Considering Exchanging M4 Mini for MBP - Thoughts?

[johnnyindia]

Purchased an Mac Mini with the following specs for my home recording studio: Apple M4 Pro chip with 12‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine, 48GB unified memory, 1TB SSD storage

So far so good, though I've heard some reports of fan noise which would be a problem in my studio (haven't experienced yet).

Figured the Mini would be the way to go since I have a studio display, magic keyboard 2 and magic mouse 2 already...I have an M1 Macbook Air for my portable use for internet and daily use.

ANYWAY, I am considering returning the mini and going for a 14" macbook pro; I would use it in clamshell mode in the studio, and then have the ability to take it with me when needed (and I would pass on my M1 to my wife who is on a 2017 MBA that's on its last legs).

To match the specs of the Mini to the MBA would cost a bit more; but it may be worth doing in my situtation. Any reports of fan noise on the Macbook Pro in clamshell?

Also any upgrades worth doing on the MBP? i.e. going to 14 core rather than 12?

My primary use is music production; Pro Tools, Ableton. Recording, a fair amount of plugins for mixing, ocassionally some software instruments, etc.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be great!

 

[Andrey84]

Purchased an Mac Mini with the following specs for my home recording studio: Apple M4 Pro chip with 12‑core CPU, 16‑core GPU, 16‑core Neural Engine, 48GB unified memory, 1TB SSD storage

So far so good, though I've heard some reports of fan noise which would be a problem in my studio (haven't experienced yet).

Figured the Mini would be the way to go since I have a studio display, magic keyboard 2 and magic mouse 2 already...I have an M1 Macbook Air for my portable use for internet and daily use.

ANYWAY, I am considering returning the mini and going for a 14" macbook pro; I would use it in clamshell mode in the studio, and then have the ability to take it with me when needed (and I would pass on my M1 to my wife who is on a 2017 MBA that's on its last legs).

To match the specs of the Mini to the MBA would cost a bit more; but it may be worth doing in my situtation. Any reports of fan noise on the Macbook Pro in clamshell?

Also any upgrades worth doing on the MBP? i.e. going to 14 core rather than 12?

My primary use is music production; Pro Tools, Ableton. Recording, a fair amount of plugins for mixing, ocassionally some software instruments, etc.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be great!

From looking online, it seems the M4 Pro consumes more power than M3 Pro, and hence it runs hotter.

Do you have any tasks which put sustained high pressure on the CPU? I.e. very high load for longer than 1 minute?

If not, you shouldn't worry about the fan at all.
If you do, still buy the laptop, use it for 2 weeks (maybe the holiday period return rules will apply, which gives you even more time) and see for yourself.

The answer you're looking for is very much dependent on your personal usage profile. Also, you can use it in the "Low Power Mode" energy setting in the worse case scenario - the effect on performance might not be noticeable.