2 M4 minis versus 1 Studio?

[waloshin]

I edit quite a bit of 8mm and 16mm film. I use neat video 5 to remove dust a 2K 30 minute video takes 4.5 hours to export. I would imagine a M2 Max or a M4 Max would be significantly faster at export.

Would I be better served with two Mac minis or 1 studio?

With two minis I could export video on one mini and use the other mini for other work. Though I haven’t really tested how well my Mini performs other tasks while exporting video.

I currently have a M4 base 16 using up to 12 gigabytes swap when editing raw photo in photoshop as well.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

You need bigger RAM vs. using all that SWAP. Too many writes prematurely wears out SSDs. When you wear out the internal SSD in a Mac, the Mac has to be tossed: no repair or SSD replacement options. The goal of "heavy load" work like yours would always be to avoid needing any SWAP as much as possible... unless you want to regularly replace Macs when the SSD conks.

Since you have 16GB + 12 in SWAP, I'd suggest targeting about twice the 32GB tier or 64GB to give you lots of room for your projects to grow over life of device.

For 64GB RAM, you have to consider M4 Mini Pro, which- with 64GB sky high (relative) pricing- starts at $1999. Compare to M2 MAX Mac Studio with 64GB starting at $2399. If we presume M4 MAX Studio will be about the same, it's only $400 for MAX. Studio comes with a number of other advantages for video editors too. You may want to dig into the tech specs or just compare them (though obviously no M4 Max Studio to compare just yet)

M4 MAX Studio should easily handle the dual tasks of rendering one video while you edit another. I don't believe you would get faster results from dual Minis including dual Mini PROs vs. the impending M4 MAX Studio expected in the next few months.

TIP: If the end goal is a compact-but-quality file to distribute to others, I might also suggest you get BIG storage and render your perfected projects to PRO RES and then run those through a tool like HandBrake to yield a final compressed file. You could focus on editing to perfection while you are awake (using computer horses for mostly editing) and load up your PRO RES renders in the HB QUEUE to do the compressing overnight while you sleep. Wake up the next morning with all of yesterday's work in nice compact files, ready to deliver/distribute.

I hope this is helpful.

 

[waloshin]

You need bigger RAM vs. using all that SWAP. Too many writes prematurely wears out SSDs. When you wear out the internal SSD in a Mac, the Mac has to be tossed: no repair or SSD replacement options. The goal of "heavy load" work like yours would always be to avoid needing any SWAP as much as possible... unless you want to regularly replace Macs when the SSD conks.

Since you have 16GB + 12 in SWAP, I'd suggest targeting about twice the 32GB tier or 64GB to give you lots of room for your projects to grow over life of device.

For 64GB RAM, you have to consider M4 Mini Pro, which- which 64GB sky high (relative) pricing starts at $1999. Compare to M2 MAX Mac Studio with 64GB starting at $2399. If we presume M4 MAX Studio will be about the same, it's only $400 for MAX. Studio comes with a number of other advantages for video editors too. You may want to dig into the tech specs or just compare them (though obviously no M4 Max Studio to compare just yet)

M4 MAX Studio should easily handle the dual tasks of rendering one video while you edit another. I don't believe you would get faster results from dual Minis including dual Mini PROs vs. the impending M4 MAX Studio expected in the next few months.

TIP: If the end goal is a compact-but-quality file to distribute to others, I might also suggest you get BIG storage and render your perfected projects to PRO RES and then run those through a tool like HandBrake to yield a final compressed file. You could focus on editing to perfection while you are awake (using computer horses for mostly editing) and load up your PRO RES renders in the HB QUEUE to do the compressing overnight while you sleep. Wake up the next morning with all of yesterday's work in nice compact files, ready to deliver/distribute.

I hope this is helpful.

Thank you

 

[apostolosdt]

Studio (M1/M2 Ultra for best performance), at least 64 GB RAM, external SSD for macOS as your working space. Minis are not professional-grade machines, IMHO.

 

[Fishrrman]

Wait for the new m4xx Studio.
I'm expecting to see it around June and the WWDC ...

 

[WCA]

I bought a Mini M4 with 24GB and a 1TB and added a Qwiizlab enclosure with a WD Black SN850X for editing 8MM video. You need the RAM to keep the life of the SSD internal and the external drive for the same reason. The speed on the TB4 port is 3200 Read & Write.

I probably would buy a Mini Pro the next time with the 32GB and 1TB just to give me the TB5, and a bit faster system. I use Final Cut and Adobe currently and I dont have to worry about Cache currently with my 24GB, BUT...as I get to my longer 720/1080 videos or to doing 2K or 4K I may wish I had gone pro and TB5 when they get some good docks and enclosures.

If you are doing this professionally a new M4 Studio (if and when they release one) MAY be your best choice.

 

[picpicmac]

When you wear out the internal SSD in a Mac, the Mac has to be tossed: no repair or SSD replacement options.

The OP wrote that he's using an M4 Mini. You know that replacing the internal NAND board is not that difficult - it just takes a couple of screwdrivers and some patience.

That said, anyone doing large video processing should buy the most RAM that is available.

I plan on my next Mac having at least 64GB Ram.

 

[yellowbunny]

Have a M1 Max Studio (base) and a M4 Mini (base). Working in very very heavy Resolve projects. Studio is about double the speed for exporting and fps etc. Mini makes an excellent second computer for the price though. Incredible bargain.

 

[dmccloud]

I bought a Mini M4 with 24GB and a 1TB and added a Qwiizlab enclosure with a WD Black SN850X for editing 8MM video. You need the RAM to keep the life of the SSD internal and the external drive for the same reason. The speed on the TB4 port is 3200 Read & Write.

I probably would buy a Mini Pro the next time with the 32GB and 1TB just to give me the TB5, and a bit faster system. I use Final Cut and Adobe currently and I dont have to worry about Cache currently with my 24GB, BUT...as I get to my longer 720/1080 videos or to doing 2K or 4K I may wish I had gone pro and TB5 when they get some good docks and enclosures.

If you are doing this professionally a new M4 Studio (if and when they release one) MAY be your best choice.

With modern SSDs, the lifespan of your storage is often longer than the lifespan of the machine as a whole. For example, the Samsung 990 Pro has a 5 year/600x TBW (600 TBW for 1TB, 1200 for 2TB, etc.) warranty and an reliability rating of 1.5 million hours. Apple's SSDs may also use that 600:1 ratio to calculate the TBW rating, although that's never been officially published by Apple.