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Apple Announces Redesigned Mac Mini With M4 and M4 Pro Chips, Two Front USB-C Ports, and More

Mac-key said:
I have basically the same set-up as you in terms of my external SSD drive. I opted for the 512 internal storage because, like you said the internal SSD seems to fill up fast with god knows what. That's why I chose against the 256. Yes it's STUPID Apple still offers 256 SDD internal storage. Absolutely RIDICULOUS
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Wrong.
wideEyedPupil said:
I'll be needing to buy a dedicated USB hub rather than using my 27" 4K displays as USB hubs I think if I upgrade from M2 Pro to M4 Pro. It's not the loss of USB-A I'm bemoaning, its the halving of ports on the back and calling it "more ports". More Apple spin more like it!
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Bandwidth was increased. The Mac Mini is Apple's lowest end desktop. Use docks when you need more ports.
 
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macduke said:
LMAO, the cost to add 16GB of memory to the Mac mini is almost as much as the entire computer itself costs.

Even so, I'll probably pick up the base model with the education discount at some point for my kids to use. They need to get off their iPad sometimes and start learning to use real computers. I'm just unsure about the memory because I want them to be able to use this for years until they are old enough to have their own laptop. My daughter is getting into photography and video editing, but I doubt they will do anything heavy. But what about in five years? Will 16GB be enough for future macOS upgrades and AI models? Or the base GPU? I'm sure my kids will be doing a lot with AI as time progresses. They have to if they want to stay relevant and ahead of their peers.

They really know how to walk you up that price ladder through limiting options. Like the M4 Pro starting at 24GB instead and you can't even get 32GB. Maybe some of that is the way the chip is packaged but they probably leaned into that because of marketing. A lot of people don't realize how huge pricing is in marketing. They suck you in with a low price and then work you up the ladder on upgrades that are somewhat mismatched at different tiers. Before long you're like "But why not get a base Mac Studio" and then they got you.

Although at this point the base Mac Studio is looking downright old. The M2 Max multi-core score seems to benchmark around the same level as the M4, with the M4 single core destroying it. This M4 Pro is likely to blow the Mac Studio out of the water. Not much reason to buy one right now, especially with the Thunderbolt 5 on the Mac Mini. Only real reason is if you max it out on memory and need the GPU.
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So if you take the specs out of it, this is the processor upgrade chart of what is better than what....

M4 > M1
M4 > M2
M2 Pro > M4
M4 Pro > M2 Pro

Basically anyone who has an M2 Pro Mac mini shouldn't upgrade unless you want to spend another $1399 (M2 Pro was $1299) just for the smaller footprint and to get Ray-Tracing and AV1 Decode support.
 
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Allen_Wentz said:
Wrong. They were most likely a Studio or Mac Pro user, but 64 GB available RAM changes that to also make Mac Mini as a fully competent choice.
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Just depends...90% of buyers are going with $599 or $799 model. There will be very few models sold that will include 64GB of RAM. That market segment will make up a small percentage of Mini sales. It's a great choice, but does not create the best value. You and I know that 64GB Macbook Pro's rarely sell! Let alone 64GB Studio or Mac Pro don't sell hardly at all! The issue is Apple's price gouging strategy.
 
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Kinda Maxd Mine out Went with the M4Pro with 20 core and 1tb SSD $1799 plus Applecare. Traded my 2020 Base Imac. Maybe the last PC I buy as I'm Old so Might as well do it right
 
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vbctv said:
So if you take the specs out of it, this is the processor upgrade chart of what is better than what....

M4 > M1
M4 > M2
M2 Pro > M4
M4 Pro > M2 Pro

Basically anyone who has an M2 Pro Mac mini shouldn't upgrade unless you want to spend another $1399 (M2 Pro was $1299) just for the smaller footprint and to get Ray-Tracing and AV1 Encode/Decode support.
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It’s only AV1 decode, not encode right? Please correct me if I am wrong.
 
memo90061 said:
I currently have a Mac Mini M2 Pro with 16gb and 512gb. I want to upgrade and wonder if 24gb would be enough or should I jump to 48gb? I wonder if 1tb or 2tb would be fine. I just bought a 4tb SSD with a thunderbolt enclosure.
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Unless you want to spend $1399 minimum (M4 Pro), upgrading from M2 Pro is almost not worth it to M4 base. The GPU in the M2 Pro is way better than M4. M4 is just a single-core upgrade from M2 pro and you get Ray-Tracing and AV1 decode support. Personally I would wait. I was gonna jump also but after doing the research it's just not worth the upgrade even though I love the smaller footprint.
 
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macduke said:
LMAO, the cost to add 16GB of memory to the Mac mini is almost as much as the entire computer itself costs.

Even so, I'll probably pick up the base model with the education discount at some point for my kids to use. They need to get off their iPad sometimes and start learning to use real computers. I'm just unsure about the memory because I want them to be able to use this for years until they are old enough to have their own laptop. My daughter is getting into photography and video editing, but I doubt they will do anything heavy. But what about in five years? Will 16GB be enough for future macOS upgrades and AI models? Or the base GPU? I'm sure my kids will be doing a lot with AI as time progresses. They have to if they want to stay relevant and ahead of their peers.

They really know how to walk you up that price ladder through limiting options. Like the M4 Pro starting at 24GB instead and you can't even get 32GB. Maybe some of that is the way the chip is packaged but they probably leaned into that because of marketing. A lot of people don't realize how huge pricing is in marketing. They suck you in with a low price and then work you up the ladder on upgrades that are somewhat mismatched at different tiers. Before long you're like "But why not get a base Mac Studio" and then they got you.

Although at this point the base Mac Studio is looking downright old. The M2 Max multi-core score seems to benchmark around the same level as the M4, with the M4 single core destroying it. This M4 Pro is likely to blow the Mac Studio out of the water. Not much reason to buy one right now, especially with the Thunderbolt 5 on the Mac Mini. Only real reason is if you max it out on memory and need the GPU.
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Yeah the price jump is insane and nonsensical.

I am likely going with a base model, base storage, and will get an external M.2 enclosure and drive for added storage.

Will be one heck of an upgrade from my Mid 2011 i5 Mac mini, but not in RAM as I upgraded that to 16gb years ago, back when you could!
 
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vbctv said:
I love the small footprint but specs-wise if you have an M2 Pro version, you would need to go to the $1399 M4 Pro base version for it to be an 'upgrade'. And that is food of thought for a lot of people and something that should be on the news feed for people looking to upgrade.
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Shh! 🤫

I'm hoping to snag an M2 Pro preowned from someone who is "upgrading" ;)
 
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hagjohn said:
I noticed on Apples website that it will compare with Apple Mini 2018 (Intel) and 2020 (M1). Why not compare it to the latest? I would like some benchmarks please.

Had to laugh with the on button is on the bottom, after we just had the new USB-C mouse that is still on the bottom.
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They tend to compare to what products they think more people are updating from
 
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memo90061 said:
I currently have a Mac Mini M2 Pro with 16gb and 512gb. I want to upgrade and wonder if 24gb would be enough or should I jump to 48gb? I wonder if 1tb or 2tb would be fine. I just bought a 4tb SSD with a thunderbolt enclosure.
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What applications are you running? Do you use quite a few tabs with Chrome or Safari? If you are using 16GB and is plenty, why do you need 48GB? How much space on your SSD is used? No need to go all out just because its available now on Mac Mini. Save your money.
 
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Allen_Wentz said:
I would recommend maximum available RAM for the next few years.
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what he said. You can EDIT 4K video in DaVinici Resolve on an M2 Mac but it's how many tracks, how many effects, how many layers at once that determines your memory footprint and video through-put requirements. Note here that the M4 Pro has double the memory bandwidth, same as previous iterations of M-series and Mx Pro series chips.

I find Safari chews up more RAM than any of the Pro creative apps I use concurrently. Browsers and the JS code bloat in so many websites means having heaps of tabs open and quite a few windows of tabs has me Force quitting Safari and/or FireFox every 30 minutes to recover the GUI from a freeze up.

Check specific Codec engines in the video encoding hardware of the Mac you buy and confirm it's going to handle the codecs you plan to use for editing. You can always transcode to one Apple has encoders for (e.g. ProRes) and/or use proxy video tracks if necessary.
 
seek3r said:
Most people dont upgrade their computers every generation, this is targeted at the last gen intel and first M1 mini users, not the M2 folks. My wife has an M2 mini, she has no reason to upgrade yet
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Im buying one to use beside my MacBook Air. I’m glad to switch this to being my plex server instead and I can finally undock the MacBook
 
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wideEyedPupil said:
what he said. You can EDIT 4K video in DaVinici Resolve on an M2 Mac but it's how many tracks, how many effects, how many layers at once that determines your memory footprint and video through-put requirements. Note here that the M4 Pro has double the memory bandwidth, same as previous iterations of M-series and Mx Pro series chips.

I find Safari chews up more RAM than any of the Pro creative apps I use concurrently. Browsers and the JS code bloat in so many websites means having heaps of tabs open and quite a few windows of tabs has me Force quitting Safari and/or FireFox every 30 minutes to recover the GUI from a freeze up.

Check specific Codec engines in the video encoding hardware of the Mac you buy and confirm it's going to handle the codecs you plan to use for editing. You can always transcode to one Apple has encoders for (e.g. ProRes) and/or use proxy video tracks if necessary.
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Amen! You hit the nail on the head. Safari, Chrome, etc...tabs and multiple windows chews up tons of RAM. I tell this to customers all of the time.
 
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TheGenerous said:
Would the base model be OK for my parents? They still use their Mac Mini 2012

For their use, the only issues are in Notes because they use iPhone 13s which support more features in iOS and current macOS. Their Mac Mini stopped having OS updates and therefore Notes and Photos are obsolete (?)
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It should be perfectly fine for them
 
creediddy said:
What applications are you running? Do you use quite a few tabs with Chrome or Safari? If you are using 16GB and is plenty, why do you need 48GB? How much space on your SSD is used? No need to go all out just because its available now on Mac Mini. Save your money.
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Use case may be like mine.

I still daily drive (it is a server) a Mid 2011 Mac mini. In those days you could upgrade the RAM yourself. Now, you are stuck with what ships. While I am leaning on base RAM, I am considering the (HYPER exotic) price to bump up 1 tier to make it more future proof.

That said, I am not sure there will be an option (like Open Core) to upgrade M-Series machines past their supported OS Releases like we can on older intel machines. Not being able to patch in modern / more secure OS releases is a concern when these devices meet EOL.
 
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