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Considering a Mac Mini, Have Questions

Tempest2084 said:
Any thought on the Beelink dock? That seems to be the newest one people were excited over.
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I’m currently using the Mate Mini-B dock together with my Mac mini M4, and I have to say the transfer speeds are noticeably faster than using the Mac mini alone. Even during heavy file transfers, the temperature stays low — it only feels slightly warm to the touch — and the noise level is minimal. Overall, my experience with it has been really good!
 
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J.Y.Park said:
I’m currently using the Mate Mini-B dock together with my Mac mini M4, and I have to say the transfer speeds are noticeably faster than using the Mac mini alone. Even during heavy file transfers, the temperature stays low — it only feels slightly warm to the touch — and the noise level is minimal. Overall, my experience with it has been really good!
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That's good to hear. I know a lot of people were excited about it but the reports of excess heat generation put me off. I'm sure the Satechi drive is more robust, but until they come up with a faster model the Beelink is still the one I'm considering.

How well does the little connector device work? The fact that it's not a cable worries me as it looks kind of easy to bump out of alignment if you're doing something like trying to hit the power button.
 
Tempest2084 said:
That's good to hear. I know a lot of people were excited about it but the reports of excess heat generation put me off. I'm sure the Satechi drive is more robust, but until they come up with a faster model the Beelink is still the one I'm considering.

How well does the little connector device work? The fact that it's not a cable worries me as it looks kind of easy to bump out of alignment if you're doing something like trying to hit the power button.
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My Mac mini usually only gets rebooted about once a week. I keep the Mate Mini placed under the Mac mini, and whenever I restart the system, I need to reconnect it. So I might not be the best person to judge how well it holds alignment during frequent power-button presses. Sorry I can’t give you a more helpful answer!
 
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jdiamond said:
I already moved my iTunes folder and a lot of my saved games to another partition.
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This is the real strength of a desktop -- it's painless to add more storage. I have about 1.5 TB of media (Photos, Music and TV databases) on an SSD attached to my M4 iMac, and it works great. Just be sure that your backups also include the external drive so you don't lose everything on it if it dies.
 
Danorak81 said:
Oh my goodness, I'm so vanilla with my setup on this thread its laughable.

I went from a '13 iMac to a 2022 M2 Mini with a Satechi USB HUB. Both Mini and HUB were perfectly capable/matched. I sold the M2 Mini & Hub less than a year on whilst values were still reasonable and replaced with the current M4 Mini due to the spec upgrade. My current is the base model, 256GB/16GB RAM

1) I am also a light surfer/emailer. I use Music/TV and Photos the most. The Media element is all stored on external SSD's and basically feed my Apple TV. Photos are also stored externally as I take a lot and edit a lot. The Mac is more than capable of this task even with the Photos being stored externally. I occasionally do some design work on Affinity Designer & Photos: the Mac tackles both of those with ease.

2) In relation to hubs, I'd have no hesitation in buying another Satechi, but I don't quite have the need for it at the moment. I would have no hesitation in recommending in the future.

3) Keyboard-yet more vanilla: I use the an Apple keyboard with touch ID (wireless), and matching Magic Mouse. I picked up both in a bundle, new, on eBay. No issues for me using those.

4) Sound-Mac Mini speakers are fine for notifications and the odd tutorial video, but if listening to something for longer, I either use my AirPods if other people are about, or I use my (now very old!) Bose Soundlink speaker. Works a treat.

5) Not sure due to your location, but here in the UK, the Satechi occasionally appears on Amazon with about £25 off. In a few years time I may consider this route and popping an SSD in there: I've always run my Macs lean with everything stored externally, and have no issue adding storage to the Mac this way Equally, the Sabrent enclosures and Crucial SSD's are cheap and run really well with my Mini, so I'd happily add another in the furture if a Hub wasn't necessary. In terms of longevity, if I could have afforded the 512GB storage I would, but couldn't. Happy with the RAM combined with the M4, it has been super fast.
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What external storage you use?
I will be using the Mac mini like you, I just got it last week.

Deciding to go for a T7 (1000 Mbps) or 990 pro + enclosure (OWC 1m2 or qwizzlab) (3000Mbs)
Both have their issues and pro's.

Would be great if you could share your experience with your enclosure. Thanks!
 
EternalZone said:
What external storage you use?
I will be using the Mac mini like you, I just got it last week.

Deciding to go for a T7 (1000 Mbps) or 990 pro + enclosure (OWC 1m2 or qwizzlab) (3000Mbs)
Both have their issues and pro's.

Would be great if you could share your experience with your enclosure. Thanks!
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Apologies, I hadn't seen this reply.

I have two Sabrent M.2 NVMe Enclosures: Amazon Link.
Inside of those I have a Crucial P3 Plus M.2 NVMe SSD: one is 2TB, one is 4TB: Amazon Link. However, these have obv. been superseded as neither are available. I do backup regularly as a precautionary measure, but have not had any issues with either drive in the year+ that I've been using them.
 
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Thanks. I have just decided to go for 4TB 990 Pro + OWC 1m2 enclosure for my Mini M4 as external drive for media storage. I can do my projects on the Mac mini and then export them to the bigger drive. Photo, music and old video's will be stored on the external.

An SSD is probably more chill to use for backups?
I have 2TB and 4TB old HDD laying around to try out. But maybe it's more chill to future proof for the coming years.
 
The Razer Chroma TB4 hub is well-powered, and a very good unit.
I use a Kensington Scroll wired Trackball, and Apple’s wired keyboard.
The base Mac Mini M4 is around 3GB/sec internal SSD read speed. External TB4 is 3GB/sec.
Not really worth buying over 24GB of RAM in a base Mini, or over 512GB internal SSD (the sweet spot). Unless you find a used bargain, low use, with Apple Care. A base Mini M4 with 12 months warranty makes more sense, unless you absolutely have to have more RAM, and the faster 512GB SSD.
Over those figures brings it into base Mini Pro territory, and base Studios aren’t much more.
I would appreciate the 16/256GB base Mini M4 for what it is - a single-core power machine at $500.
IMG_0196.png
 
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I think I'll probably get a 24GB/512GB M5 Mini whenever they're available (or just go for the M4 if it looks like they're going to skip the M5). Still debating on the kind of Dock I want to get though.
 
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Tempest2084 said:
I think I'll probably get a 24GB/512GB M5 Mini whenever they're available (or just go for the M4 if it looks like they're going to skip the M5). Still debating on the kind of Dock I want to get though.
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I think either Razer or OWC TB4 is sensible. Used bargains out there. Nice, strong PSU.
 
Tempest2084 said:
But do those have SSD or NVMe ports in them?
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No. They have TB4 sockets and you buy enclosures. But they have strong PSU’s, which takes the strain off your Mac’s PSU - which reduces heat, increasing longevity.
Two NVME’s will draw up to 30 watts from the Mini’s 180W PSU. That’s 15%.
 
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Having gone from 2012 iMac to Mac mini M4, things I should have seen coming, but somehow didn't:

Re-using my old keyboard with numpad lacks Touch ID, handy for buying things online with Apple Pay, and unlocking. Not end of world, but annoying.

Using a generic 4K monitor, the color accuracy wasn't ideal, despite the calibration chart they included in the box.

Using a generic 4K monitor, I ended up lacking a microphone AND webcam. If this is your main machine, this will affect your ability to Zoom, Teams, FaceTime, etc.

Using a generic 4K monitor, I lack decent speakers, and as other have said, the speaker in the Mini is sub-par.

Once you add in all the things you're missing, the iMac seems less of a money grab than it first appears.

Most non-Apple retailers only stock the base configurations. If you want anything customized you need to buy from Apple. If you're in the US, B&H is one of the few places that seems to keep a selection of non-base machines, and often has steep discounts. Keep an eye on them, perhaps sign up for their newsletter, and get deals emailed to you.
 
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