint EX etc.) I am looking forward to seeing how the Ultra chip will compare the my M1 version.

[@TheFeedRocket]

Can you imagine what the M4 Ultra Studio will do? I just want some Apple optimized generative AI, I hate having to get a PC to buy a Nvidia card, I'm looking at what a 1000 watt power supply? crazy.

[@jayantmahato]

What if we upgrade ram from apple & storage from outside

[@nightdonutstudio]

What would be an equivalent pc to m4 pro base? 13900k+4070ti? For video editing.

[@56phil020244]

Great video, thank you. I'd like to know if the upgrade to a non-binned M4 Pro is worth the $200. Would you be willing test two Minis where the only difference the number of cores?

[@ifysalabas]

Is the m4 pro base or full?

[@rafograph]

The PC-Apple drip 👽

[@budthecyborg4575]

The idea of upgrading to an M4 Pro for better GPU performance is equally ridiculous because for $1400 you can easily build a PC with an Nvidia 4080 that will be 5-10x more powerful.

[@zachwarner7164]

and whats the cost per year differential? I have a 7800x3d/strix 4090 and its measurably expensive to power

[@budthecyborg4575]

@@zachwarner7164 Inconsequential.

[@chidorirasenganz]

Not at all. For one you wouldn't be able to match the CPU performance nor the VRAM for that amount. Also the M4 Max is on par with the 3090/4080 and its only twice as powerful in Blender. So no not ridiculous in the slightest. Plus you get better ports and a quieter, compact machine

[@budthecyborg4575]

@@chidorirasenganz "M4 Max" Excuse me?! That thing has an entry price of over THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS!!! Titan AI 5090 coming next month will absolutely wipe the floor with anything Apple could dream up for that price. "IF" there were a Mac Mini M4 Max for let's say $1,600 (half the price of the Macbook Pro) I might even consider getting one but the way Apple prices everything but the loss leader entry model is pure absurdity.

[@chidorirasenganz]

@@budthecyborg4575 That's a laptop. The Max Studio has the Max and Ultra (which should be faster than a 4090 this generation). The Mac Studio starts at 2k and I’m assuming the base RAM will be bumped to 48GB. Also the 5090 will like be like 2k and only be 10-20% better

[@wavegamerx4978]

Hi i am planning to buy this m4 base model Is it better than 12600k for resolve.. please Respond ..

[@stevegeorge7773]

I think for the upgrade of storage there are some videos out already. It appears Apple has something in place, within the system that makes upgrading no-so easy as one would think. But brill video! And now I am factory resetting my PC, selling it (doing it quickly before anyone sees your video) and getting back into the Apple architecture. But I do have a serious question :: what about the Mac Studio in comparison? 192GB of unified memory.... Geez Louis!

[@shadow325lone]

Are you planning to take a look at newest ProArt Studiobooks?

[@theTechNotice]

Already reviewed on the channel ;)

[@AshtonCoolman]

The PC market won't die just because Apple has good Macs. That's a silly notion. Until Apple can use discrete GPUs and all PC games are made for Apple platforms with said GPUs, PCs have nothing to worry about. Apple lacks customizability and flexibility

[@RunForPeace-hk1cu]

Computers are appliances to most people … only nerds and geeks see them as a hobby The most people use them to do their jobs, not run benchmarks and increase frame rates for games

[@PawFromTheBroons]

Some people just don't game.

[@Ryzen-4090-i3n]

i agree for the games but discrete is not required in anyway as arm architecture advances

[@aaxa101]

@@RunForPeace-hk1cu 80% of the population dont care. Only CADEngineers /video producers / gamers do.

[@Martin36544]

They are shit for 3D work! He is just myopic in his views of what creative work is

[@mahirahmansphotography8117]

we need a comparison of mbp m4 max vs m4 pro maxed out ram vs a high end pc

[@M_E_T_R_O__9]

Question: would upgrading the SSD storage yourself invalidate the Apple warranty?

[@sergeykriklivyy5158]

Definitely

[@Ray88G]

Yes the memory and storage upgredes are ridiculously expensive.. This is the only reason keeping me away from getting one .. But I hope very soon there will be someone who DIY upgrades the RAM .

[@Realist-m9c]

What would you recommend for a Davinci/Lightroom scratch drive… partition the internal SSD or something external?

[@NickPowellPhotography]

Not seen a huge amount of replies, but I am hoping you'll be able to help with my decision. I currently am rocking a PC with the following, but I am looking to move to the Mac Mini M4 Pro 14/20, 512GB, 48GB RAM, 10Gb Ethernet, however comparing quite a few benchmarks, my 4070ti Surprim seems to absolutely SMASH any Mac. Here is my current PC spec for comparison. Rog Strix X570 Gaming Wi-Fi II Motherboard AMD Ryzen 9 5950X CPU 128GB 3600 DDR4 RAM Msi Geforce RTX 4070ti Suprim 12GB GPU 1TB Samsung EVO 970 SSD

[@rosenkaraivanov9324]

How much ram is enough for video editing? Is 24gb enough in M4 Pro?

[@redesignedlife777]

24 should be enough, but you will be in swap memory most of the time. But don’t be scared about that issue. Just keep on working.

[@segundacuenta726]

For music production I'd buy the Mac Mini m4 with 32gb ram and 10gbit ethernet (256gb drive and use external) for 969usd with the student discount (hint, try it). For video work the mac mini pro m4 with 64gb and 10gbit ethernet (512gb drive and external) for over 2100usd (same, with the discount). Basically 500usd gets you 16gb ram machine and 32gb 1000usd, 64gb 2000usd and pretty sure 128gb ram mac studio will cost at least 4000usd. Different cpus but if one wants to go by ram capacity its a good indicator. In windows (and hackintosh) that can be 4 times cheaper once you get to 64gb ram (meaning Mac with 64gb costs 2000usd while windows or hackintosh cost 500usd but slower cpu, if "similar" cpu then 1000usd). Thing is for those who want or need 128-192gb ram the difference is too great. Still macs are amazing for photo and video work. And now for those who only need single core performance, the basic mac mini is wonderful. Good stuff

[@Tommy12561]

What would you recommend to someone who wants to get into Apple ecosystem? Which laptop, desktop, iphone for a average everyday user who watches videos, browse the internet and checks email?

[@idubzh243]

Macbook Air M1 (still great), Mac Mini M4 and iPhone SE.

[@jakobh.4422]

@@idubzh243 Get Huawei Mate XT, hack it and write your own iOS microkernel & freeBSD and optimise it and you would have a stellar double flip iOS mobile. Do it, and even though it can seem expensive.. to get the Mate XT.. you gonna get all that back, when Apple comes knocking at your door and wanna hire you. Do it... Im just behind you, and believed in you for a while.

[@dominicbasug3094]

Hope you can make a comparison mac mini m4 pro vs windows like nvdia or amd gpu. Tnx mainly for video editing

[@actualvein9116]

I want to buy a Mac mini with M4 Pro processor and 48 GB RAM. I wonder how healthy it would be to upgrade the processor for video editing and what a 10 GB ethernet port is for. Sorry, this is the first time I'm buying a professional device, so I'm not very knowledgeable about this kind of device.

[@StefanUrkel]

@theTechNotice I'm interested in M4 Mini (base or pro) for video editing, productivity, maybe some 3D rendering and photoshop. Gaming is secondary. Not thrilled about living under Apple tent but it's a proven solution, "just works" and is performant. If I instead choose to go PC route, what am I looking at hardware-wise that'd be as good (or better) than M4 Mini (base or Pro)? Single threaded, I don't think anything in PC land beats it right now, right? But multi-core is another story. Basically, I'm wondering if a 9950X or 7950X + 4090 or 5090 is going to be much better performance-wise for the use cases mentioned above. Thanks! If you have a video on this already, I guess I can check that out.

[@chidorirasenganz]

Those GPUs cost more than the base M4 Pro lmao

[@captainlooney4356]

Apple upgrade pricing is gouging… more so than any PC SIs. Base M4 Mini is fine

[@hans-peterkalff9885]

Hallo habe einen Mac mini M2Pro und bleibe dabei bin sehr zufrieden

[@AlyxSharkBite-2000]

Software Engineer here they are still called threads what Apple lacks (and Intel too now with the Ultra 220) is SMT meaning each core has multiple threads, so the M4 with 10 Cores still has 10 Threads. So lightly threaded just means it only runs on 1 - 2 cores. (This is a simplified explanation if you want the long indepth one you cn google computer science thread definition)

[@juniorpenn8713]

The will and can absolutely murder the cpu market just imagine the allow the next mac to take discrète graphics then its done.

[@anthonypra8899]

I am one of those people who don't like to buy for name brand versus performance. I don't even care about life. in my computer. but OK it comes with it a lot of times. If I had more money, I would do more, but whatever.

[@darrenhankner5282]

I think everything will stop or slow down on the m6 2nm. I really dont think they can shrink the chip anymore. they say they have reached 1.6nm but I will believe it when I see it. processor advances should slow down at 2nm.

[@chidorirasenganz]

They also said the same about 5nm and 3nm 😅

[@jakobh.4422]

Those base M4 Mini is gonna sell like hotcakes.. Bang for the buck.. they are impressive. and laughable small.. 5x5x2 inches. If Appleø's narrative is to hook new users...they knocked it out of the park, as I reckon many will take the jump, but the moment you start climbing the price/upgrade ladder the bang for the buck aspect gets outwatered quite fast.. Which also is examples with the fact that its cheaper to land "32GB and 512GB" by purchasing 2x Mini (1198$) to obtain a combined 32GB/512GB, then it is to upgrade 1 unit Mini M4 to those specs. (1199$) Base Mac Mini 4.. very attractive priced, no doubt.

[@hpsfresh]

Just use bar graphs

[@jakejoyride]

no temperatures and throttling tests

[@chidorirasenganz]

Doesn't throttle and other folks like Max Tech and Luke Miani have already done temperature tests

[@imranhossinsagor8681]

Bro you should not skip after effect, in the comparison.

[@riccia888]

Dont forget that once you change the storage inside it will void warranty

[@kreamypie]

Would be a better comparison if the percentage difference is based on previous gen and not on M1 ….

[@Ray88G]

Can we install Linux ?

[@GreeKing83]

I would take this a large grain of salt, but there are rumors that Nvidia are developing an ARM CPU for 2025 that apparently will have an iGPU with the same or better performance than an RTX 4090. This is just a rumor though.

[@MrKim-pt2vm]

Как сделать кластер из нескольких mac mini m4 pro

[@rafaelm.5148]

I am not an accountant... I would prefer to see tests in a work set-up with Premiere, Blender and After Effects showing the screens with other computer, including some PC. Anyway, still love your channel!

[@sativagirl1885]

milking performance is a like a cash cow. Yes, we have #METAPHOR!

[@existence9275]

After Effects Test

[@sgtnik4871]

where are the intel mac minis

[@tdawg719]

Apple needs to get over themselves with their ram and storage pricing. The only reason they haven’t is because they have millions of bots who will pay those insane prices regardless.

[@razorgarf]

Dude, the dock cost as much as the Mini. What the actual f***

[@TheChunkMonk69420]

That’s just how Apple works

[@scorpio896]

"Which M4 Pro do you have here: 12-core or 14-core?"

[@theTechNotice]

The base model

[@EHKvlogs]

But at what cost? 200 dollars per 8gb ram and 400 for every extra tb of storage?

[@blackout2able]

All my favorite games are only for Windows

[@SP_99999]

If we remove every time “it’s ridiculous” video become 5 min shorter 😂😂😂😂😂

[@theTechNotice]

🤔

[@TheDanEdwards]

The upgrade pricing is not a "scam". Apple _fully burdens the operation of running the corporation_ onto the upgrade ladder. For that $200 per step you're getting the life-time MacOS development and support, the local Apple Store access, etc. The inability to accept what it takes to deliver turn-key products for ordinary (non-geek) people is why so many people get into dither mode and angst.

[@nyambe]

You are a PC guy. Yes

[@yaboisuprimus]

I think it's Microsoft's fault that they've fumbled the bag in recent years with Windows 11, Copilot Recall fiasco and Win10 ending support by October 2025.

[@RaymondwLin]

I wouldn't upgrade the 10G ethernet. My reasons are that 1 - I would need to upgrade my switch, my routers and NAS to make full use of it. All of them are only Gigiabit. That is going to cost thousands and thousands. 2 - I can't imagine the last time I grab an ethernet cable. When I get aroudn replacing my NAS then the next time upgrading the Mac, then I would think about it. A NAS lasts much longer than the computer so no point getting Gigabit ethernet in the Mac Mini when it's not going to be maximised its speed for most of its life.

[@Elbarto-jh3lx]

en español tienes voz de mujer

[@daveh6356]

I think these videos should embrace diversity... ...vocabulary diversity. Can we add the word "nonsense" too? Maybe ridiculous for good (performance) and nonsense for bad (upgrades).