Video Editing M4 Mac Mini Buyers Guide

[@whoismatt]

Hope this helps you get the perfect Mac Mini for video editing! 🎵 And if you need mainstream music for your videos and wedding films, signup for Lickd: go.lickd.co/WhoisMatt2024

[@SinisterAudio]

This video, of all the videos I’ve watched on the M4 series, this video, is ABSOLUTELY flawless. 100% perfect. Perfect comparisons across all levels. Thanks Matt, this was awesome.

[@whoismatt]

Thanks so much!

[@villano31]

I just picked up the m4 512gb mini today, downloaded Premiere pro and edited a 4k 60fps 10bit 30 minute long video and it handled it no problem. Took 9 minutes to export. Thing works wonders.

[@TopDogAcademy]

Is it just the base model and not the pro, with 16 gb ram?

[@villano31]

@TopDogAcademy Correct. Base model M4.

[@JohnWi11is]

I've gone for the M4 Pro (14 core CPU, 20 Core GPU) + 64GB RAM & 1TB SSD... Once you add Final Cut Pro it comes out to £2,698. Slightly expensive but with thunderbolt 5 and these specs I'm hoping its futureproofed for at least 5 years

[@seannorton2082]

Really nice job, Matt! I found your video quite helpful and entertaining. Cheers.

[@Amir-hj4tq]

After effect Run smoothly or not plz make video on this

[@Academicsplus]

When you say "editing", what software are you talking about? We know final cut is optimized in macs but how about premiere and the others? Im considering buying the base mini but i dont know if it can handle 4k editing in premiere with the video files in an external ssd. Hopefully you can test this.

[@ferdinandschjerven6212]

Ive used both Premiere Pro and Capcut to edit 4k footage on my M1 Macbook Air 8gb RAM from 2020. It does it quite well. I think the M4 is going to be absolute fine!

[@jdc2126]

It's buttery smooth

[@PLANETWATERMELON]

That’s hysterical. I was waiting to mention that I ended up returning the Mac mini M4 for the Mac studio M2 Max for video editing at that same price $1799. Between thermal system and GPU power for rendering and exporting price was too similar or close that led me to the max studio M2 Max instead. Read video. Now I feel really weird having two Mac Studios Max M2. One is in my music studio, which I have really liked and now one in my photo and video editing studio. Craziness.

[@jontramel4003]

In yiur opinion, how do you feel a M4 base model upgraded to 24gb of ram and 512 ssd perform for 4k video editing. Maybe a little 6k footage scales down to 4k every now and again. Thoughts? Oh...using Divinci Resolve

[@Ema-hg3zc]

I am also interested in

[@nathancorr7220]

Do you think it’s necessary to upgrade the RAM to 24GB on the base model for photo and video editing, specifically for 4K videos using apps like Lightroom and Premiere Pro?

[@TonyaGreenwood]

I just ordered the mini 4 base with 24GB memory and 1TB SSD.. I do light video editing in premier pro and mostly stay in Lightroom and Photoshop for photo editing. Fingers crossed it does well!

[@franbogado4560]

Hello, how is it performing? I’m considering buying that same option or getting the M4 Pro with 24GB RAM and a 512GB SSD. I will be editing in Lightroom and DaVinci Resolve 4k 60fps

[@Ema-hg3zc]

@@franbogado4560 hey dude, if you buy it let me know how it works I am curious too I would buy it for the same purpose but I am not sure if buy the base version with 512 or the base pro, that’s so hard to decide 🫣 the point is the huge difference for the price you pay between the 2 models

[@franbogado4560]

@@Ema-hg3zc hey, yesterday I ordered the M4 Pro model, 24gb and 512ssd, i will let you know how it’s performing in a few days 😉💪🏼

[@Ema-hg3zc]

@@franbogado4560 thank you bro! 👊 🙏🏻

[@adinbradic7092]

can you please tell me did I understand this well? your workflow is to transfer video files from card directly to ssd and edit everything from there. is this safe? is it as fast as working from the mac? thank you in advance.

[@kyracinematic]

was waiting this my man!!

[@whoismatt]

Thanks for your patience!

[@Zack-Hates-Youtube]

THIS WAS THE VIDEO I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR! I TRUST YOUR OPINION ON THIS EXACT MATTER MORE THAN OTHERS. 🤘🤘🤘

[@paulocon4842]

I usually edit footage between 1 minute to 10 minutes, cuts, basic color correction and some animated titles. I really don't think it's too much. Is it worth investing in the M4 pro or would it be ok for a while in the M4 basic? saving that 800$ for the future would be a good idea? P.S. I come from windows with AMD Ryzen 5 2600X and 32 of RAM, 1070 ti 8 gb will the productivity be noticeable?

[@adamzalesak]

Does it worth to buy 24GB/256GB rather than 16GB/256GB? Isn't 16GB RAM too little?

[@BrotherJudahLion]

Microcenter also has the base model for $499

[@whoismatt]

Microcenter the best ever

[@petercofrancesco9812]

Matt nice video as always you distilled down a lot into a concise buying guide. Only thing I'll add is the Pro advantage is smoother playback, faster renders and exports for effect heavy timelines that need rendering. Otherwise save the money.

[@Otto760]

I have a 4k gaming monitor, the Samsung Odyssey G4 nvidia g-sync. This monitor would be okay to pair with the Mac mini, right? Just need to clarify. Learning about all this now

[@OnceinaSixSide]

So confused by these computers. My pc sucks ass at editing 4k h.264 with a 4080, 64gb ram and an 11700k, but everyone says these can handle that footage better. Ive put an order in for one so Ill know for myself in a few days if its true or not

[@FF-gu7jz]

Let me know, what your experience is. I am in the same situation. Maxed out PC build. Struggeling with PremierePro and 4k video editing. 😅

[@OnceinaSixSide]

@FF-gu7jz Ok here's what I've found: The M4 Mac Mini Pro is the SMOOTHEST I've ever experienced, it's insane how performant it is general editing in the timeline. Where it falls over is magic mask and other GPU hungry tasks, its just very slow. Like 1 or 2 fps versus 30fps from the 4080 in my PC. I decided to upgrade my PC to the latest x870 chipset with Ryzen 9 9900x and 64GB DDR5 6000MHz and the performance boost is amazing and my timeline performance in Divinci is now great. Here's the thing though.. it's not as good as the Mac. It's close but there are some stutters and small hangs on PC still that I'm not seeing on the M4. Mac OS is a giant turd though and I hate it so the Mac is going back tomorrow.

[@FF-gu7jz]

@@OnceinaSixSide Thank you so much for the insides. I am also sticking with my PC for now. Maybe the Mac Studio later this year is worth looking into.

[@OnceinaSixSide]

​@@FF-gu7jz No worries man 🤘

[@cipro2000]

Hello! I would need a specialist's opinion in the field. I would like to switch from Windows to MacOs. I am currently working on an AMD Ryzen 7 770x Desktop with 64 Ggia Ram and an NVidea 3060 OC video card. I have turned my attention to the Apple Mac Mini PC with Apple M4 Pro processor, 12 CPU cores and 16 GPU cores, 24GB, 512GB SSD or the Apple Mac Mini PC with Apple M4 Pro processor, 14 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores, 24GB, 512GB SSD or the Apple Mac Mini PC with Apple M4 Pro processor, 14 CPU cores and 20 GPU cores, 48GB, 1TB SSD. I mention that I use LR photo editing and video in Davinci Resolve 4k in multicam (2 maximum 3 cameras). Are the ones I mentioned above better than the system I mentioned first in Windows and is it worth switching to Mac or not and which of the ones listed would cope? Thank you

[@ubuntuprtv]

If you are in the military or a veteran you get a %10 discount so if you buy the pro is like a $130 dollar discount this discount makes a big difference when you buy over a $1000

[@Jurienpk]

One thought that I have for these helpful videos of yours. Maybe you could dim the brightness of the screenshots of the website a bit, because it's much brighter than the shots of you talking and can feel a bit unpleasant. Just a minor thing that might help. Thanks for all the videos you make!

[@astipanti]

Looking forward to buy the Mini M4 with 32GB / 512GB / 10GB Ethernet. Is that too much?

[@whoismatt]

That will work well

[@sameterdem543]

I want to ask something. I don't have any budget for upgrading. (if I will buy mac mini m4 base + accessories) but I have some questions. Firstly, what will I do with mac mini m4? What do I expect from that? I want to use it for video editing (I think videos are around 1080p-4k.) (If I will start I don't know). Base model is enough for that? You said you can use external SSD for storage. If I won't start video editing, can I use for daily?

[@SnaKexMinez]

What do you mean ?

[@JamesNobleMusic]

Just ordered a mac mini with 24gb ram and 1tb ssd. Looking forward to trying it out!

[@m.s.5779]

Great stuff, Matt....but when buying the Mac Mini, how does one attach all the peripherals with few input ports (i.e. 2 + Thunderbolt RAID arrays??) Also, what is best to use with Davinci Resolve which is processor heavy?) Thanks for any input!

[@spunkychops7484]

Best super chub on the interweb

[@jubinjmathew]

I am not sure if you will see this comment, I wanted to ask you something This is my current laptop spec. editing on this is super slow, 2.9 GHz Quad-Core Intel Core i7 Radeon Pro 560 4 GB 16 GB LPDDR3 if upgrade to base model mac mini, will it be a huge jump ? I am having a very low budget which is why I am think to go with base model. Thanks :))

[@itsgmani]

would you change your home folder to the external if you got a realy fast one or just use the external as a storage drive

[@whoismatt]

You should be fine just using the external as a storage drive. If you keep it your programs on the internal SSD and footage on the external it should be faster

[@itsgmani]

⁠okay great. I’m assuming generated files and all the render file junk Final Cut makes will all happen on the external. I got a 512gb m4PRO and a 2tb nvme

[@lucienbruzzese2514]

we also need some sort of dock to connect usb type A and sdcards.

[@ctjh373]

New viewer here, great videos. But confused, you said even the M4 Pro is only for light 6K/8K footage, however Apple themselves on their website under who is each chip for when buying says the Pro chip is for professionals editing 8K and Max chips for extreme high end cases such as 3D modelling etc. Please could you clarify? Thanks

[@fparkes6]

GPU

[@ctjh373]

@ I’m sorry, what do you mean?

[@fparkes6]

@@ctjh373 Compare the GPU specs. And see if that fits your needs depending on your software.

[@videoclipafilms]

Hello! Can I buy the monitor you suggested (PA278QV) and the 4k model: Asus ProArt PA279CV Monitor 27" 16:9 IPS 4K UHD and use them in two different locations? At first I'd like to calibrate them together and then be sure the colours will be the same...

[@whoismatt]

Yes that should work

[@jefferson.castillo]

Matt I am digging this video bro! I edit on Davinci and Caput..possibly on FCP in 2025. Which MacBook Pro would you recommend ? I would love to see a video if you haven't filmed once just yet.

[@robertaltman222]

I actually did do the base M4 Pro - but with the extra GPU cores- Resolve LOVES GPU's!!! Based on my 'monitoring' of editing 4K clips I never need more than 24GB RAM (in fact 16GB is probably plenty for my uses) The Thunderbolt 5 ports are sooooo fast that external SSD's are almost the same speed as the internal drive - so upgrading the SSD really makes NO sense to me.

[@neeteshpathak2455]

Did you open 3-4 crome tabs while editing 4k video Is 16gb fine

[@HoundDogMech]

OK 2 M4 Mac Mini @ $579 x2 = $1158 you have total of 20 CPU / 20GPU and 36GB memory and 512 GBSSD vs $1370 for M4 Mac Mini PRO 12 CPU & 16 GPU w/24 GB & 512 GB SSD So the trick is to get the 2 M4 Mac Mini Basic to act togeather, of for lighter work Edit with one Machine and While Rendering with the other no wait time for 1 Project/Timeline to render by continueing to edit on First Machine. It all boils down to what Type of edits one does and how much time you can expend per Render. It takes same time to EDIT but Render is Officaly Working DOWN TIME. I do Video for FUN but still get Impatiant when it says your RENDER will be 4 or ore hours.

[@SilverStreakMedia1]

What's your reasoning that a $1,800 M2 Mac Studio will be much faster than an $1,800 M4 Pro Mac Mini? I've spoken with B&H about this, and they recommended going with the Mac Mini and said it would likely either as fast (or faster) than the M2 Mac Studio for the same price.

[@francescopeluso70]

I was buying mine but here they are sold out until next year (mid January they say 😠)

[@unkokrispy]

So clearly, this guy never looked at geek bench results, and saw that the M4 pro can not perform even the M2 ultra

[@CLOCKROOK]

a

[@wingsley]

Got a question about your choice for a budget keyboard (Logitech): I have one, but it is a dust magnet. How do you clean yours?

[@whoismatt]

I don’t own that one personally, I have the Mx keys and love it

[@oneonlyxram]

I have a m3 max pro laptop, I'm thinking of adding the studio, or the mini. But from this video the m2 max studio seems more up my alley, at least until a m4 max possibly comes out....

[@whoismatt]

M4 max in early to mid 2025 for sure

[@araskoca8172]

M4 pro is better then m2 mac studio

[@graphguy]

Amazon is worthless. You can't get one until late Jan 2025? That is absurd.

[@ItsEzlan]

i still dont think this is a " video editing system" just a mom & pop machine

[@johngwheeler]

From the tests that I have seen, The base M4 appears to be entirely adequate for a lot of 4K video editing tasks, provided you don’t have a lot of heavy duty effects, and can tolerate slower render times. For a small KZbin channel or your personal videos, it’s probably enough. For serious professional work , probably not, although it would great for project preparation and assembly edits.

[@SilverStreakMedia1]

@@johngwheeler I agree with you. It looks like unless someone is doing some very complex motion graphics and animation work, a Mac Mini M4 Pro with 48GB or 64GB of RAM will work extremely well for several years. This is very powerful, yet small computer that can be very useful.

[@jdc2126]

LOL Buy the pro with lots of ram, you will be glad you did. The m4 pro is more powerful than the MAC studio. In fact you can have your own AI studio without paying a cent.

[@ItsEzlan]

@jdc2126 my MBP M3 max is fine, I have a love hate relationship with apple I only have a MBP because windows machines can't compete with apples screen/battery life and as a photographer that's crucial

[@edmondloo1975]

I just changed from my m2 Mac mini to the m4 Mac mini. I use it with my Samsung 100 inch QLED smart tv wall mounted onto my bedroom wall and pair it with my Harman Kardon studio 3 Bluetooth speaker. I use it for watching movies and listening to music. I left it on 24 hours when I’m sleeping up to the next morning listening to music and it have no issues at all. Used to use Asus desktop but it gave me lots of software issues and so I’ve changed to Mac mini and all my problems solved!! Same goes to using iPhones. No more issues. Having lots of issues when I’m using android Samsung phones. That’s why I will always use apple products as they never give me any issues. Used to use Logitech keyboard and mouse too but always have some glitches and issues. But after changing to magic keyboard and mouse, there literally no more issues! So I stay to all Apple products!! They are simply awesome! But this is for my own point of views and my own personal preferences only cos I love Apple products very much though!! U can view my setup in my KZbin channel 😻

[@mex5341]

don't buy the base model for video editing , only M4 pro . in real time editing m4 isn't much faster than my m1 . but m4 pro - yes . Had to return base M4 model and get m4 pro instead , worth the price

[@redcomn]

I agree, memory bandwidth were a thing most people did not consider. Which were a thing in video editing performance.

[@EasyyokeFilms]

Not true. You only notice the difference between the M4 and M4 pro when you render. There are severallllll videos on KZbin that has shown that the performance of the base M4 and the M4 pro are very similar for editing. If you think you need to spend $1300 instead of $600, then simply wait for the M4 max mac studio else buying the M4 pro is simply giving Apple free money

[@mex5341]

@@EasyyokeFilms good joke. don't believe everything you see on youtube

[@EasyyokeFilms]

@@mex5341 Awwwwww. They all doctored the video, I see. The timeline scrubbing and the clearly visible editing they all tested were doctored, Oh, I see. Its quite ok to want to justify your spending, I get. BTW, did you really just compare the M1 to the M4😂😂 Jokes on you then!

[@mex5341]

@@EasyyokeFilms men , i do have my M1 mac , and believe me for casual video editing in Fcxp they both fit, but for something more heavy , neither the M1 nor the M4 are suitable, so I immediately returned the M4 and bought the M4 Pro. As an example 10 bit 4k 60 /120 fps slowed down and with color correction on m1 and m4 it will drop fps and will be not as smooth as on M4 pro

[@marianopreaTVR]

😅😅😅bug...budget

[@JohnBambolino]

Video editing guide. Minutes of actual video editing? ZERO

[@chosenideahandle]

It says “buyer’s guide”. Minutes of a viewer paying attention?

[@JohnBambolino]

@ ​​⁠yes - a buyers guide for video editors but ZERO actual video editing tests. I was just scrubbing along the video timeline hoping to find some export render times or real tests, instead all I saw was him talking. Fortunately other KZbinrs have real tests and guides! Not this nonsense.

[@DavinciGirl]

I bought 5 base Models and Cluster them all with 10gbe Fibre. This means in case I just Share the RAM of my 1500 gb RAM Server. That have 480 TB harddisk Space.