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How is the fan noise of M4 Max Studio vs M4 Pro Mini?
- Thread starter hajime
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I haven't heard the fans come on at all. That being said, the left rear corder of the m4ms gets really hot.
I've only had my Studio M4 Max a few days, but it's dead silent no matter what I'm doing with it.
I'd imagine for basic tasks, the M4 Pro mini will also be the same. Fans may ramp up on the M4 Pro mini when doing extended processor/GPU-intensive work, though, given the smaller case, smaller heatsink and smaller fan(s).
I'd imagine for basic tasks, the M4 Pro mini will also be the same. Fans may ramp up on the M4 Pro mini when doing extended processor/GPU-intensive work, though, given the smaller case, smaller heatsink and smaller fan(s).
I can’t speak for the mini but apparently my Studio M4 Max’s fans are running at 1,000RPM (seemingly all the time) but you can’t tell by sitting next to it. Silent.
That said, doing “basic office productivity” on my MacBook Pro (M4 Pro) doesn’t trouble the fans at all - they stay turned off. (I believe the chips get a little warmer than on the Studio, but the fans apparently don’t feel the need to kick in).
If the MacBook’s chips are okay to get warmer without bothering the fans, and the Studio’s fans not making any noise at low RPMs, I can’t image why the Mini would make any noise given the same productivity tasks.
That said, doing “basic office productivity” on my MacBook Pro (M4 Pro) doesn’t trouble the fans at all - they stay turned off. (I believe the chips get a little warmer than on the Studio, but the fans apparently don’t feel the need to kick in).
If the MacBook’s chips are okay to get warmer without bothering the fans, and the Studio’s fans not making any noise at low RPMs, I can’t image why the Mini would make any noise given the same productivity tasks.
Based on some comparison videos I’ve watched over the past week or so, you are far more likely to experience audible fan use on the Mac Minis. You won't get it with basic tasks like browsing, email use, spreadsheets, etc….but you will likely hear them spin up when the machine goes under heavy load. The Studios stay cooler due to the nature of their design (larger than the Minis, which means the cooling system can be better and more effective overall).
At some point, the Studio fans will kick up to an audible level…but it’s not nearly as often and it isn’t as distracting when it does.
Personally, I wouldn’t base your purchasing decision on the “fan noise” aspect. I’d break it down like this instead:
-If you are doing a mix of lighter and heavier tasks and you don’t need more power than the base Mini…or much more above it…then go with the Mini.
-If you find yourself speccing out a Mini with significant RAM and storage upgrades, you’ll quickly get to a point where the Studio is a better deal overall. The advantage of buying a Mini decreases rapidly once you start upgrading RAM and storage.
At some point, the Studio fans will kick up to an audible level…but it’s not nearly as often and it isn’t as distracting when it does.
Personally, I wouldn’t base your purchasing decision on the “fan noise” aspect. I’d break it down like this instead:
-If you are doing a mix of lighter and heavier tasks and you don’t need more power than the base Mini…or much more above it…then go with the Mini.
-If you find yourself speccing out a Mini with significant RAM and storage upgrades, you’ll quickly get to a point where the Studio is a better deal overall. The advantage of buying a Mini decreases rapidly once you start upgrading RAM and storage.
It depends if you want portability and what's your workflow.
I could throw my Mini in my back pack and "move" my desk to easily work from different location.
In the MacIntel era I needed to buy the highest build to work on my 2d animation projects, small 3d stuff.
Nowadays the M4 Pro is all I need with a little of headroom.
I bought my Mini 64GB ram, 1tb ssd on sale (free cpu upgrade) so it wasn't so bad deal.
I bought it on the day Studio was announced.
For the studio I would need to pay 900eur more and it would be overkill for my current needs.
I love how small Mini is, I've been using it for 2 weeks, I did some renders with After Effect and blender and it was silent. I've found only 1 or 2 project that kicked the fan. But for most of my work (90%) it is completely silent, fans operating at 1000rpm.
But I also love how much silent and cooler studio is!
Again, it all comes down to value. I don’t think there are a lot of people with a desire to carry their Mac Mini or Mac Studio around in a backpack - Most people who are concerned about portability use a laptop and a docking station if need-be.
Buying your Mini on sale made that particular transaction a good deal for you…but for everybody else who doesn’t get that deal, the Studio becomes a pretty attractive option once you start adding in upgrades on a Mini, especially since you would be moving from an M4 Pro to a M4 Max which is a more powerful chip and it will last you a much longer time. A Mac Mini low-end M4 Pro model with 64 GB of RAM and 1 TB of space is already over $2,000 with the Education discount, which is a full $200 more than the base Studio.
Yes, the Studio is a great option IF someone NEED that kind of power. The future proofing also do not make sense because in year or two the new Mac mini for 1/3 of the studio price will be much more powerful than M4 Max.
If that investment will amortise well then fine buy studio.
If you’re just only buying it to have it on the desk, then that’s the money burned despite the “value”.
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Indeed.
Computational-wise, M4 is sufficient for my current work. The main reason I consider the M4 Pro is the Thunderbolt 5 port which could potentially provide more than 1.5W per port and faster data transfer speed if I put the virtual machine in an external drive. Not sure if it feels different running Windows from a Thunderbolt 5 storage.
That doesn't make sense - You could play that same game with any machine.
The whole point of future-proofing is to NOT have to replace your machine as often. And spending $2000+ on a Mac Mini when you can get a Studio for less money...just to do it all over again in a year or two...doesn't gain you anything - In fact, you'd be better off buying a cheaper Studio if you're going to upgrade every year or two.
The base Mac Mini (M4, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD) is a tremendous value for anyone who wants a basic computer for light tasks...and some medium ones, too. But once you start adding in the upgrades (moving from M4 to M4 Pro, adding RAM and storage), you start getting closer and closer to the point where a Studio is the better value.
If an M4 will get the job done for you, then the Mini is clearly the right machine for you.
A base M4 Pro Mini may also be a fine match for you...but be wary of the upgrade costs from there. Because at the base M4 Pro model, you're now only $500 away from a base Mac Studio. It can still make sense to upgrade from there, but you can get upside-down pretty quick.
It depends as I need 64GB ram and that puts me in a place that I need to upgrade the Studio and for me there was a 900eur difference in Europe.
Right now I'm planning to keep the Mini 4-5 years, if my workload will change in the meantime then I'll buy Studio M6-7 Max.
What I meant is that our Apple Silicon computers will be loosing its value quicker than MacIntels if Apple will keep up with the big gains on every refresh. So the highest the model you buy the more it will loose the value.
Look at the Studio M1 Ultra, my M4 Pro Mini is just about the same cpu performance...
Apple Silicon changed so much in the computing word that it is easier to find the best sweet spot configuration for the current workflow. A little headroom will be enough. So less I spent now, I will be more flexible in the future.
The Studio is beautiful machine and it is tempting, but do I need it right now? No. do I want it? Yes
I don't know what you mean by "more powerful".
But, a Mac Mini two years from now will not have more I/O capability than today's Studios, it will not drive more monitors, it will not have more memory, nor will it have more cores.
Will an M5 Mini (if there is such a thing) have faster single-core speed than an M4 Studio? Yes, but I do not expect a big leap (the M5 will still be 3nm, just more tightly packed.)
Will an M6 Mini (if there is such a thing) have faster single-core speed again? Again, but all the other constraints will remain.
Because cost matters, and to keep the cost of the Mini down Apple has to put few parts in it, and fewer steps in construction than in a Studio.
The M4 Mini today has much faster single core speed than an M2 Ultra, yet for someone making videos today the M2 Ultra is still a much more performant choice.
Yes. If someone needs the extra ports then sure Studio is best buy.
It is a shame that there are limits how many tb4 nvme drive you can connect though. And for that you still need self powered tb4/tb5 hub.
I know my workflow and I don’t need those extra ports. It would be great to have more but that’s ok how it is.
Will I need more ports in the future? Definitely no, but if I’d want more then there are always self powered hubs.
Yes the M2 Ultra is still great buy for someone that has the workflow for it. The deals are there because only advantage are those gpu cores and media engines.
Guys the studio is superior machine in every detail than Mini. No doubts about it
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I just ran Cinebench R24 for half an hour, temps on the cores 90-100c after two mins, and the fans never went above 1250rpm. I don't like that at all. Studio M4 Max.
It depends as I need 64GB ram and that puts me in a place that I need to upgrade the Studio and for me there was a 900eur difference in Europe.
Right now I'm planning to keep the Mini 4-5 years, if my workload will change in the meantime then I'll buy Studio M6-7 Max.
What I meant is that our Apple Silicon computers will be loosing its value quicker than MacIntels if Apple will keep up with the big gains on every refresh. So the highest the model you buy the more it will loose the value.
Look at the Studio M1 Ultra, my M4 Pro Mini is just about the same cpu performance...
Apple Silicon changed so much in the computing word that it is easier to find the best sweet spot configuration for the current workflow. A little headroom will be enough. So less I spent now, I will be more flexible in the future.
The Studio is beautiful machine and it is tempting, but do I need it right now? No. do I want it? Yes
I agree on these points. After considering a Mini M4 Pro / 14 cores / 48GB and a Studio M4 Max / 14 cores / 36 GB (that were within 5 euros for me, with the Studio being the cheaper choice), I concluded the former was way overkill in RAM and the latter was overkill in CPU/GPU/NPU. Taking heat dissipation into account, I thought the Mini might be a bit less nice to use, so I went with the Studio (and saved the 5 euros...
--- no, seriously, it was not a deciding factor, just a funny one).A 24 GB Mini would have been limited in a few years. A 32 or 36 GB option on the Mini M4 Pro might have made the Mini more interesting. On the other hand, if going to 48 or 64 GB is absolute a requirement and CPU is not, then again the Mini M4 Pro works well.
Yeah, nice one, good call.I agree on these points. After considering a Mini M4 Pro / 14 cores / 48GB and a Studio M4 Max / 14 cores / 36 GB (that were within 5 euros for me, with the Studio being the cheaper choice), I concluded the former was way overkill in RAM and the latter was overkill in CPU/GPU/NPU. Taking heat dissipation into account, I thought the Mini might be a bit less nice to use, so I went with the Studio (and saved the 5 euros...
A 24 GB Mini would have been limited in a few years. A 32 or 36 GB option on the Mini M4 Pro might have made the Mini more interesting. On the other hand, if going to 48 or 64 GB is absolute a requirement and CPU is not, then again the Mini M4 Pro works well.
If Mini will be too loud too often for too long periods then I'll consider switching to Studio.
Why don't you like it? If the chip is rated for that temp, then it'll continue to function at that temp. I've been using Macs since forever and I've never had one die on me due to excessive temperatures.
There are 3rd party utilities that will allow custom fan settings, so you can boost the fans if you really feel the need to.
When running LLMs/AI on my M4 Pro MacBook, the temps would be 90-100C and the fans would be quite noisy (several thousand RPMs). When doing the same on my Studio, the fans go up to about 1,700RPM and you can barely hear them.
I put this down to the Studio’s better thermals unlike the rather cramped MacBook. I’m happier with the Studio because it doesn’t have to ramp up the fans in the way that the MacBook did.
I'm just used to having lower temps when I'm doing anything. Like, why should my gpu cluster be at 70c+ just running the Drift screen saver?
As I said, there is nothing wrong with a Mac Mini…or even upgrading it if you want to. People just need to be aware that the value proposition nosedives pretty quick once you start adding in the upgrades.It depends as I need 64GB ram and that puts me in a place that I need to upgrade the Studio and for me there was a 900eur difference in Europe.
Right now I'm planning to keep the Mini 4-5 years, if my workload will change in the meantime then I'll buy Studio M6-7 Max.
What I meant is that our Apple Silicon computers will be loosing its value quicker than MacIntels if Apple will keep up with the big gains on every refresh. So the highest the model you buy the more it will loose the value.
Look at the Studio M1 Ultra, my M4 Pro Mini is just about the same cpu performance...
Apple Silicon changed so much in the computing word that it is easier to find the best sweet spot configuration for the current workflow. A little headroom will be enough. So less I spent now, I will be more flexible in the future.
The Studio is beautiful machine and it is tempting, but do I need it right now? No. do I want it? Yes
That’s odd. I did not get that behavior when I tested my Studio M4 Max. Maybe it’s a defective unit? What does Apple say is the “normal” operating temperature that the chip will be allowed to reach?
I did a couple more tests. I kept the fans at 2500rpm. 30 mins Cin R24, temps didn't go above 84c. As far as a screen saver goes, the GPU spikes to 86%, cpu 14%. At 100c, or around there, it should throttle.
i´d like to put the question the other way around:
at what rpm rate can you hear the fan on the M4Studio Max ?
(regardless of how much load it´d take to get there. Just use TG pro or similar to force the fan to spin up)
Some feedback on this would be much appreciated
at what rpm rate can you hear the fan on the M4Studio Max ?
(regardless of how much load it´d take to get there. Just use TG pro or similar to force the fan to spin up)
Some feedback on this would be much appreciated